Chapter 30 #2
And he was going to be really happy with the jewels decorating the band of it. “It looks magnificent. Like the best. Want to decorate my dress next?” I asked her.
My dresses were made to be destroyed anyway. I hadn’t spent a ton on them, and they were all way too boring for a princess party.
Franny bounced over to my closet and chose the blackest one.
It was short and loose and the perfect material to bedazzle.
We spent a half an hour on that before she ran off to eat dinner and then came back to make sure I was all dressed.
I followed her to the media room as she tried to contain her excitement.
It was infectious, though, and I found myself hot gluing more gems and crystals to Malek’s collar while we waited for Jameson. The hot glue gun had become my friend, and I wasn’t going to stop anytime soon. “We should decorate my plant pots, Franny.”
“Oh, tomorrow?” she asked, concentrating on placing her next jewel. “I think Malek loves his collar, right?”
Stepping back, we both stared at it. The red and pink jewels might have been a bit much. “He’s never going to want to take it off.”
It was then that Rosy and Hades came down and I noticed the time.
Ten minutes late.
He told us seven. Seven ten wasn’t a good sign.
It was actually an unacceptable sign for a seven-year-old who already had issues with her parents being absent. Didn’t he know that?
Hades’s face was grim enough that I immediately put my arm around Franny to brace her. “So, I think we should start that movie, huh, Fran Bran,” he said.
“We’re waiting for Daddy,” Franny murmured, but her frown was evident, like she knew what Hades was going to say.
“He’s going to try to make it, Fran Bran, but he got caught up in a meeting.”
“Oh, well …” I spun and grabbed that watch that Franny had decorated. “Fran, why don’t we add some jewels right across here?” I lined the hot glue right across the face of it.
She glanced at it and then at me, confused. “I think that’s where Daddy tells the time.”
I shrugged and grabbed a few jewels to do it myself. “We can tell him I did this. I think he’ll like red and pink best.”
One by one, I placed the sparkly diamond-shaped material to his watch face and pressed it on.
When I looked at Rosy, she was laughing, while Hades looked like he might be sick as I asked, “Meeting in his office, right?” Now that the watch was ruined, I was already heading toward the door.
Did this man not understand that Franny didn’t need to be brought home from her grandma’s only for him not to show up when he said he was going to?
If he thought he was going to skip movie night, he had another thing coming.
“Yes, but—”
“Franny, have Hades make you a big bowl of popcorn while I go grab your dad, okay?”
I stomped past Hades without a second glance and kept stomping all the way to Jameson’s office, making an extra ruckus when I swung open the door in my fluffy princess dress.
“Jameson Knight, you’re not going to work while I sit with Fran after you promised her you’d be there. You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said as I threw open that door. It bounced loudly against the wall while I stood there ready to tear him apart.
Yet he was dressed to the nines in a freaking dark-purple suit that looked like it matched Franny’s dress.
His hair was styled as if he’d spent time.
And he had her bejeweled belt on along with the shoes.
My heart twisted at seeing this man’s effort for his daughter, but him being up here meant he wasn’t exactly trying.
Then the scene registered—the look of pure concentration on his face as he maneuvered a long needle into his brother’s arm. He murmured, “We’re done here. Get out.”
“Right,” I whispered, my eyes on Callahan, glued to all the blood. “I … We can reschedule movie night.” I was leaving, getting out of there, hoping to God he could save Callahan, hoping I hadn’t made him lose concentration.
“Mia Darling, I have a movie with you tonight. Not them. They’re all leaving. Now.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered and hurried over to his brother’s side. He was losing so much blood. “No. What? He needs a hospital and more care, Jameson.”
Callahan chuckled. “I’m fine, pretty girl. Just a scratch. No need to cancel movie night.”
“That’s not a scratch,” I cried, looking at Jameson. “He needs to go to a hospital.”
“Why, when I live just down the road? My brother is easier,” Callahan stated.
“You’re getting sewn up in his home office!”
Jameson shook his head and wrapped the wound, which seemed to cause more blood to gush out. “You need to stop instigating fights.”
“Oh, you’re one to talk.” Callahan looked at me like I was in on the joke. “This man is about to start wars for you, but he wants to manage me.”
“Not managing. Just telling you. Fighting with her enough that she stabs you isn’t really constructive.”
“Wait. She? Who’s she, and when can I meet her?” I couldn’t help but ask Cal.
“Mia, you’re not meeting her,” Jameson growled.
“I’m only wondering what happened.” I pouted.
“Just know, it was warranted,” Jameson answered for his brother, and the small smile on Callahan’s face gave me all the information I needed. He was guilty as charged. “Now, I resigned from the hospital, so get the fuck out of my house before I tear those stitches out.”
When his brother and then the men left, I stood there, looking up at him, not sure what to say.
He leaned over the desk and grabbed a bouquet of flowers.
He handed me ones with little fuchsia blossoms sprinkled in.
“One for you. Other’s for Fran. She okay?
We gotta get down there.” He moved so fast now, like he wasn’t at all concerned about his brother who he’d had to sew up.
“Jameson … you sure you don’t need a minute?”
He chuckled. “A little blood doesn’t scare me anymore. And we’re already late, Mia.” He freaking winked at me. “Didn’t you come in here to tell me that?”
“Right.” I took a calming breath, then rolled my lips between my teeth before saying, “Maybe I need a minute. Do you and your brother always frustrate women?”
“I didn’t mean to frustrate you.” He dragged a finger over my cheek softly. “I meant to be on time.” He massaged the back of my neck and pulled me close. “Come on, Darling. No one’s hurt, everything’s fine. Let’s go enjoy the princess cartoon. So I can be your knight later.”
“We’ll see.” I rolled my eyes, but we really wouldn’t see. I wanted to jump his bones right then and there, but I held out for the greater good. When we got downstairs, Franny was beaming, ready to give her father his last bedazzled present.
Shit.
“I decorated the sides of it, Daddy, and Mia said because you were a little late, the jewels she glued to the face of it would make you be on time next time.”
“Is that what she said?” Jameson glanced my way.
I gulped and twisted my hands. I needed to apologize. He was saving his brother’s freaking life upstairs, and I’d had a silly tantrum about it.
But he just shrugged and took the watch to snap it on. “Serves me right for being late.”
“But … No.” That watch was well over six figures. I knew it. “That’s a Rolex I just ruined.”
“You didn’t ruin it, Mia. I like the red jewels there!” Franny said.
“Yeah, darling Mia. We like the red jewels across the face of my watch. It’ll help me be right on time for our next date.”
“This isn’t a date,” I whisper-yelled at him.
“Of course it is. And I get that my girl might have a bit of an outburst when I don’t show up on time.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. And I’m not your girl either.
We haven’t established any of that,” I said because we did need to discuss it.
I accepted who he was and would definitely be sleeping with him for the time being, but I had to be rational, I decided.
I sat down on the opposite side of the couch, trying to not want to be close to him.
He snaked his arm around my waist, though, and yanked me over so that my leg was right against his as he murmured in my ear, “If you say so, darling devil.”
Then we settled in for the movie, watching the princess defeat all rather than needing a prince or a knight.
Or at least that’s where I thought it was going, because I fell asleep against his shoulder and heard in my dreams Franny telling her dad, “She’s our girl, Daddy. Even if she doesn’t want to be.”
His arm tightened around me as he murmured, “You’re right, Fran Bran. You’re right.”
When I woke the next morning, I was in my bed, and Jameson was lying next to me. Like he belonged there. Like we belonged together.
I knew it wasn’t true, but I couldn’t help but play pretend for a moment and delude myself into enjoying him up against me.
I rocked my hips to feel his shaft rub against my ass and moaned when his hands gripped my waist.
“No nightmares, only sweet dreams this morning, then?”