Ouch, sometimes K can be a dick. I like that about him, though. You always know where you stand with him. He doesn’t sugarcoat shit.
“Oh, you mean I look too poor?”
“Yes,” he says.
“Konstantin!” Maya exclaims.
“Darling.” Damen’s low rumble is an unusual warning. So far, I’ve not seen him say anything to her about her behavior.
Maya glances at her husband and flushes, but she shuts up. Immediately. It’s clear who really wears the trousers with those two. Damen gives Maya a fuck ton of leeway, but it’s just that. Given. Funny because I’d have thought she’d be the one in charge. She’s a force of nature, and Damen seems laid back enough to let her whirlwind all over him.
K scrubs his face. “Why do you have to make everything a battle?” he asks Cassie.
“I don’t know, maybe because you always make me feel I’m not good enough,” she states. “I felt so close last night, and then you pull this shit and do to me what you accused me of.” Then she turns and leaves.
“Fuck, that woman. I don’t understand what the hell she wants half the time.” K paces, but his face is upset, not angry.
He cares.
This thing between these two is going to change everything.
I sigh and shake my head to myself.
Konstantin pivots and marches after Cassie.
“Konstantin, may I say something?” Maya asks, stopping him in his tracks.
Damen starts to shake his head, but K holds his hand up. “Let her speak. Who better to explain the myriad mysteries of the female mind than another of the species?”
His tone drips sarcasm, and Maya starts to roll her eyes, but reins it in.
Damen sighs, catches my eye, and we both grimace. This could end any plans for the opera if these two go at it and end up falling out. Damen would have to defend Maya, and then we’d end up having a big old row between all of us, when we are meant to be forming a plan against those attacking us. This is why falling for the fairer sex is a bad fucking idea. They make men stupid.
“Cassie isn’t used to this life, right? I don’t mean the other stuff; I mean the money,” Maya says gently.
“No, she’s not.”
“It can all be a bit overwhelming. We’re used to this. We think nothing of buying Chanel suits or Hermes bags.”
“Some of us fucking do,” Damen says ruefully, and the ice breaker works as we all laugh, and some of the tension leaves the room.
“Imagine, your idea of a lot of money for a bag, and I mean a lot, is like one hundred euros, or pounds, and then your boyfriend says he’s going to buy you a four or five thousand pound bag. It’s probably more than her car! I get why she may be feeling overwhelmed. She probably thinks we all look down on her for her clothes too. Can I go talk to her? I can ask the woman coming over to bring some cheaper things, which will still be perfectly fine for the opera, if you don’t mind.”
K sighs, but I can see the relief there that he can leave all this shit to Maya. “Knock yourself out; I’m done with trying to help her.”
He pours a large drink as Maya leaves the room and downs it in one go before topping it up then offering the rest of us one.
“How the fuck do you deal with a woman day in and day out?” he asks Damen.
Damen shrugs. “The good far outweighs any bad, my friend. Maya … she’d cut off her limbs for me. You know who else would do that? No one.” He pauses, considers, and then adds, “Alesso, maybe, but that’s it. Maya would bleed for me. Hell, she’d shave her hair off for me, which would be worse to her than a limb.” He laughs, then sobers. “That woman would do anything for me. I’ve never had that. And I’d do anything for her. Before me, she never had that either. She has it now, from Stamatis too. We’ve got one another’s backs, totally. Plus, she makes me laugh, every damn day. Nearly every day she does something for me that makes me smile. Maybe it’s something simple like bringing me a drink when I’ve been stuck in my office for hours, or she might make me a special meal.” He grins ruefully. “She can’t cook for shit, but she puts effort into it, and it