Page 24 of Black Bay Enforcer (Beasts of Black Bay #3)

The thunder began soon after they arrived at Kong’s apartment, distant rolling rumbles. But as they prepared the teriyaki chicken, sauteed vegetables, and wild rice, the storm drew closer and closer, growing louder as the time between lightning strikes and booms shrunk to almost nothing.

They had just sat down to eat when the power went out, making Katherine jolt with surprise, but a secondary power source must have kicked in because mere seconds later, some of the lights came back on.

“That’s handy. I thought we’d be searching in the dark for some candles or flashlights.”

Kong looked up at the lights with a grimace. “We don’t like to be left in the dark.”

Katherine’s forkful of food halted before it reached her mouth. There was something in the way he said it that told her there was a story behind that statement and not a happy one. Lowering her fork, she gave her full attention to the man sitting across from her.

“The lab we grew up in was in the sublevels of a pharmaceutical building. When we weren’t being tested or experimented on, we were locked in cells.

They were small. Maybe six by six. There were no windows, so when the power went out, the darkness was absolute until the secondary power kicked in.

But it didn’t turn the lights back on in our cells, just a light in the hallway, so all we could see was a thin red line under our doors and a tiny red light at the ceiling that told us the camera in our room was active again.

” He shrugged up a shoulder as if it was no big deal, but she knew better.

“No one ever told us what was going on. Whether it was a storm that knocked out the power, a fire, or something else. All we could do was sit there and wonder until the lights came back on.”

Katherine swallowed hard, her heart breaking for him. They’d been kids, alone and scared in the dark. Whenever she’d been scared as a child, she could always run to her mother’s room and crawl in bed with her. They never had anyone to comfort them.

Reaching out, she took his hand in hers. He squeezed her fingers lightly, and between one heartbeat and the next, he seemed to throw off the weight of the memory, and playful Kong returned.

Batting his eyelashes comically, he asked, “Will you be my thunder buddy, Katherine?”

Katherine let out a low laugh. “Yes, Kong. I would love to be your thunder buddy.”

The mood now lifted, they dug into their food, the conversation flowing into lighter subjects.

By the time they finished eating, the storm had moved off, the thunder growing distant. The primary power had returned, and the rain no longer beat a heavy tattoo against the windows. They’d just finished cleaning up when Kong looked at his watch and asked, “Are you ready for your surprise?”

She nodded eagerly but he didn’t move to retrieve anything. “Two more minutes,” he told her.

Katherine waited, and sure enough, two minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

“It’s open!” Kong called out.

“Are you decent?” someone returned though Katherine was pretty sure it was Grady. “Cus I don’t want to see your hairy ass, man.”

“My ass is not hairy!”

“Because you wax it?”

“What the fuck? Get in here.”

The door cracked open just a slice. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“We’re dressed!”

Katherine hid a chuckle behind her hand as people trooped in – Grady, Lark, Paige, Jace, Leo, then Jayla, Lynx, and Perrin. Some of them were carrying board games.

“Who’s ready for game night?” Lark asked.

Kong turned to look at Katherine. “You told me that you missed spending time with your friends. The game nights.” Hesitantly, he tacked on, “I thought we might make a new game night tradition for you, with new friends.”

He’d remembered. To say Katherine was touched was an understatement.

When he’d said he had a surprise for her, she thought he’d gotten a special dessert or something like that.

Never would she have guessed he’d go to so much trouble for her to make her feel at home.

A thickness of emotion clogged her throat until she couldn’t speak. So, instead, she hugged him.

“Come on, now,” Leo protested. “None of that mushy-gushy stuff. It’s ass-whoopin’ time. Get your game face on.”

Smiling, Katherine pulled away from Kong just in time to see Leo hunch his shoulders, his thick arms flexed and bowed at his side, muscles bulging, and the tendons in his neck standing out prominently as he made a fierce face.

“You look like you’re trying to take a shit,” Perrin told him dryly, smacking his chest with the back of her hand.

Leo smirked at her. “Admit it, Perrin. You find me gorgeous yet intimidating.” He waggled his eyebrows.

Perrin rolled her eyes, unimpressed, while Jayla gripped Leo’s face and squished his cheeks between her palms. In a voice usually reserved for babies and pets, she announced, “No one can resist this squishy face.”

“Are we doing this or what?” Grady called out to be heard over the ensuing laughter and chatter. “Host’s choice. Pick a game.”

Katherine was looking through the games they brought, most of them classics like Monopoly, Trivia Pursuit, and Pictionary, when there was a hesitant knock on the door. She looked at Kong. “Were you expecting more people?” They already had quite a crew.

With a frown, Kong shook his head, but he yelled out, “Come in!”

The door opened to reveal a man Katherine hadn’t met before, but one look at his scarred face told her who he might be.

Everyone yelled out, “Erik!” confirming her guess.

Almost sheepishly, the man held up a case of Corona bottles. “Am I too late to join?”

He’d come! Kong was having a hard time containing his excitement, his heels practically bouncing with joy.

Anytime they were doing something as a group – even if it was just getting together to watch a movie – they, all of them, always invited Erik.

Sometimes he’d give them a flat no, other times he’d say he’d think about it and then never show up, so when Kong had asked him to join them tonight and Erik said he’d think about it, Kong had figured he’d be a no-show.

But he was here! He had to hold himself back from running over there and hugging him.

First, volunteering for missions, and now this? His friend was healing. Finally.

“Not too late,” Kong blurted a bit more enthusiastically than he’d intended. “We were just picking what game we wanted to play.”

With a nod, Erik stepped inside and looked around as if he wasn’t sure what to do with himself.

“Here, sit.” Kong reached to take the beers from him and then felt a touch of panic set in at his lack of furniture. Why didn’t he have more furniture?

Perrin came to the rescue, sinking to the floor and patting the space beside her. “Pull up some carpet and get comfortable.”

“If anyone cares,” Leo chimed in, “I vote for Pictionary.”

“Okay, so ten votes against Pictionary?” Perrin asked with a smirk.

“Har har.”

“Host’s choice,” Grady reminded them. “You can pick when we do this at your place.”

Leo’s smile turned decidedly wicked as he rubbed his hands together. “When I host, expect naked Twister and a vat of baby oil.”

Ignoring Leo, Jayla suggested, “We should be on teams.”

Shit. Eleven people. How would they split that? Kong didn’t want Erik to think he was the odd man out who had upset the balance and leave. Could he scrounge up another person? Almost everyone else was on shift tonight or away on a mission.

“I vote for guys against the girls,” Lynx chimed in.

Katherine rubbed his back. Softly she asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m great!” His grin was wide but a bit forced and judging by the look on Katherine’s face, he wasn’t fooling her one bit.

“There’s more girls than guys,” someone pointed out, but Kong wasn’t paying attention, too busy racking his brain for a solution.

Leo let out a scoffing sound. “Let ‘em have an extra player. They’ll need the advantage if they hope to win against us.”

That set the ladies off, all of them but Katherine snarking at Leo, but it was decided, taking the stress off Kong’s shoulders to find another player. Now they just needed to know what game.

He looked at Katherine. “So what do you want to play?”

“How about Trivia Pursuit?”

What a great night! After everyone said their goodbyes and headed off to their own apartments with promises that they’d be doing this again next week – just not at Leo’s place – Katherine began putting away the game pieces.

Nothing else needed to be cleaned up. Everyone had pretty much picked up after themselves.

Katherine wasn’t sure what had Kong so tense earlier, but he’d quickly relaxed once the game had begun.

They were such a wonderful group. And smart.

Holy crap! Katherine had been impressed.

Unlike her, none of the categories stumped them, with someone shouting the answer almost as soon as the question was asked.

There was also lots of teasing, and joking around, and their competitive natures had definitely come out to play – things had gotten pretty loud quite a few times – and Katherine had almost thought they’d have to break up a brawl between Leo and Perrin at one point, but all in all, she couldn’t wait to do this again.

“Katherine?”

Smiling, she looked up from what she was doing and then straightened up fully. Kong looked tense again. “What is it? What’s the matter?”

His cheeks puffed out before he released a slow breath and he rubbed his hand over his hair. “I thought maybe we could…” He trailed off, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Maybe you might want to…”

She wasn’t used to seeing him so hesitant. Stepping closer, Katherine touched his forearm. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

Kong cleared his throat. “Do you want to move in with me?”

Her eyes widened as her chest swelled with hope.

Kong wanted to live together! She almost did a happy dance.

Yes. Yes. Yes. No, wait . Pump the brakes , she cautioned herself before she let her heart take over and completely override her common sense.

Her brain needed a say in this too. “Isn’t it too soon? ”

He frowned. “Are there timetables to these sorts of things?”

She supposed not.

“I like having you here. I think you like being here.”

Katherine nodded as the butterflies in her belly held a rave with glitter bombs and rainbows.

She did like being here with him. So much.

She liked spending time with him, talking to him, and listening to his stories.

She liked falling asleep with his arms around her and loved that his face was the first thing she saw when she woke in the morning. But… “It’s not crazy?”

Kong pulled her into his arms. “Maybe it is. But let’s be crazy together.”

He kissed her and any thoughts as to whether moving in together was premature or insane fled her head. She wanted this. She wanted Kong and not just for the short term.

His hands cupped her backside, and with a boost, her feet were off the floor, her skirt hiked up, and her legs wrapped around his waist.

“Be crazy with me and say yes,” he said against her mouth before he nipped her bottom lip gently with his teeth. “Take a chance.”

Throwing caution to the wind, she blurted, “Yes.”

His happy rumble vibrated through her and Katherine couldn’t help but smile against his lips as he kissed her again.

Kong walked them into the bedroom and kicked the door shut behind them as Katherine tugged his t-shirt out of his pants.

His hungry kisses moved from her mouth to her ear, and Katherine shivered in his arms as he whispered, “You won’t regret it, Katherine. We’re going to be great together.”