Lahat ng Kabanata ng Hard Curves (Dangerous Curves 2): Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Three weeks laterKing kissed Callie goodbye on the cheek and watched her head off through the Heart Center. He turned to Noah.“OK, man. Have a good day. Remember that Sarah and Jax can’t pick you guys up today, so Garrett will be here at three o’clock.”“Yeah. King?”“What’s up?”“You understand women?”King paused. “Well, Noah, I’ve been on this planet for almost thirty-five years, and just about the last thing I’d say that I understand is women.”“Oh.” Noah turned to go.“Wait, hold up. I was trying to be funny.”“Yes?”“Yeah.”“You weren’t.”“Sorry.”“So you understand women?”“A bit. What do you want to know?”Noah looked at Callie’s retreating back. “How can I be a boyfriend?”King cocked his head, intrigued at the turn this conversation had just taken. “You like a woman, Noah?”“Yes. But I won’t tell you who.”“OK. Keep that to yourself for now.”“OK.”“And you want her for a girlfriend?”“Yes.”King stared at Noah for a few seconds, trying to think how to handle this situatio

King took one look at her, and quickly shut the door behind him. “Are you alright?”“Yeah, of course.” She tried to smile. “What’s up?”Not buying it for even a nanosecond, he came closer. “What happened, Naomi? Tell me.”No sense in lying, she saw. She sighed. “I – I just got an upsetting phone call.”“Upsetting how?”“My mother. She’s not well.”He stood right next to her now, his massive frame making her feel even smaller in her chair. She stood up, then wished that she hadn’t. That broad chest was smack in front of her, and all she saw was his strength and warmth – the two things that she craved the most right now.“Not well?” That rough voice was concerned, caring. “She’s in the hospital?”“No.” Naomi bit her lip. “She’s not well mentally and emotionally. She’s – she’s a troubled person. She has – problems.”“Ah.” King studied her. “Is she OK? Do you want me to take you to her?”“Oh, no. No, thank you. That would actually be the worst thing for me to do right now. She needs to ta

One week later“No,” Sarah said, her voice pure steel. “Noah will not testify to what he saw the night of my attack. That’s non-negotiable.”“Sarah,” Felicia Mendez said, trying to be patient with her client. “He’s our only witness.”“And he’s autistic. You really think the defense isn’t going to torture him on the stand? Question him until he cracks, gets hysterical? Maybe even hurts himself?” She shook her head. “No way. This is my decision, and my answer is no.”“So what are you saying?” Felicia asked. “You don’t want to take this to trial?”“Can we even take it to trial?” Sarah said. “Noah isn’t going to be seen as a strong witness, and I have almost no memory of what happened. What do we even have to show in the way of evidence, besides the physical?”“Your memory of that night hasn’t come back at all?”“I remember Dave kicking in the front door and telling me that I was a biker’s dirty slut,” Sarah said. “I remember him choking me and punching me to the floor, and beyond that, i

Noah swallowed, shuffled his feet. King could actually see him gathering up his courage to say something to Callie, and King found himself rooting hard for the younger man. “Your sculpture is good too,” Noah finally whispered.King shut his eyes in relief, in disbelief.“Is it?” Callie whispered back. “You’ve – you’ve seen it?”Noah nodded.The silence stretched out between them, and King fought with himself to not fill it, to stay totally still.“I like you,” Noah blurted. “I think you’re nice.”Callie blushed a bright red.“Pretty, too,” Noah added, obviously crazed with courage at this point.“I – you – thank you,” Callie murmured.More silence.“I like you too,” Callie said. “I think you have nice eyes.”Noah turned purple. “Thank – thank you.”King bit his lip to stop a smile from splitting right across his face.“Do you – do you want to do sculpture today?” Callie said in a rush. “Come with me?”Noah almost reeled backwards. “Not painting?”“No. Sculpture.”“I – I’ve never…” No

King stared at her, trying to think what to say to bring her back to him, but his mind was blank. Naomi was looking at him like she’d be overjoyed if he just dropped dead on the spot, her head tipped to one side in a gesture of annoyance and impatience. He saw her rigid body language, and knew there was nothing to be said or done. She’d been pretty damn clear: she didn’t want him around. Like, at all.That was when King came to truly believe that she still saw him now as she had that first day in his garage. He was the guy who couldn’t be openly associated with her organization because of his team-for-hire; he was the guy who ran a garage which fixed bikes belonging to MC creeps and criminals. He was questionable in so many ways, and rough around the edges, and he undoubtedly scared her to death. Get out of here. You’ve tried for weeks to get her to see you differently, and you’ve obviously failed miserably. You gave it a shot and you got shut down. Just call it quits, man. She said