Page 28 of Hard Bargain

“If you don’t quit,” Dominic continued, each word clipped, “I’ll take care of it myself. I’ll make sure the message gets delivered another way. It’s your choice. Handle it yourself, or I’ll handle it for you.”

Knox’s hands curled into fists in his lap. “So that’s it? I’m property now? You want to put a collar on me?”

Whatever restraint he’d been holding onto snapped under the weight of everything he was trying not to think about. “I want you available whenever I need you,” he shot back, louder than intended. “You’re under my protection now. That means I want you where I can see you. If that makes you angry, you’ll get over it.”

“No,” Knox fired back, voice rising. “You don’t get to decide every damn thing in my life just because you dragged me into yours. I’m not—”

Dominic cut him off, the words coming out rough. “I do now. That’s the reality. My world, my rules. You can hate it all you want, but it doesn’t make it less true.”

Silence crashed down after that. The only sound was Cassian tapping his ring against the dashboard, watching Knox with a mix of sympathy and warning.

Dominic exhaled hard, dragging a hand over his jaw. What the hell was wrong with him? He knew he could be ruthless when the situation called for it. But this? This wasn’t calculated. He was being crueler than Knox deserved, and he knew it.

Knox had every reason to push back against the idea of surrendering the last scraps of independence he still had. Dominic understood that perfectly. The problem was that understanding it wasn’t helping. The strange agitation that had been clawing at him since the champagne room refused to settle, leaving him flustered in a way he deeply disliked. And when Dominic felt off-balance, his instincts didn’t lean toward softness.

He tried to dial it back. “You’ll thank me later,” he said. “Or maybe you won’t. Either way, you’ll do what I tell you.”

Knox stared at him, fury and something wounded burning in his expression. He shoved the door open, climbed out, and slammed the door hard enough to make the car rock with the impact.

Dominic watched him stalk toward the building without looking back, his jaw locked so tightly his teeth ached. The familiar certainty that usually steadied him was nowhere to be found. In its place was a knot of frustration, and a feeling he refused to examine.

Cassian waited until Knox had disappeared inside before turning in his seat. “Well,” he said lightly, though his expression was far too observant. “That was subtle.”

Dominic shot him a look.

Cassian ignored it. “What is it with this kid?”

“Don’t.”

“I’m serious,” Cassian said. “I’ve seen you deal with cops, rivals, men who wanted you dead, and somehow none of them got under your skin the way this one does. He’s got you all fucked up.”

Dominic gripped the wheel harder. “I’m handling it.”

Cassian just grinned wider. “Really? Didn’t look that way in the champagne room earlier. If I didn’t know for a fact you were straight, I’d swear you completely forgot there were three gorgeous women in that room, because you were too busy staring at Knox.”

Dominic went still. “Drop it.”

Cassian snorted. “Sure. But I’m telling you, you’re different around him.”

“You saw what you wanted to see.”

Cassian let it go, but his look said he didn’t buy it for a second. He shook his head and turned back to the windshield.

Dominic’s gaze fixed ahead. It was nothing. A fluke. A bizarre, chemically fucked moment after an already unhinged day. He was straight. He’d always been straight. Whatever happened in that room—whatever weird thing had passed between them—meant absolutely nothing.

The alternative was something Dominic had no intention of unpacking while being parked outside some shitty apartment building. He wasn’t about to lose his mind over some boy with a chip on his shoulder and a pair of haunted eyes. Whatever Cassian had seen back there in the club, he could shove it. Dominic didn’t owe anyone an explanation, least of all himself.

Chapter 9

Knox

Knox lay flat on his back, staring at the ceiling while the building settled around him. Traffic droned beyond the window, the city carrying on like nothing had changed, completely indifferent to the fact that his entire world felt like it had tilted off its axis.

Every time he tried to close his eyes, his body locked up like it was bracing for impact.

He could still see the warehouse with awful clarity—the blood spreading dark across gray concrete, the crack of fingers breaking, the floor manager’s face twisting in pain.

And Dominic.