Page 11 of The Kingpin’s Omega Lover (River City Omegas #2)

“I accept your gratitude, of course.” King gently eased Malori off him, so they could both sit up.

He missed Malori’s warmth almost immediately, the scent of his breath and sweat, but this was for the best. “I think our first lesson is over. You should take a warm bath with Epsom salts, so you don’t get too sore and stiff. ”

“Oh, um, sure, I think I saw some in my bathroom.” Malori scooted back a few feet and drew his knees to his chest, a defensive posture that hurt King to see—especially when they’d been so close moments ago. “What about the shooting range?”

“I’ll schedule it as soon as I can, I promise.” Uncertain and wary, and hating both of those feelings, King stood. “You don’t have to leave this room right away, just shut the door behind you when you do.”

Without waiting for Malori to reply, King fled like a coward.

Malori stared at the shut door, tangled up by the last hour of his life, and irritated by King’s abrupt departure.

He’d enjoyed the lessons, hadn’t been intimidated by King, hadn’t been bothered whenever King had to touch him.

Malori had felt some of his fury dissipate as it was funneled into something else.

But then they’d started talking and, in this safe space, with a safe person, Malori had lost his temper on a man who could have taken him down in three seconds flat.

But King hadn’t done a single thing to hurt Malori, while Malori had loomed over him, nearly throttling the life out of King before remembering King wasn’t his enemy.

King was a friend, a protector, and the kind of ally he needed in his corner.

Attacking the man had been dumb, but it had almost…

felt good. Malori had briefly been in control of the situation, and King had submitted.

King’s near-instant submission had been the biggest turn-on of Malori’s entire life, and he’d needed to kiss the man.

To test this new power and see where it led them.

He’d never been attracted to a man before, never felt a burning desire to turn the man over, spread his cheeks, and claim him as his own.

He’d felt that with King, and Malori was certain that for a few precious seconds, King would have allowed it. He would have given Malori anything.

Which was exactly why Malori had backed off.

His own aroused body had begun to produce its first trickle of natural lube from his anus, a reaction he had no control over, and it signaled to his sex partner that he was ready to be penetrated.

Malori hadn’t been able to produce any in months, not even on the few occasions he’d woken up with morning wood, and feeling that slickness again had shocked him back to reality.

He didn’t want to be penetrated ever again, no matter what his asshole demanded, thanks to a fluke of nature, and his lust fog had lifted.

He also remembered what King had told him about being trafficked.

For as fucked up as Malori was now, he never wanted to hurt another person the way they’d both been hurt.

Malori had needed a minute to collect himself, loved that King trusted him enough to admit he was bisexual, but then the conversation had taken a downward turn.

Malori wasn’t sure what he’d said to make King’s expression shutter, shifting from expressive teacher to cold-blooded kingpin in the blink of an eye.

King walking away hurt. Malori sipped his water and stewed in his bruised feelings for a while.

Good gods, but he was attracted to King, and his flagging boner was taking its sweet time going down.

He almost dumped water on his lap to help with the problem, but then he’d have a stain on the front of his shorts to go with the one spreading on the backside.

King’s mouth had been soft and sweet, and he’d allowed Malori to control the kiss—another huge turn-on.

They obviously had chemistry, so why had King dismissed him and left?

He remembers how used up and broken you are. Duh, you fucking fool.

No, it wasn’t that. King had known from the hour they met what Malori’s existence had been like on the Farm.

He’d probably even peeked at Malori’s private medical records, where Malori had tried to give Dr. Melish as detailed a medical history as he could, including all the times he could remember bleeding after a rape.

Every injury, tear or strain, and all the details of his first two pregnancies he dared to recount.

King was also bi, and given his age, had obviously been with men before.

It’s because I’m omega. Has to be.

Only a small percent of everyone born male was also born omega male, with the ability to become pregnant and give birth.

Similarly, women who were discovered to be alpha possessed the ability to impregnate.

It had nothing to do with sexual orientation, and growing up, Malori had heard cruel things from gay and bi men about omega males.

Women, too. Maybe King looked at Malori as someone who wasn’t a “real man” because he had a womb.

He’d hate it, but he would accept it, as long as King was honest with him.

Malori preferred straightforward people.

Liars and manipulators made him want to punch things.

And people. God, he’d wanted to punch King more than once today.

He’d wanted to take . He still did. And he didn’t like being walked away from.

Malori stood, not surprised his thighs and hips were sore already, and did his best not to limp out of the exercise room.

Down the hall, King’s bedroom door was shut.

He couldn’t be certain that’s where King had gone, but he probably didn’t do regular work while in his gym clothes.

He stalked down the hallway and banged on the reinforced door.

It swung open quickly, and King appeared shirtless and barefoot, dressed in only his tight gym shorts, and holy shit, he had no right to be so fucking gorgeous.

Even with the handful of visible scars on his chest and abdomen, he was perfection.

Malori was so stunned by the visual treat he choked on his own spit.

“What is it?” King asked. “I haven’t had a chance to shower yet, much less make those shooting range plans.”

“Is it because I’m omega?” Malori blurted out, barely recognizing his own demanding tone. He never acted like this—and maybe that was the problem. It was beyond time for Malori to stand up for himself and what he deserved.

“What? Is what because you’re omega?”

“You walking off like we didn’t just make out on the floor? Like we weren’t both hard for each other, or that you practically dared me to fuck you five minutes ago.”

King’s eyes narrowed. He wrapped his hand around Malori’s elbow and gently pulled him into the bedroom.

Malori didn’t flinch at the touch, which didn’t pinch or hurt, and he gaped at the massive bedroom.

It reminded him of a Las Vegas suite he’d seen in a movie once, all wide windows, a huge bed on a raised platform, and a cozy sitting area full of plush pillows.

Malori’s own room was spacious and bright, but damn. “So, this is how rich people sleep.”

King laughed and released his elbow. Shut the door. “I suppose it is, when I can sleep, which isn’t often. And when I said what happened in the gym stays in the gym, I meant it, so please don’t shout our business in the hallway. It’s private.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to let your guards in on your little moment of weakness.”

Instead of angering him, Malori’s outbursts seemed to amuse King. King crossed his arms and smiled. “If I’d known an hour of self-defense aerobics would bring you out of your shell like this, I’d have offered months ago. I like this side of you.”

“The side that isn’t terrified of everything? The scared little omega’s butch side?”

“No, the strength I always knew was inside you. I saw it that first day, Malori. The way you’d just been shot but refused to sleep for hours, until you finally felt safe enough to rest on your terms. The way you ask every day if there’s any news on your children, because you won’t give up hope that I will fulfill my promise.

The stubborn man in there who wants and desires, and who is determined to live, not simply exist. That’s who’s coming out. That’s who I admire.”

“You admire an omega?”

“I admire you , Malori. I don’t care that you’re omega male. It’s part of you, but it does not wholly define who you are, or your value to the rest of the world. You’re more than a slick hole and a womb. You have so much more value than that.”

Malori’s eyes burned but he refused to give in. He would not allow King to see him cry. “Do you only think that because you have an omega brother?”

“Honestly?” King stepped closer, arms still crossed, dark eyes intensely focused on Malori.

“Yes, in a way. Before I knew about Kens, I believed the worst propaganda about the place of women and omega males in our society. I was gross and wrong. After he presented as omega, Kensley was still the same brother I loved and valued. But my own deep-rooted misogyny was a huge factor in my choice to send him to the abbey. I wanted him protected from men who thought like I did. Then . I promise I don’t believe those things anymore.

You are my equal in every way, and you deserve the same protections as anyone else.

“I know it’s horrible, Mal, but sometimes it does take it happening to us for a person to finally care. And when we do care, we care a lot.”

Malori wrapped his arms around his belly and took a single step back, shoulders hunching, trying to parse everything King had told him. “But you were abused, too. How could you think other people deserved being treated that way?”

“Because back then it wasn’t about anyone else.

It was about my survival. And I thought that the only way to survive was to stand on the broken backs of others, and I didn’t care whose back or how it was broken.

I wanted to be on top, safe, not vulnerable to another man’s attack ever again.

But there are other ways to survive that don’t require me to hurt others.

I can be at the top without trampling on innocent people.

I don’t want to be the kind of leader who hurts others simply because I can. ”

“Only if they deserve it,” Malori said softly, thinking of today’s kill. The kill he’d desperately wanted to make and had been furious at King for pulling the trigger (literally or metaphorically, Malori didn’t know, and he would never ask).

“I want to kill, too!”

“Only if they deserve it,” King repeated, and suddenly he was right in front of Malori.

Warm hands rested on Malori’s shoulders, and Malori looked up, into dark, simmering eyes.

“I don’t care what kind of person you were before the Farm.

I don’t care if you dealt drugs, stole from poor widows to feed your habit, or even if you sold yourself to survive.

There are very few things on my list of actions that could make someone deserve three-plus years of physical torture and repeated rapes.

And I can’t fathom the additional emotional torture of losing two children. ”

“I didn’t lose them.” Malori snarled, hating when people phrased it like that. As if Malori had misplaced them in a shopping mall. “They were stolen.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.”

“Good.” He gazed at King, his own arms falling to his sides, torn in two directions.

He wanted to kiss King again, to shove the bigger man backward onto that plush couch and pounce.

To see how far King would really allow things to go between them.

But he was also enjoying this quiet moment of understanding, of truly connecting with another human being over their shared pain, and the promises King had made to avenge Malori’s specific pain. “So why did you walk away?”

King blinked several times. “When?”

“Earlier in the gym. I was thanking you for saving my life, and you got all stiff, abrupt, and then you left. It’s like you realized what you were kissing and needed to get out of there.”

“Please, don’t call yourself a what.” King slid one hand up to cup the side of Malori’s neck, and Malori nearly purred from the gentle touch. “I always knew exactly who I was kissing. I know exactly who is in my arms right now. I got a little scared that we weren’t on the same page about why.”

Malori rested his own palms over King’s bare chest, adoring the fact that King had admitted to being scared. Most men in King’s position would never say such a thing, never admit to such a fatal weakness. “Why were you kissing me, King?”

“Because I’m attracted to you. Because you knocked me on my ass and kept me there.

Because one taste of you was not enough, and I meant it when I told you to take what you wanted.

I wasn’t lying to you in the moment, and I won’t take it back.

I’ll clear the rest of my day and tomorrow, if that’s what you want. ”

Malori’s stomach twisted with an unfamiliar combination of arousal and fear. He slid his left hand down King’s chest to his hip, and then around to rest over the top of his ass. “You’d really let me fuck you?”

“Yes.” Not a second’s hesitation.

He closed his eyes and could see it. See King naked on that big bed, ass in the air, cheeks spread and ready for Malori’s cock.

He could see himself doing something he’d never done before, an act that had been forced upon him countless times.

He could see himself taking that power back by using another person. But—“Have you ever? Before?”

“Willingly let someone fuck me? No.”

“Fuck.” Malori broke free of their embrace and took several long steps backward, until he nearly hit the wall.

“What’s wrong? I’m telling you I want this, Mal.”

“I don’t want it. Not like this.”

“Not alone in my bedroom when I’m telling you I want to make love with you?”

“No.” He couldn’t explain it to himself, much less to King, and he’d never manage while King was looking at him with his entire heart in his eyes. Make love. Fuck. “Let me know when we’re going to the shooting range.”

Before he could change his mind, Malori turned and fled.