8. CHAPTER 8

8

KAI

Sitting across from Jules on the sofa, my eyes do a tour of his strong form. I’m honestly surprised his arms haven’t burst out of his shirt with how obscenely it stretches across his body. Tight and muscular. When I was younger, I was in awe of his body and strength, and it was what motivated me to get in shape as I got older. I fantasized frequently about those strong arms holding me down as he destroyed my body. I wonder if his skin tastes sweet or salty?

“Kai, you okay?” Jules asks, abruptly removing me from the sexy dream world I was just in. I need to get a hold of this crush before I lose him. After that intense eye contact in my room, I’m pretty sure he can read the crush I have on him all over my face. I never could hide my emotions. For a brief moment I thought he was feeling it too. Wouldn’t he break eye contact if he was straight? Or was he staring me down? Most likely I’ve made this up in my head because I’m tragic.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m just tired.”

“I get it. You’ve had a lot of changes today. But we need to talk about what we do here. Lev and Dima run a business that puts them in danger, and we need to make sure they’re protected at all costs.”

“What kind of business?”

“Drugs. Lev and Dima are dangerous men, Kai. If you fall out of line, you don’t want to end up on their bad side, or even worse, in their holding pen. Loyalty is the code you must live by, in order to be in this family. You follow that, then you’ll have a family that would kill in your honor. Do you understand?”

“Hold on. You work for drug lords?”

Jules sighs like he’s dealing with an idiot.

“Not that dramatic. They have crews around the city with their own patches that they run. We just make sure no trouble spills out into other territories and that the brothers are safe.”

Is he for real right now?!

“Fucking hell. You and Mom lectured me on life and the trouble I could get into. And your answer is to bring me into a drug cartel? Are you fucking serious?”

I’m shaking in anger, and I’m half tempted to jump over and punch Jules in his gorgeous face.

“This is different.”

“How the fuck is this different?” I yell, and stand to hover over him. Is he actually giving me shit right now?

“Calm the fuck down, Kai, and watch your tone,” Jules warns as he stands to his full height to stare me down.

“Or what?”

“Or he’ll put you in your place,” a voice that’s not Jules comes from the other end of the room. A tall guy with black hair who looks like a damn model scowls at me as he prowls over.

“I got this, Simon,” Jules says to him. Simon. This must be the other guard Jules mentioned earlier.

“Simon, this is my nephew, Kai. Kai this is Simon, one of the other guards,” Jules says as he moves to stand beside me.

‘Step -nephew,” I say, but I have no idea why I feel that the statement is relevant.

“I don’t give a fuck if you’re his brother. You show some fucking respect in this house. You get me?”

Shit. This isn’t good, pissing people off before I’ve even started working. Simon’s eyes are literally piercing a hole through my skin, he’s seconds away from punching me in the face. But fuck, I hate being manipulated. Jules blindsided me, and I’m not okay with it.

“I get it. But he lied to me,” I say in defense.

“I didn’t lie. We are technically security, I just didn’t tell you who we worked for. You were upset, and I thought it would be best to be honest when you had a chance to come to terms with leaving home,” Jules says.

“You can paint it however you like. You manipulated me into coming here by hiding the facts. Not to mention what a hypocrite you are,” I say, and stomp out of the room toward my bedroom before either have a chance to respond. Slamming the bedroom door behind me, I deflate. Yep. I’m definitely living up to the child image that my mom and Jules have accused me of.

I fall back onto the bed and stare at the ceiling before grabbing my phone from my back pocket and doing a quick internet search on the Kozlov brothers. I regret it almost instantly. The guys are for sure hot as fuck, but damn, do they look sinister. Especially Lev. He looks like the kind of guy who would enjoy fucking you up. Of course he would . They’re criminals. Not that I can find anything about their dodgy dealings online. All I can see is that they own a strip joint, Desire, and a cabaret/burlesque bar called Starlight. I scoff to myself. Both businesses are obviously fronts for their shady dealings.

My phone chimes and another text from Jez appears. Could today get any worse ?

J: Zac is pissed. He says you’re not to come back here, or he’ll kill you. You’ll get no help from me, Kai. Consider yourself an enemy if you step a foot back into town.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Death threats? What about my mom? The assholes can’t mean it, they do some shitty things, but they aren’t killers. The term I’m damned if I do, and damned if I don't comes to mind. As if the threat of the Kozlovs and potential threat of Zac isn’t enough, my bedroom door flies open, nearly coming off its hinges. Jules stands there, his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths, his eyes honed in on me. I’ve never seen him look this angry before, especially at me.

“Get up,” he growls, his voice all gravelly and hoarse. Threatening. So why the hell is my dick responding?

I rush up to my feet and stand, awaiting whatever fate has in store for me.

“Come here.”

Slowly, I walk over to him until we are just a foot apart. How can I be so scared and excited at the same time?

With lightning fast speed he grabs me by the throat and slams me back into the wall next to the door. Dizziness takes hold from the force of the push, before the inability to breathe has me grappling at his hand to let go.

“Never question me or speak to me like that again in front of the others. You will do as you’re told, Kai. The brothers are not a joke. That so-called gang would’ve hurt you, or you’d be doing time. Here, you’re protected.”

“Jules, let go,” I rasp, still trying to free his hand from my neck. He loosens his fingers, but only slightly. I greedily swallow down the air that now fills my lungs like I’ve been submerged underwater. But fuck me is it a rush, adrenaline lights up my body, the feeling of freefalling from the sky takes me on a high that I’ve never experienced before. Oh my god, what’s wrong with me? Do I have a choking kink?

“Don’t make me do this again, Kai. Be good, and there will be no problems. No matter what you think, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“That’s rich. You don’t want me to get hurt, but you nearly just choked me to death.”

Jules pulls away from me and stares at my neck. His perusal lowers, and warmth blooms on the back of my neck as I realize what he’s staring at. I’m hard— a hard freak.

“Doesn’t look like I’ve hurt you from here,” he smirks, and goes to leave.

“Be out front in five; you’re meeting the brothers.”