3. Knight
Chapter Three
KNIGHT
In the hall, I shoved Dirk’s hand off me and gave him a cool look that he returned with his own arrogant SOB billionaire glance.
“The next time you take Jezabel’s side, I’ll be quite put out.”
Dirk glanced at Tom. “You can head back to the compound.”
The bald, solid protection detail, loyal to Nix more than anyone, took orders from Jezabel when he was out of town.
He’d been here on Jezabel’s orders. That woman was feeling like enemy number one, particularly after I woke up without Trixie in my arms, and everyone else in my compound unconscious with darts sticking out of their necks.
Blow darts. Charles had analyzed the substance she used to drug my entire compound and found its root from Shaanxi lore.
The backwoods of China weren’t where most people hung out.
It was where several nefarious groups had their roots, hidden from international law organizations.
And me. What happened to that drive Jackson gave me?
Was it still in my suit, or was Jezabel working with one of those snakes as well as Nix?
Surely he wouldn’t put up with that kind of conflict of interest. Then again, no one told Jezabel what to do.
Dirk waited until Tom had turned around the end of the corridor before he gave me a direct look.
“The odds of me working with Jezabel after she got my wife shot are incredibly small. It’s my wife that took offense at the way you used Trixie’s vulnerability to manipulate an engagement.
She’s the one who insisted that Jezabel help her save Trixie.
Also, I think they just liked messing with you. ”
“They shouldn’t push me.”
He shoved my shoulder with that devil smile. “Oh, but they had to. If you couldn’t respond to losing her in a sane way, they’d know that you aren’t stable enough to keep her. Did you actually spend all week cooking noodles? You can’t cook.”
That and giving Pixel therapy. I sighed heavily and leaned against the hall, arms crossed.
“Nix made it a condition for Trixie’s release.
” I shrugged. “It was good to give Trixie some space, some time to think about what she wants without adrenaline flooding her system. Also, it was good for her to have an IV after she’s been throwing up so much.
It took an act of Jezabel on Nix’s orders to get Trixie in the hospital. ”
“And Daniela.”
I nodded. “And Minx and Felicia, no doubt. At least Sunshine’s out of town.” I frowned at Dirk. “If your wife wasn’t actually at the Grand Canyon…”
“She was taking care of the game Trix released so carelessly. They made a girl’s night out of it. You don’t need to worry about the Bone coming back to bite.”
I took a deep breath and let it out. I should argue with the methods Jezabel’s crew used, and the fact that there were probably shallow graves in the desert that no one would ever find, but it bothered me, just letting them go.
Trix was too pure for this world. She needed more vengeance and less uprightness.
What was I thinking? She needed nothing because she was perfection.
Fearless, savagely saving the unworthy and never stooping to revenge.
And she was coming home with me. That’s all that mattered. That and she looked less hollow-eyed after her stint in the hospital. The stress from the last week drained away at the thought of her, finally coming home and feeling better.
“Your meatballs didn’t have enough basil,” Dirk said.
“Last time it was too much. Not enough is better.”
The door opened and Trix came out, looking like heaven wrapped in leather.
Trixie nodded at me. “My pants don’t fit. Let’s go maternity shopping before we go home.”
Dirk edged away from us. “I’m too innocent for this conversation. Horse, my chest hair salutes you.” He flicked two fingers at me and then turned and drifted away, leaving me alone in the hall with my wife. Fiancé. Soon to be actual wife.
I cleared my throat. “Are you okay standing up? I could grab you a wheelchair.”
She leaned closer, her weight on my arm while she stared into my eyes, and my whole body levitated at least three feet off the ground.
“I’d just have you carry me. But no, I’m good.
The doctor came in this morning and said I should be fine once I’m released.
Thank you for coming to my rescue. I thought I was going to die in there. ”
Every one of my thoughts pinged off, and it was her and my beating heart alone in the world.
“Trixie! How’s it going?” A tall, strong, inappropriately handsome doctor came striding up to her, hand outstretched like he was going to touch her.
I grabbed his hand and shook it before she could. “She’s engaged to me,” I said, squeezing his hand too hard.
The doctor blinked at me and then gave me a puzzled smile before he smiled more fully at Trixie.
Such good teeth. He probably didn’t have a single veneer.
“I wanted to thank you for recommending that mechanic. He’s amazing.
And he didn’t overcharge. Also, I guess congratulations are in order. You decided that you dated after all.”
She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “Right. Yeah. He’s a great mechanic. So, your car is all good? No more knocking?”
“No more knocking!” He beamed at her as though I weren’t standing there, grasping his hand and blocking her from view.
He was too tall. He could just look at her over my shoulder.
Doctors should all be short and cozy. This man was like me, only nice.
He probably didn’t have any psychological disorders other than some guilt or an overabundance of empathy based on some early life event that left him knowing pain and determined to mitigate it.
I should let him have her. But would he have a helicopter and an automatic rifle handy to take out the guys who held a gun to her head?
“Good to hear,” Trixie said, and then tugged on my arm. “Are you going to hold hands all day? I thought we were going shopping.”
I dropped the good doctor’s hand like it was a live coal and turned to look at the miracle that was Trixie ‘Dragon’ O’Hara, not snarling at me.
Not that I minded her snarls, but this was so nice, her looking so nervous, like shopping was an extreme sport.
Scratch that. An extreme sport would be nothing to her, except that she was currently incubating her adorable baby bump.
“It was nice meeting you, Doctor,” I said, giving him a polite smile as I carefully ushered Trixie down the hall and towards the exit closest to my car.
“I don’t know if we should go shopping, or just head back to the hotel,” I said once we were down the hall.
It would be so nice to wrap her in oversized sweats, put her feet up, and rub her calves.
I needed to touch her, to soak in the fire and feel of her to make up for a week of anguished loneliness.
“My pants don’t fit. I’m wearing your shirt already. I don’t want to steal your pants, too.”
Happiness consumed me. I looked so good on her. So right. She should wear all of my clothes. Forget maternity shopping. Although she’d be so cute in one of those adorable outfits with the belly panels. Now I was conflicted.
“You can wear my pants any time,” I rumbled, too low, too late-night DJ.
She shot me a skeptical look. “Was that flirting?”
I blinked at her. “Was it not supposed to be?” I was suddenly terrified that I’d scared her away.
She chewed on her bottom lip, full, luscious, perfectly plump lip that I couldn’t possibly resist. Unless she wanted me to. “Better flirting than insinuating that I’m fat.”
I laughed and then choked and then wanted to gouge out my eyes and die. “Not fat. Definitely flirting. Also loving the idea of you in my clothes because you’re so cute.”
She gave me a flat look. “Because I’m so cute?” She said the words slowly, like she was trying to translate them into a language she knew.
Had I ever been so idiotic? No. Never. “Not as cute as I’d be in your clothes.” Nice save. Right. I needed to die. Hopefully she’d kill me and put me out of my misery.
She laughed and then intentionally took my hand, spreading my fingers so her knuckles were between each of mine.
Pressure. Contact. Security. “I was really fat when I was a kid. Top weight class for my age. And I’m so tall now, so sometimes I’m self-conscious about it.
I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make my issues your problem. ”
What was this? The opportunity for real therapy? I could actually help her if she made her issues my problem. Not that they’d ever be my problem, because they’d be my privilege. Maybe this was the root of her binges!
I cleared my throat. “Growing up is always hard. And being big, I get that, although I’m sure it’s different for a man.
But I like you for all the things you are inside, even more than the outside.
I don’t see how it’s possible considering how crazy I am about your curls.
” I tugged on one particularly wild tangle that bounced tantalizingly. “But it’s true.”
She put a self-conscious hand to her hair. “I guess, otherwise you would have taken off the nut. Maybe we should stop and get rings while we’re shopping.”
“Or you could make me something like the one you made for Sunshine.” Had I actually said that?
I should have just taken her offer to buy rings, but to actually have her one-in-a-million priceless art would make this whole thing feel real.
I wanted real. I needed real. Which was stupid, because none of this was going to last longer than the secrets I kept.
But I wanted it to be real while it lasted.
She blinked at me and then nodded, tightening her fingers almost painfully. “I can do that.”
“If you don’t mind. Also, if it doesn’t let off toxic fumes that would be bad for you and the baby.”
She gave me a slight smile as she pulled me out the doors and into the bright sunshine. “I’ll wear a gas mask. Dirk made me a really great one.”
“Perfect.” She was perfect. And she was going to make me a ring that would be even cooler than the steel I currently had wrapped around my finger.
“Where’s your car?” she asked.
I led her over to the nondescript gray sedan that was power and luxury on the inside, none on the outside. “I got a family car. Lots of reinforcement in the body.”
“I’ll give it a tune-up,” she said as she slid into the driver’s side and gave me a smile. “Do you want to ride in the back or take shotgun? I suggest shotgun. I really like the way you look holding a gun.”
I cleared my throat as I backed away from her door. She was just so pretty, wild curls and brown eyes that burned with intensity that made me physically warm. “Are you flirting with me?”
She flashed a smile that was slightly crooked. “Maybe.”
“Well, maybe-flirting with you is my favorite thing.”
“That’s only because you haven’t tasted my mother’s cooking. She could fatten you up in a week.”
I went around the car, looking at my wife behind the wheel, watching me, concern in her eyes that hadn’t been there earlier. Her mother. There was more than obesity trauma in her childhood.
She was thinking, ‘fatten up for the kill.’ Or maybe I was overthinking. I did that. All the time. Except when I was lost in Trixie’s eyes.
I slid into the passenger seat and gave Trixie a grin. “You just want her to take over my cooking lessons. Thanks for being nice about the spaghetti. I know the meatballs didn’t have enough basil.”
She punched my shoulder. “That’s crazy talk. It was perfect.”
She was perfect. And she’d given me a precious lie to protect my feelings. As if I had any of those. “Thanks. I’m sorry I didn’t come visit all week. Jezabel threatened me if I did.” Oops. I’d accidentally given her a truth in exchange for her lie.
She nodded slightly and tightened her grip on the steering wheel as she backed out of the parking spot.
She was driving carefully, which meant that she was angry.
She didn’t need to be careful in a hospital parking lot, not with her skills.
“Jezabel does that. She probably wanted to give me some time to think about whether I actually wanted to marry you without adrenaline and hormones fueling me.”
I swallowed hard. She clearly knew her friend well. That was terrifying. “I guess that makes sense. And did you? Think about it, I mean?”
She gave me a look. “I already thought about it. Adrenaline doesn’t make me less logical. It clarifies things. If you’re willing to marry me, then that’s what works. One thing.”
“Hm?”
She gave me a hard smile. “That’s the last time Jezabel’s going to threaten you.”
She said it like a promise. An oath. A commitment. And I’d just died from happiness.