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He was defending King. Okay, fine.
“Women want that? She was screaming,” I pointed out.
Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t get it either. I’d be lying if I said I did. But trust me, King has never had an issue with finding women to do his bidding. Sometimes, he has a couple doing it at the same time. They like it. He chooses them carefully.” He stopped and shook his head. “Look, I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. It’s his business. Not mine. I just don’t want you to be terrified of him. He would never touch you that way or any way. He knows what you’ve been through and that you aren’t the kind of woman who would be on board with that shit. He will always treat you respectfully.”
So many different things were racing through my head. I wasn’t sure which one to be most concerned about. Was it that King did those things to women during sex, or that he liked doing it with more than one at a time…or that I was someone he’d never touch? I had thought for a moment the other night that he was going to kiss me. I’d wanted it too. It had shocked me and excited me. But he was never going to kiss me.
I masked the disappointment and managed a tight smile.
“I understand,” I told him, although I really didn’t. Not at all.
• nineteen •
“Some things she was better off not knowing.”
King
“Dude, if you hit the punching bag any harder, it’s going to burst open,” Sebastian said behind me.
I paused for a moment before slamming my fist into it one more time. The look on Rumor’s face wouldn’t get out of my fucking head. I hated it. I hated that I had put it there. Why the hell had Sebastian brought her here? This wasn’t a place for her. This was where we lived, burned off steam, fucked when and how we wanted to. It was not somewhere for Rumor to be. The women who came here knew the score. They had been prepared and were approved to step foot on the property. They weren’t fragile, abused wives who needed to be handled with care.
Breathing hard, I let my hands fall to my sides before glaring at him. “You shouldn’t have brought her here.”
He held up his hands. “I didn’t know you were gonna be having one of your twisted fucks in the tack room in the middle of the goddamn day.”
I tossed the boxing gloves down and stalked over to my water. “Doesn’t mean it was okay for you to bring her here. This isn’t something she needs to see. This life. Who we are. You think she saw this place and doesn’t have questions now? What happens when she decides to start asking questions?”
I gulped down the rest of the water in my bottle, wishing something would calm me down. Anything. I was wired, and I was never this fucking wired up after tying up a woman, whipping her with my leather strap, then fucking her while she hung by her wrists from the lead hook.
“She looked lonely,” he said. “She reads all the damn time and stays at the shotgun house. It’s sad. I felt bad for her. I figured we could talk books and I could show her around. Become her friend. She needs to trust someone other than you and Maeme.” He cleared his throat. “Especially now.”
I threw the bottle down and started toward him.
He backed up and shook his head as he watched me. “Dude, you know it’s true. You didn’t have to be so fucking angry when you saw her. It didn’t help. Then, Sedona came in the room, and you went all Master on her. It was a lot for Rumor to take in at one time.”
I inhaled sharply through my nose and fisted my hands at my sides. Hitting Sebastian wasn’t going to fix this. He was right. I’d handled it wrong. I couldn’t switch on my charming persona. I walked in, saw her there with Sebastian, and didn’t fucking like it. Then, Sedona had come in the damn room and made shit worse. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Rumor trusted me. Not someone else. I didn’t want it to be someone else.
“She’s off-limits,” I reminded him.
“No shit. I’m aware of that. I wasn’t making a move on her.”
That simmered me down somewhat. Not enough, but at least we weren’t about to end up beating the hell out of each other.
“Give her a little space, then go talk to her. She just needs to get her head around what she saw—or heard rather.”
I didn’t want to give her space. I’d been giving her space. I had planned on going by and checking on her later today. It was one reason I had Sedona come over to fuck. I’d thought if I was sated sexually, I wouldn’t end up kissing Rumor, like I almost had the other night.
“What did she hear?” Thatcher asked.
I turned to see him striding into the gym in a pair of athletic shorts and tennis shoes. His pierced nipple still seemed out of place on him. He was the last one of us I would have expected to pierce his fucking nipple.
Sebastian glanced at his brother, then back at me. He wasn’t going to answer it.
“Me fucking Sedona,” I replied.
An evil grin spread across his lips. “She heard her screaming? Or you hitting that ass with your strap?”
I started for the door. I wasn’t in the mood for Thatcher.
