Alpha King of the Underworld

Just Forget It

Julian’s POV

I got back to the club just in time for the employees to roll in. As much as I would like to say I played it cool, I discretely searched for Mila in the crowd. When I finally spot her, I slowly make my way in her direction, but she doesn’t look my way once. She doesn’t look anywhere other than the bar, and I’m not about to make a scene of me trying to chase her down. My body might be aching to touch her, but I still had an image to uphold.

So I let her get away for now, but I was going to find a minute alone with her. Right now, I have some other s**t to deal with. I make my way down the hall to where my office is. I pass the room where Mila and I had been in last night but didn’t stop to look inside. Someone has no doubt cleaned it by now and given that I just saw Mila walk through the front door, she wasn’t inside waiting for me.

Fuck!

Roman f*****g Thatcher had made even more of a mess for me.

As if my father sensed me walking into my office, my desk phone rang and I heard his sigh of disappointment as soon as I answered.

“Julian.” He said calmly.

“Dad.” I reply in greeting.

“What happened last night? The media are speculating and I need to address them soon, so fill me in.”

“I thought you didn’t want to be a part of this area of the family business anymore. Something about you wanting to go clean.” I scoff.

“Don’t test me son, I’m in no mood for your back talk.” He snaps.

“Too bad I’m not a kid and you don’t scare me.” I throw back, knowing I should just keep my mouth shut and give the man what he wants.

“Julian, this is serious. I’m trying to pull us out of the underground life into a place where the government won’t be breathing down our throats and threatening us with charges at every turn. Three of our men got caught last week, and I’ve been informed that they were offered deals if they talked. This isn’t good, son, for any of us.”

The way he called me son like that had me gritting my teeth. He was trying to sound fatherly and concerned, but I knew him too well that all his words did was piss me off.

“If they talk, they die. All our people know that.” I remind him.

“No. We can’t have bodies on our hands. That needs to stop Julian. You need to learn another way to handle these situations. Which is exactly why going to school will be beneficial for you. You remember you start tomorrow, right?”

I hoped he would forget and I wouldn’t have to go, but clearly, I underestimated him.

“Yeah, I’m ready, although I still say it’s a waste of time. I know everything I need to know to run this city. Sitting by a bunch of stuck up rich brats won’t help what I already know.”

“We aren’t discussing this again. It’s done. Now what happened?”

As much as I would like to tell him to f**k off, he was right. He needed to know what was going on or he would do something stupid like say it was a misplaced shipment. That would have reported trying to look further and they would find far more than missing product. They would see the fire damage and destruction left behind. It would bring more attention to us, which is not what we needed right now.

So I tell him the cliff notes version of what I found when I showed up at the docks this morning. He didn’t say much but to warn me to let him handle things. Like hell. I wanted to lay into him again but someone knocked at my office door so I end up hanging up on him instead.

“Come in.” I call out.

I’m taken by surprise when Mila slowly steps inside.

“Mr. Keller, Adam said we are low on Bourbon and that you had the key for the storage room.”

Her voice is hesitant and subdued. She also doesn’t seem to be able to look at me.

“I do have the key, but I want to talk to you about something first.” I motion for her to sit and she does.

She sits with her back ramrod straight and her hands folded on her lap. What the f**k is wrong with her?

“I wanted to explain about this morning.” I start but she cuts me off.

“You don’t have to explain. It was what it was, and we don’t need to talk about it again. I know it would probably make things weird if anyone found out, so let’s just forget it happened.” She stands before I can say anything else.

I watch her fidget in place, waiting for me to hand over the keys. This isn’t where I hoped this conversation would go, but if she’s so eager to run away, then I won’t force her to stay. I may be an asshole in the dating department, but I’ve never forced a woman to do anything she didn’t want to do. I’m not about to change that now. So I pull open the drawer on the left of my desk and grab the set of keys that unlock all the storage spaces in the club. I hold them out to her and when her fingers brush mine; I consider grabbing her hand and pulling her onto my lap. She wouldn’t be able to leave without hearing my explanation for leaving, but I don’t. I let her go.

“Thank you.” She turns on her heels and almost runs out of the room.

Once she’s gone, I curse and throw the closest thing to me against the farthest wall.

“Shit.” I growl when I realize the thing I grabbed was my cell phone.

“That’s just wonderful.”

It wasn’t a big deal since I backed everything up, but it just added to the anger already roaring in my head. This day couldn’t get any worse.

When I get myself together enough to be around other people without the urge to kill anyone, I head into the club and plaster a smile on my face. I greet a few regulars and make my rounds before taking my spot in my reserved booth, looking over the floor.

A few scantily clad girls appear and flirt their way into the seats beside me, and soon some other people appear around me. I don’t see them or hear them.

No all my attention is focused on a stunning petite brunette mixing drinks.

She laughs at something one of the other bartenders says and I scowl at how easily she seems to be getting along with another guy.

We spent one night together and I shouldn’t be this possessive of her, but my animal has decided she’s ours, so seeing any other man touching her but me is going to bring me to the brink of murder.

Since murder is not an option at the moment, I’ll have to settle with firing his ass.

“Well, isn’t this a nice surprise? I didn’t think you would be here tonight. You have quite a mess on your hands at the docks.” My blood boils at the sound of the familiar voice.

“What are you doing here, Roman?” I try to keep my voice calm and my face indifferent, but I’m sure he could sense my anger.

Our kind can sense a lot, including anger and murderous intent. Both of which I’m feeling right now.

“I’m meeting some business associates here. I forgot this was your place, but I’m glad to see you. I hope we can speak about the Stanton building downtown.” He smirks like he thinks he’s catching me off guard, but like I said, he’s predictable.

“I told you on several occasions that we have no intention of selling.” I remind him to which he laughed.

“Yes, I have to say you sure know how to make a potential buyer sweat. I’ll wear you down, eventually. It was great talking to you, Julian.” He waves before turning and walking causally over to the bar.

My eyes stay with him every step of the way and even longer when I see him talking to Mila.

He says something that makes her smile and a small hue of pink appears on her cheeks.

A pink that comes to her breasts, and with that reminder, I feel myself growing hard. Unfortunately, one of the girls I had been ignoring had her hand on my leg and must have felt the change.

“Oh! I can take care of that for you.” She purrs into my ear but all my attention is fixed on Mila smiling at Roman.

Fuck no!