The Skull Crusher (Skull 2)

“I mean it.”

“All I have to do is pin you down and kiss that delicious pussy of yours, and you’ll be begging me to fuck you. Word of advice from an experienced leader, don’t make empty threats. It just makes you look weak when you cave.” I rose from the table and grabbed my mug. “I’m going to see your brothers today—and you’re coming with me.”

She looked horrified by the news rather than relieved. “Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?”

“I would have if you hadn’t interrogated me.”

“I didn’t interrogate you. I just asked a simple question.”

“Well, if you didn’t ask me at all, I would have told you.”

She slammed her mug down on the table. “You need to get off your little power trip and chill out. Establishing power by being an asshole just makes you an asshole. I’m not one of your men, and I’m not your enemy. I understand you don’t know how to do that, but you need to figure out another way because these tactics just make you look like a douchebag.”

17

Balto

We drove across the city in my old truck.

She was quiet on her side, saying nothing to me after her little tantrum back at the house.

If someone else spoke to me that way, I would be pissed and lay down the law. But listening to her tell me off and insult me was oddly arousing. Everyone I met was afraid of me, except whores because they knew I was a good-paying customer, and this woman had every reason to be afraid of me—only she wasn’t.

She refused to be pushed around and treated with less respect than she deserved.

Reminded me of myself.

The way her green eyes lit up like flames when she was really pissed was so sexy. All I wanted to do was throw her on the table and fuck her into submission. I took this woman as much as I could, but it never made me want her less. It never made me want someone else instead. I refused to admit she was the only one because that would give her way too much power.

The fact that she had any power at all was sexy.

This woman was taking more and more from me without even realizing it.

It’d been thirty minutes since her last spoken word. Now she broke the silence, looking out the window so she wouldn’t have to look at me. “Why are we seeing Case and Dirk? Or are you going to refuse to tell me that?”

My mouth raised in a smile, loving her smartass attitude. “It was part of the deal we made.”

“And what deal is that?”

“That I would bring you to visit once a week.”

“In exchange for?”

“Nothing. I just felt bad for them. Once you earn your freedom from me, you can visit them on your own.”

She adopted a whiny, childlike voice as she said, “Once you earn your freedom from me…” Full of sass and annoyance, she mocked me with such disdain.

It only amused me. “I can turn around if you’d like.”

That shut her up.

I expected her to make a comment about my old truck, but she never did. She was used to luxury with Lucian, driving a Bugatti herself. My truck still had a CD and cassette player. It was built long before Bluetooth. I’d had it for nearly twelve years, and the transmission was still good. Driving around in an expensive car only increased unwanted attention. And I didn’t care about showing off my wealth. The ring on my finger was worth at least a billion euro. There was no vehicle that compared to that.

Cassini didn’t seem to care—and that made me like her even more.

We arrived at the factory then walked inside.

“Play nice, alright?” she asked as she looked at me over her shoulder.

“Who brought you here?” I took the lead and made her walk behind me.

We entered the kitchen first, the place where I’d confronted Case the first time. He was there now, wearing a white chef’s jacket as he worked on a new recipe. He’d just pulled the pasta out of the boiling pot and placed it in a strainer in the stainless-steel sink.

When he spotted my large frame in the corner of his eye, he met my look. Visibly annoyed and displeased, he didn’t hide his disdain from me. That was more apparent when his eyes shifted to his sister. He didn’t show a lot of emotion, but just the light changes in his eyes and mouth showed the unconditional love and powerful bond he had for her. Even if he hadn’t proven his adoration when he came to the Underground, I would have spotted it now. But he didn’t give her any affection, and the look quickly faded away. “Hey, Cassini.”

She came around the island and hugged him from the side as he stood at the sink. “I missed you.”