Page 11 of Kingston

Wiping my hands on a towel, I bent down, hoping she would come over to me.With a happy little noise, that crease smoothed out.

Iris didn’t hesitate before launching herself toward me, causing my heart to give a happy squeeze when her tiny arms wrapped around me in a hug.“You!”

Grinning, I returned her hug.She’d mostly slept in my arms at the hospital the night before, but the few times she’d woken up, she’d called me “you” every time.We needed to fix that.

Instead of releasing me from her stranglehold hug, she tightened her arms around my neck.Lifting her, I arranged her in my arms so she didn’t risk getting hurt while I finished cooking breakfast.“Are you hungry, princess?”

She lifted her head from where she’d buried her face in my neck to look at the stack of pancakes already waiting.“Hungry,” she said with a nod.

“Let’s get you fed then, munchkin.”Transferring two pancakes to another plate, I carried it over to the kitchen table and set it down before placing Iris in the chair.“You like syrup?”

“Dip, dip, dip.”

“I gotcha, girlie,” I assured her, pouring a little syrup into a small container that I used for ketchup and other condiments when I had to pack my lunch for club runs.As soon as everything was in place, Iris picked up one of the pancakes and rolled it up.Dipping one end into the syrup, she took a small bite.

Going back to the fridge, I extracted a gallon of milk and a pint of orange juice.Wanting her to have options, I poured one small cup of each and set them on the table close enough for her to reach on her own when she wanted them.While she ate, I finished the rest of the pancakes.By the time I heard Demi leaving the bedroom, the bacon was done, and Iris was on her second pancake.

“Morning, babe,” I called without looking at her, wanting to give her a moment to get settled and hoping like hell that I didn’t scare her away.

Having her in my house, under my roof, sleeping in my bed, had soothed something in the beast she’d awakened when I first met her weeks before.He’d been clawing away at my sanity, desperate to find her, be near her, feel her.But after I’d seen her flinch away from me so many times, it had caused this newly obsessive monster to get twitchy.It was a struggle to contain him when all I wanted to do was hold on to her, tie her and her adorable little girl to me in any and every way possible.

Keeping my back to her, I pointed with my spatula.“Coffee’s fresh.Cream’s on the counter, and the sugar is in the cupboard above the pot.We have pancakes and crispy bacon, but would you like eggs as well?I wasn’t sure how you preferred them cooked, so I was waiting before I started on them.”

“Um…” Hearing the hesitation in her voice caused the wildness inside me to whimper.No, no, no.She should never be scared.For any reason.Fucking ever.Her ex’s death was going to be slow and painful.“I’m not very hungry, so I’ll pass on the eggs.The pancakes and bacon are more than enough.Thank you for cooking.”

Needing to see her, I angled my body so I could watch her cross to the table, already fussing over Iris.“Cuddle bug, you should have waited for Mommy before you left the bedroom.”Sitting down on the chair beside her daughter, Demi reorganized a few things on the table.

“You helped-ed me, Mommy,” Iris told her, sucking syrup off the piece of pancake in her hand before dipping it again.

“Kingston,” I corrected.“Kingston helped you, princess.”

Iris frowned at me.“You.”

“Kingston,” I repeated, even as that obsessed monster living in my head now whispered another name.Daddy.I want to be her daddy.Squashing that down, locking it away—just for now, buddy—I gave the kid a smile.“You can call me Kingston.”

“Kingsting,” she tried to repeat.

“Close enough,” I said with a laugh.

That crease returned to Iris’s forehead.Dropping her food back on her plate, she tugged on her right ear.“Hurts.”

Demi’s face paled, her eyes going straight to me with fear in those pretty eyes.I swallowed hard, my heart giving a squeeze that she’d looked at me when she was frightened.She might have been unconsciously scared of human contact, but at least she trusted me when she was afraid for her baby girl.

Iris’s right ear was the one that had an infection in it so bad her eardrum had ruptured.That was going to take a while to heal, and the emergency department doctor had explained she would have hearing loss for a while.I wasn’t sure what would happen if she developed an infection in the left ear and the same thing happened.Her ability to hear was already cut in half until she healed.

“It’s going to be okay, babe,” I promised, keeping my voice calm while I was fighting my own panic.“We’re going to give the princess her antibiotics and some pain reliever.You’re going to eat, and I’m going to make a few calls.”

“Kingston—”

“Shush,” I said firmly, stopping whatever protest she was about to spout.“Eat.I’ll be right back.”

Walking into the bedroom, I grabbed the bottle of children’s pain reliever and the antibiotics that the ER nurse had given us before Iris was discharged.Taking them back to the kitchen, I started measuring out the dosages for each.Iris gave me an adorable glower when I approached her with the oral syringes for her medications.

“No,” she said with a stubborn huff, covering her mouth with both of her hands.“No take.”

“Iris, if you want to feel better, you need to take your meds like a good girl,” Demi said firmly.

Shaking her blond head, Iris glared from me to her mom, then straight back to me.I’d also seen River struggle with her son, Rocco, to get him to take his medication when he was younger.It was like watching my cousin wrestle a crocodile, and not even his dad could get him to hold still back then.I got it, though.The liquid medication tasted bad, and I wouldn’t want to put that shit in my mouth either.

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