Chapter 11 Raven #2
Aiden had grabbed a blanket and filled a basket with food from the fridge so we could move to the terrace. It was hot and humid, but it was better than inhaling smoke inside. He stretched out the blanket, and we flopped on it while he set up a makeshift food tray.
I was too rattled from almost setting his penthouse on fire that I didn’t immediately notice the breathtaking sight in front of me.
Honking horns from the streets below reached us up here, but just barely. I found myself gazing out toward Central Park, the trees lush and green and the Reservoir glistening. The view, combined with this makeshift picnic, somehow made me feel like a princess in a glass tower.
I glanced around the terrace, though the word “terrace” was an understatement.
The place was massive, almost as big as the apartment. There was a private pool and lounge chairs spread out along the left, while on the right, a small, well-kept garden stretched toward the glass railing.
“Besides, it’s a perfect day to enjoy some sunshine,” Aiden added, bringing my attention back to him. “And I’m finally using this space.”
“You don’t come out here often?”
“No.” He poured San Pellegrino into both our glasses.
“Why not?”
He shrugged. “Work and stuff.”
“You know, you can have alcohol,” I remarked as he handed me my champagne flute filled with sparkling water. “I drink too. Though not often, and I’m a total lightweight.”
“Technically, you can’t.”
I scoffed, then took a small sip. “Old enough to get married, but not old enough to drink, huh?”
“Pretty much,” he muttered. “I don’t make the rules.”
I took another sip of water, then placed the delicate glass down. “So, what’s for dinner, then?”
He peered inside his basket. “Ham and cheese sandwiches. Caviar. Hummus with crackers. Strawberries and pineapples. Take your pick.”
I smiled. “It actually all sounds good. Can I start with a sandwich, please?”
He handed it to me and I bit into it. “So who cooks in your house, Raven?”
The implication that it couldn’t possibly be my mother lingered.
“Mom does. She doesn’t drink all the time, you know.” It was pretty damn close, but I kept those words to myself. “At boarding school, I didn’t have to worry about cooking. We had the cafeteria.”
His brow furrowed. “Boarding school?”
“Yeah, you know, where you live on campus while going to school?”
He let out an impatient noise. “I know what boarding school is. I just didn’t… know you went to one.”
“Guess you didn’t do your homework as well as you thought,” I said, then bit into my sandwich.
“You didn’t grow up in the city?”
I finished chewing my food before answering. “No, we moved a lot. East Coast. West Coast. Name a place, and we probably lived there.”
I took another sip of water before biting into my sandwich again.
“How long has your mom had an alcohol problem?”
His question had me pausing my chewing and I narrowed my eyes at him. “None of your business.”
“I’m not judging, just trying to figure you out.
” He spooned some caviar onto a cracker, and it struck me that this was a man who casually ate luxury food on a random Tuesday.
That he had it sitting in his fridge at all stretched the chasm between us even more.
When was the last time I indulged so freely?
“What is there to figure out?”
“Plenty.”
Eager to change the subject, I turned my attention to the opposite side of the space. “Can I use the pool sometimes?”
“This is your home now, not a prison. Feel free to do whatever you like.”
I returned my attention to him and tilted my face up, trying to gauge if he was serious. “How do you feel about this?”
“‘This’ being…?”
“Marriage.”
I didn’t know him well. Okay, I didn’t know him at all, but he already indicated that this rushed marriage wasn’t how he envisioned tying the knot. Although, he did force me into it.
He shrugged. “I’m sure I was going to get married one day. I could have done worse.”
Well, ouch.
I picked at the strawberries, resolving to seem unbothered. “Ah, yes. Indifference. Every woman’s dream.”
He chuckled. “Would you rather I lie to you and say I fell in love at first sight? Maybe right around the time you kicked off your heels and bolted?”
“Gosh, please no. If that’s the route of deceit you’re going to take, it’s best you don’t lie.”
He nodded as if pleased. “See. We have sensibility in common.”
“Why were you torturing the mayor?” The moment I asked the question, I knew I shouldn’t have, but it was already out there.
“I needed information and he had it.”
I gasped. “And that’s a reason to beat a man to death?”
“Yes. He collected a payment from the organization for protection of our shipment, and it’s on him to ensure it.”
I had a bad feeling that “shipment” entailed drugs and maybe even weapons.
“Where did all the honest politicians go?” I grumbled, damning that mayor and his greed.
Aiden chuckled. “An honest politician? Now there’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one.”
I shot him a look. “Then what about an honest criminal? An honest mobster?”
“What do you think?” he retorted dryly, picking up his glass and swirling it before bringing it to his lips.
“I think that mayor is the reason we’re both in this pickle,” I muttered.
He lowered his drink as he said, “You saw something you weren’t supposed to, Raven. I really didn’t want to kill you, as my uncle had suggested, so I married you. Besides, at the end of the day, hurting you wasn’t an option. So here we are, dating after we’ve already said our vows.”
“I’ll be sure to engrave that on your tombstone.”
He watched me for a heartbeat, then threw his head back and laughed. “My tombstone?”
“Yes, you’re much older, so it makes sense you go first,” I said, smiling. “Don’t worry, I’ll mourn you for the appropriate amount of time.”
“What’s that?” he remarked wryly. “A week?”
I fluttered my eyelashes innocently. “I was thinking a month, but I like the way you’re thinking better. So a week it is.”
“Geez, don’t mind my dead ass.”
“Oh, I won’t. Besides, you know what a bitch it is to find the perfect black dress.”
“I’ll haunt you in the afterlife,” he said dryly. “You and your younger boyfriend.”
I shrugged. “You might want to reconsider your threats, because I’ll find you the shittiest nursing home before your afterlife.”
“Jesus Christ, woman,” he said with a wry smile. “You don’t pull your punches, do you?”
I smiled sweetly. “Would you rather I lie to you?”
“Touché.”
For the next several minutes, we ate in silence while the city noise hummed in the distance and I pondered his words. The bottom line was that in one way or another, we’d both been forced into this union. The fact that he chose marriage over killing me told me more than anything else could.
He wasn’t as ruthless or heartless as the rumors circling the club had made him out to be.
“I don’t know anything about you,” I said pensively. “Are your parents alive? I know you have brothers, but anyone else? I imagine being Irish, you probably have a huge family. Have you always lived in New York?”
He chuckled. “So many questions.”
“It’s only fair since you’ve been interrogating me.”
“Hardly.” He scoffed. “But since it’s our first date”—we rolled our eyes at the same time—“I’ll answer a few.”
“How kind of you.”
“Okay, I was raised in New York City, although I did spend a lot of summers in Ireland growing up. My father is dead.” Pain flashed across his expression, but it was gone in the next blink.
“My mother is still around, but she’s not good to any of us.
I have two brothers—the twins, whom you’ve met.
I also have a sister who’s older than you.
My siblings and I are very close, although sometimes I entertain the idea of killing Kyran and Tyran. ”
I chuckled. “I bet more often than not they entertain the same idea.”
“Probably,” he stated wryly.
“Your sister… What’s her name?”
“Margaret.”
I tilted my head pensively. “Funny, because I’ve heard plenty about the Callahans, but it’s always about the men. Never the women.”
He chuckled.
“And you gathered all your intel from just two weeks at my club. Imagine what illicit information you would’ve picked up if I hadn’t stepped in and terminated your employment contract.”
“Terminated, right,” I scoffed. “I wouldn’t call it that.”
Aiden arched his brow. “What would you call it, then?”
“A forcible and unnecessary ending of my income because of some macho criminal being violent.”
He grinned. “Allegedly violent. Remember, in the court of law, we’re innocent until proven guilty. Besides, don’t think I didn’t notice you lied on your job application.”
I sighed. “Just a small white lie. You cannot compare that to what you did or do.”
“Ah, see, I would argue otherwise because there’s no evidence of what I’ve done. You, on the other hand, made a mistake. There’s a document in black and white that can be used as evidence in the courtroom. I see I have a lot to teach you, wife.”
I rolled my eyes. There was no sense arguing with a mobster, especially a witty one, so I asked, “But seriously, why are the Callahan women never talked about?”
“That’s by design,” he explained. “Keeping them mostly out of our business dealings is for their protection.”
I reached for another strawberry and opened my mouth to ask him another question when the doorbell rang. I shot Aiden a curious look. “Expecting company?”
“Hmm, no. I’m not.” The mischievous expression on his face didn’t escape me. “Let’s go see who it is.”
I raised my eyebrow, craning my neck as he stood up. “Both of us?”
“Yes, why not?”
He extended his hand and I tossed the strawberry into my mouth, then slid my palm into his. We entered the penthouse, most of the smoke now cleared out, and made our way toward the foyer.
A pile of packages was scattered over the area and I shot Aiden a curious look. “Your delivery man has access to your house?”
“Not a chance. Tyran, however, is granted limited access.”
“Well, it looks like he brought you goodies.”
He smiled. “Actually, these are for you.”
My eyebrows met my hairline. “Again?”
“Not exactly the reaction I expected…” he said in a sardonic tone.
“Sorry,” I muttered, eyeing the large boxes and a crate sitting at the center. “Can I open them?”
His eyes twinkled as he cast me a look. “That’s why they’re here.”
I started with the crate. The wood was rough beneath my fingers, and the lid resisted every tug and pull. I huffed, wiping a strand of hair from my face, then braced my foot against the side to gain some leverage.
Aiden chuckled from behind me. “Need a hand?”
I glanced over my shoulder to see him watching me, a grin spreading across his face.
“Be my guest,” I muttered, stepping back.
With an exaggerated roll of his sleeves, he reached for the crowbar that apparently came with the crate and gave the lid a solid wrench. The nails creaked, then popped free one by one. Finally, with a loud groan, the top came loose.
The scent of wood and linseed oil drifted out.
My breath caught.
Inside, nestled carefully among layers of packing straw, were blank white canvases of various sizes. Beneath them, a sleek wooden stand lay folded, its brass hinges gleaming faintly in the light.
My fingers trembled as I reached inside and lifted it, the weight both familiar and thrilling.
Beneath the easel, tucked neatly in custom-cut compartments, were rows of paint tubes in every color imaginable, their labels foreign and elegant. There were brushes too, thick and fine, still wrapped in paper, and jars of mediums and solvents, each stoppered tightly.
I couldn’t find words.
Aiden nudged my shoulder gently. “Well?” he asked.
I turned to him, blinking back the sting in my eyes. “When… How…”
“Your expression when you talked about painting told me everything I needed to know, so I placed an order right away,” he explained.
Holy shit, was this man for real?
“Did I get the right stuff?” he asked, peering into the box. “We can get more.”
“It’s perfect,” I whispered.
He smiled, pulling out item after item for inspection. “Thought you might like it. Contractors will come Monday. We’ll pick a room with the best ventilation and get it set up as your studio.”
I chewed on my lip nervously, suddenly all too aware that this man—husband or not—had been showering me with gifts while I had absolutely nothing to give him in return.
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. I did have one thing to give him.
“Aiden?” I started, and he hummed his response. “Can I sleep with you tonight?” Oh my God. I couldn’t believe I was proposing this. But it was too late to take it back.
His big frame stiffened and he turned to face me, his eyes finding mine. “I don’t think that’s wise.”
Dejected and more than a little embarrassed, I looked away, my shoulders slumping. “Oh, okay.”
His hands cupped my face and forced me to meet his gaze. “Consider this and the clothing a gift, Raven. They were given freely and don’t require anything in return.”
“What if I want to…”
He shook his head. “Maybe, but—”
“Then let me just sleep in your bed,” I interjected. “After all, we should get used to at least that.”
He eyed me for several heartbeats before he nodded. “Just sleep.”
I smiled. “Yes, and you can keep any night monsters away.”
“Considering I’m one of them, it’ll be my pleasure.”
I was slowly but surely falling under this man’s spell, and I couldn’t even resist it.