Page 37 of Wanted By a King

Is she playing me?

Has she been playing me this whole time?

Has she been playing victim?

My head is fucking messed up, and now to add to it, I’m fucking paranoid as all hell.

But it’s not Zoe. I know it deep in my gut. I can’t explain how I know that, I just do. Call it intuition.

“No,” I say, with determination lacing my tone. “I trust her. You’re wrong about her,” I snap, and he nods, before leaving me to stew over those details.

I push them to the back of my mind, knowing it’s just going to fuck with me when I’m already sure that Zoe Miller is innocent in everything that has happened.

Leaving church I set my sights on the one person all this chaos seems to be centered around.

Zoe fucking Miller.

When I find her, my heart sinks.

Bringing Zoe back to the club has stirred up her emotions. From the hospital visit to the practically public sex, she seems to be struggling with her surroundings, and she is more quiet today than she has been in a while. It’s like she is retreating within herself. Kind of like after Dirty Diamonds when I forced her…

Fuck.

I don’t like it one fucking bit.

I want that bratty mouth and the constant push and pull. Not this quiet mouse who is almost zombie-like, lost in her own head.

“What did you do to her?” Mama C asks, sidling up next to me as I watch Zoe stare at the ground as she draws lines into the dirt with a stick. She hasn’t moved from where she sat before I left her outside and went into church, on a log by the smoldering coals from the fire we partied around last night.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” I mutter, annoyed that Mama C is quick to blame me for Zoe’s current depressive state.

In my peripheral, I see Mama angle her head toward me.

“What?” I snap, turning to look at her.

“What did you do to her when you found her after she ran?” she asks accusingly, and my heart skips a beat as I remember how I barged into that hotel room like a raging beast, my hand around her throat as I lost my temper.

“I was fucking scared, okay?” I hiss. “Something could have happened to her. She has no idea of the danger she is in if the Reapers find her.”

“I have no doubt you were scared, Gray. I can see how she affects you. But I didn’t ask aboutyourfeelings. I asked whatyoudidto her.” Mama lifts a single brow, and I snatch my gaze away from her and back to my princess.

“What I do with her is none of your fucking business.”

She scoffs. “It is absolutely my business, and if you hurt her—”

“I don’t want to hurt her!” I yell, unable to hold back as Mama C steals my attention, and I cringe. Fuck. Zoe would have heard that.

“I know you don’twantto hurt her, but you do, Gray. You do when you don’t control your monster.”

I roll my eyes at Mama C, turning my attention back to take in Zoe, who, if she heard me, shows no signs of it, still drawing lines in the dirt.

“I’m not trying to be a bitch here. But there’s nothing wrong with making sure you’re remaining accountable.”

I know she’s right. I won’t admit it, and she knows it.

Even though a part of me appreciates her concern, the truth is, I’m not her concern. She shouldn’t be the one I answer to. Zoe should be that person.

She made it clear that it is her right to punish me for the things I do to her, not Mama C or anyone else, and I fucking respect the shit outta that.

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