OUTLAW KING (22 page)

Goddamn, it had been too long since I last kissed her.

I hated our situation but I would never complain about it to her. It wouldn’t do any good.

We sat down on the tracks and I held her for a long time.

We kissed on and off, over and over, knowing that time was counting down to when she had to leave. We talked about our feelings, our lives, school, the future, all that normal bullshit. For me, it was just about hearing her voice. Seeing the happiness in her eyes when she talked about the future. The only thing we knew… we wanted each other in our future.

“And that’s what we’ll have,” I whispered to her. I touched her chin and kissed her. “No matter what. It’s always about us.”

I got an hour that night with her on the tracks. So much running through my mind and heart. So much I wanted to do to her but couldn’t. I took what I could though. And that was her time, her smile, the sound of her voice, and as many of her kisses as I could.

It was a perfect goddamn night.

When we stood up and she had to leave, I grabbed her and hugged her tight.

“It’s going to work,” I whispered. “I will never leave you.”

“I believe you, King.”

“No matter what happens, I’ll always be back. You just say my name, Linds, and I’ll do everything I can to be back.”

I kissed her again and let her go.

I waited until she was out of sight.

I put my head back and looked up to the moon.

I felt like I was going to cry.

I finally understood what love meant.

42

⁽
L
indsey)

*
NOW*

“
I
T’S
up to him now,” Knox said as he handed me a cup of hospital coffee. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” I said.

“It’s better than being in prison,” Slam said.

“So the guy who helped him shot him?” I asked.

Knox nodded. “We were outside securing the building. Uncle Jakey was finishing up the deal. That Anderson guy came out of nowhere. He shot right at King. Before Uncle Jakey could react, his lawyer, Ted, pulled out a gun and shot Anderson. What a fucking mess.”

“A real fucking mess,” Slam said.

They both wouldn’t look at me when they spoke. Something told me that wasn’t the real story. Instead, it was the story they wanted the world to see.

I put the crappy cup of coffee down on the floor and stood up. “I have to see him.”

“Take it easy, Lindsey,” Knox said. “I don’t want anything to happen to the baby.”

“Stay out of my way, Knox,” I said. “You’ve been there, right? You know the whole story. Me and King. If I’m going to lose him for good I want to be there.”

Knox begged me to give him a minute and I did. He returned with a doctor who I easily tore apart with words and tears, demanding I see King. I made it clear that if I didn’t get to King I would start going into every room until I found him.

“He’s slowly coming out of this,” the doctor said. “The surgery went well but there can still be complications.”

I looked at the doctor, a tear running down my cheek. “All we’ve had is complications, Doctor. What’s a few more?”

I was escorted into a hospital room.

It was a big room with a lifeless King on the bed. The only sounds were the machines beeping, proving that he was still alive. I fought back the tears as I walked to the bed. I grabbed for his hand and lowered myself down to his chest.

I could hear his heart. It was the second most beautiful sound in the world… only behind the sound of my baby’s heartbeat.

I picked up my head and wiped my eyes.

“King. I’m here. I need you here with me. You promised me, right? All those times. I know you hate promises. I know you never really promised me, but it was there. The way things are… this is us. It’s always us. From standing in the rain after you kissed me to finding out about being pregnant, it’s been years.”

I lifted his left hand and kissed it.

I leaned forward and made his hand touch my stomach.

“Our baby is in there, King. If it’s a boy, I need you. I can’t raise your son by myself. A crazy outlaw who wears his passion the way you do. I can’t do it alone. And if it’s a girl? Who is going to protect her? She might be wild like me. Falling in love so easily and with a guy that everyone said was wrong. I need you there to guide her through everything.”

There was no response from King.

Of course there wasn’t.

This wasn’t some cheap romance movie.

This was real life.

And King was fighting for his life.

S
LAM
, Knox, and Matteo were in the room with me.

“Why don’t you take a breather?’ Slam asked me.

“No,” I said. “I’m standing here until he makes his decision.”

“Lindsey,” Knox whispered. “Doctors said it could be days.”

“Then I’ll wait for days,” I said. “I quit my job. I took a new one. I have time off.”

“Christ, she’s crazy,” Matteo said.

I looked at Matteo. He lifted his hands and mouthed
sorry
.

Slam stood next to me. He grabbed the foot of the bed.

“I remember the first time I saw his dick.”

“What?” I asked.

Slam smirked. “The first time I saw his dick. We were on this cliff. Matteo dared him to jump, naked. So King did it. He dropped his jeans and boxers and took off his shirt like it was nothing. Never ashamed. Never afraid. Jumped right off the cliff into the water. Swam around and then climbed out. Walked right back up the cliff, his dong slapping back and forth like a big clock pendulum.”

Knox laughed. “He’s crazy.”

“Remember when he tripped that cop?” Matteo asked. “Then he convinced the cop that he didn’t do anything? I have no idea how he talked out of half the shit he did. All the time. Running wild. Living free.”

“His brother though…,” Slam said.

“Fuck Tito,” Knox said. “Never good from the day I met him. You’re stronger than that, King. So wake up and take care of business.”

“He beat the shit out of my ex,” I said. “The night he found me. I guess when he got out of prison. My ex hit me.”

“No shit,” Slam said.

“Yeah,” I said. “He took him down… and I…”

Knox slipped an arm around me. “He’ll be good. He’s a fighter. He’s not going to give up. Because of a bullet? Fuck that. It’s going to take more than a bullet to take down the King.”

“The King,” I whispered.

“And you’re his queen,” Matteo said.

“And you’ve got his prince or princess inside you,” Slam said.

I started to cry again. I lowered my head.

Damn you, Kingston. You fucker. You weren’t supposed to do this to me. We were supposed to get out of this town together. You and me riding the open road to wherever. It didn’t matter to me, King. I wanted you and only you. You have to wake up. You have to hold me. You have to take care of me and this baby.

“You fucker,” I whispered.

“What?” Knox asked.

I looked up at Knox. “Nothing. I’m just…”

“Hey!” Matteo yelled. “He moved!”

I looked at the bed.

King’s right hand twitched. I hurried to push by all the huge bikers and race around the bed. I grabbed his hand.

“King,” I said. “I’m right here.”

I felt King’s hand squeeze mine.

“Do that again,” I said. “Right now, King.”

He did it again!

Knox, Slam, and Matteo all cheered.

“Wake up, brother!” Knox said.

Right before our eyes, King came back to us. His eyes fluttered and opened. He looked left, right, left, right again. He stopped and looked at me. He started to smile.

“Holy shit,” Slam said. “Let me go get a doctor.”

Slam and Matteo charged out of the room.

I reached for King’s face. I touched his face. I leaned down to him.

Our eyes were locked.

“Say something,” I whispered. “Please say something.”

His mouth moved. He stretched his jaw. Then he said one word.
“Queen…”

I pressed my lips to his. I couldn't help but kiss him.

I broke the kiss to whisper one thing back.

“King…”

That’s what he was.

Me forever his… and he forever my King.

43

⁽
K
ing)

*
MONTHS
LATER*

S
LAM KICKED OPENED
the door and had a big ass box on his shoulder. “What the hell did she buy?”

“It’s the changing table, bro,” I said. “Go upstairs with it.”

“It’s your kid,” Slam said.

“And you’re the one helping me,” I said.

Behind Slam was Knox.

We finally settled on a house. Well, Linds did. This was her project, not mine. I would give her the world. With her new job she was able to get a mortgage. With my work ethic I had earned enough fast enough to put a nice chunk of payment on the house.

All the jail shit?

It was pretty simple.

The story stuck.

Ted was the guy Uncle Jakey told me to call. The card he gave me. Uncle Jakey bought the damn warehouse as a way to conduct some side business. He set the entire thing up without telling any of us what was going to happen. I was shot for two reasons. First, to clarify the story to keep my ass out of prison and second, to give me punishment for all the dumb shit I did.

I didn’t question a thing because it was all worked out.

Anderson shot me and Ted shot Anderson. Ted had the means to paperwork and some judges to keep things moving. It took all of a month to settle everything. Just like that, I was a free man… mostly. I had a world of shit trouble to deal with but it would pass with time.

Speaking of passing time…

Linds came walking into the house. Her belly was growing, pushing against her shirt. I hugged her, touched her belly, and kissed her.

We were just a couple weeks away of being able to find out what we were having.

“What do you think of your castle?” I asked.

“It’s perfect.”

“Motherfucker!” Slam’s voice bellowed from upstairs. “What the fuck are you doing, Knox? Put the fucking thing down.”

I smiled and cupped my hands over Linds’s belly. “Sorry about that. I’m trying to cover the baby’s ears.”

“And they’re going to help you build the nursery?”

“Yes they are. My best friends and brothers.”

“That’s going to be a nursery laced with cursing, huh?”

“Yeah. But would you want it any other way?” I asked.

“With you… nothing shocks me, King.”

“Good. So now can we spend the rest of our lives together? Like the way it’s meant to be?”

Linds slipped her hands around my neck. She pulled me down to her. We kissed. And we kept kissing until Matteo walked through the door carrying the mattress for the crib.

“No, don’t mind me,” Matteo said. “We’ll do all the work. You two can just…”

“Upstairs,” I growled to Matteo. “I’ll be up in a second.”

Matteo took to the stairs.

“I better get up there,” I said to Linds. “Before my baby’s room ends up as a small biker bar.”

“Hurry,” Linds said with a smile.

“I’ll be back in a bit.
I promise
.”

Linds laughed.

Goddamn, I loved when she laughed.

“Think about it,” I said with a smile. “Not even death row could stop us from being together.”

“I guess that means forever is real,” Linds said.

“Yeah… exactly.”

I walked halfway up the stairs and stopped. I looked at Linds. She stood in the half empty living room, one hand on her belly. She was smiling. She was happy.

I had finally done it. I had kept the one thing I always wanted to keep.

To be her man. To be her outlaw. To be her King.

44

⁽
K
ing)

*
YEARS
AND
YEARS
AGO*

S
HE WALKED
by and smiled at me. Her mouth was caked with big, metal braces. Her face had pimples on it. Her hair was pulled back but messy. Everything about screamed awkward.

I had Slam nudging me, trying to give me another cigarette.

I suddenly didn’t want one.

I suddenly didn’t give a damn about being the cool bad boy.

I just stared at her.

She was with her friends.

Her hair bounced and danced behind her.

She looked back at me, smiling again.

Tons of geeky braces.

But her eyes were big and brown.

She fucking caught me right then.

It would be two years before we’d talk. And from there…
holy shit
.

Slam elbowed me harder.

“What?” I asked.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I said.

“He was checking out that girl,” Matteo said. “Staring at her like he wants to fucking marry her or some shit.”

I looked again and saw her turn the corner.

She was out of sight…
but fucking far from out of my mind - and heart.

THE
END.