I made a face, staring at the rest of the crew who were, for some fucking reason, sitting all in front of me like I did something.

Did someone see? They did, didn't they? Fucking hell. Doesn't matter. I'm not letting Decker go. No way in hell.

“So…” I drawled, trying to flash my brightest smile at them. “How's the weather—?”

“Stay silent, Remy Lou.” Not a full name. I'm alive. I'm free!

The door opened, and Decker Kane walked in. He didn't look like I'd attempted to break his balls, but that's also probably because he barely showed any emotions to begin with.

My father didn't seem to notice that he looked a little disheveled though. He turned his attention back to me, his eyes cold. He slid a file to me. “Did you know about this?”

I raised an eyebrow and looked down. I opened it. I looked back up. “Why the fuck is Travis Benson with the President of the Serpents Club?”

“That's his baby brother.”

I blinked. Laughed. “That's cute. I know Travis. He's a pussy. A coward. No backbone. Baby brother of a president? He couldn't even pick which restaurant to eat at without having a full-blown panic attack.”

“We didn't say he was a plant, Remy,” Wolf sounded sad. “He's just—”

The sound of my father's hands banging on the table had me jolting as he snapped, “Why don't you ever fucking stay out of trouble?! For once in your entire life, why can't you just stay away from shit that could kill you?!”

I snorted. “This was me staying away from shit that could kill me! I chose him even if I didn't fucking like him! I had to do missionary for months before he even knew there were other positions! I sacrificed my sex life for this!”

Someone tried to muffle a laugh in the background, but Cole Calloway didn't seem to be in the mood. “You think I'm joking? You think this is funny? You know who the Serpents are, don't you?”

I clenched my jaw. “Of course I know who the Serpents are. I'm not stupid, Daddy.”

“Could've fooled me.”

The words came from the asshole behind me.

Something cracked inside my chest that made my vision go red at the edges. “You know what, Kane? You're right. I should have known. I should have done a background check on every person who was nice to me while I was pretending to be normal because your president wanted me to have a real life.”

“Remy Lou—”

“Fuck my vagina too for not having a beacon,” I cut in, glaring at Decker before facing my father. “I'm not sorry that I broke him in though. I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I must.”

My father sighed. “That's the problem. Because Travis is in a coma and his brother, Blake—look, we've had territory disputes, but we agreed not to touch each other. This… this complicates things.”

A… coma…

My chest hummed for a second. Oh. Oh, I didn't… I didn't think that would…

I never loved him.

But he knew how hard I worked to become this version of myself.

And he made me feel stupid for trying.

No. Fuck him. He deserved it. I hope he doesn't wake up. “So what? You want me to leave?”

“Would have asked you to apologize, but you aren't good at that, are you?”

I swear to God, Decker Kane, I will murder you in your sleep.

“You are the beating heart of the Iron Clad Kings. Of my soul. You are… all I have after—” Cole's eyes softened. Only for a moment before he sighed. “It's why he and I had an agreement.”

My blood turned cold. “What fucking agreement?”

“The Serpents are involved in some… good businesses. It's relatively far more safe with them than here. Remy Lou, before you fucking say anything, listen—”

“Over my dead body.”

“Look, the only fucking reason you aren't excited about this engagement is because I'm telling you to be with Blake. To piss me off, you'd be with him anyway.”

“I put his brother in a fucking coma!”

“And he's a business man! We've talked about this. The last thing we need or want is this turning into a full-blown war that we are ill prepared for. Plus, Blake has agreed that this would satisfy him enough not to retaliate, and if you wanna join his club—”

I stood up from my chair. “You know what? You win. I'm fucking leaving. I'm going back to my 'normal' life—”

Hands suddenly pushed me down to the table, forcing both of my arms behind my back as something clamped over them.

“You're gonna be staying with your sponsor in his cabin, and hopefully, he'll talk some sense into you before we meet Blake.” Cole Calloway said in front of me.

I laughed, cranking my head so I could look at my side. “Expected this shit from my father but not from you, Kane. Not like my feelings matter, though, yeah? I'm just a fucking dumb slut without my own wants and desires.”

The word tasted bitter in my mouth. But I said it anyway. Because it was easier to say it first than to hear someone else say it.

The bastard handcuffed me and pulled me upwards. “You talk too much.”

“And you're as bland as a fucking wall. We all have our things.” I faced my father. “My six months are still up. I'm gonna stay here and prove I belong here. If I do, then we're all good. And if I don't, then you can ship me off to whatever snake pit you've arranged for me. Deal?”

I had no fucking plans on leaving this place ever. But what I did know was the moment Decker Kane realized how madly in love he was with me, he'd fight to the death to keep me.

Six months. I had six months.

Cole Calloway's jaw worked, then he said, “Don't fuck it up then.”

I grinned. “Oh, I won't.”

Let the games begin.

Remy was light. And she made it far too fucking easy to pull and tug her every which way. She was quiet, thankfully as I pulled her into my cabin.

I walked away, heading to my fridge. I took out a bottle of beer and chugged it, hearing her finally speak again, “Not gonna close the door? Afraid I’m gonna hump you like a dog and take your chastity away?”

The alcohol burned through my chest but it did nothing to quell the fire in me that had started ever since she arrived. “That’s not how to speak to your Sponsor,”

She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Wow, I guess you’re back to being that when you were so fucking ready to ship me to someone I’ve never met,”

I twisted the cap from another bottle and chugged it down, slamming the fridge shut. “Every action has consequences.”

“You’re right. Maybe you forgot to teach me that particularly important detail all those years ago.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Was she blaming me somehow? “What?”

Remy stood, her hands still cuffed to her back and her hair sticking to her face. She looked angry, a different expression from the sly, arrogant one she’s worn since she got here.

I wanted to touch her and see what her reaction would be. She was always so head strong, stubborn. If I—

No. Stop.

“You taught me not to accept bullshit since I was like, what? Five?” She tilted her head. “You said I was a princess, that no one was allowed to treat me without respect. You taught me everything I know and now, when I’m actually a good student, ‘actions have consequences’?”

I set the beer harder than I meant to on the table. “Is that all you wanna fucking remember? What about me telling you to stay the fuck away from me? That didn’t stick?”

Her face puffed up. I could see her all so familiar rage returning and I knew she would have hit me with that stupid bat of hers if she could. “Why the fuck was someone like you even around me when I was five?!”

Jesus fucking Christ. “Someone like me?”

“You are called the Reaper King, so you’re not a fucking saint either,” She yelled. “What? You think being in this club changes all the terrible things you’ve done? Or taking care of the president’s orphaned daughter abstains you? You’re a fucking hypocrite. The fact that I’m such a raging bitch is because you’re a—”

I didn’t know when I moved.

My hand was over her mouth, slamming her to the wall.

Her eyes stared up at me, wide like she was scared. The thought sent a thrill through me. “No one fucking calls me that anymore. And you? The name is ‘Sir’, and you’re going to accord me with respect or you’ll find out why I was called that,”

Her eyes darkened. I felt her mouth slightly open, her teeth grazing the insides of my palm. Tingles spread up my thighs to my balls. I gritted my teeth. “Bite me. I dare you.”

Something flashed in her eyes but she stayed still. The fire in me quietened. Finally.

Then she licked my hand.

I jerked away, a low growl leaving my lips as my head snapped back to her. She was smiling again. “Was that supposed to be a threat? I’m seeing your hard dick and I want you to show me. What are you going to do? Push me to the wall and fuck me till I can barely speak? Or choke me with your cock till I can’t breathe? Because what, the fuck, is so deadly about your cock that I haven’t had before?”

My cock thrummed with life. She looked so defiant. Like she knew everything. I wanted to see her with tears all over her face as she creamed all over my cock, begging me to go deeper as her voice—

No. No. No. Decker. Stop.

“You’re right,” My voice was gruff. “There’s nothing special about it,”

Her smile faltered then quickly, she slammed it back. “That’s not the fucking response you’re supposed to give—”

“You’re right.” I picked up my jacket. “Every mess you’ve made out of your life was because of me. I fucked up by being there. I fucked up by ever coming close to you. What was I thinking? That I could do some good by teaching you the same things that kept me alive?”

Her voice turned to steel. “Where the fuck are you going?”

I ignored her. “It’s why I’m going to speak to your Father. Tell him I’m not being your Sponsor anymore,”

She slammed the door with her feet and stood in front of it. “And I’m the one acting childish? Why is it so hard for you to admit it? You want me.”

Remy looked like a guard dog. Her hair was wild and makeup messy. I wanted to kiss her again because she looked like the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. “I don’t want you.”

“Liar.”

I leaned closer. “Why would I want a girl that keeps running laps around me like a bitch in heat?”

The pain in her eyes appeared instantly. My jaw clenched to stop the apology about leaving my lips. This. This was how it was supposed to be. I kept being kind to her and she kept returning to me like she had no fucking self respect.

The girl I raised was better than that.

And she was better without me.

Her chin trembled just once, she swallowed and stepped out the door. Her eyes blazed with hate. “You’re still such a fucking coward, Decker Kane,”

I looked away. “Wolf would come uncuff you. There’s food in the fridge. Don’t wait up. You have work to do tomorrow,”

As soon as I stepped out the door, her voice came out, “You better not fuck any of those other bitches. I might still be unable to cause you real damage, but I will hurt them.”

My balls tingled again. I slammed the door.

After a few steps away from my cabin, I picked up my phone and dialed a number. “Chrissy. I’m coming to your room. Clean it up before I get there.”

Only half of my cock could go into Chrissy’s mouth. The other half stayed dry, unattended and sending me words of hate regarding one particular person.

Remy wouldn’t have this problem. She’d take it all in even if she stops breathing all because she’s so tough.

Remy wouldn’t look at me expectantly, hoping I tell her how good she was because she already knew my dick belonged to her and whatever she did, I’d take it and fuck her after.

Remy would stare up at me with her big brown eyes and I’ll grab her hair and fuck her mouth while her eyes water and she grinds on my feet like—

My hand reached for Chrissy’s hair and pulled out her head. “Stop.”

She stared up at me. Her makeup was done and she had a ridiculously low dress. And now, a worried look on her face. “Did I… did I fuck it up? I can… I can change, I can—”

I tucked my dick back into my pants before placing my arm over my face. “Go to your bed and sit there.”

I heard her scramble. Maybe she fell, I don’t know. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered because all I could think about was Remy. She had been back for less than a week and she had found her way back into my veins like she never left.

It’s too pathetic even for me.

“Did I… did I make a mistake?” Chrissy’s voice was a tiny squeak. So scared. I took my arm off my face to look at her. She looked small on the bed, her eyes wet. “I can do better. I promise,”

Fucking hell.

I walked up to her and placed my hand on her head. “Do you like icecream?”

Her eyes widened, confused. “Yes… sir?”

“There's a twenty-four hour shop two blocks down. Get yourself whatever you want.” I pulled out my wallet and handed her a hundred-dollar bill. “Take the whole night. Don't come back until morning. You need an alibi anyway.”

I turned to leave then turned back around and said, “You have my kutte for protection. Not for anything else. I should never have put you in this position in the first place and for that, I apologize. Have a good night, Chris.”

As I left, the voice in my head sneered.

Now, she’s gonna think you are actually a good person. Like the reason you didn’t leave her behind is because you want to have your cock so deep into your best friend’s daughter’s pussy that your cum leaks out of her for days—

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I picked it. “She’s alive and well at the cabin, Cole.”

He groaned. I heard his leather chair creak in the background, fought back the urge to laugh as I took out a cigarette and placed it between my lips. “You gotta change that chair or something. Sounds like a dying animal.”

“Maybe you’d remember to gift me a new one for my birthday instead of a fucking lighter. What the fuck I need a lighter for?”

I put my hand into my pocket. Cursed under my breath. “Cause I keep misplacing mine and I’m almost always next to you?”

“Then you’re gonna start handing it over to Remy,”

I threw the cigarette to the floor. “About that—”

“I know she’s a lot to handle, but everyone else is too scared of me to put her in her place. You’ve handled her since she was a fucking kid, you know her better than anyone else.”

The all too familiar feeling of guilt welled up my throat.

Because he was right. I did know her.

When her mother could barely leave the couch because of all the drugs she took, when Cole couldn’t bear staying home because he didn’t want to see his wife in that state, when a little Remy would sit next to her mother’s unmoving body, hungry and asking for food…

Or when she once thought I could feed her somehow even if I didn’t know what to do. Even if Cole had found me on the streets during a run, half-dead and full of rage, and decided I was worth saving.

I owed him everything. My life. My loyalty. My fucking soul, probably.

He was the only person in the world I could call a friend.

Now, he was handing me the one thing I had ever wanted, telling me to keep it safe for someone else. And I couldn’t even fucking do that right.

“She needs her Father,” The words strangled themselves out of me as I looked around the compound. My eyes fell on the cabin. I quickly turned away. “She doesn’t… she doesn’t know you as well as I do. She thinks you’re trying to sell her out. She’s fucking hurt by it—”

“I’m her fucking parent, not her friend. My job is to keep her alive and safe. And thank god, you don’t have that luxury cause it’s fucking hell,” Then he sighed. “If she can… if she can prove how indispensable she is after six months, then we can find a way to protect her permanently cause as much as I want to start a war, there are people also have to protect,”

“She believes you want to marry her off,”

“She can believe whatever the fuck she wants as long as she earns her fucking patch. Your job… your job is to keep her safe, okay? Keep her breathing, out of trouble and from seducing every man around her,”

I cracked my neck. “She’s not seducing anyone.”

“Yes. Cause you’re gonna make sure of that.”

How simple. Protect Cole Calloway’s daughter and stop imagining her crying around my cock. “You must see me as some fucking—”

The words stopped in my throat as I watched my brother jog to me, fear all over his face. And I knew. I fucking knew. “I’m gonna call you back, Cole. Give me a minute.”

And the second I ended the call, spotted the blood on Wolf’s forehead and heard what he had to say, the fire had returned. “What the fuck do you mean she ran away?”