Page 111 of Bourbon & Blood

I kissed her temple and she said, “Thank you.”

“For you?” I said. “Anything.”

She smiled up at me and I knew she wasn’t thankin’ me for complimenting her artwork.

“Should make the news tomorrow,” I said, my voice low, after glancing around to make sure I wasn’t overheard. She nodded carefully and I warned her, “Might not play out how you think, but just know – I was there and he knew it was from her.”

“That’s all that I ask, and I believe you,” she said.

I caressed her cheek and said, “I wish it hadn’t gone down like this. I wish it could have all come about differently, you an’ me.”

She smiled at me and it held just a tinge of sadness, but the light in her eyes was something to behold.

“I think that things went down just as they needed to,” she said after a moment. “I don’t think anything from the time she was gone until now happened by coincidence,” she said.

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, curious.

“Maya was clever by far,” she said. “Vivacious and bold, knowing just what anyone needed just by looking at them. I think she put us together for several reasons – your particular set of skills notwithstanding. She knew people’s hearts and minds better than anyone I’ve ever met and I think she knew that we needed each other as much as she needed us together, you know?”

“You have any regrets about the bargain we made?” I asked her.

She smiled so sweetly then and shook her head, squeezing my hand once more under the table.

“No,” she said. “None.”

I reached into the pocket of my cut and pulled out the tangled chain of the necklace I’d took from Maya’s jewelry box.

“I know you didn’t want to take anything of your girl’s when we was moving you out,” I said. “But with all the things said and done and with her bein’ at peace? I think somethin’s needed to mark the occasion,” I said.

She looked up at me, curiously, as I upended her hand and put the necklace in it. She looked down into her hand and back up at me.

“Maya’s?” she asked.

I nodded.

She smiled and took a deep breath and let it out slow.

“Thank you,” she said and I nodded.

Hex and Louie returned with drinks and retook the seat across from us. My little Alina smiled and rejoined the conversation, even as she worked carefully to untangle the chain on the necklace that I’d given her. When she’d done it, she had me put it on for her. The gold looked good against her skin, the diamond pendant suspended in its gold ring, bouncing and shimmering with her pulse, sitting perfect in the hollow of her throat.

She laced her fingers through mine under the table once more and I felt powerful and whole.

I knew what it meant to be the king, looking across at my crew. When I went home, I made love to my queen like never before.

“You good?” I asked her in the diffuse light and deepening dark, the glow of the candles against her skin making her positively glow.

She dragged my mouth to hers, her hands to either side of my face and kissed me fierce.

“I’m better than good,” she whispered hotly against my mouth and I decided then and there… it was good to be the king.

I wouldn’t trade any of what went down for the world to have her in my arms like this.

In fact, I would burn the world. Lay any and all to waste and ruin. I would do anything and then some to have this life right here.

EPILOGUE

Alina…

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