Page 54 of Exposing Adonis

“I know who Lea is.” He almost looked offended. “She’s staying in another room.”

“She’ll be staying in mine.” I puffed my chest, tensing my shoulders. It caused an ache on the still healing wound.

“Does she know that?” This man was about to get a punch to the temple. I glared at the man, and he glared right back. I took the measure of him - broad shoulders, roughened hands, and a stance of someone that wasn’t in a mood to cower. I wondered who the fuck this was, and who he was to Lea. I looked at his face, and wondered if he was Filipino, but that’s not a question you ask when you’re as pale as a marble statue.

“Get her things and bring them here,” I demanded, slamming the door behind me as I walked down the hall, towards the foyer in search of my woman.

“I’ll just confirm with her,” the servant said, trailing after me like a pest.

We stormed the house, like a territorial male in the wild ready to assert his dominance. Who the fuck was he? And how did he know Lea? What had happened while I was gone?

The decadent, white hall gave way to the large entrance where Chloe was in a rage, her finger pointed in Lea’s serene face. Lea looked impassively at Cabbage with a strange curiosity. Pippa was by the hallway entrance, her hand out to Chloe to pull her back. Alex was at the front door, his eyes wide, and fidgeting with the button on his cuff.

He looked helplessly between all the women, his controlling nature despising the spiraling situation in front of him.

“What’s going on here?” I bellowed, and all eyes turned towards me. Then, curiously, towards the servant who had so cavalierly questioned my orders.

“What’s going on, Joe?” Lea asked, her eyes looking between us curiously.

He said something in Tagalog, a language I was only now able to recognize because of my complete, unhealthy obsession with this woman. But I was far from understanding a damn thing they said.

Lea smirked, and looked at me, while she answered him in English, “Yeah, that’s fine. You can move my things.”

I looked triumphantly at the servant.But my over-inflated chest was only marginally assuaged. I still needed to break something and pound my chest. My arms were shaking with adrenaline. I needed a sword, or a crusade. I needed to smash something in her honor.

“Who the fuck is Joe?” I asked through gritted teeth, ready to punch someone in the face.

Lea squared on me, cocking out one hip, and placing her hand on it. Her eyes narrowed.

“My, my, we lower classes really don’t register for you people, do we?” she scoffed and looked around. “It’s like Montreaux all over again. You gonna start referring to me as the help as well?”

I had made a wrong turn somewhere. I had stepped in it completely. Something was coming full circle for her. I needed to right this course before things spun out of my hands.

“I’m Joe,” The servant quietly said from over my shoulder, but I didn’t look at him. Instead, I focused on the barrel of contained fury brewing in a beautiful package.

“And how long have you worked here, Joe?” she asked, but not taking her eyes off of me for an instant.

“Three years,” he had a slight laugh in his voice, then he coughed, belatedly adding, “Ma’am.”

“And have you worked here whileBaronCallum MacLachlan stayed here?“ Her eyes narrowed, arms crossing in front of her as if each of Joe’s answers damned me. Her derision when it came to my title cut me deep, and I wanted to divest myself of it immediately.

“At least a dozen times.” Joe actually had the arrogance to chuckle as he piled dirt over my grave. Again, he belatedly added, “Ma’am.”

“Fascinating.” Her eyes were furious, glowing with the embers of hell. She turned to Pippa and with a slight snort said, “Maybe you’re right,LadyPippa Fox. We are from different worlds, and never the two should meet.”

“What’s going on?” Alastair stepped out of his room into the hall, walking towards us with a tea cup in hand, playing with the string of his tea bag.

Lea stormed towards me, and my hand reached out as she approached. She was a magnet, and I was drawn, even in her heated anger. Maybe the connection was even stronger when her temper filled the room with its passion. She was irresistible when her skin flushed with rage.

“What is this fuckery?” Hugo’s French accent came through the hallway next. He had a protein shake in his hand, with a metal ball that clanked as he shook the powder into the water. “Is there a fight? Who’s winning?”

“Unsure yet, but we have a packed audience.” Alastair leaned against a wall, crossing his legs at the ankles as he observed the scene before him.

“Will you two make yourself scarce?” I stepped towards Lea, my hand out.

She flinched away, staring at my hand like it was covered in nuclear waste.

“Oh,” Alastair’s amused voice grated me. “Absolutely not, this is getting juicy.”

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