Page 26 of King
I parked and got off my bike, quickly crossing over to her.
“Hi, sugar.” I started to bend down to kiss her cheek, stopping when she raised her hand in front of me and took a quick step back.
“What are you doing here?” My smile dimmed as I realized that she looked less than thrilled to see me. She set the now-empty watering can down on her porch and crossed her arms with a scowl, doing one hell of an impression of a prickly cactus.
“I told you that I would see you soon, remember?”
“King, I don’t think – “
“Just listen for a minute, please?” I interrupted. I filled her in on my conversation with Star, wanting to make sure there was no doubt in her mind that it had all been a lie.
“So, does she have to scare off the stage-five clingers often? Do you have that many women chasing after you that you need help getting rid of them all?”
There was a hint of a smile on her face, so I didn’t get too worried over her question.
“No, I wouldn’t say it happens a lot. In fact, there’s one woman I know who is making me do all the chasing,” I teased.
She snickered, then asked if I was up for the challenge.
“Of course, sugar. You are definitely worth catching, and I’m alwaysupfor a challenge.” She snickered again as she recognized the double entendre, then sobered as she stared up at me, her eyes searching mine. I slid my hand down her arm and grasped her hand, threading my fingers through hers.
“You’re the only one I want to catch, Ella. I laid eyes on you about fifty-two hours ago and I’ve been thinking about you ever since, even when I was with my family Saturday afternoon, and when I was supposed to be focused on club business last night. Hell, even when I was sleeping, you’ve been there, teasing me from the dark recesses of my brain. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with you, exactly, but I’m not looking for a random hookup, that much I do know. You’ve gotten under my skin, and that’s never happened before. I’ve never – and I mean fuckin’ never – had a reaction like this to any other woman.”
My thumb rubbed a lazy circle over her palm, and I grinned in satisfaction as goosebumps skated over her skin. “I won’t lie…I wasn’t sure what to do about it at first, but I know how good you feel in my arms, and how sweet you taste, and I know I want more. I’m not backing off unless you tell me to. Even then, I think I’ll do everything I can to get you to change your mind, especially if it’s because of lies told by someone who fucking knows better.”
“So you don’t have a girlfriend, or some kind of relationship with that woman or anyone else? I absolutely refuse to get involved with a man who’s taken, King.”
“I promise you, sugar. There’s nobody else.”
She started to say something, but we were both distracted by the sound of a car pulling up to the curb in front of her house. Ella tugged her hand free and took a step back as a woman exited the car with a pizza box. Ella hurried to take the box from her, then slipped her some cash. The woman flashed her a grateful smile before getting back in her car.
“I take it you and the kids are having pizza tonight?”
“We are, but separately. They’re meeting friends for pizza and a movie. After hearing the kids talking about itbefore they left, it sounded so good I ordered one for myself.” She hesitated for a second before saying, “If you like sausage, pepperoni, and mushrooms, I have more than enough to share.”
I’d planned to take her out for dinner, but the opportunity to spend time alone with Ella was too good to pass up, so I couldn’t agree fast enough.
We were both hungry, so it didn’t take long to finish off the pizza. Ella teased me for picking off the mushrooms, and I teased her for eating fungus that tasted like dirt. Conversation flowed easily as we each discussed our kids and shared stories from their younger years.
After dinner, we settled down on the couch as we continued talking. Ella sat a little farther away that I would have liked, but I hoped I could change that before the evening ended.
She was laughing at the story of my mom chasing Rome, Jagger, and Lucky down the street with her broom, threatening to beat all three of them after she caught them smoking cigarettes in Sinner’s garage – cigarettes that they had swiped from her purse, which had pissed her off even more.
“My sons were eleven, and Lucky was ten at the time. The good thing about it was that all three of them were sick as dogs after chain-smoking the entire pack, so none of them touched the things ever again.”
“Pop mentioned once that he banned smoking inside the clubhouse when Frankie was diagnosed with lung cancer, so it’s a good thing the boys learned that lesson when they were young.”
“Yeah, I’m happy they didn’t pick up the habit. It was a bitch to stop, but Sinner and I both quit cold turkey the day Mom found out about the cancer. At this point, most of the brothershave quit – some to be healthier, and a few others because they got tired of having to go outside to smoke all the time.”
“I tried it once, when I was about sixteen. I ended up burning a hole in my favorite shirt, and I hated the taste, so I never tried it again.” She paused, then added softly, “I love listening to Pop’s stories about your mom. I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet her.”
I leaned my head back and sighed. “She was a self-declared tough old broad, but she wasn’t nearly as tough as she liked to pretend. She had a heart of gold, and we all miss her like hell.” I cocked my head to look at Ella. “What about your family?”
She shrugged. “I don’t have much left anymore. My parents were killed in a car accident, along with my dad’s parents, when I was six-months old. They’d all gone to dinner together and their car was hit by a semi that slid on the ice. My mom’s parents had been watching me that evening, so they ended up raising me with a little help from my mom’s sister, my Aunt Diane. Other than that, there are a couple of uncles scattered around on my dad’s side, but we aren’t close. We exchange Christmas cards, but that’s about it.”
I felt like shit for even bringing the subject up. “Oh, God, sugar, I’m so sorry.” I reached for her and pulled her into my arms. She nestled against me and draped her arm around my waist as I dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
“It’s OK, really,” she continued softly. “Gran and Gramps were wonderful, and I didn’t really know any difference growing up. Having parents was just kind of an abstract idea for me. I knew other people had them, but I didn’t really understand what I was missing out on, since I never remembered having them to begin with.”
