Arranged love

GRAVE

I STAND INSIDE Roses the following morning. She stands behind the counter in a pair of black yoga pants and a shirt that reads prick me with a rose that has thorns on the stem. It’s adorable. “I hope you like it,” she says nervously.

“I have no doubt.”

She walks away and goes into the side door behind the front counter. While I wait for her to return, I head back to the office. I smirk when I see the kid exit the office. He sees me and immediately turns his back to me, ready to run away.

“Come here,” I order him.

He comes to a stop and turns to face me with a look of annoyance on his face.

“Does she know?”

He shakes his head before dropping his eyes to his feet.

“I don’t wanna see you there again.”

That gets his attention. “But I …”

“I don’t give a fuck! If I see you at Kingdom again, I will throw you out on your ass. After I beat the shit out of it.” Kingdom is no place for a young kid like him. It’s not meant to be a place where kids hang out. It was made for adults, for men who had more money than God and were bored out of their fucking minds, needing a place to spend it. He fits neither of those qualifications.

Of course, we have our customers who get a room for the night, but our hotel is just a front. Our event center brings in major cash along with the Queens service that Titan supplies the city with. Nothing good will come from him hanging out up there.

He opens his mouth to argue again, but April walks out of the cooler. He rolls his eyes and then turns back to enter the office before she sees him. I’m not even sure who he is to her exactly. He could be a brother, or he could be some charity work she’s doing by giving him a job here. Doesn’t matter. He was there to fight last night, but he won’t be doing it again any time soon.

“Here you go.”

I reach out and grab the arrangement from her hands. “Wow!” I say, looking it over. It has five kinds of flowers with multiple colors in the pretty butterfly vase.

“I hope she likes it,” she says to me, and I swallow nervously.

What the fuck are you doing, Grave? “She’s gonna love it,” I tell her, forcing a smile and hoping she doesn’t notice it.

She looks up at me with her ice blue eyes. They’re lined in black again today. Her purple hair has one braid down the middle, and it’s all pulled up into one big messy bun at the top of her head. She wears two chokers-a black one that has a silver heart in the middle and a solid purple one. And her lips are lined in that color that matches her hair. She looks like a walking, talking wet dream that I want to drown in.

I hear the ringing of the door, announcing someone has entered. “Grave!” Cross’s voice snaps. “What is taking so fucking long?”

He comes up beside me and looks down at her. “Oh,” he says as a smile slides across his face. “Now I understand.”

I elbow him in the ribs. He makes an oof noise and reaches out his right hand to her. “Cross. Nice to meet you.”

“April.” She gives him a smile and shakes his hand.

It just became my favorite month of the year.

He turns to face me with a stupid grin on his face. “We need to go, man. Your brother is blowing up my phone.” Then his eyes drop to the flowers in my hand. “Who are those for?”

“They’re for his mother’s birthday.” She answers for me.

His brows raise to his hairline, and he looks from her to me with confusion.

“I’ll be right out,” I say tightly, silently telling him to fucking leave.

He gives me a look that I don’t care to decipher, then pats the countertop. “Nice to meet you.” Then he exits.

She turns her ice blue eyes on me. “Is Grave your real name? I noticed that’s what you wrote on your information.”

“No.”

She tilts her head to the side, those gorgeous eyes falling to my tatted arm. “Nickname?”

I nod. “Something like that.”

“I like it.” She smiles up at me.

“Yeah, well, I have to get going.” I pick up the flowers. “Thanks again.”

“No problem.” She picks her cell up off the counter and starts to walk back to the office. I watch her ass sway back and forth in her black yoga pants like the pervert I am. Once the door to the office closes, I let out a deep breath and exit the flower shop.

“Man, what in the fuck was that?” Cross asks as I fall into the passenger seat of his car.

“Honestly?” I look down at the flowers in my hands. “I don’t know,” I answer, noticing a white folded piece of paper. I pluck it from the flowers and open it up. It’s a card.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday. Love, your son Grave.

My jaw tightens. I specifically left the message part blank when she had me fill out the form. Seeing it written out just makes my chest ache. “Let’s get fucked up.” I wad up the note and throw it to the floorboard.

APRIL

I sit at the bar as Alexa stands behind it mixing drinks. She’s slammed tonight, but I needed to get out. My brother isn’t speaking to me. He left the flower shop earlier today without saying a word, and my concern has grown tenfold. The silence. The bruises. They all have to mean something. I just hope I can figure it out before it’s too late.

“Hey, girlie.”

I look over to see Jasmine sit down next to me. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

She shrugs. “Was on my way out for the night and thought I’d stop by and see Alexa. Have to support my friends.” She drops a couple of hundreds in the glass tip jar that sits on the bar. “What are you up to tonight?”

“Nothing.” I take a sip of my Corona.

“Come out with me. I’m going to a party,” she offers, fixing the thin shoulder straps to her little black dress.

“Nah-”Content protected by Nôv/el(D)rama.Org.

“Hey, you work at Kingdom,” Alexa interrupts me, coming up to us. “We have questions.” She looks at Jasmine.

“What? You work at Kingdom? What do you do there?” I wonder. Why didn’t Alexa bring this up the other night when we went out? Well, I mean we ended up at a club. The music was loud, and the drinks kept coming. There wasn’t much conversation going on. We were too busy dancing around and drinking it up.

She chuckles, shaking her head. “Sorry, ladies. I can’t discuss that.”

I frown, and Derek joins in the conversation while he pours a Miller Lite into a frosted mug. “See, told you some bad shit goes down there.”

Jasmine squares her shoulders. “You know nothing about Kingdom. Trust me.”

He tops off the mug and sets it down before placing his forearms on the bar and leaning into her personal space. “I know that Bones is in with the Mafia. I know that a lot of illegal shit goes on there.” He pulls back and looks her up and down the best he can since she’s sitting, and adds, “And I know you’re a Queen.”

“What’s a Queen?” I whisper to Alexa.

She shrugs.

Jasmine places her hands on the bar and stands, leaning over it. They’re nose to nose. “You seem to know a lot about nothing.”

His eyes drop to her breasts that are poking out of her skintight dress. He licks his lips before his eyes meet hers again. “I know enough.” Reaching out, he takes a piece of her red hair, freeing it from behind her ear. “How much does a Queen go for these days?” he asks her.

Her red painted lips turn up at the corners before she runs her tongue along her upper lip. “More than you can afford.”

He lets go of her hair, his finger trailing down over her neck. “I don’t know. I’ve heard pussy comes pretty cheap.”

“Not the good ones.”

“Hey, Derek? Where’s my beer?” a guy shouts from the end of the bar.

He ignores him as he looks at her. It’s like they’re in a staring contest. Whoever looks away first will lose. “Let’s just say our opinions differ on what’s good,” he finally says before pulling away from her and delivering the beer.

“What was that about?” Alexa asks Jasmine wide-eyed.

I’m confused too after that exchange.

“I gotta go,” Jasmine states, picking up her clutch. “We’ll do lunch next week.” Then she walks away without another word.

“Derek?” Alexa yells out to him.

“Busy,” he shouts back from the other end.

She looks at me and raises a brow. “Was it just me, or do they have something going on?”

I’m not sure what that was. I don’t think they have a thing, but Derek wouldn’t turn her down if he got the chance. “Don’t ask me. That entire conversation confused me.”