Bones (Dark Kingdom, #5) — Chapter no 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

MIA

I WAKE UP to see I’m alone in bed, but I’m not surprised because Dillan is avoiding me. Getting up, I use the restroom and check my cell to see if he’s called or texted. Nothing.

Sighing, I decide to make my way to the kitchen to grab a drink. I’m headed back to his bed when I see a door slightly open underneath the stairs that I haven’t seen before.

I tiptoe over to it and softly pull it open the rest of the way. A set of black carpeted stairs lead down to what I’m guessing is a basement. I see the lights are on. Thinking I should go back to bed, I hear a cracking noise.

Shutting the door behind me, I walk down the stairs to an open room.

And just as I suspected, it’s a large open basement. It has black-painted walls and a gray epoxy floor with a high ceiling.

Dillan stands in what looks to be a rectangular cage that is made up of floor-to-ceiling netting. He holds a baseball bat in his hands while only dressed in a pair of jeans that sit low on his narrow hips.

A device at the other end shoots out a ball, and he swings at it. The crack noise follows as his bat makes contact with the ball, sending it flying across the cage.

He readjusts the bat, bends his knees, and another ball flies directly at him. Once again, he hits it, making a grunting sound.

I find a long bench against the wall underneath a rack of baseball bats and sit down.

He hasn’t noticed me. But I’m easy to ignore.

Another ball shoots out and he swings, missing this one. He lets out a curse under his breath as if he’s playing in a game and letting his team down.

The next ball is launched at him, and he swings, hitting it.

I watch the way his back muscles tighten in his stance. The way his jaw sharpens right before he swings. And the way his abs tense when he sucks

in a breath.

The man is gorgeous. It’s so unfair how attracted I am to him, knowing that he’s just going to walk away from me once this is all over. That my time with him is limited, and who knows when that will be.

He hits one more and then stands to his full height. Dropping the bat to hang down by his side, he turns to exit the cage, and his eyes land on mine, making him pause.

I stay silent. What is there to say at this point? He’s avoiding me, and I’m stalking him. Seems pretty obvious to me who is the one obsessed here.

He clears his throat and exits the cage. Walking over to me, he hangs the bat up and grabs a towel off a shelf, wiping his sweaty face.

“Do you come down here often?” I break the awkward silence.

“Not as much as I’d like.” He surprises me by answering.

“It’s nice,” I say stupidly. It’s exactly what I’d expect a King to have.

“We all have one,” he adds.

“Batting cages?”

“Basements.” He points over at a door in the corner of the far end.

“There is a tunnel that runs from each house.”

Of course, there is.

“Grave has a bowling alley. Cross has batting cages like me, and Titan has a shooting range.”

I have a feeling none of them get used often. Dropping my head to avoid his stare, I, however, can’t avoid the elephant in the room. “Why are you avoiding me?” I ask softly.

Feeling his hand grab my chin, he forces me to look up at him. “I’m not avoiding you.”

“Then where have you been?” I hate that I care what he’s been up to.

That he’s taken up my mind. Filling it with thoughts that he’s been with someone else. A woman that he wasn’t forced to have a fake relationship with. “I can leave if you want me to.”

His dark brows pull down. “Why would I want that?”

“So you can come home,” I answer. “I don’t want you not to come home because I’m here.”

Letting go of my chin, he grabs my hand and yanks me to stand. “Dillan —”

He cuts me off, his lips on mine. The kiss is tender, and it doesn’t make the situation any better. Just makes me even more confused as to what

we’re doing. There’s no reason to kiss me right now. No one to show off to.

I’m overthinking it, and I know it. But I’m not a fuck ’em and leave ’em kind of woman. He has to know what he’s putting me through.

He picks me up off the floor, and I wrap my legs around his waist, and he sits down on the bench. Pulling his mouth free of mine, he rips my shirt up and over my head. I undo his jeans and pull out his dick. He’s as hard as I am wet.

Fuck, I should not be this attracted to this man. I shouldn’t need him as much as I do.

His hand goes to my hair, pulling my lips back onto his. His other hand grips my ass, his hips rocking back and forth while my hands fall between our bodies.

“You’re not leaving me,” he growls, pulling away from my now swollen

lips again.

“No?” I ask breathlessly.

“No.” His hand drops between us, and he pushes my underwear to the side, sliding his cock into my pussy, making me whimper. “You’re staying here. With me. Forever.” His hands fall to my hips, and he moves my body, rocking them back and forth, fucking his dick. We’ve never done it like this before. But even though I’m on top, he’s the one controlling me.

“Okay,” I agree. My head falls back, giving his lips access to my neck.

Being his prisoner sounds pretty good to me. “Just don’t stop,” I whimper.

“Never.” He grabs my hands and shoves them behind my back, holding them hostage in one of his while the other comes up and wraps around my throat, taking away my air. I don’t fight him, giving him whatever he wants.

Dillan Reed can do whatever he wants with me, and I realize I’d beg him for it.

_______________

WE LIE IN his bed, having just finished round two. I straddle his hips, my fingers tracing the scar on his arm. It’s hard to see due to the ink, but once you find it, you can’t miss it. “I saw the picture of you in the hospital with your arm in a cast,” I say softly, filling the silence.

He’s underneath me, one tatted arm under his head. The other rests on my hip, his fingers gently massaging my skin.

“What happened?” I ask when he doesn’t acknowledge my previous statement.

He’s quiet for a long second before he lets out a slow breath. “Broke my arm.”

My eyes find his. That was obvious. “How?” I push to see just how much he’ll open up to me. I’ve never had someone tell me about themselves before.

“Emilee wanted to go out that night. There was a concert for all ages at a club. The night didn’t go how we planned,” he answers vaguely.

I was wondering how to mention her, but he just did. So I turn the conversation to her. “She was in the pictures I saw.”

He nods once. “She and Jasmine made us scrapbooks before we graduated college.”

“You’ve always been close,” I wonder, but he doesn’t respond. I guess, technically, that wasn’t a question. Taking in a shaky breath, I ask what I’ve been dying to know ever since Grave told me about them. “Do you love her?” Who knows when I’ll see him again. Or when this will end. I want to know everything there is to know about Dillan Reed. And as far as I know, he could go back to avoiding me soon.

His brows pull together, his blue eyes searching mine. “She’s married to Titan.” As if that explains everything.

“We both know that sometimes marriage doesn’t equal love,” I state. The Mafia doesn’t marry for love. They marry for power. Luca got lucky that he got to marry Haven. He had to fight for her, and at times, I didn’t think my father was going to allow it.

He grabs my hips, picks me up, and places me on the bed beside him.

I’ve pushed him too far. He’s going to shut me out. More so than he already has. But he surprises me by lying down and turning onto his side so he can face me. His fingers gently run over my jawline as his eyes find mine. “I loved Emilee as much as I could at that time of my life.” I’m about to say I don’t understand when he goes on. “We started hooking up, then my mother passed away my senior year in high school. Emilee was there for me when I needed her.”

For some reason, that word makes me more jealous than love. I want him to need me. I understand how lonely it can be to have no one.

“We had an understanding. It was strictly sex. She was never one of those women who needed more. And I’m that guy that wasn’t going to give

more.”

My chest tightens at his words.

“I was selfish.” His eyes drop to my neck, and his fingers feel my pulse racing. I’m hanging on every word he says. Wanting to know the Dillan that the world doesn’t get the privilege to know. “I knew how Titan felt about her, but I didn’t care. I needed her too much to share her.” His eyes meet mine. “I knew if she gave him the chance, he’d take her from me.”

“So what happened?” I ask, licking my lips. “Between you and her?”

“Senior year of college, I was about to sign with the MLB, but I broke my arm, and that dream ended. I hated everything. Everyone. I shut her out.

More than I had already been doing. Then me, Titan, and Cross all graduated and took over Kingdom. I never spoke to her again. She moved to Chicago after she graduated. I buried myself in the life I was forced to have. She ran from hers.” He shrugs. “Then when she came back, Titan took his chance.” He gives a soft smile as if he’s truly happy for them.

“But you three have slept together since she’s been back?” I add, remembering what Grave had said.

“We have,” he agrees. “It doesn’t mean she and Titan love each other any less. It just means that they were comfortable allowing me to join them. Sex is different than love, Mia. They’re not the same.”

The way he says it makes me feel stupid, like I should feel nothing for him just because I let him use my body. But I’m not sure I can separate the two. Not like he does. I feel something for Dillan, and I understand how idiotic that is. A King could never love a no one. My eyes drop to his tatted chest. “Do you still…?’ “No.” He answers before I can even finish. “Not since they got married.

And I won’t. She’s his wife. And I would never cross that line.”

“Would you, if they asked you to?” I ask, unable to stop myself from looking up at him.

His blue eyes search mine, and I hold my breath, knowing what he’s going to say. I shouldn’t have even asked. Of course he would. Why not?

What kind of man would turn that down? Definitely not a King. He’s probably had multiple women at once. He’s probably done things that I don’t even know exist.

I turn my back to him and go to get out of the bed to take a shower, but he grabs my arm pulling me onto my back. “Dillan—”

He straddles my hips, pinning my arms down to the silk sheets by my head. “I’m here with you, Mia,” he whispers, lowering his face to my neck.

“I’m only fucking you, and you will only be fucking me.”

I arch my back, my pussy still wet from the other two times he’s fucked me tonight.

Letting go of one of my wrists, he lifts his hips, positioning himself between my legs, spreading them wide open. Making me cry out as we go for round three.

BONES

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, I walk into Kingdom feeling well rested even though I didn’t get much sleep last night. I spent what little time I was home in bed with Mia.

My cell rings as the elevator doors open, and I dig it out of my back pocket to see it’s Marsha. Sighing, I hit answer. “I said give me until Friday.”

“You sorry son of a bitch!” she screams in my ear.

She’s so loud that I pull it away from my ear. “Jesus—”

“You think you fucking own everyone!” She continues shouting. “You

fucking piece of shit.”

Click.

“Well.” That was weird.

Pocketing my cell, I look up at the receptionist, and she smiles kindly at me. “They’re in the conference room waiting on you, Bones.”

I push the doors open and see everyone already in their seats, including my brother. His blue eyes are on the energy drink in his hands.

“I just had an interesting call. Can anyone tell me what it was about?” I ask, knowing someone in this room had something to do with it.

Grave sits back in his seat, his eyes meeting mine. “I did it.”

“What exactly did you do?” I question.

“I’ve had a tail on Marsha.” Opening up an envelope that sits in front of him, he tosses some papers in front of me. “I sent these to her this morning.”

Spreading them apart, I look over the pictures of her straddling a man who lies on a bed. His hands are on her hips. The windows are open,

showing her bare chest, and you can see the wedding ring on his left finger.

Obviously, Marsha isn’t married.

“What are we looking at exactly?” Titan asks, picking one up.

“That is James Knowles.”

“James Knowles as in the DA, James Knowles?” Cross questions.

“Yep.” Grave nods.

“He’s not married to Marsha,” Titan adds.

“Nope. They’re having an affair.” He looks up at me. “I want you to find what I have with April. But I want you to find it on your own and not be forced into it. If Mia is the one for you, then great. But fuck anyone who thinks they can tell a King what to do.”

I fall into my seat.

“So you got her to back off?” Titan asks Grave.

“I told her if she released anything about Luca being in the hospital, I’d personally drop off these pictures of her and James to his wife. Then I’d make sure they were leaked online.” He shrugs. “Not sure what she’ll post now, but she won’t be waiting for your engagement announcement this Friday.”

“Thanks, Grave,” I say, but a part of me is disappointed that I won’t be announcing my engagement to Mia. I don’t know how to feel about that.