The Rebel King (All the King's Men #2)

by Kennedy Ryan

“Yeah, my dad used to joke that I could shoot the wings off a flea. I’m not anti-guns. I know that probably breaks your little liberal heart.” “I don’t need you to be anti-guns. I need you to be pro–smart gun laws, and I know you are that.”

I find these jokes to be s dumb and uneccesary and i gjarantee i would roll my eyes cause i can feel anger building

“Your liberal heart is mine,” he says, tightening his hand around mine. “Does it bother you that I’m possessive and intrusive and protective?” “Let’s just say I like your growl best in bed.”

A balloon of fear swells around my heart, popping, leaking into my belly. “Pull over,” I say, sudden anxiety making the words breathy.

“So when I’m concerned for your safety, it’s spiraling, but when you’re concerned for mine, it’s—” “Perfectly justifiable. Correct.” He keeps a straight face, but humor brightens the green eyes that have captivated me since day one.

Not funny didnt laugh

“Under the right conditions, you might hear conversations up to almost two miles away.”

Why is the information about his past trip to Antartica the best part of the book

That’s who we are, but I wouldn’t have been that with you. I’m already changing.” “You are?” “It’s impossible to be that single-minded when your mind is always somewhere else, and I think my mind would have always been on you.”

Concerning because hes so driven but hes so obsessed with her that hes lost the same will

The muscles in my neck and back tighten at Glenn’s reference to panties. I know Maxim is faithful. I don’t even think twice about it, but still, knowing your very handsome boyfriend is out in the world inspiring lust and getting offers from every Tom, Jane, and Harriet doesn’t feel great. Especially when you only see him a few times a month.

The high-pitched squeals of the women in the audience grate on my nerves. Hussies.

Hypocrite you were just sexualizing him

“God, Connor, you make us sound like a bad soap opera.” “No, a good one. Like Dallas or Dynasty.”

I love Dynasty (the reboot with Elizabeth Gillies)

“Lennix, I’m surprised you don’t think he should get into politics.”

She just doesnt want him to cause she doesnt like politicians theyre both selfish

“I think he’s positioned himself as just enough of an outsider that everyday people trust him but as someone so undoubtedly influential that politicians want to use him. The best of both worlds. I think they trust him because he’s not a politician.”

I don’t add, of course, that Maxim in politics sounds like a nightmare for our personal life.

See selfish

“After all these years?” Maxim asks. “Maybe. Sometimes it’s hard to remember what drove us apart.” Him being an asshole? “More than anything,” I say, suppressing my internal scream. “I’d love to stay on the phone talking about your father, but alas…I have a life.”

He wasn’t happy about the new “rear entry” policy, but at least it’s led to some good anal jokes.

MAKE IT STOP

I lift my head dazedly and through the rear window see bright, angry flames devouring the car behind us. “O!” Millie scrambles across the seat, lunging for the door. “No! Oh, my God, Owen!”

WTF AM I READING (Also i totally knew it was going to happen when he split up the bodyguards and the way they were speaking was too sus)

Owen is gone, and so is she. We’re standing in one of life’s awful moments where your breath is a comma, marking the space before and after tragedy, punctuating that nothing will ever be the same.

There is no colder place than a waiting room when the waiting is over.

I was supposed to be in that car with Owen.

Surprise surprise it was probably the guy that took her and wallace as revenge for killing his brother because they never found his body

The flare of passion catches us unaware in the midst of grief, but it’s undeniably the same burning want that’s never far away when we touch.

Shocking

“The way Warren talks about you,” Mom continues, “I thought you might be a dragon, but Owen assured me you weren’t.”

I don’t know if it’s grief or lust,

NOT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO MIX UP!??!?!?

I’ve heard of grief sex, but damn. This is ridiculous.

IT REALLY FUCKING IS

“He’s alive,” Grim says, jaw clenched. “Gregory’s alive.” I’m not surprised. Even when all signs indicated he was dead, some instinct of self-preservation warned me he wasn’t. My greatest suspicion has also been my greatest fear—that he was behind Owen’s assassination.

“He did this, Grim,” I say through caged teeth and tight lips. “He killed Owen. I know it.” “If he did, that means he’s a lot more active and a lot closer than we’d expected.”

Easy To guess

“Nix, no.” I pull her to sit sideways on my lap, rubbing her back. “Don’t even think that. I provoked him. I shot his brother. It’s my fault.” “You’re both wrong,” Grim says. “It’s his fault. He’s a psychopath. He killed innocent people and would have killed literally millions more had we not stopped him selling that vaccine on the black market.”

“You don’t sound surprised to hear from me, which surprises me, since you and your Robocop shot me four times and left me to drown.” “Oh, we came after you. We thought you were dead.” “So did I, Cade,” he says, with affected wonder. “So did I, but these nice natives helped me when I washed up on shore. Ya know, I find indigenous people to be so kind. It’s really a shame how we’ve treated them. Speaking of, how’s my squaw?”

“You’re mad?” I ask after a few moments of silence. Exasperation edges his sigh. “What did Kimba say?” His eyes narrow on my twitching lips. “Oh, God. Do I even want to know?” My best friend has a way of making even the darkest times a tad brighter. “She said she knows we’re in mourning and having lots of grief sex.” “Wow. That’s appropriate.” “But she asked when I’ll be emerging from what she calls the ‘cry hump’ stage of grief.”

She must hate me. There are so many mornings I wake up and the first thing I think about is my brother being dead because of me, and I hate myself, too.

His stare is a laser. “Several well-placed people have approached me over the last month about you running.”

I knew it

They’ve started petitions to get your name on the ballot.” “What?” “There’s a group of independents who have organized something called the Cade Ballot Access Committee.”

“Ahh.” Warren Cade looks up at me, his eyes cooling, hardening into volcanic glass. “Ms. Hunter. Never too far away, are you?” He makes me sound like some grasping whore following his son around from place to place.

“And don’t listen to her.” “I think you should consider it,” I tell Maxim. Two dark heads swivel, and both men stare at me. “Listen to her, son,” Warren says, a smile stretching across his distinguished features. “The girl knows what she’s talking about.”

What if this is your launch code?”

His will and possessiveness collide with Lennix’s, and neither one backs down. He glares at her, red crawling up his neck.

“Oh, Doc.” I turn and look up at him, moved by the intensity of his eyes on my face. They’re starved. They consume. Has a man ever looked at a woman the way Maxim looks at me?

Thats awfully conceited

“Yeah, about that.” I bite my lip and squeeze my eyes shut because this point alone could undo all the progress we just made. “I don’t fuck my candidates.” He throws his head back, his laughter rich all around me. “Okay, if I run, we’ll see how long that lasts.” “I’m serious.” I let it sink in and watch the humor drain from his expression.

I fucking hate this book more than anything ive ever read

“I think you might make an exception for me,”

Disgusting

“You think I need to borrow power from you?” I ask. He stiffens, a frown pushing the wrinkles of his forehead into irritated folds. “Not exactly borrow, but we both know you have no experience, so maybe it would ease some worry about your leadership.” I don’t mean to laugh; it just happens. “You would do that for me?” The man’s party is in shambles, and they barely listen to him, so surely he doesn’t expect me to.

A young man such as yourself with so little experience will need some more seasoned players to ease the public’s concerns.” He shrugs, studies his fingernails. “I could even join the ticket as VP. Our combination of youth and wisdom may be exactly what this country needs.”

“You mean with the party’s position, right?” I ask. “And be careful speaking about my brother, Chuck, in case you say the wrong thing and make an enemy of me and I have to destroy you. I hate it when that happens.”

“I actually emailed some of my initial thoughts about strategy to you, Maxim,” Chuck says. “We read those.” Kimba sighs. “And you wonder why the Dems lost the last election.” “Excuse me?” Chuck asks, obviously affronted.

Maxim announces his candidacy from Colorado, the state he technically lists as his home and where he’s voted the past few years.

“Was this in the speech?” I ask Glenn, flipping through my printed copy of Maxim’s talking points. “I don’t remember this beginning.” “Told you so,” he says dryly. “I don’t know if he’s even looking at the teleprompter.”

“Neither can I, but hey, if I become president, maybe I could give you some job that’s much easier than what you do for me now.” “Like what?” “Secretary of Defense?” “I wouldn’t take the pay cut,” she says, turning to leave.

“You ignored the teleprompter.” “Uh, yeah, because it had that speech on it, and I decided not to use that speech, so…no need for the teleprompter.” “Right. You went completely off-script.” “I felt I knew what was right for me in that moment. You don’t tell a guy whose instincts have saved him all his life to turn off his instincts.”

“He called you Nix.” Which is apparently the equivalent of first base in Maxim’s calculus. “He doesn’t know. How would he know not to call me Nix?”

“Anyway,” Polly says, “Maxim can catch his daddy’s jet, do the party and family commitment, and fly back tonight. We leave on the bus in the AM. Sound good?”

Seriously so sus and why is jin lei not telling him herself

He blinks at me, a lot and fast. Is he gonna cry? Oh, dear Jesus. “Glenn, I’m sorry. I never realized—” “No, it’s fine.” He stands abruptly, scraping his trash into a bag with jerky movements. “I am so sorry, Glenn. I hope this won’t affect—” “I’m a professional, Lennix,” he says, emphasizing my full name. “You want to stay friends. I get it. It’s fine.” He says fine in that way you know shit is for sure not fine.

Jesus

“He thinks you’ll win it all. He…um, does think you need a first lady, though, if you’re serious about this.” I shrug. “It’s not in the job description that I have one.” “But America’s never not had one. You’re breaking enough rules. Maybe you should be”—she reaches over and squeezes my hand, caressing my knuckles with her thumb—“conventional in that respect.”

Jesus

“You know,” she whispers, “you and O don’t look anything alike.” She glances over her shoulder, showing me one red, tear-stained cheek. “But you sound so much like him.”