Rue appeared a bit later with a craft bag hanging off of her arm, and a folder under her other.
“Hey,” he said, moving to the door and taking everything from her, unburdening her immediately.
“Hi,” she said, smiling.
“Tell me,” Arizona said, sticking her head out of the kitchen, a mischievous grin on her face. “Are you really going to get my brother to wear a tux?”
“Yes,” said Rue. “Because I’m getting married in a church like a civilized person, and he has to dress like a civilized person.”
“The trouble is,” Micah said, “I’ve never had the impression that he was a civilized person.”
“I’m not,” said Justice.”
Denver chose that moment to join the conversation. “Oh, he sure as hell isn’t. But he will move heaven and earth to make sure that Rue has the wedding that she wants. He’s not civilized. He’s a damned good friend.”
“That’s the truth,” said Rue.
Rue, for her part, gave him a level of loyalty that he knew few people ever saw. He often wasn’t quite sure what he had done to merit it. Yeah, he’d been there forher. He was protective of her. He cared for her. But in comparison, he was an absolute disaster area. Walking caution tape. And she was... perfect.
“I will show up and do whatever I’m told to do,” he said. “This is her wedding, and the bride gets whatever she wants.”
“You’re a good man, Justice King,” Arizona said.
“Oh I’m positively great when I’m on loan. But I wouldn’t be any good long-term.”
Rue laughed. “I don’t know. We’re pretty long-term.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
That hurt a little bit, but it was fair. Rue was realistic about him. There was nothing wrong with that. She knew him. She knew him well.
They served up dinner, and sat around the table. And he watched as Rue smiled and interacted with his siblings. Family, maybe. That was maybe what he offered. Because for all that they had been broken and damaged during their upbringing, the Kings had done a good job of rallying around each other, and holding each other tight. They had been through hell, in some regards. Their father had been a pretty high-level narcissist who had done a lot of damage in the community. And had twisted up his kids all kinds of ways. It was what had given Justice a healthy distrust for love. Because he had watched their father manipulate how much they had loved him. How much they had wanted to please him. That was when Justice had exited people-pleasing stage left. It had been clear to him that there was nothing but danger in that. And that was when he decided the life of a hellion was the one for him.
It was safer. For all involved.
“He looks great in his tux,” Rue said.
That knocked him out of his reverie a bit. She thought he looked great?
“Do I?” he asked, wanting to press more on that.
“You know you do,” she said. “You know youalwayslook good.”
“It’s a tragedy,” Arizona said, shaking her head. “No matter how many times I warned the female populace about him, his powers are too strong.”
He rolled his eyes. “Listen. We all have to play to our strengths.” The truth was, he knew that he was shaped the kind of way women liked.
He was good-looking, he supposed.
But more than that—and the real point of pride as far as he was concerned—he was fuckingfantasticin bed.
Part of being raised by a sociopath was making a decision about whether or not you were ever going to use people the way he did.
A man whore—and Justice was a man whore, no doubt—could become a user if he didn’t decide that he wouldn’t be.
Which was why he went out of his way to be the best lay possible. If a woman picked him to be her evening’s entertainment, then he made sure he gave her a hell of a good time. He wasn’t a selfish lover. He made sure his lovers had orgasms until they were shaking. Maybe it was a kink. But hell, he knew his limits emotionally, which meant he physically made sure to be the best anyone ever had.
