Page 3 of With This Ring

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Charlie asks Kai, shaking him roughly. “I told you to deliver a message, not start a fucking brawl.”

“Didn’t start it,” Kai mutters, then quells under Charlie’s gaze. I grin at the display as I wipe my bloodied nose.

“Don’t fucking matter who started it. I gave you a fucking order.”

Dad looks at me, and I climb off the table. I look around and see the floor is empty, save our families. “Sorry,” I say reluctantly.

He huffs. “Not yet, you’re not.” Dad turns to Charlie. “I told you it was a terrible idea. It’ll never work.”

“It will because it has to. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to have a word with my son.”

“Same. We’ll talk soon, yes?”

Charlie dips his head and lets Kai’s arm go, pushing him to walk in front of him.

Dad gives me the once over and shakes his head. “Go clean yourself up, Carter. You need to go meet the Colombians. When I need you, you’d better show up. And after this shitshow, I don’t want to hear a word from you. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

He scoffs and marches off, about twenty men in his personal guard following him. Gavin steps up beside me, dabbing at a cut over his eyebrow, but he doesn’t look any worse for wear. I bet I look a fucking sight.

Kai might be smaller than me in height, but his extra weight helped him pack a fucking punch. My face throbs and my throat will be sore and raw in the morning, but fuck was that a rush. It’s been years since I’ve thrown hands and even longer since I beat Kai’s ass. He deserved every punch he got. I wish I could have landed more. Another few seconds and I would have gotten him off me and been able to fuck his shit up.

Gavin nudges me. “Come on. Let’s go before you dad comes back and puts a bullet in my head for not keeping you on task.”

I chuckle, wiping under my nose. Blood trickles steadily and I curse, knowing it’ll be a while before it stops. “Yeah, right. I need to change into something more presentable. Let’s hope I don’t get blood on the suit my dad insists I wear. Then we can hit up The Devil’s Den. I still have some frustrations to work out.” Here’s hoping that finding someone to play with in the kink club I just joined helps me blow off some steam.

Gavin laughs beside me. “You got it.”

CHAPTER 2

KAI

“Igave you one task. One fucking task, Kaison! And you go into that casino and try to cause a bigger rift between me and Dominic than there already is.”

Even though I’m a grown man now, I can’t stop the pang that shoots through me at my father’s reprimand. His approval has always been important to me, but it seems like no matter what I do, I disappoint him.

I know why. It has nothing to do with what I do or don’t do and everything to do with the fact that I’m gay. I came out to my dad when I was twelve, hoping he’d say it was okay, that it was a whole new world, and the old rules of the mafia didn’t apply. That didn’t happen. In fact, he pretended I said nothing and tried to get me to sleep with women to prove it was just a phase. It never worked. And no matter how hard he tried and how many women he fucked, none of them got pregnant and gave him another heir. So, he’s stuck with me, and he hates it. He hatesmefor it.

“Yeah, Pop. I know,” I say in a bored voice. I try to go for nonchalance, so he doesn’t see how his disappointment affects me. Besides, I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t start the fight.

Carter came down fucking withme. I was in his casino, yeah, but I wasn’t bothering anyone. He could have stayed his dumb ass away from me until I was done gambling. I’d dropped twenty grand in that one game that I wasn’t going to get back. He should be thanking me for it.

“You can’t know Kai. Because if you did, you wouldn’t go there and start shit with Carter. You two have been at each other’s throats for decades. You need to cut the shit.”

“No. His family is the enemy. Why should I play nice?”

“Because I fucking said so!” Pop roars. I bristle, but only nod. “If Carter was his younger brother, you would have a fucking bullet in your head, and I’d have to go to war. I don’t have the fucking manpower to go to war, Kaison.”

Carter’s younger brother, Declan, is a fucking loose cannon. He’s killed many of our men and my father has had to retaliate over the years. It’s been contentious between our families because of him. In comparison, Carter is a saint. He’s still a dick, but he listens to his father and tries to keep the peace.

Except when it comes to me.

It seems when we get in close proximity to each other, there are words hurled and fists flying. If it were Declan, he would have shot first and traded insults later.

But Declan could have tried that shit with me if he wanted to. I would have gotten a few good shots in myself before I said hello to the devil.

People have been underestimating me for years since I don’t make it a secret that I’m gay. I’ve had to put men in pine boxes and send a dozen roses to their mothers for testing me.

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