Hell, I hadn’t either.
King’s jaw twitched, and I could see him trying to carefully choose his next words. “And you choose…Theo?”
My heart stuttered just at hearing his name, but along with that came a sense of guilt. I’d brushed Theo off back in the bedroom when we’d been throwing our clothes on, unable to think clearly after being ambushed by King. He’d asked if I ever planned to tell King about us, and I hadn’t answered him, hadn’t even thought through how that conversation would come up or when the right time would be, but I realized now that Theo had probably taken my dismissal in the moment to mean I wanted to hide it.
Fuck.I knew firsthand how shitty it was to be someone’s secret, and I would never do that to Theo. Just being on the otherside of the door from him right now felt physically painful and wrong, which told me all I needed to know.
I wanted Theo. Not as a secret, not as a fun fling while we were hiding out. I wanted everyone to know that wild, beautiful man was mine and I was his. Maybe we didn’t make sense to anyone else, but we did to each other, and I didn’t want to waste another day tiptoeing around that fact. I didn’t know how it happened or why, but I’d fallen for him so hard that I couldn’t imagine waking up tomorrow without him tangled around me. And the way he’d just given no fucks at all when King questioned him? No one else would dare, and that was yet another thing to lo—admireabout him.
A smile threatened to turn up the corners of my mouth, and I looked down at the floor to hide it until realizing I didn’t have to.
I straightened and looked King directly in the eye. “Yes,” I said, finally answering his question. “I do choose Theo.”
For a moment, King’s composure cracked, long enough for me to see the raw emotion underneath, and then he looked away. “I see.”
Was that regret I heard in his voice? Jealousy? Or was I imagining it? King didn’t want to be with me, that much was clear, but maybe what hereallydidn’t want was for me to be with anyone else either. That would make a hell of a lot more sense, and I was tempted to ask him.
But what difference would it make? He’d moved on, and I was finally doing the same. Maybe he was just so used to always being in charge that it killed him not to call the shots anymore.
“I’ll admit I didn’t picture this. You and Theo. It’s”—King paused, and then his gaze flicked to our bedroom and the tangle of sheets on the floor—“unexpected.”
“That makes two of us.”
He turned away from me then, lacing his hands behind his neck as he paced the room. I didn’t need a past relationship with him to read that he wasn’t thrilled with this turn of events.
But I didn’t care. Not anymore. It wasn’t King’s feelings I had to consider—it was Theo’s.
If he still wanted to pursue this after my dick behavior.
“He’s not right for you,” King said. He still wasn’t looking at me, staring up at the painting above the fireplace, his hand braced on the mantel.
“That’s your opinion,” I countered. “And you’re wrong.”
“I’m rarely wrong.”
“That’s not never.”
That had him snapping his mouth shut, and as silence settled between us again, I found myself looking toward the door and hoping Theo would walk back through it. It was already the longest I’d been without him in weeks, and I didn’t like it. Not at all.
When King finally turned back around, there was a hard set to his jaw. Any underlying emotion he’d been feeling was gone, and in its place was the unyielding leader mask he wore.
“Do what you want,” he told me. “But if this…thingjeopardizes the Kings in any way, I’ll end it myself.”
“This isn’t something you can end, Ty. Not anymore.”
“Then you better hope he’s worth it.”
A smile curved my lips, and I didn’t care if it rankled him. “He is.”
King’s resigned, heavy exhale was the only sound in the room as he pushed off the mantel and headed for the door. I didn’t miss that he wasn’t even looking at me anymore, but he’d just have to get over it. This “thing” with me and Theo was happening, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop it.
He grabbed the door handle like he was ready to rip it open, but then paused.
“Every four days, Shep. Set a goddamn alarm if you have to.”
“Yes, boss.”
The way I’d slipped back into my status as his right-hand man had King’s shoulders settling a little, and then he nodded once and jerked the door open.
