King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(39)

“Fuck, yes!” Monroe said as she looked at Tatum and wrinkled her nose while grinning at her. She then called out to Kree, “We need another round, Kree. Before Lily changes her mind.”

Being with these two reminded me of being with Adelaide and the girls. By the time Kree had served up two more rounds of J?gerbombs and I’d drunk them, as well as the Jack and Coke I’d originally ordered, I was a little tipsy and unsteady on my feet. Monroe was in the same state, and between us, we’d become a little loud. Hailee, the woman Devil had referred to earlier as his woman had also joined us, along with another old lady, Evie. I knew nothing about club life, so I hadn’t even known what an old lady was, but they started my education, filling me in on a few things, all while getting drunk.

King was gone for ages, but I hardly had time to miss him. The girls had me laughing over stories of the funny stuff they’d done together, and I realised they must have spent a fair bit of time with each other to have all these stories. I liked the sisterhood that it felt like they had. I’d always been drawn to having friends who liked to get together often, and I hoped this might be the beginning of some new friendships.

“When are you and Nitro getting married?” Evie asked Tatum.

Tatum sighed. “We’ve put it off for now, while everything has been so up in the air. Honestly, at this point, I’m just glad to have him home again.”

“But you guys are still getting married, right?” Hailee asked.

“Yeah. We’ll just wait for the dust to settle.”

I wasn’t sure what they referred to, but it sounded like she and Nitro had been through something recently. I wasn’t the kind of person to pry, so I didn’t ask any questions.

A dark-haired man who was built like an I-don’t-know-what-except-he-was-freaking-huge joined us at the table where we’d relocated. With his gaze glued to Tatum, he said, “Vegas. You ready to go?”

Her eyes snapped to his and her body reacted to him. She nodded and stood. Glancing at me, she said, “It was great to meet you. I’m sure Roe will organise drinks or something soon, so I’ll see you at that.” She then moved into the man’s embrace, their bodies connecting like they were made for each other. He had to be Nitro. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen a couple so in sync before.

As they left, King entered the bar and caught my attention. He made his way over to us, and I stood to meet him. Something had happened in between him leaving me and now returning. Gone was the relaxed King, and in his place was the wired King. His face was a mask of intensity and determination as he placed his hand on my hip and said, “I have to head out to take care of some shit.”

“Okay. I’ve had a few drinks, so I’m gonna call an Uber. It’s okay if I leave my car here, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, looking around the room. “I’ll get one of the boys to run you home.” He called Mace over and organised him to do that before turning back to me. “Depending on whether I get shit done tonight, I might be over later.”

With that, he left. No goodbye kiss, no other words exchanged. But I didn’t care, because each passing day with King in my life showed me that sometimes those things weren’t what mattered. The backbone of a relationship came down to more than displays of affection and fancy promises; it came down to actions that showed respect and care. Sometimes those actions consisted of words as well as deeds, but sometimes it was mostly the things we actually followed through on and did that meant the most.





18





Lily





“How much have you had to drink?” Adelaide asked me on the phone later that night when I told her about something weird that had happened to me during the day.

“I swear to you this happened. I’m not saying it because I’ve been drinking. And besides, most of the buzz I had is gone now. The guy looked like a younger version of John Travolta, and he watched me leave the hospital and then followed me to my car. I thought he was going to stop me and tell me something, but he didn’t. He just kept walking.”

“And he was there yesterday, too?”

“Yes! I remember him because he was sitting outside the ward Brynn is on, and as I walked past him, I thought about how much he looked like John Travolta. You know how much I love Grease. Anyone who even kinda looks like John catches my attention.”

She laughed. “Was he wearing tight black jeans and a leather jacket?”

“Ugh. If you were here right now, I would poke my freaking tongue out at you.”

“Lil, he was probably visiting someone at the hospital, too,” she said, her voice softer, less amused at me. “I think you need about a week’s worth of sleep at the moment. Go to bed now and get an early night.”

“Well, King might be coming over, so I might wait up in case he does.”

“Text him and tell him not to come.”

Adelaide still wasn’t on Team King. I knew she was just being a good friend and waiting for him to prove himself after he hurt me, and I didn’t blame her, but I also didn’t pay any attention to the cooler tone she took when she mentioned him. I had confidence he’d prove himself over time and that she’d come around. And I was glad to have a friend who looked out for me.

“I’m going to take a bath. If I fall asleep before he comes, I fall asleep.” I didn’t tell her King still had a key to my place from when he’d cleaned it for me.