Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Knox
My future wife fucking hates me.
That’s fine by me.
Hate and want are two sides of the same blade. And right now, I’m bleeding on both.
The car is silent except for the low growl of the engine and the warm breath of summer clinging to the air.
Isla sits beside me on the back seat, staring out the window like the night might save her.
Don, my driver, keeps his eyes on the road pretending—as always— that he doesn’t know something’s going on with me. Every now and then, I catch him watching her.
He’s the first member of my house staff to see her.
This encounter will plant the seed of our relationship.
By morning, the rest of the household will know I have a new woman in my life.
And that unlike the women I usually hook up with, who live in penthouse apartments or fashionable homes in the suburbs, Isla is from Brooklyn.
But that’s where her family home is. My sources told me she’s currently staying with her mother. Isla actually lives in a rundown apartment on the East Side. At least we’re not going there.
I steal a glance at the platinum-haired beauty. Her hair catches the moonlight like liquid silver, and her delicate face almost looks unreal. Like an angel, if angels came with sharp tongues and too much fire.
Isla Monroe is far from innocent. She’s a siren with the bite of a Valkyrie.
I’m certain she’s had a mouthful to tell me since we left the club and would have fought me off tooth and nail before she got in the car with me, but she’s being wise by picking her battles again.
I’m also aware that part of her is scared. Scared of me.
She’s right to be. Most people are that way around me. It’s the power. They don’t know what I can do with it, and they’d rather not find out.
While I’m not as evil as some people in my circle, I’m not a man to fuck with.
From the sudden tenseness in Isla’s shoulders, I can tell she knows I’m watching her. And I’m pretty sure she’s thinking of the way she came apart in my hands.
I certainly am. I haven’t stopped thinking about it.
Fuck, I don’t even know how I ended up with her tonight. This little impromptu meeting was totally unplanned.
I was just about to go into a late meeting when my sources told me she’d gone to Eclipse House by herself. No way was I going to allow that.
I left the office straightaway.
Thankfully, the club was only fifteen minutes away.
My timing was perfect. When I arrived, I caught two guys checking out the hot girl at the bar drinking alone. They were planning to take her back to their place.
The moment I realized they were talking about my girl, I quickly set them straight and made sure they walked away with a very different plan. Then I conjured my own as I watched the girl at the bar drinking her whiskey, completely oblivious to my eyes. Until she wasn’t.
Though I wanted to teach her a lesson, I never planned to do so with her pussy, or kiss her the way I did.
That just sort of happened. I took one look at her in her little skirt and camisole top, and I fell into the same trap as every other man who’d been watching her tonight.
That smart mouth of hers sealed the deal, and when I saw an opening, I took it. Screwing the consequences and the fact that we’re supposed to be enemies.
I can’t complain. She tasted good. And she was so wound up she seemed to need the release just as much as me. Though, I’m the one sitting here with my cock rock hard.
For a moment, it was she who trapped me with her moans and groans of pleasure and her tongue dancing with mine. I wanted to see how far I could take her down the rabbit hole.
Then she came on my hands, stared at me with those huge doe eyes, and clarity returned to me, knocking sense back into my head.
Now, here we are. While I would love to get back to exploring her body and those glorious sounds she made when I pleased her, I have to stay focused.
Part of that focus is making sure I’m the one in charge here.
My phone buzzes with a text. The sound, even though subtle, breaks the deadly silence.
I retrieve my phone and look at the preview on the screen. It’s from Jessica, one of the women I see when I’m… bored.
The preview says:
I miss fucking you. It’s been too long.
Last time was amazing.
I’m available tonight, if you want me.
It’s the kind of offer I would have accepted if my dick didn’t want the ice princess next to me. The irony is definitely not lost on me.
I sense curious eyes on me. I turn to find Isla glaring with a sour smirk on her pretty face.
There’s no doubt she saw the message. I am sitting right next to her, and the backlight on my phone has the message lit up in full view.
“I guess clause three doesn’t apply to you.” She keeps her voice low so Don can’t hear. Points to her for being mindful.
Clause three—no consorting with members of the opposite sex, no secret meetings, and no fucking—wouldn’t mean anything to Don, but if he were to betray me and look hard enough, it would give context to the contract with Isla I want kept secret.
I smirk and lean closer. “Actually, it does.”
“Doesn’t look that way to me.” She glances back at my phone with arched brows.
I shift closer, an idea forming. I hold out my phone so she can see the screen properly. I find Jessica’s number, and block it. Then I delete the contact and the entire thread of our messages.
Isla blinks, her expression flickering from surprise to practiced indifference.
“How noble of you. I’m sure there are plenty of others.”
“There are,” I admit, voice steady. “When you come to my place, you can delete them yourself. I don’t have time for that.”
For a second, she just stares, lips parted, all that fire flickering into silence. I don’t say a word. I don’t have to. She gets it.
She turns away and resumes staring out the window. I look at her a little longer, letting her feel the heat of my gaze.
Once again, I wonder what kind of ride I’m in for with this girl. I only met her yesterday, and she’s already making me break all my rules.
I return my gaze to the road ahead and force my mind to settle.
Ten minutes later, we cross into Brooklyn, and another five brings us to her family home.
It’s small with two stories, framed by a white picket fence that’s seen better days. The porch light glows soft and warm, and there’s a pot of dying flowers on the steps that someone still cares enough to water.
It’s not grand, not polished like the lavish home I grew up in or the one I own now. But it has that homey vibe. The kind of place that smells like Sunday dinners and safety. Everything my world isn’t.
I imagine Isla and her family living an ordinary life here. One where her mother wasn’t a self-centered monster who didn’t want children, and her father—even though he was a thieving bastard—did his best to be a father.
A pang of envy clenches my insides. It’s crazy to feel envious because I had so much, but I guess I really didn’t have it all.
My father is my idol, but he stayed with my mother too long.
The moment Don pulls up on the curb, Isla undoes her seatbelt, then she’s out of the car faster than a heart can beat.
I could let her go. I wanted to see her home, and I have.
But there are still things I need to say. Things she needs to understand that I couldn’t say in here. And I’m not the kind of man who leaves things unsaid.
I step out of the car and catch up to her, drawing a low frustrated sigh from her lips.
“I’m perfectly capable of getting to the door by myself,” she argues, cutting me a hard stare.
“I’m aware, but we didn’t get the chance to speak.”
She tries to walk ahead when we go through the gate, but I fall in step easily with her.
“We’ve spoken enough. I don’t want to talk anymore.”
“No more clubs, Isla.” I ignore her request and get to the point.
She shoots me a glare that would burn me alive if she held such power. “What do you mean, no more clubs? Are you seriously telling me where I can and can’t go?”
“No more going to clubs by yourself.” I’d include going with Mia, too, but that would be a step too far. I don’t trust that cousin of hers because of the people she associates with. The boyfriend who works at the club is an ex-con.
Isla stops midstride and glares at me. “You have some nerve, Mr. Vale.”
“Knox,” I correct her with a smile.
“No. I’m not calling you that.”
“Why not, love?”
“Stop calling me love. I hate it.” She grits her teeth, and I almost laugh.
“Since you hate it, I’ll do it even more, love.” I feel like we’re twelve and arguing on the playground. “Anyway, I mean it. I don’t want you going out by yourself. If you want to go to a club, I will take you.”
She laughs without humor. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Why not?”
“Are you kidding? So you can terrorize me? Or violate me?”
“Terrorize? Violate?” I place a hand to my heart, feigning innocence. “I wouldn’t call it that, love. Especially when you seemed to enjoy yourself so much.”
Her cheeks flush an angry pink that looks vivid against the moonlight. She brings her hands up to her cheeks and shakes her head. “You are so, so vile.”
I reach out and touch her jaw, then lean in like I’m going to kiss her again. She freezes up like she did at the club, and I wonder if she wants me to. I want to, but I won’t. Because I shouldn’t. “You may be a vicious little creature, Isla Monroe, but my God, do you taste good.”
“You’re an asshole.” She exhales sharply, fury and breath tangling.
“Yes. Yes, I am.” I speak with the pride of a man who’s just received a medal of honor.
“Ugh, I can’t believe I’m marrying you.”
“Just don’t fall for me, and you’ll be fine.” I grin.
She gives me that humorless laugh again, but this time, there is a flicker of real amusement. “Oh, believe me, there’s no chance of that happening.”
“I didn’t think so.” I grin. “Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I am telling you, the next time you want to go to a bar or club, even if you want to drown your sorrows because of me, I will take you. You will not go alone. Are we clear?”
“Fine. Yes.”
“Wonderful. Now we’re back on the same page.” I release her and take a step back.
Just then, the front door opens, and her mother steps out, clutching her dressing gown. She looks stunned to see me.
“Oh my. I didn’t realize we were having company.” She looks me over with the same wariness she displayed in William’s office yesterday.
“Apologies, Mrs. Monroe.” I dip my head with the charm of a Southern gentleman, even though I’m neither Southern nor a gentleman. “I didn’t mean to show up unexpected. I was just seeing Isla home safely.”
“And now that he has, he’s leaving,” Isla fills in.
“Yes. I am leaving.”
“Good night, Mr. Vale.” Isla’s voice is clipped and cool. She folds her arms like she’s sealing herself off from me.
“Knox. You call me Knox.” I grin back at her, my eyes riveted to hers.
There’s something beneath all that defiance of hers that’s as fascinated with me as I am with her. Not even she can fight it. It may very well be the thing that stops us from killing each other.
“Fine. Knox.” My name rolls off her tongue, hauntingly sweet.
I dip my head again, turn, and leave. But the sound of her voice follows me.
It’s a sound I could get used to.