Page 57 of Steal a King (Five Kings 2)

“If you say so.” He smirks and I feel like a petulant child as I shrug. “So, why is it so hard to believe that I have a date?”

“It’s not, it’s just I smell bullshit when I hear it. You’re just pissed that I’m telling you what to do. You hate it and you hate that I’m right. You’re rebelling and acting like a child because you’re struggling to regain control over your life. You hate losing control to me, which tells me we need to work on that.”

I stare at him in utter disbelief as he narrows his eyes and I almost see smoke coming from them. He wraps his hand around my wrist and pulls me roughly toward him and whispers, “There’s somewhere I want to show you when we get back, it may make you understand your position here a bit more.”

“My position.” I feel a little faint as he says darkly, “I have rethought the terms of our arrangement for both our mutual benefit. You can thank me later.”

“For what?”

“For making you the offer of a lifetime.”

He releases me and leans back saying dismissively, “Now shut the fuck up, I need to answer this text.”

I’m not sure I have enough expletives in my vocabulary to answer him satisfactorily, so instead I slump back in my seat and stare at the passing scenery with an anger that is growing by the second. How has this happened?

How have I allowed myself to be placed in this position? My life was shaping up nicely and then he entered it like a howling storm wreaking devastation on everything I had built. Now he has a plan, there’s something telling me he’s about to make me an offer I should refuse. I already know I’m not strong enough to refuse him anything because somehow, I have fallen in love with an enigma and until I work out how to deal with this, I’m just hanging on tight and seeing where this crazy ride takes me.

---