"I can't take your money without giving you something in return." Rory took a step forward, and before King could stop him, he swept Evie in a kiss that had King ready to punch him as Rory's client stormed from the room.

Rory lifted his head, breaking the pa.s.sionate kiss. "If you change your mind, call me." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a card, handing it to her. King noticed Evie was slow in taking the card, still befuddled by the kiss.

"King?" Rory's eyes met his.

"Beat it. I'll call her and make it up to her." Although, both silently acknowledged it would be Rory kissing her a.s.s to make amends.

"Thanks...?" Her breathy voice had King debating strangling her while everyone watched.

"Evie," King growled.

"Thanks, Evie. I'll see you around."

"Yes, you will." Evie leaned heavily against the bar as Rory left to enjoy his impromptu night off.

"King?" Evie sighed.

"What?" he snapped.

"You don't charge enough for him."

King stared down at Evie in the bed, the bedside lamp giving the room a muted glow. She lay sprawled out, naked on the mattress, her skin still bearing the imprint of his hand. He reached out, tracing the curve of her silky breast, noticing the gold chain around her neck.

His hand reached down, picking the thick locket up, fiddling with it and seeing a tiny b.u.t.ton on the side. Pressing it with the tip of his nail, the top flipped back. A ring lay inside. King lifted it closer to see it better. It was a diamond ring. The diamond was small, but the ring probably cost a couple thousand. King wanted to rip the necklace from her then wake her up and f.u.c.k her again.

"It's not nice to snoop." Her soft recrimination had his eyes lifting to her drowsy ones.

"Who gave it to you?"

She lowered her eyelashes, her hand taking the necklace from him. "Levi, my high school sweetheart, gave it to me the day we graduated high school. He had saved his money up, working part-time for a year and a half." Her hand tightened on the ring.

"He was worried that the diamond would be too small. I told him I didn't even need a ring. I wanted to go to the court house and get married, but he talked me into waiting. He wanted to make sure he was what I wanted.

"He was afraid because we had grown up together that I couldn't be sure he was the one. His mother was our housekeeper. No matter how much I told him it didn't matter, though, he always felt the money between us."

"Was he right?"

King saw the hurt before she concealed it.

"Not about the money, about him being the one," King clarified his question.

"Oh." She took a moment, staring down at the ring. "No, I knew I loved him from then until the day he died. I still love him."

The answer to his question struck him inexplicably in the chest. Evie rolled over, lying on his chest. "I'm not an eighteen-year-old virgin anymore."

No, she wasn't. With her whiskey colored eyes and tumbled hair, she was a seductress. No shy virgin would be so confident as to press her nipples against his chest or slide her leg intimately between his thighs. A virgin wouldn't slide her hand down his stomach until she reached his c.o.c.k, sliding her thumb over the crest.

When the tip of her tongue traced her bottom lip, his hand curled against the nape of her neck, tugging her down to him. His tongue invaded her mouth, taking control and enticing her by tracing the tender flesh behind her bottom lip before tangling their tongues together. She broke free, taking deep breaths.

"The list keeps growing. The Last Riders, Rory, and now Levi." King rolled until she was under him. Sliding between her thighs, he thrust his c.o.c.k inside of her without any foreplay. "A man likes to know he's the only one in his woman's bed."

Evie's thighs gripped his hips while she put her hands in his hair, tugging him down to stare in his eyes.

"I am loyal to The Last Riders. I was teasing you with Rory. And Levi..." her voice broke, but she went on, "is not coming home. The eighteen-year-old Evie still loves him, but time doesn't freeze for anyone, and I'm not the same woman. I lost a part of her when those men raped me, another when Levi died, and the rest a piece each time I f.u.c.ked someone."

King kept moving over her, imprinting his body on hers.

"If you want someone who's going to pretend you're her only one, then you're f.u.c.king the wrong woman,"

"I am not f.u.c.king the wrong woman." His hand tangled in her hair, driving his c.o.c.k into her in hard strokes, dominating her body with his. "If you want to tell yourself that there is no part of that old Evie left, then go ahead, but I see her in you all the time."

Evie began to struggle against him as he took the necklace off, placing it on the bedside table. "You haven't worn this necklace since I met you. What's wrong? Am I getting too close?"

"No!"

"I think I am." King surged inside of her, driving past her defenses, making sure she was unable to hold her response back from him. Her fists quit hitting at him, circling his shoulders instead, her hips thrusting back against his. "You wanted to remind yourself that you belong to Levi. That's why you wore that ring to my bed. If you think I'm going to let you put a barrier between us, then you're f.u.c.king the wrong man."

"King!" Evie screamed as she came, sending him into his own climax.

King slid to her side, pulling the coverlet over her trembling body. A tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.

"I can't love someone like that again."

"Evie, I didn't want to love anyone, either, but the one thing I've learned in my line of work is, you can't stop a bullet once you've pulled the trigger."

Chapter 16.

Evie sat at the table in the back, looking for the man she was there to meet. He was always late; that was how he had gotten the nickname Rabbit when they were in the service. She was about to order another drink when she saw him come in the restaurant door.

His eyes looked around the popular restaurant until he saw her. As he drew closer to the table, Evie smiled in greeting.

"It's been a long time, Evie."

"Too long. You should come for a visit. I told you we would show you a good time."

"Jewell still there?"

"Of course."

"I'll pa.s.s," he said, shuddering.

Evie couldn't help but laugh. Jewell and Rabbit had, at one time, been a couple. They had broken up when Jewell had caught him in bed with another woman, though. She had refused to talk to or about him ever since.

"I don't know why you're holding a grudge; you're the one who f.u.c.ked around."

They sat down at her table. "She nearly killed me. Believe me, several states between us is for the best."

"How are you doing since you've been out?"

"Making a living."

"Doing better than that, from what I hear." In her search for information on King, she had discovered Rabbit had been gradually building his reputation as a middle man for transactions involving illegal commodities. He would make the buys and pay for what was wanted then deliver the goods to whoever had purchased his services. It was dangerous as s.h.i.t, and she hoped he knew what he was doing. Some of the men he was dealing with made the hair on the back of her neck rise.

"You got what I need?"

Rabbit handed her a flash drive. "It's all there."

"Thanks. I put your money in the account number you gave me."

"I saw it before I came through the door." Rabbit had always been out for himself; that was why he and Jewell had never been good as a couple and he had ended up breaking her heart.

"Anything else I should know?"

"No. Everything else, I've already told you. King's been slowly turning control over to Ice, although Desmond Hart will be the one in charge as a silent partner. He's even transferring ownership of his strip club to Henry. He's getting out of the business as fast and clean as possible, and without ruffling any feathers."

That was the same information she had found out from two other sources. It was now obvious he was trying to keep Lily safe by giving up a business he had worked most of his life to build.

"He only has one little hiccup left and he'll be free."

Evie's hand froze in lifting her gla.s.s of iced tea. This was the first time she had heard this piece of news in the almost two months she had been in Queen City. It had taken her that long to dig through years of the filth he had fought his way out of to make sure there was nothing in his past or present to touch Lily. She had found, instead, that King was cleaning his own messes. She had been waiting for this report, ready to go back to Kentucky if it came back clean.

She ignored the ache at the thought of leaving King. She tried to tell herself it was just because she had shared his bed every night, not because she was developing feelings for him.

"What's the hiccup?" she asked, already dreading the answer from the look on Rabbit's face.

"There is a deal going down this weekend with Ramos. It's big."

"Is King buying or selling?"

"Neither. It's a shipment of black tar heroin. Ramos has a buyer, but the drugs accidently ended up in Queen City when the dumba.s.s carrying it had to drop and hide it before he got arrested. Now Ramos has to come to town to sell it or take a loss, and Ramos doesn't like to lose money."

"Where does King come into this? No one sells drugs in Queen City without his approval and giving him a slice of the pie."

"Ramos doesn't give a f.u.c.k about doing either," Rabbit answered. "He's going to sell the drugs then leave without giving King his cut, which means the s.h.i.t is going to hit the fan."

"What if King just ignores Ramos, lets him slide under his radar?"

"Ramos has been trying to branch out from New Mexico. He's testing the waters, so that wouldn't be a smart move."

"Dammit." This was not what she'd wanted to hear. "What's he going to do?"

"No idea. Maybe you should roll over and ask him tonight."

Evie ignored his smart-a.s.s comment. "Who's buying the drugs?"

"A man named Morin."

"Where's he from?"

"No one knows. He's the wildcard. He's dealt with Ramos before, but that's all the information on him I could find."

Evie nodded her head, biting her lip.

"Anything else?" Rabbit started to stand.

"No, I think that will do it. If you hear anything else...?"

"You'll be the first to know. Bye, Evie."

"Bye, Rabbit."

Evie watched her old friend leave, sick to her stomach. King was so close; Evie hated that this one deal could wreck it all. She had to stay to make sure the deal went through without a hitch, and if not, that King didn't have a new enemy at the end of the day.

She paid her ticket then got up from her table and went outside. She then walked the three blocks back to Penni's apartment, making sure no one had followed her.

She waited until she was inside the apartment and was certain Penni wasn't home before she called Shade. He wasn't going to be happy with what she had learned. She was going to have to buy King some time to clean this mess up.

Shade answered the phone on the first ring.

"Can you talk?"

"Hang on." She heard him talking to Lily in the background before the sound of a door opening and closing came across the line. "Go ahead."

Evie explained everything she had learned. "He's getting out of the business, Shade."

"Then what's wrong?"

"There's a deal going down that could go bad. I have to see how it ends to know if he can walk away clean."

Silence came from the other end.

"Shade, he's not involved in the deal; someone's trying to p.i.s.s on his doorstep."

"If he cared about Lily, he'd let them p.i.s.s then hose the door down after they left."

"Give him a chance. He's trying."

"Evie..."