Six

Kye

September 30

Part of me felt guilty for smiling like a damn fool, but, fuck, I was happy. Genesis was curled up on the sofa beside me, watching a movie in my mom’s old house. Her things were all officially moved back to Ocala. Her sewing machine was on the kitchen table, where it belonged. The fact that she’d dropped this semester when it had just begun and wasn’t registering to go back next semester bothered me because I knew she wanted her fashion and design degree. But convincing her not to stay here and help her mom with her dad was pointless.

Theo was going to be in the hospital for weeks, maybe months. He had to go through physical therapy and speech therapy. Once he met some goals, he could come home, but even then, he was going to need help and physical therapy appointments. Genesis wasn’t leaving her mom to handle all of this alone.

Convincing her to stay in my mom’s old house had been a little difficult. In the end, Alice had helped with that. Saying she’d need Genesis’s bedroom to sleep in for herself once they got the master bedroom set up for Theo. I hadn’t wanted to explain that my mom’s house had bulletproof windows and a security system that went well beyond what most homes had. My dad had had it installed when he bought this house for Mom to raise me in when she refused to live with him. Genesis assumed the security system was a typical one. She did use it when she was there alone, and when I needed to check on her, all I had to do was look at the app on my phone. It gave me peace of mind when she was in town. The deeper I got into the family dealings, the more I worried about her safety.

The past few days had been hell. I’d never had to be involved in killing a woman, and, damn, it was hard to witness. Even if the bitch had deserved it. Blaise did most of it, but I had to watch. I kept hearing my mom in my head, telling me this was why she didn’t want this life for me. When I had to hold a fucking gun to another girl’s back while Levi threatened her to stay the fuck away from Saxon, it made me physically ill. She was trembling. Levi knew as well as I did that the girl wasn’t bad, like her brother. She wasn’t dangerous. She was just the sister of a gang member who had kidnapped Aspen. Levi had been fucked in the head over that even though Aspen was back home and back in his bed.

The darkness of this week had only been bearable because I had Genesis here. She didn’t ask when I came to her with the twisted shit in my eyes. I knew she saw it, but she never said a word. Instead, she just eased me. Made me smile. Reminded me that I had someone so fucking pure in my life.

“I’m hungry,” she said, looking up at me.

“Tell me what you want, and I’ll order it.”

She scrunched up her nose, and I realized I wanted to kiss it. I kept kissing her. Not her lips, but anywhere I could get away with platonically laying my lips on her. The nose was a popular spot. I should stop it, but, damn, it had been a hard few months. She’d gotten so busy with the stupid nameless fucker that she rarely called or texted me. Then, when I was going into a dark place from her absence, she’d called me, upset over the bastard.

“Mexican,” she finally said.

“Enchilada with queso on top,” I confirmed, already knowing her order.

She just smiled as I pulled out my cell to call her favorite Mexican restaurant.

My text message ding went off, and I opened it to see Winter—one of the newest strippers at Devil’s who I’d fucked a couple of nights ago—had sent me a text.

Miss you. When are you going to let me suck that big, pierced cock again? I’ve been a bad girl and need spanked.

“Big and pierced, huh?” Genesis said, and I closed the text, not liking how it felt that she’d read that.

I cut my eyes to her. “You reading over my shoulder, Baby Doll?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t mean to, but the big, pierced cock got my attention, then the spanking thing.”

I kept my sex life and Genesis separate. It felt wrong for her to know that side of me. Sure, she knew I wasn’t a good guy, but to her, I was the guy she depended on. The guy that Winter knew was a different man.

She shoved my arm. “Are you being pissy because I read your text? I’ll let you read all of mine if you want. But I can promise you that none of them talk about cocks or spankings.” Her eyes twinkled with amusement.

“I’ll pass. You keep your dirty little secrets,” I told her, then found the phone number for the Mexican restaurant.

While I placed our order, she laid her head back on me and turned her attention back to the movie. I swore to God, if I got called away from her tonight, I was going to be pissed. She’d had an emotional week, and while she’d been in the hospital with her mom and dad, I’d been dealing with family shit. Every chance I got to get away, I went to her. Except, of course, when I needed to burn off some pent-up energy with a fuck. That was what girls like Winter were for. I handled my needs, then got my ass to the hospital. Winter had taken a good bit of my tension across her ass the other night. I should have figured she’d want more with all the begging for it she had done.

Genesis’s phone began to ring, and I glanced down to see the word Him on her screen. Fuck. I didn’t have to ask who that was. Not only was he now calling, but she was even hiding his name from me on her phone. Did he know what the hell she’d been through since he’d shut her out?

I felt her entire body tense before she jumped up and answered the call while walking away from me. I sat there as she went back to my old bedroom, which was the one she used when staying here.

When she closed the door behind her, I got up and started to follow her. It took all my willpower to stop. She wanted privacy. I had to give it to her. Even though it was killing me to know he was on the other line. If he was upsetting her, I was going to figure out who he was and hunt him down. But then, if he was trying to get her back, I was also going to figure out who he was and hunt him down.

I turned and went to the kitchen instead to pour myself some whiskey.

I wanted her happy. I did. But I wanted to be the one making her happy. We completed each other. We understood each other. She made my day brighter. There was nothing that son of a bitch on the phone with her could do for her better than I could. Except sex. He could fulfill her sexually. I couldn’t do that. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to because truth was, I wanted to real fucking bad.

However, Genesis wasn’t the kind of girl who could have sex without emotion. It would mean more to her. She’d end up getting hurt by me, and I’d lose her. That wasn’t a fucking option. I needed her in my life. She was all the good things. When I didn’t have her, everything was wrong. It was off.

The past two months—when she was barely available to talk to me, never visited, and didn’t want me coming to see her—had been torture. It was so bad that I started getting pissed that she wasn’t calling me, needing me for something. I’d have given my left nut for her to interrupt a blow job, and that was insanity, but true. The less she called, the not being needed, it had rocked me. Opened my eyes to just how badly I had to have her in my life. I wasn’t sure when the switch had flipped in me. There had been a time that I was too busy for her. She had been there, and I’d taken her for granted. Until she wasn’t there. That was probably when the switch flipped and why. June 2, when she went back to Savannah, had been a wake-up call. Genesis was my number one, and I had let her down. Never again.

The door opened to the bedroom, and I stayed leaning against the kitchen counter, drinking the whiskey in my hand. My jaw was clenched tightly, and I felt like someone had their hand around my throat, choking me. If she walked in here and told me she was going to give him a second chance, I wasn’t sure I could control myself. Images of putting my fist through the wall came to mind.

Genesis stepped into the kitchen, and her eyes met mine. I felt like a fucking brick had settled in my stomach. She wasn’t crying, so he hadn’t been mean. He hadn’t said something to upset her.

Had she even told him about her dad? Not that he deserved to know.

“He, uh, wants to talk in person. And he … he said that he doesn’t want to lose me but that I had to make a decision.”

I waited. What fucking decision? This asshat was giving her stipulations? Was he that stupid? Her dad was in the hospital, recovering from a stroke. He didn’t deserve her. No one did. I doubted they ever would. He should be groveling at her feet. I should make him grovel at her feet. No. Wait. I wanted him gone.

She took a deep breath. “He’s coming here. I’m … I mean, he wants to see you too. You’re my best friend, and he knows that and understands it more than most. He just needs you to know … him. That he’s the guy I am with.”

The way she stumbled over her words told me she was leaving shit out, but I wasn’t going to push her. I had to be careful, handle her gently. She had dealt with too much this week. I just needed her to not need him or want him. I could be enough. I didn’t hurt her, and I took care of her. He wanted her back. Of course he fucking did. Who wouldn’t?

This time though, I wasn’t going to be blindsided. I was going to win. I knew her better than anyone. I could be exactly what she needed. Maybe even … handle her pleasure, just not sex. Other things. Fuck, I was getting this twisted. That wouldn’t work.

“When is he coming?” I asked, taking a drink.

“In the morning,” she replied.

That was too fucking soon. He needed to stay his ass in Georgia for at least another week. She didn’t have time for relationship shit. She had her dad to think about. Didn’t he care about that? No. He apparently just cared about himself.

“Does he know why you are here?” I asked.

She nodded. “I explained. It’s why he called. He had gone to the apartment, and Quinn told him I moved back to Ocala but that he’d have to call me for any more information. Then, she slammed the door in his face, but not before taking the roses and chocolates out of his hand and keeping them.”

I smirked. Not just because Quinn was a badass, but also because of the fact that he’d brought her roses and chocolate.

“Does he not know the way to your heart isn’t chocolate, but macarons? And you hate roses.”

Stupid fucker hadn’t even taken the time to get to know what she liked.

“In his defense, we haven’t discussed those things.”

I didn’t want to listen to her defend him. They’d been together for two damn months. He should know this stuff. If he cared about her, if he was even close to being worthy of her presence, then he should fucking know what she liked.

“Is he staying or just coming for the day?”

He wasn’t staying the night in this house. The idea of him fucking her in my bed made me livid. That bed was hers. Only hers.

“He’s staying, but not here. We aren’t ready for that.”

Good. I’d fix this before they got to that point. This guy had no chance. I would make sure of it.

I nodded. “Okay. I want to meet him too.”

She bit her bottom lip, and I could see that she wanted to tell me something. It was all over her face. I waited, giving her a minute, but she didn’t say anything. That was gonna drive me crazy, but I had to let her do this on her time frame. No pressure or stress. Dickwad was doing enough of that. I was going to let him sink himself.

Pushing off from the counter, I walked over to her, took her chin between my finger and thumb, then tilted her head back to look at me. “Food is almost here. Let’s go eat, watch our movie, and enjoy the night. Stop worrying. It’s me. I won’t let anything hurt you, and I’ll be so damn nice to this guy that he might decide he prefers me to you.”

She let out a short, surprised laugh, then dropped her gaze from me. “I’m one hundred percent positive that will not happen. No matter how charming you are.”

I took a drink from my glass, then slid my arm around her shoulders. “Come on, Baby Doll. I have a powerful smile, and have you seen my abs?”

Another bubble of laughter.

“Relax. It’s all going to be okay, I swear,” I assured her.

She let out a deep breath, then nodded.

The doorbell rang, and I slapped her ass playfully before going to get our food. I was going to be the best platonic boyfriend a girl could have. Genesis wouldn’t need anyone else. And if I needed to get her off without fucking her, I would do that. I could give her the best orgasms of her life without my dick. I just had to keep from losing my cool and slamming my dick inside her. Jerking off several times first would be vitally important.