Page 21 of Dark King (Advantage Play 2)

Licking my lips, I ask, “What do you mean interrogation?”

“Kingston specializes in getting information from people. He can pull anything out of anyone. And he does it slowly and with as much pain as possible. Hell, you’ve seen it. He can read people like a fucking book and knows when they’re hiding something. If he thought Jack was sniffing around you too much or was too curious about you or what our family does, he’d take him in and start asking questions, and it wouldn’t be pretty.”

My breathing quickens, but I try to control it by forming a small ‘O’ with my mouth and releasing the pent-up oxygen slowly.

“Do I need to be worried?”

“Only if you see Kingston pull out a knife,” D jokes, turning on his blinker and pulling onto a side road close to home.

My blood turns to ice as I try to connect the man I know and am falling for with the guy D just described while ignoring the business card that feels like a ticking time bomb.

“Noted,” I choke out.

We spend the next ten minutes in a quiet standoff because I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to think. I’m not sure I really know anything anymore.

With a heavy silence in the car, D asks, “Why are you being so quiet?”

Why am I being so quiet? Because I’m freaking out! That’s why!

Desperately, I search for an explanation that would dismiss my weird behavior.

Shrugging, I reply, “I don’t know. I guess I’m just a little surprised, that’s all. King has always seemed so…not what you described.”

“That’s because you’re you. Kingston is softer around you.”

I laugh, awkwardly. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Normally, it isn’t,” he consoles. “But when dealing with Burlone, we need ruthless Kingston. We need the one who can think outside the box and bring him down without worrying about what his girlfriend thinks.”

“Girlfriend?” My voice cracks, but he waves me off.

“You know what I mean.”

Digging my teeth into my lower lip, I look out the window because honestly? I don’t really know what to say to that.

“Would it bother you if ruthless Kingston came out to play?” he presses. “If you knew he was only doing it to protect you?”

I think about the Kingston I know. The one who gives me soft kisses and makes me homemade pasta when I’m feeling down. The one who brought me into his home and gently took care of my bumps and bruises. But then I picture Burlone and his ruthlessness, making me squirm in my seat at the memory. I can’t be like my mom and wind up with the wrong guy. Then again, I just don’t see any similarities between the two.

“I don’t know,” I reply honestly.

“Well, you better figure it out, Ace, because we need the Dark King. And we might need you to pry it out of him if he keeps fighting his instincts when he’s around you.”

Chapter Eleven

Kingston

The email from Burlone is enough to snap the last of my restraint. It’s one week until the tournament, and I can’t believe he’d pull this shit. As I scan it for the thousandth time, my eyes glaze over the picture of my half-naked sister along with four other innocent girls. I pick up my phone and dial Lou.

His voice crackles through my cell. “Yeah, Boss?”

“Did you see the email?” I growl, my knuckles turning white.

There’s a heavy silence for a split second before he murmurs, “Yeah.”

“Have you tried tracking it so we can get a better idea of everyone who’s going?”

The sound of fingers touching a keyboard greets me before it stops, and Lou answers, “Yeah. I’ll send you the list right now.”

---