“I’m … sorry,” he adds quickly, clearly terrified of Titan. Jacob takes a step back.
“You know the rules, and you broke them,” Titan growls.
As a Queen, I don’t know what the clients are allowed to do. I just know what the Queens can and can’t do.
“I didn’t know he …”
“Bullshit!” he snaps. “You know he came on to her at your last dinner.”
My eyes widen. He knew that? How did Titan know that?
“Yes. Yes. I told you.” He nods quickly. “I didn’t keep it from you.” Snapping, Jacob takes a step toward me, and I press my back into the wall. Not like I’m afraid of him. I feel safe that Titan is here. But still, I don’t want him touching me.
“You’re out,” Titan says.
Jacob squares his shoulders. “Out? Do you know how much money I’ve spent at Kingdom?” he demands through gritted teeth. Clearly pissed at these turn of events.
“That was your choice.” He waves a hand in the air, dismissing him.
“My choice?” he snaps at Titan. “If he wanted to fuck her, he can fuck her!” he shouts. Jacob reaches for my arm and yanks me from the wall. I try to pull away from him, but he’s got a grip on my arm while he drags me to the center of the alleyway.
“Stop!” I shout, trying to shove him away from me as Titan reaches into the back of his jeans.
“They’re just fucking whores!” Jacob yells, shaking me. His fingers digging into my forearm.
Bang!
I scream in surprise as the gun goes off. My heart stops, and my breath gets stuck in my throat as I watch Jacob fall to his knees and then to his chest in a puddle of his own blood in a back alleyway.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I’m chanting in my head as I feel blood on my face, chest, and arms. I stumble backward into the wall once again as I quickly try to rub it off.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
TITAN
I PLACE MY gun in my waistband and turn toward Nite. “Tell the cleanup crew two bodies.”
Nite nods and goes back to texting on his cell.
I turn to face her. She stands against the wall in a state of shock, staring down at the blood smeared across her hands and arms.
“Em?” I ask her.
She doesn’t acknowledge me.
“Em?” I take her face in my hands. “Emilee, look at me.”
Wide blue eyes meet mine.
“Breathe,” I order. Her face is pale. “Take in a breath, Em. Come on.” Her skin is covered with his blood from the shot, and her body shakes. I don’t think she notices. “Emilee?” I bark this time, giving her a little shake. Her lips part, and she sucks in a deep breath. “That’s right,” I say gently.
“You … killed them.”
“Yes.” And I’d do it again. No one is going to put her in any situation that could cause her harm.
I had an idea of how tonight would go. That’s why I called Nite to watch her. He had informed me the minute the kid arrived. If he wouldn’t have, then she would have never known I had surveillance on her. But he made a very bad mistake and paid for it with his life.
“You killed them,” she repeats again.
“Em …?”
“For me?” she asks, blinking rapidly. Not only is she in shock but she’s also quite drunk.
“Of course, it was for you.” I know the rumors that are told about the Kings and me, but we don’t kill for sport. You won’t have any clients, if you kill them all off. But for her? I’d kill them all. “He hurt you.” It’s the only reason I have.
Her bottom lip begins to quiver, and tears fill her pretty eyes. “But why?” she whispers. “Why would you do that?”
I open my mouth to tell her I love her, but now is not the right time. She’s covered in blood, and two dead bodies lay literally at our feet.
I’ve waited twenty-six years to tell her how I feel, so what’s another day? “Come on. Let’s go to Kingdom. We need to wash off.” Then I look at Nite. “Make sure to get their phones.”
_______________
I pull up to the back of Kingdom and get out of the car. I run around the front and open her door. After I help her out, I remove my shirt and wrap it around her and take her hand to help her up the stairs. Nigel is already there waiting for us.
We enter the Royal Suite and go straight to my bedroom. I know that Bones is at Glass with Luca, but I’m not sure where in the fuck Grave and Cross are.
I undress her and start the shower. We get in, and I place her under the sprayer. The blood runs off her skin and down into the drain, washing away any evidence of what I did.