Notorious Park Avenue Prince (Park Avenue Princes #6)

6. East

SIX

east

“UM. SO YOU’RE looking for…uh, what exactly?” Harry, our trusty little hacker nerd, pushed his glasses up his nose and looked up at me from the couch in the condo that I shared with West.

“Anything you can find on Tyrone Kingston that I can use to my advantage. The more indecent, the better.”

Harry frowned. “As in Professor Kingston?”

“The same.” Resting back on my elbow along the kitchen island, I lifted my vodka martini to my lips and took a long draw of the chilled liquor. When Harry bit down on his lip, I lowered my glass. “Is there a problem?”

“Well, no, it’s just…”

“Spit it out, Harry. I don’t have all night.”

He licked his lips in the way I’d come to recognize as a nervous habit after having him at the princes’ beck and call over the last two years. The kid could find anything on anyone, which made him an asset I fully used to my advantage.

“It’s usually other students you want information on, is all. Not teachers.”

“Please tell me you’re not having a crisis of conscience.” I pushed off the island and crossed the room toward him. “I don’t pay you to ask questions unless you want to know how fast and how much I need. Are we clear?”

Harry snapped his mouth shut, nodded, and got to typing.

“Good little hacker,” I murmured, and took another sip as the door opened and West stepped inside the condo. JT-less, thank God.

He kicked his chin up at me in greeting and held the door open wide. “Found this one downstairs asking to be let up. Know him?”

A fifty-something, short, balding man appeared in the doorway, and just like that, my plans were finally coming together. It’d been a little over a week since I’d told Zac to leave this King scheme in my hands, but I needed a bit more intel before I could begin to make moves.

“Ah, good, you’re all here,” I said. “Take a seat by Harry.”

Harry waved at the investigator I’d hired to follow King around for the week, and as he took a seat, I went to the bar for a refill.

West followed me. “What are you up to?”

“A late night study hang. Obviously.”

“Bullshit. What prank are you pulling and why don’t I know about it?”

I poured a bit of vodka into a shaker, set it aside, and then reached for the vermouth. “Aww, feeling left out?”

“Just curious. You haven’t mentioned anything about a senior prank, and I know you like to take all the credit.”

I tossed a handful of ice in the shaker and shook my head. “Nothing epic planned at the moment, but you’ll be the first to know.”

“Really?” He crossed his arms and nodded at the two in the living room. “So how do you explain having our resident hacker and a guy with a briefcase hanging out at our place? I know you’re not having drinks, since you haven’t bothered to offer either of them one.”

“Because this is business,” I said, capping the shaker and giving it a few rough shakes. “ Personal business. Feel free to shoo now.”

“Seriously? You’re telling me to get lost?”

“Well, I wasn’t so crass about it, but yes, if that makes it easier to understand, get lost.”

West looked to where my latest guest was unsnapping his briefcase and handing over a manila file to Harry. “Whatever you’re doing, is it going to require I have bail money on hand?”

I snorted, then refilled my martini glass. “Please. Would I ever do something that would land me somewhere I wouldn’t be able to access high-end liquor and my bank account?”

“You’re right. Whatever was I thinking?”

“You were looking out for your friend.” I reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “Which I appreciate, but I don’t need you for this, and trust me, it’s best you don’t know what’s about to go down. You wouldn’t be able to stomach it.”

I wasn’t lying. If West ever caught wind that I was down on my knees for Zac on the regular, he’d lose his lunch. Zac wasn’t exactly a fan favorite in our crew—and King? The group might look at him and wonder what if , but they’d never have the nerve to follow through.

Luckily, I wasn’t that easily deterred.

“Okay, then.” West held his hands up in surrender. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“Much appreciated, my man.”

“ But if you need someone to bounce ideas off or talk you out of doing something disastrous…”

“I know where you sleep. Got it.”

West waved me off and headed to his room, and as soon as I heard his door shut, I made my way over to my busy worker bees. “Okay, let’s see what you’ve got, Kristóf.”

My PI handed over the file Harry had just flipped through, and when several photos of King jumped out at me, heated flames of excitement licked through my veins.

Fuck the man was hot. Tall and commanding, Professor Kingston filled out his camel-colored trench coat with broad shoulders that emphasized his towering physique. The color complemented his dark complexion, and with his short black hair and shadowed jaw line, it wasn’t only his presence making you do a double take, but the strong features of his face. The man just demanded attention.

How the hell Zac worked in such close quarters with him was a mystery to me. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from offering him some extracurricular activities. But that was the whole point of this little mission, wasn’t it? Finding out a way for us to get up close and personal with that tall drink of water… Okay, maybe vodka.

“So the pictures are nice”—more than nice, if I were honest—“but what have you got that I can actually use ?”

Kristóf cleared his throat and gestured to the folder. “I did as you asked and tailed your professor for a week. Most of the time it was pretty slow. Work, home, a function here and there. Nothing of much use.”

It was all I could do not to roll my eyes, but clearly he was leading somewhere. After all, he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t have the goods. I wasn’t paying for pretty pictures. Even if I might make use of them later, in bed, alone.

“Then Friday came around and the professor’s whereabouts got…interesting.”

I looked down at him over the rim of my martini glass. “Define interesting .”

“I wish I could, but where he went is nowhere to be found. I have an address. A photo of the building. But when you look it up, it doesn’t exist. The amount of men going inside makes me think it’s definitely a place you want to be, though.”

That was interesting.“Like a club? Something hot and exclusive?”

He nodded. “I’d assume so.”

I turned to Harry, who was nodding, his fingers flying over the keyboard. “I’m working on it.”

“Work faster,” I said, then looked back to Kristóf. “What time Friday?”

“Eleven thirty.”

“What was he wearing?”

Kristóf stood and flicked through the photos until he got to several at the back that I hadn’t seen, and holy hell, if I thought he looked fine in a camel-colored trench coat, these photos were the ones I was going to keep under my pillow.

The navy suit with the low-cut vest left King’s white wide-collar shirt open all the way down to mid-sternum, and God what I wouldn’t give to lick a path over the muscular chest it revealed.

I knew the professor was fucking fine, but wherever he was going dressed like that, he was clearly out to impress.

“Uh, Mr. Easton?”

I shook myself out of my sex daze, trying to keep control of the visions I was now having of that version of King fucking Zac and then me, but it was growing harder by the second.

“Mr. Easton?”

There you go, focus on Harry. Concentrate on how he’s still calling you something that reminds you of your father.

Perfect, hard-on avoided.

“How many times have I told you, Harry? It’s East.”

“Uh, sorry.” Harry’s cheeks turned crimson as he gestured to the screen. “But…there’s nothing on this place.”

“What do you mean, nothing? How do you get in? What is it?”

“I…I don’t know. Maybe it’s through connections?”

“Well, I have connections. My name alone opens any door in the city.”

Harry just looked up at me, blinking behind his glasses.

“You need to dig harder,” I said. “You’re supposed to be the best at this.”

“I’ve run several searches, legal and not so. There’s nothing. Whatever it is, they don’t want to be found.”

A private, exclusive club that doesn’t want to be found. That King belongs to? Maybe it’s a sex club?

Now that was intriguing and could work in my favor.

“And the men?” I turned back to Kristóf. “They were all dressed like King?”

“Pretty much so.”

“Hmm.” My brain on overdrive now, I started to make plans for Friday and how we could get access to a place that seemingly didn’t exist. But I would not be deterred. I’d told Zac I would make this happen, and now that I had enough information needed to accomplish that goal, it would be done.

Plus, if we got in front of King in a sex club, would he really say no? I was a betting man, and I’d put good money on the fact he wouldn’t be able to resist us.Besides, who could ever say no to James Easton?

“Right,” I said, then drained the rest of my drink dry. “I believe we’re done here. You may leave.”

I gave a curt nod, then shooed them out with a wave of my hand. As the door shut behind them, I took the folder back to my bedroom and settled in on my bed, flipping it open to stare at King’s serious expression.

“What kind of secrets are you hiding?”

I ran a finger down that open shirt of his, imagining it was my tongue.

It was quite the mystery, this secret spot in Manhattan, one that had my curiosity at an all-time high, since I’d thought I knew every club—secret or otherwise—in this city. But it seemed our inscrutable professor knew something I didn’t, and that just wouldn’t do.

Gaining entry would be a challenge, but I always got what I wanted.

I scooped up my phone and, uncaring of the time, shot a message to Zac with the time and place, as well a delicious little tease.

Tomorrow night. Be ready to serve your King.