“You little bitch!”
Donovan’s mother drew back her hand as though she were about to slap Kami across the face. But before any of this could occur, Tisha Olivares-King appeared in a sweeping flash of bright red sequins and silver sparkly shoes. She glared over them and then her gaze settled on Kami. It lingered there for a moment as though she could not exactly place what she was seeing. Linger, linger, linger, and then Kami could tell the moment that it all sank in and managed to click into place
“You!” Tisha gasped. She pointed dramatically at Kami. “What are you doing here?”
“Working,” Kami snorted. She wiggled the tray of canapes. “Obviously. I’m part of the catering staff for your lovely party.”
“What?” Tisha’s mouth bobbed open as though she were a fish out of water. “What are you talking about? You work for the janitorial service in my building!”
“First of all, it’s not your building.” Kami was so sick and tired of the posturing and bullshit and the rich people’s disregard for anyone else or their thoughts, feelings, and emotions. “It’s the King building and belongs to the King Security Services Corporation. That company doesn’t belong to you either. I believe it belongs mostly to your two eldest sons. But I know that is somewhat in contention right now. In fact, I believe the whole freaking world knows that,” Kami said with a rude chuckle. “Especially since the entire population of Dallas is still pretty convinced that you murdered your husband and your lover.”
There was absolute dead silence in the house after Kami’s tirade. The only sounds that could be heard came from the Christmas tunes playing on the stereo that were piped into each room. It was almost eerie to listen to someone singing about Auld Lang Syne and watching pretty much everyone stare right at Tisha Olivares-King wondering how much of that Auld Lang Syne she had attempted to create for herself when she indulged in a little murder.
“How... How...”—it was almost like Tisha could not even begin to formulate words—“How dare you?”
“How dare I what?” Kami snorted. “Say what everyone else is thinking?”
Kami’s heart was hammering against her ribs. Her palms were sweating and it was getting increasingly difficult to hold the heavy tray in her arms. She was so tired of this power dynamic and the heartache and heartbreak that it caused. She loved her husband. She really did. But the idea that his mother was going to just hang about trying to marry him off to someone that he didn’t know or like who looked like the harlot of the party was obnoxious.
Yet even with all of that, it wasn’t Kami’s place to tell this woman that they were actually related—by marriage. So Kami spun on her heel and walked off toward the kitchen. It was over. As far as she was concerned it was completely over.
Amber and Armando met Kami as soon as she walked into the crowded kitchen. Amber took the heavy try and Armando gently touched her arm. “Are you all right?”
“You’re not mad?”
“Pfft!” He made a noise and shook his head. “Nobody likes Tisha Olivares-King. My best customer is Olivia Dunlop. You can be sure that she would prefer I not work for Ms. King anyway.”
“Oh.” That was oddly reassuring and yet Kami felt completely deflated over all this. “Well, then I guess I’ll get another tray and just pretend nothing happened. Right?”
“The hell you will!”
Kami heard Tisha’s heels clicking on the kitchen floor behind her. The woman was stomping toward them as though she were absolutely on a mission. She grabbed Kami and spun her around. The grip that Tisha had on Kami’s arm was painfully tight. Her nails were digging into Kami’s flesh and Kami was surprised that the twiggy old lady had that kind of grip strength. Although maybe it was more that she had made a deal with the devil for longevity and wealth. That was actually believable at this point.
“Let. Go,” Kami told Tisha. She felt her own temper rising and knew that she was seconds away from blowing up completely. “I’m not kidding, you old hag. Get your hands off me before I rip them off and shove them down your wrinkled old throat!”
“Excuse me?” Tisha looked as though she could not believe that anyone would refer to her as either old or wrinkled. “This is getting a little ridiculous. Your behavior is atrocious. It’s time for you to be gone. Permanently.”
“Oh, you think you can do that, hmm?”
“Yes. Because you’re fired. That company you work for? What is it? Casa-Clean? Consider them fired!” Tisha’s voice was rising and she sounded more and more like a petulant child with each passing second.
“You do realize that you can’t just fire us.” Oh, Kami was enjoying this. No doubt about it. Tisha had just stepped over the line and Kami was more than ready to meet her there. “There is this thing called a contract. Right? So even if you do fire us, I’ll probably get a raise because it will mean that King Security Services, Incorporated will have to pay out—in bulk, mind you—the entirety of the contract. So my boss will not only get all of the revenue from your company for the rest of the contract year in bulk, he’ll also be able to use those employees to work other contracts, which is basically double dipping. Right?”
“So what?” Tisha gave an airy wave of her hand. “It’s December. That’s like half a month.”
“Contract year.” Kami started laughing. “Your sons are right. You have no practical knowledge of business. It’s laughable that you think you can take that company from them and run it. You’ll be bankrupt in less than a year.”
“You’d better watch your mouth!”
A sarcastic male voice entered the fray. “No, Mother. I think you had better watch yours.”
The tall, forbidding Orion King stepped into the kitchen and glared at both Tisha and Kami. Then he twisted his mouth into something that barely resembled a smile. “Ms. Delgado is referring to the fact that the contract year with Casa-Clean began in November. We will have to pay them for basically eleven months of work and that will work out to something close to a million dollars. Are you willing to maybe provide that from your, I don’t know, shopping fund?”
“You shut up!” Tisha glared at her eldest son.
Kami was a bit taken aback. She didn’t know what to say. The whole thing was a bit intimidating. She had no idea how much Orion might know or not know about her relationship with Devon and she really didn’t want to press him.
But Orion seemed to have decided that he would take the question right out of it. He turned to Kami and dipped his head. “I hear that I’m to wish you joy, Ms. Delgado.” His gaze flickered to his mother. “Or should I say Mrs. King?”
“I haven’t officially changed my name just yet,” Kami said quickly.
From the corner of her eye, Kami watched Tisha have what appeared to be a fit or a seizure. Her mouth popped open. Her lips pulled back over her teeth in a horrible grimace. And then she seemed to be on the verge of shrieking or something equally loud. But at the last second she reeled it all in, turned on her heel, and stomped toward the kitchen’s exit.
Was she actually going to try to play it off? Kami was speechless and silent and feeling so very confused that she just wanted someone to tell her what to think. Fortunately for her, Devon appeared at that moment. He wrapped his arms around Kami and pulled her close.
“Baby, I am so sorry,” Devon whispered in her ear. “I am so, so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Kami felt guilty. She had pushed things. Pushed them way, way too far. “I don’t think your mother is ever going to like me, though.”
“Yeah, that ship sailed. But that’s probably good.” Devon nuzzled her neck and she felt a shiver travel delightfully down her spine. “If my mother liked you, it would probably mean you aren’t a very nice person.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Devon pushed his way into the apartment and felt no end of gladness to kick the door closed behind him. Kami was clinging to his side almost as though she were afraid if she let go he would somehow be ripped away for good. Although how could he blame her for thin
king that? It probably felt just like that. Maybe even worse. There was no doubt in his mind that Kami had gotten the absolute full King family treatment. And that wasn’t even the worst part of it all. He still had to find a way to tell her that he was actually a shifter who could change into a wolf pretty much whenever he wanted to.
It was dim inside. The only light came from a single fixture in the foyer and the city lights dotting the horizon outside the bank of windows in the living room. It felt like the perfect place to have a serious conversation. It was warm and safe and it belonged to the two of them. Here they were equals. At least, that was how Devon was beginning to feel about this place. He had never lived anywhere that was not indelibly stamped by his mother’s toxic presence. He suspected that it was a very similar situation for Kami. Her parents and her family were nowhere near. Their presence had not sullied this place and it would not. This was where they could have a conversation in the dark that would help them understand each other and deepen their relationship.
“I feel really guilty,” Kami whispered once they were safely ensconced inside their own cozy apartment.
The front door was closed. It was locked. There was hopefully no way that anyone was going to sneak on past the doorman. It was the right moment. At least he hoped it was.
Devon settled himself on the sofa and pulled Kami down beside him. She snuggled in close and they both kicked off their shoes. He stroked the bits of hair that had escaped her bun in order to curl around her face and wished she would just leave the whole beautiful length loose. “Why would you feel guilty,” Devon murmured to Kami. “Why would you ever feel guilty? My family is a crazy bunch of weirdos. If they can’t handle themselves when one woman challenges their authority, then what right do they have to be in charge of anything?”
“Yes, but I made trouble for you.”
“No. You didn’t.” Okay, that was not strictly true. She had made trouble for him. Lots of it. And yet he really could not bring himself to care. “My brothers and their wives love you. I believe even Orion welcomed you to the family. You made a spectacle of us in front of Dallas society, but you did it in a way that absolutely acknowledged that we are a spectacle all on our own. Don’t you see?”
She bit her full lip. The apartment was too dim inside for Devon to see the details of her expression, but he could almost feel just how sorry she was and how genuinely she felt about it. “I made trouble for you. I embarrassed you. And I did it in a way that embarrassed your family.”
“Baby, the King family needs embarrassment right now,” Devon growled. “We can’t keep pretending that it’s business as usual. You were absolutely right. The whole city of Dallas knows that my mother had something to do with my father’s death. And she probably had something to do with Tex Johnson’s death as well. I don’t know how the woman can manipulate men so easily, but she does it. What’s screwing up her plans is the fact that all of us are finding strong women to help support us against her. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“That I’m supporting you against your mother?” She sounded so hesitant. His heart went out to her. “Devon, that sounds awful!”
“But it isn’t!” He needed so badly for her to understand that. “It’s not bad at all, sweetheart. It’s a good thing. I need that. I need you. I need someone to help ground me and make me see what’s really going on. We have to acknowledge it before all of us fall into this trap that Tisha is laying for us.”
Kami turned in his arms to look up at him. Her fingers brushed his cheeks. “Why is she doing it?”
He loved the way it felt to hold her in his arms. But when she touched him it made everything just that much more precious. The woman was more than he could have ever deserved. He had married her under the worst of circumstances. It had almost been secretive to the point of wrong. It was like he had been ashamed and yet the more Devon openly admitted that Kami was his woman, the more he realized that he should be damned grateful that he had managed to attract such a strong woman. She was far stronger than he was. And yes. Sometimes she did not understand things about the world or about their relationship, but she was at least willing to try and to learn.
“I have to tell you something,” Devon said suddenly. His hands were shaking. He felt sick as though he were going to be ill at any second. He was so sure that this would push her over the edge. As if his family wasn’t insane enough. He had to add one more thing for her to deal with.
She kissed his neck and his cheek. Reaching up she pushed her arms around his neck and tangled her fingers in his hair. “Don’t be so worried!” she exclaimed. “I can’t imagine what could be worse than that holiday party.”
Oh, it was going to get a lot worse. Devon opened his mouth, but no words came out. He was actually going to have to work himself up to saying it. Crap! He was acting like a coward. It wasn’t becoming. He was a wolf shifter. Not a chicken shifter.
“Kami, I know this is going to sound really odd. All right?”
“All right.”
“So here’s the thing. There are parts of this world that don’t exactly fit the normal way of—well, stuff. Right?”
He could even see her frown in the darkness. “Devon, you’re not making any sense.”
“Just hear me out.” He struggled to find words. “There are things like vampires, zombies, and stuff that people always talk about. They make movies about those things and sometimes people get really into it. They actually believe. Right?”
“Are you about to try and tell me that you’re a vampire?” She pressed her face to his side and started laughing as though she thought this whole conversation was a joke.
“No. Not a vampire…” He opened his mouth to say something else and just like that the speaker near the front door crackled. There was an insistent beep that indicated the doorman needed to get their attention.
Kami sat up so quickly she nearly bashed his chin with her head. “What’s that?”
“The buzzer from downstairs.” Devon heaved himself up off the sofa with a sigh. “I can’t imagine who would be dropping off a package or trying to visit now.”
“Is that why he’s buzzing us? That’s kind of cool.” She seemed fascinated with this notion. “So nobody can just come up here and knock on our door? No door to door salespeople or kids selling candy or wrapping paper for school. I think I like that!”
Devon chuckled as he went to the speaker pad on the wall and pushed the button to answer the summons from the doorman. Of course, if they were in bed or otherwise occupied then the doorman would just tell whomever was downstairs that they weren’t available. But in this case Devon was mildly curious. He could only hope that it wasn’t a visit from his brothers.
“Mr. King?” There was an odd note of confusion and hesitancy in the doorman’s voice that carried even through the crackly speaker. “I have two gentlemen down here that are requesting to come up. They claim to be your wife’s family.”
“No!” Kami’s panic was almost instant. She leaped off the sofa and came dashing into the front hallway with such force that she nearly slipped and took a header onto the floor.
Devon caught Kami against his chest and held her close. “Sweetie, it’s okay. He’s not going to let anyone up unless we say yes.”
“Then no. No!”
“Who are these people? Your family?” Devon felt a moment of uncertainty. There was a very large part of him that felt as though anyone who came from a background like Kami’s parents’ should be beyond thrilled to have a King for a son-in-law. He was obviously capable of taking care of his wife. Why would they not be happy to meet him? “Why don’t we just go downstairs to say hello? That way we can just walk away and if things get really bad Mr. Button can call the police.”
“The police?” She gaped at him. “Wouldn’t it be better just to say we’re not at home?”
What on earth was she anticipating? Devon tried not to be judgmental, but he was having a hard time seeing how this could be all that bad. “We have to speak w
ith them eventually, Kami. Let’s just get it over with.”
“Fine.” She folded her arms over her chest. She was still wearing her black catering clothes. “We can go down, but you have to let me do the talking.”
“Whatever makes you feel better, sweetheart.” Devon was pretty sure she was overreacting. But then he was always more than a little ready to think the worst of his own family. Maybe that was just how it went in families where there was little enough emotional support or ready validation. Devon pushed the button on the speaker. “Don’t let them up, Charlie. We’ll come down.”
“Yes, sir.” Charlie Button sounded very dubious. “I’ll keep them right here. They’re very upset that they can’t just come up.”
“We will keep that in mind.” Devon clicked off the speaker and shoved his feet in the pair of boots he had left earlier by the hall table.
Kami was already in her shoes and walking out the front door. Her agitation was clear. It didn’t seem to improve as they got into the elevator either. By the time the doors dinged on the ground floor and it was time to get out of the elevator, Kami looked as though she were expecting to go to her execution.
“Kami!”
Devon immediately spotted two men, one in his mid-twenties and the other one probably in his fifties or sixties. It was difficult to tell with the older man. He looked as though he had been working hard his whole life. He was short with a dark complexion and close cropped thick black hair. There was no doubt in Devon’s mind that the man’s hair was probably just as curly as Kami’s when he let it grow out.
The younger man was wearing baggy jeans and a long T-shirt under a hooded sweatshirt. His head was shaved and he was sporting a good number of tattoos. But it had been the older man to call out Kami’s name. The younger one had his arms crossed over his chest and was glaring at Devon as though the two of them were facing off in some epic battle for—Devon couldn’t possibly begin to imagine what the young man thought they were about to fight over. Kami? Was this Roberto? Had her father honestly brought her former fiancé with him to this meeting? That was certainly in poor taste.
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 88
