Page 72 of King of War

Enzo comes back to stand beside me, his hand on the small of my back. “But I would have let him live for that. I killed him because he insulted you.”

My throat tightens. Six years of being alone and convincing myself I didn’t need anyone to stand up for me, least of all this man standing in front of me, and yet something inside me cracks open at his, frankly unhinged, display of protectiveness.

I look at him for a long moment. While the anxiety is still there, sitting low in my stomach where it’s been since I walked into this room, there’s something stronger now. The certainty that I’m not as alone in this world as I’d thought.

I turn back to the table, to the men still staring at me, waiting for some kind of explanation. I won’t tell them the whole story, but I will tell them what they need to hear.

“I came back here for retribution too. What Carmine took from me can never be replaced, what he did can never be undone. But I will look him in the eye before he takes his final breath and let him know I’m responsible for paving his way to hell.”

Enzo stands at my shoulder, like he intends to stay there forever, and for the first time since I opened the door, the shaking in my hands and my knees stop completely.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

ENZO

Iend my call with Micah and go to join Rayne in the kitchen. She’s been a little quiet the past few days. I know it can’t have been easy for her walking into that room, but she was a fucking rock star the way she handled herself. When she talked about retribution? Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever loved her more.

She’s leaning over the counter, reading a cereal box.

I come up behind her, taking any excuse to grab hold of her. “You pour it into a bowl. Add milk. Then eat.”

I can practically hear her eyes rolling hard. “I wasn’t looking for instructions; I was reading the ingredients. These things are like seventy percent sugar.”

“You love sugar.” I slap her ass and make my way to the coffee machine.

“I like my sugar in delicious sugary treats. Not breakfast cereal, which is basically a health food,” she protests. Then she pours herself a generous bowl anyway and proceeds to chow down like she’s a starving woman.

And I sip my coffee and watch her, not wanting to think about how much I love her being here, how much I regret everything that happened, but unable to stop myself.

She drains her bowl and takes it to the sink. “Stop looking at me like that, Enzo.”

“Like what?”

She spins to face me then waves a hand around in the air. “With the whole guilt thing going on. I can practically feel it dripping from your pores. I know you’re sorry, okay? So just stop.”

How can I not look at her and think of anything but the pain I caused her? How do I look at her beautiful, trusting face and not see how badly I betrayed her, broke her fucking heart and then abandoned her. Or how I’ve spent the last six years of my life without her for nothing. We should have been married with at least two kids by now. How the fuck do I look at her and not see the future I denied us? But I also understand none of that is helpful for her, and she has a right to occupy space in my life without my guilt feeling like it’s going to swallow us both whole. So, I lie my ass off. “I’m looking at you like that because I can’t stop fucking looking at you, Rayne. If I have any kind of look on my face, it’s because I’m uncomfortably hard around you all the damn time.” Well, that’s not a total lie actually.

Her eyes narrow in suspicion.

I take a few steps toward her. “It’s true. I’m like an iron fucking bar here.”

She glances down, confirms my statement is true, and then drags her whiskey-colored eyes back to my face. “That must be painful.”

I shrug. “I’m used to it now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, because I’m always fucking hard whenever I’m near you. Sometimes when I’m not. All I have to do is think about you and, bam.” I point at my poor aching dick.

Her nose wrinkles. “Sounds like a problem. You should really get that checked out.”

I walk over to her. “I’d much prefer to check you out.”

She huffs, folding her arms across her chest.

“Why are you so on edge today, baby?” I grab onto her waist, pulling her body flush to mine.