Page 162 of The Book of Kings

I didn’t know what the fuck happened during their little field trip, but Bea was left all alone to come and meet with Ferris and me. We needed to establish our next step, knowing about the governor’s affinity forquality entertainment.

I could have always sent one of the strippers that worked at my clubs to do the job we planned and sneak inside his house in search of info, but Bea’s strong opposition to the thought stopped me. She considered no one could be trusted with such a sensitive subject, and was probably right.

Any leakage in our plan and we could all have been comprised — for good.

Even though I was against her going in, we didn’t have too many other options — except violence. So, despite what my instincts were telling me, I agreed to let her go on with the plan. Things were settled. Bea was supposed to be the bait, and we had the perfect way into the governor’s house — The Pleasure Room.

It only took me a few phone calls to find out what and how, and finally, a personal call to Vanya to set up a meeting between her and Bea as soon as possible. Vanya knew when to pick her fights and denying me a favor wasn’t one of them. Sure, she knew people, but so did I, and her running a business in Echo City was only possible under my protection. Itturned outshe had a gap in her schedule that very evening. Things were moving on fast forward from there on.

I asked Bea if she wanted me to join her when she visited Vanya, but she refused. She was acting off ever since she had returned from her weekend getaway. And that worked out perfectly for me. Her cranky attitude was smothering some of the useless emotions racing through my heart and was making it that much easier to give her up.

As if playing into my hands, herattitudedidn’t disappear along with hernewjob at The Pleasure Room. On the contrary, it got worse. I had to call her seven fucking times before she answered. And when she did, I could still feel the annoyance in her voice. ‘Yes, Brax?

‘Am I disturbing you?’ I asked, one second away from exploding.

‘I just got out of Vanya’s.’ That’s all I wanted to know — that she was done.

My temper was on the edge and it wouldn’t be satisfied until I would get to blow off some steam for the way she was treating me. I wasn’t Cole. And I wasn’t Ferris. She couldn’t pout her lips at me and make it all okay.

We needed to talk. And itneededto happen right then. Therefore, I decided to pick her up from Vanya’s.

The option of a refusal wasn’t on the list, and she knew it.

I did ask her a few questions about what went on at The Pleasure Room. She was about toreclaimher old job and go to the governor’s house in two days.

Something was unsettling about the thought of her going alone in there. And that’s exactly what made me insist on my initial offer. ‘Bea, I could ask one of the girls from my strip joints to do it.’

She didn’t seem too grateful about me trying to look out for her. ‘I bet you could....’ her voice sounded sarcastic.

And that made my self-defense mechanism instantly kick in, ‘What’s that supposed to mean!?’

‘What do you really want, Brax?’ her attitude wasn’t cutting me any slack, it was just like she felt I owed her something and not the other way around.

‘For you to show some fucking respect. That’s what I want!’ I groaned with such intensity that my driver jumped on the brakes.

‘Fucking drive!’ I ordered him, turning my attention back to Bea, ‘You know what’s your problem, Bea? You need to stop confusing sex with feelings. You’re too fucking naive for your own good.’

I had understood for a while what her mood was about — that night at the pool. But that didn’t mean I was falling for her drama. Things were simple. We had sex. Nothing more and nothing less. And nothing we hadn’t already done before.

Nonetheless, her words managed to cut deep within me. Sometimes the truth had that effect. What I felt for Bea wasn’t confusion. Confusion is when you don’t know what is happening to you. What I had with Bea was an internal war. I knew exactly what was happening. The same way I knew it was in my power to stop it.

‘Then maybe you should stop lying to me,’ she bit back her trembling lips, trying not to get too emotional on me.

‘I was fucking drunk. That’s why I said you’re naive. You need to stop believing in fantasies and take a good fucking look around. Survival, wealth, and sex. The existential impulses that make people change their entire nature to obtain them.’ I needed to get that message through to her. The same way, I needed to imprint it into my own conscience. There was no doubt about it. I had to do it at all costs. She needed to learn that whatever we had going on between us was far from being a love story. That’s exactly why I couldn’t let her return home.

Like a fucking dragon, my breath turned to steam the second my car stopped and I stepped out onto my club’s front sidewalk.

‘Get out of the car,’ I snarled, though without any effect. ‘I don’t want to drag you out. But you know I can do it.’ My hand stretched out towards her, ‘It’s either your hand or the back of your neck. You decide.’

I would have preferred the second option as I wanted her to feel the punishment for making me feelthings. She was raising emotions I couldn’t control, and I was using her attitude as an excuse to convince myself that she needed to lose all value in front of me so I could move on.

Bea was smart enough to take my hand and not provide me with an occasion to put on a public show. I had no problem doing just that if she wouldn’t agree.

I began walking the second we were out of the car and despite her complaining about not wanting to go into the room with the glass walls, I pushed the door wide open.

The second I decided we would spend the night at the club, I asked someone from my staff to replicate the main room, bringing a holstered table to my own chamber.

‘We’re going to play a game tonight. Kind of a mirror action.’ I caught her waist between my arms as she back melted on the curve of my chest.

---