OUTLAW KING(25)

King kissed my shoulder. “Sorry to come crashing back into your life like this.”

“What other way would you have come back?” I asked.

He laughed. “True.”

“How did you get out?”

“It’s a f*cking mess, sweetie. A big f*cking mess.”

“Tell me about it.”

“All I can say is that while I was inside there were some guards that got themselves into trouble. Throwing down cash and bets on who could kill me.”

I rolled to my back. “What?”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay.” My heart was racing.

King kissed the tip of my nose. “You’re so cute when you worry about me.”

“I’m being serious, Kingston.”

“Kingston?” he asked. “You haven’t called me by my real name in a long time.”

“What happened inside?”

“I just told you. So some guards got themselves into trouble. And now there’s some evidence that could help show I didn’t actually do what I said I did.”

“Murder.”

“Revenge,” he corrected.

“You shot someone.”

“That someone shot my brother.”

Those were memories I didn’t want to be reminded of. That was when I thought I was losing King for good. I think I did really lose him then. Maybe even now, even though he was in my bed again.

“Look, I can’t say much else,” King said. “All I know is that I wanted to see you when I finally got out. That’s why I’m here, sweetie.”

“You just want to get laid.”

“I wanted to get laid by you.”

We kissed. A nice loud wet kiss. Then another. And another.

I touched his face and pulled back. “So what happens now?”

“We sleep, sweetie. That’s what happens. We sleep.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I know,” he said.

I swallowed hard. “I can’t get enough of you. How could years separate us yet it feels like it’s been days?”

“Because we’re in love,” he said.

I looked at him. “I swear to you, King, what you thought you saw…”

“I don’t care anymore,” he said. “You did what you thought was right, sweetie. You tried to find someone to make you happy. I was actually kind of hoping to find that. So I could stay away. But then he…”

“Thank you for saving me,” I said. “Nelson gets drunk and mad, but never like that. I was actually breaking things off with him. Trying to talk to him. He didn’t want that.”

“Well, if I ever see that prick again, he’s going to end up on his ass again. You don’t f*cking touch a woman. Ever.”

“My knight to save me,” I whispered.

King rolled me to my side. He nibbled at my ear. He threw his left leg over my body, pinning his cock between us.

“Fuck that,” he said. “I’m your outlaw, sweetie, and I’m here to f*ck you again.”

And that’s exactly what King did…





18


(King) *THEN*

TITO TOOK a deep drag on the joint and then offered it to me. I waved a hand. I didn’t touch that stuff. I didn’t need to be mellowed out and lose my edge. Tito sat on the bed with his arm around a pretty woman. He held the joint to her lips and she took a drag. The room was thick with the stinky smoke. Shit, I was going to end up stoned whether I liked it or not.

“I want to teach you something,” Tito said in a chilled voice. “About family. About loyalty.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

I was too young for the Reap at that moment. I was too young to understand a lot of the stuff I had seen in life. But I was old enough to know that my big bro - my f*cking hero - was in a tough place. The left side of his face was all f*cked up. He had gotten jumped two nights ago. Right outside the house. I saw it from my bedroom window, too. I tried to get outside to help, but by the time I did, the attackers were gone.

Tito told Mom he crashed his motorcycle.

She believed it.

I think for Mom it was easier to believe what she wanted rather than face whatever was happening around her. I hated her for that sometimes.

“Nothing is more important than loyalty and family,” Tito said. “I need you to remember that, little bro.”

“I got it,” I said.

“Good. I know you keep looking at my face.”

“Tito, that was scary.”

“That was life. Sometimes it sneaks up and beats you down. You take the beating. You move on.”

“Who did that to you?”

“Guys that weren’t loyal and guys that weren’t family.”

I shook my head. “So where’s your loyalty and family at? What happens now?”

Tito grinned. “Ah, little bro, it’s all smoothed out. It’s all like a pie in the motherf*cking sky right now. Right, sweet baby?”

Tito shrugged his shoulder and the woman he was with let out a giggle.

I couldn’t help but notice the way her obvious cleavage danced when she giggled.

Damn, Tito knew how to get women. All the time.