Page 40 of The Tempo of Truth
I begrudgingly agreed but argued, “That’s a different type of jump scare than walking in on your parents having sex.I walked into Win’s office once without knocking and busted him and Aunt Channing role-playing the dirty boss and flirty secretary.I still get embarrassed thinking about how awkward things were at home after that.Our situation is even trickier since our relationship is undefined.He’s too young to understand the concept of friends with benefits.”
“I hate to break it to you, Winnie, but we passed the friends with benefits stage that evening in Portugal.You gave birth to my child.We’re parents, and we’re lovers.I don’t know what that makes our relationship or what label you want to put on it, but in my mind, we’re a team.And nothing matters more to me than taking care of my teammates.They mean everything to me.”
He stopped playing with my tits and trailed his fingers over the slight curve of my belly.I shivered at the caress and whispered into the humid night, “Another word for team is family.We’re a family, Ky.”
He let out a breath that skimmed across my throat and started to thrust more forcefully against me.“You know, I’ve always wanted one of those.Just never thought I was the kind of guy who deserved to have one.”
I moaned when he tickled my belly button before moving his fingers to the spot where we were joined.When his thumb pressed against my clit while his heavy length filled me up, I felt dizzy with pleasure and writhed against him.
“Worthy or not, we are yours if you want us.”
He pressed his forehead against the spot on my chest where my heart was beating erratically.“I want everything.But I also want to be deserving of it.So, just wait for me a little bit, Winnie.”
I laughed and gently stroked the soft hair that curled around his ears.“I’ve been waiting since I was a teenager.Don’t ever doubt my tenacity.”
My words were enough to shove him over the edge and have his control shatter into a million pieces.He came way before I did, so despite my hesitancy and vague worries about being spied on, when he forced me backward onto the table so that he could feast on me until I finished, I let him do it.I figured if anyone was snapping an aerial shot, all they would see was the back of his head and his face between my legs, partially covered by a jersey with his name on it.I thought it was sexy as fuck and secretly hoped the image made the headlines the next day.
When I finally came, twice, on his tongue, I was too limp to stand on my own.I got princess-carried back to the bedroom, and Ky helped me get cleaned up and comfortable so I could fall asleep quickly.It was a nice feeling to be so cherished and well cared for.The softer side of him, on the heels of his beating someone up for me, was a combination I found hard to resist.
His personality had always been a mixture of hard as stone and soft as cotton.It was undeniably appealing.
I fell asleep before he did.I curled up next to his side and was out like a light once the heat from his body sank into mine.I felt him stroking my hair while he scrolled through sports news on his phone.I wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, but we were both jolted awake by the ringing of our phones well before dawn.
I frowned when I caught sight of Helio’s name on my screen and watched Ky bolt straight up when he saw whoever was calling him.He scrambled out of bed while asking, “What’s wrong?”
Not wanting to interrupt, I took my call out on the terrace, trying not to blush whenever I looked at the table I’d just had sex on.“What happened, Helio?”This was definitely a midnight emergency if he was calling before daybreak.
“Someone burned down the gym where Ky works.The entire place is incinerated.The fire deterrent system was out of date, and a high-grade flammable ignitor was involved.It was effectively arson.The whole block could have burned to the ground if the fire department had been a second slower.The place is a total loss.This has to be retaliation for Ky busting that guy’s face up at the gym earlier today.”
I silently agreed that Oliver and his family were behind the fire.“You wouldn’t call this early if there wasn’t more to the story.What’s the actual bad news you’re trying to work your way up to telling me?”
There was a pause, and I could sense him gathering himself to say, “The old Russian guy was in the building when the fire started.It appears he startled the arsonist.He was bashed in the back of the head with a barbell.The injury was too severe for him to move or call for help.The fire investigator says it looks like he succumbed to smoke inhalation.The first responders worked on him exhaustively, but he was declared dead at the scene.”He sighed heavily.“I wanted to break the news to Ky once I gathered all the facts, but one of the guys who trains here lives close by and caught all the commotion.He called Ky before I could.You need to try to keep a leash on him.Going after the Byrds both barrels blazing won’t do any good.He’s going to get himself locked up for real, and that’s going to make you more vulnerable and give the others exactly what they want.”
I swore under my breath and looked in the direction Ky had stormed off.“You can’t put a leash on a wolf.They tear right through it.Lev is one of the few people who stood by him and gave him a chance to get his life together when it fell apart.Ky’s not going to take this well.I don’t know if I can get through to him.”
Helio sighed again.“Maybe he’ll listen to me if I try to explain that you’re in a much better position to take the Byrds down and get vengeance than he is.Battles fought in the boardroom are boring, but they are just as bloody and devastating.”
“I’ve got to move fast before he does something stupid.I need you to put all your efforts into digging out every skeleton the Byrd enterprise is hiding: tax evasion, infidelity, embezzlement, human trafficking, market manipulation, slave labor, and blatantly cutting corners to save money.I want the smallest transgression brought to light as soon as possible.I need to drag their market share down to zero and back everyone from our side who has been secretly helping them into a corner.”
“I’ve got people working on it already.Do you want me to assign someone to your boy to keep him in check while you make your moves?”
“I…” My instinct was to lock Ky down and sit on him until the situation was handled, but I knew he would only resent the restriction.“I’ve got it.Hopefully, he wants to be around for the little boy who just started calling him Dad more than he wants hands-on revenge for Lev.It’ll all come down to whether he trusts me enough to make sure those who hurt him pay the proper price.”
Helio snickered.“If it matters at all, I believe in you, Winnie.”
The sentiment helped, but I was too preoccupied to respond.All my focus was on the best way to soothe the wounded beast that was currently prowling around my house.I needed to figure out how to calm him down before everyone under this roof ended up with bite marks that may or may not heal.
Ky
I found myself back at the police station.
This time, I was in the morgue to identify the body of one of the few people who had never turned their back on me.It was a surreal experience, seeing someone who was so much larger than life, like Lev, suddenly so still and silent.It was also eye-opening that I was his closest family tie in the States.The detective handling Lev’s case asked if I had any contact information for his family back in Russia, and all I could do was shake my head.Lev never talked about his life before he immigrated.He had fond memories from his time living in Europe, but he had long considered the city his home, and here I was, like the rebellious son he never asked for but loved anyway.
All my instincts were screaming at me to retaliate.No amount of payback would be enough to appease the part of me that was grieving.
I wanted to fight back.
I wanted to make whoever hurt Lev and burned down the gym suffer.I had no qualms about making a bloody mess of things while I fought my way through the upper echelon.I quickly realized it was impossible for someone as insignificant as me to step into a battle that was meant to be fought between the gods.The people who hurt Lev lived the same type of lifestyle Winnie and Lowe did.They had security upon security and the means to make any move I made blow up in my face.So far, I’d been fortunate to stay out of prison, but I was walking a fine line.
