Page 66 of Bitter Queen (Advantage Play 4)

As we both catch our breaths, D rolls onto his back, then tugs me into his side and starts running his fingers along my damp skin.

“Shit,” he mutters.

I laugh but don’t reply.

“You okay, Blue?”

My smile softens before I take a second to analyze my emotions. But for once, they aren’t all over the place. And it feels good to be in the present without my baggage weighing me down.

“Yeah.” I rest my chin against his pec and look up at him. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

His mouth twitches with pride before he presses a quick peck to my forehead. Then he lays back down. “I’ll always keep you safe, Q.”

“I believe you.”

And I really do.

24

Diece

“Hey, man,” a deep voice murmurs as I grab a protein shake from the fridge. The door closes with a flick of my wrist a second later and gives me a view of the culprit.

“Hey, Jack.” I lift my chin in greeting. “What’s up?”

“I just….” He squeezes the back of his neck as his face contorts with discomfort. “I just wanted to apologize.”

“For what?”

“For being an inconsiderate asshole to you and Q.”

I laugh and shake my head. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Jack. I get it.”

“Don’t let me off the hook,” he rasps. “I was being selfish. You guys have let me stay here while the rest of the world searches for me. You’ve been….” He laughs. “Hell, you’ve been generous with your hospitality. More than I would’ve ever expected, and I repaid you by acting like a kid who’d gotten his toy taken away.”

The guy looks like his guilt has been eating him alive ever since Will showed up and Q revealed her true identity. I’d be an ass not to put him out of his misery.

“Like I said, I get it,” I reply. “And it wasn’t a toy. It was your only hope of returning to a normal life after this. You didn’t plan on running from the law in your lifetime like the rest of us. You were fighting for the good guys, yet still found a way to be on their shitlist.”

With his hip against the counter, he rubs his hand against his face. “Yeah. It kind of sucks.”

I can see him slipping back into his thoughts, replaying the last moments of his life before they were ripped away from him. I can’t imagine what it must’ve been like to be betrayed by one of your own. When we found out that Vince, a soldier in the family, had been feeding information to one of our enemies, we eradicated the problem with a bullet to his head. Jack doesn’t have that privilege.

And that’s a bitch to come to terms with.

“Do you want to go back?” I ask, unable to help myself. “If you had the chance.”

Sighing, he looks back at me with bloodshot eyes. “Where else would I go?”

I shrug one shoulder and take a quick swig of my drink while eyeing him casually. Once I’ve swallowed, I offer, “You could stay here.”

You’d think I offered to send him to Mars by the way his entire face scrunches up. “I, uh…I couldn’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“I…I don’t know.”

“We’re not as bad as you think, Jack.” I slap him on the back. “In a way, we’re set up just like the justice system, but King is the judge, jury, and President,” I point out with a smirk.