Cruel Kings by Skye Knight

9

Noah

My phone vibrated incessantly in my jacket’s pocket, grudgingly forcing me to step away from Milla. I grabbed the phone and checked who needed me right that fucking minute.

My eyes narrowed as I read the caller ID. It was my dad.

“Excuse me,” I said in a suddenly grim voice.

Milla nodded, her chest rising and falling at a rapid rhythm. I couldn’t help the smug grin lifting the corners of my lips. Seeing her flushed cheeks and lust-hazed blue eyes were the only things making me feel better about the prospect of talking to my father.

“Yeah?” I asked, picking up the call. “What do you want?”

“Do you have to be rude without reason?” Dad’s calm voice spoke in my ear.

“I’m busy right now.”

“Come home. There’s something important I must discuss with you. Bring both Corey and Caleb along with you.”

“We don’t have time for family meet-ups. Can’t you tell me what you want on the phone?”

“This is more important than anything else you might be busy with.”

“We’re not your slaves,” I spat through clenched teeth. “We can’t be at your beck and call all the time.”

“I’m married now and you guys have a sister.”

Shock flickered through me. “What?”

“You heard right,” said Dad. “Get home with your brothers if you want to hear the rest of the story.”

The call switched off.

“Fuck,” I cursed, gripping my phone hard.

“Is everything okay?” Milla asked in a worried tone.

“I’m sorry,” I said, meaning it. “My brothers and I need to go home right away, but I don’t want to leave you alone here. How about I drop you home?”

“That’s okay,” she said with a soft smile. “Don’t worry about me. My friends will drop me home.”

I stared at her, wondering if she was for real. Any other girl would have stirred up a tantrum if we ditched her after inviting her to a party.

“Thanks,” I said, pressing my lips to hers. “We’ll pick up where we left.”

Her gaze dropped to her feet. I knew she wasn’t the kind of girl to hit it off with three guys at the same time. Her confusion and shock were understandable.

We have time, I decided, walking away from her to find my brothers. We’d all make sure she felt comfortable with us.

Leaving her side, I walked out of the kitchen and went outside.

After strolling the backyard for a few minutes, I found Caleb and Corey fooling around with a group of guys and girls playing beer pong.

They glanced at me, raising their eyebrows at the grim expression on my face. Moving away from the crowd, they sauntered over to me.

“Why do you look like someone gave you blue balls? said Corey with a laugh. “Did Milla knee you in the nuts or something?”

Caleb laughed. “She loved it with us,” he said with a smug face. “This is the reason I tell you to mingle with girls more often. Without practice, you’ll fail with the one you want to impress.”

“Are you both done messing around?” I asked in a grim tone. “Dad got married.”

Their grins slowly dimmed as they stared at me with slack expressions.

“Say that again?” said Corey.

“Dad’s married to a fucking woman,” I shouted. “Come on! He’s asked us to come home.”

I walked away, not in the mood to answer any of their stupid questions. Dad didn’t give me any info on the woman he’d randomly decided to marry.

“Who the hell is the old geezer marrying?” Caleb shouted.

I kept walking, heading out of the Elite House to get to my car that was parked on the street outside.

“Is she hot?” Corey called from behind me.

“Maybe it’s time we fulfilled our MILF fantasies,” said Caleb with a chuckle.

My brothers were being idiotic again. They thought it was funny Dad got married. None of them had any idea what it could mean for the three of us.

A legally married woman would have a greater claim over our dad’s properties and businesses than any of us. No matter how much I hated our father, I still wanted to protect him from a shrew who married him to grab his assets.

I’ve got to know about this woman he’s bringing into the family, I decided, climbing into the front seat of my Mercedes.

“We could’ve followed you on my bike,” said Caleb as he and Corey got into the backseat.

“Corey’s still not fully healed,” I said. “I don’t want him falling off.”

“I had a concussion,” Corey protested at once. “It’s not so bad that I’d fall off a bike.”

Ignoring him, I stepped on the gas, speeding toward our home.

Dad was away most of the time managing his businesses that were spread across the country. We didn’t mind as we hated his sagely lectures about the way we lived our lives.

Dad never treated our mom with respect. He made her cry until the day she died and the three of us never forgot nor forgave him for that.

It was close to eight years since Mom passed away. Personally, I didn’t care who he spent his nights with but marrying a strange woman without a word to us was reckless of him.

How could he bring a woman and her daughter into our home without even talking to us about it? He was a clever and successful businessman but when it came to being a dad, he was a complete failure.

I hated him and he never understood why, acting like it was all my mom’s fault for raising such spoiled brats. He’d not only failed his wife but his sons too.

“Stop scaring me,” said Caleb from the backseat. “I hate it when you go silent like this.”

“Don’t you guys understand?” I asked, speeding through the street. “We don’t know who he’s married. What if she’s a snake waiting for her chance to strike us down? She even has a daughter. What if they’re here to sabotage us and take what’s ours.”

“You think they’ll dare to cross us?” Corey asked.

“Oh, grow up!” I growled. “Playing badass among the sheep of the campus is different from going up against a mature woman in the real world. Especially if she’s a player who knows what she’s up against.”

“Calm down, Noah,” Caleb said in a low, grim tone. “Don’t lose your head just yet. Let’s see what our old man is up to first.”

I breathed heavily and stayed silent. Caleb was right. We had to stay calm and determine the risks we faced.

Lost in our thoughts, we stayed quiet for the rest of the ride.

Reaching the estate, I slowed the car down and waited for one of the guards to open the tall gates. When the gap was wide enough, I stepped on the gas and shot forward.

Amhurst Manor was brightly lit against the darkened sky. A mix of longing and rage went through me at the sight of our childhood home. Memories, both good and horrible, rose in my mind.

“Let’s get this over with,” I said, climbing out of the front seat.

My brothers followed me as I strode toward the open doorway of the entrance hall.

Entering the house, we followed the familiar path to our father’s study on the third floor. Light spilled through the half-open door invitingly, but it only made me angrier.

Caleb walked past me and entered the room without bothering to knock.

Corey and I followed him, taking in the elaborate set-up on the coffee table in the corner. Crystal decanters with dark amber liquids were gathered around a tray of glass tumblers and an ice bucket.

I inhaled the heady scent of whiskey in the air and moved toward the man seated close by. Our father cut an impressive figure in his navy silk shirt and cream-colored waistcoat. Even in his early fifties, he had a good crop of dark auburn hair that was heavily flecked with white.

What a fox, I thought grudgingly, staring at my father.

“Have a seat, boys,” he said, gesturing toward the plush chairs before him.

Dad started making us drinks the moment we sat down.

“Did you tell your brothers the news?” Dad asked, fixing his gaze on me.

“Yeah.”

He sighed, pushing the glasses toward us. “Well, congratulate me. It’s the happiest day of my life. I feel like the luckiest man alive today.”

“Ugh,” Corey muttered, drinking his whiskey in one gulp and making a face. “Do you have to be so soppy?”

“How can you say it’s the happiest day of your life?” I demanded, not touching my drink. “The day you married our mother should be the best day of your life. She married you even though you didn’t deserve her.”

Dad let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Eva is my wife now,” he said in a grim tone, his dark blue eyes fixing on us. “You will treat her with respect.”

“Eva who?” Caleb asked. “Who the hell is she and why’d you suddenly marry her? More importantly, when did you marry her? Where have you been hiding her? Please, don’t tell me you took an eighteen-year-old bimbo to Vegas and put a ring on her finger.”

Corey stared at Dad with wide eyes. “Is that true, Dad? Our stepmom’s younger than us?”

“Is she hot?” Caleb asked. “I bet she’s hot for you to have lost all sense.”

A heavy breath escaped our father as he took a deep sip of his whiskey. “I tolerate the nonsense you get up to at your school. Don’t think you can behave the same way under my roof. You’ll respect both Eva and her daughter.”

A sliver of surprise mingled with my annoyance. I’d never seen Dad being so protective over anyone. Something told me he’d been purposely hiding his relationship with this woman.

Was she that important to him? Suddenly, I had to know who she was.

“At least, tell us her whole name,” I said, trying to keep a nonchalant façade.

“Eva Brown.”

A sickly feeling stirred up inside me. Caleb and Corey were staring at me with frozen expressions.

Milla’s surname was Brown. It was only a few days ago that she told us about her mom getting engaged to a guy called ‘Brian’. It wasn’t an uncommon name, so we never thought our dad would be the same guy as her mother’s fiancé.

“You can keep the bottle if you prefer,” said Dad, rising to his feet and straightening his jacket. “Take it as an early present from your old man. In return, be ready to meet Eva and your new stepsister around eleven tomorrow. We’ll have brunch together.”

Dad was completely oblivious about the shock overcoming us. He drained the last of his whiskey and walked out of the room.