Kingston’s fists are clenching so tightly, his knuckles are turning white.
“Well,” Preston begins. “This trip down memory lane has been fun but I need to get going. I have a conference call with one of my suppliers in less than an hour.”
Kingston grabs my hand and forcefully yanks me down the hall and into a guest bathroom. We listen as our fathers say goodbye to one another and wait a moment for his dad to leave. Once it’s safe, he drags me out of the bathroom.
“Your bedroom. Now.”
“What?” I have to speed walk to keep up with him. “What’s going on?”
“Just shut up until we get to your room.”
I want to tell him to fuck off but I’m more curious about what the hell we just heard so I follow. Once we’re safely behind a locked door, Kingston turns on the Bluetooth speaker I have on my desk and presses buttons on his phone until “The Drug in Me is You” by Falling in Reverse starts playing.
He starts pacing in a circle. “You cannot repeat a word of what you just heard.”
I take a seat on the edge of my bed. “I don’t even know what the hell I just heard.”
His angular jaw tics. “It’s better if it stays that way.”
“What does that—” I gasp when it hits me. “Holy shit, you do know what they were talking about, don’t you?”
Kingston runs his hands over his head until his hair is standing on end. “Jasmine, I’m fucking serious. Don’t dig into this and don’t tell anyone about it.”
“They were talking about my mom! I have every right to know why. And why are you not freaking out about the fact that your dad apparently had an affair with my mom? It sounded like our fathers were both sleeping with her at the same time. That’s just... gross. And so unlike the woman I knew.”
He stops pacing and closes the gap between us. I’m on my back with him hovering over me before he stops. I don’t miss the semi pressing into my thigh.
His hand wraps around my neck, but he doesn’t put any pressure on it. “I know your brain is running a mile a minute right now, but you have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
We both groan as he positions his hardness between my thighs and drops his weight on me. I’m wearing a pair of thin joggers, so I feel every inch of him as he rubs himself against my clit, growing bigger with each slide.
“Kingston,” I pant. “Quit trying to distract me. I need answers.”
He lifts his face from my neck and straightens his arms into a plank position. “I know. And I’ll give them to you when the time is right.” He puts his hand over my mouth when I try to speak. “Jazz, I give you my word. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I need you to do it anyway. If you go running your mouth, you’ll put yourself in danger. Our fathers are not good men. They’ve done some really fucked up shit and you do not want to be on their radar.”
My eyes widen. He’s right; I have absolutely no reason to trust him. But the conviction in his voice, the fact that he actually looks scared right now, tells me I can. At least about this.
He moves his hand away from my mouth when I nod. “Okay.”
Kingston searches my eyes. “Okay?”
“Yes.” I push on his chest until he gets off me. “But I won’t wait forever.”
“That’s fair.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket and runs his thumbs over the screen. When he’s done, my phone chimes with a text alert. How did he get my number? “I need to go. You have my number if you need to reach me. I’ll see you in th
e morning.”
I grab my phone after he leaves and check the messages. Sure enough, there’s a new message from an unknown number.
Unknown: Don’t be stupid. Keep your mouth shut.
I program his name into my phone and send a quick reply.
Me: *middle finger emoji*
I open my window as he approaches his car. Kingston pulls his phone out of his pocket and checks the screen.
He looks up in my direction after reading the message. I can’t be sure from this distance, but I swear he just winked before getting in his car and driving away.