“I would’ve had to kill them,” he says. “Painfully. Publicly. Would’ve had to make a fuckin’ spectacle in my own club because of you.”
He leans in close, his breath hot against my face.
“You deserve to be punished for that.” His pupils are blown.
Excitement floods me as heat colorsmy face.
“Cavin, I didn’t know.”
“Exactly. Of course you didn’t know. Because you don’t listen. You don’t follow instructions. You block me on your goddamn phone. You sneak around behind my back. You give my men the slip and wander into places you have no business being.”
“You don’t own me,” I hiss.
He’s close enough now that I have to tilt my head back to meet his eyes.
“You’re my fiancée, Erin. And that means something, whether you like it or not.”
“It means nothing if I didn’t choose it,” I snap at him.
“And yet…” he says as his hand comes up, wrapping his fingers gently, so gently, around mythroat.
Oh god.
My pulse skyrockets.
He’s not squeezing. Just… holding, like a reminder.
“Yet here you are,” he whispers. “In my club. In my private room. Exactly where I want you.”
I should push him away. I should slap him and scream. But I don’t.
Because something in me—something I don’t want to acknowledge—responds to this. To him. To the way he’s looking at me like I’m something he wants to devour.
“You need to learn,” he says softly, his thumb brushing the side of my neck. My pulse beats rapidly under his finger. “You need to learn what it means to be mine. And what happens when you disobey me.”
I should be horrified, should be angry at his words. But something unfamiliar flares to lifeinside me.
“Cavin—”
“Shhh.” His other hand slides to my waist and pulls me close. “You came to The Craic because you wanted to see what it was about, didn’t you?”
“No. I… I came because?—”
“So you’re not curious, then? Hmm?”
Why is the anger seeping out of his face? Why does he look almost curious?
“I can show you. I can make it part of your punishment.”
My breath catches.
His mouth hovers near my ear, and when he speaks, his voice is dark velvet.
“Do you trust me, Erin?”
“No. Forfuck’s sake, of course I don’t.”
He laughs, low and dangerous. I draw in a quick breath to steady myself so I don’t collapse.
