It takes all my willpower not to look at him.

  "I'm going home. Come over if you want," I tell her as I make my way to the locker to get my stuff. I walk back and grab the bottles.

  "And where do you think you're taking those?" I hear Angel say behind me. I turn to face him. His eyes are dark, showing nothing, and he has his hands in his pockets.

  "Well, you just fucked a whore in your office. Paid her, I assume. You fucked me last night, so I'm taking my payment." I take a step closer to him, ignoring the chatter behind me. If he thinks this was going to break me, he’s wrong. "If you come over tonight and leave, at least leave me something. Make me feel a little special," I say.

  I’m surprised to see the words got to him. His eye flinches just a little.

  “See you tomorrow, Alice,” Pike says, letting me know I’ve made my point and need to leave.

  Angel hurt me. I'm not just going to lie down and take it. He should know that. When I get outside, I take in a deep breath and let the tears escape, the ones I've been holding since he kissed her.

  I'm not crying because I loved Angel. I don't even know him to love him. I'm crying because of how he embarrassed me in front of everyone. There were other ways he could have done it, but no, he wanted to hurt me and make sure everyone knew that Angel Frost can destroy everything he touches.

  Chapter 12

  Angel

  My hands are balled in my pockets and it’s taking everything in me not to punch someone. Her words burned my skin, so much more than a bullet ever has.

  I knew I would hurt her, but I thought she would stay away from me, ignore me. That would have been easier for me. What she thought about herself killed me, and she made sure that I knew what she was feeling, fucking burned.

  “Everyone get out!” I shout at the staff.

  "Mr....Mr. Frost, we still have to clean," Ash tells me.

  My gaze moves to his, and he seems like a good person to hurt right now. I take a step closer to him, but Pike stands in front of me.

  “Ash, pick two of the staff and come in early tomorrow,” Pike tells him. They quickly move away from me, all except Pike. “You have no one to blame. You fucking crossed the line with Alice.” Pike pushes me towards the bar.

  I pour us both a drink. “I kissed—”

  “I know you didn’t fuck her, but she doesn’t. No matter what you say to her, she won’t believe you.” Pike’s voice is hard, to the point.

  I have no idea if he even liked Alice, since they’ve never chatted. I never really cared to ask him either.

  "Well, she will be safe," I say as I down my drink.

  "I think she can look after herself. She told the woman that if she came near her, she would cut her tongue out. Angel, I haven't spoken to her enough to know what she is like, but she did something to you."

  I pour us another drink.

  "Alice was ready to be with you, and the fucking devil. Fuck, she even got the devil to sleep. You can say all you want that you did this for her, but you didn't. You did it for yourself, because you were scared you would hurt her. Well, you did."

  Pike walks away from me, and I’m left staring at my empty bar. I hurt her. Knowing that hurts me more than Pike will ever understand.

  “Well, you’re a piece of shit, aren’t you? Drew is pissed at me for what you’ve done. Thanks.” Warren walks in with Elijah behind him.

  “Did you check out William’s house?” I ask, not in the mood for another fucking attack on me for what I’ve done.

  They both look at me for a moment, but stay quiet. "Yeah, no cops out there either. One of the guys I put on the house said his wife and kids went away last night, not sure when they’ll be back," Elijah starts as I look over at Pike.

  He walks over with a box, and I can't help but smile at what I'm about to give William. "And to add to your happy mood, one of the prisoners on the list got out last night," Elijah tells me.

  That is very nice to know. “Which one?” I ask.

  “Fred, what did he do to get on the list?” Elijah asks.

  "Gave me this," I say and point to the scar on my eye. I tap my fingers on the bar, wondering if I want to fuck up Fred's face myself or give him to Elijah.

  I take out a cigarette and light it up as I look at the three of them staring at me. “What the fuck are you three staring at?” I ask them.

  “Nothing,” they all say at the same time.

  I chuckle to myself. When the fuck did my brothers become too scared to tell me what they're thinking?

  “Is it about family business or my business?” I pour all of them a drink. “The last I checked, we’re all family, and we’ve always been able to talk to each other.” I place the glasses in front of them.

  “For me, a bit of both,” Warren says first.

  “Family business,” Elijah replies.

  “Yours mostly,” Pike says last.

  "What about the family business?" I ask Elijah first. Even though he wants to know about my business, he will never ask unless it affects family business.

  “When we find the family behind all this, what’s the plan?” Elijah looks at us all.

  "I'm going to put a bullet in the head of the boss, and then tell the rest of them that their business is now ours," I answer. I'm planning to make sure that family never runs a business again. I'm going to make sure the Frost family is the only family they work through.

  I look over at Warren, letting him know he can now talk. “The pawns are working. What are we doing with the drugs? We…”

  "We're burning them. Nothing else. Find the selling points, then burn it until they have nothing left, or until we find out who is giving it to them." I take a drink and wait for the next question.

  “I think you made a mistake.”

  "Alice is off topic. All that is on me," I cut him off. I'm not in the mood to talk about Alice. "If there is nothing else, let's go," I tell them as I walk around the bar. I grab the box and we make our way to give William some advice on who not to piss off.

  ***

  Warren turns the engine off as we pull up outside William’s house. Whoever was paying him gave him a nice amount. There is no way that he can afford this house on his pay.

  “You didn’t tell me he lived in the nice part of London.” I look over at Elijah, who looks over at me.

  "Thought it would be a good surprise for you. Now that you've seen the area, I assume no guns tonight."

  He starts laughing at the idea that I would use a gun on William. I'm going to take my fucking time with him when the time comes.

  "Anyone else here with him?" I ask as we make our way to the front door.

  “No,” Elijah answers. He knocks on the door.

  As the door opens, Pike pushes through before William can see who it is and shuts the door. I don’t want to make a lot of noise and wake up the neighborhood. We like to come make our point and leave, peacefully.

  “I’m calling the police.” William looks me dead in the eyes.

  "I told you I'd be seeing you around." I walk closer to him as he backs up toward the sitting room. "Not going to ask us to sit down?" I ask as I watch Warren’s gaze dart around the room. Elijah stands behind William and Pike, who are next to me.

  "How the fuck did you get a wife this hot? I might have to taste her." Warren starts laughing, and I look at William as he takes the picture out of Warrens' hand.

  “You touch my wife…”

  "Now, now, William. You know we don't touch women. However, if she wanted to fuck Warren because she wanted to, who is he to say no." I sit on the couch smirking at him. "Take a seat. I'm not here to hurt you, not today anyway. That will be another day," I tell him. I relish seeing him tremble. "I even got you a gift." I place the box on the table.

  William watches me as I watch him skulk to the other side of the table. He jumps when Warren slams a book down behind him. Fuck, he’s on eggshells. He knew about my family when he did what he did, though.

  I can't help but smile as William opens the ribbon. The moment he lifts the lid, he drops the box and the hand falls onto the table.

  “I kept saying that you were behind the others, but everyone thought I was crazy. Now, I have proof.” William shouts at us.

  I look around the room.

  "What proof is that? I've not touched anyone. You go ahead and tell whoever you want, but know this Mr. Hughes, your day is coming, and I'm going to enjoy it when it does." I stand up and meet him face to face. "The only thing that might make your death less painful is telling me who paid you," I say as sweat drips from his forehead.

  “I’m not telling you, but I will be telling them you dropped by. Then we will see how close you get to me.” William has found his fucking balls, apparently, and talking to me as though he has protection.

  “You go tell them.” I give the guys a nod to tell them this is all we are doing here tonight. “Before I leave, Mr. Hughes, you might not want your wife or children opening any parcels. Who knows what will be in there,” I say as we leave the house.

  As we make our way to the car, Warren says, “His phone is tapped, so we will know the moment he uses his mobile.”

  "Do we have anyone following him?" I ask. I have a feeling that soon as they know I was here, the phone communication will end.

  “We have one guy on him. You want another?” Elijah asks.

  "Yeah. Get a few on him. I want pictures of anyone he talks to." I get into the car. "Elijah, you want Fred?" I ask him. He hasn't asked for anyone, and I know why. He would kill the guards for what they have done to me, because he still blames himself.

  Fred. I'm basically telling him to fuck his face up so much no one will ever want to look at him again. I still remember the night he came into my cell and the words he said.

  "Pretty blue eyes, pretty little face. Let's see how pretty you will be when I'm finished with you, motherfucker. I'm going to make sure any woman who looks at you has nightmares."

  Before I could get my knife out, the fucker cut my eye. Then he was taken to another part of the prison, away from me, because the guards worried about his fucking safety with me.

  "How bad can I fuck him up?" Elijah asks.

  I turn to face him, and the monster stares back at me.

  "Take parts of his face off, if you want. Just make sure no one knows who he is when you're finished," I tell him. He is going to have so much fun with Fred. I can't wait to see what he looks like after.

  Now that we have William scared and he knows it’s me who is fucking with the guards, part one of that plan is in motion. Our pawns are out looking for the drugs as well. Everything is working the way it should be. So far, so good.

  ***

  "Pike, how about we shut the fuck up," I shout at him.

  He has been talking about shit I don't care about for too long. He was going on about some woman he is fucking. Then he started talking about me not sleeping, like that is any of his business. Now he's started talking about some film. Why he thinks I give a shit about a film, I have no idea.

  “Since last night you’ve been a right dick,” Pike bites back.

  Ignoring him, I walk into my dads' house. He wanted a family meeting about the Americans. He called them last night and said he wanted us all over today.

  I look over at Ellie coming out the kitchen with a tray of drinks. “Why are you dressed in that?” I stand in front of her.

  "Well, when you have a pool party with friends, you need to wear a bikini," she tells me. She hands the tray over to Pike, who says nothing. As I look over at him, she walks over to the door to the indoor pool my dad has. Before disappearing, she turns back to me with a scowl. "You hurt my friend, and the way you did it…. Angel, I didn't think you were like that." Ellie’s voice comes out a little softer as she says the last sentence. She is the last person I wanted to know what I did.

  “Ellie…”

  "I don't want to hear it, Angel. I still want to believe you would never do something like that, but when everyone is saying it, it's hard not to believe," Ellie says before walking away from me.

  I stop her. “I did it for a good reason,” I say.

  I can never let my sister think that I would cheat on a girl. That's not how our dad brought us up. We respect women.

  Without saying another word, she walks away towards the pool, and I look over at Pike, who looks at me with a hard expression. He doesn't need to tell me. I can tell just by looking at him. Alice is here.

  “Let's go see what your dad has to say.” Pike stops me from walking over to the pool area, but I push him away and look through the glass.

  There she is, laughing as she walks over to Ellie to get her drink. She’s not in a bikini. She’s wearing some shirt that is sticking to her skin. I look around to see who else is in the pool. Drew and two guys I don’t know are there.

  “It’s the guy I got Vinny to kick out last night,” Pike says as he stands behind me.

  One of them comes out of the pool and stands next to Alice, wrapping his arms around her.

  I take a step towards the door.

  “Stop. Don’t you dare go in there.” My dad stands next to me. His expression is stern. “You made your choice.”

  “That doesn’t mean I have to stand here and let some fucking asshole touch her,” I almost shout. I try to keep my voice low and calm, but it’s not working.

  “Anyone can touch her. You have no right to stop them anymore,” my dad says.

  "Like fuck I don't." I open the door. "Alice, can I have a word?" I shout.

  She looks at me for a moment, but doesn't move.

  "Now!"

  She puts her drink on the table and walks out. The moment the door closes, she looks at me. "What?"

  I had a lot to say in my head to her, but the only thing in my head at the moment is that I can see her body under that shirt, and it’s not helping me control my temper.

  “You need to put some fucking clothes on,” I demand, my voice harsh and to the point.

  “Okay,” she answers and walks back to the pool.

  I watch her grab her drink and whisper something to Drew and Ellie. She looks over her shoulder at me, then turns around. As she places her drink back down on the table, her hands move to the bottom of her shirt, and she pulls it over her head. Dropping the shirt, she stands wearing a red bikini.

  Alice’s gaze stays on me, though her eyes shift a little, telling me she can see how my eyes have darkened with rage. The others have got to see it too. Alice is mine, and she let that asshole touch her.

  She smiles at me and dives into the pool. She swims over to one of the guys and comes up next to him. She is playing with fucking fire right now. I can feel my body burning up inside as the guy laughs with her.

  “Angel, you need—”

  “I don’t need to do anything,” I shout at my dad.

  "I told you. You do this and she might not forgive so easily." My dad stands in front of me, cutting off my view of Alice, but I move to the side so I can see.

  “Then I will fucking beg,” I tell him as I walk into the pool room.

  When I enter, I see Alice kiss him, her eyes on me as she does. I thought I could let her walk away. I thought I could walk away. Seeing her, I know I fucked up and I know I have to win her back. Not even one day has gone by, but watching her now makes me see how much I messed up.

  "Get the fuck off her, now," I shout.

  The guy pulls away but stays close to her.

  "I'm going to start counting, and you two better not be in the pool when I finish," I tell them both. Before I can even start, they both get out. As they leave the pool, Pike and my dad walk in.

  “So, you can kiss and fuck—”

  “I made—”

  “I don’t care what you made,” Alice cuts me off and stands in front of me, all wet and beautiful. “You don’t want me, but you won’t let anyone else have me. Yet you can have anyone you want.”

  "I don't want anyone else. I want you," I say, almost to the point of shouting.

  She starts laughing. “You had me, then you fucked someone else. You don’t get to have or keep me when you do shit like that. You don’t deserve me.” She dives back into the pool.

  I wait for her to stop swimming before I say something to her. She is right, though. I don't deserve her. I hurt her. I'm the reason she was in pain, and I'm never going to forgive myself for that, but I will make sure she knows I will never do anything to make her feel pain again.

  She climbs out of the pool and turns to face me.

  "You're right. I don't deserve you. But I won't let you go. I can’t. I won't let anyone else have you, either. You, Alice, are only one man's queen. Mine," I say. Not even one full day without her, and I'm completely losing my mind.

  "You won't let anyone else have me? I will kiss any guy that I want, and you can't do anything about it." Her tone comes out harsh, annoyed.

  I move to tell her that any guy who touches her will die, and I will make sure I'm the one who kills them, but my dad stands in front of me.

  "Your brothers are here, and we have a call to get to." He looks over at Alice and then back to me. "She's not going to take you back that easily." He takes my arm and starts pulling me away with him.

  “Don’t think this is over, Alice.” I turn to face her, and she shakes her head at me.

  "You're an idiot. I told you,” my dad says. “You broke her trust. She won't trust you again. Even if you do break her down and she takes you back, you’ll have a high climb…"

  "And I will fucking climb it." I stand by the window watching Alice and Drew talking, while Pike talks to Ellie. "How can she have this much control over me already?" I growl, annoyed at myself that I let her take over my body and mind.

  My dad starts laughing. "Your grandad was the same with your grandma. I was like that with your mother. When you find your queen, treat her like one," my dad says as I watch her laughing with Drew.

  “What are you doing about mum?” I ask.

  This is the thing that annoys me, he still loves her. It’s the only reason she still lives in this house. I don't know what happened between them for my mother to do this to him.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24