9. Dragon
Chapter Nine
DRAGON
“You don’t have to do this,” I said for what seemed the millionth time.
We were flying first class on a minimally crowded plane. Horse looked up from his men’s sports magazine, his own rippling stomach and chest on display on the cover with Nix. They were making the upcoming cage fight a big deal. He photographed very well.
He was better in the flesh. Was I blushing? I liked him so much. Loved him. How had that happened? He was just so easy to live with. I liked who he was when no one was watching. Loved him. Could I hold his hand? That would interfere with his magazine reading, but…
I reached over and confiscated one of his hands, tangling our fingers together.
He gave me a crooked smile. “I’m starting to think that you don’t want me to meet your mother.”
I tightened my grip. I definitely didn’t want him to meet the family, particularly my mother, but we needed to get it over with quickly before they sent another wedding present.
“We’ll have to stay in their apartment. If we get a hotel, she’d bring it up at every holiday for the next twenty years.
When she starts an incredibly awkward topic of conversation, just smile and look concerned.
Maybe nod. If she gets going on politics, don’t laugh.
She changes her opinion every few weeks, and it’s always irrational.
You don’t have to eat anything she gives you.
It’s okay for her to respect other people’s diets. ”
He nodded and frowned thoughtfully. “You too.”
“What?”
He frowned down at the magazine. “She shot Pixel. Also Jerome, even if it only grazed him. I’m here to humor you, not her.
You don’t have to eat anything you don’t want to eat.
You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.
If you want to get a hotel, we’ll get the fanciest room and call it our honeymoon.
We did, as a matter of record, get married yesterday. ”
I shifted uncomfortably. “We didn’t actually sign the papers.” I sighed heavily. “I knew I forgot something.”
“I’ll have Charles send them. To a hotel if you feel uncomfortable.”
“Or if you feel uncomfortable.”
He shot me a smile, finally meeting my eyes with his blue twinkle. “Not possible. I’m here to be comfortable. I’ll make a point of it.” He went back to his article like that was conclusive.
I was starting to worry. This whole thing was to keep Horse safe, but he didn’t understand my family dynamics.
To be honest, I didn’t understand them either.
When I’d lived at home, I’d avoided everything about the business after that horrible summer when I had to babysit the most obnoxious, whiny idiot the world had ever known.
I still didn’t know what a rich little prissy boy was doing at my uncle’s summer camp, where he hosted kids who wanted to learn to race his go-karts.
The kid told me to my face that my family was a bunch of low-life criminals.
Who does that? Particularly when I was the reigning boxing champion of my weight class?
Idiot never pulled his punches. Always said whatever he thought, no matter how much pain it brought.
I’d given him fighting pointers after the first time I had to rescue him from the other obnoxious kids in the camp who were beating him up, three against one.
I shook my head. I hadn’t thought of that kid in forever.
That had started it, though: my distancing myself from my family.
What he said about them having no honor, no loyalty, being low-lifes who wouldn’t ever do anything good, wouldn’t ever save anyone, it made me think, made me watch them more critically.
And what I saw…I made a point to keep my distance and not to look too close.
I’d dragged the kid out of his rig when it exploded. That was my worst nightmare, being stuck inside a burning car, and there he was, screaming the most piercing, terrified sound. I’d spun my vehicle and gotten him out of that burning wreck.
I idly rubbed the line on my brow where I’d been cut on the rig’s roof while I dragged him out. It bled so much, but I stayed with him until his people came to get him.
He’d stared at me, big blue eyes, ashes streaked across his face, just staring and staring, wrapped in the oversized quilt my uncle kept in his garage while I taped my brow.
“Are you okay?” Horse asked, rubbing my hand, magazine sliding from his lap to the floor, a picture of Nix and Horse looking like barbarians, upside down on his sensible, scuffed, dark shoes.
I took a deep breath and stared into his soft eyes. He wasn’t afraid. He was concerned about me, but not about my family. He ran the demons, kept the unstable element functioning. He didn’t worry about my brothers or my parents. He really was crazy.
“Why do you have a wrecked buggy in your bedroom?” That wasn’t what I’d meant to say, but the vehicle’s frame was similar to the ones my uncle used for the kids.
Strong frame. I hadn’t seen my uncle for years.
He started drinking heavily after that summer and closed down the racing camp, didn’t talk to my dad.
Horse gave me a slight smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s kind of personal.”
“Sorry. But we’re married. And when we get back, I’m going to sleep in your bed, and I won’t be able to help myself. I’ll touch it. I’ll wonder. I’ll think about taking it apart and restoring it. Unless there’s a reason not to.”
He cleared his throat and brushed my hair away from my face.
No one in first class was looking at us.
It still felt too personal for public. It felt far too good to have his hands anywhere near me in public.
And now my toes were curling and my heart was beating faster.
Every touch was like fire crackling over my skin.
“Once upon a time, a friend of mine died.”
The flames of desire were doused. Why did I ask him something he specifically said he didn’t want to talk about? “Oh.” I nodded and felt like the idiot I was. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. It won’t happen again.”
He covered my hands with his, enveloping me in his strong grasp. “Someday I’ll tell you the story. Just not today. I have some business I should be working on. Charles was very clear about it.”
I gave him a stiff smile. “Business sounds great. To be honest, you don’t seem to mind it nearly as much as Nix.”
“To be honest, I don’t. It’s kind of interesting to figure out what the best next move will be. It doesn’t go with the reputation, ‘Horse and his Band of Demons,’ but business doesn’t run itself. Have you ever thought about having your own business? Maybe an auto-shop?”
“Sure. No one races forever. The 300 was supposed to be a one-time thing. Do you remember?”
Horse nodded and then pulled out a tablet and started flicking a stylus over it, moving fast, intent over his documents. “I remember. Nix told me about his big idea over a poker game. He didn’t tell me that he had you to race for him. The Dragon never lost.”
“I lost plenty; I just won more than I lost.”
He flashed me a grin before returning his eyes to his work. “I like it when you win. That means no one shot a rocket at you.”
“Do you want me at the three hundred? I won’t be racing, but I can keep your tent warm.” I nudged him. “Your air-conditioned tent. Who needs air conditioning in November in the desert?”
He nudged me back, but gently. “I’d love that. I can set up a trailer for us. We sound so domestic.”
“Trailers are domestic? I had no idea. What are you working on?” I asked, leaning over to read an official document in some foreign language. Cyrillic?
He flashed me another smile. “Sponsors. It translates the text when I hover over it. Do you want to help me parse out a contract? Maybe you know Polish.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned back into the incredibly comfortable chair. “The only language I know is the language of engines.”
“You’re still tired. You didn’t sleep well last night? After I rubbed your calves and everything?”
I opened my eyes to glare at him. “Rubbing my calves wasn’t relaxing. I was determined to woo you so subtly, but then my family had to…” I glanced around at the other people on the plane and then closed my eyes with determination. “Never mind. I’m just tired as a constant state of being.”
He chuckled darkly, a smooth sound like melted chocolate that slipped down my spine and into my toes. “We’re definitely staying in a hotel.”
I shook my head, keeping my eyes closed. If I saw anything close to desire in his eyes, I’d probably climb on his lap no matter how many other people were on the plane. “We’re there to build relations. So that’s what we’ll do.”
He made a sound that could have been agreement or disagreement and let me pretend to sleep.
The thing was that my brain was running a schematic on the twisted piece of metal in Horse’s bedroom.
It was breaking it apart and replacing parts like it didn’t get the memo that I was a human instead of a CAD program.
The heat must have been intense to have crushed in the engine like that.
And the fans had melted and tilted into that big pile of twisted metal, while the bars were caved around the engine.
One side was pulled apart. That must have been the side they went through to retrieve the body.
I sat up, opening my eyes, taking in the clean lines of the plane interior instead. We had a few more hours until we landed at JFK. I needed to say something that wasn’t related to that piece of machinery that I was quickly becoming fixated on.
“Do you like the ring?” I asked, although I specifically hadn’t asked.
“No,” he replied without looking up. “I don’t like the brilliant work of priceless genius that is wrapped around my finger. I love it. I love you. Do you want to read the article about our upcoming fight? Nothing like hype to put you to sleep.”