King of Pride (Kings of Sin, #2)(86)

A symphony of grunts, cries, and the slap of flesh against flesh echoed in the otherwise empty room. One hand fisted his hair while the other clutched at the ring ropes above me. We’d had rough sex before, but this wasn’t sex. It was a catharsis.

Hard. Urgent. Unforgiving.

Still, it didn’t take long before pleasure overtook my senses. One more thrust, and my orgasm detonated, rippling through my body in a series of shudders and aftershocks.

Kai came soon after me, biting out a harsh “Fuck” as his cum dripped down my thigh.

We held each other for a moment, our breaths ragged in the silence. Languid warmth flooded my veins, but it was tempered by the knot in my throat.

When Kai lifted his head again, his eyes were filled with remorse. The knot tightened. “Isa…”

I didn’t have to ask for the reason behind his guilt.

“It’s okay,” I reassured him. “I’m on the pill.” He wasn’t the only one who’d gotten carried away.

The thought of condoms hadn’t even crossed my mind until now.

“I shouldn’t have… I didn’t…” He wiped a hand over his face. “Fuck,” he repeated. His gaze swept over me, lingering on my neck and chest. I looked down and winced when I saw the hickeys marking my skin. “Are you okay?”

“More than okay, if my orgasm was anything to go by,” I quipped, hoping to erase his frown. It didn’t work. My mouth softened with fresh worry. Now that my post-sex high was fading, the severity of the situation returned in full force. “I should ask you the same question.”

It was a stupid question because of course he wasn’t okay. He’d just lost control of his family’s company. But I had no experience dealing with issues like that, and I would rather he talk about it than pretend everything was fine. I’d learned from experience that bottling things up only led to more problems in the future.

Kai’s throat bobbed. “Russell Burton.”

My heart split at the numb disbelief in his voice. “Yeah,” I said softly.

I didn’t know who Russell was, but I hated him more than anything else in the world right now. No, correction: I hated the voting committee more than anything else. I hope they all choked on their bad decisions and ugly corporate pens.

Kai didn’t cry, shout, or say another word, but when he buried his face in my neck and my arms wrapped around his back, I felt the intensity of his pain like it was my own. It reverberated through my body, strangling my lungs and stinging my eyes. He was always so cool and composed that seeing him break apart, even a little, ignited a raw ache that punched me straight through the heart.

I wished I had the power to turn back time or knock some sense into the voting committee. Since I couldn’t and there was nothing I could say that would make things better, I simply held him and let him grieve.



CHAPTER 34

Kai

I lost.

The phrase looped in my mind so many times it no longer had shape or meaning. However, its impact didn’t change.

Every time it echoed in my head, it triggered the same gut punch. Released the same dark, oily sensation that slithered through my veins and formed a bottomless pit in my stomach.

It was the feeling of losing, which was infinitely worse than the word itself.

I tossed back my scotch. It didn’t erase the bitterness coating my throat, but it did insulate me from the stares and whispers. To an extent, anyway.

Three days had passed since the CEO election results. In that time, I’d carried out my job per usual. I took meetings, congratulated Russell, and fielded endless calls, emails, and messages. At night, I went to Isabella’s house, or she came to mine, because now that the vote was over, I didn’t care who saw us together.

We didn’t discuss work, but in the hazy hours between late night and early morning, when I buried myself inside her and she came apart in my arms, we found ways of comforting each other without words.

The bartender slid another glass of scotch across the counter. I nodded a curt thanks and glanced around the bar. Valhalla was packed. It always was on a Friday, which was why I deliberately showed up tonight.

People could talk all they wanted, but I refused to give them the satisfaction of hiding away and licking my wounds like a whipped dog.

I was Kai Young, dammit.

I managed to take one sip of my fresh drink before a familiar, oily voice ruined my appetite.

“Well, well. Look who’s out and about so soon after their defeat.” Victor Black oozed onto the seat next to mine, reeking of smugness and tacky cologne. “You’re braver than I thought, Young.”

“You’re in New York an awful lot these days.” I arched a disdainful brow. “Has D.C. finally banned you from its city limits?”

Trading insults with someone like Victor was beneath me, but I needed a distraction with both Isabella and Dante out of town. She’d flown out to California for her mom’s birthday the night before, and Dante and Vivian were in Paris for the weekend.

“What can I say? New York has gotten so interesting these days.” Victor’s breath wafted over in a cloud of vodka. I grimaced. The man was clearly drunk out of his mind, not that he had much of a brain even when he was sober. “It must be humiliating, losing your family’s company to an outsider.

To Russell Burton, no less.” He shook his head in mock disbelief. “If I were you, I’d never show my face in public again.”