Bride Unwanted

10. Talon

TALON

A loud knockon the window of the shitty little Honda rips me out of sleep. My eyes are blurry. I try to clear them to see the cause of the sound. Finally getting my eyes to focus, a meter cop stands right outside my car.

I roll down the window and stare at her.

“What do you want?”

“Check the attitude, shithead,” she barks. “You want to stay here, pay the meter. Otherwise, go find some other spot to sleep off your drunken night.”

Am I drunk? I pull the sunshade down to look in the mirror. Shit. I look like hell warmed over. Heavy bags sag under my eyes from lack of sleep. I don’t even remember the last time I took a shower.

The weeks after Callie told me she needed time to consider everything have been hell for me. I am a man of my word. I have given her all the space she’s needed. But I’ve trailed her everywhere she’s gone.

Pulling out a few hundred dollars, I hand it to the meter cop.

“Will this cover me for a while?” I ask, not looking at her.

“You know what, sir?” she says, reaching for the money. “I think I was mistaken before. I think you can park wherever you want for the rest of my shift.”

I give her a smile and roll my window up. Knocking the empty fast food containers off the passenger seat, I grab an energy drink. Opening the top, the thought of my old man yelling at me for drinking this garbage reverberates in my head.

Looking down, the evidence of my sin litters the floorboards. Shaking my head, I focus back on task. Making sure she’s safe. Fear and anger grip me at the thought of what happened to her, and the fact it could happen again.

I thought killing Tony would make me feel better. But in the end, it doesn’t matter without her. If she isn’t by my side, none of this matters. Chugging the rest of the cocktail of chemicals, I add its corpse to the rest of the pile.

Almost on cue, Callie leaves her mom’s house at 7 pm. She has essentially stayed there since she left. Only leaving to go to her apartment and sleep. I bought this Honda so I could follow without her noticing.

Not that it matters, ’cause she literally pays zero attention to anything around her. I almost jumped out to save her as she crossed the street one day. Nose buried in her phone and a huge truck was coming down the road.

I pull out and take a different route to her apartment. I insisted she take one of my cars with her. Her driving behind several inches of bulletproof glass makes me feel a lot better. Plus, all of my cars have tracking devices in them. I left that part out when I told her, though. Parking in my usual spot, I see she beat me here. Lead foot. I roll my eyes and shake my head. I catch sight of her walking into the building.

The simple yoga pants she wears still make my cock twitch. Images of her taking me in her mouth. She gagged but was always so good for me and let me have her throat.

I absentmindedly rub my cock through my pants. Thinking about how tight and wet she was. The sweet little moans she let out while taking my dick. The way she would latch onto me while I came deep inside of her.

Stop, Talon. I yell internally.

I was torturing myself. In some ways, I deserve it. I should have been upfront with her. Let her know what she was getting into with me. A mistake I play over and over again in my head.

By the time I look back up, she has already disappeared inside. I frown, mad at myself for not keeping my eyes on her as long as I could. Getting out of the car to stretch my legs, I walk down to the corner store to grab a bite to eat.

The shopkeeper on shift doesn’t even look up from his phone when I walk in.

“Hey, Kevin,” I say flatly.

He grunts in reply. I tried to talk to him at first. To be honest, I just wanted to talk to another person about anything. But Kevin isn’t the talking type. I bring some sandwiches and water up to the register.

I pay, then leave and open my sandwich on the way out. I eat it quickly and make my way back to the car. Every moment I’m not watching her door could mean she gets hurt. I sit on the hood of the car and stare at her building.

I imagine she’s getting ready for bed. Putting lotion on her skin to keep it silky smooth. Maybe even giving her pussy a quick shave to keep it free of hair. I chuckle at myself. The great Talon Ricci, next in line to inherit NY, lives in a car outside of a woman’s door.

Not just any woman, though. The woman. My wife. Before I can think about it, my feet begin to carry me forward. She’s my wife. I want to touch her. Smell her. Wrap her in my arms and keep her there. Feel her skin flush at my touch. Then I want to fuck her until we both pass out. Not waiting for the elevator, I take the stairs two at a time to her floor. I slam through to the hallway and make a beeline to her door.

I had a key made for me in case of emergencies. A fact I also failed to mention to her. Turning the knob, I stick my head inside. Only the light above the stove is on in the main room.

Meaning she has already gone to bed. I curse myself because now I will have to wake her up. She’ll be fine. The thought is more wishful thinking. She is probably going to be pissed.

I open her bedroom door and peer inside. She is lying on her side, bundled inside a blanket. At the sight of her, I lose all care of her reaction. I simply have to be with her.

“Callie,” I say quietly.

I turn on the light and say her name again, this time louder. She rouses and squints her eyes against the light.

“Talon?” she murmurs, half asleep. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Not saying a word, I kick off my shoes and pull off my jacket. I lie next to her and wrap her up in my arms.

“I can’t be away from you any longer. I want you to come home.”

“You smell so bad,” she says, trying to hold her nose.

Laughing, I hold her tighter against me.

“Seriously, I want you to come home. I’m a mess without you,” I say quietly. “I love you, Callie.”

Going still, she lies there for several seconds. Which might as well be hours.

“I miss you too, Talon. To be honest, as much as your world scares me, the thought of being without you scares me more. I love you too, Talon.”

As I absorb her words, I feel a weight lift off my chest. It’s felt like I had been holding my breath these last few weeks. Hearing Callie’s words feels like air finally returning to me.

I turn her toward me and place a kiss on her forehead.

“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that. Let’s sleep here tonight. In the morning, we will go home and start our lives together.”

“Deal.” she says. “But before you sleep in my bed, you have to shower.”

“Only if you shower with me,” I tease. “Tonight, and every night after that.”

“I think I can make that happen,” she whispers seductively.

And just like that, she is mine again.

Always and forever.