I was no longer playing nice, even if I didn’t look changed on the outside. In fact, that could play in my favor, if people in the Organization didn’t believe me capable of violence.
“The ones who what?” Ryker asked, his voice gentle now. He could switch on and off with expert ease depending on which one of us he was talking to. Kingston lacked that refinement, sounding angry no matter who he was addressing.
Oddly enough, I loved Kingston for it. He was so authentic in his feelings that he couldn’t turn them off at the drop of a hat.
“The ones who hurt her,” Kingston answered for me. His voice almost broke when he said it, and he hesitated before he said the word hurt. He wanted to say raped or assaulted, but couldn’t bring himself to bare my history out there like that for a stranger.
“They molested me,” I said, being straight up about it. “Kingston found photos of them drugging me and doing things to me while I was asleep. That’s what happened, that’s who did it.”
“Wait,” Ryker hissed. “His father and your stepfather?”
“Yeah,” I said. “At least it wasn’t my biological father. He’s just the one who sold me to the Organization to begin with.”
Kingston hit his open palm with a fist and repeated it a few times. It was his way to let it out, instead of damaging something, he had to release it through hurting himself. I understood and I loved him for it. I loved that he was so angry when he thought about what happened to me that he wanted to hurt for me.
I expected Ryker to have a similar reaction, maybe smash his truck or growl something threatening, but he surprised me. He looked down at me, pain flooding his gorgeous face, and he said, “Fuck, princess. I’m so sorry everybody in your life has let you down.”
I don’t know why, but that got to me more than him being angry about it. It meant that he also hurt for me, but in a different way.
“Not everybody,” I replied, and I reached over to take Kingston’s hand in mine. “Sometimes it might feel like it, but some have been there for me when I needed it most.”
Ryker glanced at Kingston, his face deeply shadowed as he looked at my love.
I realized that they were much more alike than they knew. They shared the same warrior’s heart and fighting spirit, and they also shared the same loyalty and love for those close to them.
They couldn’t see it now, but I knew if they spent time together, they would eventually find that out about each other.
But as it was, they were both controlled by the Organization, and they were doomed or destined to meet each other in the match at the end of the school year. I didn’t know if Ryker played football, so they might crash into each other on the field before then, but I did know if the Organization caught wind of us collaborating with Harrington, we would all be in big trouble.
“I think you have to leave, Ryker,” I said, squeezing Kingston’s hand. “I’ll give you my number, and we can stay in touch, but you can’t stay here.”
“Give me your number, too,” Kingston said. His tone was no longer menacing, but more conspiratorial, now that he had sensed Ryker would protect me as fiercely as he did. “We should meet up some time, maybe grab a drink and talk about this one and Dirty Kingdom.”
“Oh yeah, I’ll tell you all about how I’m gonna kick your ass,” Ryker said, flashing a friendly smile. He was kidding around, but each one of them contained too much pride to ever let the other know they doubted themselves so there was a vein of seriousness.
“Good luck with that,” Kingston grinned back, his own spirit coming out just as strong. “I’ll hand your ass to you on a silver platter. And just for shits and giggles, I’ll even force you to suck my cock.”
They handed each other their phones and entered their numbers. When they handed them back, Ryker flashed that sexy lopsided smile and said, “Who says you’d need to force me? Besides, your girl here would probably like to see it.”
Kingston went red under the street lights, I could see it on his cheeks even in that condition. I laughed, added my number to Ryker’s phone, and said, “A girl can dream.”
I handed it back to him, let him bend to give me one quick kiss on the mouth, and climb into his truck.
Before he closed his door, Ryker raised his brows and said, “I don’t mind you dreaming of me, princess. I know I’ll be thinking of you the next time I jerk this big snake of mine. That’ll be in about, oh, thirty minutes. The time it takes me to drive home.”
“You never did say what you were doing here in Oakville,” Kingston said, frowning as I visibly brightened at Ryker’s flirtations.
“I never did,” Ryker said and slammed the door shut. He started his truck, rolled the window down a few inches and added, “But I got what I came for.”
His eyes were full of heat when he looked up and down my body. He put his truck in gear and slowly pulled away from us, leaving me a little more than excited as he left our street.
“That guy, Evie,” Kingston said, watching the taillights of the truck fade into the distance. “He’s all kinds of trouble and I don’t like you messing around with him.”
“Is that because you want to protect me, or because you’re jealous?” I teased.
“Both,” Kingston growled and pulled me towards him. “I fucking love you, Evie. Like you don’t know it. But I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I won’t let him hurt me,” I said, looking up into his gorgeous eyes. “And if I did, I have you to make it feel all better.”
“I always will,” he said and tilted my face up so he could kiss me himself.
And if there was any doubt that Kingston fucking Taylor had laid claim to my body, it was erased the moment his mouth covered mine and his hands held me tight.
I was his, all his. Even if he shared me, I would always find my way home.