Chapter 45
Chapter forty-five
Barrett
Her boss hadn’t been on the list of targets we created, but he is now.
The way he spoke over the phone, assuming it was Sage who answered, made me want to reach through and strangle him with my bare hands to ensure I felt the pulse die in his throat.
The threats he made went beyond that of an employer, but I heard the panic in his voice.
Campbell is pressuring him to get to Sage.
Morrison is going to die alongside the person he made his bed with.
There’s no reason for Sage not to have the freedom she desires after all this is over, but I can’t answer her.
I can’t promise her I’ll be able to let her walk out the door to go to work every day without following her to ensure I don’t lose her.
I can’t lose her. She’s become something precious to me. Irreplaceable. A part of my soul.
When she’s on her knees, looking up at me with trust and begging me to make everything inside her right, my entire world and whole being narrows on her.
Sage wasn’t the only one who lost herself last night, at the club and afterward when I put her in the stockade to push her to her limit of pleasure.
Words I haven’t spoken since my family died burned my tongue. I want to promise her the world, but I can’t.
Sage searches my eyes for the answer she needs, but it isn’t there. Blinking rapidly, she looks down and turns away to pick up her coffee. I give her space. It’s the least I can do.
For two more days, I give her space except when I need her on her knees with a tail and trusting wide eyes looking at me like I’m her whole world. Then I fuck her until she sleeps before I leave in the night with Fain and Rafe to ensure everything is ready.
But the tension increases the closer we get to the end of this. Heavy stares between us filled with uncertainty mixed with the lust and desire that rule us.
We’ve planned everything for tomorrow night, the execution of Campbell’s front men, the ones he relies on to ensure his empire functions.
Then Campbell and Morrison will be next.
I’m certain we’ll have backlash from the mayor.
He wanted a solution to rid the city of the problem without allowing another one to step in his place and not create a stir amongst the public.
Our plan will accomplish two of those things.
But he can’t have all three. Authorities won’t have to dig far to find the entire truth and it won’t take long for the public to learn of it after that.
But this is the way Rafe wants to do this.
Sage is sitting at the table sipping peppermint tea, something she’s taken to in the afternoons to pass the time. She’s lost in thought, staring out the window. I don’t bother her during this time. I’ll watch her, imprinting her further on my mind, but I allow her this peace.
Usually.
“Would you like to go check on your sister, pet?” She still hasn’t talked to Nova since the day we took her to her last appointment. I know her thoughts are as much on her sister as they are on what’s between us.
Her head whips in my direction and hope flares in her eyes. “Yes. Please.” She pushes her tea away and stands. “I keep hoping she’ll call me back. I’m worried.”
“I know. After we check on her, we’ll swing by your house again.”
“What for?”
“To get more of your things, pack some more clothes.” I tilt my head to study her reaction. Her face freezes in that hopeful worry for her sister rather than allowing any feelings toward me to show through. I close the distance and tilt her face up. “Do you like being here with me, pet?”
Her tongue wets her lips. “Yes, Daddy. I do.”
It isn’t often she calls me Daddy without being in an intimate situation, and it makes my chest warm, giving me my own hope that she won’t be able to live without me when this is over.
“Can we go now?”
“Yes. Let’s go.”
Sage is practically bouncing in her seat, shaking the car, as we drive to Nova’s. I’m surprised she doesn’t have her face pressed to the glass.
As her sister’s house comes into view, Sage grips the arm of the car door. “Whose is that?” There’s a compact two-door, light-green car in the driveway.
“I don’t know.” I set my hand on her knee to steady her, but it doesn’t stop her from bolting out of the car as I shove the car into park.
“Sage!” I catch up to her before she knocks on the door and pin her back against my chest. “Don’t run off like that again or you’ll have a red ass when I get you home. ”
“But what if she’s in trouble?”
“You let me handle it. Understood?”
“Yes, Daddy.” But she’s still tense in my arms, ready to burst through her sister’s front door. I reach around her to knock on the door and I only let her go when we hear small footsteps on the other side.
The door swings open and Nova stands there looking nothing like the image I remember the last time I saw her. Her skin has colour and although her eyes are still haunted, there is more awareness in the way she stares back at us. The clothes she’s wearing have more shape and her arms are bare.
“Nova.” Sage takes a step toward her sister and pauses. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
Sage lets herself go and embraces Nova who slowly raises her arms. “I’ve been so worried. Why haven’t you called me back?”
Nova pushes Sage away from her. “I needed some space.”
“But you could have called me.”
“Maybe.” Nova shrugs.
“Whose car is that?” Sage glances over her shoulder.
“Mine.” Nova straightens her shoulders, pride filling her posture.
“Really? That’s great, Nova.”
“Sage, you need to go. I’m fine, but I can’t take any more patronizing from people around me. You’ve been saying I need to find myself. Well, that’s what I’m doing. And patronizing pity pulls me back.” Her eyes cast toward me standing behind Sage. “You’ve clearly found something for yourself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Interesting timing for you to have what seems like a serious relationship. You know, I’ve never seen you allow a man to drive you anywhere?
You never let yourself rely on anyone. I don’t understand why you would choose the moment I lost my husband to allow …
to flaunt …” Nova shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t need your pity.”
“Nova.” Sage separates herself from me. “I don’t pity you. And I don’t mean to patronize. I …”
“Enough. I’ll call you when I’m ready. Until then, let me be. I can get to my appointments on my own now. I don’t need a babysitter.” Nova steps back, and looking to the floor with a modicum of guilt, she shuts the door.
“Give her time, pet.” I run my hand over Sage’s head and steer her back to my car parked beside Nova’s new, shiny one.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No. She’s finding her own strength and that’s exactly what you wanted for her.”
“You’re right. I just thought I’d be there for her through it.”
“You are. You’re here whenever she needs you.”
Sage nods and leans her forehead against my chest to take in a few deep breaths. I kiss her head, breathing in her scent. “And I’m here for you.”