The Penalty Box - Teagan Kade Page 0,35
hand, a quick review showing it’s a check addressed to me, the sum quite significant. I hold it up. “What’s this?”
“I need you to break up with Linnea. I don’t care how you do it only that she knows you’ll never be a thing, that it’s simply not going to work.”
Un-fucking-believable. I’m not going to back down. “So, let me get this straight, you’re trying to pay me off to stop seeing Linnea?”
He remains matter-of-fact. “And they say you Kings are all brawn and no brain.”
“You’re not helping your cause.”
His hand goes up again, head bowing. “You’re right. My apologies, but I’d think surely, a King such as yourself would see the opportunity here, make the smart business decision.”
I shake my head and shirt-front him, sensing him grow uneasy as I inch towards his ugly fucking face. I can’t see anything of Linnea in there. I’m not convinced they’re related, that something so perfect and good could come from something so rotten and vapid. “That says it all, doesn’t it? Your daughter, your own flesh and blood, is nothing but business to you.”
“She has to see what is right for the family, for the Marsden name. She has to think beyond her own interests for once. That’s her mother’s doing, mollycoddling her and telling her she can do whatever the hell she wants. Look what’s happened!” he fumes.
I shove him away, bodyguards creeping forward, and slowly, I tear the check into tiny pieces, letting them flutter through my fingers while I watch him. “That was more satisfying than you’ll know.”
He reaches up and hooks a finger into the collar of shirt, loosening it. “That’s it then.”
“That’s it,” I reply. “Take Dumb and Dumber there and get lost.”
He chews on that. I know he’s desperate to get the final word in, but voices outside make him turn and snap his fingers, his bodyguards falling in line as they exit.
The tension doesn’t ease when he’s gone. I wanted to tear more than that check up just now, but two-on-one wouldn’t have ended well. Rex? I don’t imagine that pearly skin of his has ever been broken.
He’ll be back. Guys like him aren’t thwarted that easily. He’ll look for leverage, a way to get under my skin. I just need figure out what that is before he does.
*
“He fucking what?”
Peyton is in a rage on the other side of the kitchen counter, storming behind Phoenix and Titus, the latter seems to find it all rather amusing.
Titus flew in this morning for a surprise visit. He left Maya back in Boston with Amelie, told us he couldn’t resist a short detour from his game in Washington to see the gang. It looks set to be another fleeting visit.
“And you tore this check up, right there in front of this dude’s face?” he confirms, clearly informed of the situation.
I nod from the other side of the counter. “Damn straight.”
The girls are busy with Linnea upstairs. I didn’t want to burden her with this. Not yet.
“What are you thinking?” asks Phoenix, taking a seat and tapping the countertop. “I could round up the Crestfall boys, go all Clockwork Orange on his ass.”
I shake my head. “No, nothing like that, but I think it’s best if I keep an eye on him, at least until Linnea and I are safely married.”
“We,” corrects Peyton, standing behind the other two, the three of them staring at me like strange baby birds. “We’re in this with you, brother. You fuck with one King, you fuck with all of us.”
“You sure about this?” I ask.
Peyton reaches past the other two, putting his hand out. “I’m in. Who else?”
Phoenix places his hand on Peyton’s. “Fuck yeah. I love a good showdown.”
Titus adds his. “What do you say, Nol? One for all and all for one?”
I place my hand on top. “All for one—always. Break.”
“Break,” the others add in chorus, our hands going into the air…
…Before we all fall into hysterics.
Titus is leaning on Phoenix’s shoulder. “Fuck me. That was some cheesy telemovie shit. Thank god I’m flying out tomorrow.”
“Real Mighty Ducks stuff,” adds Peyton.
“Let’s, ah, never do that again,” says Phoenix.
“Agreed,” I laugh.
“Agreed,” the others reply.
Phoenix stands, clapping his hands together. “Speaking of cheese, who’s up for one of my gruyere tarts?”
Titus puts his hand up. “I’ll take two.”
“What, nothing good to eat in Boston?”
He smiles. “The place is famous for baked beans, bro. I think that says it all.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
LINNEA
It’s been a whirlwind of a week, but now I’m here, standing