King's Reign (Sydney Storm MC 6)

She could fight me all she liked; I would win in the end.

And I fucking loved a good battle.

“I never said that.

”

Her eyes bulged with fury. “Why are you being so difficult about this? I don’t freaking understand you!”

“You don’t need to. You just need to turn that ass of yours around and go back inside and let me do my thing.”

Eyes still wide, she threw out, “Your thing? What does that even mean?”

“It means that it’s shit I’m not worrying you with. Go inside. This isn’t getting us anywhere.”

“Just so you know, when you tell a woman you’ve got stuff on your mind that you don’t want to worry her with, it makes her worry. I’m not going anywhere until you spit it out.”

“Lily,” I growled, “this isn’t shit I’m sharing with you. We can stand here and argue all night, but I won’t change my mind.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight to one leg like she was settling in for the long haul. “Fine by me. I’ve got all night.”

My gaze dropped as I caught a flash of skin when her robe fell to the side, revealing the inside of her thigh. At the same time, a red Falcon pulled into the driveway and Linc jumped out and stalked our way.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he roared.

Lily dropped her arms and grabbed hold of him trying to stop him coming close to me. “Linc,” she warned, “don’t get into this. Holly’s watching.”

He ignored her, his eyes firmly locked to mine. Shrugging out of her hold, he moved into my personal space and spat, “You need to fuck off and leave us alone to get through this. We don’t fucking need your help.”

My jaw clenched as I worked hard to keep myself in check. Lily’s daughter stood next to her father’s car watching us, and her other kids and mother were in the house. As much as I wanted to knock the motherfucker out, I didn’t want to do that while her family were close. Squaring my shoulders, I said, “I’m not here to help you. I’m here for Lily.”

“Yeah well, she’s good. I’m back now.”

It fucking pissed me off that he’d worked the shooting of her sister to his advantage, but I couldn’t fault her for allowing him to help her through it. “Step the fuck away from me, asshole. I’m not here to get into a fucking fight with you.”

He didn’t. Instead, he shoved his face closer to mine and said, “Did you hear what I said? That I’m back with Lily now. Because if you didn’t, you need to pay attention to that.”

At the same time Lily reached for him again and said, “Linc, don’t,” I swung my head to face her and demanded, “That true?”

Motherfucker.

I’d missed his point the first time.

Now he had me fucking worked up.

Anger burned in my veins at the thought of him forcing his way back into her life.

Her eyes met mine, challenging me. “That has nothing to do with you.”

Linc finally took that step back from me. Sliding his arm over Lily’s shoulder, he pulled her close and hit me with a satisfied smile. “It’s true. Now get off my property.”

Every inch of my body tensed as my patience stretched to breaking point. It wasn’t his fucking property, but Lily hadn’t corrected him. She also allowed his hands on her. And she didn’t challenge anything he said. The only fucking challenge she threw down was to me.

Seeing another man’s hands on her drove me fucking wild. I wanted to rip those hands off her. Wanted to crush the motherfucker and ensure he never had the chance to put them anywhere near her again. Fuck, I wanted to claim her then and fucking there, and lay the fucking law down. That her body would know only my hands in the future.

I’d been mistaken when I thought I could shut my feelings down. Lily had worked her way into my black heart, clawing at it piece by fucking piece. Hell would fucking freeze over before I’d give up on her. I’d also been mistaken worrying that her connection to me would put her in danger. My thinking had been fucked up for too fucking long with the shit the club had going on. After taking care of Romano’s men, my mind blazed bright with clarity, and I was thinking straight again. And what all that thinking told me was that motherfuckers could come at us, but they would never defeat us. And they sure as fuck wouldn’t get their hands on my woman.

I turned my gaze to Linc. “I’d like a word with Lily. Alone.”