Page 25 of Fall

"You will always protect them, right?" I ask him, and he nods.

"What about you? Don’t you want your own family?" I ask him.

"Yes, of course I do, but I won’t be able to have that anyway," he says, and I’m confused by his answer. I don’t know what he means.

"Explain that to me? I don’t get it," I ask him.

"I can’t have children, I can’t give you a family, and I can’t be what you need. All right?" he says in a sharp voice, sitting up and looking away from me.

"I’m sorry, Harley, but it doesn’t matter to me," I say gently.

"It will eventually matter when you want us to have a child, and I can never give you that. The fighting came with a cost for me, and the cost was too high," he says. Every part of his body is tense as he stares at the floor.

"Harley," I say, resting my head on his shoulder after sitting up.

“The fighting wasn’t the only thing my father made me do, he made me fuck whoever he wanted me to. He made it so I ended up never trusting women, never wanting to get close to anyone.” He pauses, taking a long breath. “I never wanted to get hurt again, and then you came into my life. The first woman I couldn’t stop thinking about, wanting to be around all the time. But I’m not stupid, I know you won’t want a messed-up man,” he tells me, looking down at the floor like it holds all the answers in the world.

“You’re not messed-up, and it’s up to me what I want,” I whisper.

He doesn’t move for a long time, both of us staring at the fish around us until he looks down at me. The emotion in his eyes is hard to look away from; the hurt he feels, the doubt flashing behind his eyes. I lean up and kiss him, not caring about what he thinks and what he believes is right. I know what I feel for him, and I want him to know. I push all of my feelings for Harley into the kiss, all my worries and everything I know about him.

"Tilly." He sighs when I crawl over and sit on his lap, but he doesn’t stop kissing me back. His lips battle with my own as he loses whatever control he was holding on to. The kissing is finished when the baby kicks, and I know Harley felt it as he looks down to where my bump is touching his stomach.

"Can I?" he asks me, and I nod. Harley reaches a hand between us and smooths a hand over the bump. The baby kicks, and he smiles.

"I will be there for you both, I just can’t make you any promises until the final fight is done. I don’t want to hurt you," he tells me, and I understand, in a way, that this is his way of keeping some control over his life. Unlike when his life was controlled by his father for all those years.

"No promises." I sigh, and he kisses my forehead. I understand where he is coming from, but it doesn’t mean I’m giving up on Harley King.

Chapter Thirteen

Harley

“Another King win!” my father shouts, holding my hand by the arm as I glare at him. Not that he gives a crap. I look down at the guy on the floor, blood covering most of his face, his nose is broken, and only the movement of his chest tells me he is even alive anymore. I tried not to hurt him too much, but the man wouldn’t give up. He fought like everything in his life depended on it, and I bet it did.

“Get off,” I growl, pulling my arm away and walking out of the cage and slamming the door open to the changing room. I hear his booted footsteps as he follows me in here, but I don’t turn to him.

“I want to tell you something. I have a plan,” he says.

“What?” I snap, looking over my shoulder at him, and he shakes his head.

My father looks every bit the rough man I know he is, with his bald head, tattooed neck, and pristine suit. Most people are scared of him with just one look, but no one realises just how evil he really is. Evil with a good-looking face.

“Not here,” he says, and I ignore him as I get dressed and wipe the blood off my hands. My lip feels like it needs stitches as it continues to bleed, and two of my knuckles feel broken as I undo the bindings.Fucking great.

I won’t show him that I’m in pain, show him any weakness. I follow my father out of the changing room, seeing him nod to Arthur, who is sitting at the bar, and then he leads me outside. I don’t say a word as he drives us back to the house. Not a word, and that’s concerning. Fuck knows what crazy plan he has now.

“Wait,” my father says as I try to walk straight up the stairs and to my room.

I glance back at him, watching as he walks into the kitchen. I follow him and see all my brothers sitting around, some are eating and I assume they were talking before Dad came in. They always stop talking when he is here, always scared of his reaction and not wanting a beating. I hate that that’s how they have become.

“I’m going to kill Arthur and take over The Cage and the other businesses,” my father says, and I just stare at him.

“You’re mad,” Elliot growls out, and I give him a look that makes him look away. Elliot is the only one who challenges him these days. Sebastian spends as much time as he can away from the house, and Elliot covers for him. I protect them all, especially Luke. He is the most shielded from everything.

“No, I’m not. It’s all planned, and when I’m the boss, not just a fucking partner, you can all work for me. It’s a brilliant plan. I’m going to sleep and think about it,” he says, walking out of the room, and we all sit in silence for a long time. I know my father has mental issues, I’ve always known that, but this just proves he is fucking crazy.

“Should we stop him?”

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