Page 31 of King: Darker Than Romance

Irritated, I cut my eyes in her direction

“Why is he here, Momma?” I was asking her to confirm what I already knew would come, but I still needed to know if he’d come on his own or if Momma had a hand in it.

“I called him.” She shrugged.

I opened my mouth to ask her why she would do such a s thing, but Ellis cut me off. His gaze cut to Momma.

“Mrs. Ruth, do you think I could have some time alone with my wife?” He smiled showing her all thirty of his pearly whites. His sugary sweet tone turned my stomach. I wanted to jump across the table and strangle his ass.

“Of course.” Momma giggled before pushing away from the table. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” she said to him. While walking past me, she mumbled, “fix this” under her breath before leaving the kitchen.

Ellis and I entered a staring contest, like we often did before all hell broke loose.

“Sit down, Eden.” His deep baritone was filled with malice.

When I didn’t move to do it right away, he screamed, “Sit down!” I had never feared Ellis even after the beatings started. He would hit me; I’d hit him back. He more fucked up my self-esteem. But for the first time I jumped when he yelled. I guess the last beating had finally broken me.

For some reason I glanced towards the door where Momma exited. I imagined her coming back and being a mother and telling Ellis to leave. But hope for that only lasted a second. I didn’t have that type of mother.

As if he had read my mind, he said, “She’s not coming to save you. Neither is your King. We’ll be long gone before he gets here.” Smugness was thick in his tone. He smirked and gestured for me to take the seat next to him.

I continued standing where I was with my arms folded across my chest. My thoughts were racing a thousand miles per minute, trying to figure out how I could make it so I did not have to go back with Ellis.

“Disobey now, suffer later. I might even call your King’s parole officer and tell them he’s on the run. He’s not supposed to cross state lines and he’s probably already in Georgia, searching for me after he got some false information about my whereabouts.

He was a master at using my weakness against me.

On heavy feet I made my way over and sat next to my husband. The crisp clean smell of him made me angry. I hated how easily he was able to hide how evil he was behind the trappings of wealth.

He placed his hand on my thigh when I sat. I fought the urge to snatch away.

“So?” he said and cocked his head. “Did you enjoy your vacation?”

I rolled my eyes and shifted in my seat so his hand would fall away. He replaced it.

“Why did you come here, Ellis? We don’t even like each other anymore.” About a year after we’d gotten married, he’d morphed into an entirely different person. First was the name calling, then a slap here and there, then the demand for a baby, because his parents wanted grandchildren. The abuse ramped up after another year passed, and I still hadn’t become pregnant.

“I like you, Eden. I love you even. It’s you who can’t love me. You never will, Will you? Because of him.” He cocked his head and stared me dead in the eyes. “Do you think he’ll still want you when he finds out you killed his wife? Should we wait and tell him together?”

“I didn’t ever tell you I actually killed his wife.” I had told him about hitting her with the lamp.

“I already know. I dug the bitch’s grave and put her in it,”. King’s chilling voice came out of nowhere.

I saw the flash of fear in Ellis’ eyes, felt his hand tremble, but he recovered from the shock of hearing King’s voice faster than I did.

King walked into the kitchen with a smile on his face that the devil himself would envy.

Turning his attention from Ellis he smiled at me. “Good morning, beautiful.” His tone was light, but his jaw flexed. His eyes fell to Ellis’ hand he had moved it to my wrist, using his grip on it to hold me in place.

“Come here, Eden.” King ordered.

Ellis’ grip on me tightened, though I hadn’t attempted to move. “She’s exactly where she needs to be,” he said.

King winked at me and Ellis’s grip tightened even more. His nails dug into my flesh.

Ignoring King I turned to Ellis. “Just let me get my things and then we’ll leave.” I tried to deescalate the situation. I could tell King was itching for a fight. He had just gotten out of prison. I would leave with Ellis if that kept him from going back.

I was looking at Ellis. He was looking at King.

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