King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(11)

“Oh, okay.” She paused before adding, “I think he thinks you guys are getting back together.”

I sighed. “I’ll talk to him.” I lifted my chin towards the door. “Go start your breaky. I’ll be out in a minute.”

After she left, I pulled my phone out and sent a text to Adelaide.



Me: Sorry I didn’t reply to your text last night. I was dealing with King and then I completely forgot. Sorry, babe.

Adelaide: Girl! Don’t you dare apologise to me. Can I call you?



I rang her.

“How are you today, hon?” she asked as soon as she answered.

I took a deep breath. “Not good, babe.”

“Okay, so I’ve organised the day off so I can spend it with you. You want me to swing by your place and pick you up and take you to the hospital?”

I sat on the edge of my bed and smiled through my sadness. “Has anyone told you you’re the best bestie a girl can have? I would love you to do that. God knows I need to stop relying on Linc to drive me.”

“Yes. How is he? Are you guys getting along okay with him being there? And wait, let’s back this up a beat. What were you dealing with King for? I thought he’d fucked off?”

“Yeah, he had, but he turned up here last night after I rang him and told him to send his men home.”

“Oh, they were still there?”

“Yeah. Anyway, we argued over it a little and then Linc turned up and told King we were back together. King then told me we weren’t over.”

“So let me get this straight. King doesn’t want you except when he thinks you’re no longer available? Bloody asshole.”

That was a thought I hadn’t been able to shift all night. The more I thought about it, the more annoyed at the whole situation I grew. “Seems so.”

“Oh, babe,” she said softly, “I’m sorry he’s a dick. I know you thought there was something there between the two of you, but I think he did you a favour when he walked away the other day. You don’t need a man who pulls that shit.”

“Yeah,” I whispered as tears fell down my cheeks. I felt dumb crying over him, and told myself I was only doing it because of everything else going on, but even I didn’t buy that. I’d been ready to give King more than I’d been ready to give any man for years, and he’d hurt me. I’d pushed this hurt to the side for the last few days so I could just get through the days, but it had forced its way to the surface now.

“Right, we’re not going to talk about him again today, okay? Let’s go back to Linc. How are things there?”

I leaned forward and rested my elbows on my knees. “I’m fairly sure he truly does believe we’re getting back together. I don’t think he was just saying that for King’s benefit. So I have to have that conversation with him today.” The more I thought about what I had to do today, the more I wanted to crawl back into bed, hide under the covers and shut the world out.

“This morning?”

“Yes, I’m about to go and have it with him now.”

“Good. I’ll be over in about an hour or so.”

“Thanks, Addy.”

“Always.”

We ended the call and I gathered all the strength I could find to go and talk to Linc. I found him alone in the garage, cleaning rubbish out of his car.

“We need to talk,” I said when he glanced up at me.

He came my way. “You okay, baby?”

“Linc, you can’t call me that anymore. I’ve told you that before.”

He hit me with a confused look. “I thought we were working on something here.”

I wasn’t convinced I was up for this conversation. Not while anxiety and worry had me in their grips. My emotions were all over the place, and that wasn’t a good starting point when dealing with my ex. Linc had a way of twisting my words to suit himself, and a way of muddling my thinking. I’d known him for sixteen years. We’d been together for most of those years. He knew my triggers, and he wasn’t afraid to push them to get what he wanted. I’d had to learn how to manage my boundaries with him, and that usually required me being completely on my game. Today was not that kind of day.

“I appreciate everything you’ve done to help me through this, but I never once said we were working on something. I’m sorry if I gave you that impression.” I really didn’t think I had, though. But people often took what they wanted from an interaction, and miscommunications had always been a big part of our relationship.

He stayed silent for a good few moments and then his face twisted into an ugly expression. “Is this because that asshole showed up last night?”

Before I knew what was happening, a strong desire to defend King rushed up from deep inside. It was immediate and it was fierce. And I had no idea why the heck it forced itself on me, because defending him was the last thing I wanted to do after he’d hurt me. But hearing Linc say nasty things about him drew out my protective side.

“Don’t call him that. And no, this has nothing to do with King.”

His brows lifted. “If you’re standing up for him, that says something, don’t you think? Fuck, Lil, doesn’t our marriage count for something? All those years we worked towards building—”