Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
B ELLE
I stay at the barbecue until late, then help the old ladies and club girls clean up before driving back to the clubhouse with Mya and Isla.
They’re still buzzing about the engagement.
“That was quite the surprise,” Isla says as she drives.
Sitting beside her, Mya squeals with excitement. “There is so much to plan. Oh, I love weddings.” She claps her hands with excitement. “You’re going to make a beautiful bride, Belle.”
Her enthusiasm is infectious and I find myself smiling.
“I knew the moment I saw you that you were different to the others,” Isla says, looking at me in the rearview mirror.
“The others?” I ask. “You mean Beast has been engaged before?”
I thought he’d been living in a drought for years.
Maybe years. But not forever.
“Oh yes,” Isla says.
Damn, why does that make my stomach feel strange?
Mya gives her a warning look, but Isla ignores it. “He’s only been engaged once before. To Jennifer. Much to his ex-girlfriend Guinevere’s disgust. Now there’s a story?—”
“Isla!” Mya yells as a bunny dashes across the road in front of us.
Isla slams on the brakes and we skid to a stop. She blows out a shaky breath. “Jesus, Mya. You scared the life out of me. I saw it, but you damn near made me jump out of my skin.”
“Well, you were so busy gossiping about Beast’s damn exes I didn’t think you were paying attention,” Mya says. She looks over her shoulder at me in the back seat. “You okay, Belle?”
“Of course. But I want to hear more about Jennifer and Guinevere.”
“Then you need to ask Beast,” Mya says.
I meet Isla’s eyes in the rearview mirror. She nods. “Mya’s right. Beast will tell you when he’s ready.”
I’m curious. I want to know about these mysterious women.
But I don’t press the subject.
Tonight has been too much fun to ruin with talk about ex-girlfriends and past fiancées.
If the feeling in my gut is anything to go by.
Oh my God, am I jealous?
I push away the thought.
But as we drive through the moonlit night, my heartbeat quickens and my stomach tightens with anticipation.
I’m looking forward to seeing Beast. I know it’s crazy. But tell that to my racing pulse and the heat in my blood as we pull into the long winding driveway leading up to the clubhouse.
After wishing Mya and Isla goodnight, I make my way up to the bedroom I share with Beast and take a shower. I don’t know what is going to happen when he comes to bed. But I know I am open to whatever does.
In the shower, I pay extra attention to soaping and shaving and moisturizing my skin. Because when he finds me waiting for him in bed, I want to be ready for what comes next.
But Beast doesn’t come to bed.
I wait up for him, but the hours tick over and he doesn’t show.
In the silvery moonlight, I stand at the window overlooking the fields next to the clubhouse and wait.
I wrap my arms around my waist and try not to feel the disappointment churning in my stomach.
Because tonight felt real.
It felt really real.
Goosebumps crawl up my arms.
But I have no business feeling that way.
The next day, I wake up alone and immediately my head churns with questions. Where is Beast? Why didn’t he come to bed?
But then I remind myself he’s the president of this club and wherever he is, he’s doing something important for the club. And perhaps this is something I need to get used to.
It sucks. But in order for this to work, I need to roll with the punches and not let my emotions tie me up in knots.
So I dress and get ready for the day and tell myself I won’t give my fiancé a hard time for not coming to bed.
After dressing, I visit my uncle again and am relieved when Annie says he’s doing much better. His bruises have begun to fade and the swelling around his face has softened, but he’s still heavily medicated, and I’m not sure if he even realizes I’m here.
“Of course he knows you are here,” Annie says with a comforting smile. “Keep talking. Keep holding his hand. It all counts.”
So I bring him up to speed with what’s been happening. About being engaged to the club president. About Mayor Boney ruining the club’s fundraiser. And it suddenly occurs to me that I sound like I am talking about family.
I blow out a huff of breath and remind myself it’s not true. The clubhouse isn’t home. And the Knights are not my family.
Which becomes even more evident when I arrive back at the clubhouse.
When I’m walking along the hallway toward Beast’s room and I hear him arguing with a woman.
At first, my stomach tightens because he didn’t come back to our room last night, and there is a part of me that still feels strange about that.
But then curiosity takes over, and I stop before I reach the open door to listen.
“Does she know?” the female voice asks angrily.
It’s Annika. And she sounds pissed.
“No, and she’s not going to, not yet,” Beast growls.
“This arrangement is dangerous, Beast. Hangman was prepared to forsake the club. How do you know the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? What if she learns how much this club owes her and decides to cash in?”
For a moment, I think they’re talking about me. About our arrangement to pay off the debt. But they can’t be. Because I don’t know a Hangman.
“This will blow up in your face,” Annika warns Beast.
Whatever they’re talking about is clearly a sensitive topic, and I shouldn’t be here eavesdropping because it has nothing to do with me. I sure as fuck don’t want to give Annika another reason to not like me.
I turn around to creep away but as I do the floorboard beneath the carpet creaks. Loudly . I pause and curse under my breath, wondering if I just found the only loose floorboard in the goddamn hallway.
When I look up, Beast and Annika are in the doorway. Annika has her arms folded and is glaring at me.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I say.
“And yet here we are,” Annika replies.
Beast gives her a warning glare, and she sighs, rolling her eyes and dropping her arms to her side.
“Whatever,” she says, walking off.
I watch her go. She doesn’t look back.
“She doesn’t like me very much,” I say to Beast once she disappears out of view.
“That’s why I’m sending you both to town to spend some time together.”
“Great, I can’t wait.”
Which is a big fat lie.
I’d prefer torture with a thumbscrew to spending the afternoon with Annika.
Plus, I’m still a little pissed at Beast for being a no show last night.
I cross my arms. “I thought my great acting skills at the fundraiser last night might have earned me some reprieve from all your demands.”
Beast gives me a stern look. “Annika is all I’ve got left. If this is going to work, you need to make it work with her.”