Kingpin (Breeding #4)

“Great,” I mumble as I grab my bag and stand up as the train comes to a stop.

The doors open and I step onto the platform and walk quickly while tucking my bag under my arm. I have pepper spray in the side pocket, and I slip my hand inside, wrapping it around it. It’s not much, but it’s some kind of defense, and it makes me feel a little braver as I hurry to make it through the dark.

The train platform is long. There’s a station on the other end where you can buy tickets, but I always walk the back way because it saves me about a half a mile in walking. If I go toward the ticket building, I have to walk several blocks to get back to the other side, and even though this way is a little bit sketchy, my feet are killing me after tonight.

There’s an alley at the end and it runs along a fence with a junkyard on the other side of it. I usually sneak down this path, walking for a few yards before it opens up into the street and to some shops that are open late. It’s gated up, and I don’t think most people know about this back entrance, because otherwise people could sneak on the train if they wanted to. I have been known to do it a time or two when money was tight and I needed to get to work. But I try my best to do it the right way now and only use this way for getting home as fast as possible.

I get to the edge of the fence and breathe a sigh of relief. My biggest fear was getting away from the train stop, and now that I’m back here, I feel much safer. I check behind me and then look ahead, seeing light in the far distance. Just a little longer and I’ll be fine. Just a few blocks from home and then I can crawl into bed.

Thoughts of tomorrow and how early I have to get up flow through my head, so when I hear the noise on the other side of the fence, it startles me. It sounded like an animal, and I stop dead in my tracks, paralyzed by confusion and fear.

I’ve heard a dog once or twice from that side, but not for a long time. I had actually assumed the dog died or something, because the one time I saw it, it looked really old.

I hear another sound, and this time it sounds like a grunt. I take a step toward the fence and squint my eyes to see through. A long tarp is draped over it, hiding whatever is on the other side, but there’s a slit in it and I peek through. The light from the moon offers just enough illumination to make out someone standing in the distance.

A chill runs down my spine as I watch him. There are junk cars all around, and in between two of them I see this guy’s back. But he might as well be a giant for as big as he is. His shoulders are almost double the width of mine, and he towers over the hoods of the cars. His hair looks black in the moonlight and hangs down a little long. He’s wearing a long-sleeved shirt that’s pulled tight across his muscled back, and for someone who never really liked bulky guys, I’m feeling weak in the knees. My eyes travel down his jeans and to his tight ass. How can a guy who looks so menacing from behind look so hot at the same time?

He turns to the side, and then I hear the noise again. It’s then I notice someone at his feet. There’s a man on the ground, with his hands covering his face, and just as I realize what’s happening, the moonlight reflects off the gun in the big guy’s hand.

My hands go to my mouth to muffle my scream as the gun goes off. I stumble back in terror. Everything in me is telling me to run, but I’m stuck standing here in shock.

Tears prick my eyes, my heartbeat pounds in my ears, and just when I think I’m going to stand in this place forever, the big man turns and looks directly at me.





Chapter 2





Salvatore





I pull the trigger, and a rush of satisfaction runs through me as I watch Joey’s body go limp. I knew when I brought him out here he wouldn’t be leaving alive. I could have done it fast, but I had to give him one last beating before he left this earth. He’d earned it after all.

The silencer muffles the sound of the gun, and the snip of the bullet going through his head is followed by the quiet of the night. Normally I would’ve had my men handle something like this, but I’d known Joey for years. He owned a deli in the city where I ate every so often. I just didn’t know that he liked beating on his wife and kids. I’d given him a warning a month ago when I saw the evidence. Then I’d given him a beating so he knew what it felt like. He didn’t appreciate someone bigger than him laying down the punishment. He found out quick what it felt like to be powerless. It was a lesson he needed, and I thought that would be the end of it. It happened after I saw his wife shuffling around the deli with a black eye, her daughter sporting one just like her mother. I couldn’t believe it had been going on under my nose and I never saw it before then.

It had enraged me that I’d been giving his place of business protection when really it was his family that needed it from him. I hated that I hadn’t seen it sooner. Normally I’m good with reading people, so it only pissed me off more that I’d missed it.

Then today, I came into the deli to check on things, and the little girl had a split lip. I felt it was my responsibility to handle it then and not just give out the order. I was partly responsible for the little girl’s busted lip. When her young innocent eyes met mine and I saw the misery in them, Joey’s fate was sealed. He’d never lay his hands on them again.

I’ll still give the deli protection, but as a penance, it will be for free and for life. As long as Joey’s family owns the place, I’ll make it right for them. It’s only right after not acting sooner.

A muffled cry snaps my eyes away from the body on the ground, and I turn to see someone standing in the dark alley behind the junkyard. The sight takes me by surprise because it’s the middle of the night and this place is always deserted.

I can barely make out the shape of the person on the other side of the fence, but I can tell they are small. They could even be a child. My eyes focus in, and the moonlight picks up the shadow. It’s then I can see it’s a woman. Just as I open my mouth, she turns and takes off running.

“Fuck,” I mutter, jamming my gun back into its holster and taking off after her.

I race toward the fence and jump up, my foot connecting with the center of the chain-link fence as my hands go to the top. I push myself over the top, landing on my feet in a quick, smooth motion. My legs are longer than hers, and she’s not far ahead of me. I don’t even really need to full-out run to keep up with her, but the closer I get, I can’t help my eyes going to the sway of her ass.