Fuck it all! I should never have come back here. I should have known what this would lead to.
I can’t stay. I shouldn’t be here now. I was careful coming here, but I’m obviously being watched like a hawk.
I kiss Katelyn’s lips. “I have to go.”
“No. Please. Stay. I need you.”
She’s shaking. Shivering. Someone tried to kill her. And here I am, telling her I can’t stay.
Damn. I’ve only made things worse for her.
She clings to me once more, as Jed finally settles down in a corner of the room.
“Please,” she says against my neck.
I’m not made of stone—except for my cock at the moment. I’m weak. Fucking weak. I lower my mouth to hers and kiss her hard.
She responds and opens to me, gives herself to me in that kiss. It’s harsh and passionate and full of need all at once.
And it’s the perfect outlet for that untrustworthy rage.
I deepen the kiss, losing myself in Katelyn’s sweetness, in her goodness.
I back her toward the bed…
Clothes. Too many clothes. I rip my mouth from hers and then rip the clothes from her body. When she’s naked before me, her ruby lips parted, I devour her.
My lips are everywhere—on hers, tracing her jawline, her shoulders, her perfectly shaped breasts. They clasp around her hard nipple, licking and sucking.
Downward, downward… I kiss every part of her all the way to her toes.
My cock is as angry as I am, and it wants relief as I do. I crave it, and I find it here, with my Katelyn.
I undress myself at warp speed, and then I’m inside her, one with her, and I take what she freely gives. I fuck her hard and fast, and within seconds I’m releasing and taking her with me.
We cling together as we come in tandem, our bodies one and our souls entwined.
And that rage? That old untrustworthy friend?
It softens.
But as we come down…I hold onto that old friend.
I hold onto him because I still need him.
I need him to avenge Katelyn.
34
KATELYN
I jerk out of a dreamy sleep to a short yip from Jed.
“Luke?” I sit up in bed, look around the room. It’s dark.
How long have I slept? It’s clearly nighttime. And where’s Luke?
Then a knock on the door. Another yip from Jed.
“Just a minute!” I’m still naked, so I scramble into my clothes as quickly as I can, walk to the door, and gaze through the peephole into the lighted hallway.
Looks like a bellhop.
I open the door. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry,” the bellhop says.
“For what?” I wrinkle my forehead.
Then a plunge of something into my neck. Jed barks. Jed jumps on the bellboy.
And everything goes black.
35
LUKE
“What is it, Trey?” my dad asks.
I’m back home, thinking only of Katelyn, reading and re-reading her text from earlier. I don’t know how best to protect her, and I’m ready to admit I need help.
I asked Katelyn to get me an audience with Reid Wolfe, but she’s here now. In LA. Reid Wolfe can’t help either of us here.
This is on me.
“It’s…” I hand my father the phone. “The reason I came back, Dad.”
“A woman?”
“The woman.”
“Trey, you’ve had issues with women in the past.”
“I know that. And believe me, I’ve had enough therapy to realize what I did wrong. I can’t even blame the alcohol, although that was certainly part of it. I was fucked up in the head. Fucked up because of the criminal activities I got into. But in the end, it was me. All me. I can’t blame you or anyone else.”
“You were blaming me?”
“For a long time, yeah. I mean, sure, you made mistakes. I don’t mean to throw it in your face. For a long time, that’s all I wanted. To throw it in your face. Blame you and others and everyone for things that were my fault. For the decisions I made. Now I know that the only person responsible for the way my life is gone is me.”
“That’s called growing up.”
“I suppose I should’ve done it a long time ago.”
“We all grow up in our own way, son. Trust me. It took me longer than it took you.”
Trey would throw this back in his face. Would remind him of all the mistakes he made when I was younger.
But I’m no longer Trey. I’m Luke.
For the first time, I see how much I owe my father. Not only did he give me life, he gave me what by anyone’s standards would be an idyllic childhood. Sure, he made mistakes. He wasn’t there for me a lot of the time when I needed him. He took my mother for granted and mistreated her.
Looking at him now, I can see past his mistakes. He came through for me when I truly needed him. After I got shot and I was faced with a lifetime in prison.
For decisions I made. Me, not him.
“Tell me about her,” Dad says.
“She’s perfect. I never thought I could feel this way about another human being. And it’s different this time. I don’t have any need to control her, to lock her away and keep her safe. In fact…”
“What?”
“She’s not safe with me, Dad. I know that now. I can’t have her. But she’s the reason I’m back. I thought if I changed things, if I made up for what I did, I could be worthy of her. Truly deserve her. But I now know that’s not possible.”
“Anything is possible, son.”
I shake my head. “Not this. I’ve thought about it and thought about it and thought about it. Becoming worthy of her can only end in one way.”
“What way is that?”
“In my death.”
My father rubs his temples. “Trey, I want you to get the hell out of here.”
“You’re kicking me out?”
“That’s not what I mean. You need to go back to Manhattan. No, it’s too late for that now. You need to leave the country. Take refuge somewhere. You must go. Your death would kill your mother.”
My mother. I don’t want to hurt her, but my death is the only way this goes away. The only way Katelyn is safe. The only fucking way.
“Dad, I did a lot of harm. There’s more red on my ledger than I can ever erase.”
“Stop trying, Trey. Think of someone besides yourself.”
“I am thinking of someone besides myself. I’m thinking of everyone I harmed along the way. I might be able to take King down, but the only way I can do that ends in my death.”
“Please. I don’t want to lose a child. But I will survive. It’s not me you need to think about, Trey. It’s your mother.”
“I don’t want to hurt her. Hell, I don’t want to hurt you. Sure, there was a time when I did. And because of that need for harming someone, I ended up harming more people than I could ever imagine by getting into the drug business. I realize I’m lucky to be alive, Dad. What is one life compared to the countless others that will be harmed if I don’t take King down?”
“You tried. You gave it your best shot. You took some others down, and you got out of the business yourself. You’re no longer harming people.”