Chapter 7
ONYX
God, he was batshit insane. The more I stared at Lucero, the more I wanted to bolt.
He was the type of person you couldn't reason with, and someone without reason was unforgivably dangerous.
He continued to smile at me with my blade still piercing through his flesh as he gazed at me like a teenager in love.
Ugh.
I cleared my throat. It was time to put a stop to this shit once and for all. I stood and moved over to the counter. When I returned, he was already pressed up against me, as if he couldn't breathe if he wasn't in my skin.
"Jesus, back off!" I growled as I shoved a hand into his chest and pushed him away. "You're too close."
"Not close enough," he argued as he tried to gather close to me again. "What are you doing?"
I had to shove him away again. My palm itched, my fingers twitching as I thought about what I had to do. He wasn't going to make it easy, but I couldn't stand another minute of this. I needed my freedom, and Lucero Marino was a ball and chain if I had ever seen one.
Shivering, I laid the papers down on the dining room table and crossed my arms over my chest. Finally, I laid a pen on the stack of papers. I glanced at Lucero.
"Sign them," I said shortly. "You're drawing this out longer than you need to and it's pissing me off."
Lucero smiled at me as he pulled the papers over. When he read them, the smile was immediately erased from his face. His brow furrowed before he glanced up at me with something dark glowing in his eyes. It made my heart skip a beat and my stomach knotted.
"More of this joke?" he asked. "I told you, I'm over this prank. Don't do it anymore."
I scoffed. "It's not a prank you, putain d'idiot! I do not know you. You do not know me! Will you stop this nonsense before I lose my fucking mind!? Shit!"
My tongue automatically switched to a line of rapid-fire French that I couldn't stop even if I tried. Lucero Marino was easily the most frustrating man I had ever met in my twenty-seven years of life. No one had ever made me lose my composure the way he did with his senseless bullshit.
As I waved my hand, Lucero locked in on it. I stopped mid-sentence, and realized what he was staring at. For some reason, I shoved my hand under the table.
Lucero moved closer, reached underneath the table, and snatched my hand up.
I tried to pull it back, but he was strong as hell.
Lucero took his bloody, knife-stabbed hand, and slid my ring back onto my finger.
The one I had left on the windowsill of his cabin.
I stared between it, his wound, and him.
"Fuck, you really are psychotic."
"I'm in love," he breathed. "What's wrong with that?"
My chest ached. I had never been like Lucero.
There was never a time where I had been so in love that I just knew it was meant to be.
I hadn't even been casually in love. The word and the concept were both foreign to me.
Part of me was envious. How nice it would have been to be so oblivious to the world and all its ugly that you could simply fall in love and think of nothing else.
I did not have that luxury.
Reaching over, I snatched the knife out of his hand. Lucero grunted. As blood bubbled up, I reached over and grabbed a kitchen towel before I wrapped it around his massive paw.
"You need stitches," I muttered. "Whatever we're going to do, nothing can happen until you do that first."
Lucero pulled his phone out. He pressed one button and smiled at me as I held his hand, applying pressure to it. I knew he was probably happy about the situation, after all, I was holding him.
"I need your help," Lucero said. "Stab wound." He grunted. "Doesn't matter. I'm at Onyx's place. Can you come soon?" He examined the towel. "Yeah, it's bleeding pretty bad." He shrugged.
"Don't say that so casually!" I snapped.
He grinned. "My brother just said the same thing. Jinx!"
I was going to kill him. No, I was going to pull the towel away and let him bleed to death.
Of course, then I would have a giant body to dispose of and that would be a pain in the ass.
On top of that, his family would find me and slice me up into tiny little pieces.
And that was probably after the torture.
"This is not my life," I muttered to myself. "It can't be."
Once more, I really considered the fact that I might be in hell.
"Okay, I'll be here."
Lucero raised his hand high, and I was nearly taken out of my seat. I stood up and continued to press on it. When he hung up, I sighed.
"Bleeding out aside," I said. "I just need you to sign the papers, Lucero. Let's make this easier on ourselves and?—"
"No," he said flatly.
I blinked. "No?"
Lucero shrugged. "No. Marriage is everything to me. I won't give you up."
The man was going to cause me to have high blood pressure. He had to be the most frustrating person that I had ever met in my life. I tapped my foot impatiently.
"Well, now what?" I huffed. "You can't keep stalking me, and I can't keep dealing with you. So, we need to reach some kind of arrangement."
"You could move in with me," he said. "I live in the main family home, but if you want, we could get a place of our own." He waved his uninjured hand. "Or I can move in here."
I blinked. "What do you think an arrangement is?" I pinched the bridge of my nose. Trying to reason with him was impossible. It was like his head was in a cloud and I couldn't reach him. "Listen, just sign the damn papers already! This can be over in two seconds if you just?—"
Lucero picked me up and slammed me onto the table. The wind left my lungs, and I gasped as I tried to draw in a breath. Lucero hovered over me.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that so hard. I forget how strong I am, you know?" He traced my face with his fingers. "But I really don't wanna hear you talk like that anymore. If this is over, I have nothing left to live for. You are my reason for existing and breathing, Onyx. Just you."
Lucero's lips pressed against mine and my eyes flew open wide.
In the middle of the kiss, I was finally able to draw in a breath.
We pulled apart, and I coughed so hard my throat hurt.
I touched my mouth as Lucero took up residence between my thighs.
My body twitched as I felt his cock pressed against my body.
If that thing ever went in me, I'm pretty sure I would die.
"Lucero," I said slowly. "I'm going to try one more time to be reasonable.
I don't want to be married. And this has nothing to do with you.
I don't want to be married to anyone. I'm not a good man, and I do not plan on being one either.
" I frowned. "I'm sorry, but this was never supposed to happen.
You were just a mark. Now I need to return to my life, and you need to return to yours. "
He stared at me for what felt like ages.
Lucero planted his hand beside my head and he leaned down over me.
He was so big that his body completely covered mine.
I sucked in a breath. My first instinct was to run, but even as I tried to scoot backward, he grabbed my hip with his injured hand, and dragged me back down the table.
"Give me a chance," Lucero begged. "Besides, I want to know who tried to put a hit out on me. You could help me figure it out, right? I know you could."
I blinked at him. "I don't know about all that. It's not like I'm a detective," I muttered as my heart hammered away in my chest. "I'm a killer, Lucero."
"Yeah, but you research your targets. I know you do. I've been studying you for years. You never just go after someone, it's like you become exactly what they need you to be and then you take them out. I know you could figure this out."
How the hell had we gotten to this point? My door crashed open and Summers and Lee had guns drawn on us. I stared at them and rolled my eyes.
"Goddamn it, now you want to come do your job?"
"No offense, but this crazy asshole keeps putting us in hospitals," Summers said.
"Yeah, we don't get paid enough for this shit," Lee muttered.
I waved a hand. "Get out. I got this."
"Are you sure?" Lee asked.
"Hey, my husband said get out," Lucero growled, his voice more beast than man. "So get the fuck out before I break your head against the wall."
My cock should not have jumped. Nope. But as I looked up at Lucero, I wondered how good he would look with a collar and leash around his neck like some feral werewolf under my control. His eyes slid to me and he smiled.
"They should listen to you," he said. "You don't need them anyway. I can keep you safe."
I made a face. "You know they're keeping me safe from you, right?"
He smiled even harder. "I would never hurt you! You're too perfect."
Fuck. Seriously, if he wasn't so insane, Lucero would totally be my type. He was strong as hell, dumb of ass, and his body was so delicious I wanted to lick every inch of it.
Again. No. OMG. Do I have Stockholm syndrome? This is what psychosis feels like. I just know it.
"Lucero."
"I love when you say my name." He sighed.
"It's like your voice just reaches right into my pants and wraps around my cock so tightly it hurts.
" He pressed against me more, his eyes half glazed.
Whether it was from lust or blood loss, it was a toss up.
"Come on, help me figure out who wants me dead.
If… If you do that, then I'll leave you alone. "
My brain screamed in sirens and clanging bells. Clearly, this was all bullshit. Right? And yet I couldn't pass on the opportunity to be rid of this colossal pain in my ass.
"Fine," I said. "Once we figure out who tried to paint you as a diddler, we'll go our separate ways."
Lucero's eyes widened. "They painted me as a what? " His eyes darkened, his mouth in a straight line. "I'll fucking kill whoever did that. Is that what you thought I was all this time?"
I stared at him. "Well, yes."
"Fuck that," he growled. "I don't do that shit. That's disgusting!" he growled. "Ugh. I feel sick."
He pushed off me and plopped into a chair. Lucero stared at the ground and he genuinely looked as if he would throw up at any moment. I sat up and moved to him. If I wasn't sure about what he was before, but I was now.
"No wonder you didn't want anything to do with me," he muttered. "I'm going to murder whoever said that shit."
Lucero was talking to himself now, mumbling under his breath as he discussed how many ways he would hit the person who had made me think that of him. I let him have his moment, my brain still too scrambled by everything that had transpired.
"Mr. Auclair." Summers came back inside. "You have a visitor."
"Who?" I asked.
"He says he's Emir Marino."
I glanced at Lucero. "Someone you called?"
"Yep! He's the family doc." He grinned, completely forgetting his anguish for the moment.
God, he had worse memory loss than a hamster.
When a thin, small man walked in with a bag and a frown, I remembered him from the wedding.
His dark hair was piled into a bun that spilled curls on either side of his face. "Emir!"
The man turned and glared at both of us.
"What the hell, Lucero? Let me see the injury."
He swept in, all confidence and full of concern. As Emir looked at Lucero, I felt awkward. But it also sent a familiar pang through my chest. He finally took the towel off and growled.
"Who stabbed you?"
"My husband," Lucero said proudly. "He held my hand."
Emir spun on me. "I should slit your fucking throat."
"Try it," I challenged.