Page 13 of Rise of the King: Vol Two

I stretched, my stomach growling loudly again. “Or two, apparently,” I said, laughing.

He grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the kitchen. “Come, we got you Vinny’s.”

“This really is true love. It’s official,” I said, hugging him tightly as we walked toward the kitchen.

“Are you up for some company?” Adrik asked after I inhaled my sandwich.

“The guys are still worried?” I asked, smiling.

“All of them but Andrei. He’s probably got a new training plan made out for you already, but he does want to make sure you’re okay with everything before he starts it.” He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Bubba loves being my trainer. He’s good at his job too.” I smiled to myself thinking about Andrei being excited for starting new things in my training. “Tell them they can come over. I don’t want to be responsible for any of them sleeping poorly tonight.”

It wasn’t five minutes later and they all walked into the penthouse.

“You guys have been waiting for me to wake up, haven’t you?” I asked as they walked into the kitchen.

“Maybe,” Stephen said, wrapping his arms around my shoulders from behind. He squeezed my shoulders, surprising me by kissing my cheek. Stephen was the least affectionate of the guys, normally. He took a while to warm up to me, but it seems like since he was able to tell the guys what he’s been holding back all this time, he’s gotten more comfortable in his own skin. I was happy to see it.

“Did you eat yet, spider monkey?” Andrei asked.

“If by eat, you mean inhale, then yes. Yes, I did. My soul is now returning to my body,” I said, laughing. “I can already tell I’m going to be hungry again in, like, an hour.”

Adrik looked at me, smirking. “Told you you’d want to eat a house.”

“It’s a real thing,” Ivan said. “We’ve all been there.”

Viktor’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, looking at the number. He clearly didn’t recognize the number, so he stepped away to answer the phone.

“Super Squish, we should do your bandage while I’m awake and not eating. It’s a very small window today, we should take advantage,” I said. He nodded, laughing. He walked to the door to go get the bandage supplies from downstairs.

Viktor walked back toward where I was sitting, handing me the phone. “It’s Chen,” he said.

“Oh!” I took his phone and put it on speaker so they could all hear. “Chen, what’s going on, man?”

“Hey, my girl. Sorry I didn’t call yesterday like I said I would. I didn’t get done until super late and forgive me for not wanting to disturb your giant secretary at like 2:00 a.m.”

“No worries, Chen. He appreciates that. What did you find out?” I asked.

He sighed. “It’s interesting.” He paused, which made me look up at all the guys. “You know I told you one of my dealers works for Vito, right? Well, he didn’t know anything about it. He was also pissed off to find out they’re planning on trying to replace the entire supply with that shit. He won’t touch it either. That fool is hotheaded too. He was ready to shoot somebody when I talked to him last night. That’s partly why I got done so late. I was calming him down.”

“Thank you for not allowing him to shoot anyone last night. The public thanks you for your service, Chen,” I said, trying not to laugh.

He laughed on the other end. “I’m a public servant, Sephie. We know this.” More laughter. “So, then I go to my guy that works for Sal. I’m careful with both of them, like you can’t just come out and ask them what they know like you did with me. I hint around, trying to find out if he knows anything about brawn and that motherfucker thinks I know about the plan and he proceeds to talk about how fucked up the entire deal is.”

“So, the guy that works for Sal knows everything, but the guy that works for Vito doesn’t?” I asked.

“Right. The guy that works for Sal not only knows everything but they’re also getting a heads-up when it’s going down, so they know not to sell in Sal’s area of the city. He said they’re supposed to lay low for the weekend when it happens. Sal is paying them all to stay off the streets when it happens.”

“Does he know when it’s going to happen?” I asked. I glanced up to see if any of the guys had anything to add, only to find a sea of clenched jaws.

“He didn’t know. He just said they’ll get the word and then the next weekend they’re supposed to stay off the streets in Sal’s part of town. No selling anything in that part of town that weekend.”

“How good of a relationship do you have with this guy? Like, do you think he would tell you when he gets the word?”

“I mean, he already thinks I know about everything to begin with, so probably.”

I was quiet for a minute. “What about the guy that works for Vito and your other guy that works for the Colombian? Do you know how connected they are to other dealers in the city?”

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