Page 87 of King

The fucking kid was smarter than any of them gave him credit, King thought with a grin.

“You can do whatever you want.” Amara finally answered, then shrugged. “I’d like to know what in the hell has been put into my body and what it’s doing to me. It’s a little discerning and a lot scary. I don’t want to turn out to be some monster or something.”

“Hey,” Joey pushed his plate away. “A radioactive spider bit Peter Parker, and look how that turned out for him. Superpowers and a hot chick. Not a bad deal.”

Amara rolled her eyes. “And Peter Parker is a fictional character.”

“And so were vampires,” Joey said, pointing back and forth between King and Slade and then to her. “But...here...we...are. Don’t worry, Amara, if you turn into a monster, I bet that you’ll be a good monster that saves the world.”

“Thanks,” Amara snorted, shaking her head.

“No problemo.” Joey hopped off the stool, taking his plate to the sink. “If you need any more enlightenment, I’ll be in my gaming chair kicking ass and taking names.”

They all watched Joey disappear. Slade was the first to break the silence. “I’ll need to x-ray him again next week.” He informedthem. “I already talked to Joey, but if he has pain or starts limping, I want a call immediately.”

“Thanks, doc,” King reached out, shaking Slade’s hand.

“Yes, thank you for everything.” Amara smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

Slade nodded as he made his leave. King walked over and pulled Amara into his arms.

“We’ll figure all this out.” He made that promise to her, but what secretly killed him was he didn’t know if he could keep that promise. But he knew one thing for sure, he would die trying.

CHAPTER 36

Amara hummed softly as she scrubbed the floors, the rhythmic swish of the mop gliding over the floor calming her. Cleaning was therapeutic. A way to keep her hands busy, to settle the thoughts that sometimes raced too fast in her mind.

King’s deep voice carried from the living room every few minutes, followed by Joey’s excited yells as they played their video game. Amara grinned, shaking her head. King was completely hooked, and it cracked her up. The man who was a warrior, a deadly fighter, had turned into a full-blown gaming addict.

On the other hand, she couldn’t play with King at the same time, not after the first disaster of an attempt. The faceless men in the game had the audacity to disrespect her, and King immediately started swearing at the screen, threatening their lives and vowing to hunt them down. She was used to it, but King was not. Yeah, so now he only played with Joey.

It had been a few days since the funeral, and things were slowly returning to a new normal. Joey was beyond excited to movein with King, already planning what he wanted to do with his new room. Amara only had a few months left on her apartment lease, but they decided that next weekend, they’d start moving her things. She and King had also talked to Joey about what he wanted to do with his house. He had told them that he didn’t want to live there. Too many memories. So, they decided to sell and keep what was left over for Joey’s future.

Last night, she and King stayed up late in bed, ordering supplies for the darkroom, which he insisted she had. He had already called the crew who worked with the Warriors to set up a consultation. That had led to their first real fight.

King wanted to pay for everything, but Amara flat-out refused. If he was paying for it all, then it wasn’t happening. He hadn’t taken that well, growling in frustration and being hardheaded. They had finally compromised, agreeing to split the cost, but she knew him too well. He was going to try to change her mind again. She had to stay on guard.

A deep voice pulled her from her thoughts. “Hey, what are you doing?”

Amara turned to see King standing in the doorway, frowning.

“Just cleaning.” She smiled as she carried the mop bucket toward the back door. Before she could reach it, King snatched it from her hands.

“King, I can empty the bucket.” She frowned, tossing a hand on her hip.

“Not while I’m here, you can’t.” His tone left no room for argument. He disappeared outside, dumping it himself, then reappeared with the empty bucket seconds later.

Her heart softened. The small things he did for her always caught her off guard.

“Why don’t you come in and hang with us?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her from behind. He nuzzled her neck, his breath warm against her skin.

Amara melted just a little but still shook her head. “Because I’m not done cleaning.” She leaned her head to the side, letting him have better access because, let’s be honest, she was weak for this man.

King lifted his head, glancing around with an arched brow. “This place has never been this spotless, Amara.”

“Hey, I like to clean,” she said defensively, then frowned when he kept staring at her like she had grown another head.

“Seriously?” His tone was skeptical.

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