Page 84 of The Gift
I fall into all the promises I see, and declarations I hear. There’s a part of me, a large part, that is almost dismissive of the gravity of his sweet sincerity. Another part of me knows without a doubt, or a lick of regret, that life as I know it is about to change. Yet, I don’t think the biggest, most fundamental change in my life is going to be coming out as an omega.
“Look, so you know, I’m an expert in whoop-ass. You break my trust, or my heart, Koda, and I’ll open a can of it, and destroy you.”
He shakes his head, there’s not much more we need to say to each other. I already know, hand on heart, that I can trust this man with every cell in my heart and all of my soul. How could I not? He’s already given me his heart.
“Pretty soon, Bails, I’m going to be whispering in your ear something along the lines of, I love you an awful lot. All I’m doing today is giving you a heads up, so you can start practicing your response. Which will be, I love you too, Koda Graham.”
One more knowing smile before he scoots back on his chair and helps me up.
“Hey, Koda, why can’t we stay here?” I ask what’s been bugging me for a while.
“I guess we want everything perfect for you, including a proper nest. We’ve ordered everything we could think you’d want, but none of it has arrived yet. And it’d be good to have some extra electronics up. Our alarm is good, but I guess we’ve got something special we think needs that next level protection.”
“So, we get to do this twice?”
“Shit, woman, we get to do this for life.” He grabs me, tugging me forward, pulling me up so I can feel the hard beat of his heart. “I’ve got to talk to you, Bails, about a couple of things.”
“Why not with the rest of the guys?”
“They’ve left already. Didn’t you wonder why they weren’t in here bugging you?”
“Kind of, but I thought you’d arranged it like that.”
“Nah. I wish that was the case.”
“Do I need to sit down for this?”
“Nope. There’s nothing secretive going on. It really is they’re impatient and didn’t want to waste any time, so we split up.”
“Makes sense.”
“Doesn’t it?”
He tips his head to one side, lots of things going on in his head, you can see the busy-ness in his mind although his attention is definitely on me.
“First up, Reno is one of the consulting doctors at the Desert Rose.”
“So, he’s gone to what, check on Regalo?” I rear back, trying not to be upset by the fact.
“Nah. Reno’s going to visit another inmate, Lux Duscher. Lux did bad shit for bad people, and I’m not making excuses for him in the slightest. He’s a lifer because of what he did. Who he works for is up to him, but Lux has a woman he’s left on the outside. And that woman has lots of hungry mouths to feed, education, and prom dresses to pay for.”
“And?”
“He’s not getting out of Desert, and he doesn’t mind being the painful hand of justice when the situation lends itself.”
“What does that mean?”
“We help him, and he helps us.”
“And he’s going to finish what Henley started?”
“Sure fucking is. You got your interview, now Regalo gets his due.”
“Do I need to feel bad for that?”
“No chance.”
“I kind of meant for the guy Reno is going to see.”
