Page 42 of The Lost Kings

Presley

PRESENT

T he manor felt different.

Each morning, I’d grown used to the quiet of the house that extended past my front door. I’d walk the empty halls, knowing the only sound to be heard would be the clicking of Reaper’s nails as he trailed behind me.

Otherwise, it was peaceful.

Tucking my favorite book under my arm, I walked through the illuminated room and curled up on one of the leather couches.

My mind was full of confusing thoughts and worries about what the day would bring.

I’d spoken to Adrian the night prior and had convinced him to come visit.

There was a burden on my shoulders to ensure our families maintained peace, but something kept looping in my mind.

The twins saying they’d had business with him…

the way they’d found where Adrian lived.

The extra men they traveled with.

All of it was odd to me.

I had just cracked the binding open of my book when I heard people cheering from the home gym.

I snapped the book shut and tilted my head, curious why there’d be so much commotion this early in the morning. It was only seven thirty, and while I knew most of Scotty’s men liked to run the property at this time, not many of them used the gym.

My curiosity won out as I clutched the book and wandered down the hall. The sound only grew louder as I took the stairs down to the gym and pushed through the doors.

Men and women I’d seen protect the perimeter all cheered for whomever was in the middle of the ring.

Most were familiar faces, but I realized there were several new people that had arrived with the twins.

I still assumed they were attached to El Peligro somehow, but I wasn’t exactly sure why they were here or how the boys had convinced them to travel with them.

Finding an opening in the people cluttered around the center, I finally saw who the focus of their cheering was.

A silent gasp escaped me as I watched the twins moving around the circle.

It wasn’t even that they were using moves I’d only witnessed in advanced MMA fighters, but their chests were more defined than they were almost two years ago.

They had definition in places I wasn’t even sure was possible; their abs had mini abs and over each ridge and groove was dark ink.

They’d gotten so many tattoos; my eyes jumped around, trying to land on where to start.

Gio had small text tattooed into his forearms, and across his chest were various symbols, images of a church, a cross, and…

I narrowed my eyes on the black heart that dripped with ink…

It was something similar I’d seen on Juan’s chest, except his heart wasn’t cut in half, and there were three smaller ones inked below his primary tattoo.

My gaze jumped to Kingston and sure enough his dripping black heart was also cut in half.

They both had at least one marigold inked somewhere on their bodies.

Gio had a few star systems I recognized, inked all along the expanse of his back, and Kingston had skulls with plants growing out of their heads.

He had flowers dying inked all over his chest, but the marigold was alive.

I found “Elvis” inked in cursive on Gio’s chest, under his heart.

I was so focused on their ink that I completely missed that their fighting had upgraded to include knives. Gio threw one at his brother and it landed swiftly in the mat underneath him, just barely missing his calf. The crowd roared and I jumped back as reality came rushing back in.

What the fuck were they doing?

Gio rushed forward with his own large, serrated knife, holding it sideways as if he were about to lunge at his twin, but Kingston quickly sidestepped him.

Both boys had sweat dripping down their faces and along their arms. Seeing them like that, with their raven hair messy and cutting into their eyes, their gorgeous brown skin accented with the black ink and defined muscles, they were mesmerizing.

It made a simmering heat begin to build and pool somewhere low in my belly.

Gio caught on that I was watching first, if his smirk was any indication.

Kingston shifted and caught me as well, then bounced on the balls of his feet, swiping his arm across his face.

“Wanna join us, Elvis ?”

The group around them glanced at me, which made that heat inside rise to my face.

“I think she’s too scared now that we’re on her level of training. She’s too nervous to face us,” Gio sneered, while tossing his knife from one hand to another.

Is that what they’d been doing with their time away? They’d been training like I had been? Their bodies certainly showed it, as well as their precision with the blade.

I wouldn’t be giving them the satisfaction of?—

“Come on, Presley. Or have you grown soft in the time we were gone? Too many nights in Italy?”

“I need a knife for it to be fair.” I tossed my book down and pulled my baggy T-shirt over my head, leaving me in my sports bra. My pajama shorts were long enough that I could move freely without feeling uncomfortable, so all I had left to do to prepare was pull my hair into a ponytail and stretch.

Gio glanced at his brother briefly before tossing his knife out of the ring.

“No weapons.”

I shrugged. “Shame.”

Then I lunged forward and kneed him in the abdomen before kicking back and landing a hit to Kingston’s side.

The cheering resumed as we fell into a dance where the twins would take turns delivering a hit, kick or try putting me on my back.

I deflected and sank my foot into their sides more times than they probably liked, but I knew they were moving slow for me. Slower than they needed to.

“What’s wrong, afraid you’ll piss me off by beating me?” I smiled, tossing out a punch then moving my head to duck Gio’s return.

“No. Just don’t like the idea of bruising you,” Gio rasped, which told me he was starting to get tired.

I spun and focused on Kingston.

“I know you can go faster; I just watched you take down your?—”

Within a single breath, Kingston had moved and wrapped his calf around mine and yanked me to the mat. He managed to cradle my head, but his arm was locked over my collarbone, and his hips straddled mine. Our chests rose and fell in heavy thuds as we stared at one another.

His amber eyes were the same, and as he stared into mine, I knew he was thinking the same thing. I wanted to freeze the moment and force him to tell me why they’d stayed away for so long. I knew they planned to leave after their birthday, but they’d said a few months.

They never once said they’d stay gone for a year and a half.

My eyes caught on a set of text across his ribs that read, “ I’ll carry the soil of your heart inside of mine, my very own jar of sunshine.”

Those words, it was worse than the hurtful things he’d said when I was sixteen.

The false hope. Anger began unfurling in me as I watched his face lower to mine, and instead of allowing him any more space, I threw my free leg up and used it to yank his torso sideways until I was free.

I needed to stop this, getting close to them and feeling them touch me wasn’t a good idea. I needed to focus on Adrian.

Stepping out of the ring, I ducked to get my book and my shirt as people began making disappointed sounds and dispersing. I held the focus of both brothers as I slowly exited the gym, slinking back over to my side of the manor and as far away from them as I could possibly get.

“Adrian has a yacht he’d like to take us all on,” I explained to my father and my uncle.

They both glanced at each other before replying to me, so I took a second to check with my mom. She gave me a warm smile and small nod, which I took as a good sign. My plan with this was to only take my dad, uncle and mom. That way, we kept the chances of anything negative happening to a minimum.

“He invited us to go out on the boat tomorrow, but I’d like to keep it small, and I don’t really think there’s any reason to involve everyone in the manor or to?—”

“Does that include me?” Carter suddenly appeared near our foyer, making her way into our living room.

“Sorry, your door was unlocked.” She popped her gum, then tossed her thick hair over her shoulder. She looked so much like my aunt Mallory sometimes, it shocked me, but her jawline was completely Uncle Decker.

Scotty’s expression was ice cold as he replied, “But not open.”

Carter ignored him and curled up on the couch. “Can I come?”

She was missing the fact that I had to even entertain this idea because of her. She’d put us at risk, and now I was the one fixing the mess, but at the same time, she was family, and her big personality filled the gaps and any awkward silences there might be .

With a resigned sigh, I said, “Fine. You can come but no one else unless your parents suddenly show up. They can come but otherwise, don’t talk about our plans outside of this room.”

My cousin placed her hand to her forehead and gave me a salute. “You got it.”

She remained in our living room, playing on her phone while we continued to talk about the details of where we’d meet Adrian and exactly how we’d eventually be welcoming him over for dinner, but we’d build up to that.

My dad wasn’t exactly happy, but he agreed to entertain this idea that I could confirm that Adrian was our ally and not double-crossing us, and that he had nothing nefarious planned.

Deep down, I knew he wanted more with me, which meant he’d protect my family.

At this rate with the hornets’ nest that Carter stirred, this was what we had to settle for.

A tiny ping rattled in my chest, reminding me of the sixteen-year-old girl who once swore this wasn’t the sort of future I’d settle for.

I pushed the feeling down and changed into my work clothes.

I had a raggedy pair of overalls I wore with a ribbed tank and my Converse platforms that kept me comfortable while working on the farmhouse.