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Sonny looks at me with a smile in his eyes. “Some say I’m the devil dressed up as an angel...”
“Pretty sure that’s a line from a song,” I respond, trying to hide the smile in my voice. Sonny always manages to lighten the mood. I appreciate that about him.
“The point is, I know my limits and fighting in Grim’s club is one of them. Seeing the people I care about getting hurt is another.” He gives me a look and I’m reminded of our kiss and his promise to have my back. Sonny has shown me repeatedly that he does, indeed, have my back and something tells me that he always will. When I first met him I never would’ve pinned him as selfless. Selfish maybe, but not selfless. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Speaking of being hurt… how’s the arm?” I ask Sonny, my eyes flicking to the cast.
“A pain in the fucking neck,” he responds, rolling his eyes. “The sooner I get this off the better. Only another week or so and it’s coming off. I’m telling you, getting an itch under this bitch is torture. I’ve already lost my comb down it trying to scratch one.”
Camden raises his eyebrows but doesn’t say anything sarcastic like I expect, instead he pulls out his mobile phone and flicks it on, studying the screen.
“Still nothing?”
“Still nothing,” he confirms with a frustrated growl.
“Camden, you know the King better than anyone. What do you think he has planned? What should I expect?”
“The unexpected…”
“What does that mean?”
“It means he’ll have something planned that you’d never have even considered. You don’t get to be where he is, feared like he is, without being clever and a lot fucking twisted.”
“Great,” I mutter.
“He’s calculated, cold. He thrives off control and keeping those he owns under his thumb.” Camden looks at me and grimaces. “You’re his daughter, and in his mind that means he owns you regardless that he’s never once made an effort to be in your life before now.”
“Butwhynow? Why pop up at this point? What can he possibly gain from this aside from trying to get control over me?”
Camden gives Sonny a look, one that tells me that they might have already had this discussion without me. “What, what are you thinking?”
Camden checks his phone again then scoots closer, perching on the low table in front of me. He takes my hands in his warm, large ones.
“What?” I insist, trying to seek out the truth of his thoughts from his gaze. As usual though, I’m struck with just how beautiful he is. Beautiful and distracting. I blink, forcing my thoughts out of the gutter and into the present.
“Sonny and I have been talking. I have a theory…”
“And?”
“I think this is more personal than just getting control over you.”
“What could be more personal than that?”
“Look, Asia, I know the King, and there’s no way he wouldn’t have known about your existence. Maybe in the early days, after you were born, he would’ve questioned whether he was your father, but once he decided you were his, what was stopping him from coming into your life earlier? Hechoseto stay away before but now he’s staking his claim.”
“Yeah, like you said, to control me.”
“No, he could’ve done that at any point before or after your mum died. This is something different. I’m sure of it.”
“So what you’re actually saying is all those years I longed for a father he was right there, watching to see whether I was worthy to be his daughter or, more to the point, useful in some way?”
“Asia, the King is not a man with a heart. He doesn’t love. So don’t feel betrayed that he never sought you out. Be thankful you had seventeen years without him in your life,” Camden whispers in hushed tones.
I don’t respond. I can’t. It hurts too much.
Sonny shifts closer and puts his arm around my shoulder. “I’m sorry he wasn’t the father you hoped for,” he says.
It’s the first time any of my boys have acknowledged my disappointment. They’ve all been concerned about how my anger and fear is affecting me, but not my disappointment. Somehow, that’s way more painful given all the years I’ve put my father on a pedestal. Hoping for the best and been given the worst is a bitter pill to swallow.
