Page 19 of Making the King

“Oh, I don’t know. You seem pretty dumb to me.”

Mindy gasps, and then there’s a loud slap, and I can’t hold back anymore, shoving Cain back hard and rounding the corner.

Mindy screams as Cara fists her hair and spins her, slamming her back against the wall with an oomph. As Mindy gasps for breath, eyes wide, Cara grabs the neck of my beer bottle and smashes it on the edge of the table before pressing the jagged glass to Mindy’s neck.

I try to lurch forward, but Cain wraps his arms around me and grunts in my ear.

“Let her work it out.”

“She’ll kill her.” I grunt back but Cain chuckles quietly.

“If she kills her, then we’ll clean it up.”

“I guess you really don’t know who I am,” Cara hisses in Mindy’s face, who is now sobbing, trembling with fear. “I am Mrs. King.”

All the tension leaves my body at her words.

“I am Mrs. King.”

Fuck. Why do I like the sound of her saying that so much?

“Y-you’re h-his w-wife?” Mindy stutters through her tears and I watch a slow, sinister smirk spread across Cara’s face.

Fuck. She’s beautiful.

“I am,” she agrees. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you for touching what’s mine?”

“Oh man. She just claimed you,” Cain mutters in my ear, and I snap back to reality and shove him off me, again.

“I-I-I…”

“Cara.” I rasp, stepping up to her side, but she doesn’t take her eyes off Mindy. “Forget her. Let’s go home where you can punish me for my transgression.”

Mindy’s eyes widen, which is exactly the reaction I want.

What’s going on with her and Cara is a power play. Mindy has lost, but I want to make sure she knows she never had a chance of winning.

This time, Cara’s steely gaze flicks to me.

Good. I have her attention.

“Forget her. She means nothing. She is nothing to me. Let’s go.”

Cara stares at me for a few long beats, her eyes a tornado of fury, and I know it’s not really about being jealous. It’s about respect.

Slowly, Cara eases back, dropping the broken neck of the bottle to the floor leaving a trail of blood on Mindy’s neck where it nicked her.

“Go near him again and see what happens,” Cara snarls before stepping away and turning her back on a distraught Mindy.

“Rocco?” Mindy whimpers, which pisses me off. What the fuck does she think I’m going to do? Stick up for her? Un-fucking-likely.

“Next time you, or anyone else, disrespects my wife, I won’t stop her from following through.” Then I lean in closer. “And don’t ever presume to fucking know me. You know fucking nothing.”

Cain chuckles and claps behind me as I step up to my wife and link our fingers. I expect her to snatch her hand away, but she doesn’t. Instead, she holds my hand tight and walks out of the club by my side.

I should probably be concerned that Cara may actually want to punish me for my transgression, like I offered her. The dominant part of me is furious at the thought, but there’s a part of me that would gladly kneel for her if that’s what she needed. I’d give her that, at least once, as long as she knew that if she steps over that line with me, there’s no turning back.

Cara

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