The Lies You Tell

“Do you think this is a game, Hayden? Because I can assure you that I am not joking.”

Looking up at my dad, I shook my head. “No, sir.”

It was the only acceptable answer to give him that wouldn’t get my head snapped off. My two best friends and fellow kings looked over at me, waiting to see how I would next respond.

“This is important Hayden. If you don’t think that you can handle such an important task…”

“No sir, I am ready.”

I had no choice but to be ready. In the town of Warfield, three families had dominated the town since its creation. The West’s. The Abbott’s. And the Rhode’s. The three kings of war, as they liked to be called.

Ronan, Hudson, and I were finally old enough to ascend as kings, and I, as the oldest, had become our unofficial leader. At least for now. Only time would tell if greed would create a power struggle between us, like it had our parents before us.

Picking up the glass of scotch in front of him, my father nodded. “The other missions I’ve sent you on will be nothing compared to this. Make sure you do your research. When you attack, make sure you have enough men.” Throwing back his drink, he slammed it down. “And most importantly, don’t let his death get tied back to the kings in any way.”

“Understood,” I replied, keeping my eyes locked on his. My father, Daniel West, was many things, but understanding wasn’t one of them. He would accept nothing more than perfect.

As my father waved us off, the three of us stood wasting no time in leaving. “Oh and Hayden,” my father called.

I hesitated but turned around, still holding the doorknob in hand. “Yes, sir.”

“Don’t fuck this up.”

“Yes sir,” I replied again, this time hurrying out of the door and shutting it before he could add anything else.

Walking down the hall to the study, I opened the door, not surprised to find that Ronan and Hudson were both already pouring themselves a drink.

“What the fuck man,” Ronan said, turning to look at me. “This is some next level shit.”

Nodding, I moved to pour myself a drink. “We knew this was coming. Honestly, I’m surprised it took so long before they decided to use us.”

“You are getting old,” Ronan said, laughing. “Our parents were fucking up all kinds of shit by now.”

Turning to face them, I took a sip of my drink, letting the flavor dance on my tongue. “We had to wait on Hudson here to grow up and finish his training.”

Hudson flipped me off, but was laughing. “It’s not my fault my dad was the oldest, but took the longest to settle down. Besides, what’s three years?”

Out of the three of us, Hudson felt like he had the most to prove. His father’s family had led the kings for generations. It wasn’t until now that they found themselves following orders. I wasn’t naïve enough to think that we would always be as close as the three of us were now, but we all were united in being tired of our parent’s bullshit.

“Who is Andrew James, anyway?” Ronan asked, shoving a mouthful of peanuts in his mouth. “And why do we care?”

I looked down at the manilla envelope in my hand that held all the answers to his questions, but I had yet to even peek inside. “An enemy of one king is an enemy of us all.”

The line slipped from my mouth like poison. It was a line we had all heard since birth. One we despised hearing, but one we would from now on out have to live.

My father wanted a man dead, and it was our responsibility to make it happen. I’d killed before. Growing up as an heir to a king, you were trained at an early age on how to think, how to act, how to fucking breathe.

We’d been tasked with smaller jobs in the past. Nothing as big as this. Andrew James was a well-known district attorney, one who didn’t mind taking bribes. One who had also made the mistake of fucking the kings over.

You only crossed the kings once and you could be sure it would be a death sentence when you did.

Ignoring Ronan and Hudson talking shit to each other, I pulled out the file on James. Andrew James. Prosecutor for Raven county. 54. Married with one daughter.

The man looked much like what I assumed he would. James was a suit and tie type guy. You could tell just from his picture that he had a stick up his ass. Glancing over his file, I shook my head. The man was even more corrupt than my father, and that wasn’t an easy feat.

Turing the page, I read the wife’s information. Anna James. 45. Blonde-haired, blue eyed, completely clueless about her husband’s misdeeds but not about his many multiple affairs. Typical.

Bored with the entire file, I tossed it at the end table beside me, cussing when it went smoothly over the side. Getting up, I grabbed the file, shoving the pages back in when I saw her.

Andrew James’s 21-year-old daughter, Sutton James. There was something about her picture that drew me in. She had her father’s dark hair, so dark it was almost black, but it was her eyes that I couldn’t look away from. She had the most piercing crystal blue eyes that I had ever seen. It was like she saw me through her picture.

“Are we done yet?” Ronan asked. “I’m ready to hit the club.”

Shoving Sutton’s picture back into the file, I nodded. “Hell yeah. I need to clear my head, and it isn’t going to happen here.”

We all took separate cars to the club. You never knew when one of us would leave with a random girl for the night. You’d think our reputation would precede us, that the girls would learn to stay away from us. They never did.

One perk of being a king was a never-ending line of girls just waiting for their chance to say that they had slept with one of the kings of war. They saw it as some kind of badge of honor, not even caring that we didn’t give two fucks about them.

Parking my car, I couldn’t help but pull out Sutton’s picture one more time. Those eyes haunted me. Even after I had put her picture up and entered the club, I could still see them piercing into me. I wondered what effect they would have in person. Had her picture been altered somehow to make them standout more.

Ronan and Hudson were already in the VIP section when I made it up the stairs. The music was thumbing around us, making it almost impossible to hear each other even from the upstairs balcony overlooking the club, but I didn’t care. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone.

“Dude, are you listening?”

Looking up at Ronan, I frowned. “What?”

Hudson laughed, “well there’s your answer.”

Flipping him off, I threw my drink back. “Can’t a man sit back and relax without you hens gossiping?”

“I was trying to point out red over there, eye fucking you as we speak.”

Looking up, I followed Ronan’s gaze to a bombshell blonde wearing a tight red dress. She wasn’t even pretending to not be interested. After the meeting with my dad today, she was just the kind of distraction I needed. Maybe she could get those piercing blue eyes out of my head.

Nodding my head at the blonde, I watched as she sauntered her way over to me. The fabric of her dress stretched tightly over her curves as she moved to sit in my lap.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, I threw back the reminder of the liquor in my glass. It was way too early to leave yet and that meant I needed to get as drunk as possible to deal with blondie over here.

She was talking to me. I’m pretty sure she told me her name, but I wasn’t listening to her. My eyes roamed the VIP section, looking for any threats. It was something I had been trained to do. Even with my mild altered by liquor, I never let my guard down. Never let myself fully relax.

It didn’t take long before Ronan had some girl in his lap practically dry humping him. Hudson had disappeared, more than likely to hook up with some girl in the bathroom. It was rare we left the club alone, or without some quick hookup. Tonight would be no exception.

Leaning my head down, I whispered to the blonde, I still didn’t knows name. “You ready to leave?”

Nodding, she blinked her eyes innocently as her ass rubbed against me. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she had my full attention now. I didn’t bother telling Ronan bye. By the way things were going. I doubted he even made it home with the girl before he fucked her.

It was always the same. Nameless girls. An easy distraction for the night. All of them hoping for a more permanent spot in our lives. One they would never get.

Throwing my car I gear, I headed toward my house. Blondie had moved my envelope on my dash and although I thought I had forgotten about her, I kept seeing Sutton’s eyes.

What the hell was my problem?

I needed to take Blondie home, fuck the shit out of her, and forget all about some district attorney’s daughter. He was a dead man walking. He just didn’t know it yet. I had no room for loose ends, and she would be a loose end.

Reaching over, I slid my hand up Blondie’s thigh. That’s all it took. No words. No eye contact. Her thighs parted, giving me way to her bare pussy. She was wet. They always were. No chasing. It was almost too easy.

It wouldn’t stop me, but something inside of me yearned for more.