• thirty-seven •

“He had managed to reach my soul and wrap it around his finger.”

Rumor

I heard Sebastian’s voice, but I was frozen. Unable to look away from King. My chest hurt in ways I’d never experienced. It was hard to breathe. It didn’t matter that we were friends. Because it was more than that to me now. How could it not be? King had been…was…everything to me. He’d been my savior, then my friend, now my lover. How was I not supposed to feel more?

Seeing him with her. Again. Knowing what he liked to do with her and other women like her tore through me like a knife. The pain was almost unbearable. The truth sank in like a brick in my stomach…I’d let myself fall in love with this man. A man who would never be more than what we were. He would always want women like her. Need them.

King’s blue eyes were almost black as he stared at me. I’d caught him in a moment of his twisted sexual passion. I could see the way his pupils had almost taken over the color I had come to adore. I was so stupid. Last night, I had let myself believe he wanted me like I did him.

“Go back to the room, Rumor,” he demanded.

Really? That was what he was going to say? He had just been inside of me four hours ago, screwing me like he couldn’t get deep enough.

“Rumor! GO!” he shouted this time.

I couldn’t breathe. His words were equivalent to a boulder being slammed into my chest. I backed up slowly, not looking to see who else was in the room. I knew Sebastian was there, but I didn’t want to see his face. See the pity there. I was crumbling, and I needed to do it alone. Find a way to pull myself back together.

Turning, I ran. Back upstairs, just like I had been told to do. I always seemed to find myself in this position. Doing what a man ordered me to do. Falling for a man who hurt me. I should have never gotten in his truck that day. I should have gone back to the house and faced whatever was to come with Hill. The videos would have come out. He’d have been arrested. Or killed. I wouldn’t have to live in hiding.

But the Mafia…they might have killed me.

Shoving open the bedroom door, I went inside and slammed it behind me. My breathing coming in erratically. Each intake more difficult than the last. I looked to the closet, where my empty suitcase was stored. My clothes were all hanging inside now. The ones I had come with and the ones that had been given to me. I wouldn’t take those with me. I wasn’t taking anything from here with me. Just what I had come with.

Wrapping my arms around my middle, I sank down onto the edge of the bed. How was I going to leave him? I didn’t hate him. I wasn’t sure I ever could. I had let myself fall for him. That wasn’t his fault. It was mine. I was broken inside, and he’d come into my world, being everything I had never had. Giving me things I hadn’t known I needed. A family. A place where I was wanted. Someone I could trust. A place to feel safe.

But what was I to him? Was I only seeing this through my eyes? Had I just seen what I wanted to? Believed what I wanted to?

The door to the room swung open, and King stalked inside. His eyes leveled on me.

“That was not what you think.” His voice sounded hoarse, as if he’d been shouting.

I stared at him. The man who had so quickly and effortlessly become everything to me. Who still was.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” I replied.

His nostrils flared, and he took another step in my direction. “Yeah, it fucking does. Don’t go there in your head, Rumor. I fucked you on that bed just a few hours ago. So, yeah, it does matter. You matter. What you feel matters to me.”

It was that easy for him. He said those words, and all the heartache eased. The misery I had found myself drowning in stopped. Air filled my lungs without stinging. This was worse than I’d thought. He had control over me and not just physically. He had managed to reach my soul and wrap it around his finger.

“What you saw,” he said, pointing toward the door, “was me trying not to kill a woman.”

I stilled. What had he just said?

“She is the reason they found you here. She’d told them. She was the rat.”

My mouth went slack. Was he serious?

“Why?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

He shook his head. “Because she’s a fucking bitch. She’ll pay for it. I swear to you, she will.”

I stood up. “What do you mean? You’ll call the police? If you call them, they’ll take me. Won’t they? I’ll be a suspect in Hill’s murder. They will no longer think I’m dead.”

I began to tremble. This was all unraveling. I’d put them in the middle of it all. Just like I had feared. What if they were arrested too? Because of me.

King was in front of me instantly. His hands on my arms gripping me tightly. “No cops. No one will know you’re here and alive. I swore to you I’d keep you safe, and I will.”

“How? You can’t promise that!” I felt myself growing hysterical. There was no answer to this that ended well. I couldn’t think of a way to fix it. I was tired of thinking about it.

“We take care of our own. No cops. She will be dealt with here. You will remain safe. I have to leave you and go make some decisions, but I’ll be back. Maeme will bring you some breakfast. Just stay in here. This room. Don’t leave. Don’t go downstairs. Not until I return. Promise me.”

I stared up at him. His blue eyes were back, and the pleading in them for me to do as he asked trumped everything else I was thinking. Even if staying here wasn’t what I should do, it was what I would do. For him.

“Okay,” I replied.

He let out a relieved sigh and pressed a kiss to my lips. It was hard and demanding, but ended much too quickly.

“I’ll be back,” he whispered before leaving one more brief touch on my mouth.

Then, he turned and left me standing there. Staring after him. Afraid of the future, but knowing I had someone. Even if that someone wasn’t telling me everything.