Axton Read online

  What he saw in Easton’s eyes shocked him.

  He was in pain.

  Easton was in a lot of pain.

  He’d not wanted Carla to die.

  What did he think would happen?

  The paramedics arrived, and still Taylor wouldn’t move. She kept trying to revive her.

  Removing his jacket, he wrapped it around her, and pulled her off, giving them room to do what needed to be done.

  They knew what had happened.

  That she wasn’t going to make it.

  Carla was dead before she’d even hit the water.

  Whoever had left her had clearly been in a hurry to dump her.

  Taylor was sobbing in his arms.

  He held her, hoping that he could take the pain away.

  Nothing would ever be the same, and in that moment, he knew, if Taylor ever found out the truth, she’d be his worst enemy.

  ****

  Present day

  Axton was typing away at his latest email when his door slammed open.

  “You piece of shit,” Catherine Riley said.

  It had taken her a week to realize that her tactics wouldn’t work on them.

  “I’m so sorry. She wouldn’t stop,” Taylor said. “I got a call from reception. She tried to stop her, but—”

  “I will not be stopped. You think I don’t know what you do, Axton. You think I don’t get how women are lured into your trap. To be part of the four kings and that’s how you bring them down.”

  Easton, Romeo, and Karson arrived.

  Taylor stood in his office, and he watched her nibble her lip. She’d done that so often in high school that for a split second he was drawn to the action. So unsure, so nervous, so worried. Was she concerned for him? For herself? Why would she be worried about herself?

  She had yet to pass another test.

  “You thought you could blackmail us into giving you what you wanted. You wished to have one of us fall for you so that you could sell our secrets to the highest bidder. The contract we have with Skye Adams doesn’t include you, and we’ve invested in her modeling company, and she doesn’t wish to work with you or be associated with you. She warned us about what you planned, Catherine, and that is not going to happen.”

  Skye Adams owned the agency that kept models on their books. She'd been working for a long time to get their investment. Part of the companies were in beauty products. It was a no-brainer to negotiate a contract for models to advertise their products. The Four Kings’ Empire had many different companies and crossed into a variety of organizations. The strength of their company was what made them unstoppable. So when the contracts had been close to being signed, Skye made him aware of Catherine’s ulterior motive, as she’d discovered the truth herself and was firing her.

  “You think I don’t know how your business got this far, Farris? I know. I know that you build this shit up on blackmail. Dangling little bones in front of people, waiting for them to take it like the loyal little dogs they are.”

  Axton raised a brow.

  “You cost me my job. Do you know that?”

  “Your boss didn’t want to have a slut working for her. A slut that was willing to sell her body at any cost.” He typed a few words into his laptop and brought up the footage. There in all of her glory. The night at the club. Easton deep inside her ass, her being butt-fucked and loving every second of it.

  Catherine’s grunts and begs filled the room.

  Her face went livid. “I will fucking end you for this. How dare you mess with me.”

  “If you think for a second of coming after me, go ahead. You never know whose hands this might fall into, Riley. You decided to come after me. Thought you could blackmail me. I will always win. Do you understand that?” Security was just behind her. “Take her and the next time she gets past you, you’ll both be out of a job.”

  “No, you cannot do this.” She turned and glared at Taylor. “You think working for him is the answer. He’ll find shit on you. Hold it over your head. It’s what he does. He takes lives. Fucks them, screws them up. We’re all just pawns in his game. Whatever secrets you’re hiding, he’ll find them.”

  Taylor stopped biting her lip, and before his eyes, he saw the confident woman in her place. The old Taylor was gone.

  Catherine kept screaming profanity about how he used people. How he had dirty secrets on everyone. He listened as she fell apart, all the while keeping an eye on Taylor. He’d seen the worry in her eyes when Catherine started to rant. Taylor was hiding something, but what? He’d find out what it was.

  He didn’t have much of a choice.

  “Well, that was pretty intense,” Easton said.

  “An interesting way to finish up that dealing, I tell you,” Karson said.

  “I’m so sorry. She just barged past the desk, and I couldn’t stop her,” Taylor said. “She clearly had something to say.”

  “That she did,” Romeo said. “Now that the excitement is gone, so am I.”

  One by one, they left, leaving just him and Taylor.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, once they were alone.

  “Yeah. She’s not the first woman to spew her hatred, and I doubt she’ll be the last.”

  “You don’t trust anyone.”

  He shrugged, placing his laptop down on the table. “Not a lot of people to trust in this world. They’re all after what they can get.”

  “Not all people are like that.”

  “I’ve yet to meet anyone who can change my mind.”

  She held her hands up in surrender. “I better get back to work.”

  He didn’t stop her as she left. Instead, he stood and watched the sway of her ass. The skirt hugged her hips and butt like a second skin. He wanted to run his hands all over it to feel her beneath him, to drive his cock so deep inside her that she couldn’t even remember her own name.

  With a raging hard-on, he went back to work.

  The rest of the day went by without much event. There were repercussions from Catherine’s outburst. He was contacted by three different papers about the stories she wanted to sell. He pushed some money their way and let them know exactly how dangerous the woman was. Catherine wouldn’t be able to come after them.

  By the end of the day, he was ready to head home, but he also had one more stop to make. King’s Ridge.

  There was a knock at the door, and he looked up to see Karson there.

  “What’s up?”

  “We’re heading to the club. Easton’s in the mood to party.”

  “Whenever we’ve had business like Catherine he always wants to party.”

  Karson glanced behind him and stepped into the office, closing the door. “I think this has to do with Taylor.”

  “What about her?”

  “Seeing her, he’s remembering Carla.”

  He clenched his teeth together. “Do you think we’ve got a problem here?”

  “I don’t know, but if he doesn’t lose that tension, he tends to do something stupid.”

  “I don’t have time for stupid. None of us do.”

  “Why don’t you come along? It’ll be good for all of us. You included.”

  “I have no desire to lose myself in some wasted pussy.”

  “Is that because the one you want is right outside this door?”

  Axton glared at him.

  Karson held his hands up. “I’m just speaking the truth. You can’t keep bottling this shit up. It’ll cause you more trouble.”

  “Why don’t you let me worry about the running of this company and bottling shit up while you handle Easton?”

  “He doesn’t need to be handled.”

  “I don’t need him spilling shit. Not now. We cannot afford a scandal, do you understand me?”

  “What happened to you, man?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You cut us off. All of us. We used to be a team, and lately you’re acting like you’re the only one that gets to make these decisions.”

  “Someo
ne has to take the lead.”

  “We’re all in this together. You can keep being the asshole or not. One way or another, we’re not going to split. You’ll always have us.”

  He watched Karson leave. The door remained open, and he caught sight of Taylor. She was shutting down her computer, her jacket and bag already on. She leaned over the desk to move something. Her shirt and jacket fell open, revealing her cleavage. His cock hardened once again.

  Whatever happened, he’d need to find a woman soon otherwise he was going to fucking lose it. Just watching Taylor bend over, or twist this way, just staring at her seemed to turn him on.

  He wasn’t some punk-ass boy.

  He was a full-grown man.

  He shouldn’t be losing it at the sight of a woman.

  She looked up as Easton, Romeo, and Karson passed. He saw her say goodbye to them before looking back at the computer.

  The next test had already been sent to her. When she got home this evening, it should be waiting for her.

  His friends thought he was insane for doing these tests, but they weren’t designed for playing around. He needed to know the loyalty of the men and women around him, especially those that were close.

  Leaving his office, he closed and locked the door.

  Even though she had a reasonable explanation and he’d loved every second of holding her, of seeing her eyes dilate, and her nipples tighten, he still didn’t trust her.

  “You’re leaving early,” she said.

  “I’ve got shit to do.” He stopped at her desk. She’d plugged some earphones into her phone, and he saw a song playing but didn’t catch the title or artist. “Your work has improved.”

  She chuckled. “I thought you’d go at me with your red markers again. You know, crossing everything out. Like a teacher.”

  “I expect excellence.”

  “I accept that,” she said.

  “I was being a dick.”

  “That’s what you said, not me. Besides, there were errors to be found. It’s perfectly acceptable for you to pull me up on it.”

  “Come on, I was being a dick, you know I was.”

  She groaned. “I’ve been in this job a couple of weeks now. Please, don’t try and tempt me to put my foot in it. I rather like working here.”

  “It’s a great place to be.”

  “You’ve really made this something. I can see why you’re the best at what you do. You’re also looking into apprenticeships as well, right?”

  “I am,” he said. It was common knowledge. He’d been approached by several schools who’d asked if he was interested in funding students who not only showed the most promise but also willing to extend into allowing them to work from the ground up.

  After a long talk and debate with his partners, they’d all agreed to do it.

  “I think that’s pretty good.”

  “Did you have an apprenticeship?” he asked.

  “I’m sure you’re not interested in learning about me.”

  “I am.”

  “Oh, well, yes, I did. It helped me a lot. I’ve worked for companies that were a lot smaller but still competitive and rather cutthroat. It has been a lot to learn.”

  “Did you always want to be in business?”

  She shook her head. “Am I being interrogated?”

  “Sorry. I just … we don’t really know each other. I feel we should.”

  “There’s not much to know about me,” she said.

  He gazed down her body. “I think there’s plenty.”

  She took a deep breath, letting out a little laugh. “Well, I better get going.”

  “You’re not going to tell me anything? Something new?”

  She blew out a breath, and he saw her thinking. “I don’t like peas.”

  “I meant something I didn’t know.”

  “You knew I don’t like peas?”

  “I knew.”

  “How?”

  “I have my ways.”

  “And that is not creepy at all. Goodnight, Axton.”

  He watched her go.

  Pulling out his cell phone, he brought up the security feed within the building and stared at her in the elevator. What was it that made him doubt her?

  Was he just being paranoid?

  Other than sitting behind his desk that day—and he was sure she’d gone through his files as well—he didn’t have anything.

  Nothing on her.

  He just suspected everything.

  She left the elevator as it got to the ground floor. He waited in his spot as she climbed behind the wheel and took off out of the building. Nothing happened that would give him cause to doubt, and yet, here he stood, doubting, once again.

  She knows something.

  He’d find out.

  No doubt about it.

  People always made a mistake, and he was a master at finding out what their secrets are.

  Pocketing his cell phone, he made his way to his own car. He drove the same car now as he did when he’d been eighteen years old. He could afford something new, a better model, but he was a little old-fashioned. He didn’t wish to part with this car. It was his baby and had gotten him through a great deal.

  Driving out of the city, he kept to the main road, heading toward King’s Ridge. The drive was a long one, but he didn’t mind it. He certainly wouldn’t call ahead to alert the old fucker to what was going on.

  Putting on the radio, he listened to the music and the incessant chatter of people going back and forth. All boring bullshit. All of it life that he had no desire to know about.

  He took a quick stop for a piss and a cup of coffee, heading on the road for the last couple of hours.

  Arriving in King’s Ridge, passing the parking lot that headed out to the lake, he stopped, did a quick turn, and pulled back up.

  He stopped his car, climbed out, and walked the short distance toward where the campfires used to take place.

  The last he heard the town didn’t allow any of the student bonfires anymore. They’d been deemed too dangerous and so had been stopped. The town had to be seen for helping their children.

  The fire had nothing to do with Carla.

  “Carla, what did you do? Come on, Carla.”

  Taking a deep breath, he looked out to the lake. “I’m sorry.”

  Clenching his hands into fists, he knew it was all pointless. Shaking his head, he walked away from the lake. That was the first day he’d been back to the lake since that night. He’d never gone there again.

  Once he was in his car, he didn’t make any unnecessary stops and arrived at home. It was no surprise to him that his mother’s car wasn’t in the driveway. After the scandal had broken, his father suffered a heart attack and so had no choice but to have ’round the clock care. Since he’d been that way, with a nurse attending to all of his needs, Axton had seen a marked improvement in his mother. She stopped drinking, stopped the drugs, and now did a great deal of charity work at the school.

  Entering his home, he went straight to the old man’s office, which had been converted into a bedroom.

  Leaning against the doorway, he saw the nurse trying to feed him, but his father wasn’t having any of it.

  “Fuck off. I can feed myself.”

  “I’ve been told that you throw it away, Mr. Farris, please,” the nurse said.

  “I’ll deal with it,” Axton said.

  His father glared. “You get the fuck out. Get out.”

  “He has these episodes of anger. I know it’s tough. Go and have a break. I’ll deal with this.”

  The nurse looked at him like he was saint or something. Waiting for her to leave, he closed the door and turned to face his father.

  “Come to see how long I’ve got until I die?” Benjamin asked.

  “Not long, I imagine. Not if you keep treating the nurses like shit. I’d smother you with a pillow, say you suffocated.”

  “You took everything from me, boy,” he said. “You’ve got some nerve coming around here.”
/>   Axton snorted. “Please, deep down inside you’re proud. I did to you what you did to Grandpa. You outgrew him. I did the same with you.”

  “You think you’re ready for everything the Four Kings’ Empire is.”

  “I took what you made, and now it’s three times the company you had.”

  “But is it as good?”

  Axton sat in the chair opposite, resting his head on his hand and staring at his father. “Tell me what happened the day of the bonfire ten years ago.”

  Benjamin burst out laughing.

  “This is priceless. You’re coming to pester me about a time so long ago.”

  “She was pregnant,” Axton said.

  “Ah, yes, pregnant. Trash as well. Her parents were not worth being mixed with the Longs. You know what happened on that night so long ago. Why the sudden interest?”

  “No concern of yours.”

  “You know, Axton, this power play that you’re going through, it’s not going to last.”

  “It’s not?”

  “You see, the kind of power you have, you don’t know how to deal with it. You’re just a boy.”

  Axton got to his feet, grabbing one of the needles that was on the tray that the nurse left near the bed. “You didn’t see it coming, did you? The takeover, the scandal. All these years you’ve been pissed about what I did. You don’t even realize I’d been planning it for a long time. Longer than that night. Killing Carla Smith didn’t set off your downfall, Dad. Your downfall began the day you threatened me.”

  With that, he plunged the needle into Benjamin’s skin and watched as his father slowly fell asleep.

  ****

  “Everything is going fine, Paul. You really need to stop worrying,” Taylor said. “You’ve not heard anything from him since that day. Please, stop.”

  “I care about you, Taylor. I think this has gone too far for all of us.” She heard him typing away. “I mean … we don’t know for sure they were involved. This scandal regarding the fathers, I mean, if you look at it, it’s just too much for words. Extortion, blackmail all that stuff.”

  “Will you do me a favor?” she asked.

  “Along with the list of stuff you want to know?”

  “A woman came into work today. Catherine Riley, I believe her name was. I’d like you to find out everything we need to know about her.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of some of the stuff she said, and Axton was pissed about her.”