Page 13 of Kingston

Kingston stopped less than a foot away, his hands still lifted to chest level.“Can I hug you?”he asked quietly.“Your scream scared the life out of me, baby.I kinda need to hold you to reassure myself you’re okay.”

Hesitating for only a moment, I nodded and heard his ragged exhale just as his arms enfolded me.His warmth, the strength in his arms as they carefully tightened around me, as if he was giving me time to tell him no, the scent of his body wash—it all hit me at once, and my muscles began to unclench.Safe.Kingston was the safe place I’d been searching for my entire life.I felt his lips press against the top of my head, and he gave me a squeeze.

Keeping one arm around me, he turned to face the woman at the door.“You should have called me when you got here, Riv.I would have carried everything in.”

She placed the box on the floor before shaking out her arms.“I did call you, and it kept getting sent to voice mail.You weren’t answering my texts either.Mila is the only one at the store this morning, and I need to get back to help her out.We’ve been trying to find a replacement for Avery, but the applicants are slim pickings.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, rolling his eyes at her.“You have two part-time assistants.Promote one of them to manager.There, I solved your problem.You’re welcome.”

“Wow, why didn’t I think of that?”she snipped sarcastically.“Oh, wait.Maybe because the two part-timers are unable to work the hours needed to be manager.And with school out for the term starting after next week, one of them will be going home for the summer.Now we need to find not only a new manager but also a few extra hands for part time.”

“You’ll get it sorted.”Brushing his hand over my hair, he released me and crossed to the large box on the floor.Bending, he lifted it with an ease that had his cousin grumbling something under her breath.“Thanks for dropping this off.I appreciate you taking time to help me out.Mom was at the diner already, and Aunt Raven wasn’t answering her phone.”

“Yeah, things have been chaotic since yesterday.Did you know Ryan and Anya arrived last night?But Mav said they flew out again in the middle of the night with Sammy and Elias.”

“Sammy was in an accident.Of course they came to check on her.Not sure if she should have been flying after a concussion, but I bet her parents wanted her to recover at their place.Sammy is such a daddy’s girl, and if she were my daughter, I’d want to have eyes on her until I was sure she was feeling better.”

River sighed.“I’m sad Nova wasn’t with them.We don’t get to see her enough these days.”

“Yeah, I miss her too.Maybe she will bring the kids for a visit over the summer.It would be nice if Cali brought Justice as well.Garret can stay in Colombia, for all I care, but I would love to see Aunt Flick and Jet.”

He carried the box to the table and placed it beside Iris.“Hey, princess, why are you covering those pretty eyes?”He tugged on her arms gently, giving my daughter a grin when she peeked at him through her fingers.“Say hi to Auntie River.”

Shyly, Iris looked up at River.“Hi.”

River gave her a warm smile.“Hi, precious.”Her gaze went back to me.“Sorry I scared you.I wasn’t expecting there to be anyone but Kingston here.He doesn’t have company often.”

Pulse still fluttering, I tried to relax.“Sorry about pulling a knife on you.I probably wouldn’t have actually stabbed you.”

She laughed.“No, I get it.If it were me, I would have done the same, and I can’t promise I wouldn’t have stabbed anyone who got between me and my kid.”

While Kingston started pulling items out of the box, causing Iris to ooh and aah over whatever he was showing her, River joined me at the sink.“Have you and Kingston been a thing for long?I mean, he hasn’t exactly been telling me much of anything lately.But we’ve all been crazy busy recently.It’s just… I’m a little pissed at myself that I haven’t made more time for him the past few weeks.He normally tells me important things going on in his life, though.Like asking a girl I’ve never met to move in with him.He didn’t even let Avery live with him.They mostly stayed at her place because he’s a weirdo about his personal space.”

“Avery?”I repeated, my stomach knotting.She’d said that name earlier too, but I hadn’t really been paying attention to the conversation.My focus had been on the door behind her, checking and double-checking that she was alone.That there was no other danger.

That Charlie hadn’t found us.

Mentally shaking away the bitter taste of…something…that the mention of Avery caused, I realized what else River had said.

“Oh.No, you have it wrong,” I explained with a nervous laugh.“Kingston is just being kind and let us spend the night after my daughter was so sick.We ran into each other in the emergency department yesterday.He helped keep Iris calm while she was in so much pain and scared.”

Her brow furrowed for a moment before she smirked at me.“Oh, so you’re new around here.That explains a lot, actually.”She laughed as she walked to the fridge and opened the door.“The only time I’ve ever heard the wordskindandKingstonin the same sentence before is when people say things likeKingston is kind of an asshole.”

“Hey, innocent ears over here,” Kingston complained, closing the box again.I hadn’t seen any of the contents, but Iris was playing with a stuffed animal now.“Watch your language, Riv.”

“Whoa,” she muttered to herself.Pulling out a sports drink, she pointed a finger from me to the table, twirling it in a circle.“This day keeps getting more and more bizarre, but I’m not disliking this alternate universe I’ve found myself in.As much as I want to stay and get all the details, Mila is going to be blowing up my phone in about ten seconds.”

Crossing to Kingston, she handed him the bottle.He took it, twisting the cap off fully before replacing it and giving it back to her, as if they had done the same thing a thousand times before.“Thanks, cuz.I expect a long, long conversation with you later.If you don’t reach out, I will track you down.”

With a grunt, he turned her toward the door.“Go to work.My girls and I are busy.”

“Rocco and Mav have been watching way too many Marvel movies.I definitely stepped into an alternate universe.Are you really Kingston Hannigan, or are you a doppelgänger?”She poked his cheek.“Should I be worried there’s another you walking around town?Wait, are you an alien, Kingston?Blink twice if you’re you.”

“You’re hilarious, River.Now, tell Demi and Iris goodbye.”

“Bye, Kingston’s girls,” she called, giving Iris a wave before Kingston shoved her through the open door.“You better answer when I call you later!”

Shutting the door in her face, he flipped the lock and walked back to me.“Thanks for cleaning up, babe.We have an appointment for Iris in an hour.Is that enough time for you to get ready?I can help Iris if you tell me what to do.”

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