Page 55 of His Broken Queen

“You’re always so eager to get my clothes off.” Most of the time we had sex with his pants down around his hips because he couldn’t wait. “Undressing you is kind of nice.”

I unbuttoned his pants, but when I went to unzip them, he stopped me. I looked up at him with a questioning gaze.

“My gun.” He turned around so I could see the shiny metal sticking out from the back of his pants.

I hesitated because I wasn’t comfortable handling a weapon.

He glanced over his shoulder, his intoxicated eyes getting sleepy. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t …”

“Oh, right.” He removed his gun, and turned back around. “When we get back home, I’m going to teach you to shoot. It’s not a bad skill to have. I’ll make sure you learn the proper way.”

He moved toward the dresser, and set the gun on top. When he took off his pants, he fell into the wall.

“Romero.” I stood next to him.

“I love you.” He pressed his palm against my cheek. “Everything is going to be okay.”

“I trust you.” I leaned into his touch. “I always will.”

“I hope you mean that.” He kissed my forehead. “Everything I did today was for you. For us.”

“What did you do?”

“Secured our future.” He took my hand and led me to the bed. “You don’t have to worry about it.”

He dropped onto the pillows, pulling me down next to him. When he cradled me in his good arm, I rested my head on his chest. I craved being close to him.

“Stay with me.” He held me tight. “Promise you’ll never leave me.”

“I promise,” I whispered.

“I’m not a bad person, Lu,” he mumbled. “Sometimes, I have to do bad things.”

As his breathing slowed and he let sleep take over, I didn’t move from his hold. He would probably never tell me what he had to do to get the help of the man he went to see. It was better that I didn’t know because if I knew there was a pretty chance my deepest dream would never come true. The one where we lived in peace with our beautiful children. I would never have to fear for our lives.

For better or worse, I loved him.

Chapter 16

Romero

“I can’t believe you let me talk you into it.” I trailed my fingers along her arm. “It’s very sexy.”

“It didn’t hurt as much as I thought.”

“Baby, I thought you were going to pass out.”

“I wasn’t that bad.”

“When you weren’t screaming.”

“It was a sensitive spot.” She flipped her wrist over and admired her new butterfly tattoo that saidhisunderneath it. “Let me see yours.”

I rested my forearm next to her arm and put our matching tattoos next to one another. Mine was bigger and saidhersunder it. She took a picture of them and smiled.

“I love them.”

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