High Stakes (The Kingdom Book 2) (13 page)

“Out,” I order, nodding my head in the direction of the door.
I place my hand on the edge of the door and hold it wide open.
 

“I beg your pardon?” she says surprised.

“Are you fucking deaf? I said OUT.” I keep my voice even but arm it with enough assertion that she knows I mean business.

“But, you don’t even know what I came here for … I—”

“I couldn’t give a flying fucking monkey what you came here for. You could have come here to tell me I’m the winner of the world’s biggest fucking lottery, and I wouldn’t care. I said get out of my apartment.” Calm. Calm with an undercurrent of pissed off. Which I would say is the most dangerous type of calm.

She straightens her shoulders indignantly, but I watch her nostrils flare and I know I’ve gotten to her. She’s pissed off.
 

“You’re making a mistake—”

“You see, that’s where you’re wrong ...” I step toward her and raise my finger in warning. My nails aren’t designed for clawing out eyes like hers are, and I’m sure she could remove mine with one swipe, but the determination and promise in my body language, makes my posture menacing enough. “I think you’ll find it’s you that’s made the mistake, now get out.”

The elevator bell pings and we both look out of the door to the hallway. As the door cracks open an inch, it is forced open by frantic hands, and a booted foot in the gap. Denham comes bundling out, he’s a little out of breath and has a frantic look on his face.
 

“Arianna? You okay?” He crosses the hall in two strides, stops and places his hands on his hips filling the large space in the doorway. “What the fuck are you doing up here?” He spits the words toward Amy. She visibly shrinks, and I almost see something human in her. I wonder if Denham is her Achilles heel.
 

Just seconds later, Spike appears in the doorway of the emergency steps. I hadn’t even noticed they were there before now, and everyone now turns to look at him. It’s almost comical. He stands in the hallway with a red face, his chest heaving with exertion and he bends down, placing his palms on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
 

“For fuck’s sake, Spike,” Denham shakes his head at his little brother, then looks back at Amy and pinches the bridge of his nose, screws his eyes shut, and takes a deep breath.
 

“Amy, what are you doing up here?” He repeats his question to her, but with less tolerance than last time.

She opens her mouth to speak but I speak for her. “She was just leaving. Weren’t you, Amy?”

Denham looks between us, just as confused as to what’s going on here as I am, but steps into my side, making room for Amy to leave.
 

She regains her composure, making the slip in her mask seem like a figment of my imagination. The hard exterior is reinforced, and she’s back to the persona everyone is familiar with. She raises her finger and lightly places it at Denham’s jaw. She looks him directly in the eye, and trails her pad the length of his jawbone. His jaw twitches, then he snaps his hand up to grab her forearm. “Don't push me, Amy,” he grates out, low and threatening.
 

By now, Spike has regained his breath and stands by the elevator, holding the doors open.

“I gave you many chances, D, baby ...” Despite Denham still having a hold on her wrist, it doesn’t stop her from leaning closer into him. I immediately want to tear the hair from her pretty head, but he’s handling this and I know better than most that violence doesn’t solve anything. “I wasn’t joking before either ... about the threesome. She’s pretty, and I’ll bet she’s a screamer,” she whispers, but she does so in a way that everyone can hear.

I actually gasp at her statement. There is nothing remotely sexual about the tension in the air, how she would even think of such things in a situation like this, is beyond my comprehension. Is she that desperate to have him that she’d do that? Would she really take him any way she could get him? He’s addictive. I get that. Maybe, like a drug addiction, the withdrawal is driving her crazy. How would a junkie react to see someone that’s high on the very substance that you crave?

Denham adjusts his grip on her arm, and marches her toward the elevator. She digs her pointed heels into the plush carpet, and stumbles. But Denham doesn’t slow or stop. He half drags her, although she’s still upright. He lets her go with a little force, and she trips over the lip of the door.
 

“Get out, Amy,” he growls. “You’re a fucking trouble maker, just go and find a life somewhere else.”

“You forget, King. You need me. This place will crumble and fall if you don’t have me.”

He laughs, but it’s not warm and inviting. “You think I need you? You think The Kingdom needs you? You’re wrong. So wrong. I’m buying you out, Amy.”

“You can’t,” she fires back.

Denham steps forward. Spike takes a step back. This is between Denham and Amy, and I almost feel like this should be done in private, but I can’t turn away.

“No? Did you read the clauses in the contract?”

They square off in the doorway, standing on separate thresholds but with determined looks in their eyes.

She smiles as if she knows something no one else does, and raises her perfectly arched brows. “Did
you
read it through, D? Are you sure you read every clause? Every word? Small print, baby. Small. Print.”

She smirks, then steps back from the doors and presses the button to descend. Her smug grin is fixed until the doors slide closed, and Denham bangs the flat of his hand against them in frustration, and then puts his hands on his hips.

“Spike, get your ass down those stairs and make sure she doesn’t leave the fucking building. It’s about time this was sorted. I want her taken to my office, but make sure there’s security. This could get ugly. Then get
Dom to change all the codes on the elevators, offices, and all the doors that have the entry systems. Got it?”

“D-Man, I just ran up ten flights of stairs to get here, are you telling me that I have to run back down them?”

Denham thuds the elevator button with the side of his closed fist, and tries not to break out into a grin. He claps Spike on the shoulder as the doors open again “Cheers, man.”

“You’re lucky you’re my brother,” Spike grumbles with a shake of his head.

“I know, Spike. Now get your butt downstairs.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbles under his breath. “You’re like a fuckin’ mother hen, do this, do that.”

Denham turns to me, and smiles at his brother’s antics. But, he looks sad, tired even. There are visible lines around his eyes, and it makes me wonder just how much of a burden he carries around with him, and how much I’ve added to that.

DAMN IF SHE DOESN’T
look fucking hot in my shirt. She’s showered, so she smells edible, and after seeing her stick up for herself with Amy, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more than a little turned on right now. The only thing stopping me from carrying her, cave man style, into the bedroom, and showing her just how sexy she is, is the fact that I have that crazy bitch to deal with in my office. Seriously, could she fuck anything else up for me today?

I pull Arianna into me, feeling her soft, warm skin against my hands as I run them up her back under the cotton shirt. Her arms wrap around my waist, and she splays her fingers across my lower back before gently squeezing.

I nuzzle my head into hers and she sighs.

“I’m sorry, Ari.”

She pulls back abruptly. “Why are you sorry? You didn’t know she was coming up here. You came to rescue me like a knight in shining armor.” She stops suddenly and frowns. “How did you know she was here?”

I look sheepish, and turn my head to look at the little black dome placed in the ceiling in the middle of the hallway.

“You had more CCTV installed? When? Why?” she asks.

“I’m not keeping tabs on you, I promise. I just … I needed to do what I could to make sure you were safe.” If I could install cameras everywhere I would. But I know I can’t do that. I’ve been encouraging her to be independent, learn how to be herself, but she can’t do that if I’m stifling her. But, damn if it’s hard for me to find a balance between protective and obsessive. It’s an underlying compulsion to make sure she’s safe when I can’t be with her.

“Den—”

“Wait,” I say, holding my index finger gently to her lips, “before you get all shouty, and insist that you are fine, and that you’ve managed well enough up until now with no one looking out for you … just hear me out, okay?”

She giggles. “I wasn’t going to say that, but okay …”

“Amy has been getting increasingly … difficult to work with. She was only ever supposed to be a silent investor, but I … I was stupid, and blurred the lines. She’s now crossed way over the lines, and now she’s hurt and angry.”

She moves her lips to speak, but I press against them to keep them closed.

“And … I know I’ve done everything I can to locate your ex, and I’m sure he’s not a problem anymore, but I want to be as safe as we can from crazy assed exes, okay? It makes sense to have one up here, anyway and I don’t really know why I didn’t do it before.”

I then lift my finger from her lips, so she can speak.

“Finished?” she asks, with a smirk.

“Yep.”

“Thank you,” she says and reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss me. I can’t help but reach down and cup her ass cheeks with my hands. I pull her up closer to me, until she can’t tiptoe any higher.

“That was it?” I say against her lips. “That was all you wanted to say?”

“Yes,” she says simply, running her palm down my chest. “Thank you for looking after me. You’re right. I have looked after myself for as long as I can remember, and I don’t need you to look after me too, but I like that I want you to. Does that make sense?”

“Perfect sense.”

“Now, have you put any secret cameras anywhere else you want to tell me about?”

I chuckle. “No, nowhere else.”

“You haven’t snuck one in my bedroom, and hooked it up in your office?” She jokes.

“No, but that’s a damn good idea.”

She smiles at me, and drops down so her feet are flat on the ground.

“I have to go and sort this shit out.” I say reluctantly.

“Okay,” she whispers. I know she’s not happy about it, but neither am I. It’s the last thing I want to do. I’ve been putting off this conversation, because I know Amy won’t go quietly. There will be yelling, and she’ll probably try to throw something, or claw my eyes out. That’s why I want the security there. Not because I can’t defend myself, but where Amy is concerned, I need witnesses in case she pulls an underhanded tactic, which I wouldn’t put past her. Then I can’t be held responsible for my actions. She seems to bring out the worst in me, and while I would never intentionally hurt a woman, Amy pushes every damn button, and consequently, pushes my patience too. Watching her on the camera feed, saunter out of that elevator and across the hall to Arianna’s apartment, triggered a fury in me that hasn’t been there in a long time. Seeing her touch my girl, made the rage swirl in my stomach like a white heat. I couldn’t get up here fast enough. So, it’s better to have others in the room, if she kicks off.

“Let me carry you in,” I say, realizing that we are still standing in the doorway.

“I can walk, there’s nothing wrong with me.”