“He won’t,” Duke assured me.
“I should just go home with him.”
“No.” He grabbed a towel from the linen closet. “I’ll get you some clothes and you can take a shower.” Duke found me an outfit from Dallas’ drawer and started the shower. “I’ll be back to check on you.”
“You’re going down there?”
“Just for a little bit. I’ll be right back. Hurry up.”
Duke backed out of the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I didn’t get in the shower, though. I took my clothes off, climbed in the tub, and sat there, letting the water fall on me. My mind raced, thinking of everything I did wrong. I leaned my head against the wall and cried. Then, I fell asleep.
Fluffy fabric against my chest startled me, and I opened my eyes to find Duke standing above me. Seconds later, I was in his arms as he carried me to Dallas’ room. He set me on my feet, turned his back to me, and ordered me to dry off.
With shaky hands, I did as I was told and waited for him to turn around. “How long was I in there?”
“Too long,” he said.
“Is my father gone?”
“Long gone,” he replied.
“Is Tristan okay?”
“Ask him yourself,” he answered, motioning at Tristan, who was standing in the doorway.
Tristan smiled. “You scared us.”
Immediately, I noticed the dried blood on his lip. “He hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” Tristan assured. “He won’t come back here again.”
“That’s because you knocked him the fuck out,” Duke chimed in. “He deserved it, though.”
Approaching me, Tristan tipped my chin up so that I could meet his gaze. “You can rest now.”
I climbed onto the bed, and he covered me with the comforter. “Really?”
“Promise.”
Closing my eyes, I let sleep pull me into a sweet dream about my own, personal dark-skinned Knight who saved me from a dastardly King with an uppercut to the chin.
* * *
Present Day
My alarm blaredat the exact time it was supposed to the next morning. Which sucked because I didn’t want to get up. Typically, I’d start my day with a swim. Today…I need coffee.
Sighing, I tapped at the screen of my phone. The annoying chimes didn’t stop. I hit it again. And again. Until I felt a hand brush against mine, snatching it from my grasp. I screamed, rolling over and toppling onto the floor with a thud. I struggled to recall the events of last night. Eating alone at the hotel restaurant, waiting for Tristan to join me, drinking with Duke, flirting with the waiter … I peeked over the edge of the mattress, praying it was Duke and not the waiter in my room.
Duke stared at me as if I had grown another head from the other side of the bed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
I sighed and climbed back up on the mattress. “I didn’t know if you were the waiter from last night.” I fell back against the bed and covered my head with a pillow. “Everything hurts.”
“Your leg?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Your left foot?”
