Beast, Part Two (The Church #5)

F. Smith

chapter Eighteen

Beast

H er scent still lingers on my fingers along with her taste on my tongue. I should’ve known better. I should’ve kept my distance, but seeing her in that dress and fighting my urges to be with her for nearly two months had pushed me to the breaking point.

I went into that room to just be near her, to sit in her presence, to calm the demon inside me. But when I walked in that room and heard her in the shower, I got caught up. I craved the sweet scent of her like a drug. However, seeing her in the kitchen this morning with that hopeful look in her eyes made me feel more guilty than I did last night.

Dragging the heavy body of the last guard into the utilities closet, I drop him on top of the other six men.

“Ugh,” Seth groans arching his back. “I miss the days when we could just kill these assholes and leave them for the clean-up crew. Carrying these heavy muthafuckers is damaging my back.”

It took a little over two weeks from the day Kyra and the others from D.O.E first told us about Franklin. One week for him to get back to the states, and another week to plan out the best way to approach him.

“I don’t know. It’s kind of relaxing not having to worry about killing anyone. Don’t you guys get tired of it?”

Both Seth and I turn to Hawk. “No,” we say at the same time.

Hawk shakes his head but doesn’t complain.

“You can ride off in the sunset with Brooklyn all you want when this is done,” Seth goes on to say as we all head out of the utility closet. “But I will always and forever be a killer. It’s in my blood. I won’t give this up.”

“Not even for Malia?” Hawk asks. “I know Lucien wants out.”

I close the door and place the padlock back on it.

“Malia knows who I am, and she accepts me,” Seth explains as we make our way back to Priest and Many. Zel is once again being our eyes in the sky. “Besides, I can’t do the domestication thing.”

Hawk scoffs. “What about you, Beast?”

I turn to glare at him. Did he really need to ask me that question? Seth laughs.

“I don’t even need to see you to know you’re giving me a face,” Hawk jokes.

We make our way back into the restaurant of the private golf course. The place is mostly vacant, but with the price of membership fees to get in here, I understand.

“Everything’s all cleared up?” Priest asks as we head over to the table he’s sitting at.

“All guards have been handled,” Hawk explains.

“How do we look out there?” He asks Zel through the earpiece.

“Looks like Franklin is heading in your direction. If you can keep him in the spot across from you, I have a clean shot.

“Okay, but hopefully it won’t come to that.”

Priest was adamant about not killing any members of the Royal Crown. I can’t say that I agree with that stance, but I did understand it. We need to keep our enemy count down.

I stand directly behind Priest’s chair. Seth sits in the seat to his right and Many to his left. Hawk leans his back against the wall behind Many’s chair. Once again, we left Maksim at home. He’s too well known amongst the Royal Crown.

“Heads up,” Zel warns.

Seconds later, two men walk into the restaurant attached to the golf course. Both men look to be in their mid-sixties. They were in good shape for their age. Both turn to our table and glare. The shorter man with the bad hair plugs scrunches his face. Franklin Smith, the taller of the two, eyes us suspiciously as they make their way over to us.

“Excuse you, but this is our table,” the short man complains.

Priest ignores him completely. “Hello, Franklin. My name is Priest, and I would like a moment of your time.”

The first man turns bright red. I’m assuming he didn’t like being ignored by Priest. I’m not the best with reading emotions, but the way he glares and tightens his fist seems pretty obvious.

“Look here you, degenerate asshole. You don’t run—”

Franklin places a hand on his friend’s shoulder stopping his tantrum that was sure to get him killed.

“Actually, Walter, I think I’m interested in this conversation,” Franklin says, never taking his eyes off Priest.

“Are you sure?” Walter asks, turning to Franklin. “We can have your security toss their asses out.”

Seth chuckles and Many snorts. People that are not in the killing business have no sense of awareness. If Franklin’s security could have kicked us out, we, one, wouldn’t be here, and two, they would be standing here. Although Walter doesn’t seem to recognize this, I think Franklin does.

“It’s alright. Besides,” he says pulling out the chair across from Priest. “I don’t think they would be much help now.”

Walter hovers around the table.

“Move the fuck on,” Seth growls to Walter.

The man nearly trips over his feet trying to scurry away. Once he’s gone, we get down to business.

“Is my security dead?” Franklin asks.

“No,” Priest replies. “Not at the moment.”

Franklin doesn’t speak as if he’s taking that information in. “You do realize this place has cameras from the front entrance all the way to the golf course.”

“They have been on a loop since I pulled into the parking lot.”

Franklin smiles. “And I’m assuming there are more of you somewhere around here?”

This time Priest smiles. “You have a sniper aimed at your head. But I assure you, the time it will take his bullet to travel to your skull, one of us could already give you a third eye.”

Franklin’s face never changes. The smile remains. “Obviously you don’t want me dead,” he shrugs. “If you did, I’d already be bleeding.”

“You are correct.”

“Then what do you want, Mr. Priest?”

Priest takes a second before speaking. He leans forward in his seat, unbuttoning his coat jacket. “Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Nathaniel Priest Otella. These are my boys, Many, Seth, Hawk, Beast, and Zel, who you won’t be seeing.” He points to each of us as he says our name.

“So, this is about Corbyn’s excommunication order?” For the first time, the smile fell from Franklin’s face. He seems shocked more than anything else.

“Yes,” Priest answers. “We need you to withdraw your signature.”

Franklin laughs. However, we don’t join him.

Holding up a hand, Franklin says, “I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at your request. I’m laughing because I wasn’t even going to sign that bill. It took some convincing. But now I’m glad I did.”

“Why is that?” Hawk asks.

“Because now I see the importance of partnership.”

Once again, we knew that this was what we would need to offer up in order to get the EO dropped. Maksim and Phoenix said as much. Even O’Cleary proved this point.

“What do you want?” Priest asks.

“Access,” Franklin says.

Unlike O’Cleary who only wanted a single favor from us, Franklin seems to be a lot smarter. He sees the importance of having an ongoing partnership with us. Can’t say that I’m excited about it, but I’m smart enough to know that a partnership with one of the richest men in the world was beneficial.

“We have limits. There are some things we will not do.”

“Women and children?” Franklin questions.

“Children definitely. Women if necessary and for a valid reason.”

Franklin nods. “I can agree with that completely. Is this unlimited or do I have a set number of calls I can make?”

Priest stalls for a moment. I wonder what he’s thinking. We didn’t really discuss the negotiating part of this. We all just understood we would have to do some fucked up shit for these people to get them to withdraw their name.

“You got five calls,” Priest says. “Anything more than that, you will need to barter.”

The smile on Franklin’s face tells us he is happy with that deal.

“Should we write it down?” Franklin asks.

This went a lot faster and smoother than I thought it would. I had no doubt they would all withdraw their names, but I figured we’d have a lot more convincing to do for it.

“My word is my law,” Priest says. “If I say I’ll do it, then it’s done.”

“And you’re not worried about me reneging?”

This time, all of us laughed. We didn’t need to tell him how unwise it would be to go back on his word with us or what we would do if he did. He’s intelligent enough to read between the lines.

Franklin dips his chin. “Understandable.”

See what I mean?

He reaches a hand across the table to Priest. “You have a deal.”

Priest stares at the hand before shaking it. “I’m going to need you to make that call.”

We left Franklin Smith after telling him where he could find his security guards.

Summer

My body hums with every move I make. Last night was incredible and exactly what I needed. Looking into Gabriel’s eyes as he fucked me in that chair told me that he still loved me, he still wanted me. There was hope for our relationship. Hope is all I need.

“Summer, did you hear me?” Malia asks.

“No, I’m sorry. What did you say?” I’ve been so caught up in my head, I wasn’t paying attention to anything.

Malia, Brooklyn and I were in the kitchen preparing lunch. We were making homemade pizzas. Maksim, Fem, Ari and the other ladies from D.O.E were in the dining room. They were making sure the guys didn’t need help while they were out.

“Someone is extremely distracted,” Brooklyn says with a smile.

Malia turns to face me. She stares at me, looking me over. I get a little self-conscious at how hard she’s looking.

“What?” I finally ask.

“You’re glowing,” she hums.

“Wait,” Brooklyn says, getting my attention. She looks me over. “Oh shit, you got dick last night.”

My entire face heats up. I place my hands on my cheek in an attempt to cool my body down.

“Okay. You’re right. I did.”

I love how excited both women get for me.

“I bet he can fuck,” Brooklyn says nodding her head. “The crazy ones always have good dick.”

“You might be on to something,” Malia says. “Lucien is the sweetest most compassionate lover in the world. But Seth will have me sweating out my perm.”

We all laugh.

“Gabriel is…” I shake my head as I try to think of the right words. “He’s incredible.”

“Awww,” Malia says wrapping an arm around me. “I’m so glad you two worked it out and got back together.”

I wipe at the tear that fell from my eye. “Me too. I guess that dress really paid off.”

Malia laughs stepping back from our hug.

“What paid off?” Albany asks as she and Ari enter the kitchen.

“Summer and Leatherface got back together.”

I roll my eyes at Brooklyn’s joke.

“That’s great, Summer,” Albany says taking a seat at the island.

“I agree,” Ari says, skipping over to me. “When Many and I heard you two last night, I thought he was killing you. Glad I didn’t charge into the room like I wanted to.”

Once again, my face heats up.

“Let me get this straight,” Brooklyn asks. “You thought you were overhearing a murder, and you didn’t go in the room to check?”

Ari shrugs. “I figured if he was killing her, he’d have no issues killing me. So, we just waited it out until the morning.” She turns and walks over to the kitchen table.

Brooklyn shakes her head. Malia just watches her with her mouth open. Oddly enough, I understood her.

We all get caught up in the next couple of minutes talking about our men. I learned some interesting things about the guys. As soon as Malia and I pop the pizzas in the oven, the guys all walk into the kitchen.

Hawk comes in first.

“Hey babe,” Brooklyn greets him as soon as he enters. He walks over to her, wraps his arm around her waist and rubs her belly.

Many comes in next. He lifts Ari out of her seat and spins her around. Seth and Zel walk in together. Zel goes over to the fridge. Seth plants his face in Malia’s neck. She giggles as he embraces her from the back.

“How did it go?” Albany asks as soon as Priest and Gabriel enter.

I keep my eyes on him. The moment his green gaze lands on me, I get a flashback from last night. I clench my thighs together at the memory.

“It was good,” Priest says, bringing me out of my naughty thoughts. “It went better than expected.” He drops a kiss on Fem’s forehead before leaning on the back of her chair.

I look around the room and notice all the couples hugged up together. It’s then that it dawns on me that Gabriel is still in the doorway.

I look over at him and pause. My stomach drops to my feet. That look is back. The same one he had when he walked into my bedroom the morning I woke up and told me we couldn’t be together.

The burning in my throat starts. I’m such an idiot. I thought last night meant something, but I should’ve known. No matter how much he loves me, he’s too stubborn to see we should be together.

Everyone around me is talking and laughing, but I can’t make out anything they are saying. It feels as if I’m caught in a vortex, lost in the depths of his emotionless eyes.

Gabriel turns and walks back out of the kitchen without saying a word to me. Pushing away from the counter, I follow behind him, needing to talk to him. I just needed to remind him of what we shared. I step out into the hallway. He’s there talking to Alicia. The tall girl from D.O.E.

She says something that makes him smile. A sharp pain hits my chest and my eyes blur. Alicia turns around and walks back into the dining room. Gabriel turns to me as if he knew I was there all along. We lock eyes right before he follows her into the dining room.

I stand there for a second, processing what I’ve just witnessed. My eyes sting as they blur with tears. Before anyone can walk out and ask me if I’m okay, I rush into my borrowed room and shut the door. Leaning my back against the barrier, I allow the heartbreak to run its course.