Honor

“True, though I have been that far more often than I care to admit. So what do we do now?”

“You don’t do anything. We find him and I’ll handle it from there.” I made sure there was no room for argument in my tone but that didn’t stop her from sputtering at me.

“This is my business too, Nassir. I need to be included in the things that affect it.” Her tone told me I wasn’t going to ever get away with simply telling her that I would take care of anything.

Chuck looked back and forth between us as I walked over behind her chair and bent to kiss her on the top of her head.

“This isn’t about control or keeping you out of the club business, Key. This is about me handling what needs to be handled and you keeping your hands clean. I’ll protect what’s mine. I always have.”

She tilted her head back so she could glare up at me. “So will I.”

I adored her fierceness, but it was something that could get her into trouble. “This part of the business is on me. If things go south and someone ends up dead or behind bars, it will not be you—ever. I won’t negotiate that with you.” I inclined my head in Stark’s direction. “Let me know as soon as you find anything. I don’t care how much the information costs.”

He gave me a lopsided grin. “That’s a dangerous thing for a man with deep pockets to say.”

I just grunted at him in response. “I have an errand to run. I’ll be back before we open up for business tonight.”

Chuck eyed me curiously as I asked to borrow the keys to his SUV. I needed to move getting a new car up on my priority list. “You need me?” He was a smart guy; he would know my request had to do with the address I’d asked him to pull up for me before Key and I got to the club.

“No. I just have a little something I need to take care of.” I kissed Key on the top of the head again, but she surprised me by getting to her feet and walking toward the elevator with me. She practically dragged me into the little box with her once the doors swished open, and I was surprised how much force she had behind her shove when she forced me against the back wall and caged my head in between her hands as she loomed in front of me, striking and furious in equal measure.

“I can’t believe you didn’t stop me from pulling your cock out in front of a bunch of surveillance cameras. You’re such an asshole. That’s a total violation of privacy and consent, Nassir. No one gets to be a part of my sex life if they’re going to play those kinds of games with me.”

I put my hands on her hips and pulled her close so that our pelvises were lined up. I was hard. She was soft and quivering with rage. If I didn’t have shit to do, I would be hiking up her short skirt and giving more cameras an even more graphic show, and I told her as much.

“Cameras aren’t going to stop me from having you, Key. Neither is an audience.” I decided not to mention that Chuck had seen her naked most of her adult life while she was onstage at the old Spanky’s.

She huffed out a heated breath and leaned forward so that our noses were almost touching. I could see not only anger but disappointment and embarrassment in her cloud-colored eyes.

“No, Nassir. You don’t get to have your way and damn the consequences with me. You owe me an apology and you better make me believe that you will never violate me or my trust like that again or that video is the last memory you will have of me being anywhere near your dick. I’m mad at you because I’m mad at you. I know you’re going off to do something that you might not make it back from and I don’t want the last thing I feel toward you to be anger.”

The doors opened and she followed me out into the hallway. I caught her wrist and pulled her to me so that I could give her a proper kiss. I nipped at her mouth and stroked her tongue with my own. I drew her in and teased her until she softened and wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back. I felt her soft little sigh all the way down into the deepest, darkest parts of me that had never seen the light of day.

I never apologized. Not for any of the things I had ever done, because to me an apology was as effective as slapping a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.

I rubbed my lips against hers and whispered, “I’m sorry.” The words felt foreign and heavy on my tongue and I was shocked that I meant them. “I didn’t stop to think that something like that would make you feel exposed and embarrassed. To be fair, I wasn’t thinking about much beyond your hand on my cock.”

She huffed out an annoyed sound and crossed her arms over her chest. Her gray eyes turned from fog to a full-on storm.

“It’s not about being exposed exactly. It’s about us being together and having that mean something special. I’ve been naked in front of more pairs of eyes than any one person can count. When I get naked with you or for you, I want it to mean more than that.”

I swore. When she stopped fighting with me and showed me her soft underbelly, it made me see how really and truly awful I could be even with someone I so desperately wanted to be better for. I reached out and moved the hair that covered half of her face out of the way so that we were staring at each other.

“It means everything.” I assumed she knew that.

She laughed a little and kissed me on the side of the neck, which made me shiver. “Then take better care of it. Be careful, okay? I’m just getting used to you being mine and I barely agreed to let myself be yours.”

Those were her parting words as she walked away from me, and I headed out into the parking lot so I could go take care of one of the seemingly endless number of people that wanted to throw a wrench into my day-to-day operations.