Page 16 of Reckless Knight (Knight's Ridge Empire 7)

TOBY

“Dude, it’s Friday night. Where the fuck are you?” Nico barks through the speakers of my car. “I swear to fuck, if you’re out getting laid without me then—”

“I’m just pulling up.”

“Where the fuck have you been?”

“Out,” I snap, wondering when I started having to report my whereabouts to my best friend. “I’m coming up now. Open your door for me.”

“No need, man. We’re in your place.”

“You’re… of fucking course you are.” I roll my eyes, pulling into my space in the underground garage beneath our building.

Everyone else seems to be here, so I’m half expecting to find the whole gang sitting inside my flat.

I get that they’re trying to help, trying to cheer me up, to drag me from the pits of hell I’ve fallen into, and I appreciate it, I really do, But I don’t think some vodka, weed, and a night out will really cut it.

Being balls deep in Jodie might just, though…

Fuck. Why did I let her out of my fucking car?

Reaching down, I squeeze my lingering semi.

It’s been the same all week. One thought of her and up he pops like a fucking junkie thinking he’s about to get another hit.

Pulling my phone out, I stare down at her message as I step into the lift and head to our floor.

The building we live in is still empty. Hell, it’s still a building site other than the basement, garage, and top two floors—exactly as it should stay, as far as I’m concerned. I love that this is our little haven and ours only.

The good, the bad, and the downright fucking filthy happens here, and no one knows about it. It’s perfect.

Theo and Nico, the Cirillo family heirs, have the two penthouses on the top floor. The rest of us occupy the four flats beneath.

All of us bar Alex have properly moved in. He’s still flitting between here and his dad’s place. Fuck knows why—he never used to want to be there. His dad has probably got a new housekeeper he’s screwing every chance he gets or something equally as fucked up. He’s just as bad as Nico. Fucking dogs.

Tapping the side of my phone, I debate messaging Jodie back, but I finally decide against it, figuring that I’d rather be talking to her in person and knowing that I’m probably about to be distracted by Nico’s bullshit.

I let myself into my flat, expecting voices to hit me, but it’s weirdly quiet. Well, that is until a loud moan fills the air around me.

“I swear to fucking God, if you’re screwing someone on my—”

I burst into my living room, more than ready to put a bullet through my friend for using my flat as a fuck pad, but I come up short when both Nico and Alex fall about laughing as I realise the moaning is coming from the TV.

“What the fuck?” I bark. “Since when did I say you could let yourselves in to watch fucking porn?” Reaching for the remote that’s sitting on the coffee table between them, I turn it off.

“Well, clearly you weren’t out getting laid,” Nico quips.

“Or beating anyone up,” Alex adds, looking down at my fists.

My teeth grind as I stare at the two of them.

“Come on, we’re going out,” Nico says, hopping up, Alex quickly following him.

“I’m not in the mood.”

“Bro, I need to pay you back for last weekend.”

“What happened last weekend?” Alex asks, picking up a row of beer bottles he’d been collecting on the floor.