A Captive Situation (Kings of New York)

Leaving Sawyer on my bed, panting, begging for it—it took every amount of willpower for me to walk away. Fuck. Fucking fuck. She undid me with just a look and a whimper, and how soaked she’d been for me. I didn’t know what I’d be walking into when I got back, but I needed space and I needed my head on straight again.

I needed to head this way anyway because at the end of the day, no matter how fucking hard my dick was, I still needed to find out who ordered the hit.

There was an underground tunnel that led to the basement of my uncle’s nightclub, Shivers.

It was a smaller club, but it was exclusive and had the reputation that it catered to any of their customers’ desires. When I’d been a cop, I stayed away. Because of that and because of the contract on my head, I was sneaking in through the back way, or the back back way. I knew the employees had no idea about this entrance. When I rounded into the basement, I waited, hearing voices coming from somewhere, pulling the door so only an inch was still open, enough where I could hear and they couldn’t see me.

It was a secret door.

“. . . did he say? We’re not supposed to be down here.” A girl was saying, hushed, but a breathless excitement in her voice.

“Why not? This place is awesome.”

That was a guy with her.

I didn’t recognize either of them.

The girl shuddered. “It’s a total sex dungeon feel down here.”

“Fuck yeah. That’d be awesome if Worthing turned this into that type of club. I bet his dumbass sons would be down for that.”

“Oh. Ew. Don’t mention either of them when we’re down here to do this.” The girl snorted, then moaned. “We need to hurry, Rad.”

“What do you think I’m doing here? Do me a favor and shut up.”noveldrama

She giggled before it ended in a sigh, a moan quickly following. “You’re so good at that.”

“Hmmm mmmm, babe.”

After that, sounds of groaning, moaning, and thumping went on for another five minutes before he groaned. He cursed, out of breath as she made some sort of hiccupping sound.

I fought against rolling my eyes. A hundred bucks she faked it.

“God, babe. That was amazing.”

Another wispy giggle from her. “I know. You’re going to call me after this, right?”

“What? Yeah. Sure. We gotta get out of here. We’re not supposed to be down here.”

Their voices were loud, passing. Footsteps sounded going up the stairs.

She replied, but I couldn’t catch it. Small blessings.

Their voices drifted, but I could hear him. “He’s not going to be happy, but this place could—” A door opened. The sounds of the club grew loud, then were muffled as the door must’ve closed.

I slipped out.

They’d left the lights on. I figured that’d get caught so I needed to move fast.

A second later, the door burst open.

I got to the room just beyond the stairway when heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs. “Jesus Christ, what did they d—” He got to the bottom when I moved in behind him, my gun pressed to his neck.

He froze.

I warned, “Don’t move.”

His hands went up, his entire body tense. At my words, he looked back. “Jake?”

It was Crispin Worthing. Overall douchebag. Meathead. Muscle-builder type that oozed sliminess. I detested him and his brother. Crispin and Penn. They were also my cousins.

Justin had been the fucking happy social butterfly golden boy. He spent time with them, but that’d been just who he was. He was good, and because he was so good, sometimes he only saw the good in others. I never knew why he bothered. I didn’t think there was any good in this dumbass or his brother. What Justin didn’t know, but I did, was that these two were enforcers for their father. He sent them out to intimidate, beat up, or execute who he said on his orders.

I shoved him forward, barking, “Move.”

“What?”

I raised the gun to his head. “I said move.”

His eyes were wide, staring at me with confusion before he began walking. “What are you doing, man? You have something to talk to the family about? You’re the head—”

“Shut the fuck up.” I shoved him forward.

“Hey, man. You don’t have—” He’d edged farther into the room, but his entire body tightened dramatically as a calculating expression came over his face.

He was going to try something so I reacted first, kicking him out from the back of his knees. “You never did learn how to fight someone who could fight back, did you, Crispin?”

He dropped. “Wha—ooh! What the fuck, Jake?”

I rounded on him, delivering a swift kick underneath his chin. It threw him backward, and when he didn’t move right away, I knew I’d winded him. I taunted him, “You and Penn. You’re both nothing except overgrown bullies. You probably think you’re so tough and badass, right? At the top of the food chain, except you’ve never gone against someone who could actually fight you. Look at you now.”

He tried sitting up, only to fall over.

He coughed, shaking his head, but he started to crawl away.

I let him go, enjoying this sight.

If it wasn’t him, if it wasn’t his brother, or his father, it was someone else in the family who’d sold me out. So yeah. I was going to relish this big hulking cousin of mine crawling to get away from me. The only problem was that I couldn’t let him get too far away. Where he went, his almost twin-like brother was sure to follow.

Putting my toe to his shoulder, I tipped him over.

“With the war against Walden and West, how did you and your fuck-buddy survive? Hmmm. You’re both beyond stupid.” I grunted as I stood over him when he went down. Rearing back, I punched down. Then I used the back of my gun to knock him out. It worked. I wouldn’t have long until he regained consciousness so I moved fast, hurrying upstairs to lock the door. My hand was smarting, but that’d been worth it too. I wasn’t sure when Penn would come looking for his brother, but I knew that he would.

I needed to move fast.

Searching through the basement, I hauled his ass into a room in the back, then up into a chair.

I cursed, panting a little. He was heavy. By the time I’d finished securing him, the music from upstairs burst down into the basement.

I cursed under my breath.

Someone else was coming down.

Grabbing a towel from my bag, I quickly tied it around his mouth.

Penn called out, “Crispin? Dude. You locked the door when you’re down here? What the fuck, man? Where are you? You getting your dick sucked or something? If so, uh . . . why didn’t you invite me? I’ve got like eighty texts from that blonde you bagged last night. She’s begging for some attention.” He was coming down the stairs as he talked.

I scanned the room. A tarp was rolled up on the side.

“Yo!” he called out again. A door banged open down the hall. A second later, another door banged open. He was going from room to room.

I knelt by the tarp and began to unwrap it. More doors were hit open. He was getting closer.

I used the tarp to cover Crispin on the chair. It wasn’t a great trap, but my cousins were not geniuses. It would work for what I had in mind.

I moved behind the door.

“What the fuck, man? Where are you?” He was outside this room.

I waited, holding up my gun once more.

A ringing filled the room, and I cursed under my breath. Of course he was going to call him.

“You in there? Huh?”

The ringing came from under the tarp.

He opened the door, letting it swing open. He stepped in, the hallway’s light hitting over Crispin before Penn’s shadow blocked him. “Dude . . . ?” He came forward another step, then stopped. He breathed deep. “Crisp? That you?”

The phone stopped ringing.

Penn was frozen, just inside the door. He wasn’t in far enough for me, and as his gaze was riveted on the tarp, his thumb moved on his phone. He pressed a button.

Crispin’s phone started ringing again.

Fuck’s sake.

One more step, dickhead.

He sighed, taking that last step. He took more, going all the way to Crispin and reaching for the tarp. “Is that—” He pulled it off. His phone clattered to the ground. He gaped at the sight of his brother all tied up and pretty where I’d left him. “What the fuck?”

I moved behind him, putting my gun to the back of his head. “On your knees.”

He tensed a half second before his head whirled around.

Nope. Shit. That wasn’t the move I wanted.

He snarled, a vicious look twisting on his face.

He went to lunge at me, but I ducked out of the way, coming up swiftly behind him. I delivered one hard kick to the back of his knee. He grunted as his leg folded underneath him. He went to the ground, but he wasn’t going to stay. He was enraged and Penn was like a bull, only seeing red. Or my murder.

As he moved to grab me, I pivoted, raising my hand up. Just as he reached for me, I brought down the back of my gun, using all of my body weight behind my hit. It held enough of a punch to make him see double.

I swore. This cousin wasn’t going down.

Sweat rolled down my back, and I cursed again because I didn’t have more in my tank for a knockout hit. Eyeing him warily, there was another way, but I didn’t want this asshole to bite me or stab me. I also needed to put down my gun for it. Saying a little prayer to my previous wrestling gods that helped me make all-state, I made a move, rolling both of us. It knocked him over, but I went with him, coming out with one of his hands twisted around and my legs wrapped tight around his neck.

He couldn’t bite me. And as I began squeezing his neck, he began thrashing around. His legs kicked. I grunted from the force it was taking to keep him in the hold. His free hand tried hitting at me, but it was only landing on my thigh. He began flailing behind him, looking for a weapon.

I cursed, seeing I hadn’t left my gun out of reach. I didn’t like risking making a move without it, but I also knew he would’ve grabbed it if it was on me.

God.

He kept fighting.

I squeezed harder.

He landed a few punches before his body went slack.

Finally. Fuck! Breathing hard again, I let him go and his unconscious body slumped out of my hold.

I pressed two fingers to his carotid, and relief went through me. He still had a pulse, so I hadn’t killed him. But then there was the dilemma of what to do when he woke up.

I gave the room another scan.

There were no more chairs.