I Have to Have Her

He’d wanted to savor the moment. There were no tits or compromising images, just sweet ones. The way her hand was placed over his heart, holding him.

Did she even realize she held his heart in the palm of her hand?

Last night, he’d hated himself for what he’d done, but he’d done it to protect her. People were going to come after him. He lived on danger and the fear of death. Being king, it was what made him, him.

There was no backing out once you lived in this role. He turned his cell phone off and stared across the room, thinking about her. Once he gave it time, she would come to mean nothing to him.

He rubbed at his temples, hoping the headache would dissipate soon. Claire had gotten under his skin, and the real truth was he didn’t want her to leave, not ever.

****

Two weeks later

Time was supposed to heal all wounds.

For Claire, she was finding that love was one of those pesky wounds no one told her about and how impossible it was to stop the pain. She kept on going. Living day by day.

She went to work. There was a car always available for her to go to work, and she was driven back. The guy who’d been tailing her was one of Gabriel’s men. She’d been able to avoid Rhianna for the past two weeks, making excuses about the apartment, her work, being tired, but tonight, she had decided to just allow her friend over.

“This is a nice place,” Rhianna said, entering.

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“You got your things out of storage?”

“Yeah, it was all in my name, so it wasn’t too hard to do. You don’t mind, do you?”

“You look like you’ve lost weight.”

“I will take that little observation as a compliment.”

“You can afford food, right?”

“Rhianna, you’re my best friend, but that doesn’t mean I can’t slap you.”

“I know. I know, but look, I mean, come on.” Rhianna grabbed her hands. “Have you been missing my brother?”

She shook her head. “Nope.” The lie fell easy from her lips. A lot of things were easy to do now. “I told you, I’ve been busy.” She’d been crying every single night. It was kind of nice her broken heart and ice cream addiction actually made her look like she lost weight. “We’re not supposed to be talking about him, remember? This is for us. We’re going to have some drinks.”

Rhianna shook her head. “We’re not.”

“We’re not?”

“Nope. We’re going out to party.”

Claire groaned and shook her head. “No. This is my first night off in two weeks. I want to watch a movie, and not a soppy romance one either. One of your horror ones, hopefully where the guy’s penis gets chopped off, and then we’re going to drink lots of wine.”

“Are you pregnant?”

“What? No. I wouldn’t drink wine.”

“Well, I say we’re going out. I have a feeling you’re moping and that just won’t do. I won’t accept it.” Her friend started to pull her along even as she begged to be left alone. Again, her friend wasn’t taking no for an answer. “I’ve got the perfect dress.”

“And I bet you even know where to go?”

“I do. Come on. It’ll be fun. If you don’t have any fun, I promise you for the next ten nights off you have, I will be there and we will watch all of the horror movies in the world.”

“You promise?”

“Yes. I promise.”

“Fine. Fine.” She got to her feet. “I’ll go and change.”

“Don’t even think about it. You’ve got to give this a real chance, you know that, right? Or our deal is off the table.”

She groaned. “You and your brother with all of your deals. I hate you.”

“I know, and you love me.” Rhianna kissed her cheek. “We’re going to be just fine.” Her friend forced her into the bedroom and she sat on the bed as Rhianna came back holding two garments in zipped-up protective wrapping.

She frowned. “You already planned us going out. It wouldn’t have mattered how I looked.”

“You’re my best friend. You’ve been avoiding me. It’s now my duty to take care of you and that is exactly what I’m going to do.”

Rhianna kept on staring at her. “This one.” She threw the other to the floor.

She unzipped it and Claire groaned. “Another white one? I mean, really?”

Rhianna smirked. “I have to have some memories and you look amazing in white.”

“You do know white is virginal and I haven’t been that since prom night?”

“And it can simply mean it looks awesome on you and your skin tone. Stop being so negative or I’m going to have to hurt you.”

For the next thirty minutes, Claire allowed her best friend to get her primped and ready. Her long hair fell around her in waves, and the dress had support on the inside so she didn’t need to worry about a bra. It left some of her back and chest exposed, just enough to tempt.