Page 54 of Shattered King

“You had no way of knowing Bret would do that.” He reached out and gave my thigh a squeeze. His jaw was tight, the fingers of his other hand flexing around the steering wheel. “Whoever’s supplying him drugs more than likely owns him.”

Hunter obviously hadn’t missed Bret’s condition. “He won’t give up, will he?” I turned to Hunter, feeling numb. I was glad of it, of the numbness. If I thought too hard about what just happened, what could have happened, I’d enter full-on meltdown mode. “Pierce . . . he won’t stop until he has me.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Hunter said, voice so low and fierce it made it hard not to believe him.

I just hoped he was right.

Hunter

We walked into the apartment. Van looked up from his phone, frowning. Van had volunteered to babysit. Since Josh seemed to like his uncle a whole hell of a lot, Lulu had been okay with the arrangement.

“That Neco?” I asked.

“Yeah.” Van shook his head. “Nothing.”

Lulu yanked her hand from mine. “I’m going to . . . I need a shower.” Then she all but ran across the living room to get away, tousled hair flying out behind her. Shit.

I turned to my brother. “Josh asleep?”

“Yeah.”

“Can you stay a little longer, just in case he wakes?” I needed to talk to Lulu without interruption. I needed to hold her, reassure myself that she was okay. Tonight had been a fuck-up of epic proportions.

Van gave me a chin lift. “Take as long as you need.”

I wanted more than anything for Lulu to lean on me. Needed it probably more than she did. She’d been dealing with so much shit on her own for so long, I didn’t think she knew how to do anything else. My girl was scared out of her mind. I got that she was afraid to let me back in. I understood it. Fuck, more than most.

But knowing what she’d been through while I was locked up, what Pierce had done to her . . . yeah, I needed her to lean on me. I needed her to see me as her man again, be the one she turned to. She needed to work through all that had happened. On top of all that, she was carrying guilt over the time I’d done, blamed herself when she’d had no choice. None.

I knew Pierce well enough to know he would have followed through with his threat. I also knew that fucker hadn’t been lying when he told her he had someone on the inside watching me. Motherfucking Baker. The screw hated my guts, had fucked with me whenever the chance presented itself. Which had been often.

The parole board didn’t look kindly on a man who beat the shit out of two other inmates. That kind of thing was frowned upon. Thanks to Baker, I’d been placed in a position where I either fucked those guys up or got myself fucked, literally. I had, of course, chosen to the former. It had destroyed my chance of getting out early. And as far as I could see the screw had done it for shits and giggles.

Lulu wasn’t responsible for that. If I could take that from her, release her of that burden, it’d be a start.

I tested the bathroom door. It wasn’t locked, and swung open when I gave it a shove. Lulu stood by the tub, staring blindly at the water as it rushed from the faucet.

“Babe?”

Her head shot up, twisted toward me—then she took a step back. And Jesus, did that cut. The old Lulu had never looked at me with fear in her eyes. Ever.

“Does Josh need me?”

I shook my head and shut the door behind me. “We need to talk.”

“No I . . .”

“Lulu, we need to talk.”

“I can’t do this now.” Her voice was strong, but it shook like hell.

I gritted my teeth. Pierce had a lot to answer for. As soon as they tracked him down, I’d enjoy every fucking minute of making sure he paid for what he’d done to her. What he did to me. What he took from us both.

“Why don’t you get in the tub? I’ll do the talking.”

She didn’t move, just continued to stare into the water, biting her tempting, full lower lip. Shit. My cock swelled in my jeans. I hadn’t touched her since the night on the couch.

I’d resisted taking it further that night, and instead carried her to her bed after she’d fallen asleep, reluctantly going to my own. I’d stayed away since, to give her time to heal. Her body was pretty much back to normal, besides a few bruises, but her mind . . .