Page 92 of The King of Hearts

“Ryker,” I moan. Sliding my fingers through his thick hair, I lift my hips to meet his mouth.

He stays down there long enough to thoroughly clean me with his mouth. I want to protest when he lifts his head, but exhaustion holds my tongue. The coolness of the cloth comes next, and it feels amazing against my abused flesh.

Once he’s finished with that, he tosses the cloth away. My eyes slide closed, but they open again when something minty fills the air, and his fingers are back between my legs. I look down and see him dip a finger into a jar of some type of cream.

“What’s that?” I ask sleepily.

“A numbing cream.” He looks up at me. “It’s what I used when I came to you while you slept. It’s why you never woke up sore.”

His words should anger me, and maybe they will later, but all I can feel right now is gratefulness for the miracle cream. The lingering pain from the knife quickly fades, and I sag more into the soft mattress.

I can’t keep my eyes open any longer, so I let them close. I don’t open them when I feel the bed dip or when he wraps his arms around me from behind, cocooning my body against his.

CHAPTER THIRTY

HER

I’m jittery as I sit at one of the square tables at The Bean Shop and wait while Tomas and Emersyn grab their coffees at the counter. The surface of the table in front of me is littered with tiny round balls of napkin because I’ve shredded the two that were given to me. I got here before they did, so I grabbed my frozen coffee and took a seat to wait. When they walked through the door a moment ago, they noticed me, Em with a smile and a jovial wave, and Tomas with a look of indifference. It was the look from Tomas that made a place in my chest to start hurting.

He’s irritated with me, and I don’t blame him. I was a coward and left it up to Em to tell him of the current events. I just didn’t want to see or hear his disappointment. Between the three of us, Tomas and I have always had a slightly tighter bond. I already have two brothers, but I’ve always considered Tomas an honorary third. For him, he has no siblings. Besides his dad, Em and I are the only family he has.

I shift nervously in my seat, and my feet bounce under the table as Emersyn and Tomas approach. I wish I would have sat farther away from the counter instead of the closest one to it to give myself more time. I keep my eyes on Tomas. Still no emotion on his face as he takes the seat across from me. Em sits directly to my right. I take a sip of my coffee and wait.

And wait some more. Neither says a word. I feel like I’m under a guillotine waiting for the blade to drop. I look at Em, but she has her face pointed down, seemingly mesmerized by the cold foam on the top of her coffee. This is different for her. She’s usually the first to talk in any situation. She and Tomas must have had one serious conversation before they got here.

When I can’t stand the silence anymore, I slap my hands on the table, making the little balls of napkin bounce.

“All right, this is ridiculous. Just get it out in the open, Tomas. I know I’ve hurt and disappointed you. I expect it and accept it, but you need to say it.”

He takes his time lifting his plain black coffee to his lips and slurps back a sip. He doesn’t look away from me, and neither do I from him. He waits until he’s placed the cup down on the table before he speaks.

“I’m not disappointed, Vina,” he says calmly. “Hurt a little, but only because you didn’t come to me yourself.”

I cross my arms on the table in front of me and lean into them. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t want to talk about it any more than I had to. It was easier to have Em tell you. I’m embarrassed, and I hate that I allowed myself to be in this situation. Talking about it makes it more real.”

“From what I’ve been told, you didn’t put yourself in this situation. It was one made by Ryker, and he forced you into it.”

As he says that, darkness appears in Tomas’ eyes, and the hand on the table balls into a fist. I can only imagine what’sgoing through his head right now. All the ways he’s hurting Ryker on my behalf.

I reach across the table and lay my hand on his. I feel the tension radiating through him, but the moment my hand touches his, he relaxes his fingers enough for me to curl mine through the space between his thumb and index finger.

“That’s true, but it’s still partially my fault. I didn’t know it was him, but Ryker started coming to me a few weeks before he made himself known. I should have gone to my father after the first time it happened.”

I haven’t told anyone about the hearts he’s sent me. Ryker made a comment about them during the meeting with my family a few days ago, but either they didn’t notice because of the other stuff he said, or they chose to ignore it. One thing is for sure, I won’t be telling Tomas or Em about them. It’ll only make them worry more. Emersyn only knows The Raven Group as a security firm, so murder and mayhem would freak her out. Tomas has seen and done stuff for the group and wouldn’t be fazed, but his protective instinct would come into play, and like Dad and my brothers, there’s nothing he can do. I am well and truly fucked. Ryker made sure of that.

“He was the one at the Sheppard Ball, wasn’t he?” Em guesses.

“Yes.”

“Has he hurt you?” Tomas demands.

He has, but not in the way he’s inquiring about, so I give him the partial truth. “No.”

He wraps his hand around his cup like he’s going to pick it up, but it stays on the table. “Explain this to me, Vina. Why in the hell did you agree to marry him?”

I look down at my own coffee cup, unable to meet either of their eyes. “I’m pregnant.”

“Yes, so I’ve been told,” he says with a hint of bitterness. “But that still doesn’t answer why you’re marrying him. People every day have babies without getting married.”

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