16. Daisy
SIXTEEN
daisy
I squeezed my ass through the little partition window, refusing to be in the back seat anymore.
“Surprise?”
I’d never been given a surprise. Or not one I liked anyway.
“Yes. A surprise. Assuming you’re ready to get revenge on Daddy?” Zeid said, without taking his eyes off the road.
I’d never been to this part of the city. The buildings were shorter with little character. Different from all the pretentious places that harbored high society.
To be fair, I’d never been any place my father didn’t want me to be. I took in that last thought.
I glanced back. The judge’s body was still slumped over. That wasn’t good. Probably.
“I can’t go home.”
There was a bit of a growl from the man beside me. The one who had me wondering if he was the bad guy. But if he was? He was my bad guy.
“You were never going home anyway.”
I turned toward my dark knight and just stared at him.
“Dove, I know I'm easy on the eyes, but you don’t need to stare.”
That got me blinking and trying to process everything that had happened.
“You came back? And what do you mean I was never going home? I doubt I would get lucky enough to be rid of my family.” I was practically mumbling that last part. What the hell was wrong with my family?
Zeid hadn’t turned toward me, and he kept one hand on the wheel, but the other reached for mine.
Warmth and safety and something else blossomed in me, and for the first time in my life, I found myself not really caring that my future might be ruined. Hell, I didn’t even care if the judge was dead. He’d come back for me. No one had ever come back for me. My father never spared me a second look. My mother usually had a drink in hand as she wobbled about leaving me to eat dinner alone. I knew the staff better than my own parents.
“Should I feel numb or something?”
Zeid effortlessly swerved in and out of traffic, and I couldn’t get enough of him. Just watching him. Mapping scars that I had yet to trace. I liked the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. I wanted to know what that stubble felt like between my legs, and well, shit. I was wet and that seemed rather inappropriate considering my fiancé might be dead in the back.
Numb would imply shock.
But him? Whatever this strange feeling blooming inside me was, it felt like a dream. He’d come back.
“I never left. I know what a caged animal does when backed into a corner, and you, my Daisy, were backed into a corner.”
He wasn’t wrong, but I hadn’t recognized it for what it was. I didn’t actually know what to do. Too busy taking orders forever.
When he pulled my hand to his lips, my entire body woke up in a flood of relief and heat and want.
“But regardless whether you were or weren't, your eyes don't lie even when your words do. And I wouldn't leave what's mine anyway. You, my little dove, are mine.”
That should have scared me just as it scared me to be in the same car as the shit in the back. It should have scaredme that he was in charge of a gang. My whole life, I’d been told they were the enemy. They were the devil. But I felt safer in his arms than I did in the backseat with someone who was supposed to uphold the law.
“Well, thank you for not abandoning me. Yours or not,” I said, glancing back into the passenger space of the car.
When Zeiden squeezed my hand to this side of pain, I turned back to him.
“There is no or not, Daisy. You are mine, and I will prove it to you. Your body, your mind, your soul.”
I shivered at the look he threw my way as he pulled into a garage.
Where were we going?
I glanced back.
“Do you think he’s dead now?”
I asked the question, but there was no waver in my voice. No fear that I would end up in jail. No sadness. Not even my stomach seemed to understand that it might all be wrong and things might come crashing down.
“Dove, what if he was?”
I glanced at Zeid and then back to my ex-fiancé.
“Help me get rid of the body?”
Maybe I’d seen Zeid while he came on top of me. Maybe I’d seen a hint of a smile when he looked at me. But never had I imagined what it would look and sound like if he let go and just laughed. Until now. The entire car seemed alive with his booming laughter, and seconds ticked away while my brain caught up. Hell, if I couldn’t beat them, I would just join them. The crazy that was.
“Good. This might just be more fun than I expected.”
Zeiden got out of the car without warning. I scrambled for the handle, shoving the door open.
“Does that mean he isn’t dead?” I asked, rounding the front of the car.
He was already bending forward into the now open back door. He didn’t even grunt as he pulled out the body and promptly dropped him on the concrete.
“Whoops.” The word sounded so weird coming from a man who had tattoos peeking out under that dress shirt. Hell, I knew where those tattoos went. I knew where the piercings were hidden. I was damn near drooling. I stopped when the toes of my shoes accidentally not accidentally kicked the judge’s arm and startled when Zeid’s hand hooked a finger in the cleavage of my dress, tugging me to lean toward him.
His lips were inches from mine. “Dove, close your mouth. I’ll play with you next.”
I did, but my eyes couldn’t stop the hungry way I watched him smirk, lean down, and grab the body again.
“You sure he’s not dead?” I asked as I fought to keep up with his long strides.
Zeid stopped in a stairwell, the limp, unmoving judge over his shoulder as he held out his hand.
“He isn’t—yet. Now, do you trust me?”
There was no hesitation in taking his hand, but the way I eyed him and drew out my yes probably gave away that I was curious over anything else.
“Lead the way, Zeid. I’ll follow you into hell as long as I get you in the end.”