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CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
As
BEAST
“Kate, can I come in?” I ask, rapping my knuckles against the bathroom door. She’s been in there for over half an hour, and whilst I’ve respected her need for privacy, my gut is telling me that now isn’t the time for her to be alone. What she found out tonight… Christ, I don’t even know how to digest that information, so fuck knows how she’s coping right now.
“Kate?”
When she doesn’t answer, I push open the door and step inside the bathroom. Steam rises from the bathtub, misting up the mirror, the air thick with the scent of lavender. Sunken up to her neck, Kate is staring off into space, completely oblivious to my presence. She’s clearly in shock, and right now what she needs more than anything is for someone who loves her to fucking hold her close. Killing someone is never easy, but killing your own mother, a woman who you’ve never previously met and who has a vicious darkness in her soul, that’s gonna hurt.
It’s gonna hurt bad.
Stripping off, I sit on the edge of the bath and rest my hand against her shoulder, my fingers sliding over her silky skin as I caress her gently. “Kate? Can I join you?”
My touch seems to register in her brain and without uttering a word she looks up at me, nodding. Shifting forward in the water, she makes room for me behind her so I can slide my legs either side of her hips, the water splashing a little over the lipped edge of the bath as we make ourselves comfortable. Fortunately the bath is large enough for my bulky frame as well as Kate’s slim one. She fits perfectly between my legs, and despite it not being the right moment, my dick hardens at the feel of her pressing against it.
“Beast…” she murmurs, allowing me to ease her back against my chest.
“I know, baby. I know,” I say, understanding what she needs instinctively as I wrap my arms around her in a hug.
She’s the toughest woman I know, but she’s not infallible, and beneath the toughness she’s honed so well over the last couple of years is a woman who feels deeply, who hurts, and who protects the people she loves fiercely.
“He’s my brother, and I just blew his mum’s brains out…Ourmum,” she adds quietly.
“She would’ve killed him eventually. You heard what she said. You saw what she was capable of,” I say, trying to ease her guilt.
“She was an addict,” Kate argues.
“Maybe so, but her addiction can’t be used as an excuse for her cruelty towards Ford. She was abusive, callous. We’ve both seen the scars on that kid’s body, the tattoo they inflicted on him when he was just ten years old.”
“I know that. I know she was a monster…” Her voice trails off as she twists in my arms and presses her cheek against my chest. I feel how my heart thumps harder at the way she melts against me and a wave of fierce love takes my breath momentarily.
“But?” I say gently.
“But she was also Ford’s mother.”
“And yours.”
“And mine,” she agrees. “But only by blood. Not in any way that counts.”
“Do you think that’s why Ford sought you out, because he knew somehow?” I ask.
“Yeah, yeah I do…” She falls silent for a moment, and then with a note of panic in her voice, suddenly asks, “Who have you got watching him?”
“Dom and Harris.”
“Good. I want around the clock eyes on Ford until we deal with the King and this threat.”
“Already done,” I say, and she relaxes a little in my arms.
For a while she remains thoughtful as she rests back against my chest, then eventually she shifts position, turning a little to face me. “How am I supposed to tell Ford that I killed his mum, that I killed her because she was a monster who wanted him dead?”
“I don’t know,” I say, reaching for her, tucking a wet tendril of hair behind her ear. “Maybe you don’t, maybe this is something we keep to ourselves. We’ll figure out a story, one that won’t tear that kid to pieces.”
“Fuck,” she utters, looking even more lost. “He’s my brother and I’m already lying to him.”
“To protect him. You’ll do it to protect him. Just like Christy said.”
