Kings of Anarchy (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #3) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,21

clearly going to be forced to entangle myself with them as deeply as possible and I wasn’t sure what kind of man I’d be once I came out the other side of that. But that was the price I’d agreed to pay when I’d asked for their help, so there was no point in me bitching about it now.

We pulled up to the gate and I lifted the visor on my helmet as the men on duty there gave me a once over before hitting the button to open it. They were armed to the teeth and had face tats and scars to prove how badass they were. I almost snorted a laugh at how hard they were trying to look intimidating and felt zero desire to quake in my boots for them.

I rode up the drive slowly, inching closer to the estate with a heavy heart and an aching weight in my chest. This was the last place on earth that I wanted to bring Tatum. Yet somehow fate had conspired to force her here. I just hoped seeing the monsters who had made me wouldn’t change her opinion of me too much.

I parked up right outside the front doors instead of bothering to park around the side like I was supposed to and waited a moment as my girl released her grip on me and climbed off of the bike before standing myself.

I hung my helmet on the handlebars and she passed hers over for me to do the same with it.

"Once we're in there you don't leave my side, okay, baby?" I asked her in a low voice as I looked her over in the leathers she'd worn for the ride, pushing my fingers into her hair to tame some of the wild tangles she'd obtained on the way here. She looked pretty much like my ultimate wet dream right now and if I hadn’t been half expecting one of my psychotic uncles to leap out of the bushes at any moment, I’d have been damn tempted to pounce on her.

"I know, Kyan, you don't have to keep reminding me," she replied, a snarky edge to her tone.

"Yeah, I do. Because no amount of warning can prepare you for them."

I tugged her close and stole a brief kiss from those full lips of hers, aching for more but forcing myself to pull back just as quickly. This was going to be rough.

She gave me a reassuring smile and I threw an arm around her shoulders as we headed up the steps to the front door.

One of my Grandpa's butlers opened it before we could get close enough to knock and I tossed him the keys to my bike without even bothering to say hello. He caught them deftly, waiting for us to pass him before heading outside to get our bags and move the bike to the garage. He didn’t mention the fact that I’d parked it in the wrong place and that was a clever move on his part because every step I took inside this house had the ball of angry energy inside me coiling tighter, hungering for release.

The scent of tobacco and whiskey filled the house alongside a spicy, Christmassy smell which I guessed had been added for the occasion by one of Liam’s house servants. Certainly not the miserable motherfucker himself. But the place would look like Santa had vomited on it even if the only reasoning behind that was that he wanted everyone to agree he could pull off the best decorations.

No one was here yet, seeing as it was so early, so I led Tatum deeper into the house, heading for the kitchen where I knew Martha would be well underway with the Christmas feast.

"This place is stupid big," Tatum murmured as we walked down the long corridor past the sweeping staircase which led to the bedrooms upstairs and I turned her towards one of the doors the servants used to move about the place unseen.

"Yeah well, it suits my Grandpa's head," I replied easily, trying not to show how fucking much I hated having her here, though I was fairly sure she could feel the tension in my posture as I held her close to my side.

We made it to the staff kitchens and I led her in, instantly spotting Martha amongst the workers who were in charge of all the cooking and smirking at her as she spotted me too.

"Coco!" she cried and I fought a cringe at that