Page 54 of Kings Don't Break

I pull over to the shoulder of the road. The patrol car mirrors my actions, parking up behind me. The driver’s side door pops open and out steps Ken in his uniform.

Where did he even come from? How did he appear so suddenly?

I swallow against the panic. I grip the wheel so tightly, my nails dig into the leather cover. Chills break out across my skin, an icy sensation running down my spine.

Ken takes his time making it over—he’s pretending this is an official stop. He grabs his metal clipboard and speaks into the radio clipped to his shoulder. His boots strike the pavement one at a time as he strolls over.

Sunglasses disguise his eyes. The rest of his face is vacant. Devoid of any emotion or humanity.

You’d think we were strangers…

He stops by the window and motions for me to roll it down. My hand shakes as I press the button.

“Ken,” I sputter out. “I don’t want?—”

“Do you know why I stopped you this afternoon?” he interrupts in an almost robotic tone.

I shake my head. “No, but I really don’t?—”

“You popped an illegal U-turn back there,” he speaks over me. He gestures down the road to the point where I’d turned around. “You were also going twelve over the speed limit.”

My stomach sinks. “I’m… sorry.”

I don’t know what else to say. I don’t know what else to do. It’s all I can manage not to spiral into a panic attack.

“License and registration,” he says.

Careful to move slow, I reach for my glove compartment and grab hold of the item’s requested. He snatches them out of my hand and barely gives them a once-over.

“I’m going to have to ask you to get out of the vehicle.”

“Ken—”

“Now.” His lips tighten. Terrifying against the rest of the blank mask that’s his face.

I give a small nod and let out a feeble breath from my lungs.

This can’t be good…

12

KORINE

“Hands on the hood of the vehicle,” Ken orders.

“Ken, don’t do this,” I gust out. My voice sounds shaky even to my ears. Laced with unmistakable fear.

It claws away at my insides. Gone is the upbeat woman I’ve been the past couple of weeks. She fades away the moment I’m within arm’s reach of Ken and the omnipresent threat of his violence.

“Hands on the hood of the vehicle. Feet shoulder width apart.”

When I still don’t move, his cheek twitches in a subtle warning. A precursor for him snatching me by the arms and spinning me around. My hands are slammed down on the hood and my feet kicked apart.

“Ow, Ken?—”

“You were given an explicit order you refused to comply with. Do that again and you’ll be sitting in the back of my patrol car.” He cages me in against the car so that I can’t move an inch. My hands flat on the warm hood. My legs far apart enough to feel humiliating. He’s so close, I can feel his breath against my cheek when he speaks. “Are we going to do this the hard way or the easy way, Kor?”

“Hard? Easy? I don’t know what you mean?—”