Hot For Her Ex-Con (Dark Desires #7)

3. Killian

CHAPTER 3

Killian

I ’ve blown it.

Well, I nearly did before the reason I’ve come back literally walks right in on me doing what I can’t stop once I’ve breathed enough of her in.

What I mean is I’ve blown any chance of coming across as anything less than fucking crazy. But she’s bound to notice at some point.

The cab pulling up, me getting inside… somehow. Ripping the door off its frame. It’s all a blur until she’s finally here, with me watching over her.

Just like it should be.

Like I knew she would be.

How it will be from now on.

It’s as if I rubbed the magic lamp just hard enough to make the genie appear.

Allison…

At least now there’s a word, a name. And a sweeter-than-I-could-ever-have-imagined face to match the feeling her room’s given me since I’ve been out.

The one thing that not only pulled me back here, but I know at a glance, seeing and feeling her in person for the first time, that she’s the only thing that’s ever felt right.

The only thing in this world to dial down whatever the fuck is wrong with me most of the time, which is usually every second I’m awake.

Carol’s bad timing doesn’t help my mood. Not only has she lied about who was in this room before me, but she’s interrupted what’s clearly the defining moment between Allison and me.

I’m swift to ease the hand cannon from her first, though.

“Why don’t I hang onto this?” I murmur, able to speak my mind once I know I’m not about to get my face blown off.

“You never told me this was your daughter’s room,” I accuse her between gritted teeth. Furious I’ve been denied knowing more about Allison for so long.

But Carol’s own jaded look shifts to puzzlement, and her eyes narrow on mine. Her head tilts to one side.

One thing that makes me mad is people who lie.

“And you never said you were leaving,” she finally huffs in reply. “I noticed your bag parked by what used to be my front fucking door. And just what the hell are you doing in here with Allison on the bed like that? Huh?”

She’s recovered herself after seeing the front door and then her estranged daughter, summoning enough angry mom energy to show me she’s not afraid of me.

But I’m not so easily swayed. I’ve played dumb with Carol, really, spent the same 23 hours each day in this room, just like I’m back in my cell.

I stand up to my full height, moving towards her.

“Why. Didn’t. You. Tell. Me?” I ask her. Feeling myself about to lose what control I have left. The edge of my vision floods crimson, and a tremor threatens to take me over as I try harder than ever to keep my shit together.

For Allison.

For us.

No point strangling my future in-law. Especially when she’s just got in, I mean. I guess it’ll take her some time to get used to the idea of Allison and me.

My mind was made up the second I walked into this room a few weeks back. I just knew she was the one. The reason for everything so far bringing us together at the perfect moment. So we can be perfect together forever.

My reverie’s broken by Carol, snorting that she’s calling the cops and ordering Allison to get up and go wait in the kitchen.

“Mom! This man… Killian saved me. I came home, and the door was all busted up. I rushed in, and there was this guy…”

My reflex is to tense up, already primed to chase down this fucker and wring his neck… until it dawns on me that Allison might not only like the little show I gave her, she’s actually covering for me at the same time.

“A guy…” Carol repeats, looking doubtful from Allison to me and then back to her daughter again.

I turn away, only to stifle the smile spreading across my face. After Allison’s animated account of a home invasion that never happened, hell, even I’d believe her if I didn’t know any different.

“Then I’m definitely calling the cops,” Carol asserts, looking more determined than ever. Allison catches my gaze, shooting me a worried look.

I gently grip Carol’s elbow before she can leave the room, easily holding her to the spot even when she tries to wriggle free.

“I don’t think that’s smart, Carol,” I caution her. I’m tempted to out her in front of Allison and shame her for her bullshit story to her friends that I was her man.

But I don’t even want the thought to even be in Allison’s mind. Not even once.

Taking an extended breath in, I’m not sure if Carol’s about to scream, shit, or both. But I remind her of a couple of things before she can do either.

“Cops here, with me on parole and you with an unregistered firearm in the house?”

Not to mention the bigger crime of telling people I’m your man when I never even grunted more than ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’.

Carol goes limp, and her face drains of color. Allison’s eyes widen at the ‘P’ word, and she joins some dots in her mind.

I know for a fact, too, that Carol here has a little side hustle involving a baggie or three, here and there, to make ends meet. She needs the cops right now as much as I need that hole in my head she was sure to give me if I’d let her keep the gun.

I think I can find a better use for it, for now.

I hear Allison gulp behind me, for real sounding and not just for effect, which makes it all the harder for me not to smile.

She’s not only pretty as a peach but she’s got real talent. She sure can put it on when she has to. I like that in a girl.

But cops or no cops, there’s no way we can stay here. Not now. Carol has served her usefulness, and I can see now it’s destiny that brought me back from the bus station just in time.

Plus, I still have something to take care of myself. Nothing like checking off the to-do list all in one day.

Finding Allison so easily was worth the wait, but killing Trap will be the cherry on the cake of my day.

“Carol? I need you to stay here. I’m gonna go find this piece of shit.”

My announcement makes Allison gasp, and I hear her leaping off the edge of the bed she’s been gripping, moving so close to me I can feel her body an inch from mine.

“I’m going with you,” she says, touching the small of my back and making my lip twitch as I feel her fingers lightly clawing me.

“You're not going anywhere, young lady. This is messed up! Killian? We have to call the cops. Call someone… My damned door’s off its hinges!”

“I’m the only one who knows what that creep looks like, Mom,” Allison whines.

Keeping my back to her, I lift my brow. “She’s right. And she’ll be a lot safer with me.”

“Then we’ll all go,” Carol decides out loud, not wanting to be left behind, convinced there really was an intruder that wasn’t me. “Which way did he go?”

“Who’s gonna watch the house?” Allison reasons, moving out from behind me, reassuring her mom it’s better if she stays, playing her part so well without any coaching.

That’s my girl.

She must want it as bad as I need it from her if she’s as desperate to get out of here as I am.

“I need a drink…” Carol murmurs weakly. She helps herself to three fingers of bourbon and then another from the bottle tucked under the sink.

“You’ll be okay?” Allison asks her mom, who’s bought everything so far.

“Sure. We can talk when you get back.” Carol sighs, sliding the bottle closer to herself, already looking like she’s made a few choices of her own.

Allison doesn’t know it, but her mom’s been sober the whole time I've been here. Until tonight, I’m guessing.

Carol gives me a knowing look. She knows as well as I do that I have no intention of coming back tonight. Not until I’ve claimed what I know is already mine.