Page 60 of Kings & Carnage

Water dripped down her arms as she covered her face with her hands. "He's working at St. Andrew’s.”

"Is that… a church in town?” I asked.

She peered through her fingers. "You're kidding right?”

"I'm obviously missing something here," I said.

She dropped her hands back into the water. "St. Andrew’s is the sex club in town.”

I shook my head. "Okay, I feel like I'm missing a lot of somethings now. There's a sex club in town? And it's called St. Andrew's? And your brother is working there?”

"Yes to all of the above.”

It took me a minute to connect the name of the club to the BDSM prop of the same name and I immediately conjured an image of the X-shaped piece of equipment used to strap someone down for fun and games.

Witty for a small town like Blackwell Falls, especially given the local conservative Catholic population.

I hoped they’d never gone to St. Andrew’s to pray.

"How did I not know there was a sex club in Blackwell Falls?" I asked.

"Probably because the Kings want to keep you all to themselves," Claire said.

I couldn't argue that point.

"Why is your brother working there?" I asked. "Or do I not want to know?”

"It's just business," she said. "He's notworking thereworking there.”

"Got it," I said.

Our families liked to pretend like there were differences between them, but one thing was true of all of them — they were into all kinds of shit.

It didn't matter if it was the Italians, the bratva, the cartels, or the Irish — they all had controlling interests in everything from restaurants to finance companies to strip clubs.

And yes, sex clubs.

I grinned at Claire through the steam. “I guess it'll only be weird for you if you show up at St. Andrew’s.”

"That's the thing," she said. "Everybody goes to the Spring Fever masquerade at St. Andrew’s. It's a tradition! Now I have to decide if I'm still going to go even if it means running into my big brother.”

"Yikes," I said.

“Exactly."

Just a few months ago, I’d thought the strangest thing about Blackwell Falls was that Aventine, a private college for the kids of Mafia families, was the strangest thing about it.

Now I was starting to feel like it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Chapter30

Willa

Iwas lying on the couch, my head in Oscar's lap, my feet across Rock’s thighs, when I decided to make my move. It had been a week since Claire's visit and I'd been angling for the right moment to mention school to the Kings.

We'd just finished a two-episodeLove or Moneybinge and the Kings seemed to be relaxing into the safety net provided by Rafe and his men.

Plus, school started next week, so it was kind of now or never.

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