Page 104 of Stay for Me

Even though he pissed me off, coming here at this hour, I knew he was doing it for Diana. Kings was a protector before he was cowboy, the kind of man to go down protecting the people he loved. He was just doing the only thing he knew how to do.

I respected that. I respected him.

Therefore, I gave him the truth. “I rejected her.”

“What?” he asked in disbelief. “You—you rejected her?”

“Affirmative.”

“Why?”

I cut my gaze from his, staring out into the night as I pulled out a pack of cigarettes—my last one. My eyes never left the pale moon as I plucked one out, put it in my mouth, pocketed the box, grabbed my lighter, and lit up. The soft crackling of the embers soothed me almost instantly, the smell of it intoxicating. Kings kept his eyes on me, waiting in a stunned silence I inhaled deeply, the familiar sting of smoke shooting down my throat, slowly killing my lungs. I held it for three seconds before slowly releasing it out through my nose, the smoke hovering as I finally looked back over to him.

“Thought you quit smoking,” he deadpanned, his brow furrowed.

I took a drag. “If we’re going to have this conversation, I’m having a damn cigarette, Kings.”

He looked me up and down, confusion in his eyes. “Why the fuck did you reject her?”

Another drag.

When I didn’t answer, a muscle in his cheek jumped. “Why did you reject a woman like Diana, Mags?”

With the cig hanging from my lips, smoking hovering, I confessed, “Because she’s everything I dreamed of.”

Another drag.

“Everything I don’t deserve,” I continued, smoking billowing from my lips.

Another drag.

“Everything I crave.”

“Mags—”

Shaking my head, I pulled the cig from my mouth, giving him a sad smile. “Love her, Den. Love her with everything I have, which isn’t much.”

“How long?” he asked.

I ignored him. “Diana’s a good woman.”

“She is,” he confirmed.

A beat of silence passed. “I’m not a good man, Kings. You and I both know that.”

Then, my friend rocked me to my core.

“Sometimes a good woman doesn’t need a good man, Mags. Sometimes, a woman like that, needs a man like you, a man who isn’t afraid to cross lines, who isn’t afraid to break the rules, who would lay down his life for her.” He paused. “Sometimes, good women don’t need good men. They just need a cowboy with a tainted soul.”

I stiffened.

“You’d die for her?”

“In a heartbeat.”

He nodded, inhaling through his nose. “You’d kill for her?”

“In a heartbeat,” I repeated.

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