Tia smiled. “I can do that.”

With a nod, King got to his feet. “You start tonight. Jack will show you around. I don’t think we have shirts in your size, so we’ll order you a couple. Until then, you wear black like the rest of the guys.”

She nodded. Jack motioned for her to follow him as he headed down the hall.

I heard him rumble, “You gotta show me that thumb lock. It would be so much easier than dragging guys outta here in a fuckin’ full nelson.”

I heard Tia laugh as they walked out of earshot.

King looked over at me. “Did you know she could do that?”

“Uh, well-”

“Never mind,” King interrupted. “Even if you did, you wouldn’t have told me, would you?”

I grinned at him, completely unrepentant. “Nope. It was more fun this way.”

King grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the exit. “I can see things won’t be boring with you around.”

He had no idea just how un-boring things were about to become.

Chapter Twenty-Three

‡

I woke up early the next morning. Unlike King and Tia, I’d gone to bed before midnight, so my eyes popped open around seven-thirty. King was lying on his stomach, his head turned away from me, and I was sprawled across his back, my head on his shoulder.

Wanting to let him sleep, I carefully slipped out of bed, pulling the blankets up to cover his bare back. Grabbing my cell phone, I left the bedroom, shutting the door silently behind me. Moving down the hall, I saw that Tia’s door was closed and I knew she would probably sleep until a little before noon.

As I walked through King’s living room, I shook my head. Like most other things with Alaric Sloan, I was shocked by his house the first time I saw it. He lived in a subdivision that consisted of spacious homes on large lots. His lot was populated with quite a few established trees, creating a pocket of privacy for King’s house. The back yard was beautiful and well-kept and there was a fire pit about forty feet from the back deck with a circle of Adirondack chairs around it.

The interior was even more surprising to me. While it wasn’t straight out of a home decor magazine, the furniture went well together and the suede couches were high quality and extremely comfortable.

I brewed a pot of coffee and made some toast. When everything was ready, I carried it out onto the back deck and settled on a chaise lounge. After I ate my toast, I was enjoying my coffee when the back door slid open.

Tia walked out wearing a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt, carrying a cup of coffee. Her eyes were so heavy I was surprised she could see.

She flopped down on the chair next to mine.

“Morning,” I greeted her.

She grunted in response and sipped her coffee, letting her head fall back on the lounge with her eyes closed.

I smiled because, as a teenager, Tia had never been much of a morning person and it appeared nothing had changed.

We drank our coffee in silence, both of us soaking up the early sunshine.

“King seems like a really cool guy,” Tia commented after a few minutes.

I nodded. “He is.”

I glanced over to find her looking at me.

“You’re crazy about him, aren’t you?”

Nodding, I turned away from her and drained the last few sips from my cup.

“I’m pretty sure he feels the same way,” she murmured.

“I think so too.”

“Okay, well, just remember to pick a fucking dress I can wear again when you ask me to be your maid of honor, okay?”

I was grateful I didn’t have any coffee left, because if I had, I would have choked on it. “Maid of honor?” I squeaked.

Tia grinned at me. “Girl, King is not some kind of boy-man who’s terrified of settling down. Hell, he’s already settled down, even without a wife.”

“Yeah but King doesn’t strike me as the traditional type. He’s more of the live-in-sin type.”

My cousin nodded. “I can see that, but my Jena is the marrying kind, so he’ll do it for her.”

Throat tight, I smiled at her. “I hope you’re right.” Because I was suddenly feeling sad, I stood. “I’m going to get more coffee. You want some?”

She handed me her cup without a word.

I wasn’t gone more than a few minutes, but when I returned to the back porch, Tia had my phone to her ear.

“Oh, here she is.” She held the phone out to me. “It’s someone named Katie.”

I froze, staring at my phone as though it were a poisonous snake.

“What’s wrong, Jena?”

I shook myself out of my daze. Dealing with Katie wasn’t exactly how I wanted to start my day, but putting it off was no longer an option. If she was willing to risk whatever King threatened her with to call me, then she must have been freaked the hell out.

I took the phone and lifted it to my ear. “Hello, Katie.”

“Jena, I need your help.”

No greeting, no apology, just a demand for my help. Vaguely I wondered if she’d always been so self-centered and I hadn’t noticed because I cared about her.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that, Katie, but I can’t imagine why in the fuck you’d think I’d help you after the way you treated me the last time I saw you.” When she didn’t speak, I continued, “Or after I saw the video of you groping my boyfriend.”

“Hey! King took that video before you and he hooked up, you can’t be mad about that!” she exclaimed.

“I wasn’t talking about King,” I answered softly.

There was another long pause.

“I also know exactly when the video was taken because you and Justin were dressed up. You were fucking my boyfriend after my New Year’s Eve party a few weeks before he died.”

“Jena, that’s not important right now-” she began.

“Shut the fuck up,” I whispered shakily. I didn’t trust my control, so I had to keep my voice low or I’d end up shrieking at her. “What kind of person are you? Hell, who the fuck are you? After years of being friends, how could you do something like that to me?”

“Because I was sick to fucking death of you getting everything!” Katie yelled. “Perfect fucking Jena, always getting exactly what she wanted. You had the perfect job, the perfect apartment, the perfect car, clothes, boyfriend, EVERY GODDAMN THING! It was my turn to get what I wanted!” she screamed.

Tia jumped to her feet and I knew she could hear Katie shrieking. I shook my head at her. Her eyes narrowed, but she slowly sank down into her chair. I could tell by the tension in her body that she was supremely pissed off.

“And it didn’t matter that you had to betray me to get it,” I stated, still quiet.

“Oh, I’d say you landed on your feet,” she replied nastily. “You forget, Jena, I’ve had King too. He’s so much better in bed than Justin and richer, so I don’t think you’re going to be crying into your cereal at night, surrounded by cats.” Her words were followed by a bitter laugh. “It was so disgustingly clear to everyone but you that King wanted your ass. I saw it at the funeral. Why in the hell do you think I fucked him two days later? I knew he’d give you time to grieve then he’d make his move. I had to have your sloppy seconds when Justin and I were together, so I figured it was only fair you have mine.”

The toast and coffee in my stomach soured at her words, but I refused to be weak in front of Katie. She didn’t deserve my reaction, even if I felt it, there was no way in hell I’d show it to her.

“Well I guess the joke’s on you,” I retorted, “because I don’t care. King and I both have pasts. If I got pissed off about every skank he’s ever slept with, I’d be angry every day for the rest of my life.”

“Did you just call me a skank, bitch?” she shrieked in my ear.

“Yeah, I did,” I answered, my voice stronger. “I’m done with you and with your shit. I don’t care what kind of help you need, find it somewhere else, because the only thing I’m willing to do is spit on your grave. Have a nice day, Katie.”