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“Can we talk?” I croaked.
“Sure, but out here.” He jutted his chin toward his office. “You don’t want to go in there,” he said, going to wash his hands behind the bar.
Was that blood? Getting to my knees on the stool, I leaned over the bar to see.
“Paisley, get lost.” When Kingpin spoke, people listened. The whore disappeared to the kitchen.
“You’re nosy today.” Kingpin gave me a look. Something had ruffled his feathers.
I sat back down. “What’s going on?” I asked him, unable to ignore his horrified face.
“Bullshit. Always some bullshit right on my doorstep,” he muttered, scrubbing his hands.
Our Prez looked more upset than I’d ever seen him. I splayed my fingers out urging him to go on and explain.
“Never mind. It’s club business,” he said, wound tighter than a clock. “You don’t want to know.”
It had to have been blood, and I didn’t want to know. Besides, asking about club business was as useless as a knitted condom.
Kingpin’s face settled. His voice flattened as if he had a switch. “Go on with it. What’s up?”
“I hear you’re leaving for a week with Sky. I guess that means our show will be postponed. Again.” I wasn’t exactly complaining.
“When’s it supposed to happen, again?” he asked as he dried his hands.
Of course, he didn’t remember. He’d been in his honeymoon phase, experiencing the marital bliss I’d missed out on. “You rescheduled it for tonight. But that’s alright. We’ve not really practiced in a month. And,” I started to tell him I was thinking of leaving Royal Road all together. I wanted to tell him I didn’t think I could get on stage with the news I just heard.
I’d not just been thinking of it. Hearing about Hallow sleeping with the sweetbutts, I wanted to run away for good. I’d been making plans, but this news of him taking women over to our house, settled it. How could I ever take Hallow back? I just wanted to go far away. Hide from the world. And that’s if I was even allowed to. I thought of all the belonging to the club crap Kingpin had talked about before and hoped he was just pulling my leg. I knew he’d been determined to make me the star of his establishment, but with his new marriage, he had other fish to fry. Plus, Kingpin was going to be a father soon. I felt confident I could reason with him.
Kingpin was deep in thought. He never usually took so long. Something had shaken him. His hands were trembling. Regardless, his words were steady. “Plans have changed. Our trip to the cabin has been postponed for security reasons. The show goes on. I’m not about to let anyone think they’ve gotten to me.”
I had no idea what Kingpin had going on. It didn’t sound good. But we seriously weren’t prepared to do a show we hadn’t practiced for in over a month. I said as much. “Honestly, we can cancel it. I don’t want to cause any more issues, either.”
I knew Sky still wasn’t happy with me. Who could blame her? I’d messed up their honeymoon asking Kingpin to help me fix things with Hallow. She’d walked in on me crying on her husband’s shoulder. Not just his shoulder, in his naked arms. It sure looked worse than it was. That had been a mistake of my doing, so I didn’t want to cause any more damage.
“This happens tonight, as planned,” Kingpin said, his tone serious, letting me know there would be no more discussion. On a dime, he softened. “We’ll wing in. You still got the set list, right?”
“I do.”
“You’re doing amazing. I’ll just follow your lead.” He was about to walk off.
My words came out rushed. “That’s not what I’m worried about. I don’t want to upset Sky. I know she thought something happened between us that night. I didn’t mean for it to look that way.” This was the first opportunity I’d gotten to apologize to him. “I don’t want anyone here to think what they think.”
Kingpin stopped at the edge of the bar. He drummed his ring covered fingers on the wood. “What do they think?” he asked, like he really didn’t know. A sly grin appeared. He wanted me to say it.
“You know what they think.”
Everyone said Kingpin beat Hallow up because he’s secretly fucking me, that he’s in love with me. And there wasn’t an iota of truth to it. Did this fact amuse him? Sure, it did. Everything amused him. I made a noise.
He dropped the act. His lips flat, Kingpin bowed. He wasn’t dumb. He knew the rumors as much as anyone. He’d been fucking with me.
“You and I know it’s not true. And Sky’s fine, I think. She’s got to realize nothing’s going on here.”
“Right.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Can’t you do something to squash the rumors. Tell them all at Church or something that nothing has ever been going on between us.”
