Page 27 of Catch a King (Five Kings 1)

Griffin calls and she shakes her head. “Duty calls, but honey, you really need to toughen up. The Dragon’s aren’t your high school jocks or nerds. They’re real men with huge appetites. Maybe you should get out of Dodge if you can’t deal because this is nothing, I’ve seen a lot worse, so it’s probably best you don’t work on party night.”

“Party night?”

She laughs softly. “Now that would make your hair curl even more than it is already. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

As she heads off, I think about what she said. Real men. She’s wrong. These animals are not men, they don’t know the first thing about what that means. Once again, I feel homesick just thinking of the guys at home. If we’re talking real men, I’ve left about fifty of them back where I came from and suddenly, I’m not so sure I should have ever left.

As I work, I close my mind to the disgusting behavior of the Dragons. After Marina told me what happened - happens to her, it made my blood run cold. Seeing Slade behave like an animal and imagining what he is probably doing right now, makes me sick to my core and even Ruby is practically having sex with Griffin as she sits on his lap with her skirt around her waist.

I’m not sure I can stay, it’s too much and I feel like making the call I vowed I never would. I want to go home because I can’t deal with the reality of life inside the Dragon’s Ruin.

“Hey, baby.”

His voice cuts through the panic and as I look up, my breath hitches at the look in Sawyer’s eyes. Dark, brooding and filled with lust and an understanding of what I’m thinking right now. Holding out his hand, he says firmly, “You’ve had enough, let the fuckers fix their own drinks, you’re coming with me.”

I don’t miss the interested looks that accompany us out, and my heart sinks as I realize what they’re probably thinking. It’s all any of them think about, and I’m weary with it all. I don’t belong here; I’m not sure I belong with the Reapers either because I’ve failed the first test they threw at me. I’ve always let everyone down and never got things right—you’re not worth it, she’s not worth it,comes back to haunt me and just remembering the sneer on Slade’s face that I’ve seen a thousand times before, makes me want to curl up into a ball and sob my heart out.

Chapter 22

Sawyer

I’m late and I knew it would put Millie at risk. The last thing I wanted was for my brother to get to the bar before me, but Axel had me head off on a fool’s errand across town and I wonder what he was thinking. It’s only when I realized there was nobody at the address he gave me and hadn’t been for some time, that I doubted his reasons for sending me there at all. He told me he had word of a stranger living rough in the Copcalls. A trailer park on the other side of town where a man was holed up who the locals thought suspect. He wanted me to check him out in case he was the hitman who could have wasted Billy, but the more I think of it, I’ve been set up.

I headed home at speed and saw Slade dragging Avery upstairs, although from the look in her eye, she was only too happy about that and he just laughed and told me not to leave my woman unattended in future because bad things happen to women who step outside their place.

Axel came out of his office before I could find her and wanted to know what I found and, as I thought, didn’t seem too surprised when I told him there was nobody there.

As soon as I saw Millie looking destroyed, my resolve hardened. Fuck my family, she needs me, Reaper or not and if I trust anything, it’s my own judgment.

She didn’t hesitate to take my hand, which shows she is definitely not in her right mind, and as we head outside, I put my arm around her shoulders protectively. She shivers a little and I whisper, “You ok, darlin’, sorry I was longer than I thought.”

“It’s fine.”

I can tell she’s anything but fine, and as we take the stairs, I direct her to her room rather than mine.

“Why are we here?”

She looks at me in surprise as I open the door and drag her inside.

“I figured you’d prefer a clean room, especially as you’ve gone to so much trouble to make it nice.”

She smiles and her eyes glisten with tears as she whispers, “Thank you.”

Seeing her looking so vulnerable and completely out of her comfort zone does something strange to me inside. I want her. I want Millie the woman, not the Reaper whore. I want her to whisper my name with love in her heart and beg me not to leave her. I want her to touch me, kiss me, love me and I want her to be my world.

She looks around through sad eyes, which tears my heart out with a jagged piece of glass. What happened to make this gorgeous woman break? I have to know before I can work out how to build her up again.

Shrugging off my jacket, she looks at me in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“Making myself comfortable and I suggest you do the same.”

“But...” She looks confused as I sit on the bed and pat the space beside me.

“I want to hear the real story now, not the one you’ve told so many times you believe it yourself. I want to know what happened to make your soul shatter.”

Her lip trembles and her eyes fill with pain and she backs away. “I can’t.”

In two strides, I reach her and grab her wrist hard. “Non-negotiable, darlin’, you think I don’t notice the front you hide behind. The pain in your eyes when a memory hits you uninvited. The reason you came here in the first place; I want to know it all because god help me, I want to know every inch of that beautiful mind before I make you mine forever.”

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