King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC 6)

A huge wave of emotion engulfed me and tears streamed down my face. “She is?” I managed to get out in between sobs.

“Yes!”

“I’m on my way.”

King had already stood. “She’s awake?”

I smiled through my tears, an emotional wreck of happiness, relief, and adrenaline. “Yes.”

He took two steps toward me, reached for my hand, and strode out to his bike with me in tow. Within a few minutes, he had us both on the bike and on our way back to the hospital. This was King back in charge, and I couldn’t deny that I liked him like this. After years of me having to take on most of the responsibility for my family, it felt good to have a man help me in this way.

11

King

I eyed the clock as I scrubbed a hand over my face. It was just past 8:00 p.m. and I still had a few loose ends to tie up here before I could check on Lily. After her sister had woken up this morning, I’d stayed at the hospital with her for a couple of hours before she’d kicked me out and told me to get back to work. I fucking appreciated a woman who had the sense to ask for help when she needed it and then the strength to deal with shit on her own later. She’d called me just after six to let me know she was heading home for the night and that I should drop by when I was done with work. That she’d put some dinner away for me in case I was hungry. My gut had tightened at that. It had been years since a woman had put dinner away for me.

“Johnny called,” Axe said, entering the office. “He’s agreed to your terms.”

“Good. Keep on him for that info. We can’t afford to drop the ball on this.”

Axe’s contact in the feds, Johnny, was now Storm’s contact. We’d put him on our payroll in exchange for names of any witnesses the feds had in relation to the case against us. I’d pay those motherfuckers off to keep them quiet, or if warranted, something a little more permanent.

“Also, Zane and Griff have started pulling more surveillance of the area from the day of Jen’s murder like you wanted.” To see if Romano had been bullshitting me about not having a hand in that.

“And Brant?”

“Still looking, but nothing yet. He’s an evasive motherfucker.”

“Yeah.” I narrowed my eyes at my brother. “You look like hell.”

He nodded. “We both do.”

“Justine giving you grief at the moment?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and stretched it. “When isn’t she?”

“Fuck,” I muttered. “That bitch has a lot to fucking answer for, brother.”

“She also has my child in her belly, King, so I can’t just fucking walk away.”

This was an old, recurring argument of ours. Me telling him to leave; him telling me he loved her. Except he was right—he now had his child to consider, and my brother had the same convictions I did, so he would never walk away from that responsibility.

I jerked my chin at the door. “Try to get some sleep tonight. Or find someone to take the edge off.” At his scowl, I said, “Fuck, she screwed around on you and fucking walked out. You don’t owe her any loyalty.”

I knew his stance on this, though. If I considered myself a loyal bastard, Axe was a motherfucking nun when it came to this shit. Women threw themselves at him, fucking begging him to let them suck his dick. Not once had I ever seen him so much as look at them if he was with someone.

“I’ll see you in the morning. And I’ll check in with Johnny first thing. Hurry him along.”

After he’d gone, I thought about Justine. She’d had her claws in my brother for five long years, and just when I’d thought he was finally rid of her, she’d announced her fucking pregnancy. Axe had wanted a child for as long as I could remember, so he’d been over the fucking moon. And then he’d discovered her infidelity. I hadn’t thought I’d ever see my brother lose his shit, because Axe was the guy who held himself together when everyone around him couldn’t. Fuck, if there was an apocalypse, Axe was the one I’d want in my corner. But he had lost it for a while there and had only recently pulled through that.

A text came through, distracting me from my thoughts.

Lily: If you’re coming over, I need milk please.

Me: On my way soon

Lily: Thanks.