Page 32 of Ruthless Reign

“Fine,” I lied, walking toward the coffeepot. “You?”

“Hmm,” he hummed, straightening so he could turn to face me as I squeezed between him and the counter. “Let me see.”

Roman grabbed my shoulder to twist me around, ghosting his fingers over my throat to my jaw, holding my head in place while he assessed the bruise. “I got you good here, huh?”

I wanted to whip out of his hold, to shove him away, and smack him for having the audacity to touch me without asking first. But when I glanced up at him, sincerity echoed out of his dark brown eyes, a heady mix of playfulness and care that turned my insides to jelly.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Leo will see it and know what it is. He’ll leave us alone for a while.”

“I don’t give a fuck what Leo thinks,” Roman said, taking a step closer to me, bombarding me with his ambrosial smell and the hard plane of his chest. “Areyouokay with it?” He cleared his throat. “With what happened last night?”

“I told you I was fine,” I said, glancing down to the ground, avoiding his stern gaze. But he put his finger under my chin to tilt my face back to his.

“And then you isolated yourself for the rest of the night,” he said. “I’m sorry I went so rough on you. I shouldn’t have done that. I should have?—”

“I liked it,” I admitted, the words tumbling out of my clumsy mouth before I could hush them. “I just…I shouldn’t have.”

“Why?” He raised an eyebrow. “Because I’m a disgusting Rose coward?”

I licked my lips and smiled. “Yes. Exactly that.”

“Hmm.” He nodded again and ran his thumb over my bottom lip, sending shocks down to my toes and back up again. I almost wilted, and I focused on his mouth, remembering the way he’d consumed mine so skillfully. “Are you ready for today?”

Right.

We’d have to enact my plan, the entire reason we’d ended up in that situation to begin with. We’d have to pretend to like each other in front of his club, to play the part of the happy couple to convince everyone that this alliance was real, that we wouldn’t end up killing each other in the end.

Jury’s still out on that.

I nodded. “Yes.”

“There’s a good girl.” He leaned in to kiss my forehead before grabbing his coffee and moving around me to the microwave. I ignored the way his praise made my heart beat faster, telling myself it had nothing to do with him and was more representative of the trauma in my life that had developed into a despicable praise kink. He grabbed a plate of food and sat it down in front of me, nodding to it while he took a long sip of caffeine. “Eat. You’ll need your strength.”

I sat and picked up a fork to follow his command. That, too, I ignored. It felt good to listen to him. I was relieved to not have to think about it, to just sit and eat and know he’d provide for me. How long had it been since I’d been so cared for?

Christ, girl. It’s just eggs. Stop fawning.

“Before I bring you into that room, there are some things you should know about the club.” He put his hands out to either side of the island and leaned on it, his shirt pulling around his muscles, making him seem big and domineering and strong.

So amazingly strong.

“Okay,” I said before biting into a strawberry.

“Most of the leadership is on my side. KC, Hollywood, Thor, and Wheels, they’re all good men. They’re in favor of ending this war by any means necessary, and they approved of our marriage.”

I nodded, memorizing the information while I ate.

“But there are others…Stallion, Reaper, Lunchbox, and maybe Doc, who are against it. I don’t know what they’ll do toprove they’re right. Stallion has been sending messages to the president of a rival MC—The Hell’s Knights.”

That sent a shock of anxiety through my belly, and I stopped chewing to take a sip of coffee, glancing up at him. Gabriella had worked with them last year. They’d wanted revenge on Crow and had arranged to abduct V as payment for information. Gabriella had been all too eager to accept. “Do you believe they’re mutinous?”

He crossed his arms and my focus dropped to the veins accenting his muscles. How had God made someone so beautiful and so completely horrid?

“Perhaps,” he said. “Doc says he’s changed his mind, but that he questioned it at all gave the others leeway to dissent. I don’t have any evidence against Stallion and Reaper yet, but I will.”

“How does the MC usually handle people like that?” I took another bite of eggs, but the taste turned sour when he didn’t immediately answer.

He ran his tongue over his lips and drank his coffee, and I understood what he didn’t say. In this, the Caputis and the Roses were similar. Should a coup be unsuccessful, any members of such a resistance would magically disappear. I looked at Roman’s hands again, wondering how much Rose blood they had spilled in addition to Caputi.

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