Chapter 42 Dom
DOM
Are you fucking kidding me?
I knew that banishing Kiera from the house wouldn’t free me from her grasp. Even death wouldn’t do me that favor. What I didn’t expect was to see the harlot in the middle of my shop, sitting on my client’s car, with her legs wrapped tight around my best friend.
Was she even bothering to pretend anymore?
The worst part of all wasn’t even her entitlement. It was that she looked fucking hot. I could see why these two jackasses were falling for her act.
You’d have to be stupid to deny that she was objectively attractive, and I was no idiot. A body that turned heads from down the block. Her little button nose and the smatter of freckles across it. That mane of red hair, just as untamed as the rest of her.
All she had to do was bat those pretty green eyes and push out her tits and Spencer would come running. But Leo…. I’d expected better from her.
Then again, Leo didn’t know the things that I knew. And if I didn’t know exactly who she was and what type of damage she’d caused — what type of havoc she was wreaking, even now — I would have been tempted too.
“Dom, you’re doing too much now. Where else did you expect me to take her?”
“Not fucking here.” The words ripped from my throat like sandpaper.
From the corner of my eye, I could see the other bikers ducking their heads and drifting toward the far corners of the shop.
Smart. They knew better than to get in my line of sight when I was angry, and I preferred it that way. But Callahan… Callahan never knew how to walk away from a bad idea. And she certainly wasn’t afraid of me. That required a type of self-preservation instinct the Major didn’t have.
That pride of hers will get her killed one day.
“You’re supposed to be keeping her in the house. Letting her out of that room was a fucking favor to you, not to her. But if you keep testing the limits, I’ll be happy to tighten your pet’s leash again.”
Kiera swallowed hard as she met my gaze. I shot back daggers, praying that the look might kill her, that all of these problems would finally fucking go away.
But Leo angled her body between us and shot back a glare of her own.
“Bark all you want, Dom. There was no pleasing you anyway. I could have kept her in the house, but we both know there’s not a fucking inch of that place you don’t haunt. But if you’re gonna take this out on anyone, let it be me. The girl didn’t do anything.”
A harsh laugh burst from my lips. You have no fucking idea.
But she was right about one thing: there was no pleasing me. I hated how much access Kiera had, not only to my personal space, but to my closest confidantes.
I needed Spencer and Leo’s loyalty now more than ever. And Kiera didn’t just divide their attention: she was calling my worst nightmare right to my doorstep. Isaac’s interest in her was dangerous, and I was the only one who could see the threat heading straight for us.
I’d killed myself for years trying to keep Leo and Spence as far from my father’s mess as possible. And every second Kiera stayed, every inch of ground she gained with them, threatened to pull them right into the eye of the hurricane.
I can’t lose them. Anything but that.
But there was no way to explain that to Leo. Not without making this her problem too.
“If you’re going to insist on having her here, be a professional and get her off the car. It’s worth more than she’ll ever be.”
I wanted the shock of pain in Kiera’s eyes to make me feel better, to fuel my hatred for her, but I knew her too well. Under that fiery act, she just looked like a sad puppy.
As I stalked off toward the back office, I pretended not to notice the way Kiera shifted to move off of the car, the way Leo kept her pinned with her hip.
This is exactly the hell I deserve.
But before I could shut the door on the nightmare behind me, Leo’s voice carried through the shop. “Hey boss, one more thing.”
I stopped, hand on the doorknob, but didn’t turn to face her — couldn’t see it again. “What?”
“Kiera’s joining us at The Hollow tonight. So if you don’t want to see her, I’d steer clear.”
A rush of fire ignited in my chest as my head whipped to face her. “No. That’s off limits.”
She can’t have fucking everything. I need one fucking thing to myself.
Leo tilted her head back, channeling that smug military bullshit that drove me crazy. “I mean, I guess she could stay home alone, but you haven’t seemed too happy about having her. And considering what happened last time we left you two home alone together…”
Conflicting waves of guilt and lust flooded me at the image of Kiera squirming beneath my grip. I wanted to push her until she cried. I wanted her to know exactly what kind of monster I was.
There was no way I’d be able to control myself. Not if I knew she was home and alone, cowering with fear that I might be hiding around any dark corner.
I hated the idea of Kiera out with Valemont Violence. But I hated the knowledge of what she might find in the house — and what I might do to her if she did — even more.
“Whatever. Enjoy your straight girl while it lasts.” I slammed the door behind me, letting the glass walls shake as I pulled down the blinds.
None of this would matter in a few hours. Tonight, I would finally have my audience with The Oracle, and if all went well, an extraction would be imminent.
I snarled at the sight of her clinging to Leo as I pulled the last curtain shut. It doesn’t matter what she sees tonight — she’ll be gone by the morning once I have my say.