Page 51 of Damon

“No, of course not. I’ve been busy. Sorry. I’ll make sure it gets done.” I felt the weight of Rebel’s glare boring into my back. I so did not need this shit right now.

The gangster took a few menacing steps toward me, twirling the knife in one hand. “I’m a busy guy too. Too busy to be chasing your ass around. You really don’t want this to happen again. Do the job.”

Keeping a watchful eye on the ladies, Rebel stepped up beside me, presenting a united front, even though we were anything but. “I don’t think that will be a problem,” he said. “I’ll make sure it gets done.”

A muscle in my jaw twitched. I didn’t need him to speak for me. Acting like he was my babysitter. He was undermining me in front of these assholes.

“Three days,” the gangster said. Without another word, he and his friends faded back into the darkness as quickly as they had come.

Rebel nodded toward the cars. “Give us a minute please, ladies.”

Athena hesitated, glancing to me uncertainly. I nodded, handing her the keys to my car. I braced myself, fully expecting Rebel to be a complete dick. Although I wasn’t in the mood for his shit, I also knew that I needed to keep the peace. For Athena.

When they were both safely inside our vehicles, Rebel turned to me, anger flashing through his eyes. “Care to tell me what the fuck that was all about?”

“Wasn’t it obvious? When I was locked up, their leader approached me with a job. He didn’t give me a choice. I have to take someone out for him.” I shrugged as if it were no big deal.

“Then get it done. We don’t need shit like this interfering in our business or threatening our women.” Rebel clenched and unclenched his fist.

“I was trying to lay low in case the cops were watching me,” I explained, not sure why I gave a shit what he thought. “I’ll take care of it.”

“You fucking better. I gave you and Noah a chance by bringing you into the Kings. Don’t make me regret that more than I already do.” Without another word, Rebel stalked off toward his car, leaving me standing there silently fuming.

I didn’t need to answer to him. The only thing that mattered was Athena. I would do the job to keep her safe. After that, I would be done with the Kings. This wasn’t the right time to say so which was why I kept my mouth shut. I would give Noah a heads up before telling the rest.

I already knew I didn’t belong with the Kings. Rebel had made it abundantly clear that he felt the same way. The sooner I cut ties with them the better.

CHAPTER THIRTY

ATHENA

“We really don’t have to go if you’d rather not. I’m sure it’s the last place you would like to be right now.” I glanced up from my vanity mirror, my mascara wand in hand.

Damon lay sprawled across my bed. He scrubbed a hand over his stubble covered jaw and sighed. “No worries, muffin. I know you want to go be with your friends one last time before summer ends. I’ll be fine.”

After the incident at the movie theatre, I felt bad for dragging Damon along to a graveyard party. Summer was winding down fast now. It was likely to be the last one of the season. I wanted to be there with my friends while I still had the chance. There were two jobs I was torn between. If I chose either one of them, I would be starting work soon, and this would all come to an end.

The unspoken conflict and tension between Damon and Rebel at the movie theatre had been palpable. I didn’t want to force him into an awkward situation by dragging him along to the party. Although there would be plenty of people there and he had no obligation to spend any time with Rebel.

Damon didn’t want to be part of the Graveyard Kings. This had all been forced on him. When he mentioned cutting ties with them completely, I’d been nothing but supportive, even though it worried me.

The Kings were a powerful force in this city. Being part of them was far more beneficial than being on the outside. However, I knew that he had to do what he felt was best for himself just as he’d encouraged me to do.

Turning back to the mirror, I finished doing my makeup before running my brush through my hair. “We don’t have to stay long if you’re not feeling it. I just want to hang out with the girls for a bit and have a drink.”

“It’s all good, Athena. I want you to spend time with your friends. I’ll manage to keep myself busy. Noah will be around. I can annoy him and Dom. Lord knows they’ve done it to me enough times.” Rolling over onto his side, Damon watched as I carefully brushed out my long brown locks. “Goddamn, you are sexy as hell.”

A blush warmed my cheeks. The last few weeks with Damon had been nothing short of amazing. We’d found our groove together. Falling into a comfortable state. Unable to be apart for long. We had a hard time keeping our hands off one another.

The only thing ruining the bliss was this horrible job he still had to do. A job we were reminded about in an ugly way last night at the movies. I still didn’t know how Damon had managed to stay so calm and collected while surrounded by gang members. I was ready to pee myself.

We both knew that he had to take care of it right away. On one hand, I was looking forward to having the job be done. To be free of it so we could really step into our future together. At the same time, I was terrified something would go wrong. What if he got caught?

“You’re pretty damn sexy yourself.” I flashed him a flirtatious smile. “I’m pretty sure we have time for a quickie.”

“A quickie?” Damon shook his head. “That’s not good enough for my girl. Let’s take our time. We’ll get there when we get there.”

After a delicious romp that left my freshly brushed hair disheveled, we finally made our way to the party. The sun had already set. Small lanterns littered about the graveyard provided a soft orange glow. Already it was packed with people.