Chapter 49 Kingston
Kingston
The garage door slams, tugging at my curiosity.
I walk down the hall to see my right-hand man following behind a petite blur who just disappeared up the stairs.
When D looks at me, I can see the helplessness written across his face.
The overwhelming need to follow her drives me to step toward the base of the stairs, but I stop myself and turn to the only man who knows what’s wrong.
“What happened?”
With a look of sheer exhaustion, he murmurs, “Her friend is missing.”
“And do we know where she is?”
His laughter has a sharp edge to it as he looks toward the ceiling. “We have an idea.”
Fuck.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where her best friend disappeared to. My blood starts to boil. I’m going to kill him.
Taking the stairs two at a time, a sense of need pulses through me. I need to fix this. I need to make her feel better. I need to make this right. I need to find my sister and Ace’s friend. And I need to put Burlone in the ground.
I stop my pursuit when I reach the door, finding myself in a foreign situation. Do I knock? I raise my hand to do so before dropping it to my side.
With a twist of the handle, I call out, “Ace?”
Sniffles greet me.
The hinges squeak slightly as I push the door the rest of the way open and step into the room across from mine where Ace slept last night.
Sitting on the edge of the bed is a distraught Ace with her head in her hands, her entire body racked with sobs.
My chest tightens, and my lungs struggle to expand as I watch as the girl who’s been through too damn much…breaks.
“Ace?” I rush over and wrap my arms around her, holding her tight as she completely loses it.
“She’s gone. She’s gone. It’s all my fault. I can’t do this. I can’t take it anymore.”
The sound of her gut-wrenching cries is like a knife to my chest. I slowly rub my hand up and down her back because I honestly don’t know what else to do.
She’s hurting, and it’s killing me. I’d give anything to fix this.
I just wish I knew how. Her fingers tighten their grip on my shirt, twisting the material back and forth, wringing out her agony through her hold.
“Shh. It’s okay.” I try to comfort her the only way I know how, but I can tell it isn’t working by the way her back continues heaving as she keeps beating herself up.
“I never should’ve talked to her. I never should’ve entered the tournament. I never should’ve tried to get back at him for what he did. This is all my fault, but she’s the one paying for it. All because we were friends.”
“It’s going to be okay, Ace—”
“You don’t understand!” She cuts me off.
“I know what she’s going through. I know what he’s forcing her to do.
I know all of it.” Another sob escapes her ruby red lips as she looks up at me with tear-stained cheeks before dropping her head back to my chest and burrowing deep.
Like I might have the power to save her from her past, and I’d give anything to do exactly that.
Still, I need to know the truth. All of it.
“What do you mean, you know?”
She doesn’t dare look up at me as I voice my question, keeping herself tucked against my chest. Warning bells are ringing in my head, but I don’t want to believe them, and I pray I’m wrong.
“Because I got to experience it first-hand as a little girl.” Her voice cracks on the last word, my heart following right after.
“Ace—”
She shoves away from me, shaking her head back and forth over and over again in an attempt to scatter the nightmare of memories that were her childhood.
And I want to flay the bastard who hurt her all over again.
“I can’t. I can’t let that happen to her.
I can’t let that happen to your sister. I can’t do any of this anymore.
” Collapsing into my arms once more, she rests her forehead on my shoulder as she mourns for the little girl she once was and the experiences she had to suffer through while knowing her best friend and my little sister are likely suffering the same fate at the hands of a monster.
One who puts men like me––men who have murdered and maimed––to shame.
I don’t know how long we sit like this, and in all honesty, I don’t care, either. All that matters is Ace. All that matters is finding a way to let her heal and to keep her safe. All that matters is killing the sonofabitch who hurt her.
When the sobbing has stopped, and the tension in her body melts away, I whisper, “I’m going to get your friend back, Ace. I’m going to get my sister. And I’m going to kill Burlone for what he did to you.”
Ace backs away a few inches and dares to look up at me, her eyes still swollen from crying and from taking a beating a few nights before. But it doesn’t make her any less beautiful. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a bluer set of eyes.
With a pitiful squeak, she replies, “Truth.”
Gently, I drag her closer and lay down onto my back, the mattress dipping beneath me.
Nuzzling into my side, she breathes a quiet sigh before asking, “Tell me something good, King? Anything.”
My fingers lazily drag up and down the exposed skin on her arm as I search for something good to tell her. Something that might make her smile after the horrific day she’s had.
Clearing my throat, I whisper, “When I was little, my mom and I would cook together.”
She shifts onto her elbow and looks up at me, her long, dark hair cascading over one shoulder, and I’m taken aback at how gorgeous she truly is.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’d sit on the counter and watch her cook all day until my dad would come get me and teach me manly things.” My voice drops an octave, making her laugh.
“And what would you both make?” she asks, intrigued.
“Pasta, of course.”
“You Italians. Do you ever eat anything else?” She rolls her eyes.
Patting my stomach for good measure, I tell her, “I definitely do. Do you think I get this physique from carb-loading twenty-four seven?”
“Physique? What physique?” With her chin propped on my pec, an amused Ace nearly brings me to my knees with her beauty, but I don’t let myself get distracted.
“Don’t act like you weren’t checking me out when I sewed up your hand,” I tease.
A coy little grin is firmly in place as she argues, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was a little too busy getting stitched up to be ogling you. But sure, whatever helps your ego.”
With my hands under her arms, I drag her up until she’s fully on top of me, and we’re nearly nose to nose.
“Want to know what else would help my ego?” I shift my hips beneath her to give her a hint.
Her gaze dims slightly as her teeth dig into her lower lip. “You sure you still want me after…?”
After knowing that Burlone used her. Abused her. Took something that didn’t belong to him. That he didn’t deserve. That she didn’t want to give him.
The thought brings a bitter taste to my mouth before I remember the girl lying on top of me with so many insecurities she should never have had to carry.
Lacing my fingers through her long hair, I tug her closer and place a gentle kiss against her mouth. Her lashes flutter closed, and she almost melts into me before I stop her.
“Ace, I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life.”
Opening her eyes, she takes her time deciding whether or not I’m being honest with her. After an eternity, she whispers, “Truth.”