Текст книги "All or Nothing "

Автор книги: C. C. Wood

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

“So what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” I questioned. “Hole up in a hotel?”

King shook his head. “Larry is gonna want to talk to you, if for no other reason than to save face. It’s not gonna happen.”

“So, I’m in danger? Actual mortal danger?” My voice was thin and tight. The scariest thing I’d ever dealt with was getting rear ended by some drunken guy in college. He’d climbed out of his car and he’d been huge, angry, and threatening. He’d blamed me for the accident and was screaming profanities at me when the cops finally showed up and hauled him away. In the grand scheme of things, that was a nonevent compared to my current situation.

“Unfortunately, yeah,” King stated.

“Shit.”

“Wick and I have you covered.”

“How’s that?” I asked sharply.

“Well, tonight, I’ll stay here with you, but tomorrow, you’re gonna pack up enough shit for a few weeks, maybe even a month, and you’re gonna move in with me.”

Chapter Fifteen

‡

Stretched out on an unfamiliar bed, I stared up at the ceiling and wished I’d never met Justin Chambers. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I also wouldn’t be freaking out about having to get tested for STD’s or the fact that a woman I considered one of my best friends had been sleeping with my boyfriend.

It also explained her contempt of me when she saw King and I together. I’d wondered what was going on with her and now I had a little insight. Ashley and I had tried talking to her, but she was so closed down it was impossible.

Now, I didn’t think I wanted to talk to her at all. Maybe never. Yeah, never sounded good.

“Jena.”

My eyes went to the door and I saw Wick standing there. “Hey.”

“I knocked a couple times. Didn’t you hear me?”

I sat up on the bed. “No, I’m sorry. What’s up?”

“Dinner’s ready.”

Yanking my hair away from my face, I nodded. “Okay.” Then I blinked. “You made dinner?”

Wick smiled and shook his head. “No, but I ordered Chinese. I hope you like orange chicken.”

“Sure. That sounds good.”

He nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him. I slid off the bed and headed into the bathroom. As I dragged a brush through my hair, I took a moment to really look at myself in the mirror for the first time in two days.

My fair skin was almost translucent and my eyes had purple smudges beneath them. It was clear I hadn’t been sleeping well or eating much.

The last forty-eight hours had been tense and more than a little insane. When King made his announcement that I would be staying with him, I’d gone into thermonuclear meltdown. All plant life and other living organisms within five miles of my apartment were probably still glowing from the radioactivity.

Though King had made me angry in the past, it was the first time I’d lost my temper with him. I’d ranted and paced and had threatened to call the cops more than once.

Through it all, he sat on the sofa and watched me. He didn’t even bother to argue. Instead he stated, “Then you’re staying with Wick.”

That had effectively taken the wind out of my sails. I’d meekly gone to pack. As soon as I met Wick, I understood why King didn’t argue. While King gave off the badass vibe, it was nowhere near the level of intimidation of his boss. I was scared senseless the first time I met him.

With his dark brown hair and icy blue eyes, Wick reminded me of a wolf. He moved silently, but didn’t speak much. I felt like he could see into my very soul, and not in a sexy way. He was the ultimate predator and I was more than a little worried he’d eat my face off.

Shortly after meeting Wick, I’d nearly turned to King and begged him to take me to his house instead. Unfortunately for me, I was stubborn.

Wick wasn’t quite as scary as he seemed though. Well, he was terrifying in a lot of ways, but he was scrupulously polite for a badass.

I stuck it out. Now we were on day two and I wondered if I’d made a mistake. I had to work tomorrow and, while I needed the money, I was terrified of what might happen.

With a sigh, I yanked my hair into a ponytail and shuffled out of Wick’s gorgeous, if bland, guest room. His house was modern, all clean lines and big windows, but it had zero personality. No personal touches, no color, just a never-ending palette of whites, beiges, and greys. It was beautiful but cold and unwelcoming.

The living area was open; kitchen, dining, and sitting areas in one enormous space. The windows were nearly floor to ceiling, letting in a ton of sunshine. There must have been some sort of tint or barrier on them because the house didn’t get hellishly hot during the day.

The sun was just setting when I walked into the kitchen area where Wick had several cartons of Chinese food spread out on the bar and two bottles of beer sitting in front of two plates.

I settled my ass onto one of the barstools and accepted the container he handed me. “Thanks.”

We dished our food out in silence. I took a few bites of truly exceptional orange chicken and decided it was time to ask him what was going to happen tomorrow.

“So, I know the timing isn’t the greatest, but I need to go to work tomorrow. I can’t afford to take time off indefinitely.”

Wick nodded, taking a swig of his beer. “King and I took care of it. You’re covered.”

Okay, that made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

“Um, what do you mean, I’m covered?” I asked.

“You’ll be safe. Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it?” I repeated, my voice edging toward shrill. “I kinda have to be worried about it.”

Wick shook his head. “We don’t think Larry’s gonna move on you yet. He’s still dealing with…other things.”

“Other things?”

“Nothing you need to know about, Jena.” His tone brooked no argument.

I went back to eating, trying not to let my annoyance, or my fear, show.

This time it was Wick who interrupted the silence. “Why didn’t you want to stay with King?”

I almost choked on my beer at his question. Once the coughing died down, I swiped at my watery eyes and stared at him.

“Because what he did was unforgivable. Not just what he had Justin do, but what he did after Justin died.”

Wick dropped his chopsticks on his plate and watched me with those piercing blue eyes as he wiped his hands on a napkin. “Who do you think gave him the go ahead to involve you three years ago?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I told him to do whatever it took to get Larry out of the picture, Jena. Me. I even told him to sacrifice you if necessary.”

My eyes widened and I leaned back on my stool.

When I didn’t respond, he continued, “Do you know why we didn’t use you and burn you with Larry?” he asked.

“N-n-no,” I stammered.

“Because King came to me and asked me to let you go.”

Speechless, I blinked at him. King asked him to let me go?

Wick smiled, but it was mysterious and mildly menacing rather than amused. “Normally, I would have disagreed, but he threatened to walk.”

I couldn’t believe that. I also couldn’t believe that King saying he would walk would be enough to sway Wick.

“I’ve known King since we were kids. He’s the closest thing to a partner I’ll ever have. Also, he presented an alternate plan to me that will be more profitable. It took longer, but it was just as effective and less dangerous in the long run.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Less dangerous?”

“At the core, I’m a businessman, Jena. I weigh risks and benefits against one another. King’s proposal required more planning and patience, but the results are going to be worth it.”

I nodded. Suddenly my appetite was completely gone. I put my chopsticks on my plate. There were too many things to consider. All my thoughts were snarled and knotted in my mind and I couldn’t follow a single one without being distracted by another.

“You look like you have something to say,” Wick observed.

I did have one thing I wanted to know. “Are you a bad guy, Wick?”

That smile returned, the one that was both secretive and frightening. “I guess that depends on your perspective, Jena.”

“That’s not an answer,” I responded.

He grinned, this time it reached his eyes. “No, but it’s the only one I’m going to give you.” He got to his feet. “Tomorrow, after work, you’re going to King’s.”

“But-”

“No, Jena. You can’t go back to your apartment and I can’t have you here.”

I stared after him as he walked through the living room and disappeared through a door that I assumed led to his bedroom. It shut behind him, adding a note of finality to our confusing conversation.

Feeling off balance and upset, I cleaned up our dinner stuff and put the leftovers in the fridge. Then I grabbed another beer out of the fridge and went out onto the back deck.

I needed to think, but my life was twisting and turning so fast that I couldn’t keep up. I couldn’t focus.

So, I sipped my beer and stared out over Wick’s surprisingly lush backyard. I let the residual warmth of the day sink into my skin and muscles. As I sat in the waning sunlight, the sounds of the evening washed over me, clearing away the chaos of my spinning thoughts.

Finally, as I calmed, I was able to come to several resolutions. The first being that I wouldn’t argue about staying with King. I had a feeling that he and Wick would make my life hell if I tried to put my foot down. The second was that I was going to let the past go. I didn’t necessarily want a relationship with King, but I couldn’t hold on to what happened. If I did, I’d end up bitter, repressed, and alone. I might not be able to forgive, but I wasn’t going to let it destroy me.

I also decided that I was going to confront Katie over her betrayal, and after our talk, I wasn’t so sure I’d be seeing her again. Anyone who could lie to my face like that wasn’t a true friend.

My final conclusion was that I couldn’t do anything about the situation with Larry. Freaking out about it wasn’t going to fix it and King and Wick seemed to have it under control. If I tried to stick my nose in, I had a bad feeling it was going to get cut off.

Once I made all these decisions and finished my beer, the sun had disappeared completely behind the horizon. I levered myself up out of the chair and carried my bottle inside. After I dumped it, I wandered back into the guest room.

Though it wasn’t late, I showered and climbed into bed. I intended to read until I fell asleep, but I didn’t. Instead I lay in the dark, staring at the ceiling, and trying to convince myself I wasn’t getting played yet again.

Chapter Sixteen

‡

The next morning at work, I was jumpy as hell. Every time the phone rang or someone knocked on my office door, I jerked, my heart picking up speed. If I kept this up, I was going to have a heart attack before I was thirty.

At eleven, I got a text from King.

We’re going to lunch. Be ready at 1.

I scowled at my phone. God, he was so bossy. I hadn’t yet told him that I would be moving in with him that evening. I was putting it off as long as possible. Maybe never. If I couldn’t stay with Wick, maybe I could stay in a hotel. Or under a park bench.

It wasn’t even that I was angry with him, though I still was. I was frustrated because I liked him despite my anger. I liked his bossiness because I enjoyed sparring with him. I liked having him sitting across from me at the dinner table or chilling out on the couch together.

I even liked that dangerous edge he had because something told me it would never ever slice my skin. That should have been a clear indication of my insanity. King had already hurt me multiple times. How could I think he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again?

It had to be hormones. Only hormones could nullify common sense.

My phone vibrated again. 1. I’ll come to you.

I sighed and answered. Fine.

Tossing my phone on the blotter, I shoved my fingers in my hair and rested my elbows on the desk, propping up my suddenly aching head. I loathed feeling so out of control.

My body jolted as someone knocked on my office door. I lifted my head to see Marilyn standing there, a concerned expression on her face.

“Oh no, Jena. Are you still sick?” she asked, coming into the room.

I shook my head. “No, Marilyn. I’m fine. Just a little headache.” I made a show of pulling a bottle of ibuprofen out of my desk and shaking a few out into my hand. I washed them down with some water and forced myself to smile at her. “Did you need something?”

Her eyes narrowed on me, but I just kept smiling.

She let it go. “Okay, well, let me know if you still don’t feel well, okay? I realize you haven’t been here long, but I don’t expect you to work when you’re sick.”

Suddenly, I was deeply grateful that she’d chosen to hire me. Larry had always been nice to me but he never paid attention to when I was sick or insist I go home when I wasn’t feeling well. I chalked it up to him being a man and not noticing those things, but now I had to wonder if it was because he was a fricking wise guy.

“I’m good, Marilyn, I promise.”

Nodding, she perched on the edge of my desk. “Well, I got a call from Mr. Sloan and he needs you on site for the rest of this week. You’ll need to head over there this afternoon.”

“On site?” I asked.

“At his office.”

I nodded. This wasn’t unusual. Marilyn often sent out her CPA’s and bookkeepers to complete work for businesses and clients with several employees.

Smiling, she got to her feet. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Jena. I’ll see you next week, okay?”

“Okay,” I answered weakly.

After she left, I rested my head on the desk. Well, there went one of my worries. For the next week at least, I’d be under King’s wing, protected.

Too bad it compounded my other concerns.

*     *     *

I stared at King across the table, trying to figure out what I needed to say first.

He beat me to it.

“Your bags are at the house. You can ride home with me after we finish up at the bar.”

All the thoughts in my head ground to a halt. “Excuse me?”

“Tonight. You can ride home with me after we finish going over the paperwork at the bar.”

“King-”

He steamrolled right over me. “I’ll have Jack or someone drive your car to my house. You won’t need it this week. We’ll ride together to the bar and my office in Carrollton.”

“Your office in Carrollton?” I repeated.

King smirked at me. “Yes, Jena. Keep up.”

His smartass remark snapped me out of my haze. “Knock it off, King. You’re taking a lot for granted.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’ve already had my bags picked up from Wick’s house!”

He grinned wider. “I was trying to be efficient.”

I rolled my eyes at him and took a sip of my wine. Normally, I would never drink at lunch on a workday, preferring Starbucks to Pinot Noir at noon, but today I was making an exception. Something I did a lot when it came to Alaric Sloan.

His face grew serious. “Jena, there’s something I need to say to you.”

Leaning forward, he laced his hands together, his black eyes focused intently on me.

I fidgeted in my seat. “Uh, I’m not sure I wanna hear this,” I muttered.

“You do. You also need to hear it,” he insisted.

I swallowed hard, trying not to look as uncertain as I felt.

“I did something horrible to you three years ago when I told Justin to worm his way into your life. It’s something I’ve had to do before in my line of work, but when I met you, that was the first time I’d ever regretted it.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Are you apologizing to me?” If he was, I might pass out due to shock. King was not a man who offered apologies.

His dark eyes hardened, as did his jaw. “Yes.”

I nodded. “Your apology is accepted.”

The tension in his face drained out. “You forgive me?” He sounded surprised.

“I didn’t say that, King. I accept your apology and I won’t hold a grudge, but I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to forgive you.”

His expression turned stony and his eyes blazed with black fire. “There’s a difference?”

A chill ran down my spine. “Yes, there is,” I answered, fighting to keep my voice strong when all I wanted to do was collapse beneath the weight of his stare. “I think that someday I can let go of my anger toward you, King, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust you. To forgive someone, you have to trust that they won’t harm you again, that their regret over what occurred is stronger than their impulse to do something that will be detrimental to you.”

Suddenly, he didn’t look like he wanted to wring my neck anymore. He looked pensive.

Feeling uncomfortable, I returned to picking at what was left of my food, but I had lost my appetite.

Finally, after a long silence, King asked, “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

I went to the ladies’ room to freshen up while he paid the check. When I came out, he was messing with his phone at the table.

As I drew closer, he looked up, “Ready?”

I nodded. He stood, but didn’t speak to me as we walked out of the restaurant.

King held a hand out to me and said, “Keys.”

Frowning, I asked, “What?”

A scowl crossed his face. “I need your keys, Jena. Jack is gonna drive your car to my house while we go to the bar.”

“No, that’s okay. I can drive to the bar and then to your house later.”

“Jena, for fuck’s sake, just do what I tell you for once,” he snapped.

My eyes narrowed, but I didn’t respond verbally. I fished my keys out of my purse and dropped them in his hand, careful not to touch his fingers. Then I stood on the sidewalk, arms crossed over my chest and silent, while we waited for Jack to show up.

He didn’t bother to ask where I was parked, just took the keys from King and disappeared around the corner that led to the parking lot. Still silent, I followed King to his truck and climbed inside.

Neither of us spoke during the fifteen minute drive to his bar, but I knew that he was as angry as I was. I wasn’t going to get into it with him right now. Things happened between King and I when we were angry; sexy, wild, beautifully ugly things. I wasn’t going to feed that beast.

Apparently, King felt the same way. After we arrived, he wasted no time in directing me to a tiny office down the hall from his.

“Everything you need is either on that computer,” he said, pointing to the desktop, “or in the filing cabinet.”

“Filing cabinet?”

“Albert kept paper copies of everything. He said computers weren’t to be trusted.”

I smiled because that sounded exactly like something Albert would say. “Okay, I’ll get started.”

I set my laptop bag on the desk and pulled out my computer. When I looked up, King was gone.

Chapter Seventeen

‡

Later that night, King and I were washing the dinner dishes in silence. We’d barely talked all day but the unspoken words seemed to take up all the space between us. There was so much to say and I had no idea where to begin.

He needed to understand that I would never be able to forget about what he’d done to me. Trust was a fragile thing and the trust I’d felt toward him had been thin at best.

Now, it would remain non-existent.

I dried the last plate and put it in the cabinet as King poured me a glass of wine. When he held the glass out to me, I hesitated before accepting it. Wine might not be the best idea, but I needed something to help me relax.

He walked out of the kitchen to the bar in the living room. The kitchen and living area were open and spacious, so I watched as he poured himself a glass of Scotch.

When he turned and noticed that I was still standing by the sink, staring at him, King gestured to the sofa.

“Have a seat.”

I carried my wine over to the couch and settled in, my back against the corner and my legs pulled up to my chest so my bare feet rested on the cushion.

King sat in the opposite corner, his ankle crossed over his knee and his arms stretched out on either side of him.

“We need to talk,” he stated shortly.

I nodded and sipped my wine, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t, I sighed and put my glass on the coffee table.

“So I’m supposed to start?” I asked.

“Since I have no idea what’s eating at you until you do, yeah.”

My eyes narrowed on him. “What’s eating at me?”

King shrugged and said, “What’s bugging you?”

“You’re seriously asking me that?” My tone was incredulous because I could not believe he was so dense.

His eyebrows slammed together in a scowl. “Yeah, Jena. I am.”

I wasn’t sure where to begin so I dove right in with the first thing that came to mind. “You spied on me,” I hissed. “For months, you watched me with Justin. You knew everything about me before we met. I thought maybe Justin just had a big mouth, but it was more than that, wasn’t it?”

“I thought you were going to let this go,” he muttered.

“I said maybe someday I could let it go, King. That doesn’t mean today. Tell me.”

He tossed back the Scotch and set aside the empty glass. “Yes, we were watching you.”

“We?”

“Wick, Justin, and I.”

I rolled my eyes. “Jesus, so you all fucking played me. Not only did you play me, you put me in danger!”

I abruptly hopped to my feet and started pacing around the living room, my arms wrapped around my waist.

King stood and stepped in front of me, stopping my frenetic movements. “Jena, I’m sorry.”

Wow, two apologies in one day. It had to be a record.

“What good would your sorry do me if Larry had blown my head off before you realized what was going on?”

He flinched as though I’d slapped him across the face. “Jena…”

I lifted a hand. “No, shut up. I don’t want to hear your excuses.”

I took a deep breath in a desperate attempt to gain a semblance of control. I was angry about too much, about everything. I couldn’t even focus on what was the most important. When I no longer felt like screaming my head off, I asked, “Why did you bring me here, King?”

He frowned at me, but didn’t answer.

I clarified. “Were you hoping to pick up where we left off?” I asked.

King had the best damn poker face I’d ever seen, with the exception of my cousin Tia. I couldn’t read a single thought. “What do you want me to say?”

“The truth! I deserve the truth!”

King ran his hands through his hair and turned away from me, going to the sliding glass doors that led to the back yard and staring out into the dark.

“You seriously think I would sleep with you now?” I asked sharply.

His shoulders tightened, but he didn’t respond.

“King!” I cried. “Answer me!”

He whirled around and I could see the fury and the heat in his onyx eyes. “What do you want to hear, Jena? Do you want me to spill my guts? Fine, I will.” He sucked in a deep breath. “I wanted to be in Justin’s place from the first time I saw you. I wanted you more than I’d ever wanted another woman.”

“And that makes it better?” I asked scathingly.

“No!” he roared. “It doesn’t. But you wanted the truth, remember?”

“So the truth is you wanted to fuck me then and you still do now?” My voice was harsh and cold.

“Yes,” he answered shortly.

I threw my hands up in disgust. “Great, so you regret lying to me because you want to fuck me, that makes perfect sense.” I whirled on my heel and marched toward the hall that led to the guest room.

King’s hand hooked around my arm, twisting me around to face him. He grasped both my elbows, staring down at me with an unreadable expression. “I wanted more than that, Jena. I still do.”

I ignored the slight feeling of relief his words brought. I was aware I couldn’t trust him. I knew next to nothing about him because he’d kept himself so closed off.

“How can I believe that? You’ve lied to me for years.”

His jaw tightened. “I started out lying to you, Jena, but everything I’ve said to you the past few days has been the truth. I’ll always tell you the truth from now on.”

It wasn’t enough. We were arguing in circles and I couldn’t remember what I wanted anymore. I struggled to think clearly past all the anger, hurt, and that damned inexplicable power he had over me. I had to escape in order to sift through all the emotions careening through me without feeling his pull.

“It’s too late, King,” I murmured. “There’s too much shit between us. You lied to me, you ruined me. There’s no coming back from that.”

I pulled my arms from his grip and turned away from him. When I reached the door to the guest room, King’s voice stopped me.

“I will do whatever it takes, Jena.”

I looked over my shoulder to where he stood in the mouth of the hallway. “Whatever it takes for what?”

“To fix what I broke.”

I smiled, but it was sad. “There’s no fixing this, King.”

When I stepped inside my room and shut the door behind me, I wondered which of us was the worst liar. King for what he’d done to me, or me for pretending his betrayal had killed my desire. Even as hurt and angry as I was, I still wanted him.

Now that we were in close proximity, I was afraid that my hunger for King would overwhelm my hatred.

I slept poorly that night, but when I woke the next morning, I found a purple iris on top of the other pillow beside my head. My first instinct was to crush it and flush it down the toilet.

When I rolled out of bed to do just that, I found that I couldn’t. Instead I carried the stem into the bathroom, filled the glass on the counter with water and stuck the iris in it. Without thinking, I took it back into the bedroom and set the blossom on my bedside table, lightly trailing my fingers over the petals.

When I realized what I was doing, I left the flower sitting on my nightstand and went into the bathroom to get ready.

Thirty minutes later, I was showered and dressed and in desperate need of coffee. I left the guest room and walked down the hall. My steps halted when I saw a shirtless King standing in front of the stove.

He turned when he heard me. “Good morning,” he murmured.

“Morning.” I made a beeline for the coffee pot. I could feel him watching me as I poured a cup and added sugar and milk to the brew.

I glanced up when I heard him get plates out of the cabinet, and felt surprised when he served up two dishes of eggs and bacon. He’d made me breakfast and brought me a flower, which immediately made me suspicious even as part of me swooned a little.

“Come eat,” he commanded, carrying the plates to the counter.

We sat side-by-side on bar stools and dug into breakfast. I managed to eat half my food before my own bitter thoughts ruined my appetite.

Shoving my plate away, I asked bluntly, “Do you really think making me breakfast and bringing me flowers means I’ll forgive you?”

King sighed. “No, Jena, I don’t.” He dropped his utensils in his plate and faced me. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop doing them.”

I didn’t understand his motivation. “Why?”

My skin tingled as he trailed his fingers down my cheek lightly. “Because I want to. You don’t want to like it when I take care of you or give you things you find beautiful, but you still do. I can see it in your eyes. It’ll take a long time, but I’m not a quitter, darlin’.”

I blinked at him.

“I fucked up, Jena, but I will make it up to you. Whatever it takes. You’ll see.”

His words were firm, unwavering. He meant every single thing he said.

Unable to respond, my breath backed up in my chest as he slowly lowered his head and touched his mouth to mine.

Then he got up and gathered our dirty dishes as though he hadn’t rocked my conviction to continue hating him with just a few sentences.