Ruthless Kings - Laura Lee Page 0,36

behind her floppy ears, which she loves. Kingston kneels down and joins in, laughing when Gretta's giant tongue paints his cheek with dog drool. This moment is so ordinary—just some people playing with a cute dog in a park—but at the same time, it's surreal. Two months ago, if you would've asked me if I thought Kingston Davenport was an animal lover or was into taking cheesy selfies, I'd scream, “Hell no." The man is an enigma. The more I get to know him, the more complicated he becomes.

Kingston and I step back and watch the dog and her owner resume their game of fetch. Wordlessly, Kingston takes my hand as we make our way down the road to where he parked the Range Rover. I climb into the vehicle and buckle my belt as Kingston gets behind the wheel and starts the ignition.

He releases a heavy sigh once we pull onto the road. “I really don’t want to take you back to that house, Jazz. Is there anything I can say that would convince you to stay with me?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“Stubborn ass woman.”

I throw my head back and groan. “Kingston, please don’t ruin the perfectly good morning we’ve had. I’ll be fine. I’m scheduled to return to school on Tuesday if the doctor gives me the all-clear tomorrow, so I won’t be there much anyway. Besides, if Peyton is a suspect, isn’t it better to pretend that everything is normal to draw her out? I can’t do that if I’m shacking up with you.”

“I fucking hate it when you’re right,” he grumbles.

“Yeah, well, get used to it, buddy.”

He glares at me out of the corner of his eye. “Wiseass.”

I stick my tongue out because I'm mature like that. At least it gets a smile out of him.

“You’re never going to stop pushing my buttons, are you?”

I shrug. “Why would I do that when you make it so fun?”

Kingston shakes his head. “Like I said, fucking trouble.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

KINGSTON

“Don’t you think you’re being paranoid?”

I close the door to Jazz's bedroom and flip the lock. "No, I'm diligent. If you insist on staying here, I insist on doing this."

Jazz sits on the end of her bed, rolling her eyes at me. I loathe the fact that she's here right now. We may not know who did this to her, but I'm with Jazz; I do think someone hired them, and I do believe that person knows us. Nothing else makes sense, and John thinks so, too. The lake house is in a small mountain community; it's not the kind of place where you'd randomly end up or go looking for trouble. All of the locals know each other. There's only one vacation rental, which was occupied by people at the homecoming party.

It's entirely possible Peyton, or any of the people living in this house, are innocent. At least in the case of Jazz's assault. But I'm not willing to risk Jazz's safety by slacking off or not using every possible resource at my disposal. I know she still has doubts about me, even though I'm no longer keeping secrets from her. Sure, I've given her reason to distrust me in the past, but I thought we've moved past that. Hell, I thought we moved past that the night we slept together.

I know being brutally attacked would make anyone wary, but I also know Jazz feels this connection we have. She isn’t the type of girl who’d fuck someone without at least a small emotional attachment. No matter how crazy our chemistry is, she’s too mindful to allow a physical attraction to rule her actions. Being with her that night was...different than it's ever been for me before. I've had some great sex in my life, but this was...more. I wasn’t blowing smoke up Jazz’s ass when I said I had no interest in fucking anyone but her. Since the moment we met, that woman is all I see, and I’m done pretending otherwise.

I was dead serious when I said I’d kill any motherfucker who tried taking her away from me. I know this thing started because I had an ulterior motive, but that’s not the case anymore. Jasmine Rivera will be right by my side when I take down our fathers and the assholes who hurt her.

I fish the small device John gave me out of my pocket and surreptitiously scan her bedroom for bugs. Something immediately triggers the sensors, so I walk around a bit until the signal gets