Page 25 of Broken

I’m feeling overwhelmed. I walk toward him and wrap my arms around him and hug him. “Thank you, King.”

He pulls back to look at me. “Anytime, Sunshine. Now, where’s our pizza? I’m starved.”

“Well, I didn’t know I was going to have a couch, so I set it up on my bed. There’s a kitchen island but no stools, sooo …”

“The bed is fine. It seems to be a theme for us,” he jokes.

“True, but no heartfelt stories tonight, please? I’m kind of exhausted.”

“Works for me,” he says, following me back into the bedroom.

“You’re playing Otis Redding.”

“It’s a great movie, King.”

“It’s a great song, Gabby.”

“Potato, Po-tot-o,” I grumble, doing my best to make the same word sound even more different than normal. It has the desired effect of making King give a full-belly laugh.

“A beach towel?” he asks.

“I forgot to buy sheets and stuff. I’ll worry about it tomorrow. This will work tonight.”

“You could stay in the place that’s become your home. There are sheets there.”

“Let it go, big guy. Don’t ruin my pizza,” I demand, as I open the box. I look over the lid at King. “Um, King?”

“Yeah, Sunshine?”

“Pepperoni, sausage, and onions?”

“Only on half. My half is meat lovers. Why? Did I make a mistake? I could have sworn that’s what you told me you liked on your pizza.”

I think back to the silly conversations we had when I was doing my best to think about anything other than losing my brother. “I can’t believe you remembered,” I whisper.

“When things are important, you listen, Gabby,” he instructs.

I swallow and nod, because for the life of me, I don’t think I could say a word right now. King must sense that, because we eat our food quietly. Eventually, he asks me a few questions and the easy flow between us comes back. I somehow managed to sock back three pieces of pizza and a whole glass of milk—that King demanded I drink over the Pepsi, and I didn’t even care. It was a great night, but it was made even better when King cleaned up the mess and took it to the kitchen, after demanding I don’t move. I didn’t—and again, I didn’t even care he got bossy. That wasn’t what made it better, though. As he come back in, Ambrosia began playing on the speaker. King grabbed my hand and pulled me off the bed. I thought he was getting ready to leave, but instead, he pulled me to the middle of the floor and began swaying to the totally awesome song. I laid my head on his chest and hummed along, thinking Etta James was the bomb, but this song was definitely the best of the best.

I, however, didn’t tell King this … I didn’t need him to lose his mind and lecture me on music again.

Chapter 13

King

“You’re up early.”

“I thought you and your old man were going to disappear for a few days,” I tell Dani as I pour a travel mug with coffee.

“Dragon’s here. He came back to help with the cookout. I got last night. Dragon gets today. Apparently, that dims my charms a tad,” she murmurs, sipping her own coffee. Her smirk tells me she’s full of shit.

“Wouldn’t have nothing to do with you catching up with Nicole,” I respond, letting her know that I’m aware of her game.

She grins at me, taking her free hand and holding out her thumb and index finger at an angle with just a little distance between them. “Maybe a wee bit,” she laughs.

I rub the back of my neck as I figure out how to approach this shit. I know Dani and Crusher from visiting with Dragon. They’re good people and I thought that before I knew they were trying to create their own children’s home by adopting every child they came across. I feel semi-comfortable talking to her. Just listening to what Gabby has said about Dani makes me think she may understand her more than the rest.

“You look just like your dad when you do that,” she laughs.

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