Chapter 19 #2
“It’s fine, Mr. King,” she muttered.
“Why are you here if you can’t be civil?” Alek’s frustration had finally boiled over, his tone laced with exasperation as he confronted me. Part of egging her on was to get under his skin as well.
Anger surged inside, and my voice dripped with disdain. “Like I need your fucking permission to dine with my family, Reaper. Get the hell out of here with your nonsense questions.”
But Alek persisted, undeterred. “No, really, you knew she was going to be here. Why on earth did you come?”
Attempting to defuse the tension, my mother stepped in. “Boys, let’s not fight. I raised you better than that.” Her voice was infused with gentle admonishment.
“I don’t know, Mother,” Alek sneered. “You may have ruined him with all that babying. He thinks he can get away with anything. He should know better.”
“What, and you’re going to show me the better way?
Shut me up somehow, old man? I’d knock you on your ass in two seconds flat,” I growled.
“Maybe you shouldn’t have brought your little plaything to our family dinner.
Mom didn’t even want you or Nik sitting next to her.
If that doesn’t speak volumes, then I don’t know what does. News flash. She’ll never be family.”
“Say one more thing, asshole, and I swear I’ll shove my fist down your throat,” Alek said, shooting to his feet.
I rose to mine, mirroring Alek’s stance.
The air cracked around us as we stood face-to-face, ready to throw down.
Despite knowing my mother’s rules, we both struggled to keep our emotions from dissolving into a full-blown clash of fists in her drawing room.
Sensing Alek’s need to hit something, Kinsley stepped in front of him. Tremors coursed through his body.
She stood on her tiptoes but still needed to pull his jacket to reach him. “Please, my King, stop. He’s your brother. You love him, and he loves you. You also swore an oath. Don’t do this. It’s nothing.”
Alek rested his forehead against hers and took several deep breaths while our parents tried to get me to calm down. Unable to stop myself, my mouth opened, and more venom poured out, directed this time at the beautiful woman caressing my brother’s face.
“No, what is nothing is you. In fact, you’re nothing more than a shluha vokzal’naja,” I hissed. Train station whore. My mother gasped. In Russian, it was one of the worst insults that could be hurled at a woman.
“What the bloody hell, Son?” my father shouted.
The guys sprang into action. Marcel pulled Kinsley out of the way while Nik and Sebastian moved to restrain Alek, who was consumed with rage. As they held him back, Kinsley’s own anger intensified. The moment she was done being humiliated was a beautiful thing to behold.
Fire blazed in her eyes as she stalked toward me, her steps measured and deliberate. Each sway of her hips tantalizing me. Her fucking dress rustled as she got closer, and her scent hit my nostrils, making my dick throb.
“Dostatochno,” she roared like a goddamn lioness. I stepped back, the intensity a blast.
My mother sucked in her breath, and her eyes met my father’s.
Why did she have to use that word? Of all the words in the Russian language, why that one?
It was Vanya’s favorite way of chastising us.
She’d picked it up from our mother along the way.
But coming from Kinsley’s lips, it was haunting.
She had no idea the gamut of emotions she unleashed. But she was just getting started.
“Are you done? No? Bring it on, Blade. Is this what you wanted? A show?” She shoved me in the chest with her last set of words.
I fixated on her hand as it burned through my dress shirt, setting my skin on fire, almost. “You want me to grow up? How about you grow up? How about you stop being so damned hateful and mean?”
She continued to shove me with each statement. Her breathing out of control and her body shaking. Anger was a beautiful color on her. “I’ve taken responsibility for what happened between us. I don’t blame you. I blame me, but even with that, it doesn’t give you the right to call me a whore.”
“Truth hurts, huh? This is the last time I’ll tell you, little girl. You’d better get out of my face,” I growled, snatching her wrist.
Our father stepped between us. “Let her go, Son. Now.” He pried her hand from mine.
“I can’t believe I ever loved you,” she said, rubbing her wrist.
It was as though all the fight had been abruptly drained, leaving me breathless and vulnerable.
The impact of her words struck me with a force I couldn’t ignore.
It left me reeling, and I could only stare at the small ball of fire.
We’d never spoken words of love. Now I didn’t know what to do.
Stomping over, I barked at the butler to move out of my way, then grabbed the bottle behind the bar and poured myself a double.
“Alek, maybe you should take Kinsley home before someone gets hurt. And you, young man, will sit your ass down. We’re going to have a long talk,” my father said, handing Kinsley off to Marcel.
Nik and Sebastian were keeping Alek at bay for the moment, while Marcel tried to pull her toward the door and away from me.
With a boldness that surprised even me, Kinsley turned to my father. “Mr. King, your son has already hurt me in a thousand ways. Even if he were to kill me with his bare hands, he couldn’t hurt me any more than he already has.”
I turned my back on all of them, a surge of self-hatred flooding my veins. It was a bitter reminder of my foolishness. The weight of my actions made me feel like a complete and utter idiot for failing to keep my big mouth shut. Every word I’d spoken tonight echoed around in my head.
“I can’t believe I ever loved you.”
I’d add those to my list of tormenting words uttered by her. Alek was right. I shouldn’t have fucking come tonight. I wasn’t ready to see her—not here in our home. The raw ache within me only intensified as I faced the reality of the situation.