Page 35 of Savage

“So you came back from your royal duties just to rub this shit in my face?” I said.

“Would you blame me?” He took another drag, and then put the cigarette out against the stone wall. “But no, your activities aren’t a top priority for me. This is just a happy coincidence.”

“Lucky me.”

“If it helps, I brought you back a few bags of the Indonesian coffee you like.”

“That’s supposed to make up for the ball busting you’re all about to give me?”

As we came to the iron door, Theo winked at me under the flickering candles. “Come on, Lachlan. Ball busting is what you live for.”

I couldn’t deny that, not when I had Cooper stashed in one of the spare penthouses upstairs.

God, fucking Cooper. He’d gotten himself in more trouble than he even realized, and somehow the fuckers from that alley had tracked him down. It had to be the goddamn driver that got away from me, and that pissed me off to no end. I didn’tmakemistakes, yet since the first night I’d seen Cooper, that was all I’d been doing, one fuck-up after another, and now I had to deal with the consequences. I couldn’t just leave him at his place, not when it was clear those fuckers hadn’t gotten what they came for and would be back. What the hell had he even been doing with their key card? Cooper thoughthehad questions? I wanted to pry him open and see what else he was hiding.

And I wasn’t even going to acknowledge the way my cock got hard knowing I was the reason he was safe right now.

Theo and I entered the chamber, the two of us making it a full house, as the rest of the men were already gathered at the carved-from-boulder round table that sat in the throne room. Conversation stopped and all eyes fell on me. There was displeasure in King’s and amusement in Benoit’s.

“I wasn’t awaythatlong,” Theo said as he took his seat to the right of King. “No need to throw a party.”

I took the seat beside Alessio, as far away from King as possible.

“We’re just shocked to see you here.” Lucien Vale grinned, a devil-may-care gleam in his eyes. “The weather is much nicer in your part of the world than New York this time of year.”

“I would agree with you there, but since I considereverywheremy part of the world, I figured I should show my face if there was going to be some kind of disciplinary action taking place.”

“First of all, fuck you,” I said to the asshole laughing at my current predicament. “And second, the last time I checked, disciplinary action went out a couple centuries ago. We’re still free citizens down here.”

A low curse to King’s left had my eyes shifting to the last of our group, Shep. That wasn’t his full name but a nickname we’d bestowed on him because “Shepard O’Neil Winchester III” was such a fucking mouthful that no one could be bothered.

“You got something to say over there?” I snapped, my tone a little more hostile than it should be toward King’s second-in-command.

Shep straightened in his chair, the annoyance radiating off his tailored black suit almost on par with King’s, but I wasn’t looking inhisdirection yet. One obstacle at a time, and it seemed Shep was going to be the first.

“I said,fucking typical.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaningthat your impulsive behavior has once again landed us in a world of shit. You say we’re free citizens down here, but how long do you think that’s going to last when you’re hellbent on revealing all of your”—he looked around the table—“I’m sorry,oursecrets to a fuckingjournalist?”

My head whipped in Alessio’s direction, and before I could ream him a new one for going to King with the information I’d had him dig up on Cooper, he grimaced. “Sorry, man.”

I guessed I couldn’t blame him. Not really. Not whenI’dbeen the one breaking rules. So I turned my attention back to Shep.

“I didn’t tell Cooper shit.”

“No? Correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t he currently sitting in one of the penthouse suites of this very building?”

My jaw tightened as I narrowed my eyes on the mouthy fucker. “Correct me ifI’mwrong, but the last time I checked, I don’t answer to you.”

“That’s enough.” King’s voice was deadly calm as it reverberated across the space. “I thought I made it clear the last time we spoke that any kind of interaction with this man was to be wiped from existence.”

“You did, but?—”

“The wordbutin the middle of a sentence almost always means the first half of what you said is complete and utter bullshit.” King narrowed his eyes, and it was like a shot of ice through my veins. “So how about you start again, and this time try not to blow smoke up my ass first.”

It was a rare day that a meeting at this table was so quiet, but then again, I couldn’t remember the last time King had looked like he wanted to kill one of us.

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