Catastrophic Attraction - Eve Langlais Page 0,45
on Cam’s face. She almost wished she had one of the rare cameras to take a picture.
“I would never touch her like that. Gross. Fuck. What kind of sick asshole are you?” Cam bristled, but Roark shut him down.
“Actually, the phrase you’re looking for is ‘your highness.’” His voice took on that cold tone that always made her shiver.
It left her brother unimpressed. Cam’s lip curled. “I should have known you were the wannabe king.”
“I don’t want to be anything. I am.” Spoken firmly and without hesitation. “Your insolence is getting tiresome. Perhaps you require a demonstration of why I’m the one ruling these lands.”
“Gonna order your soldiers to arrest me?” Cam’s lip curled. “Go ahead. Show her what kind of prick you really are.”
“I don’t need others to fight my battles.” Roark’s tone turned low and deadly.
Enough that she suddenly feared for her brother. He didn’t have the same mental protections she did. She’d joked more than once that she got the brainpower and he got the muscle.
She stepped in front of Roark. “Cam isn’t used to royalty, Your Highness,” she said with a mocking lilt.
He gazed down at her. “Now is when you choose to address me properly?”
She shrugged. “Enjoy it while you can. It might never happen again.”
The mood lightened, and he barked a chuckle “You should tell your brother to be careful how he runs his mouth.”
“But then that might mean you’d next try to curb mine,” she pointed out.
“We can’t have that, now can we?” Roark declared, his eyes sparking with humor.
“You can’t afford to not hear my excellent advice.”
“Even as it comes with insults?”
“Would you prefer I blew dust up your ass and told you how wonderful you are all the time?”
He snorted. “You’d never manage to do it with a straight face.”
“Probably.”
It became obvious Cam didn’t like their intimate exchange. He shifted behind her and grumbled, “I’ll also speak whatever way I like. Don’t care what you are. You’re not the king of me.”
The wince at his childish words made her realize she’d more or less said the same thing. Had she sounded just as sulky?
She turned and eyed her brother. “Roark isn’t your enemy.”
“So it’s Roark now?”
“Stop being like this.”
“Like what?” Cam snapped. “Like a brother?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact. We are not going to have another Jorak situation.” The guy Cam had terrorized for the crime of staring overly long at Casey. After Cam got ahold of him, Jorak couldn’t run away fast enough when he saw her. As for Casey, she’d taken her irritation at losing a boy she’d been interested in out on her brother, slamming into him with her fists and throwing him into the ground over and over.
“You better not be sleeping with him,” Cam huffed.
She gaped then snapped, “Excuse me, but why would you assume I’m whoring myself out?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes, you fucking did,” she hissed. “As if the only reason he’d want me around is because I’m good at spreading my legs.”
“You were kissing him!” Cam shouted.
“So what?” she retorted hotly. “I am allowed to kiss whom I like.”
“How can you like him? You haven’t even been here a week!”
“I like him more than I like you right now,” she growled.
Roark wisely didn’t interfere. A good thing. Casey stood, glaring up at her brother.
Cam began to grasp he’d gone too far. “I’m just looking out for you.”
“I’m fine. Which means you don’t need to be here.”
“I can help.”
“I don’t need your help,” she replied, her exasperation boiling. It happened almost every time she talked with her brother. “I can do this job without you. Because some people recognize I’m talented.”
“I know you’re good. But we’re supposed to be a team.”
“A team where you keep treating me like your sister.”
“Because you are!”
“What if I don’t want to be?”
The expression on her brother’s face hit her in the gut.
“You don’t mean that?” he whispered.
“No,” she sighed.
“How about I promise not to hit him?” Cam jabbed a finger in the direction of the king.
“How about you promise not to hit anyone?”
“What if they deserve it?” he asked.
Roark opened his mouth. “We have no laws against a few slaps.”
“Stay out of it!” She flashed him a dark glare.
“Yeah!” Cam exclaimed.
That brought her ire back on him. “Don’t start. I want you to return to Haven.”
“Tonight?” Darkness had fallen. The Marshes might be easier to live in than the Emerald Kingdom, but dangerous nonetheless.
“No, tomorrow. And you’ll be finding your own room for the night. I’m not sharing.”
“Is