Chapter 24
24
LUCY
T he car comes to a stop outside a small bridal store. Immediately, my heart pounds so fast that I might pass out. I’m already so tightly wound from his teasing on the beach. There’s not much more I can take.
“I have some errands to tend to,” Tomasz tells me.
There’s a tension between us that’s entirely new. I want to jump his bones, and he wants to fuck me too. Except he’s hell-bent on torturing me. If he thinks I’m going to last the next three days like this…
“You’re leaving me here? On my own?”
“Not quite,” he laughs lightly, tucking a tendril of my hair behind my ear. “You’re going to be my wife.” The instant I open my mouth to argue that the terms of our nuptials aren’t the norm, he adds, “Regardless of the circumstances we’re going into this, we are going to be tied to one another for a long fucking time.”
The way he cups my face makes my belly swoop. Butterflies flutter wildly while he caresses my countenance with his gaze.
“Do you have any feelings for me at all?” The question tumbles from my lips without warning.
I keep telling myself that this is nothing more than a twisted business deal. Our marriage is going to be nothing more than a farce. He took me like he has taken many other girls, and while he hasn’t sold me off to the highest bidder, I’m not foolish enough to think that there is nothing in this move for him.
After a short deliberation, he tells me, “I admire you. You’re strong. More than you know, and more than I’ve ever known anyone to be.”
“Admiration…is that why you fuck me?”
Chuckling, he traces his hand down from my face while closing the privacy divider with the other. The darkness that engulfs us once we are contained in the back of the Maybach has goosebumps breaking out all over my body. Our closeness suddenly feels so much more overwhelming.
“I fuck you,” he says with a low gravel to his words, “because it feels so damn good when I’m inside you.”
I swallow, trying not to whimper when he cups my breast in one big hand and squeezes.
“I fuck you because I can.”
The hitch of my breath chokes me as he pulls me onto his lap, manoeuvring me so that I straddle his thighs. He’s stayed true to his word on the beach. Apart from holding my hand or playing with my hair and the occasional touch to the curve of my back, he hasn’t touched me, even though he’s made a point of watching me. It’s part of his punishment, allowing me to see that he wants me as much as I want him, while I know he won’t take it any further than this.
“I fuck you because I want to,” he groans, cupping my pussy with his hand.
It’s a light touch but enough to burn through the lace of my underwear. His thumb strokes between the flat of my hips, and I collapse into him, ready for him to take me right here. For a moment, I think he might when he grasps my delicate knickers and twists them around his fist until they tear, tugging them into my slit until I can’t contain my pleas for him to take me.
With an arrogant crow, he pulls the wet lace from between us, fisting it in his hand as he tells me, “I fuck you, malyshka, because you want it. You need my cock.”
“Then give it to me,” I bluster, trailing my hands down the front of his white shirt to his belt.
I unbuckle and loosen it as he watches me, making quick work of freeing his cock as I slip off his lap onto my knees.
“This isn’t for you,” he says, knotting his hand in my hair and tugging my head to the side so that I lick up the thick, throbbing vein from root to tip. A hiss pushes between his teeth when I tongue the slit. “Fuck…you do that so good. I would marry you just for your tongue, Red.”
The praise makes my chest warm, squeezing tight around my lungs as they fizz with ecstasy over his lust-filled remark. It may be sick and twisted, but pride blooms inside me, unfurling deep in my core as it throbs with a need has me sucking him deeper, lapping at his cock faster when he pulls me up to the tip and his precum paints my tongue.
His length thickens, and before I can draw in a breath, he plunges my mouth down onto him until he pushes past my gag reflex and fucks my throat exactly like he said he would earlier. I can’t breathe or think. Tears burn down my face as he pumps faster, and my hands claw at his thick, muscled thighs.
Fuck, my throat is clenching so tight that I can feel every ridge of him thrust deeper.
“That’s it…” he grunts. “Take it all…take it…”
Every curse he spits from his mouth becomes rougher until it becomes nothing but grunts, and holding me down, he comes. His hot seed scorches my insides as I try to swallow it all, every drop just how he likes it so that he’ll give me what I want too.
Once he’s tucked himself away, Tomasz lifts me back onto his lap. Looking into his eyes, I swear I can still feel him lodged deep in my throat, his dick hammering so far down that he might have bruised my fucking heart.
“I’ll be back later,” he tells me while cleaning me up with his cotton handkerchief. “Pick whatever you like, and take your time. Enjoy it.”
“It’s a dress.”
A serious stare draws his brows into a pensive furrow as he repeats, “Enjoy it. Make the most out of it because this is it. You won’t get another chance.”
“Okay, I will.” I try to pacify him so that he stops fixing my make-up and touches me the way I need him to.
“Come back to me,” Tomasz says as he sits me back beside him, grabbing my torn underwear from the leather seat as he reaches across me and opens the door. “Go now.”
“But…”
Anton is already helping me out of the car before I can say anything else or even refuse to leave him until he’s taken care of me.
“Tomasz.”
With the scrap of lace fisted in his hand, he holds it to his nose and takes a long inhale before he grins at me. “Come back to me and I’ll fuck you.”
What has gotten into him? Why does he keep telling me to come back to him as if I have anywhere else to go?
“Get inside,” Anton says, surveying our surroundings carefully as he slams the car door shut.
If this is so risky, they should’ve just had a dress brought to the compound instead of driving so far. Anton opens the shop door for me. While he’s still holding it, I turn to look back at the car to find Tomasz watching me as though this might be the last time he sees me.
The smile on his face appears haunted, making me want to run back to him for no other reason than to distract him from his worry. Tomasz always has something on his mind, but when we’re together, he seems to relax.
“Enjoy,” he mouths, still holding my torn underwear in his fist while he rests his chin on it.
“Inside,” Anton urges, and although I’m not all that bothered about picking a dress, I do as he says.
The bridal boutique is small enough that when I step inside, I freeze at the sight. Tears instantly flood my eyes as my racing heart runs away with itself.
Oh my God.
The happiness that floods me has me turning on heels and heading back to the shop door. But when I open it, the car is gone. Tomasz is gone. Anton is standing outside, a stern look on his face as I try to stop my emotions from getting the better of me.
“We’ll see whose team you’re on now,” he states coolly.
I head back inside to find my mother still standing in the middle of the shop with Luda sitting in the seating area by the fitting podium. There are security men on either side of her as she smiles at me.
“You look…” Mum comes closer, stepping in front of me with a broad grin on her lips. “So well.”
“No thanks to you.” The bitter words expel from somewhere deep inside me.
“Don’t be cross with me.”
“Cross?” A manic laugh bubbles from me. As happy as I am to see her, I also have a tonne of questions and a shitload of hurt and resentment that confuses all my senses. “Why would I be cross, Mother?”
“It’s not what you think, and I didn’t know that they wouldn’t come get you right away. Your father promised it was a failsafe.”
“For who? His career? Their old boys’ club? Because it sure as shit wasn’t for me. His fucking buddy sold me out!”
My tears burst from their dams into a torrential downpour that chokes me.
“And I’ll be dealing with him myself.” Taking my hand, she presses a multitude of kisses to it. “We’re going to get you home, and we’re going to fix this. We’re going to make it better.”
The meaning of Tomasz’s words sinks in. When I glance over at his mother, she continues smiling even though I’m being torn to pieces on the inside. I should be happier than ever right now. But all I can think is that if I don’t leave, I’m actively choosing this life. I’m choosing to be a ghost for the rest of my days.
If I leave…
The thought alone cripples me. Tomasz isn’t perfect, and we are miles away from being good for each other. We’re toxic. I bark and he bites. But he has taken care of me.
Anytime I’ve been hurt or in danger, he has been there. He’s never broken his promises to me.
Pulling away from Mum, I go to the sofa Luda is sitting on and sink beside her. She was kind to me today. Her love for her son is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and the fact that she’s dying is a travesty. If anything will break Tomasz, it will be the day she takes her last breath.
“Nobody will stop you,” she whispers, patting my hand.
“Why now?” I ask between deep, steadying breaths. “Why is he giving me a choice now?”
Another smile, but there is no worded reply, even though it’s obvious she knows.
“Do you think he could ever love me?”
“What does your heart tell you?”
“I need him to love me. I need your son to need me.”
“Those questions can only be answered by you and Tomasz. Nobody else can see inside you to tell you the truth you’re looking for. But I will tell you this again—” She catches her breath. When she has readjusted herself and is settled again, Luda continues. “This life is dangerous and harder than you can imagine. You’ve seen nothing yet. However, it can be beautiful, and there is so much happiness to be found in it. Especially if you have a devoted person beside you. Marrying my son will make you a queen one day, and your children will want for nothing. They will have the world at their feet.”
This is the picture she painted for me earlier. One where family is all that matters. Where people will die for you because their loyalty is plated in love. It’s all I’ve ever wanted because it’s who I am. We aren’t all that different at all.
Looking back to my mother, I know my decision before the words have formed in my mouth or even fully computed in my head, because it’s etched in my heart. The answer is right there.
“I am home,” I say loud and clear so that there can be no question about it. “I’m marrying Tomasz.”
“But Lucy?—”
“You can stay,” I cut her off. Resting my hand over Luda’s, I lace our fingers together. I’ve never felt something so breakable in my grasp before. “Or you can go. But right now, I would like to find a dress, and if you want to help, I’d love that too.”
“If you go through with this, you’ll never be able to come home again.” It’s her turn to cry, and as angry as I still am about the way things happened, I try to comfort her the best I can.
“I told you, I am home. Tomasz risked everything to save me. His life and his family. He’s risked his entire world to keep me.”
“I’ll never see you again.”
“If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here.”
It’s the truth, and right now it means everything and more as my chest aches with the yearning to set eyes on him. Tomasz’s actions are the only evidence I need to justify my choice. There’s nowhere else I belong than here, with him. My heart is desperate to be close to his again. It’s screaming for him.
“We can make the most out of this, can’t we?”
“You’re asking me to find happiness while I’m losing you again. What do I tell your grandmother? She was devastated as it is—this will kill her.”
“Tell her I’m doing everything I can to live another day and that I’m happy doing it. Tell her she taught me well and that I am always going to be a Mortimer. Cunning and strong.”
There’s no point in dwelling on any more of the downsides and cons. A genuine smile pulls at my lips as I grasp her hand and lead her to the sofa, where Luda is watching us.
“I’m not really sure where to start,” I say, looking around me at the rails of wedding gowns and mannequins dotted around the boutique.
The attendant peers out from a small room at the other end of the shop, and as she walks over to me, she picks out a few dresses in different styles. I may not have been looking forward to picking out a dress before, but now I can’t wait to find something that will blow my husband away, like he has swept me off my feet most unexpectedly.