Chapter 35 Villain #2
I looked at Trixie and studied the new stitches in her forehead from the explosion.
That was all on me. How could I have helped my family hurt others?
No more. “He’s only with me so that he can take down my grandfather and cousin.
I love him. I can guarantee his safety as long as my grandfather thinks that I’m playing his game, that I’m controlling Dirk, but I know that it’s just another desert mirage for him.
I have until Christmas to wrap this up, otherwise, I don’t know how I’ll keep him close, keep him from being ruined.
I don’t want to put any of you at risk. If you can see that it’s dangerous for you, I need you to say something and back out.
You’re all brilliant women in various shades of deadly.
I need your help to keep the people I care about safe, but you are all people I care about. Don’t risk yourself, whatever you do.”
Minx took my hand with a tremulous smile. “I’m so glad you’re taking care of Jezebel. She needs mothering.”
I was the least mothering person in the world, but I patted her hand, anyway.
“Wait,” Trixie said, still frowning. “You really think that Dagger only married you for vengeance?”
I shrugged helplessly. “He couldn’t like me when my family killed his sister.
” It hurt to say that. Was I going to be sick?
Maybe I would cry. My chest was so tight, and my eyes ached just to close forever, but I didn’t have time for that.
I cleared my throat. “I admit that I am responsible for my part in my family’s legacy.
I should have stopped Philippe before he destroyed any innocent lives. ”
Jezebel sighed. “Well, honey, that’s noble and all to take responsibility for your failings, even when you weren’t aware of them, but you can’t control other people’s.
Also, I don’t think Dirk is as concerned with vengeance as he is about you.
I’ve got him hog-tied in a closet, because he refuses to leave until he sees you. ”
I stood up, knocking over the glass of stuff in my rush. “He’s here? Why?”
Jezebel stood up slowly, her sharp eyes softening while I stood paralyzed, torn between the right and the want.
“He’s worried about you. If you don’t let him see you, and put on a good show of how well you’re doing, he’ll pamper you terribly in that horrible house of his.
He’s protective of you, and unless I’m wrong, he has genuine feelings for you that are the furthest from hatred on the spectrum that you can get. ”
I shuddered at the thought of Dirk loving me, actually loving me when I was so incredibly bad for him in every way.
He had kissed me so long ago on the tower, but he’d learned his lesson, and he didn’t want me too close to him now, because he wasn’t willing to sell his body like I’d done with Clint. That’s why he wouldn’t sleep with me.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “You shouldn’t tell me that.
I’m not capable of reason where he’s concerned.
He’s what my body wants, what my soul has always wanted, and it’s going to kill me to let him go, but I will, because he deserves to be free.
Every time he looks at me and my pink hair, he thinks of her, of what my family did. ”
“I’ve said this already, but you aren’t your family,” she said softly and put a hand on my shoulder, a careful touch like you’d give a skittish horse.
I opened my eyes and looked into hers, soft, blue, so much pain and sacrifice in them. She could do absolutely anything if she believed that it was necessary- the ultimate supervillain or superhero depending on your perspective, but I wasn’t that strong.
“I was, but I won’t be anymore.”
“Good,” Trix said, draping her arms over both of us.
“Deciding what’s in another person’s heart is too egotistical.
That’s for Horse, not you. I get that you feel like you have certain character issues that might put him in danger, and his safety is now your primary concern, but he’s the kind of man who can handle a strong woman. ”
“Trixie’s right,” Felicia said, nodding rapidly. “You let him know the deal, that you’re trending towards psycho, and give him an out, but give it to him; don’t force it down his throat. He’s a grown-up hombre and can handle making his own choices.”
“I like that,” Dirk said from the doorway, remnants of black tape still stuck on his wrists and forearms where they were crossed over his body, muscles bunching, eyes sharp and burning with something that made my knees weak and my heart race faster in my chest.
Jezebel gestured at him. “You couldn’t stay put for five more minutes? This is why I don’t let people in my house.”
“You didn’t let me in. I broke in, and then broke out of the closet you stuffed me into after you tasered me.” He ripped a section of tape off his wrists and all of us winced, even Jezebel.
I glared at her. “Why are you tasering my husband? If I want him unconscious, I’ll do it myself.”
“Come on,” Trixie said, grabbing Jezebel’s arm and herding the other women inside. “We all need to get to work.” She got them all inside, physically dragging Jezebel, and then closed the glass door behind, leaving me alone with Dirk.
I suddenly remembered the mess I’d made on the table when I spilled the drink, and started cleaning it up, all the time so aware of him, his strength, power, and warmth I needed so desperately.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, gently, touching my shoulder.
“Hm?” I asked, accidentally looking up at him and then not being able to look away, not when the lights and shadows played over him like that, highlighting the contours and angles of his chiseled jaw and soft eyes. Why were his eyes so soft? How could I possibly resist that?
“Your arm was badly injured, and you had some other less serious wounds as well, didn’t you?” He carefully ran his hand down my arm, featherlight, gauging the damage. It felt so good to have him touching me until his hand brushed a certain part and I gasped at the unexpected shock of pain.
He swept me up in his arms and sat down on a chair with my arm resting between us. I stared into his warm, sweet eyes and couldn’t remember what I’d been going to tell him.
“I hope you don’t mind if I sit. I’m still woozy from being tasered.
” He gently bumped my head with his. He was so gentle, so precise with me.
He really was masterful at manipulation.
How could I ever let him go? I couldn’t when he was holding onto me.
I just couldn’t, and happily, keeping him close, at least physically, was in his best interest.
I sank against him and closed my eyes, only for a moment, and again I was back in the tent, waking up with him in the morning, with happiness and contentment wrapped around me along with his arms.
Could I keep this moment forever? Maybe I could die right here, a perfectly happy ending, except that would leave everyone I cared about vulnerable.
Toni needed me to be strong.
I rubbed my arm, but only a distant throbbing was noticeable, mostly because I was so focused on the man that drew every bit of my attention, a man that I could never get enough of.
If he wanted me on his lap, that’s where I’d be.
I didn’t have enough self-sacrifice to push him away until the very last moment. Even for Toni.
I swallowed hard and then said, “I’m fine. You don’t need to concern yourself with me.”
He shifted me closer, arms still around me, eyes so warm and sweet.
“I do, though. That’s the exact thing I need, to concern myself with you.
You’re worried that you are dangerous to me?
” He brushed my nose with his and my heart flipped, and then I saw past the softness in his eyes to something so implacable, so determined, I knew that he would not be running away to find safety any time soon.
I knew villainy when I saw it, and those eyes were brimming with devilish possibilities that made my skin prickle.
If he wasn’t a villain, how had he diabolically masterminded everything up to this point?
He was a villain, and that was my fault too.
He wouldn’t just sit close to me and let me protect him from my family, not with eyes like that.
“Whatever you’re planning, don’t do it,” I warned.
His eyes narrowed slightly. “Daniela, my love, my wife, my song, you give me too much credit. I’m only here on Nix’s orders, to make certain that his favorite secretary didn’t die from her broken arm or Jezebel’s tender ministrations, then I’ll be on my way.”
I gripped his shirt. “Don’t do it.” My voice was louder, my stomach twisting into tighter and tighter knots.
“No? But the game isn’t over; in fact, once he escalated things to shooting rockets at my wife, it rose to a completely new level. I’m here for vengeance, and I’m not quitting until I’m satisfied.” He brushed his nose against mine again, sending a shiver of fear and aching through me.
“No. You have to stay out of it. I can’t watch you get hurt. I’d have to leave and keep Philippe busy somewhere else. Maybe you’d be safer after we had an annulment.”
“Mm. That’s impossible, because we agreed to stay married until Christmas, at least one. Until then, I would keep your lawyer occupied with delays, and you as well. Maybe I’d seduce you to distract you.” He raised a brow as if that was shocking.
It was. I opened my mouth to tell him that he’d never be able to seduce me, but then I closed it and slumped against him, because there was no point denying something so obvious as my weakness towards him.
And I wanted Christmas. No, I couldn’t leave him as long as he wanted to keep me, but how could I protect him if he was bent on doing something dangerous to get his revenge?
“Have you considered therapy?” I asked as I fiddled with a seam on his ninja suit.
“Marriage therapy. It was the best idea you’ve ever had.”
“I mean forgiveness and moving on, and finding inner peace, that kind of therapy.”