Page 52 of Filthy Devil

I wish he were right here with me.

The woman who is with them moves into the room. When her eyes meet mine, she smiles. “You must be James,” she says softly.

Flicking my gaze from her eyes to King’s, I swallow hard. “I’m James Bishop, and you must be Shawn?”

She reaches out and takes my hand with hers. One little boy runs past our legs, and another one toddles after him much slower. I smile down at them, then shift my attention back to theirs. Shawn releases my hand, but it’s King who speaks next.

“Tell me what happened. Everything that happened.”

His voice is deep, and the accusation is gone, but the worry is still laced heavily in his tone. He’s scared, and I don’t blame him because I’m terrified. “Let’s all go and sit down,” Shawn offers.

A few moments later, the four men who arrived with them make their way to the bar and sidle up with Tommy G while Shawn, King, and I walk over to a table and chair. The little boys are dragging some kind of basket out of the hallway.

I watch them struggle for a moment with the basket, and then they plop down on the floor and begin to take items out. They’re toys.Oh my god. Nash has toys here for his grandsons. If that isn’t the cutest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life, then I don’t know what is.

Shifting my gaze between them, I suck in a deep breath and hold it for a moment, then I tell them everything from the beginning. I tell them who I am, and although I’m pretty sure they already know, I tell them how he got me here and where he took me from.

“So he went to the club and disappeared?” King asks. “No surveillance of him at all?”

“None, just his bike in the parking lot and his phone a few feet from the stage on the floor,” I state.

Shawn looks at him, but he is staring at me. I don’t break the eye contact. I’m pretty sure I’ll be considered weak if I do. And I’m a lot of things, but weak isn’t one of them. So, I keep my gaze connected with his until he breaks it first.

“And you’re together, you and my dad?” he asks.

I’m not sure how to answer that. What Nash would want me to say. So I sink my teeth into my bottom lip and jerk my chin slightly at them. I say what I think Nash would be okay with me saying.

“I’m his until I’m not anymore. He’s mine until I die. I’ve fallen in love with him, and there will never be anyone else.”

King whistles then rubs his palm down his face. “Shit,” he hisses. “Fucking hell.”

“I think I really like this for everyone involved,” Shawn says, a huge smile on her face.

King leans forward, his hands flat on the table. “I know who did this. And there is no way in fuck that any of them are going to get away with a goddamn thing. And they sure as fuck are notgetting you or him or anyone that belongs to the Dark Horse. They’ve fucked with us enough.”

“That’s what I am? Dark Horse property?”

He jerks his chin. “Damn fucking straight you are. And we will protect you.”

“And my mother, she was Dark Horse property?” I ask.

King’s gaze shifts to Shawn, and then he slides his eyes back to meet mine. There is a moment of silence. I know what he’s thinking. He’s thinking about the fact that they killed my mother.

“She was,” King murmurs.

“Until she wasn’t.”

“Betrayal is ugly, James. You know that, yeah?”

I do, although my parents did what they thought was right, even if, in the end, it wasn’t what I needed. They tried to mold me and control me in a way that wasn’t healthy. The ultimatums weren’t either. But now that I’m here, in this world, I can see why they wouldn’t want me to end up like Andrea.

Except, I can see why Andrea wanted to be here. She was free. They wanted nothing but her body and loyalty from her. She almost gave them everything they wanted. Shawn reaches across the table, and her fingers curl around my wrist.

“Elvis, why don’t you leave us alone,” she rasps.

King stands without a word and moves away from the table. I don’t watch him, but I have the distinct feeling he makes a stop at his children before he heads straight for the supersecret meeting.

“Shawn?” I ask.

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