Page 30 of The Kings of Kearny

I sighed. “Thanks.”

She chewed her lip for a second, watching me with a wary expression.

“Out with it,” I said.

“Don’t take this the wrong way or think I’m on his side or anything—I’m not. I’m Team Krista all the way.”

“I know. Now what is it?”

“Do you think maybe he took your comment about people treating you differently as being ashamed of him? And that’s why he was such a dick to you afterward?”

“The thought had crossed my mind, but it doesn’t excuse his behavior.”

She held her hands up. “I’m not excusing his behavior, I’m just saying, even guys like Jakob have to have feelings, and he wouldn’t be the first person to lash out when they were hurt.” She sent me a meaningful look.

I wanted to squirm in my seat. Thinking back on it, I had to admit that I could have handled the situation better myself. That comment about him always having to remind people that he was a King hadn’t been said from the best place or in the nicest tone.

“You ever get sick of being right about things all the time?” I asked Nina.

She flashed me a wide grin. “Never.”

I was on my way home afterward when an engine thundered to life nearby. A headlight flared in my rearview as the bike emerged from a side street and settled into the lane behind me. It followed me all the way home.

My hand was in my purse as I got out of my car, fingers gripping my gun.

The motorcycle pulled up next to me, and I immediately recognized Jakob. He turned the bike off and strode over. The night clung to his large form as if welcoming back a lost son. Crickets chirruped in the nearby trees. Heat hung heavy around us, despite the fact that the sun had set hours ago. A bougainvillea vine wrapped up the wrought iron staircase of my apartment building, and the heady bouquet of its flowers perfumed the air.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Making sure you got home safe,” he said.

I let my gun go and slung my handbag over my shoulder. “I don’t need you to be my bodyguard. You might not think I can defend myself in a fight, but I can sure as shit still fire my weapon without your assistance.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “I didn’t say you can’t defend yourself. I said your knee makes you vulnerable.”

Heat crept up my neck. “Are you serious right now? Verbatim, I said, ‘I can take care of myself,’ and then you said, ‘The fuck you can,’ which made it pretty clear that you think I’m nothing but a helpless victim.”

He gave me a flat look. His tone was just as lifeless. “I don’t think that.”

“All evidence to the contrary,” I said. “And I don’t appreciate you making me out to be hypersensitive to my grandmother.” I dropped my voice in imitation of him. “I told her a hard truth she didn’t want to hear.”

My anger had ahold of me, and when he opened his mouth to try to get a word in, I barreled right over him. “There’s a difference between being straightforward and being an asshole, and telling me in anger that I can’t take care of myself was a dick move, and you know it. And it wasn’t a hard truth, by the way. Trust me, I get reminded twenty times a day that my leg is my weakness, but it doesn’t make me helpless. You’ve never seen me in a fight, Jakob. I’m vicious. Go for my leg, and I will rip out your jugular with my teeth if you come close enough.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“And I also don’t— Wait. What?” I stared up at him, my anger deflated. Did he just apologize to me?

He met my eyes with unflinching focus. “It was a dick move. I’m sorry. I was pissed you were ashamed of me, and I snapped.”

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I had hurt Jakob Larson’s feelings. And now he was apologizing for how he reacted. I could never tell Nina about this. Her head would get so big that she wouldn’t be able to fit it through doorways anymore.

“I’m not ashamed of you,” I said.

He scowled. “You said they were going to treat you differently and you shouldn’t have brought me there.”

“I know what I said. It came out wrong, and then you snapped at me about my outfit before I could apologize.” I took a deep breath and pushed my stupid, stubborn pride aside. “I’m sorry I made you feel like that. I’m really not ashamed of you. I just know that people there will probably get shitty with me about who they think I’m dating, as if it’s any of their business, and my big mouth means I’ll pop off and make it worse.”

“You looked good,” he said.

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