The King (Gentlemen Rogues 2)

He rolled on top of me, and I delivered an elbow to his face, which snapped his head back. “You think you're so fucking good, King? The rabbit is mine."

“You wish."

"Have you tussled with her already? Is that why you're so eager? You want another taste? Maxim and I had a bet going to see if you actually just shagged her. If she shagged you, she'll shag the rest of us. None of us are as ugly as you are."

“You're not going to fucking touch her."

"Sure, I am."

He held an arm to my neck, but I lifted my hips and rolled him off and delivered a blow to his temple. He groaned then. I pulled the zip ties I had stored in my front cargo pocket and trussed him up.

On the ground, Rook wheezed. "Jesus fucking Christ, exactly what is this place?"

“You don't want to know, Rook. I was very soft when I first got here."

On the ground, Robert was groaning. "Ugh, fuck you, King."

"No, fuck you. Next time, if you're going to aim for the King, don't miss."

It was something I used to hear Charlie say when I was a kid. It was cheesy, but that made me think of him. I left Robert trussed on the ground next to Rook. I didn't bother covering him with mud. Let one of the others find him.

As I headed further north, her scent became even more prominent. It was like I was surrounded by it. Where the hell was—

I didn't even hear anything from the fucking trees until she landed with a soft thud next to me. "Looking for me?"

I whirled around, ready with my knife. But she was already there, delivering a nasty kick to my chest, and then she took off running.

I had to respect her hustle because the girl was quick. More than quick. She was resourceful. Hard to catch. Throwing things in my path. But a misstep took her down, and she gave a small yelp as she rolled to her side. She quickly rolled to her back and had her tranq gun at the ready. She fired off a shot that missed me by a mere inch.

I scowled at her. "We don't have to do this. It seems tiresome. How about you come peacefully, and then you and I can grab a pint and you can tell me just why you think I should remember you."

She growled at me and kicked out her leg. It almost caught me. I jumped back, but then I lost my footing and almost fell over. She used that brief moment when I lost my focus and went full rabbit, scrambling away. But I was hard on her tail.

When I reached her again and grabbed her around the waist, she screeched and kicked. "Easy love, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to put on the zip ties and walk us out of here. Do you understand?"

"Over my dead body."

"Sweetheart, this isn't life and death. No one has to die tonight."

“It's always life and death."

I frowned down at her. She bucked and rolled. It was hard to hold onto her.

I finally had to flip her over and put the full force of my weight on her. “Christ, Saffron, hold fucking still."

"Never."

I growled down at her, finally grabbing her arms and pinning them above her head. “I said hold fucking still." I secured the zip ties and then began patting her down.

Her eyes went wide.“If you try anything like Robert did, I swear to God…"

I froze. "Robert? He tried something?"

Her voice went raspy. "Why the fuck do you think he was looking for me so intently? I took his friend Maxim down. He thought it'd be great to see if groping me was an option. It's not."

"That's not what I'm doing, Saff." But the more she wiggled beneath me, the harder it was to make that seem like the truth. What the fuck was going on? "Saff, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Sure, you're not."