Page 108 of Forbidden King (Magnolia Falls)

“Hayes, take a seat. You need to hear him out,” Nash said, and that was not the right thing to say, because Hayes flew off the handle with that request.

“I need to take a seat? I need to hear him out? My best friends all seem to know something is going on, and no one has had the decency to tell me? So, I’m looking you in the fucking eyes, King.” He moved closer to me, and I knew I was fucked. This hadn’t gone down the way I’d hoped. “You tell me right now… did you fuck my sister?”

I gripped his shoulders and shoved him back. “Don’t fucking talk about my woman like that.”

Everything was a blur after that. He dove on top of me, and I didn’t fight him. I had it coming. I’d fucked up, and I’d take the hits that came.

He punched me in the side of my face first and then gripped my shirt and shook me as I lay on the floor beneath him. “Your fucking woman? For how long, King? Until you get bored with her and throw her away? How the fuck could you do this to her?”

Romeo, River, and Nash were on their feet, pulling him off of me.

“It’s not what you think,” I said, pushing to sit up and wiping the blood from my lip. “Let me explain it to you.”

He was clearly intoxicated because he stumbled back, shaking them off, as he turned to look at each of them. “You all knew? And no one told me?”

“Dude, we didn’t know shit. We were suspicious,” Romeo said.

“This isn’t on them. This is on me. Let me walk you home, and we can talk about it.”

A sarcastic laugh left his lips. “We can talk about it? You’ve had months to talk to me about it. And you didn’t give a fuck about anyone but yourself.”

I pushed to my feet. “That’s not how it is, Hayes. You’re my brother. I love you, man.”

“Nah. You know she’s all I have. She’s been through so much, and you cared that little. You just wanted to get your dick wet.”

Now it was my turn to throw a punch and hit him square in the jaw. “I warned you not to talk about her like that.”

He stumbled back and then spit on my wood floor. His hands were up as he backed away and walked toward the door while still facing me.

He just stared with disbelief, like I’d betrayed him in the worst way.

And I had, hadn’t I?

The look in his eyes nearly broke me.

Betrayed and angry and hurt.

“Ride or die. Right, King?Ride or fucking die.” His voice cracked on the last word, and a deep pain settled in my chest.

And he turned and walked out the door.

“I’ve got this,” Romeo said, as he held up a hand and jogged out the door.

“I’ll go with you. I think he’s going to be raging for a while.” Nash hurried out behind Romeo.

They both gave me a look that said it all.

I’d fucked up really badly this time.

I dropped onto the couch, and I ran a hand down my face. That had gone about as badly as it possibly could have.

I’d hurt someone that was a fucking brother to me.

River came to sit beside me after he’d stepped into the kitchen. He handed me a frozen bag of peas to hold on my face. “This is bad, King. And you’re going to need to fix this.”

“I know. I planned to talk to him tomorrow morning so we wouldn’t have a fucking audience.”

“Well, how’d that plan work out for you?” He raised a brow. “How about you own it with me right now? Is this thing between you two serious?”

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