Kansas (Ruthless Kings MC Atlantic City #2) - K.L. Savage Page 0,15

away from me, but I entwine my fingers with his to stop him.

“What is it?” he asks kindly, a bit of a contradiction with how he looks.

“Don’t go. I don’t want to be alone.” The thought of being alone scares me more than the nightmares right now. I don’t know if it’s hit me just how much me and my sister’s lives have changed yet. I want to believe we will be okay. I want to believe I’m able to take care of a sixteen and seventeen-year-old. It’s up to me.

I’m only twenty-two. I don’t know how to be ready to take care of them, but they need me. We are all we have now. We have to stick together.

“I won’t go anywhere. I’m going to stick right here.” He points to the chair directly next to the bed. “I won’t be far. I never am.”

I want to ask why. Why is he here? Why does he care? Why is it him, and not someone else like Fabio? He’s the doctor, shouldn’t he be the one staying?

He tugs on my hand again, but I won’t let go. “I promise, I’ll be right here.”

“I’ll go,” Fabio says, writing something down in the chart before placing it at the end of the bed. “Just let me know if I’m needed.”

“Bye Fabio. Thanks for the drugs.” I scratch my cheek against the pillow, so I don’t have to remove my hand from Kansas’s.

He chuckles and sighs. “I’m never going to hear the end of it.”

“Don’t forget, you owe me a hundred bucks, Pulse.”

“I’ll go to the ATM in the main room. Don’t get your thong in a twist, Kansas.”

I laugh so hard I snort. “A thong—” I snort again, “—in a twist.”

“She’s so fucking high. I need me some of that.”

“Patients only, Kansas,” Fabio informs as he leaves, keeping the door open behind him.

“Ha-ha. Sucks to be you.” I stick my tongue out at Kansas. I don’t know how it’s possible to feel playful, tired, and sad all at once, but I do. Kansas makes it easy.

“I know a man that can cut that out if you aren’t careful.”

I suck my tongue back into my mouth and widen my eyes.

“Don’t worry. He’s in Vegas. He can’t get you here.” He tries to sit down again, but I stop him. “You need another blanket?”

I shake my head. “Lie next to me.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You need your space.”

“I trust you,” I mumble.

“You shouldn’t.”

“I know.” I can’t deny the fight to sleep, so I close my eyes and scoot over to make room for his massive body.

The bed dips and creaks and his boots scuff against the end of the bed. He doesn’t wrap his arms around me, he doesn’t hold my hand, he just lies flat on his back with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. It gives me the perfect view of his tattoos along the entirety of his neck. They are a geometric design, heavy with blank ink and swirls. He swallows, which forces his Adam’s apple to bob and the circles that form around it move.

I know I have no reason to be close to him, but right now, he’s the only person I know and feel comfortable around. I wiggle my body closer to his and press my head into the nook of his arm. I shouldn’t think like this, but it’s a perfect fit. I lay my cheek on the side of his chest and the warmth radiating from his skin through his clothes makes me warmer, like I’m sitting in front of a fire with a blanket wrapped around me.

The scent of rain hits me again, mingled with his leather vest, and I clutch onto it, fisting the material as hard as I can as emotion hits me out of nowhere again.

I cry and my tears fall to his shirt. He is unknowingly drying my tears.

One of his arms wraps around me, his palm rubbing up and down my arm. He doesn’t say anything, he just traces his fingers up and down my arm, a slight caress that has me relaxing into his side. The tears slow, but the pain remains.

“It doesn’t seem like it now, but you’ll be okay. It just takes time.” His chest vibrates when he speaks, and I cuddle harder into him. I like how he sounds. He has one of those deep voices that people listen to and can’t get enough of while listening to a