Page 93 of Royally Bad

Pushing my hands into his chest, I laughed and smiled and welled with tears, all at the same time. It was the only way to keep from shattering into pieces—my love for this man pushed my body to its limits.

Sobbing, I said, “Stop making me cry!”

Kain bent over me, kissing the corner of each of my eyes. “Is this that ugly cry you were telling me about?” Grabbing his shirt, I flapped it into my face. He chuckled, snatching my wrists, forcing my arms down. “Don’t hide.”

“You literally just called me ugly!”

“No, not at all. I was going to say ifthisis your ugly cry, then it’s not so bad. I don’t know why you acted like mine was so impressive.” He smirked sharply. “Or do I need to make you cry more to see the real thing?”

“Please, no.” I laughed softly, dabbing at my eyes. “You’ll get more snot, that’s all.”

Snuggling me against his bare chest, he slid us more comfortably onto the hospital bed. Well, as comfortably as one could ever get on one of these hard things. But truthfully, in Kain’s arms, I could have sat on jagged rock and felt wonderful.

My eyes tracked over his naked torso. His tattoos glimmered in the hospital lights, the red-and-black crown a heavy reminder of who Kain was.

But it wasn’t his history that had caused our conflict. It was mine.A past I knew nothing about.What would happen from here? Was my father going to return, would things get easier ... or would they get worse?

How could things get worse?I asked myself, studying the old scar on his stomach.We’ve already been nearly killed.“We match now,” I said suddenly.

He blinked. “What?”

Lifting my pale green gown, I touched the gauze and padding that was strapped over my belly. “We’ve both got bullet wounds on our stomachs. It’s kind of neat.”

At first he was silent. The initial shakes of his laughter startled me, but his full-on bellow turned me to stone. Calming himself, he took my hand, placing it on his old scar. “It’s from having my appendix removed.”

My eyes ached from how wide they were, they were drying out as I considered this revelation. “You mean ... that for weeks, I’ve been thinking that you had this old wound from some wicked gunfight ... and it was just ...”

“Yup. Though I did get to stay out of school for a bit. That’s pretty wicked, right?”

I lost the ability to talk. In the quietness, the knock on the door made me jump.

Not knowing who to expect, I was beyond lost at seeing the familiar face of Detective Stapler. He was peering into the room, one hand holding a white envelope tied to a gigantic, teddy-bear balloon. The instant he saw Kain and me—him shirtless—tangled on the bed, his whole head flushed.

“Oh—I—I’ll come back,” he stuttered.

Ignoring Kain’s giant grin, I flapped a hand. “Wait! It’s fine.” Was it fine? “What are you doing here?”

His eyes tracked all over the room, but not at us directly. “Mmff. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. Heard what had happened.” He glanced at Kain, then away, like seeing a member of the Badd family wasn’t what he was hoping for.

I wondered if he’d come to chide me, pointing out that he’d been right about the Badds being dangerous. He’d walked into something else entirely, of course.

Kain’s grin became a cheeky smirk. “Hey there, boss.”

The detective inched my way, handing over the balloon with the card attached. “Thanks,” I said earnestly, taking it. The colorful bear was smiling for all eternity. In the mirrored back of the balloon, I saw how pale I was. “Were you with the cops that arrived at the scene?”

“I was,” he said grimly. “I wasn’t shocked to hear about a fight between the Badds and the Deep Shots, but when word came down that there was a young woman seriously injured at the scene ...” He shook his head, seeming to relive last night. “Actually, I had a question that one of you can hopefully answer.” Finally he looked at me, his warm, brown eyes shifting with curiosity.

“Shoot,” I said, instantly regretting my choice of phrasing.

The detective didn’t get the joke, or he knew enough to ignore it. “We found something at the scene that I couldn’t make sense of.”

I glanced at Kain—did he have any idea what this was about? “What was it?”

“A very pink high heel.”

“Pffftt.” It was the only sound I could make. My lips fluttered as I tried not to crack up. I’d forgotten all about that fucking shoe.

Kain tapped his fingers on my headboard. “Thatisweird.”

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