Bound In Secrets : A Death Kings Novel
The Strange Night

**JT**

There is a knock on my office door. I pause my paperwork, commanding the person to enter. "Mr. Brandt a guy is looking for you. I left him at the bar because I didn't know if you would welcome being bothered, "Dustin says. Dustin is one of my dancers, however, he also works as a server on nights he isn't dancing. The nineteen-year-old has shown he has a great work ethic. He is naive, quiet, and at first unconfident but he has gotten better about being more being more bold since he started working here about three months ago. I'm proud of how far the timid boy has come. It is obvious to me the boy needs someone who can take care of him. He seems more interested in men than women, so I think a Daddy Dom would be perfect for him.

"Boss? Mr. Brandt, what would like for me to do?" His queries bring me out of my thoughts and back to the present.

"What does this guy look like?"

"He is wearing sunglasses. It's dark in here so I thought that was strange. He mumbled it was too noisy. Brown hair. Tall. Yawns a lot. He laid down in one of the booths of soon as I left." Based on Dustin's brief description, I know exactly who is asking for me. After what that asshole did, I'm furious he is in my club.

"Bring him to me!" I snap at Dustin. A look of shock mixed with watery eyes is what I see briefly before my employee scurries off. I feel guilty for being so harsh with the sensitive boy. In walks Callix Lane, alive and in excellent health. I grit my teeth.

"Dustin. A word before you go," I say softening my voice and feature so that I don't terrify the boy further. He gulps nervously but pauses to meet my gaze with one foot beyond the threshold, poised to leave in a flash. "You did good. I apologize for snapping at you. It's not you I'm upset with."

"It's me," Callix yawns. Four of his teeth seem to be more pointed than they used to be.

I nod and offer a reassuring smile to Dustin. He beams at the praise I gave him and at the news of not being the cause of my ire. The boy strives to please me at all times. I appreciate his submissiveness. "Thank you, sir! Do you need anything else?"

"No, Dustin. But, thank you for asking." The boy's smile becomes impossibly wider before he is back out of the room and shuts the door to my soundproof office.

It's a good thing my office is soundproof because my voice becomes deeper. louder, and biting as I address this man who is slumped in one of the leather oversized chairs facing my desk. "How dare you! Why are you here?!"

He shushes me. "Keep it down, JT. I have a headache. Your club is way too loud, I can't see a thing," he drawls through a yawn.

This man is insufferable. I don't understand why I loved him. It's as though lazy is the default setting. I know better. I'm fully aware of just how clever and dangerous he is.

Callix takes a deep breath and sighs as he exhales. "I don't like how things ended between the four of us. I should have just ended things with Rory only, but I didn't because I was angry. And this is the reason..."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have fucked you and then ghosted. I panicked. There was so much blood. You were so pale. I thought I killed you, so I ran. I turned into this demon and killed one of the men I loved."

"Love?! How can you say you love me when you left me to die!" I roar indigently. I clutch at my chest, thankful to have already been sitting down. He was correct when he called himself a demon, though I still don't know how my neck was punctured deep enough to my carotid artery which caused me to bleed out. Now Callix is saying he did that...why?

He winches as if in pain and then holds his head in his hand with his elbows resting on his knees. "I fucked up," he whispers. "I hurt you."

I scoff at him. "Yeah, asshole. You did. If it weren't for Carter being a universal donor and replaceing me when he did, I would have died. He brought me back. I might not trust him, but he has earned my respect for performing CPR. He could have let me die so he wouldn't have one less team member to betray. He didn't."

"I know. Carter was feeding information on your team, C.H.A.O.S., and the Death Kings to Razor Grothman. Sawyer and Dr. Fuchs-Jamison got him the help he needed. I cannot imagine you guys still fully trusting him, even though it's been five years since then. Your woman Sawyer is something else. She is a fearsome force. Are you and Jensen happy to finally be with her?"

"We are the happiest we've been in a long time. Happier now than when we were with you and Rory. I'm glad the relationship ended. I just wish the words leaving your mouth while I died weren't you breaking up with me. You shouted at me that you couldn't love us anymore. That we were the reason you were turning into a self-proclaimed monster."

"I'm not where I can forgive you, but I would like it if we could be friends again. Only friends. I have enough lovers," I tell him with a heavy sigh. He apologized, and now we can move on without these uncertain emotions between us. "Friends work. JT, if I could go back and redo the past, I would have done it differently. No drain-kill-ghost. I promise I would have stayed and gotten you help. I was horrified and frightened of myself." Drain? I somewhat want to question him on that as well as the puncture marks he claims to have made, but at the same time I just want to put the past to bed so we both can move forward.

I wave in front of him to gesture then I'm done with this conversation. "Thank was the past. What's done is done, Lix."

He gives me a result nod. "I won't see you again in this life. Goodbye, JT. Die well so you don't haunt my ass." I laugh at our running joke to die without attachments to the physical plan or have a traumatic death with unresolved feelings. We take a moment to laugh together. He yawns and then our gazes meet. "Goodbye, Lix." He nods, stands, and leaves. That's the final time the final time I would see or hear from him.

***

I'm finishing up paperwork when my phone rings. It's two in the morning. Who would be calling now?

"Capone is all alone while his friends are at home. Tell me JT why is that? I thought you ran in little cockroach packs."

"Razor. What do you want Derek?"

"What no high how are you? So mean," he drawls with a dramatic whine. When I don't reply he sighs heavily. "You betrayed me, just like C.H.A.O.S. betrayed my older brother. I want Tempest, C.H.A.O.S., and the Death Kings dead. The survivors will suffer knowing they are the reason their team members are dead."

"You killed innocent people and left child parentless! They had nothing to do with us or C.H.A.O.S."

"But it hurt the Death Kings, which is what I wanted. Them-in pain."

"Now I'm going to use you to weaken Tempest and hurt that little viper bitch who took my right hand. Lefty is not as good at getting me off like Righty was," he croons.

I grab my twin pistols from their holsters, flicking off the safety and cocking them so that they are ready to be fired. His words have me on edge and I dislike what he insinuating.

"JT get out of there! Run!" I hear Carley in the background. Carley shouldn't be with Razor. Where the hell is the rest of C.H.A.O.S?! Those couyons should have protected her! She just had their third baby a month ago!

Carley's first child is a little miniature version of Jase. Their second child is a Lachlan clone. This one, there is no doubt it's Weston's with the same eye shape, nose, and darker skin tone only with Carley's blonde hair. I'm curious if the baby's eyes will turn brown or stay blue. I have a feeling if they decide to have a fourth child, it'll be Arson's turn to make one.

"Carley! If you hurt her I'll..."

"Kill me?" He sings. "You'll be dead soon, so good luck with that. I'm not going to hurt Carley, oh no. She is going to be mine again like she was meant to be. I'm also going to break that Viper bitch so that she begs me to fuck her too." "Sawyer is going to kill you if you try you sadistic fuck!" Carley yells at him.

He laughs... no, not just laughs. He cackles like the evil villain he is and hangs up the phone.

This is a strange night. First Callix shows up apologizing and acting strange. Now Razor Grothman is talking with me on the phone and my friend is warning me to run from my club. Why did she tell me to run? Is there someone in the club with me? It's quiet. I can't hear a thing.

I decide to exit my office to search the club. I've checked all the staff rooms, nothing seems out of place. I check the stages, but still nothing. The main area is clear. I'm alone except for a black duffle bag behind one of the bars. Someone must have left it, probably one of my staff.

I pick the bag up and set it on the bar top. It's heavy and there was a metallic clang as I lowered it. I open it so that I might be able to discover whom it belongs to. It's a bomb! It's counting down seconds. I'm not going to have enough time to escape the blast.

"I love you, Capone." "JT, mo linm twa bel gason (I love you handsome man.)." I hear Sawyer and Jensen's words telling me that love me in two different languages. Jensen and Carmen's father is Cajun, so they are both fluent in it. Growing up in the melting pot of Louisiana their many unique languages in the state you pick up.

I need to survive for them. I run to the opposite bar, underneath is a cellar that we use as a holding cell if we need to glean information for a job. If I can make it...

I don't. The bomb explodes, taking me and my club with it.