Kingston: You are the *devil emoji
“What’s so funny?” Ainsley asks as she sees my amused expression.
I hand her my phone so she can scroll through my convo with Kingston.
“Oh, man, you’re so awesome. I bet he’s literally gagging right now.”
“Probably.” My thumbs fly over the screen as I type my reply.
Me: I’ll make it up to you with a *kiss emoji *tongue emoji *eggplant emoji *OK hand emoji
Kingston: You’re forgiven. And I’ll GLADLY return the favor *tongue emoji *peach emoji
I snort-laugh as I shove the phone back in my pocket.
“Now what?”
My lips twitch. “You don’t want to know.”
Ainsley has the same no-go zone rule when it comes to talking about her sibling’s sex life.
“Ugh.” Ainsley’s face is scrunched like she’s sucking on a yellow Sour Patch Kid. “New subject. Have you decided what you’re doing for your sister’s birthday?”
Belle is turning eight soon. This will be her first birthday without our mom, so I want to make sure it’s extra special.
“Kingston said he’s working on something, but he won’t give me details until he gets confirmation because he doesn’t want to get my hopes up.”
“What kind of confirmation?”
I shrug. “Dunno. I told him I wanted to be involved in the planning because she’s my responsibility, but he said it’s a surprise for me, too. He promised I would be happy with the outcome if he could make it work. He’s never failed to deliver a good time when he makes Sunday plans, so I’m sucking it up. Making the day great for Belle is what’s most important.”
“He loves her, too, you know.” Ainsley smiles.
“Huh?”
“Belle. Kingston loves Belle, too. I’ve never seen him so invested in a kid before. I think it’s partly because she’s an extension of you, but also because he enjoys being around her. His face lights up when he talks about her.”
“He talks about my sister? When? What does he say?”
She nods. “Every time you take her out. If I’m not with you guys, he has to recap the entire day for me. Did you know she FaceTimes him sometimes?”
“What?!”
Ainsley chuckles. “Yep. I think he programmed his number into her iPad as a backup, or whatever if she couldn’t reach you. But she called him one day, and they talked for over an hour. Then, they started making it a semi-regular thing.”
“They did not.”
She makes an X over her heart. “Bible. I was with him in the pool house the first time it happened.”
I shake my head in confusion. “Why am I just now hearing about this? And no offense, but why am I hearing about it from you and not him?”
“Honestly? I think it’s because he’s afraid you’ll think he’s using her to get closer to you.”
I blink a few times, not really knowing how to respond to that. I have thought that more than once, at least in the beginning. Belle doesn’t keep secrets from me, but she obviously kept this to herself, which tells me she cherishes those private conversations with Kingston. She wants a special connection with him because she loves him, too.
“And you don’t think that’s the case?”
Ainsley’s head slices to the left, then the right. “Not at all. I think he just really likes being around her. Maybe Belle reminds him of what life was like before he became so jaded.”
I dab at the corner of my eye. “Is he ever going to stop surprising me? Kingston really is one of the good guys, isn’t he?”
I already knew there was more to Kingston than he lets most people see, but being there for Belle like this, with no ulterior motive? That’s something someone who plans to stick around would do.
“He is,” Ainsley confirms. “Unless you threaten the people he loves. I don’t know why, but I think we only got a glimpse of what my brother’s capable of when he was beating that Lawson guy into a pulp, Jazz. I honestly couldn’t tell you how far he’d be willing to go to hurt someone—and I probably don’t want to know, to be honest—but good is the last word I’d use to describe his intentions. Kingston’s a-hundred-percent alpha when it comes to his pack. If you fuck with his people, he’ll rip you to shreds.”
I don’t doubt that for a second. The question is, why do I find that so hot? One of life’s mysteries, I suppose.
CHAPTER FIVE
KINGSTON
“How was the dinner?” John asks. “Any progress?”
“Not as much as I would’ve liked,” I admit. “But I had to get out of there. My dad was in rare form.”
“How so?”
I rake my fingers through my hair. “He was much bolder than I would’ve liked with Jazz.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised after watching the footage from his office. Your father seems more... emotionally reactive than usual.”
After we came across the video of Peyton and my dad in his office, I sent John a message with the time stamp so he could view it as well.
“He is, which is really starting to concern me. Preston Davenport doesn’t do feelings, and he’s too much of a control freak to allow others to outwardly affect him, yet that’s changing more and more each day. I had to get Jazz out of there last night. I was worried either she would cause a scene, or I would. His behavior caught us off guard.”
“I bet.”
“Speaking of being caught off guard... a man introduced himself to me at the party. I’ve never seen him before, but he said he knew you.”
“He mentioned me by name?” The surprise is evident in John’s tone.
I nod before remembering he can’t see me over the phone. “Yeah, which for obvious reasons didn’t sit right with me. He gave me his business card and said you’d vouch for him. The guy’s a financial analyst, I guess.”
“What’s this guy’s name?”
I look down at the card. “Rafe Garcia. You know him?”
My PI doesn’t say a word for a good thirty seconds. “Could you describe him for me?”
“Mid to late thirties, average build, brown hair, possibly Latino. His voice was pretty gravelly.”
“It’s from an on-the-job injury quite a few years back.”
My brows lift. “So you do know him?”
“Yeah, I know him,” John confirms.
“So what’s his deal? And how does he know about our association?”
John clears his throat. “Well, one thing I can tell you is Rafe’s definitely not a financial analyst, and Garcia is an alias.”
“Like Peterson,” I surmise.
“Exactly.” He chuckles.
“So, if he’s not an analyst, why is he pretending to be one? What does he actually do?”
“He’s an FBI agent—an old buddy of mine. If he told you I’d vouch for him, he wants you to know that.”
John was an agent before he became a private investigator. I’ve always suspected Peterson wasn’t his real last name, but he’s never confirmed that until now. I don’t know much about his past, other than the fact he worked deep undercover. It’s likely why he’s so damn good at his job. He left the bureau after some major shit went down, but couldn’t shake feeling restless. Being a private investigator allows him to get his fix, I guess.