Chapter 11 - Simon
I slip my hand beneath her t-shirt as her lips move against mine.
She is impossibly soft beneath my touch. Her skin is like silk. My body is bursting with flames of need that want to lick at her and devour every inch of her.
My cock is rock hard against my pants, throbbing and aching to be inside her.
She raises herself onto her knees as I pull her closer. Excitement rushes through me as she begins to crawl onto my lap, straddling one leg over me.
I groan with pleasure as my thumb slips beneath the cotton bra she is wearing and plays over her rock-hard nipple. She moans against my lips, and I push my tongue into her mouth.
“Mommy is home!” I hear a squeal and footsteps running down the passage.
Both of us freeze.
Her eyes shoot wide with horror, and she springs off me in the blink of an eye.
I grab a throw pillow and place it over my lap just as the twins sprint into the room. Both of them leap straight onto her, smothering her with happy hugs.
“We missed you! Why did you go for so long?” Solenne complains.
I clear my throat and swallow hard, trying to pull myself together.
My body is still a raging furnace.
Standing up, I mutter, “I’m going to make a coffee. Do you want one?”
She throws me an awkward smile in between saying hi to the kids.
“Um, no thanks, I should get them back to bed.”
Selene stands, whisking the twins away. They are chatting in a rush about how much fun they had with me, and it makes me smile, but at the same time, I hate the fact that she is hurrying away from me.
I don’t make coffee. I pour a whisky instead.
I wait in the living room, hopeful that she will come back down, but she doesn’t.
When I drain the last of my second whisky, I accept that she isn’t going to, and I stand up, disappointed, and carry myself to bed.
Over the next few days, Selene makes a point of avoiding me. It’s not even subtle. It’s so obvious that the twins even comment on it one morning over breakfast.
“Why is Mommy so quiet?” Arron asks, staring at his mother but speaking to me. She is so distracted with her thoughts that she doesn’t hear him.
“Selene?” I say her name loud enough to frighten her.
“Mm? Sorry? I didn’t hear you,” she says quickly.
“Why are you so quiet, Mommy?” Arron asks her this time.
“Mommy is mad at something,” Solenne answers with the innocence of a child, hitting the truth but not realizing how accurate it is.
“I’m not mad, baby, I’m just…”
“You didn’t even read a story last night. You forgot. Daddy came to read for us,” Arron complains.
Selene’s face flushes with guilt. She steals a very quick glance at me, and her cheeks flush instantly brighter. “I, um, I’m so sorry, munchkin. I have been a little… um… distracted,” she mutters.
I groan out loud before I can stop myself. I know exactly what this is about. It was the kiss. And now she regrets it. It’s made everything awkward, and she’s probably thinking about a hundred ways to escape.
Pushing my unfinished breakfast away, I stand up, rubbing my hand over Solenne’s unbrushed hair. She laughs and ducks away.
“I’m heading into work today. I trust you will all be fine here. Call me if you need anything,” I say, looking right at her even though she refuses to look at me. She nods, smiling. “Thanks. I might ask you to order us some food at lunch time.”
“Of course, anything you need. I’ll see you all later.”
I lean over and kiss Solenne on the cheek, then Arron.
They both jump up and follow me to the door, clinging to my legs to stop me from leaving. I laugh and scoop them up, hugging them again.
“What do you two monsters want for dinner? If I’m not home on time, I will have them deliver it for you?”
“Pizza!”
“Chinese Spaghetti!”
I pack up laughing. “I don’t think that’s what it’s called, little man,” I muse.
“But I want it,” he knows his brows.
“I’ll make sure to order it. Hopefully I am back before it arrives. Love you two little munchkins. See you later, Selene,” I add politely before slipping into the elevator.
Once I am out of her presence, I take a deep breath. She clearly hates being around me, and it’s driving me crazy that she feels that way. Where is the logic? We had such an incredible moment the other night. I thought… I thought things were better between us. I even dared to think we had a chance…
Sighing, I push my hand through my hair and push the thoughts from my mind. I can’t dwell on it. It’s going to make me crazy. Instead, I should get some work done. I’ve been neglecting things because I was so focused on her.
Throughout the day, I prove to myself that it is a lot harder than I thought it would be to not think about her. But I do the best I can by burying myself in the work. I knuckle down and stay focused until late afternoon when Adrian and Matvei walk into my office on the platform of the warehouse.
“Can we talk for a minute?” Matvei asks, rapping his knuckles against the door.
I sit up and lean back in my chair. “Well, this can’t be good. Since when do you knock before coming into my office?” I say with a dry chuckle.
Matvei laughs too, as dry as mine.
“It’s about your girl,” he says, sitting down opposite me while Adrian stands next to the desk fidgeting with a paper weight.
“What about her?” I ask, wishing I could actually call her my girl.
“We’ve been digging into her and…”
“And?” I huff, getting impatient.
“She doesn’t exist, Simon. Nothing. Zero. No bank account. No credit cards. No social security number. Not even a fucking library card from when she was a kid… You know… nothing.” Matvei slides a folder across the desk. I open it, agitated.
It’s got one page titled “Report Generated”. The rest of the page is blank.
I slam the folder closed. Why bother showing me this?
Adrian raises his brows. “She’s a ghost,” he says.
“Well,” I stand up, too annoyed to sit anymore. “Her father isn’t nicknamed The Ghost for nothing. It’s his job to make people invisible. He made an entire career out of it. Obviously, he’s really good at it…” I shrug.
“Or…” Matvei glances at Adrian. “Or she isn’t who she says she is?”
“Oh, come on, guys. How much worse could it be than her being our enemy’s daughter? Why would she fake that?”
Matvei clenches his jaw and looks down at his hands. “Fair point. But everyone has something out there that hints at their existence. She’s no one. It’s hard to trust someone who isn’t anyone.”
“Well, I trust her,” I snap defensively.
“I hear you, but…”
“And you trust me!” I interrupt him. “Right?”
I fold my arms across my chest and glare at Matvei, daring him to say he doesn’t.
“I think…” Before Adrian can add his thoughts, we hear the loud, coldly familiar smack of a bullet hitting the ground of the warehouse.
“What the fuck!” I blurt out, running around the desk to look out of the viewing window.
Matvei and Adrian are next to me, their guns drawn from beneath their jackets.
I pull mine out, too, and glance at Matvei with a frown. “Where did it come from?”
Another shot spikes through the left window, shattering it. A heavy-duty bullet smacks into the ground close to the first.
Then we’re running as Adrian shouts, “SNIPER!” And everyone on the floor of the warehouse leaps into action.
“Left window! Building across the street!” Matvei shouts.
“Samantha moves!” I yell as the tea lady comes strolling across the warehouse with her headphones in and music blaring from them.
She’s young, not even twenty-five. Her father works on the floor, and she wanted to earn some extra money, so she came here to work.
And right now, she can’t hear a damn word I am yelling at her, and she’s about to walk right into his window of fire.
I bolt at full speed across the warehouse and her hear huff as the air is slammed from her lungs when I crash into her, pulling her away from the sniper’s view.
She screams, and hot tea flies into the air from her tray.
Something bites with the sharpest teeth into my shoulder, and I know I’ve been shot as I push her out of the way and to safety.
Her headphones have fallen off. Her eyes are wild with fright.
“Run!” I yell at her as another bullet smacks into a crate nearby.
The crate splinters. Then the shooting stops.
“Adrian got him!” Matvei shouts in relief. “Fuck, you’re bleeding a lot,” he grumbles.
“I’m okay, it’s not as bad as it looks.”
But it is bad. Blood is soaking through my shirt. My arm is flooded with pain shooting from the hole in my shoulder. As long as it’s through and through, it’ll be okay.
“Come on. Let’s get you out of here. I’ll call the doc on the way.”
Matvei ushers me towards his car.
“No doc. I’ll sort it out myself. I’ll call him when I get home if I need him,” I say.
“You’re being stubborn.”
“I don’t want a big drama at the penthouse. I’m sure it’s not as bad as it looks anyway.”
He rolls his eyes. “Your shoulder, your call,” he says, starting the engine.
On the way home, I keep getting slammed by waves of dizzy pain, but I grit my teeth and hide it. The last thing I want is for the twins or Selene to see what happened and to think that if I can’t keep myself safe, I can’t keep them safe. Selene is already at odds with me as it is.
Matvei asks again if I need the doc as I climb out of the car.
“No, man, I promise I’ll be fine. I’ll talk to you later.
” I slam the door closed and head towards the elevators.
Carefully, I slip my arms into the jacket, pulling it closed to hide as much of the blood as I can.
Luckily, though, the twins and Selene are not in the living room.
I can hear them playing in their bedroom, music on loud, laughter spilling from the door.
I hurry past and into my private bathroom, closing the door quietly behind me.
I turn the shower on so that if Selene comes to check on me, she’ll think I’m in there.
Pulling out the first aid kit from beneath the basin, I scratch through it for what I need. It’s stocked enough to supply a hospital emergency room.
I strip my shirt off and use a washcloth to clean as much of the blood away as I can.
Then I begin to clean and pack the wound.
The bullet went through and through. I’ve been shot before.
I know what to do. The wound is packed tightly to stop the bleeding.
The injury has been disinfected. The sting of it is still making my eyes water.
I grab a roll of crisp white bandage and begin to wrap the upper arm.
Around and around. If it does start bleeding again, I want there to be enough bandage to soak it up before anyone sees.
Timidly, I lift my arm and move it around. The bones aren’t broken. The muscles seem to be intact. Pain still shoots through me, but it could be a lot worse.
The bathroom looks like a gory mess. A crime scene. There is bloody clothing on the floor and pieces of blood-soaked gauze. I hurriedly collect it and shove it into the wastebasket. I’ll come in later and deal with that.
Five challenging minutes later, the floor is clean, and there is no more blood on the bright white tiles or in the basin.
And I am struggling with the pain.
I had thrown back four painkillers. Probably too many given their strength, but I can barely unclench my jaw, it’s hurting so much.
I need to go out there and have dinner with my family, and I can’t let on that I’ve been hurt.
Fuck.
I pull my phone from my pocket as I struggle to get my arm into a clean shirt.
I quickly order the takeout the twins wanted, adding a few extra options for Selene and me to choose from.
Glancing at my watch, I see it’s past six and past their dinner time, but I’ll make an excuse and apologize for forgetting to order during the day.
With my back straight to control my movement, I stick my head into the twins’ room. “Hello monsters,” I smile, leaning against the doorframe to hide half my body.
“Daddy!” Arron shouts, jumping up. I brace myself for his hug, then another from Solenne.
“Are you guys hungry?” I ask.
“They’ve been asking about you and dinner, in that order,” Selene says, keeping her distance, thankfully.
“Dinner should be here in five minutes. I’m sorry, I meant to order it sooner, and I got so caught up in work…”
“It’s okay. I’ll get them to wash up and get ready.”
I nod, smiling tightly, not daring to move in case it hurts, and it shows on my face. She has to squeeze past me in the doorway. I wait until they are out of sight before I let out a heavy breath.
When the delivery guy arrives, I have the guards bring the food up and place it on the dinner table because I can’t take the packets from him.
“Thanks,” I say.
He smiles, eyeing my shoulder. I can tell he wants to ask if I’m okay, but I shake my head the slightest movement, and thankfully, he catches it. The whole team knows I got shot. It’s only Selene and the twins that I am keeping it from.
When they come through to the dining room, I am already sitting, and I’ve dished up some food for myself, even though my stomach doesn’t like the idea of eating anything. It must be the painkillers.
Selene helps the twins and then dishes up for herself.
She keeps eyeing me with concern or nervousness.
I keep my head down and focus on the food.
After dinner, I stand up as carefully as I can. “Sorry, guys, I am exhausted from work today. I’m going to bed early.”
“But Mommy said you would read a story tonight,” Solenne grumbles.
Selene, reading my body language, shifts nervously. “No, sweetie, I got it wrong. It’s my turn. It’s Daddy’s turn tomorrow only.”
“Oh, okay. I guess that’s okay then,” Solenne says.
I smile tightly, then leave the room, barely able to walk normally. I need sleep so badly that I collapse right onto my bed and pass out before my head hits the pillow.