The Loyal Hound's Rose - Chapter 1

My first encounter with Liu Qin wasn’t exactly dignified.

The young master, Zhao Shu, had wanted him and failed to get him. The obsession drove him out of his mind, and he ordered me to kidnap Liu Qin.

I thought Zhao Shu had a death wish.

But I didn’t get a vote.

I was just a lousy bodyguard.

If my boss dared to say it, I dared to do it.

When I slipped into Liu Qin’s room, he was taking a bath.

Not a respectable kind of bath.

The long-haired man lay in the tub, his body covered in love bites. A slim cigarette rested between the fingers of his left hand, that arm draped lazily over the rim.

His right hand was holding someone’s head beneath the water.

A faint red flush touched the corners of his eyes.

Even the droplets falling from his lashes looked obscene.

I froze in the doorway for a good three seconds.

Liu Qin tilted his head and stared at me for those same three seconds. He didn’t move at all. Just watched me and let out a pleased breath.

For one instant, I could have sworn I was the one he had pinned against the tub.

It felt as if he’d violated me with his eyes.

Even when I bundled him up and threw him over my shoulder, Liu Qin tried to stop me.

“Wait. I’m almost there…”

Almost there, my ass!

Fuck!

That night, I delivered Liu Qin to the hotel trussed up tight.

Standing guard outside the room, I rubbed my fingertips together.

While tying him up, I’d accidentally touched somewhere I shouldn’t have.

Very soft.

Like a big white steamed bun.

Springier than a steamed bun.

It made me hungry.

I thought I’d buy two buns from Auntie Lu after my shift.

But my shift never ended.

And I never got my buns.

Liu Qin cracked Zhao Shu’s head open.

He even took a shower before coming out.

Wrapped in a bathrobe, he looked clean and fresh as could be.

Meanwhile, Zhao Shu was bleeding the fuck out on the floor!

My scalp went tight with terror.

If my boss died, I was dead too.

I rushed over and checked whether Zhao Shu was breathing.

Liu Qin leaned against the door and lit a cigarette. His eyes narrowed. “Big guy, am I soft?”

My fingertips itched. My throat tightened.

I glared at him.

Read the damn room.

My boss was about to die, and this man was still asking whether he was soft!

Did he think I had time to get soft?

Liu Qin put the cigarette between his lips, pulled his robe aside, and twisted his waist to show me his big white bun.

“It’s bruised,” he said.

He glanced down at it, slow and languid, a smile tugging at his mouth.

“All five fingerprints. You’ve got quite a grip, kid.”

For days afterward, I dreamed about buns.

My hands were dirty. Every bun I picked up bore five distinct blue-gray fingerprints.

I did it on purpose.

Liu Qin really was beautiful.

Beautiful enough to make people forget he ran District Two.

That he was Zhao Shu’s father Zhao Qingyun’s right-hand man.

The kind of right hand you couldn’t cut off.

Liu Qin split Zhao Shu’s head open, yet Zhao Qingyun had to apologize to Liu Qin.

“He’s young. He doesn’t know any better.”

Liu Qin tapped the ash from his cigarette and smiled. “He’ll be twenty after New Year, won’t he?”

That shut Zhao Qingyun up.

He decided on the spot to send Zhao Shu abroad for further study.

Zhao Qingyun understood the situation perfectly.

If he didn’t discipline this son, Liu Qin probably would.

Zhao Qingyun could guard against anyone else.

But Liu Qin was different.

His cruelty was notorious throughout the underworld.

Just as notorious as his promiscuity.

Zhao Qingyun was afraid that if he looked away for one moment, Liu Qin would kill Zhao Shu.

No one who made a name for themselves on Hitt Island was decent.

Liu Qin was worse than most.

He had more lovers, for one thing, which made him especially good at killing with a borrowed knife.

Zhao Shu refused to leave while Liu Qin was still here.

After throwing a fit for ages, Zhao Qingyun fired a bullet at the floor by his feet.

That sobered him up.

Zhao Qingyun had plenty of sons, after all. He wasn’t exactly short of them.

Zhao Shu was a remarkable creature. His brain came and went without warning.

Before he left, Zhao Qingyun ordered him to apologize to Liu Qin.

Zhao Shu obediently went.

He dropped to his knees in front of Liu Qin with a thud, kowtowed, and offered a heartfelt apology.

He said he’d been possessed by madness. He promised that from now on he would regard Liu Qin only as an uncle. He even promised to care for Liu Qin in his old age.

When he finished spouting that bullshit, he said, “I’m leaving, so I won’t be able to stay by Uncle Liu’s side and fulfill my duties. Song Heng is the bodyguard Grandfather gave me when I came of age. He’s highly capable in every respect. I’m giving him to you, Uncle Liu. Use him however you please. Consider him my apology.”

Liu Qin looked delighted.

His ears were pricked, and his hands stayed busy.

He took apart the gun on the table, put it back together, and repeated the process several times.

He listened to Zhao Shu’s confession with a beaming smile. When it was over, he leaned forward and pressed the muzzle against Zhao Shu’s Adam’s apple.

Zhao Shu was too terrified to breathe. His face rigid, he rasped, “Uncle Liu…”

I stared at Liu Qin and reached for the gun behind my waist.

Ready at any moment to blow apart his beautiful head.

When the Old Master sent me to the island, he made it clear that Zhao Shu alone was my responsibility.

It didn’t matter who ruled the skies over Hitt Island.

There was only one sky above me, and that was Zhao Shu.

Liu Qin suddenly smiled. He let go, and the gun slid down inside Zhao Shu’s collar…

Zhao Shu yelped, covered his crotch, and doubled over.

That thing must have landed hard.

I bit the tip of my tongue. My own parts ached in sympathy.

Liu Qin patted Zhao Shu’s head, then slumped bonelessly across the sofa. He seemed to be in a fine mood, his lips curved in a smile.

“Good nephew. Your uncle will be waiting for you to come home and take care of him.”