The whole way back to his house, I so wanted to fuck with him by grabbing his junk, but I was afraid he’d wreck. I’d find another way to get even.
We’d parked in the garage and the door was slowly rolling down before he spoke. “Babe, I know you’re upset,” he began.
I jumped off the bike. “Upset? You think I’m upset? I’m fucking livid, Ogun Dupré!”
Laughing, he took the helmet I shoved into his stomach and hung it from the bike. I stormed to the door, only to realize I didn’t know the code to get in. It took the wind out of my sails, and I deflated.
He reached around me and punched the code in slow enough for me to see what it was. “You want me to know your code?”
“Of course. It’s your home now too. Unless you want to find a different place. My duplex was fine for me and Zaka, but maybe we need a bigger place for the kids.” He opened the door, and Sasha barreled into me like I’d been gone for forty days and nights.
“Kids?” I asked in shock.
He commanded the dogs to sit, then motioned to Zaka and Sasha. “Yeah. The kids.”
At their expectant expressions, I caved, and my anger began to dissipate.
“Oh my God, this is for real, huh?” I inhaled sharply and released it in a shuddering exhale. His hands gripped my shoulders, and he gently turned me to face him. One hand lifted my chin to look up at him.
“Did you really doubt that it was? When I say something, I mean it. Yeah, this is for real.”
“So I went from my father owning me and using me to being owned by you,” I said as my eyes filled with tears. The devastation I felt was choking me.
Disbelief flickered across his face. “Fucking hell, Kira. That’s not what that means. I don’t own you, but you are mine. That tells every motherfucker out there that if a hair on your head gets harmed, they answer to me. And there will be nowhere they can hide from my wrath.”
Still unsure, I quietly turned and went to the bedroom. I dug out a pair of pajamas and got ready for bed. Not waiting on Ogun, I climbed into bed and curled on my side. My emotions were a jumbled mess.
Right as I was dozing off, the bed dipped behind me, and his stupidly sculpted arm reached around to tug me into the curve of his body. “You’re on my side of the bed,” he murmured in my ear before he kissed the top of my shoulder to the side of the bandage.
Too tired to care, I absorbed his warmth and slipped into a restless sleep.
The next day, I was still upset with him. After I took care of the dogs, I wanted to just head to work. Unfortunately, my vehicle was at home. It was the same reason I hadn’t grabbed my bag and Sasha and headed home the night before.
After dressing in my red scrubs that were standard for the clinic, I waited for him to finish the call he was on. Because I didn’t want to answer a bunch of questions, I wore the back of my hair down, with only the top put up to keep it out of my face.
Once he ended his call, he gave me a wary glance. “You still mad?”
I grunted noncommittally. Wisely, he held his tongue as he pulled his boots on and slipped his arms into his vest, that I’d learned was called a cut. The night before, Chains had explained it was short for “cut-off” from when they had cut the sleeves off a jacket.
“Sasha, come,” I commanded. She obeyed, but she gave me a pouty sad-eyed gaze before looking back to Zaka.
“Zaka, guard,” he said. The black dog dropped to his haunches but also seemed to be pouting.
Before we got in the Jeep, he took the cut off again, and I was confused. Why put it on, only to take it off again before he got in the vehicle? He folded it inside out and settled it between him and the seat belt. Like he actually buckled the thing into the seat belt by his hip.
Sasha was subdued the entire way to the clinic—as if she not only missed Zaka but was feeding off the tension between me and Ogun.
“I’ll pick you up at closing?” he asked me.
“Geneva can come get me,” I tried.
“Let me rephrase that. I’ll see you when the clinic closes,” he said firmly. My gaze found his, and I froze as his hand wrapped around the back of my neck and pulled me close. “I’m giving you today to wrap your head around all this. I said you were mine, and I meant it. I also wasn’t playing around when I said it wasn’t temporary. I finally got you where I want you, and I’m not letting go. Got it?”
Eyes wide, heart hammering, and lungs seized, I nodded.
“Good.” His firm lips stole my resolve the second they assaulted mine in a sinfully wicked battle. His teeth grabbed my lip as he broke the kiss, and I sagged into him, hand clutching his plain black T-shirt. His tongue stroked across my lip that was still held in his teeth, sending a shiver of desire through me.
When he let me go, my chest was slowly heaving. It took a minute to gather my scattered brain cells. Running my tongue across my lips, I tasted him and sighed.