Page 19 of When the Last One Falls
Ares had three security guards holding him back, and I had the same, only Magnus was also standing in front of me, already doing damage control in his head. I didn’t give a fuck though.
Not satisfied, still willing to finish what we started, I made my personal business public. “Stay the fuck away from my wife, Cormac,” I snarled from across the space between us, and the announcement of my marriage did what my wedding ring hadn’t, and that was cause gasps to erupt everywhere again.
Ares wiped the blood off his lip. “Maybe you need to keep a better eye on her, Kingston,” he fired back, and I felt Magnus grab my arms, pushing me back.
“Go near my wife again and see what happens,” I threatened. “If you think that I’m vicious when it comes to protecting my business interests, just wait until you see what I’m willing to do in order to protect my wife. I’ll fucking kill you.”
I knew that this spectacle was making it seem as if we were engaged in some kind of love triangle, even though we weren’t. It looked bad, and the gossips were going to have a field day with their runaway speculation, but that couldn’t be helped. It was already too late to shut the barn door.
However, Ares surprised me when he said, “I was merely introducing myself, Kingston.” He said it loud enough for everyone to hear, and that actually pissed me off more. He was trying to protect Keris’ reputation, and that bothered me a fucking lot. It meant that he liked her or respected her on some level, and that made me all the more curious about their conversation. “So, you can fucking relax.” A quick smirk played on his face. “Of course, if you want to continue this pointless discussion, we can easily step outside.”
“This conversation isn’t pointless,” I snarled. “Innocent introductions or not, stay the fuck away from my wife.” I looked around the room like a lunatic. “That goes for every fucking man that has no business being around my wife.”
“Brant, man, forget these people,” Magnus murmured under his breath. “You need to get home. Keris is probably already packing her shit.”
Fuck.
Shaking the guards off me, I muscled my way through the crowd, jumped into the first car that I saw, then ordered the driver to take me to my house. If Keris was there, she better not be fucking packing her shit. In the mood that I was in, that wouldn’t be a good thing.
I still wanted to fucking kill someone.
Chapter 13
Keris~
I’d never been the violent type, but I wanted to slap the sorry sonofabitch all over again, maybe kick him in the balls, too.
I’d never been so humiliated in all my life, and that’s even after the way Brantley had treated me the morning of our wedding. Still, I was more upset with myself than anything else. After overhearing what Brantley had said to his father, how could I have expected any measure of respect from him? He’d made his view on this marriage clear, and I was the one who hadn’t listened. I was the one who had placed expectations on our relationship when I shouldn’t have. I also still couldn’t believe that I was feeling goddamn jealous over Rochelle Darling.
Fuck.
“What in the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
I jumped at the sound of Brantley’s voice, whirling around to see him standing in the doorway of the room that I had commandeered when moving in three weeks ago. He looked pissed, a bit unkempt, and angry. He also had a slight cut above his left eye, something that hadn’t been there earlier.
“What does it look like?” I snapped, gesturing towards the opened suitcase on the bed. “I’m leaving.”
“The fuck you are,” he snapped back.
“I don’t see how you can stop me,” I challenged, going back to stuffing some of my clothing into the suitcase. I had two, and one was already packed and ready to go.
Without warning, the suitcase was ripped off the bed, and I watched in outraged shock as Brantley flung it across the room, smashing it against the wall, causing a dent and all of the contents to rain down onto the floor.
Towering over me, he asked, “Would you like to repeat that?”
Standing my ground, I glared up at him. “You can’t keep me here like a prisoner, Brantley.”
“Oh, but I can,” he countered. “Just watch me.”
“Why would you want to?” I bit out. “It’s not like you need me for anything other than my signature.”
“I don’t know how many times I have to say it, but you’re my fucking wife, Keris,” he snarled down at me. “You’re my wife,for better or for worse.Do you remember that part of our vows?”
“Our vows also included forsaking all others,” I spat. “So, you can go to hell with our vows.”
“Well, considering that I haven’t broken any of them, that still makes you my wife ineverysense of the fucking word.”
“Bullshit,” I called.
