Page 76 of Kings Don't Break

I lose myself to the violence. To beating the shit out of him ’til I’m out of breath and slicked with sweat and he’s an unconscious heap on the floor.

For the briefest second, I almost keep going. I almost take aim and squeeze the trigger of his pistol to execute him on the spot. The adrenaline buzzing through me surges in my veins and almost pushes me to do it. The high of the moment almost has me in such a trance that I don’t think anything of it.

Almost.

It’s the smallest voice in the furthest part of my brain that stops me. Reminds me how sloppy it would be.

I’ve already risked enough being here.

There’s no doubt Stricklin will know it was me when he regains consciousness. With no evidence, he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

An unplanned murder is something else altogether.

I leave with the satisfaction that he’s swollen and bloodied on the floor.

For now, it’s enough.

* * *

“Why do you look so happy?” Sydney asks first thing when she and Mace pull up.

It’s a couple days before Christmas and we’ve decided as a group that we’ll be traveling to the huge Christmas tree lot outside of Boulder to snag a tree for our homes. Mace and Sydney want one for their house, and I’ve decided it’d be nice to have one in the trailer for Korine and Sunny.

I open the door and wait for Korine to crawl in first. Then I slide into the backseat and give a shrug as an answer to Sydney’s question.

“It’s almost Christmas.”

Korine arches a skeptical brow. “I asked him the same this morning. He wouldn’t tell me.”

That’s ’cuz you’d be pissed I beat the shit out of your ex-husband.

Mace is behind the wheel. He peers at us in the rearview mirror and checks if we’re ready to go.

“Ready as ever to pick out a tree and put it up.”

I wink at Korine seated at my side. The corners of her lips tip up, though she says nothing. There’s been unspoken tension between us every moment since we’ve kissed. We’ve barely figured out what it meant and how it potentially changes things.

I won’t lie by saying I’m not expecting more. I’m hoping for Korine to stop overthinking and surrender to what’s inevitable as far as I’m concerned.

It’d taken us years when we were teenagers. All the way up to senior year before we both finally got on the same page and gave a real relationship a try.

No surprise that we flourished—we were so damn happy together that people around town used to tease us about our future. I’d believed it to be true. Even when I wound up caught in my own vices and ruined my shot for good.

Probably why I’m grateful for what feels like a second chance to make it happen.

Make my girl mine.

We travel much of the way with music blasting from the truck stereo. Mace and Sydney bicker over what to play. Mace insists on throwbacks from the early 2000s while Sydney changes the Spotify station more than once to Christmas classics.

“It’s that time of year!” she cries out to our laughter in the back.

Mace scowls. “You’re the only one I’d ever let change my music.”

“You weren’t complaining about Christmas last night when I wore that little Mrs. Claus nightie?—”

“Ahem,” Mace coughs. “Company in the back.”

“Don’t mind us,” Korine says. “Tell me more about this nightie, Sydney. It sounds cute.”