Page 22 of Cold Foot King
“He messed you up too?” King asked.
“So bad.” She turned and grabbed a gallon of water that was sitting on a display behind them. “This is the only thing that will help you. Advil won’t even make a dent. You gotta work that poison out of you.”
“Oh. Okay, thanks,” he murmured, reaching into his back pocket for more cash.
“I’ve got it,” she said, setting the water up with her donuts and candy. “I owe you. You know, for buying me the pregnancy test.” She winked at the cashier, who looked at them wide-eyed. “He thought he knocked me up for a minute, but don’t worry. No fetuses here.”
“Oh my God,” King gritted out. “Don’t listen to her. She’s on…crack.”
A laugh escaped her, and it shocked her. How long had it been since she’d heard her own laugh? Katrina slapped a twenty on the counter with a grin at how uncomfortable King was right now.
“I’m going to go jump off a cliff now,” he said with an empty smile. He tucked his paper bag of food against his ribs, grabbed the gallon jug of water, and made his way to the door.
“Bye, lover,” she called after him.
His middle finger went right up into the air without him even turning around, and she laughed again. He was fun to pester.
He used his middle-finger flinging hand to open the door for a couple of guys that were coming in. She recognized them from the meeting earlier.
“Heeey, it’s the breeder,” one of them said, pointing to her.
The smile fell from her face instantly. Katrina was fine joking about it with King, because he knew. Ooooh, he knew. But these dickbag strangers? Nope.
She took her change from the cashier, pocketed it, grabbed her small bag, and then strode right between them, slamming her shoulder against the one who had called her that.
“Bitch—”
Katrina lurched forward with a snarl. “I prefer bitch to breeder. Call me that again and I’ll slit you from throat to dick, and you can watch your guts fall out onto the floor while you die.” She curved her mouth into an empty smile. “You hear the truth in my voice, don’t you?” She leaned forward and whispered, “That’s because I fuckin’ mean it.” The acrid scent of fear wafted from the one she was talking to. Satisfied, she backed off, but he wasn’t looking down at her. Both of the shifters were looking at something at the door.
King stood there, eyes a light, glowing gold, staring at the men. The angles of his face were sharper, and a great heaviness emanated from him, clogging up her lungs and making it hard to draw a breath.
She stormed past him. “I don’t need you to save me,” she gritted out.
Katrina jogged down the stairs and past the entryway that shielded the entrance from the biting cold. The wind blasted against her face, and she pulled her flannel jacket tighter around herself.
King was following her, and that made her anger reappear.
“What?” she asked, stomping her boot onto the thin layer of snow.
He lifted the jug of water and pointed to the hotel. His tone was low, gravelly, and strained as he uttered, “I’m just going in the same direction. Not following you.”
“I really don’t need you saving me. I don’t like that.”
He huffed a frozen breath, and whooo, his eyes were light and reflecting oddly in the illumination from the convenience store floodlights.
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing! Not a thing.”
He clenched his teeth, shook his head, and walked away, but stopped after a few yards. “You know what?” he barked. “It sucked for me too.”
“I said I don’t want to talk about it!”
“But you’ll bring up the pregnancy test in there in front of that guy to dig at me. You are in your head about what happened, and I get it. God, I get it. My head is obsessed with thinking about it!” His voice echoed through the empty street. “I hate myself, and I hate you, and do you know why? Because there’s this sick fucking part of me that liked it. And I know how messed up that is, but that exists in here!” he said, gesturing to his head. “So when I see you popping at someone? Let me explain what it’s like for a silverback.” He closed some of the distance between them. “Women are to be taken care of, and elevated, and protected. They are supposed to know their value, and if they don’t? If they have an insecurity? It’s on the silverback. He isn’t doing his job well enough. You said you’re a Queen? Every woman in the family group I grew up in was a queen. I couldn’t hurt you if I fuckin’ tried, and then they made us do what they made us do, and it did something awful to me! And the worst part? The very worst part,” he said, lowering his voice. “Is that I know I can’t take it back. I know it’s sitting in your head, and I would give anything to go back and do it all differently. For you. You were hurt. I could feel it. I could smell it. I could sense it. You. Hurt. And whether I wanted to be a part of that or not, it’s my fault. You’re a badass lioness, Kat. That’s what your friends call you, right? Kat? We fucked, so we’re friends. You’re a badass. Anyone with eyes can see it, and anyone with any sense in their body can feel how big your animal is, and girl, that is so fucking sexy to a man like me. I like a strong woman. But if you think I can walk away when another man is calling you names like that? It ain’t gonna happen. I know you don’t need anyone to save you, but if I’m around, theywillrespect you.” King leaned in close. “They’ll respect you, or they’ll wake up tomorrow with no fuckin’ teeth.” He lifted the jug again and pointed. “Bar’s that way.” He stepped forward and snatched the bag of treats out of her hand. “I’ll put these in the room.”
He strode off, leaving her to stare after him, her boots frozen to the ground like she was an ice sculpture.
Oh, men had talked to her at that volume and with that intensity before, but it was to put her in her place, and call her names, and get her back in line. Rook had done it a thousand times.