Chapter 17 #2
“I think I’ll get by,” I inform him. “But thanks for your concern.” I know my voice is sassy. I don’t care. When I try to step forward, Adrian tightens his hold on me. He’s not going to let me get one inch closer to William. He’s right. I don’t blame him.
“You’re forgetting that I’m not just some trust-fund girl. Or maybe you never cared. I have a brain. It works well. I have a master’s in biology. I can do anything I want. It just isn’t going to be in pharmaceuticals.”
He smirks and glances toward the garden I came from. “What are you planning, Blair? You thinking you can grow bigger potatoes if you genetically modify them?”
Rebekah gasps somewhere to the side of me. I’m not sure there are even potatoes in this garden. I bet she’d like a piece of William, and I don’t blame her. What a tool.
“Maybe I will.” I shrug.
William groans and rolls his eyes. “Get in the car, Blair.” His abrupt change of tactic startles me.
“You’re beginning to try my patience, asshole,” Adrian finally growls. I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did.
“Stay out of it, mountain man,” William snaps. “She’s marrying me, not you.”
Adrian laughs and lifts my left hand. “I’m afraid you’re wrong there. She’s already married to me.” He flattens his hand on my stomach and pats it. “And there’s a solid chance she’s already carrying my baby inside her.”
It’s hard for me not to laugh at the look on William’s face. He jerks his wide-eyed gaze to me again. “Is that true, Blair? Did you marry this man?”
“It’s true.” I spin around in his arms, rise onto my tiptoes, grab his bearded face, and kiss him like I mean it.
“What the fuck for?” William shouts.
When I drop back onto my feet, Adrian keeps his arms wrapped around me. “Because I love him.”
“How long have you known him? A day?”
I giggle as I turn back around. I feel lighter by the minute. William’s face is turning red, and the more I inform him, the more weight is lifted off my shoulders. “I know him a fuck of a lot better than I know you, and you were willing to marry me. Instead of marrying for money, I chose love.”
“You sound ridiculous, Blair.”
“That may be, but I’m married. Go home.” I’m so over William and his antics that I barely glance at him.
“You’ll get it annulled.”
“I will not.” I pat my husband’s hand on my stomach. I really hope I’m already pregnant. “Besides, considering how many times we’ve consummated our marriage, I’d say Adrian is right. He’s probably planted his seed.”
There are snickers from Adrian’s brothers. I don’t care. It’s not like they don’t know we’ve been fucking night and day. It doesn’t embarrass me. What would embarrass me would be to spend my life pretending I’m having sex with a man who never touches me. That’s just depressing.
“So this is about fucking?” William shouts.
Luckily, there are no kids around. At least one or two of the women are not standing at my back. I’m not sure who. Someone is with the kids. Probably in the main house.
“Is that it? You found a boy toy? Does he make your blood pump because he’s got all those muscles?”
“Watch it, man,” Adrian retorts. “I don’t appreciate you talking to my wife with that language or that tone.”
William tips his head back and cackles. “Blair, do you think I give a fuck who you sleep with on the side? Because I don’t.
Keep your sidepiece. I certainly intend to have my own.
We get married. We smile for the cameras.
We merge our companies. After that, do what you want.
If the occasional weekend in the mountains, rolling around in the dirt with this lumberjack, gets your rocks off, go for it. ”
Wow. I don’t even have a response to that. He’s living in another dimension. I didn’t realize what a fucking idiot William is.
Adrian speaks through gritted teeth. “Get back in your SUV and drive away before I lose my temper, asshole. You heard my wife. She’s married to me.
She’s never leaving my side, and certainly not to play house with someone like you.
I feel sorry for you. What a sad existence you live.
Find some other way to get that merger done.
It’s not going to be by using Blair as a pawn for your financial gain. ”
William stares at me. “Are you going to listen to some loser who lives off-grid. Some buff piece of meat you met two or three days ago?”
“Yes.”
William’s face is beet red. “You can’t do this, Blair. Your parents will have you committed. You’ve lost your mind.”
“They can try,” Adrian responds. “But they will never succeed. Blair is perfectly sane and happy.”
“I’ve never been as clear-headed as I am now that I’ve gotten away from the money game.”
“He won’t be able to support you in the manner you’re accustomed, Blair.” William is grasping at straws. He’s pulling out everything he can find, desperate to see what might stick.
Adrian cackles this time. “You are so wrong, asshole. I have more money than the Snyders and the Sanfords combined. You should have done your homework before you showed up.”
William takes a step back, jaw open. He looks around. “Who the fuck are you people?”
“Ever heard of JNG Enterprises?” Adam asks as he comes closer, closing ranks. I feel the energy shift in the air. The Gallants are losing their patience.
William’s body flinches. He’s heard of their company. Who hasn’t? It’s a household term. He just didn’t know who the Gallants were because they’ve successfully stepped out of society to live their lives freely.
Aaric chuckles sardonically. “I think he’s heard of us.”
I hope to fuck William doesn’t leave here and do something that might ruin the haven Adrian and his brothers have built for themselves. He could do something stupid out of spite and make our family’s life hell.
As that scenario forms in my head, I wince.
I want to strangle William. And I don’t like the look on his face as it slowly changes from shock to a smirk.
He backs up, shaking a finger at me. “This isn’t over, Blair.
I suggest you think about your actions and reconsider.
No one gives up one of the most lucrative companies on Earth because of a good fuck.
Come to your senses, or there will be consequences. ”
Adrian moves me to the side and leans forward. “Are you threatening my wife, asshole?”
William smirks. He’s trying to look tough, but he’s shaking, and there’s sweat forming on his brow.
He cocks his head to one side, glaring at Adrian.
“You won’t win this fight. I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re doing, messing with the Snyders, but you should cut your losses now.
Blair doesn’t belong in your world. The sooner you see reason, the better. ”
Andrew closes ranks with the rest of the Gallants.
“Now you’re threatening my brother?” He continues forward until he’s inches from William.
“Get in your fucking rental car and get off our property. Do not come back. If any of you step foot on Gallant Mountain again, I’ll have the sheriff throw your asses in jail. Do I make myself clear?”
“You think you own the fucking sheriff?” William retorts.
Aaron joins in next, “Oh, you’re a piece of work, Sanford. An idiot, too. This is a small town. We stick together. Go home to your piles of money and cut your losses. Find someone else willing to sell their soul to the devil. It won’t be my sister-in-law.”
My breath hitches. These men have my back. All of them. They’re livid. No one has ever stood up for me before. I’ve never had a tribe. Now I do. I just hope they aren’t sorry they are supporting me. I suspect William will report some warped version of our exchange to my parents. It won’t be pretty.
This merger is important to him. Obviously, he’s driven by money. I’ve been wandering through life like a zombie, letting people boss me around. I’m done now. I’m the boss of me.
Except in the bedroom. Then I’ll gladly turn that power over to my husband because it turns out I love his form of bossiness when it comes to fucking me until I can’t catch my breath.
Suddenly, Asher is behind William, and he clears his throat. I’m not surprised. The man is stealthy. Nothing gets by him. And he, more than any of the Gallants, will not tolerate a threat to his family.
I’m his family. I’m close to crying, and I don’t want William to see me break down. It has nothing to do with him or my decision. It’s because I’m overwhelmed by the love and support from people who were strangers just a few days ago.
Asher growls. “Get in your fucking car and get gone, Sanford. The sheriff will be here any minute. I don’t think you want to still be on our property threatening our family when he arrives.”
William spins around. “Fuck you.”
All six brothers surround him, moving closer.
William glares at me. “This isn’t over.”
“Oh, but it is,” I say, keeping my head high and my tears at bay.
Finally, he hops into his SUV, tires squealing out of the clearing, heading back toward the main road to town.
I slump against my husband, and the dam breaks.