Page 17 of Ruined By King

He pulls me against his chest immediately, holding me tight, one hand cradling the back of my head while the other wraps around my waist. "Hey. Hey. I've got you. Whatever it is, we'll figure it out. Just talk to me."

"I'm sorry," I choke out against his shirt. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know where else to go."

"Sorry for what?" He pulls back just enough to tilt my face up to his, his thumbs brushing away my tears. "Demi. Talk to me. What happened?"

I take a breath. Then another. I force myself to stop crying, to find the words.

And then I tell him everything.

The overheard conversation. The ambush planned for tonight. The warehouse on Route 10. Twelve Road Kings against however many Sons show up. The plan to hit them hard, hit them fast, before they know what's coming.

The plan to kill him.

His face goes cold as I talk. Hard. The soft man who held me all those nights disappears, replaced by the president. The one who makes the hard calls. The one who keeps his club alive.

When I finish, the silence stretches between us like a blade.

"You came here to warn me," he says finally. His voice is flat. Unreadable.

"Yes."

"You betrayed your own father. Your own club. For me."

I flinch at the word betrayed, but I don't look away. "Yes."

He stares at me for a long moment. I don't know what I expected — gratitude, maybe. Or anger that I'd put myself at risk. Suspicion that this could be a setup, a trap.

What I don't expect is his hands cupping my face, gentle as anything, his eyes searching mine.

"You just betrayed your whole family to save my ass," he says.

And then he kisses me like it's the only answer he has.

CHAPTER 5

KING

She's still shaking in my arms when I pull back from the kiss.

I want to hold her. I want to carry her to my bed and show her exactly what her loyalty means to me. I want to worship every inch of her body until the fear fades and the tremor in her voice is for a different reason entirely.

But I can't. Not yet.

Right now, I have to be the president.

"Stay here," I tell her, my hands still cupping her face. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"King—"

"I mean it. Stay here. I need to know you're safe while I handle this."

She nods, her eyes wide and wet. "What are you going to do?"

"Handle it." I press a hard kiss to her forehead. "I'll be back. I promise."

I leave her in my office and close the door behind me, and the second it clicks shut, the man disappears and the president takes over.

Rogue and Lock are in the main room, nursing beers at the bar. They both look up when I walk in, and something in my face makes Rogue set his bottle down immediately.