He thought about telling her about his mother…but no, that was too much for him, even after having come this far.
So he continued to the part of the story that wasn’t as terrible. “The little boy’s name was Victor, and Victor’s father showed up to pick us up a couple of hours later—perhaps one of my father’s men tipped him off in exchange for sparing his life. Victor’s father was…grateful. He took me in and told me for the rest of my life, I should be Victor’s protector, his older brother. We’re all grown up now, and we are as his father wished, brothers, by covenant. Not blood. Victor wants me to return to Rhode Island—something happened today with the 24K Dragon—something he believes will escalate the animosity between our two triads. But I cannot return home. Not yet.”
“Why not?” she asked.
Han had given one reason to Victor, and it was true, but the one he gave Jasmine was much truer. “I might have…before my brother showed up with Kuang Jr. in tow. He insulted me, just as he was allowed to when we were children. So now there’s something inside me that won’t settle for anything less than taking everything Kuang Jr. holds dear. Destroying him just as he wishes he could destroy me—that’s my ultimate plan.”
“And that ultimate plan includes me somehow?” Jasmine asked, shaking her head.
“Yes,” he answered, his voice as clear as hers was confused. “There’s a thing about eldest Dragon sons. They grow up with the expectation that anything they want, they can have. I’ve watched Victor obsess over the same woman for fifteen years now—simply because she taught him the same lesson about loyalty that Brad Kaminski taught you when he ran. Kuang Jr. wanted you, but because of me, he cannot have you.”
I looked down at our entwined hands, trying to process everything he just said—not about what happened with his father. Those actions were clear and easy for me to understand. However, his ultimate plan? Not so much.
“So this isn’t about protection,” I translated. “You’re just using me to piss off K Diamond?”
He glanced away, his sharp jaw setting to granite. “I wish this was only about pissing off K Diamond.”
“So it’s about fucking me then?” I said. “About playing twisted mind games with me, just because you can?”
The words sickened me, and I tugged to take back my hand. Wanting to get up.
But he grabbed on to it and refused to let go. “That’s what my father did when he decided to keep my mother. He played games with her, made her feel worthless and crazy. I don’t want to be like him. I don’t want you to think of me like that. That’s why I tried to stay away. But then I found you crying, I saw you in pain, and despite myself, all I want to do is make it better.”
All I want to do is make it better.
The words tsunamied around my chest, flip-flopping my heart as I tried to decide how to interpret what he was telling me:
He was still haunted by things that had happened in his childhood.
He was using me to piss off a spoiled Dragon’s son.
But he didn’t want to be like his father.
He tried to stay away, but…
He saw me in pain, and all he wanted to do is make it better. Better how?
As if hearing my silent question, he pulled our entwined hands to his chest and pushed a curl behind my ear. “You’re hurting. Let me help you.”
And I shook my head. “I don’t need help.”
He stared at me for a few beats, and it felt like he was reading my soul. Calling me a liar without uttering a word.
And I found myself asking, my voice little more than a whisper. “What kind of help are you talking about?”
“Give me your decisions for a few hours,” he suggested. “Not because you’re angry with me or because I command it. Give me your decisions because you don’t want to think.”
Give me your decisions.
The suggestion was…
Like slipping into a warm Epsom salt bath after a day of wiping out on rocks. You don’t understand just how much your body was hurting until you feel that relief.
Give me your decisions
His words caressed over my bones, tempting me, telling me that was exactly what I wanted. But…
“How…” I asked. “I don’t know how.”
“Kiss me,” he instructed. “Give me your mouth.”
In a daze, I did as he said, pressing my lips tentatively to his.
I shouldn’t have bothered to take care. He slanted his mouth across mine and immediately invaded, taking a gulp to my sip, consuming me whole though I’d only offered him a crumb.
He kissed me like this, and eventually, his hands found their way down to my surf shorts. I moaned, and he pulled away to let me know, “She’s soaking, hungry. But, don’t worry, I’m going to give her what she needs. Nod yes, as you did on the Fourth of July.”
