Chapter Ten #2
Maximus had been the one person who had seen the real me, who I had shared thoughts with, and at one point in my life, I had considered him my closest friend and ally. Now, a stranger sat beside me, lost in his own thoughts while he drove through traffic.
“Can we stop this?” I blurted out, my inner demons voicing their concerns.
He hit the brakes of the car. “What? Is there a problem? Did you see something?”
I jolted at his tone, the intensity in his eyes as he scanned the area, and guilt surged through me. “No, I didn’t see anything. I was talking about us.” I moved my hand between both of us to indicate the problem was inside the car.
His brow furrowed, but he started the car moving again. “Explain.”
I sighed, turning to stare out the window for several moments. “I don’t know this Maximus,” I replied. “Right now, I’m sitting beside a stranger, and I don’t even know how to talk to you, never mind how I’m supposed to marry you in less than a week.”
Silence stretched between us until it screamed with intensity.
“I’m not a stranger,” Maximus eventually said in a low voice. “I’m probably the only man in the room that night who won’t break you.”
I didn’t doubt that, but it didn’t mean he was the man I could talk to. “I miss the other Max.”
His hands tightened on the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. “You ignored that Max for five years, got engaged to another man, and would have continued to ignore him if you had gotten married and moved to your new life in the country.”
His words stunned me into silence. It never occurred to me that he had viewed what had happened in those tones.
“I didn’t think—”
He broke me off with a wave of his hand. “Apparently not.”
I had been feeling sorry for myself, and now I felt like the villain in this story. He refused to look at me, even though I sat and stared at him. Considering he was aware of everything around him, there was no way he didn’t feel the weight of my attention.
He swung his car into a carpark a few minutes later, pulling into a parking space, and turning off the engine.
“I can’t be the man I was five years ago, Livvie.
That man has died a thousand times since then, he has had to commit unspeakable acts that have torn his soul.
You wanted a man to save you, and keep you safe from the monsters that were banging at your door.
” He turned and his stare bored into my soul.
“The only person able to do that is the biggest monster in the room, who has no conscience, and is willing to destroy everything in their path.”
His words echoed around the car. I had witnessed his monster five years ago, and it was the first time I had felt safe in my life. The next time I had felt safe was when Maximus stood at my side a few nights ago, and allowed himself to be dragged into my nightmare.
His right eyebrow rose slightly in question. “The choice is yours,” he said in that deep, husky voice that made my stomach tighten, and a pulse to beat in my lady bits.
A lump had formed in my throat, preventing me from speaking. I tried to swallow, the sword of Damocles figuratively hanging over my head.
“I just want to feel safe,” I whispered. It was the truth, even Dale didn’t make me feel safe, he had been the only option available to me at the time, and I grabbed it with both hands to avoid Roberto’s plots.
“Then let me protect you,” Maximus replied, lifting my hand from my knee, and pressing a kiss to the pulse on my inner wrist.
My heart beat erratically at his gesture, my mind erupting in confusion as he climbed out of the car and stalked around to open my door.
He was tall and powerful, every moment a play of muscles and strength.
He took my hand as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do, and led me up four steps into the foyer of an elaborate apartment complex.
Our destination was the second floor, and when we emerged from the elevator, it reminded me of a hospital with white walls and ceilings, and that unique scent that accompanied a medicinal environment.
A nurse sat behind a desk at the end of the corridor. “Mr. Rossi,” she nodded as she spoke. “Dr. Nugent will be out directly.”
My heart sunk at the thought of being poked and prodded at. Dale’s family had insisted I be examined before our engagement was announced to ensure I was a virgin since that held value in our world.
We hadn’t had time to sit down, when a man about the same age as Maximus stepped out wearing a white coat.
“Max.” He stepped forward with his hand held out. “Normally I only see you when someone is shot or covered in blood.”
“Jesus, Ben, you make me sound like a psychopath,” Maximus replied. “Occasionally, I have a cold.”
The doctor turned his attention to me. “This must be the lucky lady I have been hearing so much about.” He flashed me a megawatt smile, while holding his hand out. “Ben Nugent.”
“Pleased to meet you,” I replied. “Olivia Barretta.”
He ushered us into his room, and I suddenly felt trapped when the door closed behind us.
“So, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Ben asked. “I just had an appointment in my diary with your name. It was all very mysterious.”
“Olivia and I are getting married on Saturday. I need to ensure she is clean,” Maximus said as if he was discussing the weather or a football game.
“Have you scanned her?” Ben asked, going to his cabinet and lifting out an object that looked like a multi-meter.
“Nope, I’ve been carrying a scrambler, and put one in her handbag when we are out of my house,” Maximus replied, confusing me further.
“Clothes?” Ben queried.
“All new,” Maximus replied.
“Okay, let’s try the old fashioned methodology. Could you raise your arms?” Ben asked me.
I glanced at Maximus, baffled by everything that was happening. The doctor waved his multi-meter box over me hovering at the back of my neck, my upper arms, and my wrists.
“Have you had any injections, injuries, or surgeries?” He continued his questioning.
“I had my appendix out when I was fourteen, and I broke my ankle while rollerblading when I was twelve,” I replied.
“Sit down, and hold your legs up,” Ben instructed. He ran his box over my ankles when I sat down. “It may be remotely activated.”
“What is going on?” I asked. “I came here for a gynaecological exam, and now I’m being scanned like a chicken at the grocery store.”
“You came here for a what?” Maximus queried, his eyebrows shooting up in shock.
“You said I had to go to the doctor to check I was clean before our wedding,” I replied, my confusion growing when he threw his head back and laughed.
“Of tracking devices and bugs,” Maximus said, wiping a tear from his eye as he continued to laugh. “Roberto was trying to sell your virginity last week, and decided to include it in his sick marriage auction. People with no sexual experience tend not to have STDs.”
My cheeks flamed and burned with embarrassment at the matter-of-fact tone of his response. Then anger flared from deep in my solar plexus, disgust at my brother who was planning on selling something that was mine to share with whoever I chose.
“Roberto is an asshole,” I grumbled.
“Agreed,” Maximus said. “But he is my problem now, so set your worries to one side.”
I sucked in a deep breath, and let it go as I counted to ten. “Why would I have a tracking device in me?”
“Everyone in our families ensures their main assets are protected,” Maximus replied. “The easiest way to do that is to put a tracker in them.”
“The downside to that is that everyone is doing it,” Ben continued. “So the devices are becoming more intelligent and harder to find.”
“I can’t keep putting a scrambler in your handbag or your pocket,” Maximus said. “So, I need Roberto’s tracker out, and a new one put it.”
“Why do I need one at all?” I eyeballed my fiancé.
“You are about to become my wife, and that puts a target on your back. I need to be able to protect you, and that may include finding you quickly.” Maximus spoke, using his hands as an expressive aid.
“This is overwhelming,” I said, sitting back in the chair, and staring at the ceiling. “I never realised I was being constantly watched.”
Silence greeted me, and I finally turned to face Maximus, who sat staring at me.
“This is our world, and it is a dark and dangerous place,” he said, his tone soft.
“Dad had listened to Mum and delayed putting trackers in my sisters. Willow was taken for three years and believed dead. I need to be able to locate you if there is trouble, even if you are shopping with your sisters, or having dinner with friends. A threat risk could be issued at any time.”
“Listen to him,” Ben said, standing. “I’ve had to put too many people back together again, and some of them didn’t survive to complain about the violation of their privacy.”
“Do you have a tracker?” I asked Maximus, and he nodded in reply. “Then if you have access to mine, I should have access to yours.”
He stared at me with that intensity that could set fire to the world, blue fire blazing in his eyes. “Fine,” he replied. “But if you don’t like what you see, don’t complain to me.”
“Afraid I’ll track all your mistresses down?” I queried, my head tilting to the side.
Ben chuckled in the background. “More like that you’ll be witness to a murder, or discover a wardrobe full of skeletons.”
My gaze never moved from Maximus’, and there was something mesmerising about his eyes that made butterflies beat against the walls of my stomach.
“I have no issues with skeletons,” I replied. “I do have a problem with secrets and women turning up with paternity issues.”
I had heard the heated rows between Papa and Roberto about the number of women who demanded money for children they claimed belonged to my brother. He seemed intent on repopulating the Northern Hemisphere with our family.
He shrugged one shoulder. “You have nothing to worry about, I don’t leave skeletons. We have our own incinerator, and there is no mini me running around seeking a father figure.” His lips twitched. “That would be your role in this relationship.”
The word relationship hit me in the chest. I had put many terms on what we were, but relationship had not been one of them. It made what we had sound intimate.
I finally dragged my eyes from his, and trailed my hands down my face. “Fine. I agree to all this, but if I get abducted and you don’t come and save me, I’m going to haunt your ass for the rest of eternity.”
His deep laugh washed over me, and I felt the familiar safety it brought with it. Maximus was the greatest predator in the room and the boogieman to those who crossed him, but to me, he had been my protector and the only man who had ever made me feel safe.