The Queen’s Denial

Chapter 3 Andy

Chapter 3

Andy

Today is finally the day we can get the hell out of here.

I’ve wanted Chi to stay in the hospital until she was well enough to leave, and I’ve held up that part of the bargain. Now I have a new bargain, made with no one but myself: make sure Chi is okay for the next few weeks at home. I intend to make sure that the girl that got hurt on my watch is getting better.Plus, I won’t deny that the need to fuck her five ways to Sunday is growing by the day. I see the way she looks at me. I know she wants to. It’s just a matter of time now.

I’m not trying to trick Chi or anything; I want things to progress naturally, even if I am a little impatient. I think she wants the same. Things will happen eventually; sometimes you just have to play the long game. Unfortunately, I let her get hurt, and now I have to get her back to where she needs to be so that I can take what I want from her without feeling guilty or attached.

Chi is smart, funny, and beautiful, which always makes sex, foreplay, and all the fun in between far better. Her father likes me and uses me as head of security, so I’ll be able to be around her without raising any suspicion. And a new challenge gives me a rush of adrenaline every time I think about it.

Chi wakes up and winces as she moves around in this foreign bed she’s been sleeping in for days. I know she hates being here. This is what I expected, though: a high maintenance chick who has a hard time adapting to changing circumstances. But I had to make sure she was 100% clear to go home.

I flag down a nurse and tell them to bring some breakfast, and it’s here within minutes. Chi doesn’t realize it, but we get amazing service at this hospital. Not everyone who gets treated here has special sheets and fancy coffee.

“I’m not going to miss this,” she says, even as she chews an enormous chunk of cinnamon roll and washes it down with the coffee I had brought in just for her.

I roll my eyes. “Those beans are Arabica shipped straight from Ethiopia. I’ll grind them by hand for you next time.”

She sighs, her mouth still full of food. “I guess a hospital doesn’t have its own grinder. That’s why it doesn’t taste as fresh.”

I chuckle and she side-eyes me, her cheeks turning pink. “Hey. I’m just used to it, okay? Ever since I started drinking coffee, this is the way I’ve had it. It’s not my fault.”

I consider that for a moment. She’s always had tons of money, but I know what it is to live a normal, upper middle-class life with normal, upper middle-class things. With parents that sometimes made the choice to get fast food for dinner.

“Okay, well maybe you can slow down then. You’re going to choke.”

“I want to get out of here,” she says again with her mouth full. “I can’t wait to get home. My followers are clamoring for a post, and someone wouldn’t let me post from the hospital.”

I roll my eyes; Chi’s love for her following, social media, and image is both a blessing and a curse, but I just hate it. I can’t help but feel a stab of annoyance when I think of the video I saw of her on the bar at some club getting a shot sucked out of her belly button by some asshole on Spring Break.

It’s like there are two versions of her: the fiend at chess who detailed all the ways that Spiderman is better than Captain America, and then the party girl who won’t go out without her fake eyelashes and hair glossed to perfection. Not that I mind that she’s the most attractive woman I’ve ever seen, but she’s still beautiful right now in this hospital bed too, with no makeup, disheveled hair, and pillow creases in her cheeks.

I lucked out in the looks department as well, and I keep myself in good shape. Tall and tan, just like all the Scutari men, with defined facial features and a black shadow covering my chin. I always crop the sides of my hair short but let some of the curls on the top grow out a bit. The shade matches the dark brown of my eyes. Chi and I are both dark and good-looking, and she’d look great on my arm. If we were allowed to be seen in public together, that is.

After Chi is done eating, I finally take her home. Her father needs to stay in the hospital for at least a few more days, so we stop by on our way out just to say goodbye. He and his daughter speak in English most of the time, but Akio switches to Japanese just a couple of sentences into the conversation. I know her father is doing this to unsettle me, but he doesn’t know that I speak the language a bit. It’s not something I feel the need to advertise.

Even though he enjoys testing me, I know Akio likes me; I assume he’s just figuring shit out with his daughter and wants to make sure I won’t overstep my boundaries while he’s in the hospital. From what I can make out of the conversations that I’ve overheard, I’m impressed with the way he talks to her.

She says he treats her like a child, which I do hear sometimes in his tone when he’s ordering her around or keeping details from her. But he also talks to her about things that I’m surprised the boss of a large crime organization would discuss with a woman. I’m relatively certain that she is his heir, though, so I suppose she will have to be told these things out eventually.

Today, though, he talks to her about me, which is not new. He tells her to make sure I’m being respectful and doing my job at the same time. He makes a joke about kicking me out of the main house if I put my hands on his daughter, which makes her laugh, likely because she knows that neither of us will be following that directive. The life Chi lives is splattered all over magazines; it’s obvious that she’s not exactly a pure little angel.

After we talk with her father, we leave the hospital, and I have one of my soldiers drive us back to Chi’s mansion. We go straight into her bedroom so that I can set things up to make her more comfortable, since she’s going to be in this room a lot over the next two weeks if I have anything to do with it. She groans as I start getting her ready for a long stay a moment after we walk in. I place the bag with my secret weapon on her bedside table, along with the remotes and three of the books she’s been reading on and off at the hospital.

“Andy, I’m fine. I need to get out and do something. The hospital was so boring. Let’s go grab something to eat. Or I can take you to a club!”

I give her a flat look. “Definitely not. You got a concussion just days ago on my watch. I’m responsible for making sure you have a full recovery. But look!” I brandish my bribe to help coax Chi into making the choice I want her to make. “Look what I have.”

The corners of her lips creep up when she sees the Twizzlers and Orange Crush I produce from my bag. Chi has a serious sweet tooth. I’ve noticed that although she has a ridiculous amount of wealth, she’ll do just about anything for an economy size bag of Twizzlers and fruity soda. “Who wants to go out for dinner when we can stay in and eat and drink our weight in sugar?”

Now she can’t hold it in and breaks out into laughter. “Fine. Just tonight, though. And you have to hang out with me.” Her lips creep up wider. “Maybe we can have a sleepover. But you can’t treat me like I’m dying.” She steps a few inches closer and bites her lip, looking up at me from under her dark lashes. I know exactly what she’s doing, and I love it. “Don’t think just because I’m letting you stop me from getting jostled around on a dance floor that I can’t handle getting jostled right here in this bedroom. Because I can. And if I didn’t like you so much,” she steps even closer, and I want to grab her — she’s certainly close enough that I could. “I would be going out to get jostled, whether you wanted me to or not.”

I do grab her now, a grin wide on my face. I don’t usually do flirting — it’s a waste of fucking time. She may not be well enough to go to a club, but she can definitely let me rail her into the mattress a bit if she wants. “Do you really want to be responsible for someone else’s violent death, Chi? If someone jostled you at the club, I’d be forced to use them for target practice.”

She squeezes my arms, looking at me with just the right amount of coy devilishness. “Mmm. I love a jealous man.”

Just then, my phone vibrates, and I grab it on instinct. “Just a sec,” I say, before I realize that I could completely be ruining the moment I’ve been building up to fora week.

Well, she clearly wants to fuck me, so another chance will present itself. Especially while I have her here with me for weeks.

“Andy Scutari,” I say, continuing to stare at her to make sure she doesn’t lose interest.

“Gus got shot, and we can’t find Cas, dude,” Massimo, one of my cousin’s best soldiers, says through the phone. Fucking hell. Gus. Gus is third in line behind me and extremely important to the success of our business and safety of Cas’s family. And where the fuck is Cas?

This jumpstarts my memory as I remember that Cas was supposed to be meeting with Maxim Whitney, the father of Chi’s best friend and Cas’s girl. It was supposed to be a simple meeting, but it sounds like it took a turn for the worst.

I can’t help but let my face fall. I don’t want to worry Chi, but she’s seen me in action anyway, so it’s not the worst thing if she watches me change into the robot I am when my cousin is in trouble. “What the fuck happened? No, forget it; don’t tell me yet. Send me your location. I’ll get to the car, and you can give me the details as I drive.”

I hang up without another word and turn to face Chi. “Sorry, babe. I gotta run. Don’t leave that fucking bed, and enjoy the Twizzlers. I’ll be back before you know it.”

She doesn’t seem to know whether to be indignant at my cool demeanor or anxious that something is wrong with Mara. She settles on the latter. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. You heard me, right? I need to get to the car to find out.”

Her lip trembles slightly, and I know she’s trying so hard to stay composed but failing. “Is Mara okay?”

“Like I said, I don’t know. I have to go figure out where the fuck Cas is and what happened. I’ll let you know as soon as I can. Should be back tomorrow or the next day.”

She grabs my arm. “Andy. I want—” She swallows hard, and I witness a sight I so rarely see cloud her eyes. “I want to go with you. If Mara is hurt—”

“No way, babe. I’m not bringing a Chi to a gunfight.”

When Chi speaks next, she’s no longer got a waver in her voice, or anything to indicate that she might be second guessing what she’s saying to me at all. “Stop calling me babe and being all double-oh-seven. Listen to me. I’m nervous for my friend, and I want to know what’s wrong with her immediately. You need to tell me what’s going on so I can see if there’s anything I can do to help.”

I shouldn’t even continue to entertain this conversation, but I can’t help being impressed with Chi’s verve and eloquence. I sigh quickly and look at my watch. “Listen, Chi, I’m being serious. I don’t know what’s going on, and if I keep standing here with you, it’ll be even longer until I figure it out. I’m not lying to you; you can’t go into a dangerous situation right now. If you got another knock on the head, you could die.”

She worries her lip for a moment before dropping her hand. “Fine, go.”