Page 32 of Bloody Kingdom

Regardless of how many enemies he has, Silas is more than capable of taking care of himself, even if he didn’t have an armed Duke with him. I hadn’t noticed the gun in Duke’s waistband until we were in the ice cream shop and he stretched, causing his shirt to ride up and the butt of his gun showed.

“I can’t believe you turned down ice cream. Who says no to ice cream?” I chide Silas as we walk. “Are you sure you don’t want some?” I lift the dessert in my hand to him.

His dark eyes glance at the ice cream briefly before he shakes his head. “I have… food allergies. Unfortunately, I have a pretty limited diet and ice cream isn’t on the list of approved foods.” Silas almost looksuncomfortabletelling me this, like he’s divulging a secret he shouldn’t be.

“That’s a shame, especially since you like to cook. You make all that food but can’t eat it.” I have no idea what ungodly hour he’s in the kitchen, but there’s been many mornings I’ve found new Tupperware in the fridge full of fresh food. It’s so odd to me that he works all day and most nights, only to come home and cook food he can’t eat in the hours he should be sleeping.

“How—” he begins to ask, but he figures it out himself fast. “Della.”

“Don’t worry, she wasn’t gossiping. I’m pretty sure that woman keeps secrets better than the CIA.” You can bet I’ve tried to pull information out of her, but she’s like a vault. “I complimented her on the pasta you gave me that one night and she informed me it was actually you who had made it.”

“Della informed me many years ago that I needed a hobby,” Silas explains after a brief pause. “I’d watched her cook many meals for the house staff throughout the years and she showed me a thing or two. I suppose I’ve just run with it since then.”

“I’ve never had a hobby,” I find myself telling him. “I was so focused on getting through nursing school and then with work, I never had time to pick something up. I tried knitting once, but it was so boring, I gave up within five minutes. The only outlet I have—or had—is running. I used to run five miles before I’d have a shift at the hospital. It helped clear my mind and center me.”

He’s quiet as he listens to me talk, but the way his brows furrow with concentration, I know he’s truly paying attention to what I’m saying. “You read all the time. That’s a hobby.”

The knowledge that he’s been watching me enough to know I’m an avid reader makes me grow warm and my heart sputters. Is he watching me when I don’t notice him there? More importantly, why do I like the possibility of this? I should be upset that he’s been watching me.

“My mom had a stash of romance novels on her nightstand when I was growing up. It wasn’t very often that she actually made it to bed where she could read them. She usually just passed out on the couch.”Sometimes the kitchen floor.“When I was a little older than twelve, I started reading them.”

“You and those damn romance novels.” Duke snickers. “My little sister used to read them too, but I never would have pegged you as a sappy hopeless romantic, Quin.” Duke has a sister?

I glare at him around Silas’s large frame. “Trust me, I’m well aware those books are nothing but a fantasy. Real men aren’t like the ones in books. I like escaping to worlds where women find these men who will literally burn down the world to save her or make her happy. So, sue me for enjoying that fantasy.”

Duke holds up his hands in surrender. “Damn. easy girl. I was just joking.” He laughs easily. That’s the one thing I like about Duke. You don’t have to work hard for his smiles or laughs. He gives them effortlessly and freely. Whereas I think I may have to sell my soul to the devil again to get a simple smile out of Silas.

I shrug, taking a bite of my ice cream. “I’m just saying, I’ll cut you if you keep coming for my romance novels.” The grin I give him is radiating with an evil gleam.

Silas makes an unamused scoff in the back of his throat. If he was capable of showing any other emotion besides anger, I’m sure annoyance would be written across his face. Maybe he’d even roll his midnight eyes.

We enter the parking lot and Duke digs through the back pocket of his jeans for the car keys. Frowning when he doesn’t find them in the first pocket, he moves on to the others before even checking his jacket pockets. “Fuck,” he hisses. “I think I left the keys on the counter when I paid for the ice cream.” Silas pays his people well, that much I know, but I don’t think he pays them well enough for Duke to be carrying around a black card. Undoubtedly, the card belongs to Silas and he was in fact the one who paid for my treat.

“Are you fucking serious?” Silas murmurs, a heavy sigh coming from between his lips.

“I’ll be right back.” Duke stops five feet away from us, before looking back. “Unless you think we should all go back?” He’s not asking me this, he’s looking for confirmation from his boss who stands beside me.

“Quincey and I will be fine here for a couple minutes,” Silas relents. “But Duke?Run. I don’t like standing out here in the open.”

I watch Duke disappear around the corner we’d just come from, just like Silas instructed, he’s sprinting. Smiling and softly shaking my head, I lean against the back of the SUV. “I like him.” I didn’t want to after he helped kidnap me, but he’s broken me down.

Silas turns to me, still scowling. “Who? Duke?”

“Yeah, he’s a good guy. I like him.” I wave my spoon in the direction he ran. “Now that I’m feeling less angry at him, I can see what Lucy saw in him.”

Silas moves toward me, inch by inch, he slowly invades my space until my only option is to tilt my head back so I can see his face. “Just how much do you like him, Quincey?”

I freeze in place, unsure if he’s being serious or if this is as close to joking as Silas can get. Deciding to play along, I smirk. “If I was going to go after anyone in the house, it wouldn’t be Duke.Irahowever is perfect, too bad he’s just a little bit too old for me. It’s a shame I didn’t know him in his prime, I would have been all over that.” I’m not being serious, but Silas doesn’t need to know that.

“I’m sure he would have loved to have all your attention directed at him,” Silas muses. “You have an energy that pulls people in. Like a siren.”

“You think I enchant people and when they get close enough, I pull them down to their dark, watery deaths?” I’m not sure I’m enjoying this analogy.

“I haven’t yet discovered what happens once you’ve lured them close.” His thigh brushes against mine, he’s so close. When he’s this close to me, I swear my brain starts to short-circuit. He’s not warm by any means, but somehow, he still melts me into a gooey puddle who can’t function correctly. “Do you think your anger for me will ever lessen like it has for Duke?” he asks lowly as his eyes travel lazily over my face.

“Maybe,” I whisper. “But you have to stop doing things that piss me off.”

The corner of his mouth twitches, as if he’s fighting a smile. The fact that I made him want to smile makes my spirit soar. “That may be difficult, seeing as all I do is anger you.”

---