Page 83 of Claimed By a King

“Please don’t make me say it,” I plead, looking up at him from beneath my wet lashes. Tears cling to them, distorting my vision. “I don’t think I can.”

Sighing deeply, he gets to his feet and holds his hand out to me. I hesitantly take it, and let him pull me back to my feet. Then he bends so we’re eye-to-eye.

“I won’t force you to tell me,” he vows with so much intensity in the words that I feel it wrap around me. “But you need to tell someone, eventually. I don’t want it to eat you up.”

My lips twitch as a smile breaks free. “Someone?” I ask, deflecting the words I know to be true.

“I don’t fucking know,” he says. “A shrink? Alana? Fuck if I know. I just know it helps to talk about it.”

He looks away as though lost in thought for a moment.

“Gray?” I prompt, wanting to know what he’s thinking about.

“Okay, don’t get upset,” he says. “But someone once convinced me to open up, and it fucking helped. I swear it did.”

My brows furrow in confusion. “Why would that upset me?”

It’s weird the way he shifts his weight from one foot to the other, like he’s nervous. What does he have to be nervous about?

“Ahh,” I say, as the truth hits me. “Mama C.”

When he nods, I get it. I haven’t exactly been giving her character glowing reviews, and yes, I was pissed that she punished Gray for a crime he didn’t commit against her.

“It was before I met you,” Gray’s quick to say. “Back when we were all part of the Diamond Crew. I was so fucking messed up when she came into our lives, and she helped set mestraight. If it wasn’t for her, I don’t know if I’d even be alive today.”

As I listen to him talk about her, I wonder if I’ve misjudged the woman who’s clearly been taking care of all of them. Which is fucking impressive considering the shit she suffered at the Reapers’ hands as well.

“She was always Rocco’s,” he adds, like that’s an important clarification. And honestly, it is. “She’s never been anything but like a sister to me.”

The soothing feeling the clarification brings doesn’t last long. “Why like a sister?” I ask, needing him to elaborate.

“What do you mean?” he sounds confused, and I can’t say I blame him since he doesn’t know the thoughts I’m having.

My palms grow clammy, and sweat palpitates on my forehead. Fuck, how do I ask what I really need to know?

“I-I…”

Pulling my hand out of his, I sit back down on the bed. Then I do my best to gather the courage.

“What made her like a sister to you, Gray? Is it because she was Rocco’s and so it was never physical between you? Because if that’s—”

“No!” He cuts me off with an angry growl. “You can forget about that shit right fucking now.”

His tone has me flinching. Not from fear, but from the sheer intensity.

“I don’t know how else to fucking say it, Princess. But I know that Gunner raped you, and I fucking know I might never get to touch you again.”

He knows? Fuck. How does he know? I didn’t want to tell him that I’m basically damaged goods—broken by another man.

“You told Alana while I was here,” Gray reminds me. “And I had a visit from the detectives after your trip to the stables. So, yes, Princess. I fucking know. But that’s not important right now. I want you to fucking hear me when I say that even if I never get to touch you again, it changes nothing. Do you understand me?”

My throat burns with unshed emotions, and I’m shaking again. His words are so fucking perfect it’s making me cry anew.

“I-I understand,” I sob. “Thank you.”

Gray gets on his knees again, and this time he rests his head on my knees. He keeps his arms at his side, careful to touch me as little as possible. I move my hand through his wavy hair, reveling in the feel of the soft strands between my fingers.

For now, this is all I have to offer. But with the way he’s responding and acting, it feels like enough, which in turn makes me feel better about our situation.

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