Chapter 15
REN
I blinked around the room. The early morning sun filtered through the window, caressing the leg KC had hanging out of the comforter.
His chest rose and fell slowly. Nothing short of a hard shake would drag him out of his deep sleep.
It made sense, though. As the weeks passed, the football season had grown more intense.
Between practices and games, KC was working hard.
Then, if you added in the psych visits and his body fighting with his brain, he had a lot of things happening in his life.
I’d seen psychologists back home in Cali for a little while before I’d begun to hate what they had to say about my revenge plan.
It’d all been the same—let go of the past and move forward.
You’re only hurting yourself. At the time, I’d fucking hated the idea of everyone else walking around without consequences for what their actions had caused.
Now, I understood what the shrinks had meant.
Letting go of the anger and pain set me on a better course.
It was about how I would feel, not about what others didn’t get punished for.
In time, maybe my lingering anger would fade.
I turned my head and frowned when I found an empty spot behind me. Usually, Oliver slept in later than both of us.
There was an annoying buzzing on the nightstand. I yawned and reached for my phone, careful not to jostle KC as I twisted. I blinked the tiredness from my eyes as Luke’s name flashed across the screen in a message. I tapped it.
Luke
You got lucky, bro. I got you a last minute invite to Black Out. You’re fucking welcome. It’s an invite only event. You owe me.
I pumped my fist as quietly as I could. I’d heard rumors about Black Out and the special events they put on.
From what I’d heard through the grapevine with my clients, there was something extra special happening for Halloween.
Getting into the upstairs rooms during these events was nearly impossible, but Black Out was owned by the Kings, so I had been hoping Luke could pull strings.
And apparently, he’d managed to do it because there on my phone was an e-invite for three.
After I exited Luke’s message, I frowned as I spotted one from Oli. I tapped his name.
Kitten
Hey. Don’t freak out. I have Shakira.
What the fuck? He took Shakira? My heart pounded as my gaze ate up the rest of the message.
Kitten
I swear it was for a good reason. If you wake up before I’m home, I’m at PD’s house. Feel free to come here.
I blinked, then blinked again. Yep, the words hadn’t changed. He’d taken Shakira and was at PD’s house. But why?
I threw back the covers and slid out of bed.
KC groaned, yawning as his deep red eyelashes fluttered. His eyes opened, and he stared at me groggily as I rushed to put on underwear and jeans. “What’s wrong?”
“Oli has Shakira at PD’s house.” I struggled into a shirt and it was a little tight, which probably meant it was KC’s, but I didn’t care. “I don’t know what he’s doing with her.”
KC’s eyebrows furrowed as he sat up, a yawn stretching his lips. “You know he won’t hurt her.”
The words gave me pause. I knew that as a fact, of course, but my immediate response was to rush to PD’s and demand to know what the fuck Oliver was thinking. The text had been sent minutes after we’d gone to bed, which meant Oliver had been over there all night.
A silly part of me stung at the thought of him over there with two good-looking bikers.
I knew Oliver wouldn’t cheat, but that didn’t stop the jealousy that grew in the pit of my stomach.
KC and I had been so busy lately that we’d barely had sex.
And I was still rough with Oliver when I’d pressed him against the Mustang.
I’d been gentler up until then, but I’d let the heat of the moment get away from me.
I was supposed to be treating him like a boyfriend, not a hookup. I was supposed to be making up for how things started.
Fuck, I was a shitty boyfriend. I’d never thought about this crap. It was driving me nuts.
“Ren.” KC slid out of bed and came around to me, his cock swinging against his inner thigh as he moved.
He was soft, but still thick, and made my mouth water.
He cupped my cheeks and pressed a kiss against the corner of my mouth.
I was glad he hadn’t gone for a full kiss because neither of us had brushed our teeth yet.
“Stop worrying. Oli will take care of her. I don’t know what he’s doing, but he’d never hurt her.
” His face scrunched. “I can’t believe I’m talking about a car as if she’s a child. ”
“I know.” I tipped my chin up and exhaled heavily. “I don’t know why he took her, though. He has his own car.”
“Call him?” KC offered in a way that made it sound like I was an idiot for not thinking of it myself.
I huffed out a laugh. “He said to head to PD’s.”
“Okay, then we will. I don’t have classes until later. Come on, let’s go brush our teeth and take the Jeep over there.”
I grumbled but grinned because KC had a way of screwing my head on right. He was the rational one of us, and I enjoyed how he balanced us out, a real-life set of scales with me and Oliver as the weights.
“Come on.” He slapped my ass and his eyes crinkled in the corners as he led me to the bathroom.
We brushed our teeth while making eyes at each other in the mirror, and every time my gaze met his, he chuckled or grinned around the toothpaste foam filling his mouth.
His hair was flattened on one side while the other stood up in all directions. He was fucking adorable.
By the time we were both dressed and ready to go, I was a lot calmer.
KC gave me a knowing look and threw me the keys to his Jeep. “Drive. It’ll give you something to concentrate on until we get there.”
I beamed at him. “This is why you’re one of my boyfriends. You know me so well already.”
He rolled his eyes, but his expression softened as I led us in a charge out of the apartment to the elevator.
As soon as we were in the Jeep, I was impatiently tapping the wheel as I forced myself to focus on the drive.
PD lived about twenty minutes away from me, and the time passed with me fidgeting any way I could.
After I’d changed the song for the fifth time, KC grabbed my hand and held it firmly on the middle console.
“Your car is fine.” KC’s lips twitched, amusement flickering in his eyes. “Oli loves her as much as you do.”
“I know. I know.” I tapped the wheel harder as I came to a red light and had to disentangle from KC to shift gears.
Outside, the Tuesday morning commuters were going about their day, unaware of the lunatic I was about to become if the light didn’t turn green soon.
Luckily for them, the universe was still following standard rules, and I hit the gas at the first glimpse of green.
I made it to PD’s in twelve minutes. The sight of Shakira sitting in the open garage slowed my heart rate to an appropriate speed.
Oliver and Will were leaning against a tool bench, a mug clutched in each of their hands as they talked, but the moment I turned into the driveway of the little white house, their attention shifted to me.
Oliver straightened and rested his mug on the tool bench as I jumped out of the Jeep. “Don’t kill me.”
“Wasn’t going to,” I said in a rush as I stalked up to him. “But talk fast, Kitten.”
“I fixed the scratches,” he replied with a shrug, red bleeding into his cheeks. He stood taller. “Did you forget I can paint cars? It was lucky that Will can color match. He called a buddy who owns an autobody shop. We recreated the perfect shade and ta da!” He waved toward Shakira.
I moved around the Mustang, tracking her curves until I came to the spot where the scratch had been.
But it wasn’t there anymore. The paint was seamless, as though the scratch had never happened.
She was as beautiful as she was before the incident, and I noticed that there were even a few small nicks on the lower panels that had disappeared.
“Fuck,” I growled out, spinning toward Oliver and grabbing him around the waist. I heaved him up and spun him around, laughing at his squeal of surprise. “She’s fucking beautiful.”
“Put me down, you big asshole.” Oliver slapped my shoulder, but his face relaxed and he chuckled as I finally set him back on his feet. “Did you think I was selling her parts or something?”
“No,” I said quickly. Too quickly.
KC snorted. “Or something.”
“Hush, Kansas.” I shot him a weak glare. “I had one hundred percent faith in you.”
“Liar.” Oliver grinned smugly and crossed his arms. “But that’s okay. Shakira’s your baby, so I forgive you. Maybe.” His phone buzzed in the pocket of his jeans and tightness lined his face. He steeled his jaw and yanked the phone out to glare at it. He tapped the red button.
“Your mom still calling?” I asked.
His flinch told me the answer. “She doesn’t stop calling.”
“Who?” PD came out from the front door of the house, a mug clutched in his hands. He took a sip as he meandered toward us, eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“Mom.” Oliver shifted uncomfortably, and I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving him the support he needed. “Dad’s out of jail. Did you know? Of course you know. He’s a King.”
PD’s face did something I couldn’t quite explain, like he was struggling with an emotion he wasn’t used to feeling. He grabbed his bowler hat off his head and slapped it against his thigh. “He’s been loyal to the Kings, but I know he’s not the best father.”
“That’s an understatement,” I muttered. “He deserves to get knocked on his ass.”
PD shook his head. “Don’t go asking for trouble with him, Booth. He’s an asshole, but he’s still a King and he went away for the club. If you start something with him, you start it with all of us.”
“You’d choose him over Oliver?” My fingers curled into a fist at my side. I felt KC move in closer and I wasn’t sure if it was to offer his love or stop me if I swung at PD.