“I understand you’re hurt, which is why you’re throwing this tantrum, but I’m telling you, Gareth. You bring someone else into this just to be a brat again, and I will forbid you from seeing me for a whole week. Are we clear?”
His eyes widen. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me. Just try making me watch a display like that again and see the consequences for yourself.”
“It’s not that I want to do that. Just…don’t disappear on me again.”
“I will if needed. You’re a grown adult who can survive a few hours without a text from me.”
“It was a whole day, actually,” he murmurs with a pout, and it’s nearly impossible to keep up the stoic mode.
He looks so goddamn adorable, I want to eat him up.
My tone darkens. “And that was enough to findbettercompany?”
He shrugs. “I thought that might get your attention.”
“You will not do that nonsense again. There will be no girl’s arms around you. Are we clear?”
He nods.
“Use your words.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“Now…” I run my fingers over his T-shirt. “How would you like to be punished for your insolence?”
His lips part as he looks up at me, and whispers, “Here?”
“Shh. Don’t talk.”
“Kayde…”
I slam him against the opposite wall with my grip on his T-shirt. “Shut the fuck up.”
His fingers clench in my shirt, digging into my waist as he shivers. I’m about to devour him when I feel a third presence.
“Gaz?” The guy watches us with narrowed eyes.
He’s tall, about an inch shorter than me, though, and bulky. Chaotic full-sleeve tattoos peek from beneath his shirt and he has his long, dark hair tied in a messy ponytail.
Gareth stiffens as he looks up at him, his lashes fluttering and his heartbeat quickening beneath my fingers.
Now, I want to maim the intruder just because he’s stressing my little monster.
The newcomer flexes and then tightens his fist as he glares at me. “What’s your name, motherfucker, and what’s your favorite way to die?”
“Niko, it’s not…” Gareth trails off, and I realize I’m tightening my grip, because why the fuck is he calling him by a nickname and sounding…apologetic?
“Step the fuck away from him.” ThisNikostorms toward us. “Now.”
“Who the fuck are you?” I ask in a low growl, feeling so goddamn territorial.
“My cousin, Nikolai.” Gareth pushes me, forcing me to release him as he gives me a pleading look. “Please leave, Sir.”
Fuck. I love how he calls me that.
“Sir?” Nikolai, the cockblocker but at least a cousin, scoffs. “Why the fuck are you calling him sir?”