The Kingdom (Preacher Brothers 1)

“I’m crazy for saying this, feeling this, even thinking this,” she whispered against my mouth. “But I feel like I am yours, and I don’t want that to end, Dom. I don’t want any of this to end.”

It fucking wouldn’t. Never. I was never letting Amelia go.

Chapter Nineteen

Amelia

One month later

I was always nervous when I met Richard for coffee. Even a month after the robbery and the situation with Dom, my heart raced as I expected Richard to tell me how stupid I was being and be judgmental.

But he never did.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” He always asked me that. Every week, probably expecting my answer to be different.

I nodded. “I’m fine. Are you?”

“Good. Really good actually.”

I found myself smiling at his response.

He reached out and placed his hand over mine, which I still had curled around the ceramic of my mug.

“I can’t say I’ll ever understand this or accept why you are with him, Amelia. He’s not a good man. Look at how he makes his living?” He shrugged and sighed. “But you’re a smart girl. You’re the smartest person I know.”

I didn’t know if I was all that, but hearing Richard say it made me feel happy, proud even.

“You were dealt a shitty hand in your childhood, but look at the woman you are now. Going to school, dealing with so much stuff on top of that. And despite all of the negative aspects that happened in your life, you still rose above and succeeded.” He gave my hand another squeeze before pulling it back.

I missed the roughness of his fingers, the weathered feeling of his skin. It reminded a part of me of being home.

“And you know I will always be here for you, no matter what. I’m just a phone call away.”

He gave me a smile and I gave him one in return, because I knew he’d always be there, because I knew he spoke the truth.

We continued to stay away from topics like Dom or the jewelry store or the fact that Richard was moving away, that he was finally moving on with his life after his wife passed… after the jewelry store incidence. Our conversation was about the little things, the mundane things that had me laughing and smiling, that had contentment filling me. It was a conversation between two people who were just enjoying each other’s company. It was a moment of two people who genuinely cared about each other, and I was glad he could understand where I was coming from, what I felt, and he accepted it.

He didn’t try to change me, didn’t try to sway my mind. He gave me his unspoken blessing, his understanding, and I knew he’d always be there. And that’s exactly what I needed. That’s exactly what anyone who had never had anything in their life needed.

But I did have something now. I had Dominik, and for the first time in my life, I actually felt like I wasn’t alone.

* * *

I stood in front of Dominik’s front door, the whole situation surreal and a little bit strange. This was the man who’d taken me, yet I’d driven away and come back. I was now about to go into his home like we shared it, like I lived here full-time.

It was crazy, but the good kind of crazy, the kind that had a person feeling like life had purpose, that there was excitement and anticipation to be had. I didn’t know if anyone would ever understand me, but it didn’t matter. Because I understood me. Dominik understood me.

That’s all I cared about.

I brought myself back to the present and opened the door, stepping in. And in all honesty, the robbery and my time in his room all seemed like a distant memory now, like it happened to someone else so long ago now.

I shut the door behind me and heard commotion in the kitchen. I probably shouldn’t have gone in there and interfered, but it was as if I was drawn to it, unable to stop myself from walking toward the noise.

I stopped before I got into the kitchen, standing right before the entryway, seeing all four brothers standing around the island. Cullen leaned against the stove with his arms crossed, the ball cap he wore pulled down low. He slowly lifted his eyes in my direction, and I felt a little shiver wash over me.

He didn’t like me, didn’t like my presence. He thought I was taking his brother away from him, his family. It didn’t matter what anyone said on the contrary, because in the short time I’d known Cullen, I realized he was a solitary creature and went by his own rules.

“You can do whatever the fuck you want to do, Cullen, but it’s bullshit and you know it.” Dom was the one to speak, his voice clipped, terse. He was angry, and I knew this conversation was about me and the whole situation.