Page 9 of Kingston

As nervous asI’d been when I’d first seen Kingston in the emergency department, now his presence oddly calmed me.

He’d taken charge of the situation with Iris and quickly got her the medical attention she needed.After the doctor did a full exam, while Kingston still held her sleeping peacefully, we had to stick around long enough for Iris to get a full dose of IV antibiotics.Hopefully they would speed up her recovery, but the doctor had also given me a prescription for oral antibiotics as well as ear drops.

I’d been worried about how I was going to get the medication filled at any pharmacy since I didn’t have an address or a phone—or enough money for both prescriptions at the same time.But the nurse, Gary, had given me a small bag that already held the meds Iris needed when she was being discharged.

He’d given me a grim smile and patted my arm when I took everything from him, feeling like I was walking around in a dream.Kingston hadn’t left me once all night, not even when a few of his friends had come over to speak to him.They were intimidating as fuck, all of them wearing the same black leather vests, or cuts—whatever the hell they were called.

Each of them had the same insignia on the back, proclaiming them members of the Angel’s Halo MC, but some of them also had patches on their chests.One said Sergeant at Arms, but the other man, the one with the nose ring, said Tail Gunner.I didn’t know what either title meant, but Kingston’s said Enforcer, and I’d seen two other men with the same patch on their chest.

Still cradling Iris in his arms, Kingston had spoken quietly to the men, who gave me respectful nods in greeting but otherwise didn’t speak to me.I stayed quiet, nervous around so many men who were so big.Everyone was tall compared to me, but Charlie had only been five foot nine, and all those bikers were well over six feet tall.Literal giants stood around me, fierce expressions on their handsome faces, aggression and worry pouring off them as they had a whispered conversation with Kingston.

They hadn’t stuck around long, all of them going back to the trauma bays where two patients were being tended to.Kingston told me there had been a car accident involving his cousin’s girlfriend, Nishia, and a family friend, Sammy.They had a few injuries, but nothing life-threatening.He didn’t tell me much more than that because he didn’t want to disturb Iris, and I wasn’t sure I would have been able to process many details anyway.

My mind was too stuck on the reality that he was there, helping me.

Alarm bells should have been going off inside my head, but all I felt when I saw him holding my daughter was an overwhelming sense of relief that left me light-headed.Maybe I had low blood sugar and that was why I was dealing with such an intense headache and brain fog, to the point of feeling like everything around me was moving in slow motion.I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten.

Usually, I snacked a little while I was cooking, but since I hadn’t worked the day before, there had been nothing for me to eat.All the nonperishable foods I kept in my car were for Iris.Ensuring my baby didn’t go hungry was all I cared about.My empty stomach was something that didn’t register most of the time.I was used to going without.As long as Iris was fed, nothing else mattered.

Kingston hadn’t asked me many questions all evening.He’d seemed just as focused on Iris as I was.But when we left the ER, he’d carried Iris to my car and buckled her securely into her safety seat before holding out his hands.“You’re asleep on your feet, babe.I’ll drive us home.”

Tears stung my eyes, because we were standing in front of my home at that moment.Emotions choking me, I glanced around the parking lot, trying to avoid looking up into his masculinely beautiful face, shame and fear pressing down on me like thousand-pound weights.“What about your motorcycle?”

“One of my brothers will make sure it gets back.”He wiggled his fingers at me, encouraging me to hand over my keys.“Come on, beautiful.Our girl needs to get home and tucked into bed.We’ll get everything else sorted tomorrow once you’ve both had a good night’s sleep.”

“I don’t—” Before I could confess my living situation, he cut me off.

“You do now.Keys, Demi.”

Fingers trembling, I handed over the keys, and he opened the passenger door of my car.Once I was inside, he bent, fastening my seat belt as meticulously as he’d done with Iris.I flinched at his nearness.He might make me feel safer than anyone else had in my life, but I had too much baggage not to cower away from a man getting too close.Charlie had programmed my body to instinctively fear touch.

Green eyes locked on mine, searching for all my secrets, but I lowered my lashes.I couldn’t share those memories with him.Not now.Maybe not ever.Some things were better left in the past.

His touch was gentle as he stroked his fingers along my arm.Goose bumps popped up on my skin, a shiver shaking my spine in a delicious kind of way that had never happened before.I gulped.Kingston Hannigan was a dangerous, dangerous man.

Straightening, he closed my door and then got behind the wheel.With how big he was, he had to do a lot of readjusting of the seat, but somehow he fit inside the little tin box that was not only my transportation but had doubled as my home throughout the past several years.That car had been my only constant source of security.I wasn’t sure what I would do when it finally died.

That was a worry for another day, I reminded myself.At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, Kingston was carefully nudging me awake and we were parked in front of a single-story home in a good neighborhood.It was a nice place, from what I could make out in the darkness of the early hours of the morning.A well-maintained lawn, a few shrubs on either side of the front steps, river rocks decorating the landscaping instead of mulch.

Head pounding, I followed Kingston into his house as he carried Iris.It was surprisingly tidy for a man who lived alone.

At least, I assumed he lived alone.Quinn hadn’t said anything to me about her son having a significant other the few times she’d mentioned him in our conversations.But I hadn’t given it much thought back then.

Glancing around, I tried to find any signs of another person living in the house.There was a masculine couch in the living room.Basic coffee table and entertainment center.End tables were on either side of the couch, both with lamps, and only a few pictures, mostly of his mom.One of them had Quinn standing between her husband and son, her bright grin so genuinely happy I couldn’t help smiling at the sight.A few other photos showed a couple of women who shared the same green eyes as Kingston, and the resemblance between them was too stark for me to think they were anyone but family members.

If another woman lived there, she hadn’t put any feminine touches on the place.No soft or bright colors.No pillows or anything else that would make the space her own.Just white walls, dark cherry hardwood floors, and leather furniture.

It shouldn’t have mattered to me, yet I felt something deep in my stomach unclench.He wouldn’t disrespect his partner by bringing some strange woman and her kid home with him.I wasn’t sure why or how I knew that about Kingston, but everything inside me screamed that he was the complete opposite of Charlie.

My ex and I had never lived together, at least not in the real sense.When I’d found out I was pregnant, at first, my parents had been salivating over the idea of the former governor’s son becoming their son-in-law.But when Charlie’s parents vetoed that plan—something I’d been thankful for—my dad kicked me out.

Charlie moved me in to his parents’ house, and I mainly stayed in the wing of their mansion that was reserved for the staff.He was only a few months older than my seventeen-year-old self, and he stayed in his own room.But he didn’t try to hide the other girls he brought home, fucking them in the same bed where he’d impregnated me.

I never once cared who Charlie was having sex with.By then, I’d seen his true self too many times to feel anything but fear and hatred for him.But I’d been broke and had nowhere else to go.Mr.and Mrs.Johnson had paid for my prenatal care, plus had given me a small allowance every week to ensure my needs were met, which I’d saved.

Just in case.

It hadn’t been much, but that money had helped me escape from them with my baby.

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