Page 56 of Kings Fear No One
I’ll do anything to make it work.
Mama and Grandma Renae will just have to respect my decision. Both mean well, but they’ve grown so used to being in control that they can’t give it up. They refuse to accept I’m a grown woman who is married now. I can find my own way.
With Logan.
“Who was that?” Logan asks, breezing into the kitchen. He’s dressed in his dark denim and nothing else. Tattoos cover every inch of skin between his broad chest and corded arms. The muscle he’d lost during our time in captivity has returned in rippling glory. He opens the fridge to grab the carton of orange juice and guzzle some down. “That your mother again?”
“Yes. And remember how we’d agreed we’d drink out of cups? Not from cartons?”
“Remember when I said I hated pulp?” He makes a sour face, wiping at his mouth with his forearm.
“I like pulp. Which is why I got the ‘some pulp’ version. It’s a compromise.”
“Your definition needs some work. What’d your mother have to say?”
I swallow against the guilt gnawing at the back of my throat. “She was checking up on me.”
“She wants you to come home?”
“She’d prefer if I were closer. But she understands why I’m here.”
“It won’t be long. Once we get this dissolved, you won’t have to be so far away,” he says, reaching inside the fridge for the jug of whole milk instead. “Which reminds me, we need to follow up with the clerk’s office. The supervisor was supposed to reach out. It’s been fourteen business days.”
“I’ll call,” I volunteer, forcing a smile. “You’ve been so busy with club stuff. Tracking down, um, the Leader. I’ll follow up. You shouldn’t have to worry about anything else.”
Appreciation flickers in his steely blue eyes. He does the thing he’s started doing, where he reaches out and pinches the skin on my arm. Not painfully. Not crudely. But in some gesture of affection that feels earned and sends a shiver down my spine.
It’s several steps up from where we started since living together.
“Busy day at the club?” I ask.
“You can say that again. We’ve gotten Xavier to crack about the location of the compound. Now it’s all planning.”
“For when you go after…”
He nods. “It’ll be soon.”
“Let’s do something special tonight,” I blurt out. My smile softens, almost pleadingly. “Sydney asked me if we’d like to go to dinner with her and Mason.”
“Teysha—”
“Just a dinner,” I say. “It can’t hurt. You and your brother have to patch things up eventually. The club won’t survive if you don’t. And you keep saying you don’t want me cooking dinner every night. So give me a break.”
His right brow cocks at the same time a crooked grin slashes across his mouth. “Anyone ever tell you you’re pretty damn good at sweet-talking?”
“I’m only good if the answer is yes.”
“I’ll go so long as everybody’s clear I’ll punch Mace again if he pulls shit.”
“At least wait ’til after dinner.”
“Tell him that.” He gives the flesh on my arm another squeeze before he heads for the door. He snatches a t-shirt hanging over a chair on his way. “I’m out. I’ll come back tonight to pick you up.”
I wave goodbye feeling a fuzzy warmth spreading in my chest. Validation that I’ve made the right choice.
We’ll get there in time.
The Smokin’ Pig is one of the most popular spots in Pulsboro on a Friday night. Known for its tangy barbecue sauce and assortment of smoked meats, the restaurant even hosts a karaoke hour. Logan and I enter to find the place packed.
