Chapter Seventeen
Nixie
I feel like the world has just been pulled from beneath my feet. Married?
I have a million things running through my mind, but one thing in particular is now starting to make sense.
Since my first weekend with Calvin, I started getting messages, and they haven’t stopped since.
They started off by leaving messages for me on my doorstep when I got home after spending any of my time with him, but for just over the past month, they have somehow got my number and send me at least one message a day, telling me my time is limited with him.
I never told any of this to him, of course. I didn’t want it to spoil anything, and if I’m being honest, I just thought it was maybe a jealous ex or some girl from his club who had seen us together.
I grab my phone from the bookshelf and sit back down next to Calvin.
“I never said anything because I didn’t think it was important, but given what you have just said, I think it’s best I tell you in case it’s connected,” I tell him as I hand over the phone that’s opened up in the message screen.
Calvin sits there with a stone cold look on his face as he scrolls through all the messages. I can see his eyes getting darker and his teeth clenching more and more as he reads them.
“How could you not think this is important, Nixie?” He raises his voice slightly at me, which makes me flinch. He must have noticed, as he quickly apologizes and grabs my hand.
“You should have told me.” His voice is reassuring now.
“I know, and I wanted to. I just didn’t want anything to burst our little happy place.”
He sighs and pulls me up on his knee again, his hold on me tight.
“I will figure this out. Don’t worry too much about it. Is there anything else?” he asks.
“Erm, yes.” I nod my head. I can feel his whole body tense.
“I also get deliveries to my apartment. There’s always something when I arrive back home after spending the weekend with you. They normally just consist of dead flowers and notes,” I tell him as I play with my hands, trying to avoid looking at him.
I take a peek at his face. His eyes are dark and heavy, his breathing is ragged and he legit looks like he is about to kill someone.
“So, not only do they have your number, they also know where you live!?” His voice raises again.
“Nothing bad has happened. It’s just threats,” I try arguing back with him.
“YET. Nothing bad has happened yet, Nixie. I will not have your life at risk. Not a chance,” he tells me as he stands up with me still in his arms. He puts me down on the floor and starts to drag me out of the room.
“Where are we going?” I ask as he continues down the hallway, grabbing his car keys and our jackets on his way.
“We are going to go to your apartment to get your stuff and bring it all back here. You are officially moving in, darlin’,” he states.
“Don’t you think I have a say in whether or not I want to move in?” I tell him as I pull back on his hand, forcing him to stop.
“See, that’s where you are wrong.” He walks back to me, taking my face in his hands, making me look up at him.
“You are mine. Mine to have. Mine to protect. Mine to fuck. Mine to keep. No matter what.” His voice is firm.
I don’t have time to even respond as he continues to drag us out of the house and open the passenger door for me to get in. Once I’ve climbed into the seat and buckled myself in, he shuts the door and makes his way round to the driver’s side and starts the car, speeding off down the driveway.
I stare out the window as Calvin races down the road. The streets are quiet as we drive, the sunrise starting to creep up in the distance.
“You know, we could have at least waited a few hours before we came and got some stuff.” I turn to face him, which is a bad mistake. His face looks murderous, his hands tightly gripping the wheel as he drives.
“I wasn’t waiting any longer to get your stuff,” he replies.
“Yeah, I understand that, but we didn’t have to come literally first thing in the morning, Darcy will most likely be asleep, and I really don’t want to wake her.”
He relaxes a little and faces me. “We will be in and out before she even notices.”
“I still need to tell her. We pay rent together. I can’t just abandon her with all the bills,” I raise my voice slightly at him.
“Don’t worry about that. I will make sure she is more than comfortable,” he says, like he can just throw money around.
“I don’t want you paying for me,” I argue.
“And I don’t want you living in a place that isn’t safe for you anymore.”
“It’s not that bad.” I roll my eyes at him as I turn back to face out the window.
“Yes, Nixie. It is. Someone is threatening you. You are not safe on your own anymore. This is happening. End of Discussion,” he states.
I know what he says is true, but it’s just too fast.
The car comes to a stop outside the apartment building, and I unbuckle myself and get out. Calvin is round to my side in record time. We make our way into the building and into my apartment in silence.
I open the door as quietly as I can, just in case it wakes darcy. All lights are off, so she’s definitely still sleeping. Once we are both inside the apartment, I close the door behind us and hold my finger up to my lips, telling Calvin to be quiet while he just rolls his eyes at me. Asshole.
I tiptoe over to my room with him on my heels. Once we’re inside, he starts by literally emptying all my drawers out onto the bed. I grab a duffel bag from my closet and start putting my things he has just emptied onto my bed into the bag.
“Can you stop? You’re making this harder than it needs to be,” I tell him as he continues emptying things onto the bed.
He actually listens and goes to stand by the window as I finish packing what I need.
“Make sure you get everything you want, because there is no way that you will be coming back here alone,” he tells me as he messages someone on his phone.
“Anything you don’t have or don’t want to take with you. I can replace when we’re home.” He continues to look down at his phone.
Home.
With Calvin.
I ignore the feeling in my chest and continue packing what I need. I mean, I don’t need a lot. I do need to get my books from the living room.
Calvin is still on his phone when I walk into the closet again to check I have what I need. I look up to the shelf above my head where an old, tattered box sits. I quickly grab the box and head out of the room.
I haven’t looked or thought about this box in years. As it sits in my hands it feels heavy. Heavy with guilt, shame and abandonment, I sigh as I place it into the bottom of the bag and move the clothes back over it.
“Everything okay?” I didn’t even realize Calvin had put his phone away, or that he was standing by my side. How long was he standing there for? Did he see the box? Straightening myself, I smile at him as I zip the duffel bag up.
“Yeah, I think I’ve got everything. I just need my books and kindle from the living room. I’m assuming you have any toiletries that I need already there.”
“You would assume correctly, darlin’.” He smirks at me as he grabs the bag from my hand.
I grab my books and kindle from the shelf in the living room as Calvin places the bag at the front door. I take in the room. A lot of memories and good times have happened here.
“What are you doing now?” Calvin asks as I walk into the kitchen and start writing a note on the magnetic board we have on our fridge. Darcy and I always write little notes to each other here.
“I can’t just take my things from the apartment and not leave a note.”
Darc, don’t panic and think we’ve been robbed, I came by and collected some stuff of mine. I’m going to be staying with Cal for a while. Ring me when you see this so I can explain it all to you.
We make our way back out of the apartment and Calvin places everything in the boot of the car. The streets are starting to get busy with the morning traffic. My eyes start to get heavier as we get back to his home. Or should I say our home? I must have drifted off as I am woken by Calvin’s hand on my face, whispering to me that we are home.
Before I can even open my eyes to unbuckle myself, he has already done so and is lifting me out of the car seat and carrying me into the house.
“I can walk, you know,” I say as I lay my head on his shoulder, the fatigue taking over my body.
“ I know you can, but I much prefer you are in my arms.” His voice is faint in the background as I drift further into sleep. I’m exhausted.
He carries me all through the house, up to his room and places me in bed. I notice the coldness from the loss of his body heat as he puts me down. It’s not gone for long as he climbs in the bed next to me and drags me to him.
“Sleep now, darlin’. I’ve got you. Always,” he whispers in my ear.
Surrounded by his body heat and the smell of him, it really doesn’t take me long to go to sleep.
When I wake, the sun is going down and the bed is empty next to me. I can hear raised voices downstairs. Intrigued by what’s going on, I get out of bed and make my way down the stairs.
“What the fuck do you mean, Reid?” Calvin’s voice gets louder as I take each step down the stairs.
“I’m fucking trying here, Cal. My guys are finding it difficult to find anything on the Cara girl,” Reid replies.
Cara must be the girl that Calvin is set to marry. Nausea creeps up inside my body at the thought alone. How am I supposed to sit by and see him marry some other woman?
“We need to find her. And we need to get the contract ripped apart, because there is no way I am marrying this random person just because our father made a deal.” He sounds so deflated.
I walk into the kitchen, where they are both sitting at the counter, each nursing their own glass of whiskey.
“Hey.” I wave and smile sheepishly at them.
Calvin gets up and rushes over to me, placing a kiss on my forehead.
“Sorry, darlin’. Hope we didn’t wake you.”
“Nope. I was already awake,” I lie.
Calvin eyes me like he knows I’m not being truthful. The fact that he already can read me makes me nervous.
“I was just about to tell Reid about the messages you’ve been getting. He can help find out where or who they are coming from,” he says as he walks back to the counter with me following behind him.
Once I’m seated, Calvin walks to the cupboard and pulls out a box full of a range of teabags. He pulls out an English Breakfast Tea and begins making it for me, placing the steaming mug in front of me. The man must have been watching me quite well, if he knows how I took my tea. I let out a little chuckle at the thought, and Calvin eyes me suspiciously.
He watches me as I take a sip from the mug. Just as I thought, made to perfection. I smile at him as thanks, and I see his eyes relax, like he was nervous I wouldn’t like it.
Pulling my phone out from the joggers that I pulled on before coming down, I open it onto the messages and slide it across to Reid. He scrolls through, with Calvin looking over them again as well. Both of their shoulders tense at the same time and Reid has an even more furious look on his face than his brother did.
Don’t get me wrong, Calvin can be quite intimidating, but Reid is that little bit taller and has broader shoulders, packed with more muscle and angrier look on his face that just screams, “Don’t fuck with me”.
Calvin looks back to me and puts the phone back in front of me.
“Don’t you need it, to see who is sending them?” I ask Reid.
“Oh, little one.” He smirks at me. “My guy can hack into anything and see anything from wherever he is.”
Well. That’s unnerving.
The thought of someone just being able to go through my phone without my permission… I guess I may need to delete a few things before that happens.
“Don’t worry, he won’t see anything else but the messages,” Reid says, as if he knows exactly what I was thinking.
“Have you got something on there that you don’t want people seeing?” Calvin asks with a smirk nearly identical to his brother.
I lean close to him. “Just some very silly selfies.” I wink.
“My eyes only darlin’,” he whispers back.
Before the conversation can go any further, the phone begins vibrating on the kitchen counter. I tear my eyes away from his to see Darcy’s name across my screen.
“Better take this,” I tell him as I pick it up.
“Are you insane, Nix?” she shouts down the phone, causing me to move it away from my ear.
Calvin must hear this, and tenses beside me. I get down from the stool and walk out of the kitchen and into the library room, closing the door behind me.
“Nix, you can’t move in with a random person you barely know,” she continues to shout down the phone to me. I sit on the edge of the sofa and put it on a loudspeaker.
“I just need to do this. Some things have happened, and Calvin thinks its not safe,” I try to argue back
“Of course. What Calvin says goes,” she scoffs at me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I question her.
“Never mind. It’s just a bit weird that you have moved in with a guy who stalked and kidnapped you months ago.”
She continues to ramble on but I zone out. She hasn’t been bothered to ask if I’m okay or what’s going on that’s made me come live here.
Calvin comes halfway through her rambling on, taking a seat next to me.
“Darcy, let’s not forget that you were pushing for this at the start,” I snap back at her.
“And what am I supposed to do about rent and bills, Nix? We had a deal to pay half each.”
Calvin stands up and snatches my phone out of my hand.
“Is that all you care about? Money? Not that your best friend’s life could be in danger from all the threats she’s been getting?” he shouts at her.
“Threats? What threats?” she says, sounding confused.
Calvin looks back at me with a scowl on his face.
“Seems I’m not the only one she didn’t tell,” he says as he hands the phone back to me.
“Nix, what’s going on?” Her voice is soft this time.
I sigh as I begin to unleash everything that has happened to her, and what I have been getting in the post.
“That’s what all the deliveries were?” she asks, shocked.
“Yeah,” I say.
“I thought they were a little cute present from Calvin for when you got home. I’m so sorry you have been going through this, Nix.”
“Darcy, just so you know, I will settle all of Nixie’s payments, so you don’t have to worry about that,” Calvin says, just before we say our goodbyes.
“Oh. Thanks, Calvin,” she says, again sounding shocked.
“Don’t be a stranger Nix. I’m always here for you.”
“I know. Thanks, Darc. I’ll be in touch,” I tell her as we hang up.
Calvin pulls me in for a hug.
“We will get to the bottom of this, I promise, darlin’.”
“But what about the whole married-to-another-woman situation?” I ask him.
“Nothing will keep me from you. I will kill whoever gets in my way. Believe me,” he tells me as we stay wrapped up in each other’s arms.
I definitely believe he will.
And I feel sorry for whoever is going to cross his path.