Chapter 45
Dash
“ She will hate you for this.” Titan reluctantly swings on his jacket.He ’ s extra pissy because Damian isn ’ t here. Plain Jane tried to run away from him. Huge mistake, especially with all the shit that is about to go down.
It ’ s a good thing for me because if Damian were here, he would stop the wedding. He ’ s too protective of Mila, whereas Titan understands the need to keep her safe at any cost.
I grab my tie, wrap it around my neck, and knot it as I look out the window at the aisle the staff has made on the beach.
“ That ’ s why you ’ re doing it. You want her hate.” Titan slips the final button into place.
I want her love, but it ’ s attached to every other emotion she has. You can ’ t have sunshine without thunderclouds and rainy days. It ’ s all or nothing.
“ You know the repercussions for breaking a deal with Greg.”
“ I ’ m not breaking it. I ’ m altering it.” I have everything planned out. I should feel assured; I ’ ve never felt sicker.
“ You ’ re looking your fear in the eyes,” Mila once told me.
I am, and I ’ m going to conquer it by ensuring she is safe.
Titan can ’ t dispute that. I already called Greg to warn him. Like most families, I don ’ t get along with my in-laws.
“ She will be safe.”
Titan looks down at the flesh-colored tattoo on his wedding finger. “ Safe isn ’ t loved. Look at Damian ’ s mom.”
Damian ’ s mother was safe in the house built by his father, but in the end, she took her own life.
“ This is my form of love, Titan.” I snap, whirling around to see my cousin dressed in a tux, ready to stand by my side as I commit an act that will make Mila abhor me. “ What would you have me do, bury her next?”
He hangs his head.
“ The Brotherhood is on the verge of taking over; my father is dead, and soon, your dad and Uncle Lucas will be forced to step down or die when we take over. Everything is changing; power is shifting. Mila isn ’ t safe out in the open or glued to my side.”
“ And where will you put her?” He crosses his arms, biceps flexing in his tight jacket.
“ I already spoke to Dante; his castle is larger than most towns. Mila will love it there.”
“ You think his mother won ’ t try to destroy it when we take over?” He grunts, then steps closer. “ It ’ s going to be the first place that bitch targets because his father loved that castle more than he ever loved her.” A bead of sweat rolls down his temple.
“ Dante ’ s security around that castle would make the CIA proud.” But is it enough? I grind my teeth. “ Leo is my backup plan.”
“ Leo!” Titan arches a brow. “ You ’ re going to shove Mila in some Siberian tundra.”
“ Leo has houses everywhere.”
“ Mila will hate that!”
“ What do you want from me?” I roar.
“ This!” Titan grabs me by the lapels. “ You ’ re shutting Damian and me out. Talk to us! Stop making plans behind our backs.”
A second passes, then another. Should I tell him about the letter?
“ You ’ re here, are you not?” I shove him away, hating that I ’ m choosing to harbor Dad ’ s secret letter like he asked.
“ Walk her down the aisle for me,” I order as I turn and head to the beach.
“ Dash, you think this hurts now,” Titan shouts as he follows behind me. “ Imagine what it will feel like the day her love for you dies.”
◆◆◆
She looks like a dream that turned into a nightmare. Virginal white, heavenly, but her face, those cold eyes, are all wrong. They slice through her veil like starlight, trying to stretch out and reach me. I see you, little fox, I feel your pain, but I will not change anything. Like any treasure, I have to tuck you safely away
This image of her walking down the sandy aisle towards me will haunt and fuel me.
Our eyes lock so forcefully that we each jerk as a side effect. Glancing away, I find the priest, but Mila speaks before he can.
“ Look me in the eye, Dash. Look at me!”
I can ’ t.
Her veil remains untouched, so she grabs the ends and lifts it herself. “ You once taught me how to fight. How to rebel.”
I expect this.
“ I ’ m not going to.”
What? I meet her stare. She ’ s so stunning—no longer the raw, uncut stone I first glanced upon. No, now she is all carved up, polished with my hatred and affection.
She ’ s a sparkling diamond.
Her lips pull up into a snarl, showing me a hint of her dimples—two little indents that I love.
“ I love you, Dash King, with all my heart, but that wasn ’ t enough then, and it won ’ t be now. I know why you ’ re doing this.” Her narrow shoulders lift as she shrugs, “ I might have done the same.”
What was the point of this speech?
“ What ’ s your plan?” She demands.
I nod for the priest to start, but she interrupts again. “ Give us a minute.” Spoken like a queen dismissing her staff. His eyes bounce from me to her before he steps back a few feet and turns to look at the ocean.
“ I deserve to know.”
Fine, I ’ ll tell you. “ We will marry here legally. That will take your father ’ s enemies off your back, but then you ’ ll have mine breathing down your neck.” My eyes trace over her face, which is still flushed with the breath of life. Alive and not dead. “ Then, after a few weeks, I ’ ll have pictures leaked.”
“ What pictures?” Her voice remains uncharacteristically neutral.
“ Pictures.” I reply sternly. “ I need my enemies to think you mean nothing. That some whore on the side means more to me.” My exhale pains me as I lower my eyes.
She looks sharply out to the calm ocean like a fish breaking through the surface.
“ It won ’ t be real.” Why did I tell her that?
“ At first.” She mutters.
“ I never cheated then, nor will I now.”
Her eyes turn into slits.
“ I ’ m not blaming you.”
“ Wow,” she snorts, “ Thanks for that. I should thank you for killing Dom, too, shouldn ’ t I? And maybe I should thank you in advance; we all know I pick the bad ones, so while you ’ re off pretending to fuck the world, maybe I will be too, and then you ’ ll have to come and kill the line of men I shared my bed with.”
She wants me to react. To grab her and claim her.
“ That would help sell our story better.” I agree.
Her fight wavers as tears try to flee her hazel eyes. “ A story. That ’ s all this ever was. A closing chapter. Well, if it ’ s a story, then I deserve a happy ending.” Her voice is so delicate that I have to lean closer to hear her. “ A fairy tale. And you will give it to me, Dash King.”
I shift from foot to foot, the sand tries to grab my heels, sucking them under the cool ground.
“ I would have stood by your side through the thickest of evil and the thinnest of light,” Mila stresses as she comes to stand toe to toe with me. “ but you ’ d never let me, so you ’ ll face it all alone.” Her hazel eyes glaze over as do mine. Tears that I blink away.
Only she has the power to make me feel everything, ungodly amounts of suffering.
“ Let ’ s get this over with.” I wave the priest over.
“ No.” She grabs my hand, her fingers trembling like a twig on the verge of snapping. “ If you ’ re going to shatter my dreams, then at least let me dream. One night is all I ’ m asking for. One night where you love me.”
My hands grow sweaty as I look at where she grasps me. “ I ’ ll marry you because I love you. After this, you will take me to a room and make love to me.” She demands. The priest clears his throat and looks away again. “ You owe me that memory, even if it ’ s fake and forced. I want the fake memory that you loved me, made love to me, and told me you loved me on our wedding day.” Her eyes narrow, forcing her tears back in. “ You owe me that.”
I owe you so much more.
I wish she fought harder, but watching her bend a knee to my demands shatters the last piece of me that remains whole.
She never looked at me like I was a monster.
She does now.
A dip of my chin is all I can respond with.
Mila is the perfect performer. We finish the ceremony, and she even poses for the numerous photographers I paid to be here—pictures I will have sent off to the rest of the world before I even see them. Within the coming weeks, I’ll make sure to be photographed with other women so my enemies know the wedding is a sham I was forced into.
I don’t give a shit if they call me a player or a cheat. It will keep Mila safe.
I follow behind her as she leads the way to my room. Her long, silky dress hugs her hips, making the tips of my fingers jealous of the fabric.
“ Undress me.” She orders. I oblige. I ’ ll give her the power, if only for one night.
My fingers take their time untying the knots, then the hooks, and finally, the zipper. The curve of her spine now fills my eyes, the tiny groove where my fingers love to settle when I’m buried deep inside her. Each time she moaned or called my name, it was like the stroke of paint on a canvas. With each blink of her eye and the parting of her lips, I mentally drew and remembered. That kept me going when I was in Initiation 101, and it would have to be enough to last a lifetime apart now.
“ I want to believe it,” she mutters dryly. “ Make me think you mean it when you tell me you love me.”
“ I do love you.”
“ You always were the best liar. I actually feel like you mean it, but you ’ re a king; you feel nothing, only the weight of the crown you're too scared to remove from your head, isn't that right? Don't answer that. Keep feeding me all those lies. This is my happy ending, not yours."
My muscles flinch at the impact of her words. This is a new side, uncaring and cruel. I deserve every slice of it.
I turn her towards me, hands grasping the sleeves as I push her dress down her body. And like a falling flag, I follow the dress until I ’ m on my knees in front of her. Her silk wedding dress lies under me like a treasure of victory from a battle I had just won. My lips press against her warm stomach, hands grabbing her hips as I inhale her scent.
She wants a memory. I do, too. It wasn ’ t just her being caged. My heart would be as well.
“ I would die for you, Mila King.” I voice her new name; her body shakes in response.
“ A king has a queen.” She shakes her head. “ I ’ m no queen, more like your dirty whore you shove aside and keep in the shadows. Your queen will be the woman you hire to fool the world.”
Her confidence slips when she absorbs my anger. “ You don ’ t cherish whores, and I value you, Mila; I cherish you enough to keep you away.”
“ You shouldn ’ t have married me.”
“ You and I couldn ’ t break that contract if we tried. It was set in stone. I wouldn ’ t have tried either.” I grab the straps of her sandals and slip them off; her skin feels like untouched silk as I run my fingers up her ankles, calves, and then inner thighs. “ Your father married you off for a reason. He ’ s not able to protect you. I can live knowing you hate me but are safe.”
She blinks and looks away. “ Just make me believe it.”
I grab the hem of her white lace thong and roll it down her legs. Her chest rises and falls faster as I nudge her back, her legs hitting the mattress where she falls gracefully, like a feather landing on a pond. Everything that makes her beautiful, all those delicate details, is about to fade under my touch.
Her knees shake when I force them open for me. She ’ s already wet. I find her eyes, but she looks towards the pillow in shame. Leaning closer, I run my nose along her inner thighs, then my lips as I slowly kiss her until my lips close over her sex.Her body tenses, relaxes, and then tenses again. Over and over like a melody on repeat. I kiss and suck her into my mouth, slipping my tongue past her folds and into her tight pussy. Her legs try to close around me, but I lean closer, using my shoulder to force them open. “ Mine for the night,” I growls as I press my tongue over her clit.
“ Dash!” Her body bucks in response, feet inch up, wrinkling the sheets. I kiss her, swirling my tongue around her, licking and sucking, tasting every drop.
“ I don ’ t have to make you believe anything.” I pull away, mouth glistening with her arousal. “ The proof is right here, in the way your body reacts to my touch. My body does the same. It ’ s aching, throbbing to be inside of you, little fox.” I spread her legs wider, keeping them open for me as I plunge my tongue into her again and again.
Her hands grab my hair greedily as she forces my head to remain where it is. Her juices fill my mouth; moans deafen my ears. If I only have one night inside of her body, I ’ m going to use every second I am granted.
I swirl my tongue then suck suddenly, forcing her orgasm to come violently. I pull away, watch as her body shakes and absorbs the pleasure, then I press my thumb against her now swollen clit, milking every last drop of pleasure from her. Mila is like a piano; everywhere I touch, she sings for me. Whether it ’ s my fingers, cock, or even a gentle kiss in the crook of her neck, she purrs for me.
“ Tell me,” she pants as she lay open on my bed. Her breasts slip free of her white lace bra as a sprinkling of sweat now rests between them.
I stand hovering over her as I strip my clothes off, needing to replace the fabric with her flesh. “ I,” My knee lands between her wet thighs, keeping them open, “ love you, Mila King.”
I grab her hips and drag her along the mattress closer to me, like a baker spreading icing over a cake before taking a naughty lick from the spoon. “ And I wish I didn ’ t,” I growl as I lower myself over her, looking her in the eye. Then I bend down and kiss away her tears before I push my tongue inside her mouth, letting her taste our mixture of twisted passion.
“ I wish we weren ’ t sick. I wish our love was pure.” She breathes, then she cups my jaw and kisses me back, sucking my tongue into her mouth.
“ I wish I never met you.” My palms open wide as they cup her small, soft breasts. They are the perfect fit. I never want to let go. I want to hold onto them like magnets that cling to each other, unwilling to be torn apart.
I squeeze her nipples and then comfort them with my tongue. “ I love you so bad it hurts.” I glide my throbbing cock up and down her sex, not pushing inside just yet.
“ Every single day, I open my eyes in pain, knowing I love you.” I line myself up to her opening and push lazily inside her welcoming slick walls; each inch I take forces her lips to part for me in a purring soft moan that I then kiss and swallow.
I roll my hips up, pushing and shoving as deep as I can go. Her back arches, hands fly over her head as she fists the sheet. “ Hands on me,” I order her, but she grabs more of the sheet between her fingers.
“ Little fox,” I shake my head, “ My wife has her hands on me when I fuck her; her nails will dig into my skin, not the bed sheet.”
The haze clouding her eyes dims slightly.
“ If we ’ re going to make a fantasy, then we ’ re doing it down to the dirty details.” My voice is deep, on the edge of losing control, but there is a gentle pleading mixed with sorrow that she acknowledges.
Her throat rolls, eyes glisten. Don ’ t cry, baby. Please.
Her fingers release the sheet, grabbing my shoulders instead.I kiss her gently, lovingly, the kind of kiss a husband would give his wife after they set up their Christmas tree, a kiss welcoming the future.
Her sex embraces me as more wetness drips out of her and onto me. “ Call me your husband.”
Her exhale hits me, filled with anguish. Her hands slide from my shoulders to my jaw. “ Husband.”
Oh, you can lie better than that, little fox. “ Make me believe it.”
She pushes up and kisses me with more passion than she ever showed me before. A kiss full of fire and fury. Hedonistic, like a warrior charging into a battle, they know they will lose, and it won ’ t be a simple defeat or death. It will be a long, drawn-out torment, but they welcome it anyway because dying with purpose is better than dying like a fool.
She begins to pulse her inner core, squeezing her sex around my cock, releasing and clenching it again. “ Make love to me, husband.”
“ I love you.” I declare as I pull out and then thrust in deep, making her scream my name as her cheeks flush with pleasure.
This is what she wanted—words for a night. A fairy tale told in a hushed whisper. A lie intended to make the listener feel comfortable only in the moment.
Our story will be told and retold but eventually forgotten. Memories fade, and in time, we ’ ll be nothing but ink vanishing on paper, unreadable.
It leaves one to question whether it ever happened. Did our love ever exist, or was it all something we conjured up to survive our miserable lives?
Soon our love will turn rotten. She will see all the false images of me with other women, and eventually, she will be repulsed by me. Damian and Titan will pick her up, and eventually, just like she always does, she will run into the arms of some other man.
I won ’ t stop it either.
“ I love you too.” She cups my face, forcing me to look her in the eye. Those beautiful big hazel eyes warm my day like the sun. Those fucking eyes hold a gravity that could destroy me if I let myself linger too close. “ It doesn ’ t have to be this way, Dash.“ Her voice is low, like a plea lost in the torrents of a full-scale war.
“ This is the only way.” I press my forehead against hers. A single tear falls from my eyes, landing on her cheek. There, little fox, I just gave you something no one else has ever claimed. Hold on to it; you ’ ll never see anything like it again.
We have fought for so, so long, but this is the end. We both know it.
“ I do love you,” I confide as the world becomes more intense; every nerve screams as I race towards that feeling only Mila can give me. My movements become feral.
“ God, it ’ s so deep, but I need you deeper. Harder. Harder!”
“ I don ’ t want to hurt you.”
“ Yes, you do.” She pushes her hips up, driving into me. Her pussy squeezes my cock tighter until she tips her head back and shouts my name; then she rocks her hips and digs her heels into my ass, pushing me over the edge as I come with her in my arms, our eyes lock for one last time.
She rolls me over, the cool sheet pressing against my sweaty back. Then she straddles me, lining up her sex to mine. I can see my seed spilling out of her, so I reach down and use my fingers to push it back inside. This is a fantasy, after all. I would have loved to see her carry my child, but that future isn ’ t for us.
“ Now show me your hate.” She takes hold of me and guides me back inside of her. Everything is more intense now, just like anger usually is. My cock is so sensitive it hurts when she wiggles her hips, pushing herself deeper. Her smile and glow fade like a rainbow now washed out from the fiery sun.
The night is a mixture of hate-fucking, love making, then pure carnal need. It ’ s memories and nightmares, bruises that mark the absence that is coming, marks from lips that sing of a love that can never be fulfilled.
◆◆◆
We spend the plane ride back holding each other too tightly. The plane lands, and I get into one car while Mila and Nova take another, heading back to their dorms. I watch as the car drives away with the love of my life inside, my head dizzy with memories that will hound me for the rest of my life.
I ’ m…happy Mila has Nova. Nova hates me, and she will only guide Mila toward despising me as well.
“ Are you happy?” Damian grunts from the driver ’ s seat. He ’ s picking us up now that he has Plain Jane sorted out.
Titan gives Damian a warning look.
I nod. “ I think I am. I know she ’ s going to be safe.”
“ She still has to graduate. You can ’ t take her out of school, or that will break the contract.”
“ I know.” I grab the back of my neck and look away. You can ’ t have nightmares without dreams; they always merge. Soon, Mila will be tucked away safe, but I ’ ll truly be alone.