Page 34 of With This Ring

Sitting up, I reach out to touch him, then pull my hand back. God, why am I so fucking terrible at this? I’ve fucked him and jerked his dick—I should be able to touch him. “Relax. I shouldn’t have told you until you got better, but I wanted you to know.”

After a few more minutes, he raises his tired eyes to mine. “How do you know?”

I tell him about the discrepancies I found in his monthly income reports, as well as exactly how much was missing when I did the calculations. “With how much business you’re doing,” I say, lying back on the bed when he pulls himself out of the ball he was in, “I knew you should have at least fifty grand more than you had.”

“There are three accountants that work for me. One or more are stealing from me when I pay them well for their loyalty. When I get out of this fucking bed, I’ll take whoever is stealing from me to The fucking Fox Club.”

“What’s that?” I know the lounge that his family owns is called The Fox Club, but I can’t imagine why he’d want to have a drink with someone that’s stealing from him.

He closes his eyes and sighs tiredly. “It’s where we take anyone that fucks with us. The Fox Club has a soundproofed basement equipped with a drain in the middle of the floor. Easy clean up.”

A smile spreads across my face. “Interesting. Maybe we should get one.”

He cracks an eye open and looks at me. “We’re married now. You can use that room.” He pauses. “Want to come with me while I take care of my traitor?”

“Fuck yeah, I do.” I know I sound eager as fuck, but I’ve heard about how brutal Kai is when it comes to his victims. I’d love to see him in action. “What do you do? Torture?”

He nods. “I like knives. Slicing someone…that gets my blood singing in my veins.”

“I want to watch. I don’t usually slice people.”

“What do you do?”

Another smile lights up my face as I think about my past kills that I could take my time with. “Different things. Mainly torture them to death. I like to hear their screams.”

Kai chuckles sleepily. “Maybe this will work out after all.”

We’re silent a few beats, my mind racing a mile a minute. It almost feels…normal talking to him. Like talking to Gavin, except with real feelings somewhere in there. Kai is still a pain in my ass—he’ll probably continue to be a pain in my ass for a while yet—but this conversation with him is easy. It’ll take a minute for me to have effortless discussions with him without consciously telling myself to not lose my shit on him, but I can work at it.

From the way he’s speaking freely with me, it’s like he doesn’t have many people to talk to. I have Gavin, Dad, Declan, and a few other guys I grew up with. Who does Kai have? Nico? I never see him with any of the guys he used to hang out with when we were kids. Maybe he’s eager to have someone else.

“Kai?” he hums, adjusting himself more comfortably against my side, though we’re not cuddling. “Why were you at The Devil’s Den?”

He tenses beside me, but lets his body relax almost immediately. “I like to let off some steam sometimes when I don’t have a hookup lined up.” It’s my turn to tense.

It’s stupid and I know it, to be irritated that he’s a member of The Devil’s Den. Especially because I am too. But I don’t like the thought of him being there, playing with someone else.

“You’re gay?” Kai asks and pulls my mind from my heart thundering at his mention of a hookup. There’s no reason for me to be jealous of someone I don’t know.

“Bi,” I say. “Only a few people know.”

“Glad to be in on the secret,” Kai says dryly. I scoff.

“What about you?” he asks tiredly. “Why were you there? You got a secret kinky side I don’t know about?”

Chuckling, I glance over at him from the corner of my eye. “Maybe.”

“What’s your kink?”

Rolling over, I look at him, studying his features. His straight nose, downturned mouth, and high cheeks. “Bondage. Sensory play. Impact play. Yours?”

“Exhibitionism.” His lips lift in a smirk. “Though that’s probably out now, you cave man.I own you. You belong to me.” I’m sure the high-pitched voice he used is supposed to be me, though I sound nothing like that. I laugh softly, not wanting to startle him so he hurts his head. “It’s nice to have an audience.”

I store that information away for later. Don’t know when I’ll need it.

CHAPTER 13

KAI

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