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“What? You’re gonna drop that shit on me and not give me the details?” he called out.
I didn’t look back. I knew Sebastian would tell him what he needed to know after I was gone. There was work to do today, and I’d already wasted enough of my time. I’d get focused and too busy to think about the way Rumor had looked at me.
Once she had some time to digest it, I would go over and talk to her. Maybe take her something to eat again. Although she didn’t seem to like to eat that much. She did like books. I could pick her out some and take them over. Or go get her and take her to the library. Fuck, I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t used to trying to do nice things for women. They obeyed me. Did what I told them to. It was what I liked.
Rumor wasn’t my type, and she never would be. But we had been on our way to being friends. Even if I was lying to her about almost everything happening in her life. It was for her safety even if she didn’t know it. Some things she was better off not knowing.
• twenty •
“I will regret it for eternity.”
Rumor
I finished hanging the rest of my clothing on the clothesline just as the sun was beginning to set. Washing them in the tub by hand had been a much-needed distraction. Hopefully, the book I was planning to start next would be equally distracting.
Every time I had thoughts of King and the way he’d been with that woman, it got me all twisted up. The one thing that was really bugging me was the way she had walked up to him and touched him. The look in her eyes, like she wanted nothing but to be near him. That wasn’t a woman who was scared of a man or tolerating one. I should know.
She had been…enamored with him. She didn’t tense up when he scolded her. She’d seemed…to enjoy it.
I was finding myself trying to figure that out more than anything else. As much as I didn’t like it, I kept coming to the same conclusion: King was sexy and charming. He was hot. She was willing to do anything he wanted so she could be with him.
Was that what she got out of it? What they all got out of it? Since she was clearly not an exclusive thing. Or was she? Sebastian had said King was with different women, but he didn’t say King wasn’t just with her right now. Were they dating?
Jerking open the back door, I walked inside, angry with myself for not being able to stop my train of thought. I was going to read. First make myself a sandwich, then read. Get lost in a story that wasn’t reality and forget all about King for a while at least.
I was almost in the living room when a knock at the door snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked straight ahead through the doorway leading into the kitchen to see Sebastian through the window. He lifted a hand to wave, and I let out a weary sigh. He’d come to check on me. I was not going to get to shut King and his kinky sex life out of my head as soon as I’d thought.
Walking through the kitchen, I unlocked the door and then the screen before pushing it open.
“Hey,” I said in greeting.
He ran a hand through his hair and smiled. “I, uh, came to check on you. Make sure you made it back okay.”
“I did. Thank you, and I’m sorry about running out today. It was rude,” I told him. That had been bothering me too. How I had acted. It just hadn’t bothered me as much as it should have. Unfortunately, King seemed to be the center of my thoughts.
“No worries. It was a lot, I’m sure. Seeing as…well, what you’ve been through. It has to look different to you,” he said.
I nodded and let out a sigh. “Yeah. It definitely does or did. I don’t know anymore. She seemed to be happy with it, and who am I to judge?”
He laughed then and raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, King has always been persuasive.”
That much I knew. He’d gotten me in his truck when I was at my most vulnerable. I wasn’t sure there was another person alive who could have convinced me to get in a truck with a strange man that day. Or any day really. I was cautious. I didn’t take chances. I knew the consequences. But King…he’d been different.
“I’ve experienced that,” I replied.
Sebastian nodded. “Yeah.”
Stepping back, I waved a hand for him to come inside. “I was about to make something to eat and read. But if you want to come in, I’ll find something better than a sandwich to feed you.”
He seemed to hesitate, then finally walked inside the kitchen. “You don’t have to feed me. The cook at our house has dinner made. I was about to head over there and eat. But you could come with me. We’ve got a pretty impressive library, too, with reading areas that will make you want to stay awhile. There is no chance that King will be, uh, well…” He trailed off.
I thought about it for a minute, and at first, I was going to say no, but another library and seeing his house was a temptation. If his house was bigger than the stables, that would get my mind off things. It might be the only chance I ever got to seeing a mansion. A real one, which was what I was expecting.
“Okay,” I agreed. “That sounds nice. If you’re sure it’ll be okay with your family.”
He let out a small laugh. “My parents are out for the evening. The cook made dinner for Thatch and me. She makes enough for an army though. There will be plenty.”
In that case, it sounded like a great idea.
