Page 28 of The Lost Kings

Presley

PRESENT

I spent the day swimming and sunbathing with Adrian and ignoring my phone.

Not blocking the twins was the worst decision ever, further confirming my coward status.

They’d added me back to the group chat three separate times until I finally just turned my phone off.

I didn’t need to read what they had to say.

They weren’t just angry over me ghosting them all this time; they were hurt and vengeful.

It was more than that though…something was brewing under their comments. It connected to Scotty and his training methods, to me and this role I was cast into. It was convoluted, and I feared that their time away from the family only worsened their disposition instead of helping it.

“You’re gone again.” Adrian’s smooth voice cut into my thoughts as he swam up next to my floating lounger. I was relaxed, not really paying attention, but I must have missed something he said.

“I’m right here.”

He drew closer, until his head rested next to my thigh. “I need you closer.”

Butterflies erupted in my stomach as I stared down at his dark head of hair, my mind playing a cruel game of memory and how many times I had looked down at two other heads like this. An entire childhood spent being in love with two people I was never allowed to have, much less allowed to love.

Yet I fell face-first into the disaster that awaited me.

“I’m going to kiss you if you keep zoning out like that,” Adrian murmured close to my leg, then his soft lips gently skimmed over my thigh, his tongue tracing the droplets of water off me.

“How come you haven’t yet?” My smile wobbled as uncertainty prodded at my chest.

Why was I encouraging this?

Perhaps I just needed to get past the twins, and if Adrian was a boat that would take me out of the murky waters where my feelings for them remained, then I’d gladly embark on that voyage.

Adrian’s blue gaze was pure fire as he stared up at me, and before I could process what he was doing, my lounger was tipped, and I was falling into the water.

My hands flew wide but strong hands caught me right as the plastic slipped out from under me.

I was pulled into Adrian’s firm chest, and he didn’t hesitate; his mouth slanted over mine in a heated kiss.

My hands went on his shoulders, drifting into his hair as I kissed him back. As his head moved to the side, I opened for his tongue to sweep inside my mouth.

A groan erupted from him as he pulled me closer, and without knowing what else to do, I wrapped my legs around his waist. Our kiss continued to deepen even with his men watching, even as I knew we weren’t alone, and the erection thick in his shorts pulsed against my center.

It provided enough friction to make me squirm against him.

“Fuck, you have no idea how long I’ve waited for that.” Adrian breathed against my mouth, breaking our kiss. We’d moved closer to the wall of the pool, and I hadn’t even noticed.

Heaving in oxygen, I didn’t want to say anything to ruin the moment, so I just moved in for another kiss but suddenly his men began talking into their radios in tandem, all speaking Italian.

It gave Adrian pause as he watched them move back into the house.

“Come, we need to go.” He let me go and I swam toward the stairs. I could hear a few of the coms going off as my feet touched the smooth concrete steps.

“Threat near the gate.”

“Unidentified vehicle.”

Fear threaded my stomach with fraying nerves as I thought back to the twins’ threats. They wouldn’t come here, would they?

No, they had no idea where I was.

Scotty knew but he’d never?—

Would Scotty reveal where I was out of spite? No, he knew how delicate this alliance with Adrian was; there would be no way he’d do that.

“There’s a threat near the gate. I’m going to have you come with me and we’re going to remain in the safe room until we know everything is secure.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why he wasn’t helping his men. My dad, Scotty, and even Juan would never leave their men to fight a threat alone. They’d always face it head-on, that’s what I was trained for, what I was taught.

“Adrian, I don’t need to be placed in the safe room but if you’d feel more comfortable…”

His hand tightened around mine as he pulled me with him, down the hall. “As embarrassing as this is to admit, I’m not nearly as skilled as you are, Presley. I don’t particularly want to place my abilities to the test right now.”

I wish he hadn’t admitted that to me. I hated how he kept revealing his weaknesses and places that I could hurt him.

It only confirmed that I never would.

“Okay.” I followed him, only to have one of his men stop us.

I couldn’t hear everything they were saying because their heads were bent close together, but Adrian suddenly froze, and then looked over his shoulder at me.

“There are two people here to see you. They aren’t fighting us, but they requested the chance to talk to you.”

Oh shit.

“Presley?”

“I can go outside of your fence line, that way they’re not brought in here.” Because what the hell were they planning to do?

Adrian pulled me back to his side, and I hadn’t even realized I’d begun to walk away. “No. Any guest of yours is welcome here.”

He waited for me to elaborate, and when I didn’t, he gave the order.

“See them in.”

My face burned as I followed Adrian up the stairs, and he released me near my bedroom door. “Get changed, I’ll meet you in the main room to receive your guests.”

The door clicked shut and I immediately pulled out my cell phone and dialed the only person who could help me. With the screen to my ear, I began pacing and pulling on clothes.

“Hello?”

“Scotty, why are the twins here?” I whisper-yelled, glancing out my window as if I could see anything other than the back terrace from it.

My uncle waited a second before replying, “Presley, I fear I cannot help you with this.”

“Oh bullshit. Did you give them this location?”

He paused while muttering something in the background. “I didn’t. However, you should be aware of a few things that have developed within the last week.”

I paused my pacing, staring at the side wall where the sun was reflecting off the diamond jewelry that Adrian had gifted me. “What things?”

“Things that require your removal from the Adesso residence, and while I was not the one to send Gio and Kingston to you, I would have.”

My breathing slowed as I thought through the reasons that could have led to Scotty needing me away from Adrian.

“What happened, Scotty?”

He muttered another order over the phone to someone else before briskly replying, “Nothing I can share over the phone. You need to leave with the twins.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to explain that to Adrian?”

“I don’t know, but I know you’ll figure it out. Please be safe.”

With that, he hung up and I was left staring at my phone with absolutely no fucking clue what was going on.

“Just fucking great,” I muttered to myself.

The gray hoodie lying on the foot of the bed was pulled over my shoulders.

I was about to head downstairs when I eyed my suitcases and wondered if I should just pack.

Scotty was on my shit list for getting me into this situation to begin with, but he’d never lie about something as important as my safety.

I really hated Scotty for this. Really fucking hated him.

I took the stairs slowly, holding tightly to the banister as I tried to focus on the fact that I might be in danger and not the fact that I hadn’t seen my two best friends in over a year and a half.

I found two of Adrian’s men stationed at the bottom of the staircase, holding assault rifles. They ignored me as I walked past them and continued down the hall. Adrian had left the back patio doors open, allowing the Mediterranean breeze to warm the villa with a heady, salty sweetness.

Two more guards waited near the hall that led to the kitchen. My bare feet pressed into the warmed wood as I neared the main room. I inhaled a silent breath and held it in my lungs like a captive beam of sunlight, hoping it would warm me from within as the reminder of their abandonment resurfaced.

The natural light touched the tip of the hall, boasting of wide windows and a large panoramic view of the sea. I’d cuddled against Adrian’s chest just last night while the stars danced outside.

A shuddery breath left me as I turned the corner, and my focus found the only two men to have ever held it captive.

Seated side by side, the twins wore dark T-shirts, which looked unfairly attractive against their brown skin; they were also toned and more defined than when they’d left me.

Their raven hair was nearly identical, but Gio’s was cut shorter on the sides than Kingston’s, his was longer in the front, brushing that scar that now cut right through his brow from that time he'd lunged into the ring to protect me.

They stood at the same time, facing me, and my heart had nearly faltered as a pair of amber eyes and starry gray ones landed on me. It took me back to being six, curled against them in a warm bed. Back to blanket forts, games of hide and seek, playing pretend and a lifetime of other memories.

“Presley.” Gio’s gaze took in all of me as Kingston took a half step forward before thinking better of it.

I ushered out a rusty greeting that was as painful as scraping the darkest places of my heart and tossing them out on the floor. “Hi, guys.”

Adrian’s cool tone held restrained anger, which was the only reminder I had that he was standing silently by the fireplace with his arms crossed. “Presley, darling…please come take a seat as we chat with your friends.”

Kingston’s eyes cut over to Adrian as if he was going to kill him for calling me darling. Gio kept his eyes on me, raising a brow as if he wanted to make fun of me for it. A smile nearly stole my features as I remembered how this felt, to be with them.