Chapter Thirty-nine
“You have something of mine,” Kellan called. “I want it back.”
While Nico looked calm, I was anything but, my pulse thrumming and a thin layer of sweat gathering at the base of my spine despite the cool breeze.
“Don’t say a word,” Nico warned. “Don’t even look at him. Let me handle this.”
Handle it? How? Was he going to fight him?
I might have asked, but Nico was already striding toward him. Don’t even look at him proved an impossible instruction. My gaze stayed fixed on the two of them as Nico crowded Kellan back against the door.
Nico seemed to do most of the talking, every line of his body taut with tension. I couldn’t hear a word. The distance was too great and the birds too loud. All I could do was sit there like a sacrificial lamb and wait to see who came out the victor.
Fifteen minutes until the boat.
They were still talking.
Kellan planted a hand in the middle of Nico’s chest and shoved him hard enough to make him stumble back a few paces. It didn’t deter him. He closed the distance again, his body blocking me from Kellan’s eyeline, either accidentally or on purpose.
Ten minutes until the boat.
Their voices grew louder, a few words carrying across on the wind, but not enough for me to piece together the conversation or guess how it was going.
I forced myself to envision the worst possible scenario: Nico stepping aside and Kellan dragging me back into Wonderland to a life of pain and humiliation that would end only one way.
It was enough to drive me to my feet, my gaze drifting out to sea.
I’d never been a great swimmer, but I could swim. Maybe I could make it to the boat. Or maybe I’d drown. Either sounded preferable. All I had to do was find the courage to jump.
The slam of a door made me whirl around, adrenaline surging.
No Kellan.
Just Nico strolling toward me, looking far more relaxed than someone who’d just spent the last few minutes in a heated argument had any right to. He came to a stop beside me. “Were you thinking about jumping in?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting.” His gaze followed mine to the water. “How far do you think you would’ve got?”
“Probably not far.”
Nico smiled. “Maybe we should test it out in the interests of science.”
“Or you could tell me what happened.”
“He wanted you. He expected me to hand you over. I told him I would—”
“You what?”
“Let me finish.” There wasn’t the slightest hint of irritation in his voice.
“I told him I would. Then I pointed out it’d remove my reason for leaving.
I gave him two options. I stay and spend the rest of my life poking my nose into every little thing he’s got going on, some of which Queenie and Henry know nothing about.
Or I leave, and he never has to see my face again. ”
“You played Russian roulette with my life.”
Nico laughed. “Not really. Kellan’s choice was never in doubt.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “Kellan’s a simple man when it comes down to it. He has two desires in life.”
“Which are?”
“Sex and power.”
From everything I’d seen, that sounded about right. “And your leaving affects that?”
“The sex, no. But the power, yes.” He slipped his hands into his pockets.
“Kellan likes knowing everything that’s happening in the family business.
He just doesn’t like doing the work required to know it.
Queenie and Henry looked to me instead, and he resented that.
Not enough to earn the position himself, but enough that it ate away at him.
Now he doesn’t have to compete with me.”
“So he’s gone?”
“He’s gone.”
Something loosened in my chest. “And they’ll let us get on the boat?”
The tiniest of shrugs. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
They did let us on the boat, Nico breezing through security with barely a word exchanged, with me in tow.
The crossing to Wonderland had buzzed with excitement.
This trip felt entirely different. Most people looked exhausted.
I supposed nonstop partying would do that to a person. At least it meant I blended in.
We stayed on deck while the last few passengers boarded, both of us watching the main exit in silence. Nico might have dealt with Kellan, but Queenie and Henry could still decide we weren’t going anywhere.
When the boat finally pulled away from shore without anyone stopping us, Nico took my hand and led me below deck.
I struggled with the warm feelings it evoked before giving in to them.
Of course, I had feelings for him. We might have had a somewhat unconventional start, to put it mildly, but he’d proved himself repeatedly.
He led me into a small bathroom that, judging by how empty it was, belonged to the staff rather than the passengers. After locking the door, he turned toward me.
I closed the distance to kiss him, happy to express my gratitude in a language I knew he spoke fluently.
He held me back with a hand against my chest. “You might want to take a look at yourself in the mirror first.”
I did. What stared back at me was worse than I’d imagined.
Blood had dried inside my nostrils and streaked across my face in rusty smears.
A dark purpling bruise stretched from my left eye to my forehead, and a jagged cut covered most of my cheek.
I looked like I’d gone twelve rounds in a boxing ring and lost every one of them.
No wonder he’d stopped me. I wouldn’t have wanted to kiss me either.
Nico had already filled the sink with warm water. I didn’t understand why until he backed me gently against the wall and approached with a damp paper towel.
I reached for it. “I can do it.”
He ignored my hand. “Hold still.”
I didn’t have much choice, his hand already gripping my chin while he carefully wiped away the dried blood.
“I can do it,” I repeated, though with considerably less conviction, as the paper towel passed over the cut, making it sting.
His face hovered inches from mine. It reminded me just how unfairly handsome he was. I’d noticed that from the first moment I’d met him, even if I’d refused to admit it because of Warren.
“If I could have stopped him from hitting you, I would’ve,” he said.
“I know.”
He paused, searching my face. “Do you?”
I met his gaze. “I do now.”
He returned to cleaning my face, the water in the sink turning steadily pinker each time he rinsed the paper towel. He was gentler than I expected.
“I can’t believe you let me walk through Wonderland like this,” I said. “You could’ve at least given me a handkerchief or something.”
“It served a purpose.” He dabbed at my cheek with practiced care. “It made you look more like my captive and less attractive. I didn’t want Kellan remembering what you looked like before.”
“Are you trying to say you like the way I look?” I said flirtatiously. “You can say it. There’s only the two of us here, and I won’t tell anyone.”
Nico gave me a long look. “You’re fishing for compliments.”
“Maybe.”
“You already know my dick likes you.”
“Just your dick?”
He turned my head to one side, his clean-up job becoming noticeably less gentle.
Apparently, that was my punishment for pressing the issue.
I should have let it go. Instead, I found myself smiling.
Maybe it was the relief of having escaped.
Or maybe it was the knowledge that he’d just given up everything to get me out.
Whatever the reason, I wasn’t ready to drop it.
“You won’t burst into flames if you admit it. ”
“Admit what?”
“That you like me. The evidence is all there.”
“What evidence?”
“Loads of evidence.” I started counting them off. “You tried to stop me coming to Wonderland before you knew anything about me. You marked me so no one else could touch me. You rescued me from the slave auction. Then you rescued me from Kellan.”
Nico turned my head back to center, studying me critically. “That looks better.”
“Yeah?”
Rather than answer, he nudged me toward the mirror. He was right. There wasn’t much that could be done about the bruising or the cut, but at least I no longer looked as though someone had run me through a meat grinder.
He pulled the plug, sending the pink water swirling down the drain. Evidently, my argument wasn’t getting a response. “I get it,” I said.
Nico studied his reflection in the mirror. He looked as perfect as ever, not a single hair out of place. “Get what?”
“It was dog-eat-dog in Wonderland. You couldn’t afford to show weakness.”
One eyebrow lifted. “Weakness?”
“Wrong word.” What was I trying to say? “Not weakness. Vulnerability. Having feelings. You had to be careful what you did.”
Nico laughed quietly. “I could do whatever I wanted. It was a perk of being so close to the Harts.” He shrugged. “I just didn’t want the same things Kellan did.”
I leaned back against the wall, exhaustion finally catching up with me. A sixth sense had me opening my eyes less than a minute later to find Nico’s face only inches from mine. I leaned in for the kiss first, Nico moving back before our lips could touch. “Bastard,” I complained.
His hand slid into my hair. The touch was as gentle as when he’d washed my face.
Gentler still was the thumb that brushed across the bruise on my cheek.
We’d had sex more times than I could count, yet I’d never seen this side of him.
Even the way he looked at me had changed.
There was a softness there that stole my breath.
“Do you still think about Victor?” he asked.
“No.” The answer came easily. “Victor was nothing but a puppet master. I had feelings for someone who never existed.”
Nico nodded once. Then and only then, as if I’d passed some sort of test, did he kiss me.
It differed from every kiss we’d shared before.
Slower.
Softer.
More curious.
I wrapped my arms around him, pulling us chest to chest, groin to groin. There was still so much I didn’t know about Nico Ravenscar, but I was looking forward to discovering it. I tilted my head, inviting him deeper, and he accepted without hesitation.