OUTLAW KING(54)

I could hear his heart. It was the second most beautiful sound in the world… only behind the sound of my baby’s heartbeat.

I picked up my head and wiped my eyes.

“King. I’m here. I need you here with me. You promised me, right? All those times. I know you hate promises. I know you never really promised me, but it was there. The way things are… this is us. It’s always us. From standing in the rain after you kissed me to finding out about being pregnant, it’s been years.”

I lifted his left hand and kissed it.

I leaned forward and made his hand touch my stomach.

“Our baby is in there, King. If it’s a boy, I need you. I can’t raise your son by myself. A crazy outlaw who wears his passion the way you do. I can’t do it alone. And if it’s a girl? Who is going to protect her? She might be wild like me. Falling in love so easily and with a guy that everyone said was wrong. I need you there to guide her through everything.”

There was no response from King.

Of course there wasn’t.

This wasn’t some cheap romance movie.

This was real life.

And King was fighting for his life.



SLAM, Knox, and Matteo were in the room with me.

“Why don’t you take a breather?’ Slam asked me.

“No,” I said. “I’m standing here until he makes his decision.”

“Lindsey,” Knox whispered. “Doctors said it could be days.”

“Then I’ll wait for days,” I said. “I quit my job. I took a new one. I have time off.”

“Christ, she’s crazy,” Matteo said.

I looked at Matteo. He lifted his hands and mouthed sorry.

Slam stood next to me. He grabbed the foot of the bed.

“I remember the first time I saw his dick.”

“What?” I asked.

Slam smirked. “The first time I saw his dick. We were on this cliff. Matteo dared him to jump, naked. So King did it. He dropped his jeans and boxers and took off his shirt like it was nothing. Never ashamed. Never afraid. Jumped right off the cliff into the water. Swam around and then climbed out. Walked right back up the cliff, his dong slapping back and forth like a big clock pendulum.”

Knox laughed. “He’s crazy.”

“Remember when he tripped that cop?” Matteo asked. “Then he convinced the cop that he didn’t do anything? I have no idea how he talked out of half the shit he did. All the time. Running wild. Living free.”

“His brother though…,” Slam said.

“Fuck Tito,” Knox said. “Never good from the day I met him. You’re stronger than that, King. So wake up and take care of business.”

“He beat the shit out of my ex,” I said. “The night he found me. I guess when he got out of prison. My ex hit me.”

“No shit,” Slam said.

“Yeah,” I said. “He took him down… and I…”

Knox slipped an arm around me. “He’ll be good. He’s a fighter. He’s not going to give up. Because of a bullet? Fuck that. It’s going to take more than a bullet to take down the King.”

“The King,” I whispered.

“And you’re his queen,” Matteo said.

“And you’ve got his prince or princess inside you,” Slam said.

I started to cry again. I lowered my head.

Damn you, Kingston. You f*cker. You weren’t supposed to do this to me. We were supposed to get out of this town together. You and me riding the open road to wherever. It didn’t matter to me, King. I wanted you and only you. You have to wake up. You have to hold me. You have to take care of me and this baby.

“You f*cker,” I whispered.

“What?” Knox asked.

I looked up at Knox. “Nothing. I’m just…”

“Hey!” Matteo yelled. “He moved!”

I looked at the bed.

King’s right hand twitched. I hurried to push by all the huge bikers and race around the bed. I grabbed his hand.

“King,” I said. “I’m right here.”

I felt King’s hand squeeze mine.

“Do that again,” I said. “Right now, King.”

He did it again!

Knox, Slam, and Matteo all cheered.

“Wake up, brother!” Knox said.

Right before our eyes, King came back to us. His eyes fluttered and opened. He looked left, right, left, right again. He stopped and looked at me. He started to smile.

“Holy shit,” Slam said. “Let me go get a doctor.”

Slam and Matteo charged out of the room.

I reached for King’s face. I touched his face. I leaned down to him.

Our eyes were locked.

“Say something,” I whispered. “Please say something.”

His mouth moved. He stretched his jaw. Then he said one word. “Queen…”

I pressed my lips to his. I couldn't help but kiss him.

I broke the kiss to whisper one thing back.

“King…”

That’s what he was.

Me forever his… and he forever my King.





43


(King) *MONTHS LATER*

SLAM KICKED OPENED the door and had a big ass box on his shoulder. “What the hell did she buy?”