Page 35 of Kneeling for Them

“No, Trina came and got the woman.I was still passed out.I don’t remember drinking that much, King.King, I have a problem.Fuck!I have a problem.”

“Okay, we’ll fix it,” I say.“There’s nothing we can’t solve.”

“I can’t undo what I did!”

I didn’t think it was possible, but I had to ask.“Did you rape the woman?”

“No?Maybe!I don’t fucking know, King.Trina said it was bad, she took the woman to the hospital.Did I rape her?Did I punish her?I don’t know.Trina paid her off, got her to sign some NDAs, I don’t fucking know.”

“So the woman won’t press charges.”

He shook his head.“No.But sheshouldpress charges.I deserve to lose everything.I’m a piece of fucking shit and I don’t deserve…”

He trailed off.His despair scared the shit out of me that night.If he’d been sober, I would’ve given him a drink, or maybe a sleeping pill, anything to calm him down.But he’d been messed up.So I’d helped him into the guest bed and then I’d sat in the chair nearby, watching him sleep.

A piece of Bash died that night.

I’m not saying that to minimize what the woman went through, the one he hurt.What she has to live with now—a constant nightmare in her past, is worse.But I don’t see her on a daily basis like I see Bash.And I would testify in a court of law that he is constantly tortured by what he did.

I never liked how Trina handled him afterward, either, acting like it needed to be shoved under the rug, not spoken of, not dealt with beyond a few weeks in a rehab center.According to Bash, she paid off the young woman for him.I don’t even know how much cash Sebastian threw around for the woman’s silence.

Despite there being no trouble for Bash since then, I haven’t forgiven Trina.

My only consolation is Trina lives in New York, and when she comes to the west coast, she stays in Los Angeles.She’s had no reason to interact with Bash in person.Which is good, because he looks physically ill whenever Trina calls.

He thinks he’s ill because of guilt, but I think that woman is a fucking disease.

The loud voices of a group of people walking past pull my attention back to the present.Bash still isn’t here.As I watch the pub, Ella opens the door and steps out wearing black jeans and a black button-up top beneath her new coat.I get out of my car and she spots me immediately.

“What are you doing here?”she asks.“I was just going to take the bus.”

“All the way to my place?”

“Um…” She chews on her lip.“I thought I would stay in my apartment tonight.”

“On Valentine’s Day?”I ask her.“Do you really want to be alone?”

“Well, it’s just a commercial holiday, and—”

“And that fact doesn’t stop me from wanting to spoil my little girl,” I say.

She groans.“I’m already more spoiled than you know.”

“Good,” I say, kissing the top of her head.“That means I get to spoil you some more.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that complete lack of logic,” she says with a laugh.“Where are you guys taking me?”

“I think it’s just going to be you and me tonight,” I say.

“Oh.”She sounds a little disappointed, but as if realizing that, she says, “I’m still glad you’re here, though.”

“I know, sweetheart.It would be better with all three of us, but we’ll have fun just the same, okay?”

“Yes, definitely okay.”She grabs my hand and kisses my knuckles, looking at me through her eyelashes in a way that has my cock twitching to attention.“So, where to?”

I’d been thinking somewhere low-key so Bash wouldn’t have to worry about getting spotted by fans, but since he’s not here, I no longer have to worry about that.“Wanna go to Vice?”

She beams.“Yeah.”Then her smile fades.“But, actually, no.”