Page 49 of Shamelessly Loyal

The phone rang as we reached the airport. I took one look at the King’s contact information and declined the call. I didn’t care what he wanted or why he wanted it. As it was, the plane waited for me on a private runway. The crew were all hand-picked by me. They were all people I could trust.

I didn’t bother to find a lot for the car. Instead, I drove right to the doors. Lainey frowned, but I didn’t comment as I threw the car into park and then stalked out to circle it and open her door. She glared up at me.

“Get out of the car,” I told her, keeping my tone as even and as civil as I could. She’d gone off on some wild adventure with that group of criminals Liam was so busy protecting he’d left Adam to take the fall for him. I wasn’t going to lose Lainey the same way. I didn’t care if it pissed her off.

Better angry than dead.

“I asked for a ride home, not—”

The protest was enough for me. I reached in, unsnapped her seatbelt and then hauled her out of the car. She was up and over my shoulder before she realized what I was doing. We made it three steps before she started struggling.

I landed three, swift and hard slaps to her ass that stilled her protests. “Behave, Lainey, or I will bare this ass right here and spank it until it’s red.” She froze.

“You wouldn’t—”

“Dare me,” I told her. “Please.”

Because right now, I had no limits.

Thirty seconds of absolute silence.

“Pity,” I spit out the last two syllables. “I’m sure we’ll be able to do this again.” She was too stubborn for anything else. I stalked across the tarmac to where my men waited. The pilot said nothing as I carried her on board.

As soon as I dumped her in a seat, I buckled her in and accepted the wine glass from the fight attendant who said nothing about Lainey’s harried expression or tumble of hair. It was hard to miss the hickeys on her neck or the hint of swollen lips.

She’d taken one of those assholes for a lover.

If I had to bet money, I knew which one.

Fine.

I’d kill him later.

Tossing back the wine and wishing it was vodka, I glanced at the captain. “Get us in the air.”

“Of course, Mr. Graham.” The crew did their jobs swiftly and the whole time, I stood right over Lainey. No one was talking to her and no one was taking her away. I didn’t sit until all exterior doors were closed. Then I took the seat next to hers.

When the captain announced the flight time, Lainey snapped her gaze to me. “What are you doing?”

“What I have to,” I told her.

“I have to go home, Ezra,” she said and I leaned back in the seat. “I have to go back to New York…”

“You should have thought of that before.”

“I had to go,” she snapped at me. “Em needed me, I had to be there.”

“You did what you had to do,” I said as the plane raced up the runway. “Now, so am I.”

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