The back door opened again, and I looked over to watch King making his way towards us. I groaned.
“King, tell Yates to stop being an overcontrolling jerk.”
“It’s barely nine, how the hell did you manage to piss her off already?” King asked, looking relatively impressed. Although ‘pissed’ was a bit of an overstatement considering I was still curled into Yates’s large chest and his hand was running up and down my back in a soothing motion that didn’t match our argument.
See? We could still totally be enemies, verbally at least. Physically, we were going to be a bit less enemy-ish. Maybe enemies with benefits? Sounded promising to me, maybe I should ask him his thoughts on it…
“She wants to learn how to fight and fucking shoot,” Yates growled, looking horrified. My lips pressed into a smile at his dramatic outburst. I had to admit, I was a bit glad that King seemed back to his controlled, normal self and Yates was back to being a temperamental jerk. It made me feel a bit more centered. I think Stratton and Dermot both agreed, because they were watching all of this with amusement.
I knew Yates was serious, but I also had been through enough of his ‘absolutely not’ moments that I’d long ago stopped taking them so seriously. Did that mean I would get my way? Debatable, and depended on how much he was actually against it.
For example, whenever I would go on a date, I would have to manage to keep it a secret, because the one time I told him about one during freshman year it had been such an ‘absolutely not’ conversation that he had followed me around Wildberry all day until I relented and decided to not go. I mean, Christ, I hadn’t even been able to take a shower to get ready because he’d made himself right at home leaning on the bathroom counter.
He had told me I could shower with him there if I was that determined to go, and turns out I was a bit of a chicken because I had given in at that point. I suppose it was good I hadn’t gone, because Tyler ended up being a total jerk. He was another one that now hung out with the Brooks twins, signaling exactly what type of person he was, and it wasn’t one I wanted to know.
King arched his brow. “Is that true, princess?”
“I think it may be a good idea,” I confirmed. “Dermot brought up the point that there would be a lot of attention on me in the media because of everything going on, which could be dangerous, and Stratton wants to teach me some self-defense, just in case something like what happened with Ian ever happens—”
“Please don’t.” King inhaled sharply, his eyes flashing dark as he seemed to try to shake off whatever my words had conjured. Honestly, the man flipped through his emotional rolodex so fast it was impressive. I think I had just ignored that aspect of his personality most of my life because the intensity of it hadn’t been something I was ready for. It should have scared me, but it did everything but.
Yates tightened his grip on me and buried his nose in my hair, his heart beating a bit faster than before. Was that in response to my comment about Ian?
“I just think it may be worth it,” I added softly, not wanting to send King down whatever emotional road he seemed to be pulling himself back from. I had never seen King’s temper, not fully, but I had heard rumors about it, and I didn’t want him getting that worked up about something that was over.
Ian was no longer anywhere near Wildberry. He couldn’t touch me.
“We can’t leave her defenseless,” Stratton spoke up, his voice edged in authentic concern. “We’re good, King, but we aren’t perfect.”
Yates let out a dangerous sound as I smoothed a hand over his chest, silencing it. Yep. I had been right. He was very much offended at the notion that I would need to protect myself, which meant that… he thought he was supposed to protect me? That was flattering. It was also fairly accurate, considering how he had handled Ian.
“King.” Dermot pulled his attention from the look he was sharing with Stratton. “Reallythink about all the attention this is going to bring to her.”
“That’s not including the apparent enemies that we have that I had no idea about,” I chirped.
Dermot’s lips twitched as King’s head snapped towards me, his eyes flaring with curiosity and concern.
“What?”
“Enemies.” I shrugged. “Dermot said we have enemies.”
King growled and looked at Dermot. “Seriously?”
“How the bloody hell was I supposed to know that you haven’t told her yet?! You have literally been around her your entire life, and you just haven’t told her what it is our family does? There is no fucking way I would have known that.”
“I would very much like to know what you guys are talking about,” I pointed out as Yates flashed an amused smile at my prim tone. “Enemies sound bad, and King, you keeping a secret from me sounds even worse.”
“Damn it,” King hissed, his eyes narrowing on Dermot. “If she’s pissed at me, you’re fucked.”
Dermot chuckled, looking very unconcerned with King’s threat, as I looked between the two of them. I stared at King until he looked back at me and offered a semi-guilty expression, running a hand through his hair.
King, guilty? This had to be good. Honestly, I should have been more worried, but besides the guys dating someone else, there weren’t many secrets that would upset me.
“So…” I prompted.
“Inside,” he grunted. “I’ll explain inside. As for the other stuff, we should at least look into it.”
Yates let out a low snarl, annoyed again, as he broke away from me and stormed towards the house. I rolled my eyes at his antics as King appeared in front of me. I sighed into him as his hand slid around the base of my throat, his thumb running over my pulse point as his other arm wound around my waist in a tight, comfortable hold. I could hear Stratton and Dermot talking, but honestly, I couldn’t focus past the way King was examining my face, looking for something. I shivered as his thumb brushed over my pulse again and again, making me blush.