Page 82 of Pride: Kneel Before None

Good, let her unleash her wrath. Her fire paled in comparison to my own.

Eve was the match, but I was the raging inferno.

“What the hell is your problem?” she asked as she idly rubbed her arm where my hand had been.

One step towards her, then I stopped.

“My problem?” I echoed and took another step. “My problem, Little Spade, is that you have been gone from the safety of my domain for hours.”

Two more steps.

“My problem is I didn’t know where you were.”

I continued advancing on her, watching her back away until she had nowhere left to go. Unless she was going to phase through the poker table her ass was pressed against, she was trapped here with me and my anger.

She tilted her head back to look up at me. Defiance shone bright in her sapphire hues.

“I don’t need your permission to go out for a cup of coffee, Ace,” she spat out with indignation. “And I definitely don’t need to explain myself to you.”

Leaning over, I put my face close enough to hers that I could smell the truth of her outing on her breath.

Both my hands gripped the edge of the poker table on either side of her hips, caging her in.

“Coffee? You snuck out for a cup of fucking coffee?”

It felt thin, like there was something more to this than a morning jolt of caffeine.

Something in her eyes shifted, as though she was debating whether or not to say more.

I pressed in closer, letting her feel the rage coming off me.

“Yes, a damn cup of coffee. I know it’s difficult for you to believe, but there are these shops specifically designed to brew cups and sell them to people.”

Her sarcasm only added fuel to the fire.

“Don’t sass me, Eve,” I growled. “And don’t take me for a fool. A cup of coffee doesn’t take hours.”

The table groaned under my tightening grip, muscles straining beneath my clothes with the effort not to smash it apart.

“Where. Were. You.”

She didn’t respond right away, but I could see the cracks forming in her resolve.

“I told you. I went for coffee.” A small pause, hesitant, before she added, “And I had a conversation with my mother.”

A nuclear bomb may as well have been dropped in the middle of Sevenfold with how well her admission landed.

“What?” I ground out through clenched teeth.

Eve visibly tried to regain her confidence as she replied, “You heard me. I had coffee with my mother. We chatted for a little while, talked about Tighe and also about my abilities.”

Everything was spiraling fast. All control over the events was slipping through my fingers.

“Fuck!” I shouted as my hands released the edge of the table only to pound my fists down on it.

The impact made Eve flinch, and the look on her face said she finally understood the extent of my fury.

Rather than stand there watching her look at me like I was being unreasonable, I put distance between us and took a few steps back, turning to face away from her.