Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
LUCIAN
“ S he’s where?”
I know I’ve heard my director of security clearly. I just need a repeat to process the weird sensation of fear racing through my body.
Thomas frowns at me. He’s just as shocked by her location. “At Blue Ridge Spillway.”
My pulse kickstarts and races through my veins like a Bugatti.
Without a word I jump up from the table, leaving my men behind without any explanation.
I don’t have time.
She’s not safe.
I knew she was on the move early this morning from the tracker on her vehicle. Leaving before her normal time of seven a.m. on Tuesdays obviously to avoid having breakfast with me after I teased her last night. When she was headed on her route to school, I let Thomas take over watching her. I just never expected him to surprise me with this deviation from her regular routine.
I’m in my car and blowing down the interstate trying to outrun my panic as well as old demons. I hate thinking about Justus and what happened to him at the waterfall.
Guilt and regret make you weak. I refuse to let that happen. I have too much responsibility to keep my family safe and our business strong. I can’t allow emotions to interfere with my obligations.
Yet, Colby keeps distracting me, which most of the time I welcome more than I care to admit. Now, she’s disrupting my life in the worst possible way.
In twenty minutes, I’m parking next to her blue X6. Thomas and his team, loaded in three black SUVs, idle behind me. I appreciate the loyalty of them racing along to protect me, but I don’t have time to offer my gratitude.
I have to get to my wife.
The trail to the clearing is about half a mile, not made easy hiking in a suit. I am going to fuck her up once I know she’s okay.
The farther I go into the woods, the angrier I get. This is fucking bullshit putting herself in danger like this. She will be on complete lockdown going forward.
No classes.
No friends.
No nothing.
Just in my fucking house fucking tied to the bed so I can fucking punish her the way she fucking deserves.
My body shakes with rage when I catch sight of her standing at the overlook clutching the railing.
Thank fuck.
If she was in the area without any barriers, I would have spanked her right here.
I don’t trust myself to grab her lest I accidentally lose my grip. Instead, I force myself to slowly shrug off my coat since I’m burning up from the inferno inside me and toss my jacket onto the grass. I take a few steps closer. “You know how to ruin a pair of thousand-dollar shoes, don’t you, kitten?”
Her head droops forward, and she emits a tortured sigh. “Really? I just wanted a few minutes by myself to think and here you are stalking me again.”
That’s not a lie. I do stalk her. This time following her is more than warranted. I cannot lose her. “Come and we’ll talk about it.”
“Go home, you psycho. There’s nothing to talk about.”
Normally, our banter gets me hard. All the blood that usually races to my cock when I’m in her vicinity sprints to my chest this time. “I’m not fucking around Colby. Get over here.”
Ready for war, she whirls around with her fists on her hips and her mouth open prepared to start yelling. The fury morphs into confusion as we lock eyes, and she frowns at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just step away from the edge.”
This terror I’m not used to pervades my muscles, and I feel almost feral in my need for her to for once fucking listen and obey. “Baby please.”
Her body softens and with each inch she moves closer to me, I feel my lungs working again. I grab her as soon as she’s within reach and slam her body into mine.
Shockingly, she doesn’t fight my death grip on her. Even more astonishing, she wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head on my chest.
I suck in air, flooding my lungs with her jasmine scent and close my eyes.
My wife is finally safe.
Colby
What the hell?
He almost seems scared.
I can’t believe it. Big, bad ass, Lucian is afraid.
Of what though? “Your heart’s racing.”
Instead of answering, he clutches me tighter - almost to the point of suffocation. His enormous body shakes against me.
In the past, he’s always found me and seemed amused, enjoying the chase as well as torturing me.
This time is different.
Him being frightened freaks me out. I feel the need to soothe him, which freaks me out too. “Everything’s okay. I just wanted some fresh air. A change of scenery, you know?”
“It’s dangerous here Colby. I forbid you from coming back.”
The anxiety in his tone isn’t what I expect. I fight the instinct to challenge his unreasonable demand. He’s not playing around, especially since he called me by my real name rather than one of his silly pet names.
“I mean it.”
“Okay, calm down. With finals coming up I’ll be too busy to come out here anyway.”
My agreement earns my freedom from his smothering grasp and his hands fly to my cheeks. His gaze bores into my face.
“Never again.”
Uncertain how to respond, I grasp his fingers with my own, trying to find a connection where there’s never been one before. He kisses my forehead in that unexpected gentle way, murmuring against my skin about not losing me either.
He guides me to the small meadow leading back to the trail where his coat lies on the grass. I can feel his body soften and his breathing quiet down the farther we move from the ledge. The anxiety may seem irrational to me, but it is definitely genuine. I feel guilty although I’m not sure why. “I’m sorry if I worried you.”
“Just don’t do it again. It’s too easy to slip out there.”
Hints of something he experienced but obviously doesn’t want to discuss tinge his words.
“You can do your thinking someplace else.”
I can’t help but giggle at his caveman sounding assertion. His head spins toward me and he really looks deranged now.
“You think this is funny Colby? You think dying is fucking funny?”
In all the years I’ve known him, this is the first time he’s ever raised his voice to me. Jesus. He really is upset.
Finally, understanding of his panic hits me, and I must rectify the situation. “Did you think I was going to jump?”
His reply only comes in the form of him sighing and then lifting his gaze to the sky. This time I cup his cheeks and pull his head back down to me. “I wasn’t. I swear. I just like how peaceful it is out here, especially early in the morning.”
He nods against my palms. I’ve never seen him vulnerable before. I guess there’s more to him than I realize.
I smile at his handsome face, still shadowed with terror I’m not used to, trying to diffuse the situation. The more I talk, the calmer he seems to become. “I’d much rather hike than run on a treadmill.”
“Just not here. Anyplace else but here.”
I acquiesce to his demand and nod, which makes his expression clear. Finally. “Let’s head back.”
My simple request seems to snap him out of his obsession with my safety. He grabs my hand and his jacket from the ground.
Without a word between us, we trek back to the parking lot. Bodyguards mill around a fleet of vehicles which makes me laugh again. They look so out of place here.
Luckily, he’s simmered down and doesn’t lose his mind over me laughing this time. Instead, he slides his hand into my pocket and yanks out my fob. I grab for the key but can’t wrangle it from his hand. “Damn it Lucian! Give it back!”
Everyone, including him, ignores my demand, and he leaves me standing by his vehicle to talk to one of the men. This is why I get so angry. I’m tired of being treated like a hostage who has no rights.
The team loads back up in their SUVs while the man he spoke to jogs over to my car and climbs inside. I know he’s only following orders and won’t speak to me, so I turn on Lucian for the information I demand. “What are you doing? Why is he driving my car?”
“Because I’m not finished talking to you yet.”
He opens my door acting as if he’s chivalrous by offering his hand to assist me. God damn it. The asshole has returned. “But we didn’t talk! You acted crazy and then sweet but now you’re being a jerk again bossing me around!”
That sounded really childish but it’s true. This time he chuckles.
“Well, I am the boss.”
“Yeah of the business, not me! I’m going to be your wife, not your employee!”
His gaze darkens and the tip of his tongue flicks across his bottom lip. He’s gorgeous, and I’ve fucked up.
Bad.
I’ve tempted the beast with my comment, and now I’m going to pay the price. He grabs my arm and yanks me to the front of his SUV.
Powerful yet quick, in an instant he has me smashed against the hood and my leggings shoved to my knees. With only his palm on my back, he holds me in place while he unzips his pants.
The metal is freezing against my bare skin, and I try to buck backward. “Get off me!”
Warm lips brush my ear as he curls over me. “You’re my wife and you need to start acting like it.”
To be continued…
Author’s note: I hope you’ve enjoyed Lucian and Colby’s story. I’ve reached the word count limit for the anthology, but if you’d like to read the rest of their story, please click here: Amazon.com: Nikki Belaire: books, biography, latest update