Page 4 of Kingston

ChapterThree

Kingston

From the flamesin her eyes, she could have set my entire kitchen ablaze.That spark of temper made me ache in a way I hadn’t in a long-ass time.Fuck, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had such an intense response to a woman, let alone one so fast.Definitely not with Avery or any other woman before her.When my ex left, everyone had thought I’d be torn up, but I was more relieved than anything.

Maybe I’d loved Avery a little, but I’d never once beenin lovewith her.Not like that all-consuming love my dad felt for my mom.

In my family, love was like a curse.Or a disease, a sickness.Something that altered us.My dad, uncles, and aunt.Even my cousins.Not a single Hannigan had escaped being afflicted by it, except for me.

Once a Hannigan found the love of their lives, something clicked inside them, and they became fucking possessed.Consumed by anything and everything involving the person they loved.At least, that was what it probably looked like to the outside world.To us, it was normal.

And for me, the odd one out, the only one left who hadn’t found hisoneyet, I thought maybe I was broken.

Wrong.

This little hell-raiser was dangerous—in more ways than one.

I shifted my pan to shield my face, in case she had another muffin I hadn’t noticed while pressing my fist to my chest.What the fuck was she doing to me?“Peace, hell-raiser.”

“Demi.”Mom’s soft voice floated to me as she came into view.Out of instinct, I shifted, ready to put myself between her and any threat.There wasn’t anyone or anything more important to me than my mom.On a list of priorities, my cousins River and Nova would have been next on the list, but it was first and always my mom.

Yet, my gaze went back to the tiny little beauty, my heart suddenly beating in a weird rhythm.Hesitation, even for a second, would get someone killed in the MC, and I was stuck looking between the woman I adored more than life and a woman I’d only set eyes on mere moments before.

But Mom made the decision for me when she walked up to the smaller woman, tucking her strawberry-blond hair behind her ear ever so gently.Demi’s entire body seemed to tremble as reaction set in.“I-I’m s-sorry,” she whispered brokenly.“So, so sorry, Quinn.Please forgive me.I don’t know…”

Tears spilled down her face, and the bottom fell out of my stomach.“I don’t know what came over me.”

Mom’s mouth quirked up.“Oh, trust me, sweetheart.I want to throw things at Kingston at least once a week.It’s a normal reaction when he opens his mouth.He’s ninety-nine percent Hannigan, so that’s nothing unusual.”

“I need to go,” Demi choked out, swiping at her eyes.I tightened my hand around the pan, fighting the urge to grab her and kiss away all the diamond-like tears spilling from those flame-filled eyes.Everything inside me quaked, the need to get closer to her, touch her—smell her—almost too much to contain.“Iris is… And I… I really am sorry.Thank you.For everything.You did so much for me and my baby girl.I owe you, but I can’t… Bye, Quinn.”

“No, Demi.Wait.”Before Mom could call her back, Demi was gone.For someone so small, she was as quick as a rabbit.

I almost ran after her, but Mom stepped in my way.She sucked in a breath and gave me a glare, but it quickly turned into a disappointed shake of her head.

That was always worse.I’d take Mom’s anger any day over letting her down.

Fuck.

“What did you say that upset her this badly?”she demanded, her voice low, a slight quaver in it, her chin trembling.

Rubbing the back of my neck, I tried to think back to what I’d said, but it was mostly a blur of dodging flying muffins and remembering those pretty, sparkling eyes.“Something about her being a con because she was here for more money?”

“Oh, Kingston,” she whispered, the disappointment only thickening in her voice, and I felt like I was five years old again.“I told you I have an arrangement with her.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t go into detail about it.The books say you pay her every week, just like all the other vendors.What was I supposed to think, Mom?”I tried to excuse, but it sounded weak, even to my own ears.

Glancing at the pass-through window, I saw Opal had returned to waiting on the customers.From the chatter out in the dining room, they were already gossiping about the scene that had gone down and moving on to other local news.“What is the arrangement anyway?Opal obviously knows, but I’m running blind here.”

“You didn’t want to know, and until today, there was no need to tell you.The fewer people who knew, the better.A girl that young, with a baby barely out of diapers?She isn’t here with Sanctuary, Kingston.She didn’t even know what the women’s shelter was until I explained it to her, but even then, she didn’t want to risk her name popping up in the system somehow.”

Every word out of her mouth only made it worse.I felt equal parts sick and pissed off.Who the fuck was Demi running from?

Mom blew out a tired sigh.“I pay her every day, Kingston.She brings the pastries, I give her the cash.And to be completely honest, I slip her a little more than the muffins actually earn.Because if things had turned out differently, I could have easily been her.”

I wasn’t going to go there.That was history that didn’t need to be dredged up.My parents had a rocky beginning, but I didn’t think my dad would have ever allowed Mom to get past the town limits before he chased her down if she’d actually tried to leave.

“Does Jack know about her situation?”I asked, but Mom shook her head.

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