Page 65 of Inked Beasts

What I find instead are three massive men, achingly beautiful and mightily pissed off.

Even Gage looks stern, and normally-easygoing Thorn is scowling. And Kai? His expression is volcanic, just on the verge of an eruption.

None of them wait for me to invite them in before they storm past me.

Kai turns on me as soon as I close the door behind them. “You left.” He steps forward, jabbing a finger at me. “You left us. And this time, it was your own damn choice.”

I don’t know how to answer him. I’m still trying to make sense of the three of them standing here.

Taking a step backward, I wrap my arms around myself protectively. “Aren’t you supposed to be preparing for your new show?”

“We canceled it,” Kai thunders.

“You what? Why?”

Gage comes up alongside Kai, fire in his eyes. “We found out what the producer told you.”

“Oh.” I glance around the room as if it holds the answers, then look back at him. “How?”

“He told us.” Thorn snorts in contempt. “Idiot. He thought he was doing us a favor.”

My mind is reeling, trying to put together pieces that don’t quite fit. “But … all your plans. Your future expansions?—”

“Don’t matter!” Kai roars.

There’s a long moment of silence before I whisper, “Kai.”

“Fuck.” He paces across the room before whirling back toward me. “I’m so fucking mad at you.”

I stare at the floor. “I deserve that.”

“What exactly did he say to you?”

I don’t want to answer. “Why?”

“Because, since when are you a fucking doormat? And why aren’t you yelling back at me?”

A headache suddenly builds right in the center of my forehead. Making my way over to the couch, I sink onto it and raise my hand to rub the spot. “Kai …”

“Did he threaten you?” Gage asks.

My head whips up. “What?”

He arches an eyebrow as if to say,You heard me.

I sigh, feeling weighed down and exhausted, even as a buzz of energy vibrates deep inside me at the nearness of these men. “He said that it was up to me how well your new show would do, because the audience would be upset if you weren’t single.”

“And you believed him?” Kai accuses.

“It’s a dating show, Kai, and I’ve seen your groupies. They’re at your shop every single day, and they hate me. Thorn, you have women proposing marriage in the comments of your cooking videos. What was I supposed to think?”

“You were supposed to fucking talk to us.”

My temper finally snaps. “Right. I was supposed to ask you to give up all your future plans for me.”

Kai shakes his head. “You still don’t get it.”

“Get what, Kai?”

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