Page 38 of Kai (Alpha Heroes #13)

Cece

“Did you just call my sister a red witch?” I sank my nails into my palms, sensing the heat flushing my ears and fighting to prevent my head from igniting. “Did you just call me a witch?”

“No, ma’am.” The man jumped to his feet, his back straight as he faced me at attention.

“You’re lying.” I pointed an accusatory finger at his strapping chest. “I heard it with my own ears.”

“How long have you been listening?” Kai asked, seemingly relaxed in his chair.

“Long enough to pick out the asshole of the bunch.” I glared at all three men.

In truth, after I dressed up for my plan and got in bed, exhaustion had gotten the best of me.

Grumbling about Kai taking his sweet time to join me, I fell asleep while waiting for him.

Much later, I’d woken up from a sexy dream to the drone of male voices drifting from above.

When the skid of a chair dragging on wood confirmed my suspicions that a meeting was taking place on deck without me, I’d gotten out of bed and sneaked up the stairs.

Huddling behind the kitchen counter, I’d been able to catch the tail end of the men’s absurd conversation.

Kai didn’t want to introduce me to his friends.

Otherwise, he would’ve invited me to join them.

Also, he’d denied he had feelings for me.

Not that I blamed him. I recognized I was feral.

I understood he wanted to keep me out of sight.

But once the discussion turned to my sisters, all bets were off.

The dickhead standing before me had no business insulting my sisters.

“Javier Guzman, meet Cece Astor.” Kai made the introduction with a casual wave of his hand, then he let out a pained sigh. “Goof, you got your wish. Just in case you haven’t noticed; your big mouth? It fucked you over.”

“My apologies, ma’am,” Javier said, unable to take his eyes off me. “I didn’t mean the witching thing like that, ma’am.”

I whipped my chin up in the air. “Like what?”

“Like a bad thing, ma’am.”

He was a handsome guy, and he had a pleasant voice, but he would not trick me.

I was my family’s guardian, and I knew a silver-tongued player when I saw one.

The rogue eyed me carefully, assessing me with a pair of big brown eyes.

I might’ve spotted a plea for forbearance in his puppy-eyed gaze, but I had no intention of giving the jackass a break.

It had been my lifelong job to keep my sisters safe, to get rid of the many assholes who’d pretended to like us only to get their filthy hands on Father’s money.

This is what I had to do now with Javier, push him to his limits, force him to lose his shit and do his worst, unmask any lies he could be hiding about his true intentions, so that I could rip the opportunistic leech out of my baby sister’s life as fast as possible.

Kai reached for a towel and got up.

“Stay where you are,” I snapped. “You may not want me at this meeting, but I’m here.”

“I didn’t—”

“I’ll deal with you later,” I bit out, then turned to Guzman. “I heard you say something about wanting to meet your newest sister-in-law. A little pretentious, don’t you think? Hasty? Premature like your ejaculations?”

“No, ma’am—I mean—” He stopped mid-sentence and grimaced at Kai, as if asking for help.

Kai lifted his hands in the air. “I told you to stop goofing around.”

“This might not be the best time for this conversation,” the black giant sitting at the table grumbled as if repressed thunder lived in his chest. “We should take our leave.”

“Excellent idea,” Kai agreed.

“Who’s Mount Massive?” I demanded, keeping my glower on Javier but knocking my head toward the third man.

“My name is Micah Bozeman, ma’am,” the man rumbled politely. “I’m Tracker Team’s second in command.”

“Not a fact I’d advertise if I were you,” I muttered ungraciously. “It takes an idiot to hire another idiot.”

Micah shut his mouth and went silent. He’d said nothing offensive while I was snooping, and he probably didn’t deserve to be insulted without reason, but my temper was ablaze. I didn’t care if I came across as an unlikable bitch. Missy’s wellbeing was at stake.

Beneath his furrowed eyebrows, Kai’s glance could’ve been anything—shock, a scolding, a plea to stop.

Javier’s face went as blank as a brick wall.

For a moment, he seemed to grapple with words.

Nothing like offending a man’s dick to make him rabid.

But this guy squared his jaw and bit down on his lips, looking uncomfortable but not enraged, at least not yet.

“I admire a strong woman, ma’am.” He eyed me cautiously. “I can’t fault you for being protective. I’m the same way, but I regret we’re meeting this way.” He shifted on his feet as if bracing for incoming fire.

Which was true.

Me.

“I’ll admit to being an idiot at times, but I don’t have the problem you accused me of having,” he offered with poise that impressed but didn’t deter me from my goal.

I scoffed. “Are you denying you’re a drop-and-pop early shooter?”

“No—I mean—yes, I’m denying it, at least for now.” He scratched his head, looking confused. “Maybe when I’m an old man—”

“Stop,” I ordered. “I don’t wanna hear about your old age. You won’t be around Missy for long.”

His mouth betrayed a cringe, but he fixed his stare straight ahead and didn’t react to my taunting.

Pacing around him, I considered the man from head to toe, openly, insolently.

He was good-looking, I gave him that, although he was a little too muscular for my taste and a lot less attractive than Kai, of course.

Any other man would’ve cringed under my inspection, but Javier didn’t.

How could I best rile his true nature out of him?

“Could we please hit the reset button?” He tried a tentative grin on me. “We could pretend we’re just now meeting for the first time. I am Javier Guzman.” He gave a small bow at the waist. “At your service, ma’am.”

“I don’t need your services.” I couldn’t accept a peace offer from him when I had a job to do. “If I said nice to meet you, it wouldn’t be true.”

“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath and glanced at Kai. “What did you tell her?”

“About you?” Kai shrugged, folding the towel over his lap. “Not a hell of a lot. Only that you’re with Missy now.”

“Don’t keep looking at Kai for help,” I snapped at Javier. “You and your big mouth made your bed, now lie in it.” I assumed my best fighting stance: feet staggered, knees slightly bent, arms and hands up. “Come on. Let’s see what you’re made of. ”

“Cece…” Kai rumbled.

“What?” I shot him my look of death and kept my stance. “You think I can’t take him?”

“I know you can take him,” Kai said, and pleasure flushed through me in tidal waves before I shoved down that weak, stupid, needy part of me that blossomed under his compliments and wanted to be likable… if only to him.

Javier lifted his hands in the air and shot an offended glower in Kai’s direction. “What the fuck, dude?”

Kai inhaled a breath, then met my eyes. “Can you please stand down for a sec?”

“Sure.” I made a show of releasing my fight stance, shaking off my arms and shoulders like a fighter getting loose for a round. “You’ve got thirty seconds.”

“Very generous of you.” Kai tapped his lap. “Are you sure you don’t want this towel?”

I had no idea why he wanted me to take the damned towel, but I shook my head. “Twenty seconds.”

“Hear me out,” he said. “This asshole here is a friend.”

“His best friend,” Javier interjected, as if this should make a difference to me.

I pounced. “If this jackass is your best friend, then your taste in friends sucks.”

“Maybe,” Kai allowed, keeping his permanent cool. “He’s got a gigantic trap, a bit of a temper, and a flickering brain, but he’s an asset and we like him. You can fight him, but what good would come of it? Missy’s gonna be furious with you if you so much as bruise her stud.”

Javier started. “I’m not a st—!”

“I’m trying to help you,” Kai pointed out.

“Christ,” Javier muttered. “With friends like you, who needs enemies?”

“Shut up, Goof.” Kai shifted his stare to me. “As I was saying, you’ll piss off Missy if you hurt him.”

“Missy doesn’t know any better.” I crossed my arms and glowered at him and his friends.

“Did I hear right?” Javier frowned and shifted his gaze between Kai and Micah. “Did she just say Missy doesn’t know any better?”

“She did indeed make such an odd statement,” Micah offered in his stilted tone.

“Let me explain,” Kai interjected. “Cece thinks Missy is delicate.”

“Delicate?” Javier’s narrowed eyes fell on me and his nostrils flared, betraying the existence of a temper that could match mine if unleashed. “Missy is strong. Smart. Amazing. If ‘delicate’ is the best you can say about your sister, then you don’t know her like I do.”

“I love Missy.” I faced off with a warrior that tripled me in size and strength, but I was determined to unmask his greed, and he had just given me the first hint about his temper.

“But my baby sister is like a porcelain doll. She wouldn’t have been able to survive the mean girls at boarding school without me.

She’s been delicate since she was a baby. ”

“For sure, you don’t know my Missy.” Javier’s jaw set at a stern angle.

“ Your Missy?” I let out a manufactured snicker.

“You don’t have a Missy. I do.” It was time to up the ante.

I braced my feet at a stagger and wiggled four fingers in the air.

“Come on, you cash-hungry bloodsucker. Let me give you a preview of how I keep gold diggers away from my sisters, and what I’ll do to you if I find out you’re after Missy for her money. ”

“Did you just say I’m a gold digger?” The man’s pronounced Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, and the startled look on his face made him look genuinely baffled even though a vein popped on his forehead. “You think I ’m after Missy’s money?”