OUTLAW KING(18)

“Or from being knocked out from some *?”

I sucked in a breath. “Oh…”

“Yeah,” King said. “What is that about? Of all the things I worried about you while I was inside. Never that, sweetie.”

I reached for my cheek. Tears were back in my eyes. I was embarrassed that it had happened. That I let things escalate that far with Nelson. I even felt guilt. That I put Nelson into a position where he did that.

King stepped forward. He touched my arms. He swallowed hard. His Adam’s apple flexed. God, that was such a f*cking turn on.

“Never again,” he whispered. “No man ever has the right to touch you. Not like that. I sat inside a small cell, day after day, wondering about you. Hoping you were finding happiness. But that? Getting smacked on by some f*cking prick. That can never happen again.”

“It’s my fault.”

King shook his head. “That’s the thing, sweetie, it’s not your fault. Don’t ever believe that. Fight that shit off. You’re stronger than that.”

“He never did it before.”

“He… who is he?”

“Nelson. My…”

King ran his hands down to my fingers. I felt him touch the small diamond ring. He slowly lifted my left hand and stared at it. I saw the hurt spread across his face. He was holding my hand, his thumb rolling left to right over the diamond again and again. And again.

He touched his chin with his other hand and swallowed even harder.

“You love that guy?”

“I tried to force myself to love him,” I said. “I just couldn’t do it.”

King lowered my hand and then broke away from me. “I just wanted to see you. To make sure you were okay. That’s all.”

“No,” I said. “You can’t just do that to me. You can’t just take off. We’re not playing that game anymore.”

“Game? What game?”

“How the hell are you even here right now? Don’t I get that?”

King made fists. “It’s hard to explain, sweetie. That’s all I can say.”

He started to step back.

I rushed after him, grabbing for his arms. He was so built, so strong. I gripped his left arm and sank my feet into the carpet. King just dragged me like I wasn’t even there.

“Please!” I begged. “I haven’t seen you in over a year!”

King flicked his hand against the door handle and then looked back. “I know, sweetie. I just wanted to check on you. Make sure you were okay.”

“I’m not okay,” I confessed. “You saw what happened. It’s like before. I’m lost. I… you…”

King turned and cupped my face with both hands. “Look, sweetie, I only wanted to check on you. All my boys told me it was a mistake. But I had to f*cking see you. You were the light on the inside for me.”

“Then stay right now and tell me everything,” I pleaded. “How are you really here? What are you going to do now? If I was the light on the inside, then I can be the same here.”

“You’re wearing a diamond ring,” King said. “You belong to someone else.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I said. “Don’t move. I’ll prove something to you.”

I hurried away from King and through my cramped apartment to my bedroom. My heart hadn’t had a second to calm. From trying to say something reasonable to Nelson to him hitting me to King appearing from nowhere and saving me…

I fell to my knees and reached under my bed for the box of notes. It was a desperate move, but what choice did I have? I never thought in my wildest dreams that King would be standing in my apartment. It was just like it always was with us - he’d show up, save me, and then take off.

I wanted that to change.

I ran back through the apartment and lost my breath again when I saw him standing near my door.

He was the sexiest man I’d ever seen. I watched him go from handsome boy to rugged man with each passing year. I felt all the feelings a girl turning woman could feel and experienced enough with King to know if there really ever was one person in the world for me, it was him. Nobody would compare and nobody would ever come close.

I couldn't let him slip away from me again.

“Here,” I said and jammed the box against his chest.

“What the f*ck is this?”

“All the letters you sent me,” I said. “I kept them all.”

“Letters?”

“When we were banned from seeing each other.”

“No shit,” he said.

King peeled the top off the old shoebox and I saw the way the corners of his mouth started to curl up. He moved the notes around, holding the box with one hand. He plucked a note out and shook the paper to open it. I saw the look on his face as he read, the memories obviously crashing back at him really hard.

“You have to tell me what’s going on,” I said.

“I’ll tell you exactly what’s going on,” he said. He put the letter back in the box and handed it back to me. “These are memories. These are f*cking great memories. Everything we ever shared together, right?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

“Keep these forever. That’s all I can say, sweetie. I have to get back with the boys right now.”