11. Deanna
DEANNA
“Don’t worry, they’ll be ready soon!” I beam at the fifth guest to ask if there’s a problem, an older woman here for Prime’s side, though I have no clue who she is.
All Prime’s people were invited by somebody else and I was told not to stress about it.
The old woman looks concerned, but I don’t know why, as if they care we’re running a few minutes behind considering the amount of booze and food they’re putting away.
But something is definitely off. It starts as a ripple. People in the crowd murmuring to each other, a few angry comments, a flood of guests heading to the door. I don’t understand what’s happening, but I’m running damage control, trying to reassure everyone that the sky isn’t falling.
“Deanna. I need you. Right now.” Prime’s voice edges past the commotion.
I keep my best smile plastered on my face. “And now the pushy groom demands my attention. Please, have another glass of wine, I’ll make sure it’s all sorted.” I pat the old lady’s hand and slip away, striding over to where Prime’s waiting near the back hall.
He holds out a hand. “We have to talk.”
“What the fuck is going on?” I hiss at him.
“It’s Valentina.”
I grip my clipboard and consider beating him to death with it. “What did you do?”
“Come with me.”
I reluctantly follow him back to the groom’s suite.
The room is kind of sad. When I saw him sitting in here earlier drinking all alone, I felt bad for him.
Prime’s handsome, funny, and outgoing. He’s charming and has that magnetism about him like everyone wants to be near him.
But today, on the most important day of his life so far, there’s not a single person close enough to sit in this room with him while he waits to get married.
He shuts the door behind us.
“I called it off with her.”
And all my pity instantly evaporates.
“You did what?!”
“It couldn’t work.” He pours himself a drink and begins pacing. “It was foolish from the beginning.”
“And you’re just figuring that out now? Prime, what the hell is the matter with you?”
“Too much.” He stops and looks at me. “I know how hard you worked finding her, and I know how much you did to set up that agreement. You went above and beyond what anyone could’ve reasonably expected. I appreciate what you did.”
“That doesn’t really help. I have a few hundred guests out there, most of which were here for you?—“
“It isn’t over yet.”
“Your freaking bride is leaving! And I’m pretty sure her family’s storming out too!
” That explains all the frustrated muttering and the guests heading for the doors.
“God, I can’t believe you, but I shouldn’t be surprised.
This is classic Prime, isn’t it? You come up with some big idea and you hang me out to dry when you decide it isn’t perfect enough.
You flake on everything, and here I am forced to clean it all up. ”
“Deanna,” he says, my name an icy warning.
I really should shut up. Prime turns to me, face a storm cloud, half in anger and half in hunger. I know that look, the same one he gave me the night he caught me on the pool table, but I’m so furious.
This is what breaks me.
I went to hell to make this wedding happen. I accommodated annoying requests, threw together a passable ceremony, hired caterers and flower people and everything on short notice, and I did it all on my spare time. Now he’s burning all that work and spitting in my freaking face, not to mention?—
“Oh God, and poor Valentina!” I throw my hands in the air.
“Did you stop to think what this would do to her?! She trusted you, but what a stupid mistake that was. Do you even know about her past? She was left at the altar when she was twenty-four, did you know that? No, you didn’t, because you never bothered to get to know her. Oh my God, Prime! I can’t believe?—“
“Enough,” he snarls and my jaw clicks shut.
I’ve never seen him so mad before. It’s terrifying, the darkness that rolls from his shoulders, the promise of pain and death and suffering.
He strides toward me, face beautiful and terrible.
He grabs me by the hips and pins me against the door, holding me there, and I swear I’d scream if I could breathe.
The smell of him, musky and heady, is overwhelming.
The nearness of him is like a stab to my brain.
I’d run if I didn’t want him to devour me first.
“I know what I did,” he says, his voice low.
I think there’s a slight tremor. Is that emotion?
But no, that’s not possible. Prime doesn’t feel.
“But I can’t give her what she truly wants.
I can’t curse her or her children with me as their father.
I thought I could, but I realized today that it would be so much worse if I tried.
I’m wrong, Deanna. I’m all fucking wrong, and Valentina deserves someone who isn’t wicked like me. ”
“You should’ve realized this sooner.”
“You’re right, but it took until now.” His grip on my hips tightens, digging in painfully.
“Prime,” I groan, wriggling. “Let me go. I have to… I have to tell everyone… I have to fix this…”
“No, you don’t, because while I can’t give Valentina what she wanted, I know someone else who I can please.”
His dark eyes are bottomless. I feel myself tumbling.
I put my hands against his chest and I’m surprised to find him warm and his heart beating fast. Isn’t Prime some kind of statue?
A monstrous, inhuman creature? But he’s a man, an attractive man, funny when he wants to be, clever too, weirdly kind, and his mouth?—
“What are you doing?”
He plucks the ring from his jacket. “Marry me, Deanna.”
My jaw drops in horror. This can’t be happening. It’s got to be some kind of joke. He sent Valentina home and now he’s having a mental breakdown, it’s the only rational explanation, except his hand is touching me, his body is close to mine, and he’s holding it out like he expects me to take it.
“No. Prime, this is crazy.”
“Marry me,” he repeats. “And if you do, I’ll take care of you. I’ll give you what you need. I know about your father.”
I stiffen, pushing back against the door behind me. I lift my chin, jaw tight, fingers digging against him. “Shut your mouth.”
“He’s sick, Deanna, and you’re the only person who can take care of him.
But it takes money and resources, doesn’t it?
You need me as much as I need you. Marry me, and I’ll make sure your father has the best care imaginable.
The best nurses, the best doctors. Your mother too.
They’ll be more than comfortable. I’ll move heaven to make sure they’re as happy as they can be in your father’s final days. ”
I almost choke. I feel sick. Bile slides up my throat and I want to scream, but the only thing stopping me is the memory of my mother and my father sitting at the table laughing together.
“Fuck you,” I whisper.
“Marry me. I can give you what you really want.”
I hate him so much in this moment it’s like my whole body is consumed by it. I hate him, hate him, despise him for using my parents against me?—
But I also see a tiny glimmer of hope.
Because he’s right. Damn him, he’s right. These last few weeks have been the best of my father’s illness thanks to the extra money I’ve been bringing home. How good can it get if Prime turns his impressive resources to the task of making my parents comfortable?
I could have a future. I could move out, move on, and all without feeling an ounce of guilt.
This is my escape. This is my only chance.
“I can’t.” I grind out the words, trembling as I say them. “It’s forever. It’s for… for too long… you don’t even want me…”
“Marry me. Five years, no longer. And I’ll financially support you and your parents for as long as you all live. Please, Deanna. Marry me.”
Fuck.
Fuck him.
This isn’t fair. How can this be happening? Why would Prime do this to me? Valentina was perfect, she was brilliant and gorgeous. She made sense hanging on his arm.
But me? I’m nothing. I didn’t even go to college. I’m his freaking personal assistant for fuck’s sake. What’s more cliche than that? I’m not smart enough, pretty enough, good enough?—
I’m not enough.
“Marry me,” he repeats, thumb brushing my cheek. “I need you, Deanna. Just like you need me.”
Fuck fuck fuck.
“I hate you for this.”
“I know. I don’t care.”
“I don’t even have a dress.”
“You’re wearing black. That could be more appropriate for what we’re about to do?”
“This is insane. All those people, they’ll talk.”
“Darling, you’re about to enter my world. You’ll find that this is about the least scandalous thing we’ll do together.”
“I really do hate you.”
“So long as you’re my wife, that’s good enough.”
His thumb brushes closer to my mouth. I turn my head and take it between my lips and bite down. His eyes widen in surprise and I taste iron sharp blood on my tongue. I suck it, glaring death at him.
“Five years,” I say once he pulls his hand back. “And you take care of me and my parents no matter what. If I want money, you give it to me, no questions. I’m going to put all this in writing.”
“Whatever you want, darling.” He licks the wound I gave him. “Now it’s my turn.”
He catches my hand. I think he’s going to bite me back, but instead he takes the ring intended for another woman and he slides it down my finger.
It’s a simple gold band, nothing special, but it fits perfectly.
He leans in and his mouth crushes mine in a blistering, starving kiss, and I whimper against his lips as hate and need rush through me in a whirlwind of confusion and anger, and I kiss him back despite myself, knowing full well I’m damning myself to hell and diving head first into the lava on my own free will, but if it means taking care of my parents—of saving them from the worst of what’s coming?—
I’ll happily burn under this devil’s tongue.