He sucks in a full breath. “Dove,” he says my name in warning, but he’s the one who asked a silly question. How did he want me to answer?
“If some biker is hunting me, I need to be able to protect myself.”
“Birdie, you have us. When I’m not around, Bodhi or River will be. If some biker is after you for whatwedid last night, thenwewill protect you.”
I sigh heavily. He doesn’t get it. “I came back here tonight because I’m tired and couldn’t be bothered fighting you on it. I’m not sticking round, Kasen. This might be your hometown, but it’s not mine anymore.”
“You came back here tonight because you had no choice. This is and always has been your hometown, and these fuckers can threaten you all they want, you’re not going anywhere.” He turns and moves to walk away from me.
I grab his arm, finding the confidence I couldn’t in the car earlier. “You can’t just tell me what to do. I know you have gone and told River I’m yours or some nonsense like that, but you don’t own me. I’m serious, Kasen, tomorrow I’m out of here.”
His smile is slightly psychotic and a little scary if I’m being honest, but I keep my head held high, not wanting to show him how intimidating he is right now. “Love that you think you’re tough, but you’re teeny-tiny, malnourished, and injured. You clearly can’t take care of yourself. You’re lucky to have us. Take this time to rest and get better.”
I grin back at him. Fuck him for thinking I can’t take care of myself. “Just give me a gun or a knife and I will be on my way.”
“You’re not hearing me.” He lowers his voice as he towers over me, making me feel so damn small, even when I try to tilt my chin up defiantly.
“I hear you, I just don’t care what you have to say.”
His nostrils flare. “I don’t know what shit you got messed up in over the last ten years. You’re back now, and that changes everything. You can drop this act, you don’t have to be this raging bitch around us. I’m not the kid I was when you left. I have power now, so around here, you will be protected because they know you’re with me.” He thinks he’s some kind of hero, my knight in shining armor. I almost laugh at how ridiculous it all is.
I point my finger into his chest, making sure to dig in my nail. “I’m not with you!”
His lips twist, his smile deranged. “I think that show you put on at River’s bar has pretty much solidified to all that you are.”
“What?” I whisper, not liking the sound of that one bit.
“Birdie, you know it was always inevitable. If you didn’t skip town, we would have been a thing. Now that you’re back, we are. Get used to it.”
Both my hands fly to my hips. “Do I get any say in this?”
He looks almost confused that I’m questioning him.
“Nothing’s changed with you, you’re still a controlling asshole who thinks you can snap your fingers and I will do whatever you want. I’m not one of your family’s men, and maybe this town thinks the sun shines out of your ass, but I don’t. I think what your family has created here is disgusting, our sweet beachside town is gone. Everything my mother was fighting for was destroyed, all for greed and money. And I will never be associated with any of it.”
He sighs heavily, exhaustion coming over him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know enough to know your hands aren’t clean. Like daddy, like son, I’m sure.” The words fly out of my mouth before I can stop them. They are bitchy as hell and meant to cut deep. I want to hurt him like he has me.
His face hardens, and his hands fly to my waist as he shoves me into the wall and glares down at me. “Watch your mouth.”
My brow rises, challenging him. He might be bigger than me, but I’m not going to show him I’m scared of him and his intimidation techniques. “Truth hurts, hey, Throne?”
His eyes darken to terrifying, and I know I just pushed him off a cliff I probably shouldn’t have, but this domineering stuff will never workon me. Yeah, maybe I used to look up to him, and maybe once upon a time I might have been with this town thinking Kasen Throne was about as close to perfect as any person could be, but I’m not that vapid anymore. Yeah, he’s handsome and tall and built, and the way he looks at me with sin in his eyes is that look I know melts other girls’ panties. But he’s the charismatic, all too good on the outside but completely rotten on the inside kind a girl like me can’t afford to be associated with. I know his family is behind most of the corruption in this town. And that means him since he’s now in charge.
“Who are the Southern Breakers, Dove? I’ve been patiently waiting for you to fill me in about where you have been, but you have run out of time. Why were those thugs beating you up, and exactly what work were you doing for them?”
I try to step away from him, but I have nowhere to go. I’m trapped between his solid body and the wall. Part of me had hoped he wouldn’t remember the mention of that name, and there is no way in hell I’m telling him anything more. There is no way any of them can know about my life back there. I don’t want to be his, but I don’t want him to look at me with pity either. “I’m tried, I’m going to bed,” I snip, stepping past him.
“My room,” he barks from right behind me, an anger in his tone that I don’t appreciate.
I spin back to him, my body suddenly on edge for a whole new reason. “What?”
His lips twitch up at the sides. “I told you, you’re not going to be alone while some creep is leaving you threats.” His eyes run down my body, then meet back with mine, boring right through me with an intensity I can’t stand. “You will stay with me.”
I massage my scalp, trying to get rid of the thumping that’s now taking over. He’s delusional. Even more impossible than he ever was before. “I’m not sleeping with you.”
He closes the gap between us, our bodies chest to chest, a stupid amount of heat radiating off him. “Oh, birdie, this isn’t my fun way of trying to seduce you. You will know when I want to fuck you. Right now, you need sleep, and you will do what you’re told or I will make you.” His hand presses into my lower back, and turning me, he nudges me forward.
