Wicked Games by Jarica James

Otsana

One Month Later

The guys had gone ahead with moving my shop the moment I agreed. I’d call it coercion since they got me to say it during some mind blowing sex, but I’d pick my battles. This time.

The building next to Joe’s was perfect and now held a large Gamester’s Paradise sign in front. Inside, they’d gutted the place and hired an interior designer and renovation team to help me make it perfect. We’d over doubled our inventory, had weekly events, and had a team of staff that worked the front. Dani worked randomly when she was bored, but Gabe handled most of the business with me now. It took a bit of convincing, we’d scarred the poor guy a bit, but he knew the Adrostos had men here for protection. We both had an office in the back and the Adrostos younger cousins filled in a lot of the staff. But even if they were younger, they still had a gun on their hip and years of experience on their side. For once, I felt safe in my shop, thanks to the extra people and Joe’s intense surveillance.

A knock on my office door had me looking up. “Hey Sana, are you busy?” I grinned up at my friend Gabe, beckoning him to take a seat. Knowing his sweet tooth, I pulled out my bowl of candy and plopped it on the desk. He smirked and grabbed out a chocolate bar before sitting in his seat.

He’d come a long way from the quiet guy who’d come in after work to get his games. Now he was someone special to me, and unfortunately, we’d dragged him into our lives. Which also meant right into danger sometimes.

Gabe looked thoughtful for a moment. “So, I was thinking. We stopped doing our game nights after we moved shops. How do you feel about doing another one? If we have the funds, we could even get some board games and have monthly game nights to bring in a bit more revenue.”

My smile was immediate. He was a natural at this stuff. “That’s genius. We’ve been a bit slower lately and I think this might be just what we need.”

He blushed and grinned, his adorable innocence shining through. “Thanks, Sana. Not just for giving me chances like this, but for bringing me into the shop at all. It really changed my life. I was miserable before,” he admitted. “That job was killing me slowly and I had no one in my life. But here I feel like I’m part of something.”

“You are. You’re part of our Family now, Gabe,” I promised. His smile widened even more at my words and he rushed around to hug me. I was surprised to find it wasn’t awkward, but comforting. He pulled away a moment later, eyes excited until I spoke again. “I actually wanted to talk to you about something.” Despite my voice being breathless with laughter, he still looked worried.

“Oh? Well, let’s hear it.” His attempt at nonchalance failed miserably.

“So, with everything going on with the guys and me... I just want to have a backup plan in place. I’ll have to start the process, but Gabe, I want to sign the shop over to you,” I explained. He blinked at me like I was speaking a foreign language, but I wasn’t backing down. “Dani isn’t the right choice. And Gabe, you love this shop like I do. I think you’ll be amazing. And we aren’t just going to leave you high and dry, it’ll still have the Adrostos here as investors and it won’t be right away.”

He finally found his voice. “Okay.” The one word answer left me as speechless as he was before. His face was no longer shocked or worried, but confident.

“Okay?”

He nodded. “Okay, I’ll do it. I won’t let you down.” His voice was so full of determination that I knew he’d give everything he had in him to make this work. I stood up and it was my turn to hug him.

“Thanks, Gabe. You don’t know how much of a relief that is,” I breathed out, feeling like a huge weight was off my shoulders.

“You’re welcome,” he beamed back. I swear that man was like my own personal sunshine on a rainy day, the little brother I never had.

He ran off without another word and I couldn’t take the smile off my face. But then in moments he was back, poking his head in and seeming concerned.

“Hey, someone is here for you, Sana. Says he’s Family.” I frowned at Gabe’s words. Surely Little Tony wouldn’t be stupid enough to show up at the store... right? Not after all he put me through.

Wrong.

When I walked into the front, there he was. The only thing that stopped me from shooting him in the face was how pretty my store was. A few of the Adrostos guys that were working for me, surrounded him. Andre, the most reliable of them, had his gun pointed at Tony’s face, waiting for my okay before taking him out. Thank fuck there weren’t any customers in the store at the moment. The fact that Gabe didn’t even react to the guns and intensity meant I’d officially corrupted him, which I felt terrible about.

“Give me one fucking reason,” I said, my voice icy and eyes narrowed. He let out a startled laugh, like he was surprised by my anger. The man was fucking delusional.

“I’m your future husband, that’s a big one,” he challenged. Dani walked in right at that moment, heading right toward him, her face a mixture of incredulous and amused.

“How can she be your wife… you couldn’t have kids. That’s kind of a requirement for furthering the bloodline.”

“Our bloodline would remain pure,” he said, like we were too fucking stupid to understand what he was saying.

“Queen, let me take the trash out?” Andre hissed through gritted teeth.

“She is not your queen!” Tony screamed, his face turning purple with rage.

“You can kick him out and remind him if he steps foot on property again, he’ll be shot on sight. But he’s not worth a Family war,” I explained. He fought to say more but Andre had pressed his gun into Tony’s cheek.

“Well, he definitely lost his mind,” Dani deadpanned. She jumped on the counter and watched as Andre and a few of the others dragged the creepy bastard out. If she had popcorn handy, I had a feeling she would have been popping it in her mouth as she gawked. Gabe was silently watching, his face appalled. But I was over it, more tired of all the bullshit than anything else.

“It wouldn't be the first time,” I muttered. Images of his previous rant in the Lachs’ basement flashed through my mind.

“So, what are you telling your guard dogs?” Dani asked. The way she raised an eyebrow made it clear she knew I wasn’t planning to tell them.

“That wouldn’t do any good,” I argued. “They’d kill him and we’d have a war on our hands. I’ve had enough dealing with our Family. Eros would try and come here himself.”

“Who is Eros?” Gabe asked. We both looked at him and blinked, unsure if we should tell him that much. But if I could trust my shop with him, I could give him something.

“Our grandfather. He’s a real asshole,” Dani finally admitted, before shrugging at my glare. “What? The guy already knows this much, what’s it gonna hurt?”

“Fair point,” I mused. “And my cousin was in here trying to lay claim to me. Couldn’t get much worse.”

“That’s… interesting. I don’t envy the life you live,” Gabe said, a slight hysterical edge to it.

“Oh, I promise you, it’s worse than you imagined,” I laughed. We looked up as the bell above the door rang and Andre walked in with a tray of coffee cups.

“He’s gone,” he reported, handing us our drinks. “We got these while we waited for him to drive off. Bosses are on their way.”

I groaned. “Thanks, Andre.”

“On the bright side, at least there’s no secrets between you?” Dani offered, earning a glare from me.

“I’ll be in my office,” I said. Her comment wasn’t going to get anything from me this time, and I had actual work to finish before they disrupted my day.

I’d just gotten focused on entering my incoming inventory list when I felt eyes on me. I finished the line I was on before glancing up at Killian.

“You didn’t waste any time,” I noted, leaning back and kicking my feet up on my desk. His eyes darkened at the sight of my tight black pants and heels. Something Dani insisted I wear more to fit my role.

“Our property was being threatened, of course we came,” he said, knowing damn well that calling me property would get my blood boiling.

“Don’t test me, Adrostos,” I warned, standing and sauntering around the desk. His lips tipped up into a smirk as he watched me walk, shutting the door behind him but it was too late, Ky’s foot stopped it.

“Nice try, brother, but Keir has word on one of your shipments. You need to go check it out. Take Sana with you,” he informed me. My eyes shot to his, starting to argue but Ky shot me a warning look, silently reminding me that I needed to behave myself. If Tony hadn’t just been dragged at gunpoint from my shop, I might have protested further. Instead, I calmly gathered my stuff and followed them out front.

“Apparently, I’m being taken away. Cover the shop?” I asked Gabe and Dani, who both agreed without hesitation.

“Of course.” Gabe’s answer was simple. His stepping up to watch it was just another reason I knew I’d made the right choice. Not that he wouldn’t have before, but now he sees the place in a different light, which was exactly what I wanted.

“I’m here until six, but then I have a date at the club,” Dani said, her eyes sparkling with amusement as every Adrostos in the room turned to her. “Don't worry, it’s with Helena, and I’ll behave… at least a little”

“I’d hate to have to kill you, Dani,” Keir said sharply before walking out of the door. It was probably for the best since Dani never let anyone have the last word.

“Stay with Kill, I need Kyrell for another matter,” Keir said, coming over and slanting his lips over mine. The kiss was quick but possessive, another warning to behave. I’d give them their control for now, but I wouldn’t be passed around like a damsel in distress for long. Especially not if things escalated with Eros.

Kill pulled me with him into the back of one of their SUVs. The windows were tinted so I didn’t even notice the driver until we were in.

“Take us to the clinic,” Killian ordered before pulling me into his lap. “So, that creep of a cousin was back. Still think he’s gone rogue?”

“Definitely,” I said without hesitation. “He’s overstepping and making plans to take over the Family. He’s lost his mind at this point. Eros won’t hesitate for long, he likely already knows.”

“Oh, I guarantee he does,” Killian chuckled. “But we’ve got allies at the ready as well. If Eros wants a war… he’ll get one.”

I gave him a tired smile. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Killian pulled me down to rest against him. We just relaxed on the drive, which wasn’t our usual, but it was a nice calm amidst a storm type of moment. Once the car stopped, I reluctantly climbed out of his lap and got out.

“Hold up. You meant an actual clinic?” I hissed at Killian. The big sign above the door read “Reid Men’s Clinic and Pharmacy.”

“It’s the perfect cover. We all know men are too fucking stubborn to go to the doctor, so there’s minimal patients getting in the way, and we run drugs out of the basement. Having our own pharmacist and chemist on staff means our drugs are cleaner.” I couldn’t argue with his fucking logic, but man they were bold.

“How do you guys get past inspections? You’ve got a baker, a bartender, and now a fucking doctor’s office.” He laughed at my obvious disapproval.

“Easy. We employ Family in the city jobs as well, baby girl.” I rolled my eyes. Because why wouldn’t they just infect the city with their people so no one ever questions them. It was a genius power move, but generally no one was able to pull that off. Eros, for example, managed to buy off the police in my hometown, but he couldn’t do much about the city council. Apparently, Keir and his men had managed to pull it off. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was definitely impressed.

Killian walked up the stairs, holding the door open for me. I stepped in and glanced around. The neutral toned waiting room was as expected, a few grumpy looking patients waiting to be seen. Kill bypassed the nurses station and entered a code on the keypad by the door next to it. The door let out a loud click that cut through the stiff silence of the clinic before we headed inside.

The hallway we walked down looked like a standard hall, until he reached a door at the end. This one concealed a staircase, and the moment we reached the basement, I let out a bark of laughter.

“Really?” He glanced around, not understanding my laughter at all. They’d literally put in a fully functioning lab in the basement. White walls, lab equipment, white lab coats, and a stainless steel long counter set up with stacks of empty pill bottles. The labels on the front of them didn’t match the pharmacy name, but the entire setup was borderline genius and extremely bold. But I guess when everyone was on your side, illegal activity didn’t matter.

“Laugh it up, baby girl,” he warned. But he couldn’t say much else since the nurse finished what she was doing and headed over.

“Hey boss. Come to check in on that missing shipment?” she asked. She glanced at me and offered a tight smile, before turning and heading into a conference room that seemed to double as a break room.

“Yes. Keir said we are missing another one, even after the Lachs were handled?”

She nodded and grabbed a tablet off of the table. After pulling up a set of surveillance photos, she slid it over for us to see. They were a bit pixelated, but the plates and men were easy to identify.

“We sent this to Joe and he’s worked his magic,” she said, closing the photos out and pulling up police reports and mugshots. The name below it had me frowning.

“So, the Therons have turned sides,” he said coldly. Aleksander Theron stared back at us on the screen and my gut was telling me there was more to the story than simply turning sides. Eros or Tony were behind this, but I didn’t have any real evidence to base it on so I kept my mouth shut.

“Send it to my cell,” Kill said as he stood, pulling me with him. He pulled out his phone and was already on the phone with Keir.

“Was it the Lachs?” Keir’s voice came through on the first ring.

“Worse. The Theron’s aren’t an ally any longer.” The phone clicked at his words and I was glad I wasn’t with Keir at the moment, he was likely losing it at the news. Their empire was on the brink of war, and each passing day it seemed they were slipping toward the losing side.

The tension in the car as he sped through town was overwhelming, to the point I couldn’t take it any more. Kill was tapping out a rhythm on his knee, jaw tense and eyes stormy. He looked dangerous and sexy and I knew just the thing to pick up his mood, even if it would slip away the moment we stepped outside of the SUV.

“What are you doing?” he asked when I threw my hair up into a hasty ponytail and shifted in my seat. My actions would be answer enough so I just smirked. The driver was about to get a show, but at this point, I’m sure he was used to us.

There wasn’t enough room for me to do this comfortably, so I shifted to the side and reached for his pants. By the time I unbuttoned them and pulled his cock free, he was hard and ready for me. I didn’t hesitate to wrap my lips around him, slowly sliding over him until he was wet enough for it to be comfortable. Then I gave him everything I had, teasing with my tongue and swallowing each time he hit the back of my throat. Killian’s breath was uneven as he tightened a hand in my ponytail, pulling so hard my eyes watered. The pain didn't stop me from forcing an orgasm from him within minutes, his hot cum hitting my throat so I had to swallow him down.

“Well, that’s one way to deal with the mindfuck that is our life.” I smirked at his words, glad I could distract us even if it was fleeting.