• Five •

You don’t know that much about King, do you?

Rumor

The knock on my door came at the same time my phone buzzed with a text. I never got messages from anyone other than King, so I grabbed it before going to see who was here. He wouldn’t be knocking and texting me at the same time. Although it was almost eight at night and he still hadn’t arrived.

Glancing down at my phone, I read:

I’m sorry. Things got complicated today, and I can’t get there tonight. Maeme is going to get you, and you are staying with her.

The disappointment was instant as I slipped my phone into the pocket of my jean shorts and headed to the door to let Maeme inside. I shouldn’t have slept with him last night. Being with him like that had made me want things I couldn’t have. King wasn’t a forever guy. We weren’t in a real relationship. Yet I was feeling too deeply.

When I reached the front door, it wasn’t Maeme. I unlocked the bolt and opened it while studying Sebastian through the window. His eyes met mine, and he smiled.

“Hey,” he said simply.

“Hey,” I replied, stepping back for him to come inside.

He walked past me and into the kitchen. “Man, it’s been years since I’ve been in here.”

“Really?” I asked. “Who lived here then?”

A deep chuckle came from him as he turned to look at me. “No one at the time, which is why I came here.” He paused, and a crooked smile tugged at his lips. “It was a great place to bring a girl back in the day. Well, that is, until Maeme caught us doing it and changed the locks.”

I laughed at the thought of Maeme catching them. “Great. I’m hoping the mattress has been replaced since then.”

Sebastian’s smile only grew. “None of us used the bed. We knew we couldn’t make it look the way Maeme did, so we didn’t go near it.”

“The sofa?” I asked, raising my eyebrows, wondering what I would find with a blue light and not wanting to sit on it anymore.

“Eh,” he said and walked toward the doorway that led into the living area. “Ah. You’re safe. That is not the same sofa.”

I let out a loud sigh. “That is the best news I have heard all day.”

My phone dinged in my pocket, and I ignored it. King had sent me another text. I didn’t want to answer him because I wouldn’t lie if he asked me, and I knew telling him that Sebastian was here wouldn’t go over well.

“Maeme sent me to get you. That’s probably her or King letting you know he won’t be back tonight and you need to go stay there.”

I nodded. “Yeah, King already told me. I’ll go grab my overnight bag.” Thankfully, I hadn’t unpacked since I’d gotten back today. I had been too excited about the new books I had to read from the library at Maeme’s.

Once I got to my room, I pulled out the phone to read the newest text.

Rumor?

I replied so he would stop worrying.

I am getting my things together now.

After sending it, I grabbed the bag with my stuff and went back to the kitchen where Sebastian stood, looking out the window over the sink. His arms were crossed over his chest, and when he wasn’t standing beside King, he seemed larger. It wasn’t that he was a small man. He was over six feet tall at least, and his arms were corded with muscle. His long legs weren’t as thick as Kings, but they still filled out a pair of jeans well. I wondered if riding horses was why they all seemed to have such nice butts.

He turned to look at me, and I realized he’d caught me staring. The grin that curled on his lips wasn’t as cocky as King’s, but it was a close second. I shook my head and let out a small laugh. They were all a little full of themselves.

Something hit me I hadn’t thought of before.

“Do the women you all … bring around know what you are?” I asked him.

He ran his hand over his mouth as his smile spread, then nodded. “Yeah. Anyone we bring onto the property has had a thorough background check and been approved. They are given the rules and warned about what happens if they talk.”

Interesting. But it made sense.

“What happened to Sedona?” I asked, realizing that with all I’d found out following her being threatened at the stables, I hadn’t heard anything about her. My focus had been on me, on King, and on trying to figure out what we were doing.

Sebastian walked over to me and took my bag, and then his eyes locked on mine. “Do you really want those details?” The warning in his gaze was obvious.

I felt a coldness settle in my chest. Twisting as it sank in. I didn’t want to ask now. He was right. I wasn’t sure I wanted the details, but I also knew this would haunt me.

“Is she … dead?” My question came out in a whisper.

“No.”

I let out a relieved sigh and placed my hand on my heart. “Thank God.”

Sebastian smirked. “God’s not the one that gets credit for that. I assure you. Those outside of the family refer to him as the Devil.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to ask who that might be.

“Come on,” Sebastian said. “Maeme’s waiting.”

I followed him outside and out to a truck. It was a fancy, expensive-looking one, but it was still a truck. I let out a small laugh at the sight of it.

“What’s funny?” Sebastian asked me as he opened the passenger door.

I waved a hand at the vehicle. “This and you. I don’t see you driving a truck. You’re more of a Porsche guy.”

He tossed my bag inside, then stepped back so I could climb inside. “A Porsche guy? Why is that? King drives a truck. How are we any different?”

I sat down and looked at him. “You live in a mansion. Have a dozen vehicles in your underground garage. There’s a movie theater in your house. You’re high-profile, expensive. You might ride horses, but you are not a country boy.”

He tilted his head and shook it with an amused look on his face. “You don’t know that much about King, do you?”

What was that supposed to mean? I frowned at him, suddenly wondering what it was I didn’t know. I thought I knew him.

Sebastian rubbed his jaw for a minute, and I could see the indecision on his face. He was struggling with telling me things. But this was about King, and since I was having sex with him regularly and I’d fallen in love with him secretly, I kinda thought I should know the man.

“King has his own house. You know that, right?”

I nodded. Although I hadn’t been aware it was a house. I had imagined more of an apartment.

Sebastian let out a groan. “Listen, this isn’t my shit to share. But I will tell you that King grew up just like I did. Same kind of life. We are the same. More so than Wells or Wilder even.” He paused a moment, then grabbed the door like he was going to close it. “But for the record, King has a fucking Jaguar.”

I sat there, letting that sink in and trying to imagine it as Sebastian walked around the front of the truck. King had a house and a Jaguar? Really?

Once Sebastian got in the truck, I looked over at him. “How old is King?” I asked. Something else I realized I didn’t know. It hadn’t been important. I was so wrapped up in everything else that I didn’t take the time to really get to know him. Past what I’d already known.

“Thirty-five,” he replied.

“And you?” I asked.

He grinned. “Not that damn old,” he drawled, then added, “Twenty-eight.”

I’d known King was older than me, but I hadn’t realized he was eleven years older. Not that it mattered. What else did I not know?

“Where’s his house?”

Sebastian glanced at me, then back at the road. “About five miles from here. It’s on Salazar property. His father’s house is there, along with their stables.”

More stables?

We were already at Maeme’s, and Sebastian put the truck in park and turned back to me. “Any more questions before I take you inside?”

I realized I suddenly had several, but asking him instead of King felt like I was doing something wrong. These are things I should have asked King about. I bit my bottom lip to keep from blurting out another question and shook my head.

Sebastian chuckled. “You’re full of questions, but I respect the fact that you’re gonna wait and ask King the rest.”

I reached for the door handle and opened it. If I was going to wait, I had to get out of the truck.

“You’re handling the engagement well. I thought it would bother you more.”

I paused then and replayed what he’d just said in my head.

Engagement? What engagement? Whose engagement?

“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath when I finally glanced back at him.

The way his brows were drawn together didn’t ease the slowly rising anxiety in my chest. Something wasn’t okay. I just didn’t want to reach out and grab the truth just yet.

“Look, I thought he’d told you. When he left Scotlin at his house and came here last night, I thought he was coming to tell you.”

Scotlin had stayed at his house? The house I hadn’t even known existed? A sick dread began to pool in my stomach.

“What … what do you mean?” I choked out as my hand tightened its grip on the door.

“It’s just a job.”

“What is just a job?” I demanded this time.

“The engagement. One of us had to do it, and King was the only one that made sense. With his and Scotlin’s history, it was believable.”

I just sat there, staring straight ahead. Out into the yard that was lit with little lights buried in the ground. Was I understanding him correctly? Was he telling me that King was engaged to Scotlin? For a job? What kind of job was that?

“I’m gonna be his damn punching bag for this,” Sebastian muttered.

“I … I need to go inside,” I managed to say and grabbed my bag before getting down out of the truck.

I had to get away from him, from everyone, and think this through. Take a moment. Revaluate everything I thought I had known. Again.

“Rumor,” Sebastian called out. “Wait!”

I did not wait. I kept walking. I had to get to that door. Get to the blue room and close myself away.

“Rumor, please,” he added.

I heard him jog up behind me.

I shook my head. “I got enough information for one night.”

“I thought you knew. I’m sorry. This isn’t something he wants to do. He has to. It’s to keep her safe. There is shit going down, and she has a stalker. That’s why he’s having to stay the night at his house with her now.”

I stopped and placed a hand on my stomach as I inhaled sharply. That hit harder than I’d been ready for. They were together. At his house. Where his bed was. All night. He was protecting her. I’d seen her, and I knew without being told that she liked him. She hadn’t been able to keep her hands off him.

What about me? He didn’t want to protect me anymore? He was choosing to be her protector now?

“I’m making this worse,” he said.

“I, uh … good night,” I replied and bolted for the door before he could say anything more to me.