Red Handed (The Gentlemen, #1)

by Kate King

Despite being from the same family, Sophie and I weren’t raised the same way. At all. At twenty-four, she was a year older than me, but you wouldn’t know it. Our parents treated her as breakable, while they sent me to break into hotels. It was a whole thing.

Nico sneered at the mention of our rival gang. Even a throw away reference to Mount Summer was enough to send him over the edge. To be fair, a light breeze could send Nico over the edge, so that wasn’t saying much.

Then, the video showed her pulling the gun on me. Nico’s brows went up. “That’s fucking embarrassing.” I smirked. No, it was hot as hell.

Nicolai ran the Gentlemen, one of the largest and longest running criminal organizations on the East Coast.

His eyes were opposites, one such a light blue it neared white, and the other dark as night.

Even through his tailored designer suit, I could tell he was all lean muscle. He was a juxtaposition between grace and predator. It made him ten times hotter that I couldn’t instantly figure him out.

I looked back at him, imagining my hate could burn him even from this distance. I hoped he could see it in my eyes—the promise that one day I would pay his family back for what they did to mine.

Not that I cared because he was the devil incarnate, but from a purely scientific perspective he was possibly the best looking guy I’d ever seen—and I’d seen a few stupid-pretty men in the last twenty-four hours.

This wasn’t some Romeo and Juliet shit. We weren’t about to switch sides and become martyrs all because of one dance. No matter how soul-shattering it was.

His mouth dipped to my ear. “Come on, I won’t bite.” The gleam in his eyes told me differently. That if I let him, he’d do more than bite. Fuck… that was tempting.

One very attractive Gentlemen would not distract me from how fucked up this whole thing was.

“I’m just saying, don’t be surprised if all those boys get into a fight over you.” She grabbed my fork and stole a bite of noodles. The idea heated my skin, and I ducked my head, embarrassed. That image was kinda hot.

I never claimed to be the most perceptive guy in the world, but if I were a betting man, I would put all my money that this girl was going to be trouble.

If Nico in a suit was hot, comfy Nico was deadly. It shouldn’t be possible to make something that dangerous look that inviting.

I definitely wasn’t above food bribery.

“Please don’t tell me you haven’t noticed my muscles. It might break my heart.” I choked on a laugh. “Don’t worry, Big Guy. You’re hard not to notice.” He suddenly swung me up into a bear hug. “That’s what I was hoping to hear, Little Thief.” “Fishing for compliments?” “From you? Always.”

“You’re hot when you're all murdery, Little Thief. Love the violence.”

His smile was like the cat that ate the canary, so big it took up his whole face. God, what must it be like to be so happy so easily? I wanted to soak up his good mood and save it for later. If I wasn’t careful, I could get addicted.

Soon I would be covered in a thick coat of self-hatred over what I’d done…but not yet. That was the cycle: the anticipation, the adrenaline rush, then the comedown and inevitable crash. It was like chasing a heroin high, and shaking for days afterward, sick from withdrawal.

If we were going to do a job, I needed to be completely clear headed. This was why we did fucking prep work…and didn’t ride motorcycles or hang out with murderous assholes who looked like GQ models, but whatever.

We got the laptop back, and in theory I was free to go. Still, I had said I would go to the race and some traitorous part of me didn’t want to disappoint Beck. I didn’t want to examine that feeling too closely.

I hadn’t had time to check if she was okay before they peeled out. I had no idea when I started to care, but I would lose my goddamn mind if something happened to her.

Sophie was my older sister, but somehow, I’d fallen into the role of babysitter. No one ever looked out for me like that. She was the heir, and I was the spare of the family.

Not that I needed his permission or attention, but I liked the feel of his intense eyes on me as his two best friends dragged me away from the booth. Liked it a bit too much, probably.

“You’re going to come for us, Firecracker, and know just how much we own you.”

I gasped for breath and looked directly into the hungry gaze of my worst enemy as his two best friends made me come apart.

Jesus. How had I gone from fighting with these guys, to almost fucking, to murder in the span of like two hours? Was this my life now? Cool. Coolcoolcool. I definitely didn’t need therapy or anything.

I didn’t get Nico at all. Half the time it seemed like he trusted me, and the other half he was throwing massive tantrums about how I was the enemy and nothing else.

In any case, it was probably good to keep a little distance or I’d be tearing his clothes off in public. Granted, Beck wasn’t the person to get that distance with. There was no lesser of two evils. Both these guys were a sin waiting to happen.

He was looking at her with emotions that neither of us had the right to feel. Not knowing what we did. That didn’t stop me from wanting to be in his place.

I was quickly realizing she’d become more important than I had let anyone be. There was no fucking way I was letting anything happen to her.

I wasn’t the priority and never would be. An ache formed in my chest. My dad never made me being the expendable sister a secret, but a small, deep part of me started to feel like Beck, Rush, and maybe even Nico felt differently.

One moment he was all Gentlemen, a total psychotic rage machine, and the next moment he was talking me through panic attacks and making promises I had no idea if he had any intention of keeping. His mood swings could give a person whiplash.

Nico slung his shoulder gun holster over his crisp white dress shirt and my mouth watered. For how much of an ass he was, he never failed to look like the most delicious taste of forbidden fruit.

“What happened to us being enemies?” I asked. “Is this another truce?” He pulled back, dropping his forehead to mine, and took a strained breath. When his eyes met mine, there was a seriousness I hadn’t seen before. “Fuck the truce… and fuck being enemies.”

“Not finding you was never an option. I would burn down the entire city to get you back.”

In this world, the only thing scarier than me was my dad, and he liked to make sure everyone knew it.

On the one hand, she wasn’t mine, on the other she was the only girl I’d considered taking that role.

I needed some physical space. I’d always known I was a sick fuck for being turned on by guys with guns. I was not aware until this moment that I was apparently also into homicidal rage.

“We’re going to hunt down every single last one of you that tried to steal her from us.” His voice was edged, and a shiver ran down my spine. “And enjoy cutting you up and making you scream until all of you learn the lesson that you don’t fuck with the Gentlemen, and you definitely don’t fuck with what’s ours.”

I didn’t want to leave him, didn’t want him to think for a second that this changed anything. He was still the Beck I knew, I just see the whole him now, and I wasn’t afraid.

This conversation wasn’t going to get any easier. I didn’t even know what I wanted to say. “Listen, I know we have a decade—decades really—of hate between us, and I think you might hate me half the time, but I’m kind of falling for your friends. Sometimes I think I’m falling for you too. I think I’m just fucked in the head. I don’t know, but I do know that my father is spying on you and going to fuck you over. Just thought you should know.”