Page 56 of Tempting the King

“No.” She shakes her head, putting her hand on my heart. “I fucked you because I loved you. If you know me at all, you know I wouldn’t do that. And, who are you to talk?”

The guy reaches out for her leg as Victor finishes off his partner, but she’s having none of it, and I’m trying to puzzle out what that last part means.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” She roars at the bloodied guy on the ground. “I’m having a very. Bad. Day!” She lands another kick, this time where it counts, as he gags and cups his balls, curling into the fetal position, but she’s not done.

“Hey,” I tell her, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Hey, that’s enough.”

“Oh, really?” She turns to glare at me, shrugging out of my grip. “Now you’re the voice of reason? Got anything you want to tell me, Mr. Hertzof?”

I growl. “You call me King.”

“You’re lucky I’m not calling you a lot of other things!” she yells, her face contorting in anger that’s directed now at me.

I hear Victor chuckle, looking across to see him gesture to Benjamin, to come over and take a shot at the limp guy he’s holding on the ground with his foot looking like a crazy Captain Morgan. “This is a helluva way to celebrate. Anyone wanna tell me what’s going on?”

“I’m not fucking sure,” I say, keeping my eyes on the angry little redhead that’s spitting mad at me about something.

Victor looks like he just won the championship. Smiling that crazy smile wiping his bloody hands down the front of his shirt. “Okay, well, when you know, you can tell me, but for now you want me to take care of cleanup? My uncle will deal with these guys permanently. We need to get this little situation under control.”

Emee looks from him back to me, like she’s lost in her own world. “I did not sleep with you to cover his debt,” She says, her anger slipping away, moisture gathering in her eyes and the marks on her face make me want to tear down the fucking stadium.

Her pain could be the end of me.

“I don’t know what’s going on here, Firecracker, but I’ll protect you no matter what. Your bother needs to man up, though. I don’t get all the details of what’s happening, but I can put together that this is his fucking mess, and you’re being dragged down with him. That stops today.” I growl, pointing a finger at Benjamin. “Family does not put family in danger, especially to save their own ass.”

“You don’t understand, his life was bad. It was horrible growing up,” she says, defending him.

I love her for her mother bear instincts, and she’ll make a great mom for our kids, but she needs to hear this.

I nod. “I know, and I’m sorry for that. But that’s no excuse. I’ve had a tough life, Victor’s had a tough life, you’ve had a tough life. That’s no fucking excuse.” I look over to Benjamin, who’s staring at me, eyes twitchy, working his lips back and forth.

“Leave my brother alone,” Emee says, “and let me go.”

Benjamin watches me for a moment, and I think this could go either way. He could rage against me right now, tell me to fuck off, and my relationship with my future brother-in-law will be tainted from the start. I don’t want that. I want us to be friends.

But what I won’t do is allow his shit to hurt Emee, not ever again.

He locks eyes with me, his bravado fades. “He’s right, Emee. I can’t live like this. I need help.”

I reach for Emee’s hand. “I’ll get you help. You’re family now.” I turn to Victor, who is punching numbers into an emergency phone on the wall behind the bloodied guys on the ground. “But, first, I need to take care of what’s mine.”

CHAPTER 19

Emee

“She’s going to be fine.” Terrance, who apparently takes care of all sorts of messes, stands back and stretches. “Just keep an eye on her. Tylenol and Advil for pain, if she needs them.”

King nods. “Thanks again, man.”

When the adrenaline wore off, my fury at King subsided too. The truth is he’s the King of Chaos, sure, but he’s my King of Chaos. And I think I’m stuck with him, because the thought of us ever being apart makes my heart hurt.

Terrance put me through a bunch of tests, making sure I didn’t have a concussion or anything more serious than superficial battle scars.

He nods to me, shakes hands with King, and leaves us alone in the team locker room.

I glare at King. “Just like I told you, I’m fine.”

“And like I told you, I’m not taking any chances. You need anything?”

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