Chapter 8
I lie on the boxing ring floor and scrub a hand down my face. She must have trained because she handled that heavy bag with expertise. Each punch and jab were perfectly delivered. A mix of surprise, shock, and pride jolts my insides. I remember vividly how she hated violence, and now she thrives on it.
Celine returned home for something that has nothing to do with me. The thought wrecks me, but I have to put my feelings aside and use my damn head.
I push myself up. Would she still want to fight me if she knew how bruised I was on the inside?
Clenching my fists, I go to my room on unsteady feet. Abigail has her hip propped against my desk.
“What are you going to do?”
“Let her have her pound of flesh.”
She approaches me, her eyes squinting at the necklace.
“What is that? I haven’t seen it before.”
I touch it, the meaning sealed into my skin. “Something old.”
“Kaden…”
Abigail eyes me as if it’s on me to fix this. She leaves, but I can’t placate her; I need to discover what Celine’s plan is. I followed her and watched from outside my family’s house. I am quite proud she could access my father’s safe. I tried in vain multiple times. What does he keep in there?
The way she moves stealthily, full of assurance, speaks of experience. She’s confident in what she does, meaning she’s had training.
I snatch my laptop and google that damn school, but I find nothing that would give away her new abilities.
I shut it and drop on the bed when Blake enters. “Why the fuck are you smirking?”
“Celine’s lethal.”
“And you find this hot?”
“Extremely.”
“What if she snitches?”
She would have done it by now. She’s playing a dangerous game with Grandmother because if the old hag finds out… A tremor rocks me at the thought. How can I protect her when she is so reckless? Overconfidence in the Family just gets attention, and attention draws eyes, and eyes mean you’re one step away from being monitored.
***
The next morning, Celine, Abigail, Bailey, and Blake are seated around the island in the kitchen. The heavy silence is punctuated only by chewing. Celine bites into a piece of toast. Blake looks at her with scrunched brows. Abigail stares off into space, and Bailey observes the three of them with concern.
“Ah, family breakfast.” Sarcasm drips from my tongue. I sit in the chair across from Celine, who rolls her eyes at me.
“Pass me the salt, will you?” I say.
“The last I checked, your hands still worked.”
I suppress a chuckle, and Blake bursts into laughter. “You crack me up, Celine.”
“We have dinner with Grandmother in two days. Both of you behave,” Abigail says.
I caress my temples where a headache pounds. I slept like shit, and I am still not any closer to figuring out why Celine returned. She looks like my wife but is a completely different person, unnerving me. It’s as if I am betraying the memory of her by thinking she’s hot and being curious about this new version of her.
Bailey giggles and puts her hand on her mouth while we all look at her. She blushes, focused on her phone.
“Ah, she’s in love,” Blake says.
“Who is it? We need to vet him,” Abigail says.
“Oh my god, we’re just friends. Stop it, guys,”
“I am happy for you. If he makes you smile, that’s all that counts, but be careful,” I say.
“That’s all, huh?” Celine pins me with a death glare and stands up. She hugs Bailey.
“I will break every limb in his body if he hurts you,” she says resolutely, sounding more like her new self.
“YOU HURT ME. What about an apology?” Abigail yells.
Celine sticks out her middle finger, and Blake says, “I trademarked that.”
Celine bends over him. “Not drinking looks good on you.”
She leaves, and a surprised look takes over his face. She’s nice to them, except for Abi, apparently. Then, that leaves only one answer. She’s jealous of Abigail. What if I tell her the truth? Because I need to stay focused, and these two need to make peace.
I am the last to step outside our house when I see Blake is bent over, laughing. Abigail wraps her hand around my elbow while the vein in my neck threatens to explode.
Celine fucking hit my car.
“Like I said, unhinged,” Abigail says.
I caress the dent. “I’m sorry.”
“Did you just apologize to your car?” Bailey asks.
“Shh, she can hear you.”
“If she hears you talk to your car like that, next time she will wreck it.” Abigail gives.
I chuckle. Celine being jealous elevates my spirits like nothing else.
After I park in the lot, my eyes sweep over the campus in search of Celine when I do a double take, thinking I am hallucinating. Dane is here. Fuck. Exactly what I fucking needed. Abigail climbs out of hers, still unaware who has made a reappearance. When she’s by my side, Celine and Dane glare at us. Abi must sense that we’re being watched because she gasps when she looks in their direction. The color drains from her face and she stands so still she resembles a damn statue. Celine takes off, carrying that pissed off vibe that seems an integral part of her now.
“Oh my god. Is he here or have I conjured him?” she whispers.
We exchange a look brimming with the secrets we share. Protecting them cost us everything, and both of them being here threatens to negate our sacrifice.
She starts moving in his direction and I get in step with her.
“Abi…”
“Not now, Kaden.”
When we reach him, Abi asks, her voice shaking, “What are you doing here?
While their eyes lock, I say even though I know he won’t care about my threat, “The rule you should have respected the first time around still goes. And this time, if you don’t follow it, there will be consequences.”
“So you say,” he replies, the challenge clear. And I have no fucking energy for him as well.
“Give me a moment,” Abi says.
“Are you sure?” What I don’t say rings louder. You barely survived the first time.
She nods and I walk away. It’s barely morning, and I want this day to end already. Dane’s presence will complicate everything. No wonder she’s my best friend. It’s as if we share the same curse of not being able to live our truth and be with the people our souls hunger for.
With things getting out of my control, I opt to do something more productive than pretending to pay attention in classes. Skipping them, I get my car fixed. By the time I return only her Mercedes is parked in the lot for our house. Here we go again. Another round of push and pull.
I sneak inside and up the stairs. It’s no shocker that I find her in my room, returning what I assume is my key.
“I’ve missed that.”
Her spine goes ramrod straight. “Can’t you announce your presence like a normal person?” She turns around, waving a hand in a theatrical gesture in the air.
“Should I knock on my own damn door?”
“This is your room?” she asks in mock surprise.
“Cut the bullshit already.”
I approach her, and she dashes for the bed. She crawls over the mattress, and I grip her legs, tossing her around. She writhes under me as I get on top of her. My dick tries to sabotage me by getting hard––needy and hungry for her while I try to make a damn point.
She huffs and wipes at some strands of her hair that have fallen on her face. She’s so beautiful: that button nose and those delicate cheekbones. Those mesmerizing eyes and heart-shaped lips. Her lashes flap, making me want to count each one. Longing twists my heart. She’s my Celine. My sky. My wife. The one I still love with every beat, every breath, and every second.
“If I let go, promise to stay and talk.”
“Fine.”
I don’t trust her, but I need to see what she’ll do because I hope she will keep her word and not shit all over a promise again. I desperately need to hold on to something, to that small hope that there’s a chance we can find our way back together again.
She takes off to the door, stomping all over that small hope.
“Thank you. I needed that reminder.” For stupidly believing.
Her hand halts on the door handle. “Neither of us was good with promises.”
She’s not getting a reaction from here on.
“Speak for yourself.”
You were there, you will always be there, but I have a family to protect, and you don’t care any longer.
She squints at me. And fuck, if her distrust is not killing me all over again.
When she closes the door, I call my father. I need to get my hands on information and play him and one-up Celine.
“Felix.” I only call him Father when we’re in public and I have to play my part.
“Kaden.” If this asshole wants to believe he’s young and has no fatherly obligations, so be it. He has a twenty-year-old son and a wife, but he couldn’t care less.
“I want to make you proud.”
“You always make me proud. You are the head of the next generation, the future leader of the Family.”
“I want to learn from you directly, to help the company.” Spewing this shit makes bile rise in my throat.
“You earned your place to work in the company, but…”
There is always a fucking but or if.
“Yes?”
“How is Celine?”
“She wants to fit in so badly.”
He barks a laugh. “I was worried, but I am slightly reassured.”
“I thought I was in love. She was like a lost puppy I had to care for. Blame it on being a stupid kid who didn’t know better,” I say through a gnashed jaw. It physically hurts me to have said that.
“There’s a gala at the mansion, something charity related. I want to introduce you to some partners.”
“I will be there.”
When I hang up, Blake pokes his head into the room.
He’s my best friend for a reason. He knows my heart.
“She’s not her anymore,” I say, every word carrying dejection.
“I’m sorry, man.”
I had to decide. And I chose to protect Celine while letting her believe I betrayed her. And still, if she stayed, I would have found a way. Somehow. But I did what I believed to be best: protect my wife.
There’s a difference between thinking someone is a monster and knowing it. I found out on the night of my initiation that I was among the monsters. I must become a cold, unfeeling bastard to beat them at their own game.
Blake comes inside. “So while I work on Mia, you will do what, exactly? Hoping the girl you love hasn’t come back to betray us all and take us down?”
Accurately said.
“Track Mia’s every step. I’ll do the same with Celine.”
***
The next day, I see Celine laughing with Mia in the college’s halls. The moment she senses me, she narrows her eyes. A girl stops in front of me, smiling at me, all flustered, asking me for directions and looking at her watch. I explain to her where the math classroom is, and she thanks me.
I catch Celine fuming from the corner of my eye.
The girl slips a note with most surely her phone number in my jacket and waves at me with a hopeful expression. It will end up like all the others, in the damn garbage.
I walk past Celine and Mia, greeting them. If it’s any sign, Celine glares at me so hard I almost feel the dagger in my back.
When my class ends, I step out of the building. Celine is perched on the hood of my car, legs spread.
“Another dent?”
What are you doing taunting me? Always taunting and tantalizing me. I breathe through everything I would like to do to her if I could. Kiss her. Taste her. Hold her.
“Oh, that was totally an accident, but I see you got that fixed.”
Some things are easier to repair than others.
“What do you want?”
“I’m waiting for Hunter.” She glides her nails down the hood. “Love this car.”
“You know what? Here, enjoy.”
I throw the keys at her, and she catches them in midair.
Walking away, my insides break.
“You gave her your car?” Blake asks the moment I enter our house. “They will totally fuck in it to mess with your head.”
If that makes her happy.
But with every minute, I hyperventilate. That was a mistake. I doubt I can ever get in my car again. Luckily, I still have a bike and an obnoxious amount of money in my accounts.
Deciding to do something productive, I retreat to the living room. Abigail is there, pens and notes scattered everywhere on the table. I take out my notes to go through today’s lecture, but my attention is shit. Abigail pokes her fingers at my notes, but I throw them to the side, done with pretending I can focus.
When I hear my engine, I shoot upright, rushing to the window. Celine parks the car. She’s alone.
Smart move. I probably would have killed him this time.
“I’m going to swim some laps.”
“Whatever helps,” Abigail says.
“You have way too little confidence in me. She’s…”
“Your kryptonite. I know.”
“Yours is back too.”
She stiffens at the reminder of Dane. Two years later, he came back and knowing him, he won’t let things go. He couldn’t then. He won’t now. Another fucking problem added to my ever growing pile.
I go to my room and change into swimming trunks. When I am face to face with the pool, I dive headfirst into the water. Nothing calms me. Showing Celine I am not interested will only backfire if I crack.
Twenty laps later, I catch legs dangling from the side of the pool. I wrap my hands around her smooth skin and surface.
“I need you.”
Celine yanks at my hair and pulls my head back. Nostrils flaring, her fury is palpable.
“Then stop flirting with other girls if you need Abi so much.”
Yes, give me a reaction because I am dead inside.
“Jealous?”
Don’t be. You were my first, my last, and all that mattered in between …
“Why would I? Hunter is everything I need in my life.”
I push myself down and scream. The water embraces me, and I let it fill my lungs. I am so fucking stupid.
She jumps into the pool, dragging me out.
“You should be fucking mine.”
“Kaden…” Her eyes round into two globes, stricken with panic. A lie. She doesn’t care about me.
I cough the water out of me, trying to purge her if it was possible.
She palms my face, but I yank her hands away.
“Was it good fucking him in my car?”
She lets out a deep sigh. “You have no right.”
I shut my eyes, wanting to erase that possibility. “I have no right? I have all the fucking right. I dare you to tell me I don”t.”
“You lost that right.”
My control cracks into too many pieces, impossible to reassemble. I push her against the wall and slam my lips against hers. All I’ve kept bottled up erupts. Madness ensues. Passion burns. Need consumes. She opens for me, groans turning into moans while I dig my fingers in her ass and lift her. She locks her hands and legs around me, kissing me with the same ardor. My body lights up into a damn supernova.
I devour her with an insatiable hunger. Greed and desperation lead me as our tongues tangle together. Ravishing her lips and conquering her mouth, I don’t stop, can’t stop, until we come up for air.
We both pant and I press my forehead on hers.
“This was a mistake,” she murmurs.
“You sure sounded like you enjoyed it.” Stay mine a bit longer. You give crumbs to a starving man.
“Whatever. Now that we got that out of the way…”
“Sure. Go back to your boyfriend. He can taste the man you’ll never be able to deny.”
“So sure of that?”
The anger owns me again. The nonchalance in which she reduces our connection to insignificant stabs me with vicious strokes, butchering my insides. I drop her, and she falls on her knees.
“You brought war to me when I only wanted to give you peace. Buckle up, Sky, we’re just getting started.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Even after we kissed, she reminds me she’s not mine.
Message fucking received.