19. Chapter 19
Chapter 19
R oman
Sylvie pushed the bathroom door open, and her head slowly swiveled toward me like a goddamn doll in a horror movie. “What the fuck did you do, Fowler?” Then she started yelling.
Sylvie’s temper was a sight, and I mentally wished Drakos good luck if he planned to take on this hellion. We also needed to be gone before Fennick Spade showed up. The man was a loose cannon. I realized as Sylvie continued to rail at me that when I married Luna, I’d also married into the Spade family. Holidays and special occasions were going to be interesting.
I let Sylvie vent for a moment, then pointed to Luna. She stood slumped against the bathroom sink with dark circles under her piercing green eyes. “You can rail at me all you want, but look at her. She needs me, and the Stracks won’t stop coming after her if they think she’s vulnerable. Use your brain instead of your temper.”
Sylvie glared at me with deep loathing. “We could have protected her, and if you think I’m bad, Fenn is going to go bat-shit crazy. You’re a snake, Roman Fowler, and Drakos even more so for dragging me away last night so you could marry her in a fucking hospital room .”
“You and Fennick may rage at me, but you both know what she’s up against.”
“I’m not stupid–I get that you’re her best chance.” She walked up to me so we stood toe to toe. “But if you hurt her, I’ll come after you and I’m crazy enough not to give a shit about what you or your fucking firm would do in retaliation.”
This woman was a little crazy, but she also knew the score. I detested the Spade men being part of Luna’s life, and I hoped for everyone’s sake it was all strictly familial.
“Understood. I’m taking her home so she can recover in a safe place, and we can talk privately when she’s ready. I live in a gated community with guards, and my house has additional security.”
“She doesn’t need–”
I cut her off. “She puts you, Alexa, and Ezra in danger if she goes back to the mortuary.”
She ground her molars. “Goddamn it to fucking hell. Alright! But don’t try to keep her from us.”
Luna cleared her throat weakly. “Don’t talk about me when I’m standing right here, but I may not be standing for much longer. I need help getting back to the bed.”
I strode over to her and scooped her up in my arms, then nodded to Sylvie. “Grab her IV. She can rest a little while we get her checked out. I have an off-duty police officer outside guarding the door, but there are too many variables here I can’t control. She’s not safe.”
When Alexa walked into the hospital room an hour later, she stared at me with death in her eyes. Sylvie had texted her, giving her an earful about what I’d done last night.
I finally turned to her. “What? Sylvie had her say. You might as well get yours out now.”
“You’re on my shit list until further notice. You and your partners used every marriage license loophole there is.”
“What do you mean?” But I knew exactly what she meant.
Alexa’s eyebrow went up. “I hacked the system, Fowler. I know you waived her presence at the marriage license division by getting that subpar doctor of yours to give you a hospital exception. That’s why he was here examining her yesterday. And who married you? Ivan, that wannabe hacker, motorcycle gangbanger?”
Her description of Ivan made me grin because I knew his head would explode when I told him. “No, Xander married us, and before you look it up, he’s legally licensed to perform marriages. But Ivan was a witness and ensured the signed marriage certificate was filed before midnight.”
“Then they’re on my shitlist too. For now, let’s get her safe.”
Later that morning, I carried Luna into my house. Sylvie and Alexa followed us inside, bringing in suitcases and bags with Luna’s belongings they’d picked up from the mortuary apartment. I suspected half the bags held books.
Sylvie whistled mockingly as she walked into the foyer, then the vast living room. “This place is like a modern art museum. Do you even live here?” she asked.
I kept walking. “You can set her things down in the foyer and leave. She needs sleep now.” Luna had gone silent and drowsy, and I wanted to take care of her without her friends looking over my shoulder.
“Listen, dickhead. We discussed this,” Sylvie growled, following me down the hall to my room where I laid Luna on my massive four-poster bed and slipped off her shoes.
Alexa touched Sylvie’s arm. “As much as it pains me to admit, he’s right. We’ll come back tomorrow afternoon. Let the guard at the gate know who we are, and text us the gate code.” She gazed at me challengingly.
“I will, but she needs sleep.”
“You don’t have to go,” Luna murmured weakly from the bed, her eyelids drooping. It was clear the painkillers they’d given her before she left the hospital had kicked in.
Sylvie walked over to her. “It’s okay, you need sleep. At least one of us will be back tomorrow afternoon to check on you.”
When I locked the front door behind them, a wave of brutal satisfaction rolled through me. Luna was alone with me in my house. I returned to the bedroom and gazed down at her, snuggled under my bedcovers. She looked drained, and the angry purple bruise on her jaw stood against her pale skin, but she was still beautiful. This wasn’t how I’d pictured her first time in my bed, but I wasn’t complaining. Even with her immobile arm and bruised face, lust rose in my gut. She didn’t know it yet, but she wouldn’t be sleeping in another bed.
“Get some sleep. I’m going to take a shower and get cleaned up. I’ll bring you some water and leave it on the nightstand first.”
She sighed heavily. “Okay. Even though you did it in the most underhanded, asshole-ish way, thank you for keeping me safe. We can get it annulled when the Stracks lose interest in me,” she murmured as her voice faded. She was asleep seconds later. My gut tightened in anger and annoyance at her bringing up a fucking annulment a second time. We needed to reach an understanding when she woke up.
While I showered, my mind replayed what Lionel and his man had done to her in that parking garage, and what they probably would have done to her if they’d taken her. I braced my hands against the tile wall while the hot water sluiced down my body.
My mind went back to Bitter Creek Ranch. I knew what it was like to be beaten and to choke on unrelenting helplessness. Xander had been there the longest, and his friends, Peter and Jonas, never made it out. He told us Luna’s father visited there at least once, but he wouldn’t talk about it.
I’d wondered so many times while I was there if my own father knew what he’d sent me to. By the time we got out, I didn’t care. After learning how to amass power and wealth, I set about ruining him. My mother had divorced him seven years ago when he lost his fortune, and she caught him cheating with his twenty-year-old assistant. My partners and Gideon were my family. And now Luna. How had that happened? I finished my shower, toweled off, and got dressed.
As she slept, I brought Luna’s bags in and put her clothes away in my oversized closet. She’d be annoyed at me for going through her things, but I didn’t care. The sooner she got used to the living arrangements, the better. I shook my head when I studied her clothes hanging next to mine. Almost everything she owned, including her underwear, seemed to be black, navy, or gray. I’d have to get my personal shopper to order some lingerie. Luna’s eyes would glow in an emerald-green corset. And her breasts… fuck. Shaking off the thoughts, I headed to my office.
That afternoon, I spoke with Ivan and Drakos on a video conference call. “How’d she take being suddenly married?” Ivan asked.
“She raged, called me an asshole, and told me she never planned to marry. Then she grudgingly thanked me for keeping her safe.”
Drakos smiled fondly. “Lovely Luna. She’s something else, isn’t she? Did she throw anything at your head or demand an annulment?”
“She was too weak to throw anything, but she did say we’d be getting an annulment. I told her it wasn’t going to happen.”
“You don’t plan to annul the marriage?” Ivan asked carefully.
“Fuck, no. I want her, and I plan to keep her. Don’t start with your bullshit about her being just an obsession. Despite her parents, she’s somehow still idealistic, kind, and so fucking sweet. So, no, there isn’t going to be an annulment.”
Drakos cleared his throat. “And how’d she take that bit of news? Or does she even know yet?”
“She heard me, but I don’t think she believes me. We got interrupted, and we’ll finish that conversation when she wakes up.”
Ivan sighed. “She can hold a mean grudge. I like it better when she’s teasing us and asking annoying questions.”
I nodded. “We’re on her friends’ shitlists too. Drakos, Sylvie knows you were at the hospital last night to get her out of the way. I’d sleep with one eye open for the foreseeable future.”
Drakos grinned, and his eyes almost glowed. “Yes, she kept throwing out the term ‘unlawful detention’ and talked about medical castration when I held her down in that empty hospital room.”
Ivan winced. “And she’s a Spade. Good luck with her.”
Drakos rubbed his hands together. “I know. She’s fucking perfect, isn’t she? My sources tell me Lionel didn’t have his daddy’s permission to try and take Luna yesterday.”
I shook my head. “The police caught his accomplice, but Lionel is still at large. Lionel’s a fucking idiot, so I’m sure he’s getting help.”
Ivan leaned forward. “If the drug syndicate thinks the Stracks could mess with their business by going after your wife, they may take them out for us.”
My head came up when I heard the shower in my bedroom turn on. “Luna’s awake. I’ve got to go. Let me know if you hear anything about Lionel.”
I hung up and went to the kitchen to make some food. A few minutes later, Luna walked in, dressed in a black robe and no bra. I tried not to stare at her unfettered breasts and creamy skin under the silk. She looked a little less pale, and the bruise on her jaw wasn’t quite as vivid in the evening light.
“How’re you feeling? Do you need more pain medication?”
She looked around the kitchen. “No. Can I have some water?”
I got her a glass and set it on the kitchen table. “Sit. Let me feed you.”
Luna was too quiet. She probably struggled trying to dress, but didn’t want to admit she needed help. Usually by now, she would have commented on a dozen things that caught her eye as she wandered around my house in curiosity. Her silence concerned me.
I set two plates of pasta down and ate while she pushed her food around. Luna finally sat back and sighed. “This is… I should be raging at you for what you did. But my body still hurts and I just feel numb.”
Setting my fork down, I studied her. “We can skip the yelling and raging, I don’t mind. How about this? For the next two days, I’ll take care of you, and you work on healing. After that, you can yell all you want. You need a quiet place to rest and recuperate.”
Her intelligent green eyes probed me carefully, but I kept my face neutral. She sighed and picked up her water glass. “Forty-eight hours, and you tell me if you hear anything about Lionel Strack.”
“I will. Now eat.”
She took a bite and turned to me. “This is homemade. Do you cook?”
I shrugged. “I can prepare the basics, and I thought pasta would be easier with your sore jaw. My housekeeper picks up my groceries and usually leaves a few home-cooked meals in the freezer. This is her doing. I’ll introduce you tomorrow.”
We ate silently for a few moments but after a couple of bites, she set her fork down. “This is delicious, but I’m not hungry and I don’t want to make myself sick.”
“Then let me show you the house.” I stood and cleaned up.
Except for her uncharacteristic silence, having her here seemed to soothe the beast that usually prowled inside me. When I wanted to fuck and dominate a woman, we went to her place or I got an expensive hotel room. Having people here who weren’t my partners or employees sometimes irritated me, and it was more difficult to control the situation when I wanted them gone. But with Luna, the house seemed less cold and quiet.
“Come on. After you look around, we can sit out on the back patio. It’s quiet out there, and you can ask me about all those things I see percolating in your head.”
She rolled her water glass between her palms and watched me. “Alright. And you can show me which bedroom I’ll be staying in.”
I stilled at her comment. “Your things are already in it.”
She looked confused. “But that’s your room.”
“Yes.”
Emotions flickered across her face. Confusion, anger, and annoyance at first. And then I saw it, lust and heat. She could try to deny it, but her pupils had dilated and her nipples were hard. I knew she wanted me–our first kiss in my office had been explosive.
She carefully set her glass to the side. “Why? If you married me just to keep me safe from the Stracks, why do we need to share a bedroom?”
“Because I want you, and this needs to appear real.”
She stood and put her uninjured hand on her hip. The front of her robe gaped, showing me her flushed chest and the swell of her beautiful breasts. I wanted to pull the tie on her robe, slide my hands up her thighs, and finger her wet cunt. I fought down a groan and adjusted my length under the table.
“If it’s just us here, no one will know where I sleep.”
My temper and need crackled. “ I’ll know where you sleep, and it’s going to be with me.” I stood and leaned over her. “I know you want me. You dry-humped my leg in my office and your nipples could cut glass right now. And we’re married .”
Her cheeks turned pink, and she clenched her robe shut. “You don’t need to be crude. And finding you attractive versus having sex as a fake married couple are two completely different things.”
She was lucky she hadn’t denied wanting me, but I knew I’d have better luck if I eased her into this and didn’t push too hard. So I breathed through my nose and stepped back.
“We have a forty-eight-hour truce, so for now, you need to heal and I need to find Lionel Strack. Do you want a house tour, or would you like to look around yourself while I make some phone calls?”
My mind was torn. I wanted to soak her up and take her long and hard, but I might alienate her before I could reel her in, and having this fight while she was recovering might slow down her healing. The angry contusion on her chin had gone from a vivid red color to a sickly shade of purple, and it made me want to castrate Lionel before I skinned him alive.
Her shoulders straightened. “I want you to give me the grand tour so I can annoy and pester you.”
Good. She seemed to be bouncing back a little. Luna gazed around the gleaming white kitchen with its sleek, industrial appliances. I grabbed a fresh ice pack and made her hold it to her jaw and elbow as we wandered through the house. She made several biting observations about some of my designer’s more severe choices.
When we got back to my bedroom, she stopped short and stared at my massive bed, then looked up at me and licked her lips nervously. “I haven’t seen your patio yet.”
I smiled at her agitation.