Page 48 of The Broken Queen
Kingston settled on top of the covers next to me, then lifted hismiddle finger toward his brother. “Would you rather me bullshit her?”
“I’d rather you just make up your fucking mind,” Gio snapped in reply.
I glared between the two brothers, then began eating my sandwich. There was a television on the opposite end of the room, mounted on the wall. I didn’t miss that this bed was king size, where the ones in the other two rooms were both only queens. Someone had selected this size on purpose. If Gio did help at all, I had a feeling that would have been it, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe, deep down, King did have ideas that maybe we could find a way forward.
Kingston didn’t reply while Gio began undressing.
“Grab the remote before you come over,” I requested while finishing off my food. Both of them had to be hungry, and yet I didn’t see them get anything to eat.
Gio slid onto the bed next to me, and while it was a king-size bed, I still felt snuggled tightly between them. They’d gotten bigger in the eleven months we were apart. Their muscles larger and more defined, and I knew they’d had a birthday, so they were both older now. Twenty years old… I was still eighteen for a few more…days. Shit, my birthday was only a few days from now.
The television turned on, and suddenly my favorite movie was playing. “How did you find this?” I asked, snuggling deeper into the bed.
“I pre-loaded movies on your TV about a week ago, while I was up here,” Gio replied as the movie started.
“But you guys hate this movie.”
Kingston scoffed. “You’re naked under the covers, Presley. Don’t assume we’re paying attention to anything other than that.”
I was staring up at him when he finally looked down at me and frowned. “Just watch your movie. I promised not to touch you.”
My focus returned to the television as a young talking pig tried to fit in with the other farm animals, and the tight band around my heart that had held my grief all day began to loosen.
Chapter 18
Kingston
The room was annoyingly dark, save for the glowing stars that I’d pressed into the ceiling above Presley’s bed. Gio was asleep next to her, and at some point, he’d turned the television off, thrusting the room into shadows. Presley slept, or at least it seemed like she was. I had stared down at her exactly three times because each time that I did, the blanket had shifted, revealing more of her skin that I didn’t need to see.
Honestly, I was grateful once the TV was turned off, just so I didn’t have to keep seeing the way her tits had pressed up against the soft duvet cover or how her dark hair looked against her creamy skin. The color of her hair reminded me of the soil I used to run my fingers through. The one thing that used to balance me. I saw that color and thought of my dreams and how they so easily rested against her neck, in silky waves. Removing my finger from hovering over her collarbone, I closed my eyes and curled my fingers into a fist.
I should be in the barn, or on my way to California, literally anywhere else other than lying in bed next to her. But fuck she was persistent. Why couldn’t I just let her go, break her heart, and leave her once and for all?
It’s what I’d told Gio I’d do… I told him I would, but he had to know what it would do to me. What it would do to her…if the tables were turned, there would be no way I’d ask him to give her up. I’d never be able to live with myself if he ever hurt in that way. Didn’t seem to matter though, that I’d effectively carved out a place in my chest that she once resided in. It was always easier for the nice guy to get the girl, not the toxic one, ridden by his trauma and all the bullshit that convoluted his head.
Gio deserved this life. I deserved the shadows his would cast.
Slipping off the bed, I wandered through the room, trailing my fingers over the finished trim and walls. My eyes slid shut as I padded down the stairs.
One. Two. Three.I began counting, remembering exactly how much effort it took to nail the boards in place to finish each step.
Once I was on the bottom floor, my eyes fluttered open as I moved to the kitchen and began finding food. I was starving, after all the emotions of the day and the ones through the night. I located turkey and cheese and made a sandwich, which I consumed in nearly three bites. I followed that up with grapes and a tall glass of water.
By the time I turned away from the fridge, I let a colorful curse fly.
“Sorry,” Presley apologized, while tucking her hands over her chest. She had slipped into the shirt I had taken off earlier and had left on the floor. I ignored what that did to me, that she’d been in my shirt earlier when I found her this morning, and now again. I wasn’t sure what that meant, especially because Gio’s was right next to mine.
“It’s fine.” I finally replied while cleaning up my mess.
Presley toyed with the butter dish, seemingly at peace with the darkened house. A tiny slice of moonlight flowed in through the kitchen window, and a bit more from where we’d left the curtains open.
“This house is better than I ever imagined.”
I carefully set my plate inside the sink. “Yeah?”
Presley tilted her head up and stared. “Yeah…the tiny details especially.”
“Well, Gio knows you pretty well,” I answered, while gesturing toward the room. I felt slightly awkward because I was still in my boxers, no shirt or even socks on.
