“Exactly.” We shared a laugh before Donovan pushed up from his chair. “The house is looking good, Killian. She’ll love it.”
I’d spent the last week overseeing the work being done on the lake house. It wasn’t completely finished. There was still work to be done to update the home, but the master bedroom and main living areas were done.
If she had chosen me, I wanted to give her the home she deserved. The home where I’d fallen in love with her. If she had chosen a new life, there was no way I could have held onto this place, so I needed to fix it up to sell it.
“I can’t thank you enough for having my back all these years, Donovan.” I said gruffly. “You and Rowan are the only family I’ve had since my mother.”
He shrugged, “It’s what family does, Killian. Rowan and I have a good life because of what you’ve done for us over the years.” Emotion and words left unspoken hung in the air between us. Donovan was my brother, and even though I didn’t know how to tell him I loved him. I think he knew because he awkwardly laughed, “I’m gonna get out of here before Zoey gets here. You guys have a lot to talk about, and I’m pretty certain it may be waiting until after other things are taken care of.” He grinned and bounced his brows, leaving me with no doubts what things he was talking about.
“Night, Brother.” I said as he walked away.
#
Istood up from myspot on the back deck when the alarm on my phone alerted me to movement outside the house.
I looked at the camera on my phone and saw Zoey getting out of the car. She looked beautiful. Her hair was down around her shoulders and she was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a thin, long sleeved baby blue shirt and sneakers. I put my phone away and went to the front door, pulling it open before she could even knock.
“Hi.” I said quickly as a nervous energy filled me. I felt like a teenager going on his first date with a girl.
“Hey.” She smiled hesitantly.
My eyes raked over her from head to toe and back up again a few times, not really trusting she was in front of me. “Sorry.” I muttered and stepped back letting her into the house that had changed a lot in the last week.
As Zoey stepped past me, I caught the faint smell of lavender. It took everything in me not to pull her into me right then and there. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her off.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as I led her into the living room, the old couches that had been there before were replaced with new furniture.
“Better.” She said softly looking around. “You’ve been busy.”
I nodded and took a seat on the couch. “Yeah. I had to stay busy or I was going to go crazy.”
She cast another look around the room then sat down opposite me. “I have a lot of questions.” Zoey said after a moment of silence.
My teeth clenched and I forced myself to keep my hands by my side. If I touched her, if I came close to touching her it would be all over for me. I had to wait until she was ready. “I’m sure you do. How much did Rowan tell you?”
“Not much, honestly.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I think it was her way of waiting for you to explain everything to me.”
I nodded.
“Is that why you came here?” My heart was pounding in my chest. “For answers.”I clarified. If she had chosen option two just so you could have answers, then I would give them to her and give her the option of an out again.
“Part of the reason, yes.” She nodded. “Start at the beginning Killian. Start with how you fell into this life as a knight in dark armor for those who need help.”
“That’s a long fucking story, Zoey.” I sighed heavily, not really wanting to go into detail about my past but also knowing I needed to. She needed to know what she was getting into and just how fucking broken I was.
“I’m a reader, remember. I like stories.”
I stood up and moved to the windows that overlooked the lake. It was dark, so I was basically looking at a wall of nothingness, but it didn’t matter because I saw into my past. I saw it playing out in front of me as I told her about the night my mother died, the fights in school and in the foster homes, the failed adoption that she already knew most of the story, and finally coming to the group home.
An hour must have passed as I laid all my shit out there, something I had never done. I didn’t talk about my past to anyone, not even Donovan and Rowan. I told her that my greatest fear was becoming the man I hated so much growing up, and how her uncle reminded me of him.
“In my world, you don’t trust anyone you don’t know. Trusting people will get you killed, and I know better than to trust the police and courts.” I took a deep breath. “So when your uncle offered to sell you to me to settle his debt, I told him no. I’m a bank for lack of a better word, and I run illegal gaming rooms. What i don’t do is run flesh.
“Your uncle mentioned he knew someone he could call. At that point, I knew exactly who he was going to turn to and what he was going to do.
“Botello was known for human trafficking, but he never gets caught or prosecuted so was clear he was connected in some way. Because I had no proof of my suspicions, I did the only thing I thought I could do to keep you safe.”
“You kidnapped me.” She stated softly when I didn’t continue.
