He ignored me, turning on the television and leaning back. “It’s been a busy day. We need some comedy.”

  “King,” I said, making him look at me.

  His eyes met mine this time. “Yes?”

  I could do this. Be a big girl. Act like a grown-ass woman. “I am okay. You do not have to babysit me. I acted weird downstairs. I’m sorry about that. It won’t happen again.” That was as good as it was going to get. I couldn’t lay it out there better than that.

  “Not here to babysit you, sweets. Came up here to hang out with you. I prefer your company. Do you want food? I’m getting fucking hungry. I can call up to the main house and get Minna to send us something down here.”

  He was back to the food thing. How frustrating. I was giving him an out, and he wasn’t taking it.

  “I don’t think that because we had sex that we are…are…anything more than friends. I also know we aren’t in some commitment, and you…we can have sex with other people.”

  He stopped scanning through Netflix and swung his gaze back to me. “You have someone else you’re thinking of fucking, sweets?”

  I shook my head. “No. But that isn’t the point I was trying to make.”

  “So, your point is that you acted a little territorial down there, and you didn’t mean to. You won’t do it again. We are friends who fuck. Really well. Olympic-worthy fucking.”

  Olympic-worthy? That was a good thing. Right? Yes, I was sure it was.

  “Yes, I think that was my point,” I agreed.

  He stretched his arm out behind me on the back of the sofa and turned his body slightly toward me. “We are friends. And if you fuck someone else, I’ll kill him.”

  A surprised laugh burst from me as I stared at him. Was he serious?

  “You look shocked, sweets,” he drawled.

  I nodded my head several times. “That’s not exactly fair.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “What?”

  He was serious. He didn’t see how one-sided this was even if I had no plans on having sex with one of his friends or family or whatever.

  “You can have sex with…those women down there, but I am only supposed to have sex with you?”

  He reached over and ran a knuckle over my lips, then down my neck. “Sweets, if we’re fucking, I don’t need to fuck anyone else. You’re keeping me real damn sated. Am I not doing the same for you?”

  I shifted and dropped my focus to my lap. “Yes, you are.”

  “Good. Then, that’s settled. We are friends who fuck. A lot. We don’t need to fuck anyone else while we have this setup.”

  I nodded, glancing back at him.

  His hand clamped over my shoulder and pulled me against him. “Finally. Now, pick a movie, and I’ll call for food. Then, we can fuck again. I want to eat your pussy in the shower.”

  Was there a woman who would turn that down?

  We didn’t skip Sunday breakfast the next morning and it was more intimidating this time than it had been the first time. Even though I didn’t think King had told anyone we were having sex, I just felt like they all might think we were. Since we were sleeping in the same room. That, and I felt as if it was written all over my face when they looked at me. King didn’t sit beside me, which I wasn’t sure if I should take personally or be thankful. It made us look less…uh…affectionate maybe?

  “Why can’t I sit in here beside Rumor?” Birdie asked, standing at the head of the table beside Maeme with her hands on her hips.

  Her eyes, so much like King’s, locked on me, and she grinned brightly. “You want me to sit by you, don’t you, Rumor?”

  Feeling trapped, I glanced at Maeme, hoping she’d come to my rescue. I would in fact love for Birdie to sit by me, but I also didn’t want to overstep. I was indebted to everyone in this room for helping me and putting themselves in danger by doing it.

  “Annette isn’t here yet,” Maeme replied. “Take her seat, and she can take your usual spot. Now, give me a bite of sugar, missy.”

  Bridie squealed and kissed Maeme on the cheek before running over to pull out the chair beside me.

  “You never demanded to sit by me before. I’m wounded,” King said from farther down the table.

  I glimpsed at him but looked away quickly, afraid I would blush. My panties were currently wet with his cum. No one knew that, but we did, and looking at him made my cheeks warm.

  “You don’t like to talk about American Girl dolls,” Birdie informed him.

  “Ah, well, in that case, I’ll let it slide,” King replied.

  “I brought three of them with me,” Birdie informed me. “I can show you after we eat.”

  “That sounds—”

  “She’s going to the library with me to get some books,” Sebastian said, cutting me off.

  I lifted my gaze from Birdie to look over at Sebastian. He winked at me. I didn’t mind going to see Birdie’s dolls first. I was about to say that, but King spoke first.

  “I’m taking her.”

  “To my library?” Sebastian challenged.

  “It’s my library,” Stellan Shephard said from the other end of the table. “King will take her.”

  My eyes cut from Stellan to King, who was watching me. When our gazes met, he flashed me a smug smile that made me want to scold him and kiss him at the same time. I didn’t want to be rude to Sebastian, but I preferred to be with King. All parts of my body were in agreement.

  “King, you’ll let her see my dolls first? Right? I brought Evette. She has the same hair!”

  King’s eyes dropped to his sister. “Yes, of course. But I’ll need a hug in return.”

  Birdie grinned and clapped her hands together. “Deal!” Then, she turned her head and looked at me. “I’m a master manipula-lay-tator—or whatever that word is. Momma said so.”

  I pressed my lips together, not wanting to laugh at her, and nodded in agreement. She was in fact very good at it. She knew how to work this crowd like a charm.

  Barrett and Annette Kingston arrived, followed by Roland and Luella Jones. Different conversations broke out all around the room, and I listened as Birdie told me about her new bunk beds for her dolls and a diner she was wanting for her birthday. While she went on to describe it, I took quick glimpses at King as he spoke to his father and Stellan. Thatcher wasn’t here today, but Storm was, and he seemed deeply involved in the conversation too.

  When King’s eyes cut toward me and he caught me looking his way, I quickly jerked mine back to Birdie. She was explaining the ins and outs of proper hair care for her dolls. I had no idea it was so in depth, but it seemed there was a lot to know about these dolls of hers.

  “Rumor,” Annette said, drawing my focus off Birdie to look up at her sitting on the other side of the little girl.

  “Yes?”

  “I brought you a few bags of clothing. Things that Lela left at the house and never wears. Maeme mentioned you might like some more things to wear. I’ll have King go get them from the car before you leave.”

  Oh. Wow. How nice of her.

  “Thank you,” I replied. “I really appreciate it.”

  She gave me a pleased smile. “You’re welcome. Someone needs to use them. I’m happy that you can.”

  I hoped Lela was okay with this, but she wasn’t here today. I didn’t have a way to ask her. I’d mention it to King. He’d know what to do about that.

  “She needs some riding boots,” Maeme announced.

  “She’s not riding anytime soon,” Stellan said.

  Maeme frowned at him.

  “Not for the time being, Maeme,” he told her pointedly.

  I thought she was going to argue, but she simply nodded her head and took another bite of her food. Maybe Maeme didn’t boss them all around after all. It seemed like Stellan was the one in control right now. Was it because I was staying on his property with King?

  “I have a horse for each of my American Girls. And stables!” Birdie told me excitedly, bringing my attention back to her.

  “I would be disappointed if you didn’t,” I replied honestly.

  She stuck a piece of sausage in her mouth and grinned as she chewed it.

  A strange sense settled over me as I scanned the people in the room. There was something here…something I didn’t know. A connection that went beyond owning businesses together. It was deeper than blood. Stronger than a bond of family. There was a hierarchy. Even if they didn’t make it clear, I could suddenly see it. I just didn’t understand it. What was it that I was missing? What made them what they were?

  • thirty-five •

  “As if I were his marionette doll, I did exactly what he wanted.”

  Rumor

  After King took me to the Shephards’ library, he brought me back to his room and left me with my new books. He had some work to handle. I never got details on what it was he was doing, but was it my business? Not really. But I wanted to know. I wanted to know all the things about him. Not to mention, the more I was left in the dark, the more my imagination went into overdrive.

  The three large shopping bags of Lela’s clothes that Annette had given me sat on the bed. King had assured me Lela wouldn’t mind and would be glad they were going to someone who could use them. Apparently, she had three full walk-in closets at home, and she didn’t even live there most of the time. Needing something to do since reading wasn’t distracting me, I began to unpack the bags.

  Jeans, shorts, tops, dresses, skirts—all designer, and most still had tags on them. This was more than generous. Why wouldn’t they have taken the clothes back to the store if she wasn’t going to wear them? It seemed wasteful…but then they had given them to me. They wanted someone to use them.

  Slipping off the sundress I had worn to breakfast, I laid it on the bed, and I began to try on things. I didn’t want to keep something if it didn’t fit, although most appeared to be my size. Once I had on a pair of pink shorts and a ruffled white tank top, I went to the bathroom to look in the full-length mirror.

  I turned several times, admiring how nice it looked. Hill had bought me clothing that he thought was appropriate for me, but never anything this expensive. The tag on the top said it was over seven hundred dollars. I felt guilty about taking the tags off. It was more than I needed. I wasn’t sure the rest of my life wouldn’t be me hiding out. Where was I gonna wear clothes that cost this much?

  When I walked back into the bedroom, my mood sank as reality managed to seep back in. I took off the shorts and top and folded them neatly on the bed before taking out a short, colorful skirt that also had a tag on it. I tried not to look as I set it down and reached in to find a top to go with it.

  The door behind me opened, and I covered my bare breasts before I spun around to see King stepping inside. His eyes slowly traveled down my body.

  “I was coming to get something,” he said, closing the door behind him without taking his eyes off me. “But looks like I’ll be a little longer than I anticipated.”

  He stalked toward me and grabbed my wrists, pulling them away from my body. “Don’t cover your tits.”

  I realized I was panting as he grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged it over his head and dropped it to the ground. His hands went to the zipper of his jeans. “Turn around and put your hands on the dresser. I don’t have much time, but after this view, I need to fuck you if I’m gonna get anything else done.”

  I’d told myself I wasn’t going to have sex with him again today. We had to stop doing so much of it. I was finding it hard to not feel things when I looked at him, and I was blaming it on all the sex. He was a man, and I had thought I’d never let another touch me again after Hill. But King had changed a lot. He had taught me that I could trust again. That not all men were cruel.

  I went over to the dresser and placed my palms on the cool surface. I could hear the rustle of King’s jeans as he discarded them. Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply when his hands grabbed my hips, and I felt him come up behind me.

  “It’s gonna be a quick fuck, sweets. Stick that ass out for me.”

  As if I were his marionette doll, I did exactly what he wanted. Except with King, I knew I was getting something from this too. Pleasure came with this. The kind that made the bad in my life fade away. It didn’t haunt me when I was thinking about him. When he was inside of me. When he was reminding me how good it felt to live.

  I felt his hand between my legs, and I opened them wider.

  “Still wet and sticky from this morning’s fuck. Good girl,” he murmured, then slammed into me so hard that I fell forward onto the dresser. The edge of the wood biting into my lower stomach. “HOLY FUCK, that’s good. So damn slippery with my cum inside you.”

  I held on to the dresser to keep from being shoved into it any further and pushed back to meet his rhythm. He was right; having his earlier release inside me made it insanely hot. I moaned his name as he drove in harder.

  He wrapped my hair around his hand and pulled my head back toward him with a hard tug. “Take that dick, sweets. Take it like the good girl you are. Walking around with me leaking out of you all day. Fuuuck, that makes me crazy. I want to watch you play with it when it oozes out of you. See those pretty little fingers covered in it.”

  I was close already. So very close. I bucked wildly, wanting to get there. Knowing how amazing it would feel. Craving it. The electric feel of it intensifying. Drawing deep inside me. I clawed at the wood, crying out as my body started to convulse.

  “SUCH. A. GOOD. GIRL,” he shouted with each grunt.

  Those words. It was a trigger. The best kind for me. I screamed out as the euphoria of my orgasm claimed me.

  “FUCK, BABY! FUCK!” he roared as he jerked against me twice, then stilled.

  I could feel him twitching inside of me as his body shuddered.

  I laid my cheek down on the smooth surface and let out a contented sigh. I was positive my legs wouldn’t hold me up just yet. I gasped as he pulled free of me, and then his hand covered where he had exited.

  “Put your legs together,” he ordered.

  I managed to do it, but I was moving slow. Once I had them closed, he moved his hand away.

  “Leave it in there. Don’t shower until I get back.”

  I nodded and stayed like I was trying to recover while I listened to him get dressed behind me. He let out a breathy laugh, and I turned my head to look over at him. His gaze was on me, and the smile that touched his lips was…gentle. Soft. Almost as if…as if I were special. More than whatever this was that we were doing.

  He pulled his shirt back over his head and then came back over to me and scooped me up. “Come on, sweets,” he said, carrying me over to the bed. He laid me down, then reached for the throw and covered me up. “I’ll be back later.”

  I nodded, and he turned and headed for the door. It wasn’t until he left that I realized he’d never gotten whatever it was he had come for. My eyes closed, however, before I could think much more about it.

  • thirty-six •

  “You’re gonna wish I had shot you instead.”

  King

  I’d left Rumor curled up, asleep in my bed, before the sun came up. Last night, I had been too fucking tense to sleep. I woke her up twice. Once with my head between her legs and another time with my cock inside her. She’d been adorable. All sleepy but instantly ready to fuck. She was becoming an addiction. It was a cruel circle. The longer I kept her with me, the more I was craving her. To stop this, she needed to be moved, but the thought of that made me feel unhinged.

  It had been five days since the Insantos had sent someone to find Rumor. The bastard we had underground was still alive. Blaise was coming here today. He wanted to speak to the prisoner himself. Which meant this might be the gang member’s last day on earth and a real war was going to begin.

  The stress of what Blaise’s decision was going to be on what we were going to do with Rumor was making me feel caged in. Like I couldn’t breathe deep. I didn’t like not having control. She was in my bed. He’d had me keep her safe. Told me to fuck her. Make her want to stay. Now, I had to wait and let him make the next call on her safety.

  What if he took her? There was talk he was going to have her moved to Ocala. She’d be safer there. Thinking about it was making me crazy. She trusted me. It was me that she wanted to stay with. I would keep her safe. She would be scared if he made her leave. She wouldn’t know anyone. There was no Maeme there.

  There was no me there.

  But she was never meant to be mine. No one was.

  The door to the lounge room opened, and I looked up from the cup of coffee in my hand to see Thatcher walking in, followed by Storm and Sedona. They hadn’t brought her here to fuck. I knew without them saying it why she was here, even before I noticed Storm’s Glock pressed against her back.

  Setting my cup down, I stood up from the sofa and looked at her. She wasn’t the one I’d expected. The airheaded blonde thing had thrown me off. I wouldn’t have guessed she could pull anything off like this or that she had the balls to try.

  “I can explain,” she said, staring at me with tearful eyes and terror on her face.

  “Not sure he cares, but we need to know before I let him kill you,” Thatcher replied, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it up.

  “You put trackers on them?” I said to Thatcher.

  He nodded and let out smoke through his nose. “Yeah. This one left here and went straight to the Insantos’ compound. It’s always the stupid ones.”

  “I didn’t know who they were. Who Falcon was. He came into the club and tossed a lot of money my way. I was in too deep with him before I knew it. They’re dangerous,” she blubbered as tears rolled down her face.

  Thatcher let out a dark, maniacal laugh. “They’re dangerous,” he repeated, then laughed again.