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Ivy.
The woman I’d met in King’s office.
An ex of his.
I wasn’t usually a jealous woman, and I trusted King completely, but I couldn’t deny a streak of jealousy shot through me when he said her name. She must have cut him off, because he’d been about to say something before stopping abruptly.
“No,” he said.
His tone had turned a little harsh, and I decided I didn’t want to hear any more of the conversation, so I attempted to stand. However, King had other ideas. He quickly moved his hand to grip my shoulder and held me tightly to him.
I turned my face to his and found him watching me closely. He gave one quick shake of his head, signalling that he didn’t want me to leave.
“I’ll call you tomorrow. Brian will be able to help you with this, so stop fucking worrying about nothing.” With that, he ended the call in the way only King did—abruptly with no goodbye.
I shifted to sit cross-legged sideways on the couch, looking at him. I was going to broach the subject of Ivy, because if I didn’t, it might just send me crazy. And too bad if he didn’t want to discuss this; I needed to. “I know you told me Ivy is in the past, but I kinda need to know how far in the past. Like, is she recent and you guys are still—”
He cut me off. “I’ve had three relationships that mean something to me. Ivy was the first. I hadn’t seen her for over a decade until recently, and now I’m helping her get back on her feet after her husband died. That’s all there is to this.”
“And the other two?”
“Jen was my second one. She isn’t alive anymore.” His eyes searched mine for a long, silent moment. “You are my third.”
My heart beat a little faster and a little louder. I smiled at him and threaded my fingers through his. “You are my second.”
I decided I liked King’s way of discussing stuff—straight to the point with no bullshit and no dragging it out. He simply shared what he felt was important and then moved on. And he didn’t ask for anything more than the same from me.
I squeezed his hand before letting it go.
I then reached for our cake and passed his to him.
We then ate in silence except for when I put my fork down halfway through my piece and said, “I’m leaving the rest for you for later,” to which he muttered, “Fucking hell.”
It was the best night I’d had in a long time, and my heart swelled with happiness at the thought of so many more to come.
23
King
I sat listening to what Axe was telling me, trying not to lose my shit. It had been a hell of a morning already, and now it was shaping up to be the day I’d have to take care of something I’d been putting off for too long. It seemed the feds were closing in on the club, and because of the level of secrecy surrounding their latest witness, we would have no way of silencing them. Detective Stark was proving a worthy adversary, but she was one I didn’t want.
Stretching my neck, I tried to shake the tension there. Knowing we had a lot of business to take care of today, I’d woken with it. Lily had bossed me into allowing her hands on my back and neck, and while the massage had eased some of that tension, it had stirred a fuckload of other tension I’d needed to take care of.
I looked at Axe. “So confirm for me so I know I’ve got a handle on what you’re saying. Stark has a witness that they’re locking down tight. Johnny can’t get at the information to find out who it is. But whoever it is will likely jam more than their dick up our ass.”
“That about covers it.”
I clenched my jaw as the decision I had to make worked its way through my head. “I’ll take care of this today.”
Axe’s expression turned thoughtful. “They’ll keep coming at you even if you eliminate her.”
“Let them. I’ll just keep coming right back. I refuse to allow them to take the club down.”
“Fuck, King, do you ever think life would be a whole lot fucking easier if you turned clean instead? I don’t know how you live like this, always chasing your fucking tail, putting out fires and waiting for the next one to hit.”
This was an argument we’d had for years. I had no fucking clue why he kept bringing it up. This would never change for me, and he had to know that. “Maybe life would be easier, maybe it wouldn’t. We’ll never fucking know, because I’m not gonna step out there and try it. I’ll take my chances getting shit done the only way I’ve ever known—kicking and fucking screaming. And at the end of the fucking day, when I lay my head down, I’ll breathe easy knowing it doesn’t matter what fires I have to put out tomorrow, because my club will be right there by my side putting out the same damn fire. I will never do life without my brothers.”
He leant forward. “You could still do it cleaner than you are.”
