Bet.
My feet still amble toward said exit and into the small foyer littered with every kind of shoe you can imagine. Then I’m suddenly whipped around with my spine pushed possessively against the door, with no one other than Cairo immediately in my space.
All those dark elements that make up his face work in his favor, reminding me he didn’t like me before, and he could quickly go back to that again.
He should.
Cairo’s not here to fuck around with another bitch who gives zero shits about how he feels or not. I know he has more than enough other things to do than babysit me.
“The fuck did I say?” he sneers through a locked jaw. “You eitherreallyneed your ears checked or to relearn the English language properly. I didn’t stutter.”
“I’m going to get mysisters,” I clip back through clenched teeth. “Are you deaf?”
“Wrong brother.”
Touché.
I exhale heavily because this whole conversation is already worthless and taxing. “What did you want to do, Sinatra? Have a stare-off contest? Because last time I checked, this wasn’t your town. This isn’t your house. I’m not yourgirl.You don’t run this show.”
“I do when you’re pregnant.”
I scoff.Thisshit again. “I’mnotpregnant. I told you?—”
“Prove it,” he challenges. “Quit being a bitch and take the damn pregnancy test I put on your bedside table.” I press my lips together because we’re just going back and forth. I’m tired and sick of going back and forth with this dipshit. “Denial is the first step—” I begin to slither my way out from between him and the surface of the door, but Cairo seizes my hip and squeezes at the flesh there, demanding I hear this out. “What’s it gonna take, Bay, huh? Do you need me to force you? Do you need the reality check shoved in your face for you to chill out becausetrustme…I’ve got no problem doing that.”
I raise my chin higher, making sure he sees the seriousness in my expression and how insane he’s fucking being. “If you think?—”
“Iknow.”
A mirthless scoff freely escapes my lips because, of course, he does. He’s Cairo Black, King of Wharf Bay and, apparently, that comes with superpowers. “Damn, did getting king status give you the ability to know everything?”
“Bay…”
“Is it a boy or girl?”
“Quit being an asshole.”
“Quit being indenial. You think because we fucked you now hold some power over me?” My eyes slit to deter any confirmation. “You must not have read the fine print, Sinatra, so let me give it to you straight. I’m not yourbitch,nor do I want to be. There’s only one man who could bend me to his will and get me to play nice, andyou’renot fucking him.”
I don’t understand why I expect some sort of hurt or realization to cross Cairo’s face but none does.
His poker face is good, I’ll give him props for that.
Plus, I pushed the buttons of the wrong dude. Torin would’ve lost his entire shit.
Cairo’s too big of a person to fall into that trap.
“Obviously not a very good job,” he finally imparts, ticking several nerves in my head. “Because you crossed over. You fell in love. You played into the little obsession and look where you are. You’re married to one of us, you fell deeply enamored by another, you almost got killed by the next…and me…” He bends over, the smell of mint and spices evading my nostrils against my will. “You’re fuckin’ owned, Bay. Whether you like that shit, hate that shit, demand release from that shit, or wantoutof that shit, you’re mine. Whether that’s something you can live with is a personal problem. But I will keep my investment in you intact. And that means you’renotgoing to go run off again and betray my trustagain.”
My jaw begins to ache from how hard I’m clenching the damn thing. “I don’t want it.”
“It’s either that or I make you earn it. On your fucking knees like a good little girl.”
This motherfucker…
It takes everything in me not to raise my leg and clobber him in the balls.
“You got it fucked up if you’ve convinced yourself I want you like that,” I say evenly. “That I’m going to sit here like a damsel in distress while you fuckers handle itforme. Levi ismyproblem. He’smine.”
