King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC #6)(5)

I leant forward. “Why? Why would you risk everything to help us? Your debt to me was repaid a long fucking time ago.”

He stared at me for a long time. Silent. Like he was trying to figure that shit out, too. “For Hailee. You guys go down, she goes down, and I refuse to let that happen.”

I didn’t buy that for one moment.

Not fully.

Bronze had crossed a line somewhere along the way. A line in his soul. I’d watched it happen. He’d let stuff slide, had turned away when he’d seen me get my hands dirty. He may have given the impression he wasn’t on board with a lot of my shit, but not once had he truly challenged me.

Bronze was caught between worlds, and his actions told me he had more than one foot in mine.

I stood. “You got somewhere safe to stay?”

His mouth curled at the ends. “Why? You gonna put me up at your place?”

My brows lifted, waiting for an answer.

He jerked his chin at the door. “I’m good, King. Go take care of business.”





3





Lily





“I can pick the kids up from school this afternoon,” Linc said, distracting me from staring out the kitchen window. From thinking about Brynn.

“Huh?” I’d heard him, but for the life of me, I couldn’t connect dots in my head. Why’s he offering to pick the kids up?

He moved close to me, concern in his eyes. “Did you get any sleep last night, baby?” He stroked my hair, and I let him. I knew I shouldn’t. God, I was letting him do a lot of things I knew I shouldn’t, but my sister had been shot three days ago and I had no idea if she’d ever wake up from the coma she was in, so all the right things had flown out the window.

And the one man I wanted to do the right things for me? He’d walked out of my life without a backwards glance.

I shivered as I remembered the way he’d looked at me before he left. Cold. Colder than I’d ever had anyone look at me.

He’d told me we didn’t belong in the same worlds.

Told me we were done.

We’d made no promises to each other, but I hadn’t expected him to cut and run in my hour of need.

That was cruel.

Heartless.

“Lil,” Linc said, his hands curling around my biceps. “Did you hear me?”

I blinked and pushed my thoughts of King away. They weren’t productive. I was best to forget him as fast as he had me. “I got a couple of hours of sleep.” A slight exaggeration. Either way, it didn’t make much difference whether it was one hour or two. It didn’t change the fact my sister was in a coma.

He placed a kiss on my forehead and let me go. “Sit. I’ll make coffee.”

He shouldn’t kiss you.

You should tell him not to kiss you.

Before I could respond, Holly and Mum wandered into the kitchen. Exhaustion and sadness hugged them, too. How long would this nightmare haunt us?

I reached for Holly as she walked past, my hand sliding down her arm as she continued towards the fridge. “You okay, Hols?”

She wasn’t okay. None of us were. But what else did you ask in a situation like this?

She nodded but didn’t say anything. Her nod was all I needed.

Mum moved past me, barely registering my presence, and joined Linc near the kettle. We didn’t need words to know how the other was. Because neither of us will ever be okay again if Brynn dies.

Linc told Mum to sit down, he’d make her a tea. She told him she could make her own. I tuned out as they argued over it, and left the kitchen.

I needed to be alone.

I had nothing to give any of them.

Not even my kids.

Not today.

Today Linc could step up again, like he had the last few days.

I shut myself in the bathroom, stripped, and stood under the shower. Closing my eyes, I let the water cascade down my face. It soothed me a little. A momentary reprieve. No thoughts. Just me and the water and silence.

I don’t know how long I stood there. It wasn’t until Linc came in, held out my towel, and said, “Lil, you’ve been in here long enough. The kids need the bathroom,” that I joined the world again.

He should not be in here.

I turned off the shower and stepped out, ignoring the way his gaze dropped to my naked body.

I allowed him to dry me off and wrap the towel around me.

I let him comb my hair.

All the wrong things.

I didn’t have the energy to argue over any of it.

My mind drifted to King again.

I’d known the man just shy of three weeks. He should not have been a thought I so easily chased. Memories of his face, his eyes, his hands… they should not have crashed into me so effortlessly.

And yet, they did.

They pummelled me.

I wanted him to make me coffee. Argue with my mother over her tea. Tell me I’d been in the shower too long. I wanted his hands drying me off. Wrapping the towel around me.

I wanted King to be the one who was here for me.

But he wasn’t.

And I didn’t have Brynny to help me through this.

All I had was Linc.

So I let him do all those wrong things.

And avoided thinking about the way he looked at me. Because when the only energy I had was barely enough to get me through moment to moment, I had none to think about the fact my ex was likely misreading everything and making plans to move back into my life.