Somehow that knowledge seemed even more dangerous than the idea that someone might want to kill me.

It was completely fucked up, but all I could think about was how King was going to break my heart. How stupid could I be? The man had a hand in nearly destroying me. It didn’t matter that he developed a conscience, that he was sharing himself with me now, or that he hadn’t wanted to hurt me after he met me.

All that mattered was that he hadn’t hesitated to put me in harm’s way to begin with. At least that’s what I told myself.

He could swear on a Bible that he wouldn’t do it again, but here we were, years later, facing the possible consequences of his and Justin’s actions.

Groaning, I tossed the remote on the coffee table and got up from the couch to pace. I knew all this, yet the shield I’d erected around my heart was already cracking, threatening to crumble into dust.

He made it very clear that he liked the fact that I challenged him. He also seemed to genuinely regret the choices he’d made three years ago. I wasn’t sure if it was hormones or my own weakness that made me want to forgive and forget.

Usually forgiveness wasn’t a problem with me, but this wasn’t a dent in a car or the inability to pay back a fifty dollar loan. This was my life.

I didn’t know if I could offer him absolution for that.

I did know one thing with startling clarity, though. If I let this go and made an effort to move forward, I would be his. He wouldn’t have to work for it. It was just a fact, like knowing the Earth revolved around the sun.

I walked restlessly around King’s living room, trying to escape the thoughts that were ruthlessly assailing me. God, I wished I had someone to talk to. I couldn’t talk to Katie for obvious reasons, even though she would at least understand what was going on. I didn’t want to drag Ashley into this, so she was out.

My feet hesitated when I thought about my cousin, Tia. I could talk to her about anything. She was amazing and even less inclined to deal with bullshit than I was. She would be able to provide some insight on this situation.

However, if I called her, I had a bad feeling that she would show up in an effort to help. That could be disastrous, for both of us. Then again, Tia was the toughest person I knew, male or female. She was a female equivalent of Wick’s personality and she was scary as hell when she was mad. I once saw her break a guy’s hand for grabbing her ass at a concert. While it was awesome to see her take the fuckwit down, it was also frightening.

Lost in thought, I took my cell phone out of my pocket when it rang and answered without checking the caller ID.

I immediately regretted it.

“Jena.”

My body froze, my skin turning to ice and every muscle locking down. “Larry,” I choked out.

“How are you doing?” he asked politely.

“Uh, I’m f-f-fine,” I stuttered. “How are you?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Um, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I know what’s going on, Jena,” he murmured.

I swallowed hard, the muscles that were so tight moments ago turning to water. Collapsing on the couch, I asked, “You do?”

“I know what happened three years ago and I know what’s happening now. I know that Wick and his boys used you.”

Licking my dry lips, I responded, “You do?”

“Yes, honey, I do. I know you didn’t talk back then, but you need to be careful now.”

Holy shit, was he trying to console me and threaten me at the same time? “Careful?”

“I understand you’re with King. There are things about him you don’t know, and you need to get as far away from him as possible.”

“Larry, I-”

“Jena, I don’t want to see you get hurt. King and Wick are putting you right in the line of fire.”

Suddenly the phone was ripped out of my hand. I screamed and whirled around. Wick stood behind me, a muscle ticking in his jaw as he listened to whatever Larry was saying.

“I know what you’re doing, Peretti, and it’s going to stop,” he snarled. “You do not call Jena again. As far as you’re concerned, she doesn’t exist. You got me?” He paused and I could hear Larry’s voice rising on the other end of the line, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. Wick shook his head, his arctic blue eyes locked on me. “She has no part in this except whatever plans you have for her.”

He smiled coldly as Larry responded. “I’m not stupid, and I don’t believe a goddamn word outta your mouth.”

I watched with wide eyes as Wick disconnected the call. He threw my phone on the couch and stared at me, his expression icy and unreadable.

Finally, he asked, “What in the fuck were you thinking, talking to Peretti like that?”

My throat felt tight with fear as I looked at him. Talking to Larry freaked me out, but Wick was scaring the shit out of me.

“I forgot to check the caller ID,” I mumbled, taking a step back.

Wick stalked after me. “You forgot to check the caller ID?” he asked incredulously.

I tried not to cower as he loomed over me, but Wick was terrifying in this mood. My usual feistiness had deserted me.

He shook his head as he stared down at me. “You know what, I’m going to let King handle this,” he muttered. “You’re not my responsibility, which means you’re not my problem.”

That didn’t sound good. I watched as Wick pulled his phone out of his pocket and started scrolling through the screens. My stomach dropped when he put it to his ear.

After a few seconds, he started talking. “King, Wick. Your girl just got a call from Peretti. I was outside talking to your man when the call came through the bug and Johns shot me a message.” He paused. “Yeah, she was talking to him when I came inside, white as a fuckin’ sheet and shakin’ like a leaf.”

I made a noise of protest, feeling those shakes he mentioned return.

Wick’s eyes cut to me, devoid of amusement. “You wanna talk to her?”

I shook my head vehemently and could swear I saw a whisper of a smile curve Wick’s lips. Seeing that, a little of my spunk came back and I straightened my spine, throwing back my shoulders and glaring at him.

The suggestion of the smile became a full-fledged grin.

Crap.

“Yeah, I figured that’s what you’d do,” he muttered. “I’ll stick around til you get here.” Wick hung up and shoved his phone back into his pocket. “King’s on his way.”

“Shit,” I whispered.

“I’m waiting outside until he gets here. I suggest you start thinking about what you wanna say to convince him he doesn’t need to spank your ass red for this stunt.”

I scowled fiercely at him. “Excuse me?” I asked, putting a hand on my hip, my earlier fear vanishing beneath outrage at his words.

Wick laughed. He actually laughed. “Shit, I don’t envy him getting you under control.”

“You did not just say that,” I snapped, forgetting that Wick scared the shit out of me.

He shook his head, still chuckling. “Never understood why King had a thing for the bitchy ones.”

“Hey!”

Wick abruptly stopped laughing. “Now I do.” His pale blue eyes were no longer icy but intense.

Holy shit, I realized he was basically saying he thought I was hot. Speechless, I watched as he turned on a heel and walked out of the house.

Knowing I only had twenty minutes before King would get back from the bar, I picked up my phone and, without taking a beat to think about it, called Tia.

“Hey, bitch!” she yelled in my ear. “God, it’s been for-fuckin’-ever since I’ve heard from you.”

“Girl, your phone works, you just proved that. You could have called me.”

She laughed. “True. What’s up?”

“I have man troubles.”

“You? Man troubles? What, he wants his balls back?”

Even though I was in the middle of a major freak out, I giggled. “Nope. He won’t let me have’em at all.”

“Shit,” she murmured, “you got it bad, don’t ya?”

“It’s more than just man trouble,” I told her. “I have other kinds of trouble.”