Page 4 of It Destroys Me

Astrid’s eyebrows rose up her face. “So you’ve known each other for like twenty years?”

“More like thirty,” Axel said.

“We lost touch for a while,” I said. “But we found each other again.”

“Why did you lose touch?” Astrid asked.

“I was expelled.”

Now Scarlett looked surprised. “For what?”

“Drugs. Alcohol.” I took a drink of my scotch. “Shit like that.”

Astrid continued to stare at me in disbelief. “You don’t seem like you’d have been a troubled kid.”

Axel released an unrestrained laugh. “You know he’s the Skull King, right?”

“But you don’t seem to have that role because you’re lawless and unhinged,” Astrid said. “But because you have the command and power to maintain the position. Because you’re smart and resourceful.”

I showed no reaction to that, but the compliment did mean something to me.

Axel leaned toward me and covered his mouth while pretending to drink. “She wants your dick, man.”

I ignored him. “My parents raised us to be academic douchebags, but they took it to the extreme. Our days were packed with tutoring and activities, and we were the first ones to church every Sunday. Killian and I were more interested in hunting for truffles with our dogs, being outside in nature, and getting our hands dirty with earthworms. I guess they expected us to grow out of it, but we never did. They never supported our hobbies unless they were scholarly. Ripped up our comic books and shoved textbooks down our throats. It made me hate school with every fiber of my being. Killian too. They put us in the same private school that Axel attended, and that’s how we met up.”

Astrid listened without blinking, fully absorbed in my story. “How’d that go?”

I gave a shrug. “I got expelled for having sex in the bathroom, and then Killian just left school and never went back. My parents were ashamed of us and kicked us out. We got by with a series of odd jobs. Killian was selling weed on the street. After a couple years, I tried to make up with my parents. Became a cop so they would see that I’d cleaned up my act, but the damage was done.”

“You were a cop?” Astrid asked in surprise.

I nodded. “That’s why I don’t let my guys cross the police. We have an understanding. The job wasn’t for me, but I respect the officers who protect the civilians of my city. I don’t consider myself a criminal because I don’t involve the innocent, just a businessman who has to break a couple laws to get paid.”

“And we reconnected again after I went to prison,” Axel said. “Guess who was the only one who knew I was innocent?”

“You went to prison?” Astrid asked.

“He was falsely convicted,” I said. “I was able to use my contacts at the police force as well as my people in government to dramatically reduce Axel’s sentence. And that was how he got in the game.”

“I lived an upstanding life,” Axel said. “Played in the orchestra, was the president of the chemistry club, blah, blah. And you know what happened? My parents turned their backs on me when I was completely innocent. That’s when I realized there’s no such thing as right and wrong. There’s only smart and not smart.”

“I helped Axel get started, but he did the rest on his own,” I said. “I took over the Skull Kings when my predecessor was shot. We keep our relationship private because you never know how someone might turn it against us.”

“Theo has been the brother I’ve never had.” Axel clapped me on the shoulder. “The only family I’ve ever really had.” He looked at Scarlett. “Except for my hot-as-fuck wife and the babies she gave me.” He looked at her across the table with playful affection in his eyes.

Scarlett tried her hardest not to melt, but she was like a pat of butter in a hot pan.

The waitress came over with our entrees and placed the dishes in front of us. “Freshly grated Parmesan?”

“Sure,” Axel said. “That’s good shit.”

Scarlett still looked smitten with him despite the crass thing he’d just said.

When I looked at Astrid across from me, her eyes were glued to mine, staring at me like I was a portrait or a vase of flowers on the counter. Looking at me like she somehow wouldn’t get caught. Her eyes were beautiful in the light of the chandelier and the white candle on the table, delicate but strong, a spark from the fire she used to have.

I refused to look away first. In some ways, I treated my women the way I treated my enemies, refusing to stand down for a moment, forcing them to back off because I wouldn’t give in. I did the same with her. Eye contact was intimate, something that could only be maintained between lovers or enemies. It required a quiet confidence most people didn’t possess. But she held my look longer than most, didn’t flinch at the intensity that was so palpable it was like smoke in the lungs. Then she caved, focusing her stare on her food.

“This is good,” Axel said with a mouth full of food. “But yours is better, baby.”

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