Page 86 of Cannon

My fingers dug into Javi’s bicep, trying to pull him away from Cannon’s rage. Cannon froze, his eyes locking on my hand on Javi’s arm, his expression going from murderous to something even darker.

“Let. Him. Go.” Each word dropped like ice from Cannon’s lips.

I hesitated, my fingers still wrapped around Javi’s bicep. “You need to calm down…”

“I said let him go, Queen.” Cannon’s voice was so low it was barely audible.

I released Javi’s arm, stepping back. Javi was breathing hard, blood dripping from his busted lip onto his uniform shirt. His eyes were wild, darting between me and Cannon.

“You’re done here,” Cannon said to Javi, his voice deadly calm now.

Javi stumbled to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. “This isn’t over,” he spat, his words slurred through swollen lips. “You’re going back to prison where you belong.”

“Get the fuck out,” Cannon said, not even raising his voice.

Javi looked at me one last time, betrayal written all over his face, before he limped toward the door. He slammed it so hard the hinges rattled.

The moment we were alone, Cannon rounded on me, his eyes blazing. “Don’t you ever touch another man in front of me again.”

“Excuse me?” I blinked, disbelief washing over me. “You were about to kill my ex-husband in my office, and you’re mad because I touched his arm?”

“You’re mine.” His voice was like gravel. “Mine. Not his. Not anybody’s.”

“You’re insane,” I whispered, equal parts terrified and turned on by the intensity radiating off him.

His mouth curved into that dangerous smile. “I never pretended to be anything else.”

I swallowed hard, trying to hold onto my anger, but it was slipping through my fingers like sand. “You can’t just beat people half to death in my club.”

“He put his hands on me first,” Cannon countered, his finger tracing a line from my collarbone to my chin. “And he walked in on something that wasn’t meant for his eyes. What was I supposed to do? Let him disrespect both of us?”

“You could have handled it without breaking his ribs,” I argued, but my voice lacked conviction.

“Could have,” Cannon agreed, his thumb brushing my bottom lip. “Didn’t want to.”

His thumb lingered there, his eyes still dark with that lethal mix of rage and desire.

“You can’t just…” I started, but the words died in my throat. Cannon’s gaze pinned me, sharp enough to cut through every excuse.

“I told you, Queen,” he said. “I don’t share.”

The silence stretched, thick and dangerous. My pride screamed at me to push back, to remind him this was my club, myqueendom. But my body betrayed me, leaning into the heat rolling off him, trembling from the storm he carried into my world.

“We got work to do,” he said as he leaned to kiss me.

With that I sank into my chair, thoughts spinning. There was so much to be done, especially when it came to tracking down that $30,000, but for now all I could do was bask in him.

Chapter 33

Cannon

I pulled up to Reese’s place with my thoughts still tangled around Queen. My hand hovered over the steering wheel, the raw knuckles still tender from the beating I’d given Javi. Between the missing money at the club and having to deal with Smoke, I had enough shit on my plate. But family was family, and I was obligated to look out for Reese and her kids, especially since I was the one who killed their man of the house.

But there was something in the way that Reese last touched me. Something about the look in her eye. Then there were Gage’s words. “She’s all yours now.” Those words had been bothering me since he uttered them.

I had to shake it off. My loyalties were to my sister, but if she got too friendly with me again, I was going to have to set her straight.

It had been over a week since I’d seen her and I knew that she was going to be planning Gage’s funeral. There was no way in hell I was going to that shit. But I still wanted to support her along the way.