by Levine, Nina
This was an old argument of ours. Linc had never moved past the insecurities he had over me earning more than him. And while I’d studied for my degree, he’d spent most of the time bitching about me being away from the family. If it had been any other day, I would have walked away at this point, but it wasn’t. It was today, and he’d pushed me too far. “I’ve never thought I was better than you. That’s your hang-up, not mine. I don’t care what people do for a living or whether they’ve got an education. All I’m interested in is whether they care about those they love, and you proved that you don’t. You can stand there and tell me you love me and that you wanna be together again, but your actions speak a lot louder than your words. I don’t care about words or promises anymore, Linc. I don’t even hear them. I hear actions.”
Steam practically billowed from him he was that angry. Huffing out a shitty breath, he backed away and snapped, “Fine, you wanna be like that, I’m done here. I’m out. You can fucking sort your own shit out.” He stared at me for a few beats, like he was waiting for me to change my mind. When I said nothing, he shook his head angrily at me and stalked inside.
I took a minute. He had me all worked up that I shook with the adrenaline coursing through me. Sagging against the wall, I got my breathing under control while I thought about our argument. It struck me how easily he turned on me. He turned mean. That definitely wasn’t a characteristic I wanted in a man I gave my heart to.
Following him back inside, I found him telling Holly he would drive them to school this morning but he wouldn’t be here when they got home this afternoon.
Robbie and Zara were in their bedrooms so I went back to mine. The less time around Linc, the better. My phone sounded with a text as I walked through the bedroom door.
Skylar: Hey Lily. Just checking in on you to see how you are. I’m thinking of you.
My heart sped up as I read the message. I couldn’t think of Skylar without thinking of King.
Me: Thanks babe. I’m okay.
She’d been texting me every day since Brynn was shot. In a short amount of time, I’d grown to adore her. Kinda like how I’d fallen for her brother in a crazy short time.
She didn’t send another text. She rang instead.
“I really doubt you’re okay,” she said when I answered the phone. “Give it to me straight. We’re friends now, and friends don’t bullshit each other.”
I smiled, and for the first time in days, it was a genuinely happy smile. Funny how those who truly cared about us could do that for us even when we were going through something that had no joy in it. “I’m not okay, but I kinda am if that makes sense. I’ve got some really good people around me, including you, and that makes things so much better.”
“Good. Now, I’ve organised some home-cooked meals for you with the girls here. They’ve all pitched in and cooked a heap of casseroles and stuff for you guys. I’m going to ask King to drop them over late this afternoon. Will you be home?”
A new wave of emotion overwhelmed me and tears streamed down my face. How was I so lucky to have people like Skylar looking out for me? I squeezed my hand tighter around the phone as I tried to talk through my tears. “You’re amazing,” I choked out. “Thank you.”
“Oh shit, I’m sorry I made you cry.”
I dashed the tears away. “They’re good tears, I promise. And besides, I cry far more at the moment than I don’t, so this isn’t anything unusual.”
She was quiet for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice softened. “How’s your sister?”
I swallowed hard, the unrelenting pain slicing through me at the thought of Brynn lying unconscious on her hospital bed. It knocked the wind out of me, and I had to sit on the bed to stop myself collapsing to the floor. “I don’t know,” I whispered through more tears. “She’s still on the ventilator. The doctors don’t know when she’ll wake up.”
“I’m so sorry.” Her voice held tears now, too. “I’m going to come and see you today. Will you be at the hospital?”
“Oh no, don’t do that. You’re still on crutches and in pain. I’ll be okay. And besides, they won’t let you into the intensive care unit. It’s just family.”
“I’m fine. Don’t you worry about me. I’m still doing all the exercises you gave me, and getting better every day. And I don’t care if I can’t come in. I just wanna be there for you in case you need someone to talk to or cry with. I’ll sit outside. What time will you be at the hospital? I’ll ask King to drop me off for a few hours.”
She’d mentioned King twice now. I’d ignored the first mention, but my body wouldn’t allow me to do that twice. Because although my head stayed firmly committed to not starting up with him again, my body had completely different ideas. Kind of like my heart did.
Skylar King had the same level of determination as her brother, so I knew there was no point arguing with her. “I’ll be there in the next couple of hours until around school pick-up time.”
“Okay, I’ll see you later. Do you need me to bring anything for you?”
“No, you’re already doing so much.”
After the call ended, I took a deep breath. Today would get tricky if she managed to convince King to do those things for her. Hopefully he’d be far too busy to say yes.
Chapter Six
King
I stretched my neck before shoving two Advil down my throat. I avoided washing them down with whisky. There was a hell of a lot of shit to get through today; whisky wouldn’t help with any of it.
It had been a long night sitting outside Lily’s place. I’d headed home for a few hours of sleep after Mace covered me early this morning, but it had been broken. Sleep was the last fucking thing on my mind, though. I could run on sheer fucking determination if I had to.
“Where’d you get to last night?” Axe asked, joining me in the office.
I settled my ass against the office desk. “Had shit to do.”
He gave me the look that told me he would wait for further information.
Scrubbing my hand over my face, I muttered, “I gave Mace the night off.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “He was watching the physiotherapist, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Since when do you take on that kind of job?”
“Fuck, brother, do we really need to play twenty-fucking-questions? I’d rather go over the shit we’ve gotta take care of today.”
“Jesus, King, how long since you’ve had some good sleep? You’re being extra fucking whiny today.”
I glared at him. “Tell me you’ve heard from Johnny.”
“I have. He thinks he has the location. He’s confirming it now and said he’ll be back in touch within the next hour with any luck.”
I wouldn’t ease off this guy until I had that address in my hands. “Keep on him.”
“Will do.”
A knock sounded at the door and Skylar called out, “King, you in there?”
I pushed off the desk and opened the door. “What’s up?”
She made her way in, using her crutches like a pro. Lily had worked her magic on Skye’s recovery. She went from strength to strength daily. “Can you drop me off at the hospital this morning?”
I frowned. “You don’t have an appointment today, do you?” It wouldn’t surprise me if she did and I’d forgotten. My head felt like it could explode with all the shit in there.
“No. I want to go and see Lily. I feel so useless and unable to help her, but I figure I can sit and just be there in case she needs someone to talk to or be with her, you know?”
My gut tightened at the mention of Lily. I knew exactly what Skylar meant. I felt useless, too. And fuck, what I wouldn’t give to make shit right in her world again.
I checked the time. We’d be cutting it fine because I had a meet scheduled with Eric Bones in just over an hour, but I’d make this happen. Nodding, I said, “We’ll leave in ten.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
As she exited the room, Hyde came in. “You g
ood to leave in about twenty for this meet?”
Bones had called yesterday after word had travelled about the visits I’d been making around Sydney. Visits letting everyone know Storm wouldn’t take shit lying down. I’d had Eric on my list, but he’d called me first.
“Change of plans,” I said to Hyde. “I have to swing by the hospital on my way, so I’ll meet you there. If I’m running late, start without me. We’ve got too much to get through today to slow shit down.”
“Agreed. See you there,” he said and left us.
Axe met my gaze. “I’ll call you as soon as I hear from Johnny. You gonna have time to get this done this afternoon if he comes through with an address?”
“I’ll fucking make time for that.” I would move heaven and earth for that. The fact Romano still breathed infuriated me. The kind of anger that made a man willing to go places he’d never considered before lived inside me over Romano. The only other time in my life I’d felt rage like this was when Margreet had been killed. A bloodbath had been my response to that. I wouldn’t hesitate to do the same this time if that was needed to ensure the safety of my family and my club. And of Lily and her family.
* * *
“You haven’t visited her yet?” Skylar asked, surprised when she realised I didn’t know where the intensive care unit was. We’d arrived at the hospital five minutes ago and the need to see Lily compelled me to park the ute and go inside with Skye. I’d known it would. It was why I’d told Hyde to begin without me when he met Bones.
“I’ve been busy, Skye,” I muttered.
We found our way to the lifts and headed up to where Lily’s sister was. Skylar sent a text to Lily letting her know she was here. When we arrived outside the unit, Lily was nowhere to be seen and I wondered how long I’d have to wait for her.
I didn’t have a lot of time to spare.
And yet, the tension punching through me told me I’d wait.
I needed to see her for myself. Had to see she was okay.
Skylar took a seat in the tiny waiting room. I didn’t. Instead, I paced the area, my thoughts completely on Lily.
“God, King, sit down,” Skylar grumbled.
I checked the clock on the wall. Fuck, the silence in here was deafening. We were the only ones waiting, and the corridor was quiet, too. I disliked noise, but I would have done anything for something to take my mind off shit.
“Send her another text.”
“No. I told her I wouldn’t get in her way today.”
Fuck.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” I said, exiting the room to make a call. As I stepped out into the corridor, Lily pushed through the door from the intensive care unit, her eyes coming straight to mine.
Stopping dead in her tracks, she said, “King.”
I’d caught her off guard, which wasn’t my intention, but it seemed to slow down any inclination she may have had to tell me to leave the minute she saw me. Either that or she’d decided to stop fighting me. The way she looked at me was a hell of a lot different to the way she’d looked at me last night. She appeared to have thawed a little.
I ran my eyes over her. It wasn’t because I wanted to fuck her, although that desire was stronger than ever. This was based on my need to know she was okay. It was a habit I’d picked up somewhere along the way in life. When I spent time away from those I cared about, I found it necessary to check for any harm that may have come to them while I was absent. It was a habit I couldn’t shake.
Lily was okay. Physically, at least.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as I checked her over.
Meeting her gaze again, I said, “I dropped Skylar off.”
Her brain appeared to catch up to my presence when the thawing of her ice shifted back to freezing temperatures again. “Thank you for dropping her off. You can go now.”
Her words were automated. Cold. Emotionless. Like she was talking from a fucking script. It was as if she didn’t even fucking know me; like I’d never been inside her. That shit pissed me off. Where the hell had her fire gone? I could handle her hate and her disappointment and her regret. Whatever she wanted to throw at me, I could fucking take. But I could never handle being frozen out like this because I knew it came from the kind of devastation that crushed a soul. And I never fucking wanted to crush her soul.
I closed the distance between us, slid my hand around her waist and backed her up against the wall. Ignoring the widening of her eyes and the way her hands pressed against my chest, I growled, “We need to get one thing straight, and one thing only. I’m not walking away from this.”
Her throat worked hard as she found her words. With her hands still pushing against me, she blurted out, “I don’t know what you think this is, but as far as I’m concerned, there isn’t anything for you to walk away from.”
I moved my free hand to her neck, gripping her there and circling my thumb over her throat. Bending my face to hers, I said, “That’s bullshit and you know it. Stay mad at me. Stay fucked off. Yell at me, scream at me, fucking hit me, but don’t you fucking shut down on me.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. And then she found her fighting spirit. “This isn’t something you can fix, King. You can’t just swoop in and demand I forget what you did. I needed you and you just left.” She pushed hard against my chest, forcing me backwards. “You hurt me, and I won’t allow you to do that again.”
There she was.
Fucking beautiful.
“Good,” I said, my entire body blazing with heat. I could work with what she’d given me.
“Good? What the hell does that mean?”
Fuck, if only she knew how much her fight turned me on. “You’re not done either, Lily. I don’t expect you to forget what I did, but you’ll move past it. This pull between us is too fucking strong for you not to.”
“My God, you’re arrogant.”
“No, I’m honest.”
“You’re fucking presumptuous is what you are.”
“We can stand here all fucking day slinging words at each other, but that would only prove I’m right.” I moved into her personal space again, unable to stop myself. Fuck, I wanted this woman. Tracing my finger over her lips, I added, “If you didn’t still want me, you would have ended this conversation before it even got started.”
Her lips flattened and she pushed me away again. Moving past me, she snapped, “You tell yourself that, but don’t ever presume to know my thoughts again. You are so wrong it isn’t funny.”
I watched her walk into the waiting room and sit with Skylar. Not once in our conversation had she brought up her ex. If she were committed to trying again with him, she would have thrown that at me. Not that I’d let him get in my way when it was clear she wanted me, but she hadn’t mentioned his name once, signalling that was bullshit, too.
* * *
Eric Bones eyed me with hesitation. “You’re stirring some shit up, King. You sure you wanna do that?”
I leaned back into the booth where we sat in the darkened corner of the dingy pub I reserved for these kinds of meetings. Crossing my arms over my chest, I said, “I haven’t been so fucking sure of something for a long time.”
“Fucking hell,” he muttered. “It’s throwing a lot of heat my way.”
“And?” Did he think I gave two shits?
“Look,” he said, angling forward and resting his arms on the table, “I’m just sayin’ that Sydney hasn’t seen any major trouble for a long time. Well, besides what went down with Silver Hell. You’ve mostly kept the peace with everyone. Don’t force a war on all of us just because of the shit you’ve had going on.”
“I’m done with keeping the peace when it’s not warranted. It needs to be known that if a line gets crossed, Storm won’t take it. I’m just letting everyone know this’ll be how it is in the future.”
“Yeah, well some people don’t like it.”
“I don’t give a fuck what people like.”
His face morphed into a pained expression. “I
hope you know what you’re doing.”
This conversation had been a waste of my time. Standing, I said, “I don’t do shit I can’t stand behind. You wanna fucking cry over it in future, do it with your sisters. I don’t have time to waste talking it out.”
As Hyde and I exited the pub, my phone sounded with a text. After I read it, I looked at Hyde, every cell in my body alive with the crazy energy I welcomed. “We have an address. Call the boys. It’s fucking on.”
This moment had been too fucking long coming. Romano’s blood would finally dirty my hands.
Chapter Seven
King
If, as claimed by some, the two most powerful warriors were patience and time, I was a motherfucking warrior when it came to Romano. He’d evaded me at every turn over the last few weeks, and before that, he’d fought a war against me in the shadows. I’d had to be more patient with him than I’d ever been with anyone. That had only intensified my hunger for his blood.
Axe’s guy had come through with the goods, and after my men had surrounded the secluded property on the outskirts of Sydney and fought their way through the security guarding Romano, I finally stood in front of him.
“And so we meet,” he said, his attention firmly on me. He ignored Hyde, Nitro, Cole, Nash, and Axe who stood behind me. He knew his time was up. Knew there was no point trying to find a way out of this.
“You had to know that was inevitable.”
“I wasn’t convinced you had it in you. I’ve been coming at you for a long time, King, and you never worked it out. So no, I didn’t know it was inevitable.”
Motherfucker.
I had missed it.
I would never make that mistake again.
My body strained to have at him, but first I needed to make sure I knew everything there was to know about this situation. Moving closer to him, I gripped his shirt and yanked him to me. “We’re gonna have a little talk about that,” I snarled.