What! “Yes, you will.”
He lowered his head, just inches from my face and then waved his hand across it. “Yes…You…Will…”
His words seeped into my skull like the memory of delicious fresh baked cookies—so welcome and irresistible. Suddenly, I wanted to do everything he said.
He added, “And you will wait out here for me in silence until I retrieve you.”
The front part of my lobe made me nod and say, “Yes. I will wait here.” The back part of my lobe was kicking and cursing—A-hole! A-hole! A-hole!—totally helpless to override his command.
He walked away, leaving me just standing there in the hallway like a useless clump of mashed potatoes. He can’t do this, he can’t, I thought.
But he did. And there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I didn’t know how much time passed, but when King grabbed my hand and began tugging me toward the elevators, I immediately saw the blue light seeping from his body into the air around him.
That can’t be good.
“You okay?” I asked as we rode down in the elevator.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” He lifted his chin a little.
“Because if you just did what I think you did, your dick is in the process of shriveling up.” I’d meant that as a joke, but given my lack of experience in that department, I immediately regretted my choice. Clearly, the man was upset.
Then it dawned on me: my gift. I reached out and placed my hand on his, attempting to duplicate the healing process from earlier. Nothing happened.
“It’s not working,” I said, pulling away and inspecting my hands.
“Some pain cannot be erased,” he said regretfully. “Nor should they be.”
Meaning, he wanted to suffer? Meaning he actually did it? “Oh, God. Please don’t tell me…No. No. Not with her.”
He looked straight ahead at the doors. “I did what I had to.”
“You didn’t…” His wife would be devastated. I mean, if Mack screwed Talia after marrying me and my having his child, there would be no excuse on earth that could wash away my pain or prevent me from removing his dangly parts with my fingernails. That wasn’t to say that I wouldn’t understand the why. But could I live with it or forgive it? No. Not when I loved him so deeply and passionately. There could be no sharing for any reason when you’ve given your heart so completely to another.
“Thank you, Theodora,” King said sarcastically, replying to my thoughts.
“Sorry. But there’s right and then there’s real. Real is never wanting to share the person you’re in love with. I mean, could you forgive Mia if she slept with Mack to save your life?”
He swiveled his head in my direction and snarled.
“Exactly,” I said. “But…” I shook my head. “Did you really…do…that?” I still couldn’t believe it.
“I do not wish to discuss this.”
The doors slid open, and we stepped out of the elevator to make our way to the awaiting limo outside. After we got in, King murmured, “You will have to make Mia understand, Theodora. Make her understand how much I love her. She will listen to you. Seers have a special bond.” The heart-wrenching sorrow in his tone was almost too much to bear.
Crap. I think I’m going to cry.
I scrubbed my face with my hands. “I’m not a magician. I can’t just make her feel happy—or—I don’t know.” I sighed. “Maybe I can.” This was all still so new to me. “But…Okay, don’t get pissy on me for saying this, King, but you’re King. People fear you. You squash anything that gets in your way. Why didn’t you fight?”
“Who says I didn’t?” He cleared his throat and straightened his tie.
“Meaning?”
“Talia has upped her game. I was unprepared.” King’s aura instantly turned to a dark blue. This mood-ring feature was very strange.
I frowned at him, wondering what the ever-living hell that meant. Then it dawned on me; the little tidbits I’d heard and seen. These 10 Club people were ruthless.
I gasped and covered my mouth. “She has something on you, doesn’t she?”
“Not on. Over,” he corrected solemnly.
I heard the wheels in my head go click!-click!-click! Talia had leverage on him. And the only thing King loved more than Mack was likely his wife and baby son.
Reading my thoughts, King said, “And you would be correct in your assumption.”
Fucking bitch. I didn’t know the details, but what did that matter? Talia had backed King into a corner so dark and tight that he’d had no choice.