Page 46 of King of Wrath

“My mom had to take me to the emergency room where they put the jaw back in place. Lied and said that I’d fallen off the pony that had bitten me and that’s how I dislocated it.”

Her other hand comes to mine.

“Then, when we got home…my pops had this collection of baseball cards he loved. Some of them worth a lot of money. She took them out in the backyard and lit them on fire.”

I hear Nia gasp, but I don’t look at her. “He beat her up worse than me, but she did it knowing how much he’d hurt her after. It wasn’t a pretty home. But my mom, she had my back.”

“Where is she now?”

“Nursing home. Dementia,” I answer as I look back at her blue eyes. “I don’t want to do what they did. That fucked-up marriage. But my mom, she is the one person I could always trust to stand up for me, Nia. Not until Mason did I have another person I could really count on. I won’t abandon you, Nia. I promise you that. And if I break that promise, you can kill me, sweetheart.”

She stares at me as I turn my face up to the sun. “We can stay out as long as you want. Just tell me when you’re ready to go in.”

“Just a few more minutes,” she answers. Despite our sweaty palms, her hand stays in mine.

I mean the promise. I’ve changed and I can’t change back. I don’t want to.

I’ll die before I let Toni or anyone else hurt her.

I close my eyes, feeling the heat of the sun, the prickle of sweat.

The air is growing thicker. When I open my eyes, I see them. Giant plumes of clouds that are sure to mean rain.

Storms in the desert can be dangerous. With a grimace, I tug on her hand. “We should head inside.”

“Why?”

“Storm,” I point at the clouds. “And it’s going to be bad.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Jake

Did I say bad?I meant fucking awful.

Torrents of rain begin to fall within fifteen minutes of us retreating into the safety of the house.

The thing about the desert is that it goes so long without water, the dirt gets so hard-packed, it can’t soak in any of the water.

The house is fine.

It was made for these kinds of rains, a waterproof membrane making it tight and a pump pushing the water away from the foundation and into a storage system for the house.

I watch from the windows, knowing that the cisterns we’ve put in place will be full after a storm like this, giving Nia and I all the water we’ll need for weeks.

We’ll also get some rare desert flowers. Maybe Nia and I can even take a short walk tomorrow. I know she’d like some more time outside and maybe it will be a chance for me to tell her some of the truth.

I can’t keep it from her much longer. She’s too beautifully imperfectand though I know I’m never going to be the long-term guy, there is this part of me that’s starting to want... But, I’m no one’s Prince Charming.

I think I could be her dark knight. The one that slays her dragons and hides her in my castle until the danger has passed.

I can save her.

My thoughts swirl as I watch the rain pelt the windows, the storm mirroring my own tumultuous thoughts.

And that’s when the power goes out.

Nia is sitting behind me, draped over a chair, legs dangling over one side in the most tempting way possible when it goes, the pop and then the silence making her give a little cry. “What was that?”

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