Page 33 of War and his Queen

“Hmmm… let me guess…” he pries, and I arch a single brow. He’s tall and skinny. Kind of has the whole MGK thing going for him. “Vodka?”

I shuffle backward. “Well, that depends.”

He laughs, reaching for the bottle in his cart, and lays it down on my table with a shot glass. “I knew your mother.”

I sigh. “Of course, you did.” Flipping off the lid, I pour clear liquid into the glass, hauling it up to my lips. “Should I be worried?”

“No…” he teases, placing a napkin in front of me. “I was only a child when I met her.”

My head tips back as I swallow my shot in one go. Before I can ask him more questions, he’s gone.

Shot after shot, I watch as the colors of the room fuse together. Girls dance against each other in lace underwear as the pretty, shirtless waiters at the bar feed them more alcohol. The longer I sit here, the more I have time to think of all the ways I’m epically messing this up. Priest told me not to be emotional, yet here I am. Drinking in a Perdita bar with no one to talk to because everyone here is too afraid to come near me. I wanted to play with the big boys and now I’m acting like a child.

I miss Evie. She’d know what to do right now.

Pushing up from the table, I pause when I see someone seated near the bar staring right at me. He has long, dark hair, a body that towers over the rest, and a ring that glistens against the ambient lighting.

I sway on my feet and try to stand up straight, but the room tilts sideways.

Forcing my eyes back to the strange man, he guzzles his beer down before regarding me flippantly. He stands, sliding hisempty beer bottle across the table, and dropping money down before turning to leave.

“Hey…” I go to reach toward the bar to rest on it, when I slip and fall. Arms catch me, but I don’t see who it is because everything goes black.

War

The cologneof a King is gasoline, burnt rubber, and the burning flesh of our enemies.

I tip my head back, raising the beer bottle to my mouth. I hate that I’m distracted tonight, but after yesterday with Halen and Perdita, we came too close.

He knows it.

If it wasn’t for us carrying her ass right onto the plane and tucking her into bed when we got home, there would have been a lot of questions that she would have had that would go unanswered.

“You’re stressing too much.” Priest glowers blankly at the masses of people. Two cars line up. A Bugatti and an Evo. I know which one I’ve got my money on.

“No, I’m not.” I cross my legs at the ankle, resting back against the side of the car.

Desperation dances behind us attached to big tits and asses, but none of us give them any attention.

“He’s right.” Vaden taps my foot with his. “You’re stressing too much.”

I shake my head. “Nah, because what if she didn’t get drunk? What if she peeked and wanted to know what the fuck was happening. Then what? How would we explain?”

“We wouldn’t.” Priest shrugs, and sometimes I just want to reach between us and shake the fucking life into him. Whenever we see anything at all inside of him, it’s always during times when we shouldn’t. Once upon a time, Halen was his anchor of some sorts, but as time has gone on, we’ve watched that lowly slip. I don’t think he’d hurt her—he wouldn’t—and he’d absolutely rip anyone apart who even so much as thought of coming near her with any shit intentions, but he’s getting worse as time goes on.

Colder.

Distant.

Harder.

My old man once told us that Bishop was always the reasonable one of the three. That he never lost control and was like his grandfather. That ain’t Priest.

That ain’t any of us, but it’s definitely not Priest.

One of the girls waltzes out onto the track, gripping a gun. She does the little shake-her-ass dance before raising her hand into the air and firing. Tires skid against the asphalt as they try to gain traction before zipping forward, the Bugatti hot off the line.

I roll my eyes, bringing the joint to my lips and inhaling. Devil’s Cockpit was built when we were kids. Our parents put it in as a place for us to come and do whatever it is that we want. It’s a twenty-acre block of land nestled behind the township. Through the years, it had been a BMX track, a dirt bike track, and a playground. Everything was knocked down and rebuilt as the years went on. Once we hit high school, we knew exactly what we wanted.

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