King Hall (Forever Evermore, #1)(109)

I snickered, shaking my head. “You’ve been great to me.” I paused, inhaling deeply and holding his gaze. “Seriously. You’ve been wonderful.”

His smile turned soft, and he hugged me while twirling us. “Even though I lost him, I gained you in return.”

I sniffled, my throat clogging. I couldn’t say anything or else risk bawling. He really was great. Besides Antonio, he was like a father to me. King, yes, and always first, but still a father figure and, with me being unable to tell my biological father who I was yet, our relationship was special to me. He was special to me. Always would be. That was, until he twirled me away when Fi walked over, and I landed smack-dab in Cahal’s arms.

I blinked, barely holding back a groan. Ezra’s dad was kind of terrifying and most definitely intimidating. I wasn’t sure if it was the way he stared at people or the whole leakage of power bit, but add in his huge frame, and he was a smidge too much for me to handle one on one.

He didn’t seem to understand that or, if he did, he didn’t care, because he lowered one of his hands to my waist and took hold of my hand with his other, then began classically dancing with me. Bizarrely, it worked with the slow rock song that was playing.

Again, he stared.

“How’s it going?” I asked, just to fill the void of silence.

“Do you want to know something interesting, Ms. Ruckler?” he inquired, ignoring my question.

“Sure.” Not really, with that look in his eyes.

“Before Ezra left with King Venclaire for New York, my wife took him cellphone shopping.” Oh, God. Please don’t tell me. “I remember Vivian specifically complaining when they came back that the cell they’d really wanted wasn’t in stock, so she’d had to get him another barebones cell. One without a camera.”

“Email,” I stated instantly, breathing shallowly to keep my heart rate down. “The picture must have been an attachment on his email.”

A single eyebrow rose. “He doesn’t have email capabilities on his cell. He checks those on his laptop. Again, his cellphone is only basic, and he never asked for another.”

I swallowed hard. Well, shit. “Maybe, he downloaded it from his laptop?” This is what I get for lying.

He cocked his head, spinning us expertly. “Interesting theory.” Not really an answer. His eyes deliberately dipped, then rose. “Cheetah, huh?”

I blinked. This just wasn’t good. Glancing on either side of us, I spied Ezra, but his back was to us as he was dancing with his mom. No help there. Out of options, I sighed and turned my attention back to Cahal, telling the truth, “The picture I saw was in his room. A whole group of us were in there.” I added helpfully, “It’s a very nice family photo.” Clearing my throat, I smiled. Hoped it was sweet enough.

“Hmm.” He stared. “You lied because?”

“I didn’t think it sounded appropriate,” I replied honestly.

A cock of his head. “Why wouldn’t it be appropriate?” Again, he glanced down, then up. Implication clear. He hadn’t liked seeing his son’s fingers down the top of my dress.

“We’re just friends,” I stated bluntly.

He hummed softly. “I didn’t say you weren’t.”

Right. Said friend needed to get his ass over here. Again, I glanced Ezra’s way, and luck was on my side this time because he was looking in our general direction over his mom’s head. Swiftly, I merely met his gaze, and then turned my attention back to his dad, saying, “No. You didn’t. I just thought it needed saying.”

“Why do you think it needs saying?”

My God, he should have been a f*cking shrink instead of a King with all of my answers he kept twisting around. Hell, maybe he was one now, when he wasn’t doing his Elder duties.

“May I cut in?” Ezra asked his dad, stopping in a twirl next to us. He nodded at his mom in his arms. “I’m sure Mom would love to dance with you.”

His dad smiled, and I wasn’t able to read it because I didn’t know him, but he released me, holding out his hand to his mate. “Beautiful lady.”

Vivian chuckled, then kissed Ezra’s cheek before taking Cahal’s hand, and was swiftly enveloped in his arms as they began dancing.

Ezra instantly grabbed me and whirled us away from them.

Banging my forehead against his chest a couple of times, I mumbled, “Fact: you should have told me who the hell your dad is. Fact: you should have helped me when I lied to him about the photo earlier if you knew he would know it was a lie. Fact: he didn’t like you putting your fingers down my cleavage earlier. Fact: he is seriously scary.”

Ezra raised his head, looking to wherever his parents were, then spun us even closer to a bulky speaker thumping with music. “Fact: I thought you knew. Hell, we had a test about him in history class.” Three years in one year, enough said. “Fact: I didn’t know you were going to lie about the photo, otherwise I would have stopped you.” His eyes dipped down like his dad’s had, but lingered — ‘cause he was Ezra — before coming back to mine. “Fact: he wouldn’t have been paying attention to where my fingers were if you hadn’t lied in the first place. Fact: yes, he can be scary.” He paused, then added, “Fact: he’s also a Vampire, if you’ve forgotten, so when you say something even remotely close to him, remember he can hear you.”