Page 17 of Scorched King

I’d been so shocked I didn’t know what to say or do. But by the end of that night, I’d done a whole lot more with her than a kiss and Pops had been right there with us. From that night on I was hooked.

At that age I assumed it was love, and it definitely was. But I’d be an idiot not to realize now that the early days were fueled by lust and a shit ton of alcohol. I certainly never would have dreamed that it would go on for nearly twenty years or that one night it would end in a gun fight between me and him. It didn’t matter that he’d gone to jail. Malia was gone, and after that, our sons couldn’t get away fast enough.

The weight of the past pressed down on my shoulders as I stared at the evidence board. Everything I’d built since those dark days—the club, our reputation, the safety we’d created—was at risk because I’d let my guard down.

And now Sasha was caught in the crossfire.

My phone buzzed with another update from Tel. More security footage, more dead ends. The traitor knew our shit too well. He had to be close. Someone I trusted.

The thought made my trigger finger itch.

I stabbed at my contact for Tel. He answered on the first ring.

“Yeah, boss.”

“Get your ass over here. We need to talk about our traitor. Bring Axel too,” I growled before tapping to disconnect the call.

It was good to remember that this club was the priority above all else. Sasha would be taken care of, and I’d make damn sure nothing like that ever happened again. But I sure as hell wasn’tgoing to fuck up my life with a woman involved with another man—again.

CHAPTER NINE

Sasha

After a fitful first night, I’d woken far too early for comfort. I’d stayed silent in my room for as long as I could using only my phone for entertainment, and when I’d emerged JD had immediately gone to his office.

That had been over three hours ago, and the silence in the cabin pressed against me like a physical weight. After the constant noise of the hospital, I should have welcomed it. Instead, every creak of the floorboards, every distant murmur from JD’s office made me jump.

Tel and Axel had already come and gone, their faces grim. Something was happening. Something they didn’t want me to know about. The tension radiating from that side of the cabin was thick enough to choke on.

My fingers traced the rough edges of my scars through my shirt. The last time I’d felt something like that had been right before the explosion.

I missed the easy distraction of Bear’s hospital visits. The way he’d taught me card games to pass the time. They had helped, even if they stirred memories of the poker club. At least then I’d had something to focus on besides the nightmares and the phantom pain. Our physical injuries had mostly healed, but mine continued to play out in my head a hell of a lot more than I’d like.

Hence, why the current silence was not good. That left nothing but time to sit in my head and fester.

Things were different now. The easy friendship Bear and I had built felt strained, weighted down by JD’s presence and the undercurrent of danger that seemed to pulse through the compound.

I looked out the window at the trees that lined JD’s property through a thin veil of misty rain. I would have loved to feel that soft rain on my skin, but that line of trees haunted me as surely as any ghost. Because just beyond it was where the club poker room had once stood.

Maybe if I went in the opposite direction…

I closed the blind and turned away from the window. No, not today. I wasn’t ready. But I wasn’t going into JD’s office either just because I was bored. There had to be something else to do. I was finally free from the hospital. Although cooped up here might be worse. Because now all I could think about was the man and that kiss in the truck. My heart skipped a beat and a little butterfly swooped in my stomach. I pressed my back to the wall and closed my eyes, trying to block it out, but that didn’t help.

Not when I could still feel the imprint of his lips on mine, and taste him on my tongue. I banged my head against the wall, trying to force the memory away. I’d spent the last month trying to let go of the feelings I’d struggled with. I’d even gone so far as chalking it up to infatuation. A couple of kisses and one little instance of oral did not a relationship make. He was as closed off as ever and had made it more than clear that we could not be more than what we were. He was my boss, I was his employee, and it was high time I accepted him at his word and let the past go.

So what the hell was I doing in his house? Why did he have to bring me here?

I was going to go insane if I didn’t do something.

I opened my eyes and stood up straight. Okay if I wasn’t going to go outside to burn off this excess energy, I’d have to do something else. My doctors had been up my ass to get more exercise so that’s what I was going to do. JD had a nice big television hanging on the wall in his living room and if I pushed his coffee table out of the way, there’d be plenty of room…

Opening the bag I’d dropped on the floor the day before, I pulled out leggings and a sports bra. In my haste, I forgot about being gentle. I hissed as I raised my arms too quickly, stretching my barely healed scars. Okay, scratch the sports bra. I was going to have to wear a tank top without instead. I gathered a towel, a water bottle from the in-room fridge that JD always kept stocked, and then poked my head out the door to make sure the coast was still clear. I wasn’t looking for an audience.

The living room was empty so I made my way to my spot, pushed the table out of the way and set the television to my favorite yoga channel on youtube. This one included five minutes ofmeditation at the beginning and at the end and it sounded like just the thing I needed to clear my mind.

Only it wasn’t that easy to get the man out of my head while sitting in his house, surrounded by his things, smelling his scent everywhere I turned. But I kept trying until eventually I got lost in the exercise, the sweat, and the much-needed challenge. I was way out of practice and an intermediate session turned into the challenge of my life with my muscles shaking like it was my first time all over again.

“What in the hell are you doing?”

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