Chapter 10 Jamie
JAMIE
Ihad the worst luck.
A burst pipe.
And I didn’t even know how it had happened.
Luckily, most of the damage was contained in the bathroom, but I would have to wait until tomorrow for someone to come by and fix it.
“The water is shut off, miss,” Johnny, the maintenance man I had on call for the building, said to me.
“Thank you for all your help,” I said.
“It’s no problem. I’ll drop by first thing tomorrow morning and see if we can get this resolved as quickly as possible.”
He left shortly after that, leaving Reign and me alone in the apartment building. I already had my bag packed.
I still couldn’t believe I had asked to spend the night at his place.
I could have just gotten a hotel for the night or something. But Reign was right there, and the words came out before I could stop them.
I was already regretting it now.
I leaned back against the wall, suddenly feeling so tired, all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep.
Reign was standing silently beside me.
My eyes moved over to him, taking in his strong shoulder. And I had the strangest urge to just lie my head there and rest for a bit.
I quickly shook away the thought. I didn’t want to touch him. I didn’t want him to touch me, and I was sure that doing something as stupid as that would only invite him to act boldly.
Bolder than he had been.
I moved my eyes to his face.
He was looking around my place curiously. I wondered what he thought about it. I tried to see it from his perspective, but the truth was, I hadn’t really put much effort into decorating this place. Someone had done it for me.
The design mainly consisted of neutral colors, with a pop of red and dark blue here and there. It was functional and clean.
I hadn’t minded it much.
Now, for some inexplicable reason, I found myself wishing I had put a little more of my personality into the place.
I didn’t like that Reign was so good at hiding his emotions. I hated even more that he was so convincing in showing me only the emotions he wanted me to see—nothing more, nothing less.
His phone vibrated, and he took a break from perusing my place and pulled it out, typing something on the screen.
“Should we go?” I asked awkwardly.
He nodded, then bent down and picked up my overnight bag with one hand and held out the other to me. I stared at it for three long seconds. Did he seriously think I was going to touch him, let alone hold his hand?
I moved past the hand and out the door. As usual, he let out a small, amused chuckle, as if everything I did amused him, and followed closely behind.
I avoided looking at him through the reflection on the elevator door as it went down.
While the silence in the car just hours before had been nice and comfortable, this was tense and awkward. At least, it was for me.
Reign was a picture of ease. He leaned back against the wall and had no problem watching me through the reflection.
I quickly looked down when our eyes met.
I felt him come closer to me, but thankfully, we didn’t touch. “Don’t tell me you’re getting all shy on me now, are you?”
I glared at him.
I wasn’t shy.
At least, I hadn’t been.
Why was I feeling so goddamn reserved now?
The doors opened, saving me from having to reply to him. I quickly moved out of there without responding.
It took about five minutes on the road for me to realize Reign wasn’t taking me back to his apartment.
I frowned when he turned onto a strange street, sitting up a little and taking in my surroundings. And for the first time all night, I felt a small inkling of fear trickling down my spine.
“Where… where are we going?”
“To the Emerald Crown Hotel.”
I blinked. A hotel.
“Why? I’m not fucking you.”
“Such crass language, princess. Did I say anything about fucking?”
My cheeks burned. “Then why the hell are you taking me to a hotel?”
“My apartment got broken into last night. They’re still working on the repairs. I’m staying at the hotel for now.”
“Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
I turned fully to him. “Why the hell didn’t you just say that? I would have just reserved a room at a hotel if I had known.”
“Well, now you don’t have to. You can stay with me.”
I shook my head. “Since we’re already heading to a hotel, I think I’ll just get my own room.”
“Suit yourself,” he answered easily. I blinked a little in surprise. A part of me thought he would try to convince me otherwise.
I shook my head and leaned back against my seat. A win was a win. Now I wouldn’t have to worry about spending the night in the same space as Reign Mahankov.
“Come again?”
“I’m sorry, miss, but all our rooms are fully booked for the night. There’s nothing available for you.”
Fuck.
I could feel Reign’s heavy presence behind me, his heat radiating off him and making me feel hot.
I used the back of my palm to wipe away the sweat forming on my forehead. “Are you sure? Because it doesn’t have to be a full room. I’d even settle for a cot in a storage—”
I let out a small yelp when I felt an arm go around my waist, carrying me away from the front desk.
“Thank you for your time,” Reign said.
“Wait!” I struggled to get out of his hold. He only tightened his arms around me.
“Come on, let’s not bother the nice man. He already said he doesn’t have any rooms available.”
“How is that possible? And put me down.”
He didn’t put me down until we were by the elevators.
I made a show of straightening out my clothes before glaring up at him. “You did something, didn’t you?”
One eyebrow rose as he looked at me. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, we’re not in tourist season right now. There are no attractions going on, and yet this five-star luxury hotel suddenly has no rooms available.”
“Do you really think I have nothing better to do with my time than to book out all the available rooms?”
Well, when he put it like that, it sounded ridiculous. But I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t adding up. The elevator doors opened, and he ushered me inside. I only went because I didn’t want him to touch me again.
“And stop doing that,” I said when the doors closed behind us and he pressed the button for the top floor. Of course he would be staying in the penthouse suite.
“Doing what?”
“Stop touching me and picking me up without permission. I don’t like it.”
“You don’t? Or it is because you like it too much and don’t want to show it.”
What a fucking infuriating man.
“I don’t like it.”
He shrugged. The door opened, and he made a show of leaving enough space for me to pass through. It wasn’t until I stepped out that the reality of my situation fully hit me.
I should have just stayed at Dad’s house tonight.
Or hell, even Caine’s apartment would have been a better alternative. It was much too late now.
“Scared, princess?” he asked, his lips close to my ear.
“Scared?” I was a Caparelli. We were taught to face fears head-on. “You wish. Lead the way.”
He walked ahead of me, looking back to show me his amused expression before leading us to a door at the end of the hallway.
He opened it and gestured with his hand for me to enter.
I moved past him, our eyes meeting for a quick second before I looked away. The hotel room was as expected.
It was larger than a typical room and had a small makeshift kitchen near the front door. There were also two doors that I was sure led to the bedroom and bathroom, respectively, and a small living room.
I heard the door click shut, making my heart pound fiercely in my chest. “Just one room?” I asked, turning around to watch him.
“Just one bed,” he answered with a smile.
“Great. I’ll take the bed, and you take the couch.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening, baby. Have you seen me? There’s no way I can comfortably sleep on that couch.”
“Then I’ll take the couch.”
He opened his mouth, probably to argue, but I had just about had enough of him and his mouth. I rushed forward and grabbed my bag from his hand. I liked it way better when he was in his silent mood earlier.
“I’m gonna go shower and get ready for bed.”
I all but ran out of there.
I opened the first door and realized it was the bedroom. I quickly shut it and went to the next door, stepping inside and locking the door behind me.
I looked down at the flimsy handle. If he really wanted to, a locked door wouldn’t stop him, but I was trusting my instincts, and everything in my gut told me he was nothing like his brother Kingston.
He wouldn’t hurt me.
That had to be true, because if he did…
I didn’t know what I would do.
I took the quickest shower known to man before I went about my nightly routine. By the time I was finished and had changed into my pajamas, Reign was sitting on the couch, looking at something on his phone. When he heard the door, he glanced up at me and froze.
I froze too, not sure if I liked that intense look in his eyes all that much.
“What?”
He shook his head, as if getting out of his thoughts, and stood up, slowly making his way over to me.
I backed away, and before I knew what was happening, my back was against the wall, and Reign was standing directly in front of me, his palms pressed against the wall on either side of my head.
He leaned down, crowding me in, but didn’t touch me.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing. Just taking in your scent. You fucking smell good.”
“What are you, a vampire?”
“Will you let me bite you if I say yes?” He smiled, baring his teeth. My eyes focused on his canines. They were slightly bent forward from the rest of his teeth, making them stand out.
He licked his lips.
I shook my head and pushed him away. Luckily, he moved easily enough. “Stop talking nonsense. Go shower.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, saluting me playfully.
I didn’t watch him as he headed inside the bathroom. Instead, I began setting up the couch for my sleep, trying to calm my racing heart.
I pressed my hand against my chest when it still hadn’t calmed down after a few minutes.
Fuck, but why was I feeling like this?
I was just settled on the couch when the bathroom door opened, and whatever effort I made to calm my heart down was all in vain, considering it was jumping erratically now.
I was getting annoyed. And I was sure that an annoyed expression showed on my face when I turned and looked at him.
Then my mouth went dry.
Jesus Christ.
“Why the hell are you naked?” I asked, my voice high-pitched.
His hand moved down to the white towel wrapped around his hips. It looked like it was just one wrong step away from slipping off.
“I’m not naked. I can be if you want me to.”
He made a move as if to take the towel off when I yelled, “No!”
He looked back at me, his eyes light. “No? Would it make you feel more comfortable to get naked as well?”
“Why the fuck would that make me comfortable?” I asked.
“Language,” he said with a laugh.
“What are you, the language police? Even my dad doesn’t care this much about the way I speak.”
“Your dad?” He walked over to the couch and sat down next to me. I glared at the spot, and thankfully, he moved back a little, leaving some space between us, at least.
“What about him?” I asked.
“Are you close to him?”
I blinked. What an odd question to ask. “I am as close to him as anyone could be close to him.”
“Ah. So he’s more of a closed-off type, huh?”
“I guess you could say that. Why aren’t you close with your dad?”
“How do you know I’m not?”
“By the way you described him before.”
He shrugged. “Can’t get close to a monster.”
He said it so lightly, yet there was this small shadow in his eyes that made my chest pinch. I held out my hand, as if to reach for him, before I thought better of it and pulled back.
“You should go to sleep,” I said, noticing the bags under his eyes. He was tired, no matter what he said.
He nodded. “Good night, Jamie.”
“Good night.”
He turned and made a move to stand when I stopped him. “Wait. What… what happened to your back?”
Oh fuck, but what really happened? His back was marked with bruises and wounds that were obviously new.
It looked like…
“Did someone take a whip to you?”
And more importantly, who would have been capable of that? It wasn’t like Reign was the kind of man to just stand there and let other people abuse him.
Why the hell didn’t he fight back?
I pressed my hand against a particularly nasty mark on his shoulder blade. His skin was warm, and he tensed a little from my touch. It was going to leave a nasty-looking scar.
“That’s not important,” he said lightly.
“Not important? Have you seen it? Fuck, I can take a picture and show you. This isn’t something to be taken lightly.”
He reached back and grabbed my hand, turning back to me once more. I didn’t pull away.
“I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
He let out a small sigh. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
I pressed my lips together in a tight line. Should I push him? I didn’t think we had the kind of relationship where I could push his boundaries, but this…
This wasn’t fucking normal.
And the only reason he was even acting like this in the first place—how someone was even strong enough, powerful enough to hurt him—only left two options.
His father or his brother did this.
But why?
I took a deep breath. “Then at least let me put some ointment on it so you don’t end up getting an infection and die.”
He gave me that cocky half smile of his. “I’m not going to die. Do you really think I’m that easy to kill?”
No, I didn’t think that. But he wasn’t immune to infection.
And the only reason I cared, why I didn’t want him to get an infection, was because it would mess up my entire plan.
That was all there was to it.
That was the only reason.
At least, that was what I told myself.
I was a dirty little liar.