Page 65 of King of Pain

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Luke

I skip down the steps,whistling to myself.

Lifting the hood of the truck, I take a cursory look. “What’s wrong, Alice?” I ask the truck. “Were you just trying to keep Kate from making a big mistake?”

She scared the shit out of me when she got in that truck. Funny thing was, I slowed down instead of sped up.

Kate likes my dominance in the bedroom. But when it comes to her heart, I sense it: she’s fragile. Afraid.

She likes my relaxed and confident energy. She bathes in it like the way we wash in the river.

If I’d chased her too hard, I’d have lost her.

As it was, we ended up in the river, doing the kind of dirty things I’ve only dreamed about.

I’m a man with experience. And money. But the thing about Kate, what’s always been different, is that she wants me as much as I want her. She doesn’t just submit, she fucking loves it.

She’s smart and beautiful, incredibly sweet, and so fucking vulnerable. Mason sent me ten grand. It’s more than enough forme to get across the country. Hell, we could trade in Alice and buy an RV with that money. Camp.

I could have her back to New York in a week. Press her professor to lie and tell her advisor that he’s the reason the position fell through.

This gives Kate what she needs and still allows Mason the room to maneuver into a better position.

No one will recognize me there and my family can finish the deal. I have to ask Kate. But first, I need Alice to run.

I pull out the spark plug, blowing on it as I inspect the terminal. Might be the battery. Alice didn’t turn over at all.

But I’m fixated enough, leaning down deep into the engine that I don’t realize I’m not alone until I hear a twig snap just to my right.

And before I can lift up, the hood comes slamming down on my head, pinning me under the heavy metal.

My arms are under my body and when I try to push up, the hood doesn’t budge.

“Fuck.”

“Sex make you soft,” a deep voice with a thick Italian accent rumbles as Gorilla’s face appears between the narrow gap between the hood and the truck.

A lead ball settles in my stomach as I try again to push the hood up. But Gorilla has got it firmly in place.

It only takes a second for me to understand that Gorilla heard or saw what Kate and I did down by the water.

Rage rumbles through me. Kate is for me alone. No one else. But I bottle it, knowing I’ve only got one chance. “How are Vigo and Vincent enjoying prison?”

“They out soon,” he spits back. “And you pay.”

There is someone who is going to pay. “For?”

“Stealing,” Gorilla points toward the house, grinning like a fool.

If he thinks Kate belongs to Vincent, he’s going to know what my wrath feels like. “Mine,” I spit back.

“I want keep her too,” Gorilla leers at me. “She make pretty noise.”

Fucker. He was spying like a bitch. “Stay away from her.”

“No. You.” He eases up the pressure for a split second and I use it to get my arm out from under me, pushing up and lashing out to grab him.

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