Page 53 of The Bonds We Break

He nudges me back to the wall with the windows looking out to the bar area. “Responding appropriately to my behavior.You’ve got no sense of self-preservation, duchess.”

He may be right. “Perhaps not. But what I do have are boundaries, and you crossed them.”

“Fucking boundaries. You don’t get it, do you? You don’t have any boundaries when you’re with me. To keep Saint alive, you’re going to do anything and everything I want.” His palm slams next to my head against the glass.

I look up at him, his nose so close to mine. His breath smells of peppermint still. I think of the time we spent in his house. The small moments. It makes the betrayal feel worse. “I wasdoinganything you wanted. You hurt me. What you said and how you shared information about our sexual encounters.”

“That was your fucking tipping point? And again. Don’t you get it? It wasmeantto hurt.”

I nod, taking in the confusion in his eyes. “Well, mission accomplished. I am very aware that I am ... what did you say? Oh, right.A shit lay. It was deliberately hurtful and cruel and pushed me into expressing my observations of why you chose such a path today. I have done absolutely nothing to deserve any of this. And for a fleeting moment, I thought you were better than that, King.” I pause for a moment and take a breath to calm myself. “I may never forgive you for forcing Ryker to protect me at his cost again. He did that for most of our childhood, and I vowed to never put him in that situation again. Yet here we are, because of you.”

He runs a knuckle down my cheek as if the digit has gone rogue. It’s so out of place with his words and his stance and the way anger kisses every part of his face. Then he looks up and sees the rest of the club members looking in, watching us through the glass.

“Fuck,” he curses, then goes to the metal beads for the roller blind and pulls them down. I move away from the windows and walk to the big table. I boost myself onto it as my legs shake.

Adrenaline is catching up with me.

My hands start to shake too, and I sit on them so King can’t see.

I pray it doesn’t turn into panic.

King comes to stand in front of me and places his palms on my knees. “Here are the terms, Rae. You agree to stay with me for six months and get Saint to live with that, and I’ll make sure he becomes a full member of the club again.”

“Two things are wrong with that deal.”

“Enlighten me, duchess.” His hands squeeze and release along my thighs, working their way higher, then stopping before they hit the seam.

Arousal flushes through me again. It’s warm and unhurried. I shouldn’t feel this way from a man who controls our lives right now. But my libido has never listened toshouldsbefore. “First, is that you have already reneged on one deal. He was to be punished by the club in order to return, which he was. You’ve proven you can’t be trusted when it comes to deals.”

King’s face moves closer to mine. “And the second?”

“You asked for two things. Me to agree.Andme to get Ryker to agree. In return, you’d give us one thing. Ryker’s return to the club.”

“So?”

He runs his nose along my neck. Even though we’re discussing my brother’s life and safety and my own, I tilt my neck to give King access for whatever he wants to do. The shiver that runs through me causes the tiny hairs on the back of my neck and on my arms to lift. Ripples of goose bumps line my skin. “That isn’t fair.”

“I’m not a fair man.”

“Yes, but I think you could be, King.”

“You owe me for disrespecting me in front of the club.”

I turn my head so our lips are nearly touching. “You owe me for disrespectingmein front of a room full of strange men and my brother. Only insecure men do that, King.”

“I’m not insecure.”

“Then don’t tell me you aren’t. Show me you aren’t.”

His lips brush mine. “So, what do you want?”

20

KING

Ididn’t mean to ask her that.

I don’t care what she wants.