Page 29 of The King's Boy

"I'm keeping him," I stated firmly in case Malloy thought anything else.

"But if he doesn't want to be kept—"

"I'm still keeping him."

Malloy's eyes rounded as he drew in a heavy breath. "Your funeral, man."

"I have a good excuse for keeping him here right now. Someone is trying to kill him, and I can protect him. I'm hoping that once that this is over, he will want to stay."

Malloy squinted at me. I let him stare, knowing once again he was working things out in his head.

"Are you in love with him, King?"

I snorted as I glanced away. "Like I even know what love is."

That wasn't a response just to avoid the question. I really didn't know what love was. My mother had died when I was young. My father was still alive, but I wouldn't cross the road to piss on him if he was on fire. He had abused my mother until her dying day, and yet he insisted that they were "in love".

I called bullshit.

I wasn't sure my prospective was a good one to define what love was anyway. I associated with mobsters and thugs more than normal people, and they were not known for their tender feelings.

They knew how to shank someone and get away without being caught and how to smuggle illegal goods from one place to another. They did not know how to treat their significant others with love and respect.

Granted, there were some couples here and there that seemed to truly love each other and treat each other well, but they were few and far between.

In my experience, it was almost a rite of passage to smack your spouse around and treat them like dirt. It was what my father did with my mother until the day he killed her.

I refused to do that with Spencer. Even if I didn't know what love was, I knew how I felt when I was around him.

"I need you to help me keep him safe while we figure out who is after him."

"Are you sure about this, King?" Malloy asked. "He could easily decide to take off once you get the target off his back."

"He could, but I am hoping he won't."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Malloy stood, but he didn't walk away. "Spencer seems kind of flighty to me. I think he will run the first chance he gets."

I was afraid of that, too. "Then we have to make sure he doesn't get a chance."

Malloy lifted an eyebrow.

"I want Spencer to have full autonomy inside the mansion and on the estate grounds, but once he leaves, I want him with no less than two guards, so pick a couple of the men to watch over him."

Malloy nodded.

"Also put out some feelers to see if you can find out if there is a hit out on him."

"You think this was a professional job?"

"No or we would be planning his funeral. Whoever is after him is clearly an amateur, but even a novice can get lucky. If we're not careful, they will be able to finish the job before we can stop them."

"You want me to look into Spencer at all?" Malloy asked. "Maybe there is a reason someone is after him."

I pressed my lips thin as I thought about that. My first reaction was to say no. I usually had no problem looking into the background of anyone near me, but this time the mere thought of doing something like that behind Spencer's back made my gut clench.

"No, not yet." I would give it a little time and then maybe talk to Spencer before I dug into his life. "Just look into if anyone has taken a hit out on him or if anyone is talking about him."

"It might take a couple of days."

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