36
Lily
I wasn’t sure what I’d agreed to with King. All I knew for sure was the man was pushy with a capital freaking P. The other thing I knew for sure, and I was surprised as hell at, was that he could get through a night in my bed without trying to fuck me. That’s not to say he could go a night without having his hands all over me, and his body pressed as hard to mine as possible, but I had to give him credit for respecting my wishes.
I woke up this morning wrapped from head to toe by his arms, torso and legs. When I tried to move, he tightened his hold on me. The weird thing was he was still asleep. It seemed King liked to look out for those around him while he was sleeping just as much as he did while he was awake.
I managed to wiggle my way out of his embrace and get up to use the bathroom. Entering the bedroom when I was finished, I found him awake, arms rested behind his head, watching my every move. “Morning,” I said.
“Morning.” Those eyes of his held a smile I wasn’t sure I’d seen before. It was subtle, but it was there. And I liked it.
“I’m going to make a coffee. You want one?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
I hit him with one last smile before leaving the bedroom. Thoughts of what I was going to tell my kids about him sleeping over filled my mind as I headed into the kitchen. I’d dated a few guys after divorcing Linc, but none of them had ever stayed the night, not even the couple of relationships that lasted longer than a few months. I’d never been comfortable having them sleep over, and I had to wonder why I’d thrown all those hesitations out the window for King. Maybe it had to do with the fact my kids seemed to really like him. Or maybe I really was that distracted by the man that all common sense eluded me.
I’d just filled the kettle and switched it on when Linc’s voice sounded from the back door. “What the fuck, Lily? You changed the locks?”
I stalked to the door and glared at him through the glass. “Yes, I did, to keep you out. You don’t live here anymore, Linc, and I’ve asked you multiple times not to come by whenever you want or let yourself in. So I changed the locks.”
“Fuck. Let me in, woman.”
Oh my God, he did not just call me that. “Don’t call me that! I am not your damn woman.”
“Lily, for fuck—” He abruptly stopped talking as his gaze was drawn to something behind me.
Turning, I found King watching Linc with a murderous expression.
Oh goodness.
Shit, shit, shit.
“Who the fuck is that?” Linc demanded.
King’s nostrils flared. He stepped forward, closer to me, and I knew simply by looking at him that this situation was about to go bad.
Placing my palm on his bare chest, I said, “King, let me deal with this.”
His jaw clenched, his eyes coming to mine only briefly before locking back onto Linc. Ignoring my request, he growled, “You need to pull your head in and apologise to her.”
Linc scowled at him. “She’s my fucking wife, mate.”
“And that’s why you’re standing out there and I’m standing in here,” King said. His shoulders were like rocks. “Back the fuck up, apologise, and then leave.”
Linc rattled the door. “Open this fucking door, Lil, and let me in.”
Before I could say or do anything, King slid the door open and stepped outside. I knew that if I allowed this to continue between them, someone was going to get hurt. And I was fairly sure it wasn’t going to be King. Moving as fast as I could, I got in between them and pressed my hands to their chests, trying to keep them apart.
Glancing madly between them, I said, “You two both need to take a step back. I have three kids in this house, and I do not want them to wake up to a punch up.” I glared at Linc and added, “Especially not one involving their father.”
Neither backed down straight away. It wasn’t until I pushed both of them that King came to his senses and took a step back.
I looked at him. “Thank you.” And then to Linc, I said, “The locks have changed. Deal with it. We’ve been divorced for three years, Linc, and we’re never getting back together. I am not your wife anymore, and you can’t keep dropping in here whenever you want. I’m not going to say this again. And also, you should know that I took your name off my gym membership, too.”
He stared at me like I had three heads. “You’re fucking kidding, right? We’ve been together since we were kids, Lil. Suddenly you meet a new guy, and I’m out in the cold?”
I expected King to get involved again, but he impressed me by staying back and letting me handle this. It was clear from his body language, though, that if I wasn’t able to deal with Linc, he’d be more than happy to step back in.
“You cheated on me, Linc! Remember that? This has nothing to do with King, and everything to do with me finally figuring out that I need to set some boundaries with you. I can’t expect you to respect me if I don’t respect myself enough to do that.” I jabbed a finger in the air at him. “Things will be changing around here, and that includes your freaking child support payments. I’m not accepting any bullshit from you going forward.”
“You’ve turned into a bitch, Lily,” Linc said.
King lost his shit at that. Moving to Linc, he grabbed him by the shirt and threatened, “You call her a bitch again, you and me are gonna have trouble.” He then shoved him away and guided me back inside, closing the door after us.
Linc got the message after that and stormed out of my backyard. His car screeched away from the house soon after. Less than a minute later, I burst into tears. Crying over Linc wasn’t something I was in the habit of doing, but dealing with his shit had become a heavy burden to carry. Usually I just got on with it, but there was something about having King’s support that affected me. I didn’t feel so alone with this now.
“Fuck,” King muttered, pulling me into his arms. “Don’t let that asshole get to you.”
His arms around me felt good. Soothing. I buried my head against his chest and took a moment to gather myself. King was right—I wouldn’t let Linc get to me—but it didn’t hurt to let my emotions flow rather than bottling them up like I had been.
I took a deep breath and lifted my head, looking up into King’s eyes. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t do much, Lily.”
I smiled. “You did.”
The last three years as a single mum had been a hard slog, but if I were honest, the few years before that were just as hard, even while still married. People often said to me how difficult it must be to raise my kids on my own, and sure, it was, but what they didn’t realise was that even when you were in a marriage, it could sometimes feel like you were doing it all alone. Linc had checked out of our marriage long before he’d cheated on me. He also hadn’t been the kind of man who was always there for me as a husband or a father when I needed him to be. I’d learnt to rely on myself pretty early on. King didn’t understand that in the short time I’d known him, he’d come through for me in ways my husband never had.
“Morning,” Zara said sleepily, wandering into the kitchen. She eyed King, and I waited nervously for her reaction. I needn’t have been worried. She hardly acknowledged his presence before grabbing a drink of water and wandering back out of the kitchen.
I made our coffees and as I was finishing up, King moved behind me, placing his hands either side of me on the kitchen counter. With his mouth to my ear, he said, “I need you tonight. Can you make that happen?”
I nodded, my body shivering just thinking about it. “Yes.”
My need matched his, and I would do whatever it took to make that happen.
“I owe you big time,” I said to Brynn over the phone later that day as I watched Robbie geeking out over stuff at the science centre. We’d had a busy day between grocery shopping, housework, karate and now the science centre. Brynn had just agreed to babysit the kids tonight so I could spend time with King, but I was wondering if I’d even have the energy that sex with him demanded. The man was brutal in both how he fucked and for how long he fucked.
“I’ll sleep over so you don’t have to worry about getting home at a certain time. And then tomorrow we can go to that farmer’s market I’ve been wanting to go to for ages.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. I was so not a market girl, but Brynn loved them and was always trying to get me to go with her. “Really? That’s how I have to pay you back?”
“Is King not worth the market?”
She had me there. Sex with King was worth all the markets. “Fine,” I grumbled. “We’ll do the market tomorrow. And you can tell me all about your hot fishing date on the way.” We hadn’t found the time yet to talk about her date with the prostitute. I was hanging to hear all about it. “Did you ask him how many women he bangs in a week?”
She laughed. “Let’s just say we had other things to do rather than talking about that.”
“Oh my God, Brynny! You fucked him?”
“That will have to wait until tomorrow to be discussed. You need something to look forward to if you have to go to the market.”
“You are so right, but this is gonna be the longest wait of my life.”
“Okay, I’ve gotta go. I’m going to cook the kids something special for dinner, so I’ll be at your place from about three, okay?”
“Sounds good. They’ll be excited,” I said before ending the call.
Robbie came running over to me, excitement plastered over his face. “Can we stay for at least another half hour? They’re doing a special show soon, and I really wanna see it.”
I smiled. “Of course, baby.”
He threw his arms around me and hugged me. “You’re the best mum!” And then he was gone again.
I would miss his affection when he grew out of it. I definitely missed Zara’s. She still hadn’t completely forgiven me for the boyfriend thing, but she’d definitely calmed down over it. That kinda made me nervous, though, because I wondered why. I made a mental note to follow up on that tomorrow. I couldn’t afford to let my guard down for one second with that child.
But for the rest of today, I was focused on myself and getting laid. I sent King a text to let him know tonight was on.
Me: Babysitter sorted. Let me know what time to come over.
King: Any time after seven.
I started to type out a sexy reply, but then deleted it. King didn’t seem like the kind of man who made time for sexting. I thought about it some more and decided to hell with it, he could just choose not to reply if he wasn’t into it.
Me: I can’t stop thinking about your hands around my neck.
He didn’t come straight back to me. It took him about five minutes, but I figured I hit the mark by the reply I got.
King: Fuck
Me: And I really liked your belt around my hands.
Again, five or so minutes passed before he texted back.
King: I’m in the middle of shit
I stared at the message, a little unsure of what he meant.
Me: And?
This time he didn’t text, he called and got straight to the point when he said, “I’m dealing with club business, and your texts are distracting as fuck.”
I grinned, loving that I’d stirred him up. “Are they getting you hard, King?”
“Fucking hell,” he muttered. “That’s a fucking understatement.”
“So I shouldn’t send you any more? Or what about a boob pic?”
“I have to go. Don’t send me any more shit. I’ll see you tonight.”
The call ended, and I sat on the chair watching my son having a great time while I grinned like a loon. Somewhere along the way, life had gotten really freaking good.
Sometimes in life, you didn’t see things coming. They blindsided you. I’d had a few of those moments in my life—when my father had walked out of it right before my twelfth birthday and the day I’d caught Linc cheating on me. Each of those times, my sister had been there for me. We’d got each other through the heartbreak of our father leaving, and then she’d gotten me through my break-up with Linc. We shared a connection I held dearer than almost anything in my life. With Brynn by my side, I felt like anything was achievable and any situation could be survived.
I had never imagined a life without Brynn.
Could never imagine it.
That afternoon, I was blindsided for the third time in my life.
Robbie and I arrived home from the science centre. His friend who lived next door waved at him as we pulled into the driveway, so he left me to go see him. I slung my bag over my shoulder and exited the garage into the house. Brynn’s car was parked in my garage, so I was surprised to find the house in silence. She usually blasted music while she cooked. Maybe she’d decided not to cook after all.
“Brynn, where are you?” I called out as I walked to the kitchen. “I have some goss to share with—” I came to an abrupt halt as I entered the kitchen.
Oh God.
No.
I was seeing things.
My heart raced as I stared at my sister lying on the floor with blood oozing out of her.
I screamed. I know I did, but I couldn’t hear it.
I scrambled to the floor to pull her into my arms.
I couldn’t think straight.
“Brynny, no!”
I sat with her head in my lap, clinging to her. Willing her to not die.
Gulping down breaths, I suddenly realised I should check for a pulse.
There was a pulse.
With shaky hands, I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone. Somehow I called 000 and got through the call.
“Brynn!” I cried out as if that would magically fix her.
My chest hurt.
I couldn’t do this.
I needed Brynn to get me through this.
I dialled King. It was instinctual. There was no thought process. Somehow I just knew he was my person. He would get me through this when my sister couldn’t.
He answered on the third ring. “What’s up?”
I gripped the phone hard and tried to talk, but the only sound that came was a wail.
“Lily, what?” he demanded. “What the fuck has happened?”
“It’s Brynn… She’s been shot. I need you.”
“Fuck. I’m on my way.”
I couldn’t breathe.
My heart was going to explode out of my chest.
My sister could not die.
I couldn’t do life without her.
Hurry, King.
I need you.