Page 44 of The Lost Kings

Kingston

PRESENT

T he sun glittered along the water, making the massive thirty-three-foot boat stand out like a sore thumb. I grabbed my bag, and Gio slammed the truck door on the other side.

“Think we’ll get shot on sight?”

I pulled my sunglasses on and smirked. “Probably.”

“I think Elvis loves us too much to let us get shot.” My brother sighed while walking toward the dock. We’d beaten Presley here, so there was no way we’d miss them, but she was going to be pissed the second she realized how easy it was to overhear Carter sharing her plans with my sister.

“You think there’s a chance she still loves us?”

I didn’t want to think about what she’d said last night or consider that she’d moved on from us. “You can’t erase what we had that easily. I think she’s angry that she still loves us.”

Scotty’s SUV pulled up across the parking lot, and I saw Presley climb out.

Her hair was braided into a crown again, with little pieces framing her face.

I strangled the strap of my duffel bag as I watched her walk in a bathing suit cover-up, which didn’t really cover anything up at all.

Her tits were visible from here under that scrap of fabric.

Carter followed her, wearing something similar, but it didn’t feel as revealing, nor did it make my stomach tighten when I looked at her.

“Do you think this will help win her over or make things worse?” Gio asked, walking ahead of me.

I didn’t reply, just followed him. Kyle, Rylie and Scotty trailed after the two girls.

Scotty wore board shorts and flip-flops, which made me laugh even though I’d seen him on beaches before. There was something so unserious about seeing him like this, like I could finally try and take the fucker out or at least sneak in a punch.

He probably knew we were on his tail. Wasn’t like we were trying to hide it, but the fact that he hadn’t turned around and told us to stay meant he didn’t really mind having us along. Which meant he didn’t trust Presley’s claim that Adrian was safe and wanted peace.

Interesting.

Why would he entertain this idea of peace if he didn’t believe it were possible?

He was risking the entire family by agreeing to this.

He also didn’t have the same intel that my brother and I had, which was that Adrian’s brothers were a far greater threat than he was.

They also weren’t the type to cater to a love match, or any alliance Adrian created.

Which is why we considered him a threat.

He didn’t have any choice but to bow to the majority rule of his brothers, and if they wanted a bullet in Presley’s head, then he’d pull the trigger.

The yacht appeared at the end of the dock, and two men flanked Adrian as he walked toward Presley. The two were still quite a bit ahead of us, but as I looked up my feet faltered.

Gio’s didn’t, but I saw his head dip. “Don’t fucking show it, King.”

I forced my feet forward as Presley and Adrian kissed, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her under his arm like she’d been there since the day she’d walked out of ours.

My brother was right; we couldn’t show how that affected us. We had a lot to make up for, but more than that, we needed to find a way to explain to her what our world existed of now. It was a much different place than when she was last inside of it.

It wasn’t until Adrian, Presley, and her parents were on board that Presley finally turned around and realized we were boarding as well.

“Gio. Kingston.” Her surprised reaction had Adrian placing his hand on her hip while twisting to see us.

“Boys…how nice of you to join us.”

Boys ? Fucker was one year older than us, if that.

Gio grinned and walked through his security team like he owned the boat.

“How incredibly kind of you to invite Presley’s family.”

Presley’s face remained pleasant as if this was all a happy encounter, but I saw the way her left eyebrow twitched and raised as if it were her only way to scream that we weren’t supposed to be there.

Scotty made room for us on the leather seats in the center, while Kyle merely glared, but with his sunglasses on, I couldn’t make out his narrowed eyes or his pissed-off expression. I knew him well enough to know he was angry though.

Yet not a single soul here would say anything because our family could never afford to look weak in front of one as prominent or as dangerous as Adrian’s. Gio and I knew this, and we exploited it.

“Such a warm day for March,” I mused, settling into the plush leather.

The security team worked to bring a few trays of food on, along with prepping the boat for pushing away from the dock. One of his men sat behind the steering wheel, wearing cotton pants with a silencer parked at his hip.

“This is my father, Kyle, and my mother, Rylie,” Presley introduced her parents, and it rubbed me wrong that she didn’t use their typical fake names, that he was safe enough to at least share that. Adrian shook their hands and smiled warmly .

“And of course, you know my uncle,” Presley introduced Scotty.

Presley moved over to her cousin, Carter, making small talk with Adrian when the boat started moving and the three of them made their way over to where the rest of the family was seated.

The warm spring air blew through my hair as I watched Presley place her hand inside of Adrian’s.

My heart twisted in my chest, but I remembered my brother’s words and tamped down any reaction.

“Mr. and Mrs. James, I just wanted to thank you for accepting today’s invitation and allowing me the opportunity to meet you. Carter, Scotty, same with you. I know you each hold such a significant place in Presley’s life, and I wanted to finally meet the people responsible for raising her.”

A muscle in Gio’s jaw feathered as Presley’s gaze landed on us as heavy as one of those weighted blankets we once tried using to build a fort. We were maybe six and seven, with no clue as to why that shit was so heavy. Convinced Pres that it had come from space.

The memory had me smiling, which had Presley tilting her head.

“We’re happy this worked out; we’ve heard so much about you throughout the year and Presley is gone so often visiting you. It only made sense that we finally made this happen.” Kyle smiled brightly at the mafia don.

Rylie gave him a fake smile while pushing her shades back into her hair. “Yes, although I’m curious how much Presley has told you about us. I’m worried you might have something built up in your mind.”

Adrian’s face flushed the smallest bit before taking a seat in one of the leather chairs. The boat was hitting some choppy waters, but we could barely feel a thing. The wind tossed Adrian’s hair back as Presley passed him to sit next to Carter, but he tugged her wrist and pulled her into his lap.

“Presley has told me that you’re all very close.

Rylie, she talks about how protective and funny you are.

She’s very grateful she has you. Scotty, she mentioned similar sentiments of you, that you’re tough but fair and would do anything for the people you love.

Carter, she's even told me about your parents, and how fond she is of your father, Decker, and mother, Mallory.”

Rylie’s countenance shifted the smallest bit with something that seemed like surprise. I was shocked too…she’d told him a lot. More than I expected of her with all her training.

Adrian’s finger skimmed Presley’s tanned thigh, and I nearly bit my tongue clean in half.

“What has she said about us?” I asked, giving the couple a beaming smile.

Adrian gave us more of a smirk than a real smile as he cleared his throat. “Brothers, I think…best way to describe it, although she mentioned you had a falling out of sorts, right? Which was why I was so surprised to see you arriving today.”

I opened my mouth, but it was Scotty who spoke up, surprising me.

“Can’t really have a falling out with family, not when they’re the closest people in your life. Gio and Kingston are just as much as family as I am or even her parents. Something you should know about her is they come as a package deal.”

Presley laughed good-naturedly, which had everyone else joining in, but I knew what Scotty was trying to warn. Her family would always be present, and taking her away from us wouldn’t end well for him.

“Should we swim?” Presley suggested, popping up out of his lap.

Carter jumped up, setting her drink down. Apparently, someone on the boat was making cocktails and she’d found one.

“Yes!”

Music played softly so it wasn’t obnoxious but still loud enough that it muffled conversations.

Scotty remained on the boat, with a hat on his balding head and a whiskey in his glass.

Rylie and Kyle were in the water, swimming, looking as in love and annoying as my parents always did.

Carter was on board, flirting with one of Adrian’s security team, and Presley was laughing… a fucking lot.

But it wasn’t the laugh that I knew. It was lighter, like she’d taken the tinkling sound she used to make, ground it into dust and that was what escaped her when she opened those lips.

It made me ache in an odd way. I felt something strange, as if I could capture the dust and hold it tightly enough to get her old laugh back.

I was sitting next to my brother facing the rear of the boat so we had a perfect view of everyone in the water.

My reason for sitting was the semi I was sporting due to Presley slipping out of her swim cover and revealing her body in a white bikini.

Her body had changed over the years. Every time she’d pull herself up on the ladder to the boat, her nipples would be hard and pushing against the fabric of her bikini top; the water glistening on her skin also made her chilled, and all I wanted to do was wrap her in a blanket each and every time she came up.

I also wanted to touch her and skim each place that looked different than before.