Page 26 of King

She pretended not to hear him and kept walking.She knew he was following her, but she continued to ignore him.

“I said wait, woman!”he growled, close behind her now.

“Go to hell!”

King caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

“Leave me alone!”

“We’re not done,” he snarled between his teeth.“You’re going to let me explain,” he said gruffly, his fingers gripping her arm almost painfully this time.

Mia cried out, her anger bursting back to the surface.“Let me go!”She surprised them both by pulling out of his grasp.“Don’t touch me or follow me again.I don’t want to see you.And you’re right, we’re not done.We never started!”

“Goddammit, woman...”

“No,” she growled, slightly alarmed when she took in his harsh expression.He looked as angry as she felt.“You lied to me.”

“Why the fuck would I lie?”

He sounded indignant, but Mia wasn’t going to be fooled again.Sheila’s explanation of their relationship was still too fresh on her mind.She narrowed her eyes.“Maybe because you saw an easy conquest and wanted another fucking notch on your bedpost?”

“No,” he scowled with strong conviction, his jaw taut.“Sheila had no business going to you.She likes to stir up trouble, and it appears she didn’t waste any time spreading her shit.”

Mia faced King’s anger with her own question, heavy with skepticism.“So she’s the liar now?”As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her heart fell, and she realized she may have made a grave mistake.

King’s head snapped back, and his scowl grew.She couldn’t blame him when he snarled, “Why the fuck am I justifying myself to you?We hooked up for one night, that doesn’t mean shit.”

King’s words stung her like a slap to the face, and were a contradiction to what he’d said to her earlier.He was no longer trying to explain himself.And he was right—their hookup didn’t mean they were dating.

He was wrong, though, about it not meaning anything.It meant something to Mia.

Feeling that it was too late to undo the damage, she said, “I was stupid to let myself get involved with you so fast.I’m out of here.”She spun away from him and walked off.

Mia almost made it to the road when she heard a vehicle slowly driving up beside her.She expected to see King but was surprised to see Cody instead.Their eyes met, and Mia halted.Her instinct told her that he had something to say to her that she might want to hear, and she sucked it up even though she was embarrassed that he—along with some of the other men—had witnessed what had just happened.

In the seconds she’d walked away from King, she’d concluded that she could be wrong about the whole situation.She’d been so quick to believe Sheila and realized that she had likely been triggered after the way her relationship with Jerry had ended.She’d caught him in a lie that had been the catalyst of their divorce, the icing on the cake, so to speak, after years of infractions that had finally added up to too much.

Swallowing hard, she admitted, “I messed up, didn’t I?”She didn’t expect Cody to understand.

He surprised her with a nod.“King’s the best man I know, honey, and I’m not just saying that because we’re friends.He hasn’t stopped talking about you since he dragged your ass out of the woods the other day.I don’t know exactly what Sheila told you, but I know her, too.Trust me when I say, she’s a manipulative bitch who does whatever it takes to get her own way.He put up with her for far longer than any sane man should.”

As Mia listened quietly to Cody, her heart fell even more.“Thank you.”It was the only thing she could think of saying.

“Give it time.Right now, you both need it.”He hesitated for a minute.“You want a ride home?

Mia shook her head and began walking again when Cody drove off.When she got to the road and turned right in the direction of the house, she was aware of another vehicle right behind her.She glanced back to see King pull onto the road and take a left.

Cody was right.She’d give it a few days, and if King didn’t reach out to her, she’d call him.At least to apologize, and to let him explain, if he still wanted to.She knew it might not make a difference.

And if it didn’t, it would all be her fault.