by Levine, Nina
Staring down at his thumb, it struck me that King had never been this gentle with me. I liked his rough ways, but I really freaking liked his gentle.
When I took my time answering him, he growled, “Lily,” as his touch turned a whole lot less gentle. He then gave me his signature style of rough when he reached further into my bra and squeezed my nipple while adding, “I need your cunt again, and I want a plan for when that’s gonna happen.”
King was the crudest man I’d ever met, and I couldn’t get enough of his filthy ways. I wasn’t a fan of the c word, but coming from him? I was going to hell because of how much I liked it on his lips.
Putting my hands to his chest, I tried to push him away, because I needed a moment and the space to think. He got me all flustered when he bossed me while talking dirty. When he refused to move, I said, “King,” with the kind of tone that told him I wanted him to move.
As per usual, he took no notice, and instead, took it as a signal to move further into my personal space. His hand snaked around my waist and he forced our bodies together. “I’ve got some club shit to take care of this morning, and then I’m heading over to your place to clean it. I know you’re taking your mum to the hospital and Robbie to karate, but what else have you got on?”
“Well, for one, I’m trying to keep my daughter from getting pregnant. But in answer to your question about the kids, Linc is picking them up from here at three. I’ve got the night to myself.”
The way his eyes flashed with heat told me he liked that answer. And when he bent to kiss me, as roughly as he usually did, I knew he really liked that answer. Letting me go, he moved out of my space and said, “Lock this afternoon in.”
I took my T-shirt when he passed it, and put it on. I then found a pair of jeans to wear, and my boots. King stood silently and watched me as I dressed and brushed my hair, his eyes greedy for my every movement. By the time I was ready to walk out of the bedroom, I was actually more ready to lock the door, strip, and beg him to fuck me. Good God, this man only had to look at me and I was a mess. I wasn’t sure how I would get through life now he was in it. And yet, I did know, because having him by my side was a whole lot better than not having him there.
* * *
King called me at one and told me my place was clean and ready for me and the kids to move back in, so I bundled them up and moved us back home, arranging for Linc to pick the kids up from there instead of Mum’s. I’d spent the morning at the hospital with Mum and Brynn. She was starting on her road to recovery, much less confused than two days ago, but still not completely herself. I knew it would take time. I was just relieved and happy she was still with us.
Robbie wasn’t feeling well, so he hadn’t gone to karate, and I was concerned about sending him to his father’s while sick. Linc wasn’t the best at coping with the kids when they were like this. Zara was still mad at me, refusing to talk to me. Holly had thankfully moved past the stress she’d felt earlier in the week and had given me no hell today. She’d tried to talk her sister around, but had no luck. I was resigned to the situation with Zara getting worse before it got better. I based that on the way I’d acted at her age. Turned out karma was a bitch.
By the time King showed back up at my place, it was almost three. That concerned me. It meant he was around for Linc’s imminent arrival. I was already stressed about seeing Linc for the first time since our fight the other day; King being here only added to my worry.
He entered the house, beer in hand, and dropped a kiss to my mouth as his hand slid down and around my waist. It was a quick kiss and then he continued on his way to the kitchen. I smiled as warmth filled my belly. This felt good. And right. Like it was meant to be.
I listened while he and Holly had a conversation about motorbikes. She’d taken to him in a way I’d never imagined she would, and loved hearing about the rides he’d been on. They’d talked over dinner last night for a good twenty minutes about his trip across Australia to Perth. I’d found her later, searching the Internet for the places he’d mentioned. When I’d jokingly said, “You gonna get a bike, Hols?” she’d shrugged and said, “Maybe.” That had completely surprised me, but when I’d mentioned it to King, he’d shrugged, too and said, “Better prepare yourself now. When bikes get in your blood, there’s no getting them out.”
I lingered, listening to them for a while before going in search of Robbie. I found him lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling. Entering the room, I sat next to him and asked, “You okay, baby?”
Turning to face me, he said, “I don’t know.”
I frowned. “What’s going on? Is your tummy still not feeling well?”
“It’s okay.” He paused for a moment, and when he spoke again, his eyes shimmered with tears. “I miss Dad.”
With those words, my heart cracked a little more than it already had every other time we went through this. Robbie had been five when Linc and I split, and he’d struggled a great deal with the break-up. He’d been okay for the last six months, though, so I thought things were better for him. But as I sat watching him, I knew deep in my gut where these emotions were coming from.
King.
I’d dated since Linc, but not one of the men had meant as much to me as King did. Robbie was a sensitive soul; I figured he’d picked up on my feelings for King. And while he appeared to like King, I understood how confused he must be about everything.
Running my hand over his forehead, I said, “I know you do.”
I felt out of my depth with this, but that was a recurring feeling in my life. Marriage and parenting didn’t come with a how-to manual, and it sure as heck wasn’t easy to navigate a family break-up. I’d stumbled and fumbled my way through it all. Some days I felt invincible, like I could take on the world. Most days, I felt how I felt right now—completely lost and desperate for the answers that told me how to not screw my kids up any more than I already had.
“I want him to move back home.”
Oh man.
I should never have allowed Linc to stay with us at Mum’s this week. I could see that it had confused Robbie, and now we’d have to go through another round of him coming to terms with the fact his parents would never be together again.
“Robbie, we’ve talked about this before. You know that Dad has his own home.”
His face crumpled. “Why does he have to? Why can’t he live with us?”
“Sometimes mummies and daddies can’t live together anymore, buddy. Do you know how Dad and I fight a lot?” At his nod, I continued, “Well, we just aren’t very good at living in the same house. It makes us just as sad as it makes you, but at the same time, we are happier when Dad lives at his house. That doesn’t mean we don’t love you. We love you very much, and will always make sure you get lots of time with both of us.”
He listened to everything I said, and then he rolled over and faced the wall. That was his sign he was done with the conversation, and previous experience told me it was best not to push him to talk more. Robbie was a deep thinker; he just needed time to process it all.
With a heavy heart, I left him and made my way to the kitchen looking for King. I had the overwhelming need for his arms crushed around me in a hug. When I didn’t find him there, I kept searching until I found him on the couch in the lounge room watching television.
His eyes came to mine the second I stepped foot in the room, and his shoulders tensed as he watched me walk to him. He reached out his arm, grabbed my shirt at the waist, and pulled me onto the couch next to him. As his lips brushed my cheek, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
I curled my legs up under me and snuggled against his warm body. God, he felt good. Like home. Wrapping one arm across his chest, I looked up at him and said, “Robbie’s all confused over his father again.”
“Over what?”
I sighed. “He doesn’t understand why Linc doesn’t live with us. He goes through these phases, but it’s been a good six months since the last one. I guess having his dad stay with us for a couple of n
ights this week messed him up.”
King was silent for a few moments while he thought about what I said. “And having me around would be confusing to him, too.”
“Yeah,” I said softly, not wanting to admit that, but having to.
“You want me to go? Give you guys the night?”
That he put himself last and did so without hesitation meant the world to me. I moved my hand to his face, placing it against his cheek. Shaking my head, I said, “No. Don’t you dare leave. I need you.”
Heat flared in his eyes, and with a growl, he bent his face to mine and kissed me. When he was done, he said, “Fuck, there’s nothing like a woman telling you she needs you.”
My tummy practically somersaulted out of my body at his honesty and the way he willingly shared it with me. Gripping his face hard, I said, “And there’s nothing like a man who speaks the truth.”
His eyes searched mine for a good few moments before he tightened his hold on me while simultaneously shifting his hand to rest on my ass. He then turned his attention back to the television and continued watching the sport.
My man wasn’t one for a lot of words, but the ones he did give were worth every breath he took to say them.
Chapter Fifteen
King
“The fucking feds are back on us,” Kick said as he took the barstool next to me late Monday afternoon. “Devil and I were just tailed by two of the assholes on our way back from Brian’s.”
I threw some beer down my throat and scowled. “Yeah, I had a tail today, too.” The motherfuckers hadn’t let me out of their sight for the three hours I was out on club business. It had made it fucking difficult to get shit done.
Kick eyed me, concern etched into his face. “They aren’t the least of our problems, though, are they?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Fucking hell,” he muttered, shoving his fingers through his hair. “You want me to do anything? Start putting some precautions in place?”
“Get eyes on him, but don’t do anything yet. We’ll see how this plays out first. Hell, if we weren’t able to find Moses, I’d like to fucking see the feds find him. And the link to D’Amato isn’t obvious so they may not have even connected it.” The fact the link between Storm and D’Amato existed pissed me off. He had his fingers in a lot of shit in Sydney, and we didn’t need a problem with him. This fucking Moses bullshit meant that was possible, so all we could do at this point was watch and wait. Because if he didn’t know anything about Moses, I sure as fuck wasn’t gonna bring it to his attention.
A cheer erupted from the back corner of the bar, drawing Kick’s attention. “They’re celebrating hard.”
I glanced over at them. “Yeah, brother. You gonna stick around?”
The club had been celebrating since Friday—since they’d been told they could move their families home. Devil had organised a get together for tonight to bring everyone together, and members had started rolling in an hour ago. It was getting rowdy in here.
He nodded. “Evie’s mum is having Elizabeth for the night so she can come.”
Hyde cut in as he joined us. “Just got word from Winter. He’s checking out a lead on Brant. Will let us know what he finds. And he’s found some premises to operate out of down there.”
Sending Winter had been a good decision. He was an attention-to-details guy and would get shit done efficiently. His military background made sure of that. “You got any ideas of who we should send down there to work with him?”
“I’ve got a few names on my list.”
“We’ll go over it tomorrow.”
His gaze turned serious in the way it did when he had shit to tell me that he knew I wouldn’t like. “Also, Ghost’s release is scheduled for this week. We gonna find him a place to stay?”
That was the last fucking thing I wanted to do for that cunt. “No.”
“You might wanna reconsider, brother. We’ve got a lot riding on Ghost keeping his mouth shut.”
I motioned for Kree to get me another beer before turning back to Hyde. “We think we need to keep him happy to keep him from talking to the feds, we may as well put a bullet in his head and call it a fucking day. If Ghost has forgotten the meaning of loyalty, he can learn the fucking meaning of dead.” Fucking hell, just thinking about the motherfucker caused my head to stir with the beginning of a headache.
“Yeah, I get that, King, but Ghost disappears right after he gets out, the feds are gonna be looking in our direction.”
Kree placed a beer in front of me, a blank expression on her face. She’d made it pretty fucking clear all day what she thought of our new arrangement, and I was fucking over her attitude. I made a mental note to bring that shit up with her before she went home.
I took a long swig of my drink before looking back at Hyde. “I couldn’t fucking care less, Hyde. We start running on fear, we may as well surrender to those assholes now.”
“Fuck,” he muttered. “I hope you fucking know what you’re doing.”
I was back running on gut instinct after allowing outside forces to interfere with decisions, and my gut was telling me to trust very few and eliminate all threats I couldn’t control.
Kree placed a Coke in front of Hyde, eyes on me as she did so. “King’s flying by the seat of his fucking pants, Hyde.” Without waiting for a response from either of us, she stalked to the other end of the counter to serve Mace.
“What the fuck’s going on there?” Hyde asked.
I moved off my stool, shoulders rock hard with tension, gaze pinned to Kree. “She’s pissed I’ve put eyes on her and added some security to her place.”
He frowned. “The cameras?”
“Yeah. She gave me some bullshit about an intrusion of her privacy.”
“Jesus, she gets the threat her ex is, right?”
I stretched my neck trying to loosen my muscles and shake the headache building. “I don’t fucking know. She says she does, but I think she’s under some illusion he won’t ever hurt her.” She looked up and I caught her eye. Jerking my chin at her, I barked, “Kree. A word.”
“Go easy on her, brother. She’s probably confused as fuck,” Hyde said.
She glared at me but walked my way. I turned and headed toward the office so we could have this chat in private.
When I had her in there, door closed, I said, “Wanna tell me what the fuck is running through your head?”
Her brows lifted. “You know, I don’t really care at this point that you’re my boss or that you think you’re helping me, King. I really don’t like the way you’ve taken over my life and have started controlling everything I do.”
“I don’t give a fuck if you don’t like it, I’m doing it for a good reason.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Do you have any idea what men like your ex do to the women they can’t have? Because I can fucking tell you some stories if you don’t.”
“Of course I know what men like Don are capable of, but Zane has told me he’s got a handle on the situation, and I’m choosing to put my faith in my cousin. Having said that, I told you I’m okay with the men you’ve got watching me. Thankful, too. But those cameras in my home? No fucking way. I want them gone.”
“The cameras are staying.”
She stared at me for a long few moments, her anger growing. “I’ll pull them out.”
“You fucking won’t.”
She straightened, pulling her shoulders back defiantly. “I fucking will.”
“Fuck, Kree.” I rubbed my temple. “I’ve got enough other shit to deal with—”
“So deal with it, and I’ll deal with mine.” She exited the office after that, leaving me angrier than I was before we talked.
Yanking my phone from my pocket, I called Griff. “You dug up anything on Don yet?”
“Only that he’s a fucking asshole when it comes to his kids and ex. I’m still going through everything trying to connect dots. I’m getting the sense, though, that he’s tied up with the Vinzani family somehow, and if that’s
the case, shit ain’t good for anyone.”
“Let me know when you have something,” I said and disconnected the call.
Stalking out of the office, I found Kree and pulled her aside. “There’s shit going on that you don’t know about, so the cameras stay,” I said with force. “Am I clear?”
Her silence roared between us, and I figured I’d have to be harder on her to get what I wanted, but in the end, she said, “You fucking exhaust me,” before walking away.
“Kree, answer the fucking question.”
She stopped and faced me again. “Yes, we’re clear.”
Thank fuck.
I reached for my phone again and called Zane. The call went to messages. “Zane, where the fuck are you? I haven’t seen you for days. We need to talk.”
If Kree’s ex was tied up with the Vinzanis, and if he fucked shit up with them, it wouldn’t matter what Don had planned for her, because what they’d do would be far worse, and they’d get to her first. The time had come for me to take charge of this situation, because Zane’s refusal to use whatever force necessary wasn’t going to cut it anymore.
Chapter Sixteen
Lily
“Lily! I’m so glad you came,” Skylar said when I arrived at her place after work Monday afternoon. She’d texted me during the day to ask if I could drop by and check on her progress. I’d said yes, because Linc had the kids at his place tonight, and after I’d checked in on Brynn, I drove to Skylar’s.
I followed her inside, taking note of how well she used her crutches. “You’re doing great with those.” She was clearly doing her exercises, which made me happy. Some patients became a little complacent with their recovery, which slowed it down, but if Skylar kept this up, she’d go from strength to strength fast.