Demand by Lisa Renée Jones Page B

if you did, you took a risk that didn’t have to be taken. You didn’t know what trigger to your past he might hit, or how you would have reacted.”
    I physically flinch. “And there it is. My amnesia. The monster in the closet we denied last night.”
    â€œNot a monster, and there is no denial here. Just a fact that we both have to consider for everyone’s protection.” His cell phone buzzes with a text, and he reaches inside his jacket pocket to glance at it, before returning it and refocusing on me. “We need to get back to the castle.” He takes my hand and leads me out of the alcove. There is no pause or opportunity to adjust to the freezing cold weather. I shove my other hand in my pocket as we head down the path, his black-laced biker boots crashing against the brick street and seeming to echo with more than his unappeased anger. There is a shift in him now, a drive that is all about power, control, and purpose, that silences anything I might say. Something is happening and he needs to focus on it, not me, which was my intent all along.
    It’s on that thought that Kayden turns us around the corner, directing us down the walkway that leads to the front of the castle, not to the back, where I’d exited. We’ve almost reached the plaza, and our point of entry, when a twenty-something man steps directly into our path, and I jolt. Kayden reacts to my reaction and the visitor, pulling me closer, bending both our arms at the elbow and aligning our hips, possessive, protective. And just like that, I feel like us again, not the divide, not the doubts I realize now that his reaction to my action has stirred in me.
    The stranger speaks to Kayden in fast, clipped Italian, never looking at me. Kayden issues an equally clipped reply, and the man departs immediately while Kayden puts us back in motion.
    â€œWho was that?” I ask.
    â€œOne of the neighborhood crowd,” he says. “Niccolo might own the rest of the city, but I own this neighborhood and its ears and eyes.” He halts us in front of the castle. “And Gallo’s aware of that fact.”
    Realization delivers a painful dose of the big picture Kayden had hinted existed. “He threatened me to ensure that I didn’t call you, knowing that someone else would. He wanted to cause trouble between us.”
    â€œYes,” he confirms. “But even more, your showing up to a meeting I wouldn’t have allowed you to attend told him that you aren’t fully aligned with me. It told him you didn’t call me.”
    â€œBut if I hadn’t gone, it would have looked like you didn’t trust me. Or like we had something to hide.”
    He closes the small space between us, towering over me, touching me nowhere, when I want him to touch me everywhere, anywhere. “I do not play Gallo’s games, and if you are to be by my side, you don’t, either. Period. The end. That isn’t up for negotiation because it’s about keeping you safe. Your safety is never a negotiation.”
    â€œYou can’t—”
    He gently shackles my arm and pulls me to him. “I can and I will when it comes to your safety. Because I fucking care way too much for either of our good. And if you want to argue that point, we will fight and fuck this out in private.”
    â€œWhen exactly are we going to do this fight-and-fuck thing, because I think we’ll both feel better afterward.”
    â€œWe will, tonight. During and afterward.” Heat rushes through me, one part anger, one part lust, just as a sleek black Porsche pulls up beside us, the windows tinted dark. Kayden motions it inside the grounds and we follow to the other side of the gate, where he hits the button to lock us inside before withdrawing his phone.
    We walk the broad expanse of the front yard while he makes a phone call, saying simply, “Open the garage,” before returning his cell to his pocket.
    I watch the