Dominic waited until the bottles were passed around to everyone—even one was placed in front of me—before he clapped Kai on the back and smiled at him in a way my dad had never smiled at me.
My breath caught as I watched the scene, and I could feel Roman watching me carefully.
“My boy,” Dominic said. He squeezed the lime into the beer before folding it in half and shoving it down. Next, he pressed his thumb on the mouth of the bottle and tipped the beer upside down.
I watched the action, sure I would have to mimic it in a moment.
Kai caught my eyes then, and he smiled at me.
For the first time, he didn’t look at me with disdain.
He also didn’t look at me with indifference as he had done before the alley incident, as I now referred it to, either.
He looked friendly.
Distant, but that was okay.
I offered a small smile back as Dominic held up his beer.
“To my boy,” he shouted loudly in the bar, enough that everyone heard him, even through the loud music.
They all raised their glasses, and I quickly copied what Dominic had done to his beer before I took a small sip.
Roman moved in closer to me until his lips touched my ear, taking my earlobe between his teeth.
A quick look at his crotch told me he was hard again. Or perhaps he never lost the erection to begin with.
I turned to him, surprised. “When are you not hard?” I whispered to make sure no one could hear us.
He laughed out loud before boisterously responding, “When I’m dead.”
I could feel Dominic watching us curiously.
I turned to him and braced myself for the effect his blue eyes would have on me, and sure enough, I could feel my heart gallop as soon as our eyes met, especially when his eyes started to take on a mischievous glint.
“Tell me, what do you do? Would you like to rebel against your dad and come work for me? I could really use someone with your… ah, bravery.”
I was sure he was referring to my stunt at the port.
I looked at him for a beat.
I was still coming to terms with the fact that I had betrayed my own father for the man I loved, and Dominic was joking about it like it was no big deal.
But even though I didn’t know much about club life, I knew loyalty was valued above all else. He was joking, but he wasn’t.
He wanted to ensure my loyalty stayed firmly with the King’s Men. But my loyalty didn’t reside with them. It went to the man sitting beside me, who was playing with the skin on the back of my neck, distracting me.
I smiled a little. “You mean my stalker didn’t tell you what I do?”
No one said anything for about half a second, then Kai laughed, easing the tension away.
“Nah. He was keeping you a secret, girl. I hadn’t looked at you closely enough, but I think I should have. I can see why he was so secretive.”
It was probably because he was supposed to kill me, but he didn’t.
Not that I would bring that up.
Roman tightened his arms around me. “Keep your dirty paws and mind away from my girl, old man.”
