Before I could ask who was here, a tall, willowy blonde stepped into the hallway. Her eyes barely grazed me, but they lit up like fireworks when she locked them on King. The wide, perfectly straight white smile that appeared on her face made my stomach feel sick.

  “KING!” she squealed loudly, then rushed toward him.

  His hand left my back just in time for him to catch her as she wrapped her arms around him. I stared at their bodies embracing. He was touching her, yet I wasn’t supposed to touch Sebastian. Maybe she was another relative.

  “Scotlin,” he replied, but his smile appeared forced.

  “It’s been a year. That should be illegal. We’ve never gone that long without seeing each other,” she replied and then inhaled his shirt before tilting her head back to gaze up at him.

  A relative wouldn’t have just sniffed him. Not like that.

  “You’re finally here,” Sebastian drawled as he entered the now-crowded hallway. “We need to go.”

  The woman patted King’s cheek. “It’s been too long since we worked together. This is gonna be fun.”

  Sebastian flashed me a sympathetic smile as I tried to figure this all out.

  “Yeah,” King replied, disentangling himself from her limbs that seemed to cling to him everywhere. “We need to head out.”

  I watched as he turned his back on the other woman and gave me his full attention.

  “I’ll see you tonight,” he said.

  I nodded. It wasn’t like I could ask who she was since he wasn’t introducing me. That was a red flag. A big, huge one. But then I had made the rules and drawn lines for a reason. I didn’t trust King. We were not in a relationship. Which was why I shouldn’t have agreed to not touch Sebastian. I hadn’t been planning on it, of course, but that wasn’t the point.

  He reached up and cupped my face. “Stay here today. Enjoy the library.”

  Again, I just nodded.

  “I’m riding with you. Sebastian can take my car,” the woman stated, once again wrapping her arms around a part of King. This time, it was his arm, and then she tugged him.

  He ignored her as he waited for me to say something.

  “Okay,” I replied, dropping my eyes to the ground. I didn’t want to look at him or whoever the woman was pulling on him.

  “Call me if you need anything,” he urged.

  “Oh my God, King. She has Maeme,” the woman said, sounding exasperated.

  King swung his eyes to her. “Stay the fuck out of this.”

  To my shock, she didn’t even appear bothered. Instead, she grinned provocatively, then hissed at him before turning and strutting toward the front door.

  “Go on now,” Maeme said firmly.

  King’s gaze flickered over to his grandmother, then back to me.

  Not even able to force a smile, I stepped away from him, then headed in Maeme’s direction. When I reached her, she put an arm around me and walked me into the kitchen. Not looking back was hard, but I managed it. Mostly because I didn’t want Maeme to catch me.

  The stack of waffles didn’t distract me from the swirl of jealousy, insecurity, and hurt that only King seemed to inspire.

  “Her name is Scotlin May. She was literally the girl next door for King, growing up. Her family isn’t a part of us, but we work together. Her father is a state representative and will eventually be governor because of the pull we have. That’s all I can share without it being gossip. But that frown on your pretty face, let that go. Scotlin has no hold on King. He has a soft spot for her because of their past, but nothing more. Doesn’t seem to keep her from trying though. Never has.”

  Nothing she had just said made me feel any better. Quite possibly, I felt worse. “She’s … Jefferson May’s daughter?”

  Everyone in Georgia knew he was running for governor in the next election. He pushed family values and religion, and the South loved him.

  “Yes. And it will benefit us particularly to have the new governor in our pocket. We have some control over our current one, but not to the extent the family wields over the governors of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. We need that kind of power here too.”

  And so Scotlin May was important to them. I didn’t like it. I was pretty sure I hated it. First, there were the women who looked like porn stars and let King whip them in the tack room. Now, I had to deal with someone like Scotlin May in his life.

  “Come eat,” she said, making her way to the island, where the food was spread out like a buffet.

  Not having an appetite wasn’t going to be a good enough excuse for Maeme. I had to make myself eat. My thoughts went to Scotlin May’s tall, thin body. She looked lost here, as if she were supposed to be on a runway somewhere in Paris but took a wrong turn and ended up in Madison. I bet she didn’t eat waffles. Hill would call me fat, if he were alive. I hadn’t weighed myself since arriving here because it had been a prison I wanted to escape. The power he held over me. The way it mocked me if I ate something I shouldn’t have. Hill would beat me. Curse at me about being lazy and not taking care of my body. He had wanted a wife who looked like Scotlin May.

  I took the plate from Maeme and placed a singular waffle and a spoonful of berries onto it before taking the maple syrup and lightly drizzling it over the top.

  “I know King said he’d be back tonight, but that was wishful thinking. He knows not to promise such. Why don’t you stay here with me? You can sleep in the blue room.”

  Would he have lied to me about that? Why not tell me the truth? He had promised not to lie to me anymore, but then did that mean anything really? Would I ever know if he was telling me the truth?

  “Do you think it’s still unsafe for me to stay alone?” I asked her.

  She nodded her head. “Yeah. It’s why King has been staying at the house with you instead of going back to his place or the room in the stables.”

  That was the first time I’d heard someone talk about his place. I knew he said he stayed at the stables most of the time, but I hadn’t realized he had a home somewhere else. Was it an apartment? I doubted it was a house. He was a single man who barely lived there.

  I realized Maeme was watching me. Waiting for a response.

  “Oh, uh, thank you. I’ll stay if you think it’s best.”

  “Yes, it is best. Now, tell me, how are you feeling? I’m happy you chose to stay with us, but are you still good with that decision?”

  I set my plate down, then climbed up and sat on the barstool before responding, “Yes, I think I made the right choice.” That was a lie. I wasn’t at all sure that I had. I just didn’t think I had the strength to walk away from him. The thought was more painful than the betrayal had been.

  “You’re gonna be fine. Soon, you’ll have a life again. One where you can go to the store and feel safe. You can do whatever you want. Start over fresh.”

  I stared down at the food on my plate. “I don’t even have a college degree,” I told her.

  “You have plenty of money to get one of those if you want. When the time is right,” she said with a pat on my back.

  I shook my head. “I don’t have any money,” I replied.

  Hill had never given me access to his accounts.

  “Of course you do. It’s all safely tucked away for now until this mess is over with the Insantos gang. It’s been hidden for you and will be given to you when the time comes.”

  I shook my head, not understanding. “What do you mean?”

  Maeme squeezed my hand with one of hers. “The bastard you were married to. We got back what he’d stolen from us, and then the rest was placed away for you. He’s dead. You were his wife. The money belongs to you. Then, there will be the money from the sale of your house. King is overseeing that.”

  I was speechless. The house itself would sell for almost two million dollars. I knew he hadn’t owned it, and there was a mortgage, but he had bragged about what a good investment it was. It was worth half a million more than what he’d originally paid for it.

  “That’s … that’s a lot of money,” I said, trying to wrap my head around it.

  “That it is, my dear. Your future looks bright. I can’t wait to see you flourish. Spread your wings. Live the life you deserve.”

  What did that even mean, the life I deserved?

  • three •

  You’ll release dark shit.

  Rumor

  The warmth of the body covering my back woke me. I opened my mouth to scream when a large hand muffled the sound.

  “Easy, sweets. It’s just me,” King’s deep voice said close to my ear.

  I stared at the wall, trying to decide if this was a dream or real. King didn’t get in my bed anymore. He obeyed the rules and lines I had set. Even when I lay in bed at night with him in the other room, wishing he would defy them and come to me.

  “I’m gonna remove my hand, but don’t scream. Or Maeme will be in here with her Glock pointed at my head within seconds.”

  I nodded as his hand left my mouth to caress my arm.

  “Good girl,” he praised as if I had done something worthy of it.

  “What are you doing in here?” I asked quietly.

  He pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “You’re here,” he replied as he left another kiss on my neck.

  I closed my eyes and attempted to will my body not to react. Which was a joke.

  “You … you’re in bed with me.” My words came out as a stammer while he nuzzled against me.

  “Mmhmm,” he murmured. “And you feel like heaven. I’ve missed you.”

  This wasn’t fair. All my good intentions seemed weak when tested. King’s body, his scent …

  I gasped as he pressed his erection against my bottom. Nope, not fair.

  “I know there are rules and lines,” he said against my skin as he brushed his lips close to my collarbone. “But I need you, sweets. It was a real fucking bad day, and I need to be reminded of the good. The exceptional. Please.”

  I sucked in a deep breath and tried not to tremble when his hand cupped my breast.

  “Just give me tonight. I need you.” The pleading in his tone was close to desperation.

  What had happened that shook him like this? And how was I supposed to tell him no? I couldn’t when he sounded so vulnerable.

  Slowly, I rolled over onto my back and stared up at him as he hovered over me. Those blue eyes searched my face. The haunted look that gazed back at me was my undoing. I reached up and cupped the side of his stubbled jaw.

  What had happened today?

  His eyes closed briefly, and he leaned into my touch. Lines were about to be blurred. I had set them in place to protect myself, but right now, all I cared about was helping him. Fixing whatever was wrong. Gone was the woman who had questioned his intentions. He was able to make me forget so easily.

  No words seemed to be needed. It was as if he was reading my thoughts. The relief in his eyes was overpowered immediately by the man. The one who wanted me. The one who made me feel things I’d never known were possible. I had gone to sleep tonight, jealous. Of the woman he was with. I had even imagined that they would sleep together tonight. But he was here. With me.

  King moved over me then. His knees on either side of my legs. I lifted my hips as he slid my panties down to my ankles, then tossed them aside. “Open your legs.” His tone was commanding, even in a hoarse whisper.

  The intensity of his focus as I did as I had been told made me shiver. I’d missed this too. Being with him. How he made me feel.

  “I want your pussy leaking with my cum again.”

  A whimper escaped me as he stood up and discarded his boxers. His eyes never leaving my body. The way he looked at me made me feel as if I were the most beautiful woman on earth. While I knew that wasn’t the case, when I was with King, I almost believed it.

  “Can you be quiet?” he asked, lowering himself over me.

  I wasn’t sure. I blinked up at him, and he grinned.

  “It’s okay, sweets. I’ll cover your mouth if you need to be loud. You can even bite my hand.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but whatever it was slipped my thoughts as King filled me with one hard thrust. His hand clamped down over my mouth firmly to muffle the cry that tore from me.

  “FUUUCK,” he groaned near my ear, then rocked his hips and did it again.

  My body bucked beneath him from the sharp sting of being stretched.

  “You take my dick like such a good girl,” he snarled.

  I lifted my gaze from his biceps flexing as he held himself up enough so that I could breathe to meet his eyes. There was a sinister gleam in them that shouldn’t excite me, but it did. Although I was completely willing, the way his blue eyes darkened as he held me down, muffling me, was thrilling.

  He eased back slowly, then shoved deep inside me again, throwing his head back, displaying the veins standing out on his neck. I was mesmerized by the sheer beauty.

  When his eyes met mine again, he gave me a wicked grin. “Fight me,” he said.

  Fight him? What did he mean?

  He moved his hand from my face and ran a finger over my bottom lip. “I want you to fight me, sweets. While I fuck you, bite me. Hit me. Get out all the anger, hurt, everything you’ve pent up. Take it out on me while I sink into you over and over.”

  I stared at him. He wanted me to hurt him? I shook my head.

  His hand fisted in my hair and tugged my head back until my neck was bare to him. “Every time you felt helpless, scared, terrified, and didn’t have the strength to fight back, do it now. Use me to get it out.”

  A panicky tightness started in my chest. I didn’t understand this. The things he was talking about were things that he hadn’t caused. Why would he want me to use him to release that? And during sex?

  “Why?” I choked out.

  He jerked on my hair and lowered his face to my neck and licked it in one long motion. “It’s therapeutic,” he said, then licked me again. “You’ll release dark shit,” he whispered. “It’ll make me come so fucking hard.”

  King continued licking me as he made his way down to my chest. I watched him while his reasons replayed in my head. Just as he was about to reach my nipple, I grabbed a handful of his hair and snatched his mouth away. His eyes flared brightly as they locked on mine.

  Then … I slapped him. That beautiful face barely moved from the force, but the approval in his eyes only seemed to push me further. Grabbing his shoulders, I dug my nails into his skin.

  King snapped into action then. He slammed back into me hard while his eyes blazed with a ferocity I’d never seen. I slapped him again, and the grin that spread across his face was almost evil. If he wasn’t so stunningly perfect, it would have been terrifying.

  “Keep on,” he encouraged me as he licked his lips. “Hurt me.”

  He had set off some trigger inside me I hadn’t known existed. I began to claw at him, shove him, hit his chest, as he pounded into me over and over. The spiral was closing in on me quickly, and if I wasn’t so desperate for it, I would have tried to put it off for more of whatever this was we were doing.

  “Harder!” I shouted, and his hand came over my mouth again.

  “That’s my little wildcat,” he said, then bit his bottom lip hard.

  I fought against his hand on my face, and his fingers flexed.

  “You don’t always have to be good,” he told me. “You get to be bad too, sweets. You get to act out. Fight back.”

  My hand was wrapped around his wrist, but I stopped trying to take his hand from my mouth. While I stared up into his eyes, I felt my body ignite, then explode as I screamed against his palm.

  “Fuck, baby,” he grunted.

  Then, his body jerked against me, and I felt it. The warmth. The heat rush into me. His hips pumped into me twice more as he let out a deep, low moan.

  When his hand moved from my face to tangle into my hair, he rolled off me, pulling me with him until I was sprawled half on top of his chest. I could feel his heart racing against my cheek.

  King ran his fingertips along my side as his breathing slowed, along with his heartbeat. “I missed being inside you,” he said in a raspy voice.

  I had missed it too. The connection. The feeling as if I’d found where I belong. Even after the lies, I’d ached for this. For what King could give me.

  “I don’t want the lines and rules,” he said then. “I understand why you think you need them, but you don’t. This, us, it was never a lie.”

  I let out a heavy sigh. “I want to believe that.”

  King shifted so that I was on my back on the mattress again and he was the one looking down at me. “It’s the fucking truth,” he said in a fierce tone, then reached for my right leg and pulled it back, opening me up to him. “That right there. My cum is leaking out of you. I don’t do that, sweets. I don’t come in women. But with you, I need to do it. I need to mark you. It’s twisted, and I don’t understand it, but I can’t help it. This is why you can trust me.”

  I started to attempt to close my thighs, and he held me firmly open. His gaze flicked from me to between my legs a few times before he ran his knuckles over my tender flesh. I winced and trembled simultaneously.

  “Nothing eases the shit in my chest like this does,” he said just above a whisper. “Don’t keep it from me. Let me have this back, you back.”

  As much as I wanted to give him whatever he asked for, I knew I had to be careful.

  “What happens when you tire of me?” It was more vulnerable than I had ever been with him. Stating my fears aloud. It didn’t go unnoticed. I realized that King did in fact have some of my trust.

  “Sweets,” he said as he slid a finger inside of me, “I can’t imagine that day will come, but who is to say it won’t be you who gets tired of me?”

  There was a difference that I wasn’t going to verbalize. I’d been as open with him as I could be. Telling him I was in love with him wasn’t an option. If I wanted to get rid of him, I already knew that would be the way to send him running. I couldn’t love enough for both of us.