Page 88 of Stay Little Fighter

“How did you come to work for King?” I ask.

“It’s a long story,” Corbin tells me. “But the short version is that we were trained by The Hunter to take his place wiping out the shit stains that walk among us, and after a couple of years of managing contracts ourselves, we met him on a job. The client hired two teams, wanting to make sure the job was done properly, and we kind of clicked. Our skill sets filled gaps he had in his organization, and we got to stop negotiating our own contracts.”

“Which is a damn good thing because we were shit at it,” Enzo adds as he catches the knife and moves to spinning it on the table in front of him.

“And you like working for him?”

Corbin nods with a soft smile. “He’s a great boss, pays us too well for the work we would do for free. But he takes care of us. Makes sure we take time off after a heavy case and is always around if we need him.”

I smile at that, my chest warming at the thought of Kingston dropping everything to chat with one of his men.

“We’re commencing our descent, we’ll be on the ground in fifteen minutes,” the pilot says over the PA system, and my stomach rolls.

Our part of this plan should be easy, but no matter how hard I try, I still can’t shake the feeling that something’s going to go wrong.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

CHLOE

THEN

TEN YEARS AGO

Kingston’s been off today.

No less caring and affectionate than he has been the last three weeks, but there’s something I haven’t been able to shake since I woke up this morning.

A feeling of dread that just won’t quit, no matter how hard I try to convince myself it’s nothing.

It’s the same one I had when I said goodbye to Ronan the day his father locked me and my family in the cellar. A constant presence that won’t budge.

I’ve been feeling better the last few days. Stronger. More stable emotionally, but my therapist said that’s perfectly normal and made sure to warn me that healing from this kind of trauma wouldn’t be linear.

It’s a journey and one I’m desperately trying to want to be on.

There’s still the voice in the back of my mind that wants to give up, that doesn’t see a point in living when I’ve lost everything. But I’m desperate to make my parents proud, to keep putting one foot in front of the other even when it hurts like hell.

It doesn’t help that my hormones have been wreaking havoc on me, which again, is apparently normal.

Being a woman is really shitty sometimes.

I glance over at Kingston and frown. Today’s the first day that he’s worked in front of me. Every other day he’s only gone into his office or moved to the desk in the corner of the bedroom when I was asleep.

Maybe that’s what’s throwing me off. Maybe it’s just the change in our routine that has my anxiety ramping up.

We haven’t spoken much about what comes next, but in the weeks I’ve been here, we’ve formed a bond that I like to think is unbreakable, and I would like to stay here, with him.

I’m not ready to move on when my heart still very much beats for Ronan, and I’m all too aware of how big our age gap is, but I can’t lie and say I’m not attracted to him, so maybe down the track we could be…more.

I had dinner alone for the first time since he brought me here, and now I’m curled up with my book, trying to focus on the words on the page, but all I can think about is the sinking feeling in my belly.

I should just talk to Kingston about it, if for no other reason than to ease my own anxiety enough to sleep, but I don’t want to bother him while he’s working.

I’ve already taken him away from his work enough the past few weeks and it’s time he gets back to what he loves, even if that means spending less time with me.

Glancing over at the bedside table, I reach for the sleeping pills my doctor prescribed me and take one before I can think twice about it.

I have an irrational fear about getting trapped in a nightmare and not being able to escape because of the medication in my system, but it hasn’t happened so far and if I try to sleep without it, I’ll just lie here and spiral until morning.