Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
Ivan
My alarm blasted me from my sleep. I shot out of bed and began my morning routine. It was almost a ritual at this point. Brush my teeth, comb my hair, push ups, sit ups, and do a physical check through all of my weapons.
The last thing I’d wanted to do was bring Poppy to brunch with Donovan at his penthouse, but there was no getting around it.
I hadn’t slept enough the night before, and I was going to pay for it all day, having to watch them make googly eyes at each other.
Maybe that last bit was in my head, but I couldn’t help it.
The lack of sleep from tossing and turning was getting to me.
All I could picture was Poppy getting ready for her dates or for bed…
Or anything else private that she would be doing on the other side of the wall.
It had me mentally picturing her sliding her fingers down the front of her panties. Did she have toys? Did she think about me? It was driving me to insanity. I was either taking cold showers or finishing myself off in hot ones. I was a raging lunatic.
With quick hands, I splashed cold water on my face and shook my hair out. I could get through this day. I’d been through worse.
My mother’s bruised and battered face came to mind, and I winced. I couldn’t go there either. I stared at myself in the mirror for a second as water dripped down my jawline. My eyes looked tired and hollow, which matched exactly how I was feeling ninety percent of the time.
I pressed my palms flat on the counter and bowed my head. “Get it together. It’s just a woman.”
A woman you can’t stop thinking about. A woman who is promised to another. A woman who could be yours.
But none of that mattered because my personal feelings needed to take a backseat. I had a job to do. I was bringing Poppy straight to the wolves, and I needed to be in the zone. I couldn’t look like a lovesick puppy. I couldn’t appear like I was off my game.
By the time I stepped out into the living room, sunlight was cutting through the windows in bright streaks of gold. Jane’s light and easy laughter drifted down the hall and loosened something inside of my chest. It made me feel as if I could conquer everything.
She peeked her head out of her bedroom door and grinned at me. “Good morning, Ivan! Don texted me and let me know he would be here in five minutes. No need to wait for him.”
I didn’t like leaving her alone, but I knew that Don was probably closer than five minutes if he was telling me to head out already.
Poppy sat at the island with her hair still damp from her shower.
It made my throat close up. All I wanted to do was wrap my fingers in it.
She wore a light blue sweater with dark wash jeans and simple shoes.
She never looked so beautiful, especially with the sunlight shining down on her, making her hair appear almost gleaming.
She looked up from her phone, and her eyes softened.
My chest tightened at the sight. My fingers itched to touch her, my lips craved her skin, and my body…
It was once again on fire. I took a deep breath through my nose and cracked my neck.
I could do this.
“Are you ready to go?” She asked as she pushed away from the counter and stood up.
“About as ready as I’ll ever be,” I mumbled. I had a gun holstered at my side and several knives strategically placed all over my body to ensure I would be ready to protect Poppy. I would probably be ready for anything. At least that was what I hoped.
The drive through the city was a blur. Traffic was already building, and the morning light bounced off every mirrored surface like it was trying to blind me. Poppy sat beside me in silence, hands folded neatly in her lap, eyes fixed out the window.
I’d expected Donovan to send a driver. I was a slightly confused on why I was asked to bring her but I also wasn’t mad about it either. I didn’t know if I felt completely comfortable having Benson hack Donovan’s security system just yet, so that meant I couldn’t be an eye in the sky.
As much as I hated having to watch everything firsthand, it made me more comfortable to know that I would still be protecting her instead of the fake security Donovan hired.
Every few seconds, Poppy would check her reflection and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Nervous?” I asked.
She turned her head toward me and blinked. “Should I be?”
“No, you look beautiful, as always. Probably more so this morning than ever before.” The words slipped out easily because they were true. I loved to see her natural beauty. Her lips parted, but she didn’t say anything because we were pulling up to Donovan’s building.
It was a glass fortress that screamed money and power. Not old money like what I was used to growing up, but money all the same. It seemed sterile and cold. Not a place I would ever want to live. Poppy’s shoulders drooped, and I wondered if she felt the same.
Donovan’s men were already stationed out front—suits too clean and shoulders too square.
Hired muscle pretending they knew what they were doing.
None of them looked at me directly, but I could feel the hostility rolling off them in waves, especially as a few of them narrowed their eyes at me.
Whatever, let them think whatever they wanted to.
I wasn’t here for them. I was here to make sure Poppy was safe because they certainly couldn’t.
I stepped out first, circling the car and opening her door before any of them could move. I stood off to the side as she stepped out and plastered a smile on her face. She just adjusted her purse and followed me toward the entrance.
The doorman greeted her like she was royalty with a deep bow and a bright smile. I wondered just how well Donovan treated these people.
Inside, everything gleamed—white marble floors, gold accents, glass chandeliers. A shrine to excess. It didn’t smell like home, or warmth, or anything human.
I hated it already, and I hoped Poppy did too. I hoped it was enough for her to call all of this off.
The elevator ride up was silent again, but this time it felt heavier. I could see her reflection in the mirrored walls. A crease formed between her brows as she twisted the strap of her purse between her fingers.
The doors dinged open, and Poppy barely made it through them without falling on her ass; that was when I noticed she was trembling slightly. What would have her acting such a way? Why was she so nervous?
We stepped out into a grand foyer that was at least three stories high with black, shining floors and a grand staircase to our right. Ahead was a sterile kitchen and dining room, and to the right of that was a massive living room without a TV, of course.
The rich couldn’t indulge in peasant behavior.
Poppy cleared her throat. “Donovan?”
It was oddly quiet and empty for someone who planned brunch. I pulled my phone out and checked my calendar. Yep, brunch was this morning for him to show off his home and where they would live before having kids.
“This is awkward,” Donovan chuckled as he walked down the hall, pulling up his boxer briefs.
Tattoos snaked up his arms and over his shoulders to cover his back and chest. He was a big dude, I would give him that.
He definitely spent a lot of time in my brother’s gym.
“I’m so hungover I completely spaced our date this morning. ”
Poppy just watched him wide-eyed from the kitchen.
The nerves she’d been feeling before must have been even worse now.
I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall.
I wouldn’t leave Poppy, especially not now.
Her cheeks were slightly pink, and I could see that she was breathing harder than she had been before.
Was it out of arousal? Oh God, I hoped not.
“Donny,” A voice whined from down the hall, and Poppy’s cheeks flamed redder. “Come back to bed.”
Donovan rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled again. “I guess this is a good time for you to see how things will be.”
If it weren't for my gaze being fixed on Poppy, I would have seen red. What the fuck did he mean by that?
“Excuse me?” Her voice was a soft squeak.
“This is why we really needed to have separate houses,” he leaned against one of the two islands in his impressive chef's kitchen. “I didn’t want you to find out this way, but it is for the best.”
Poppy’s mouth gaped open as she blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“Poppy girl, I know you’re smarter than this, but just in case you aren’t…
” He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth.
“That’s Ailsling. You might see her around, or you might not.
If I hadn’t been so drunk last night, I probably would have remembered to kick her out last night; so we didn’t have to speak about this so early in the relationship, but honesty is good. ”
“So you’re going to have a girlfriend…” Poppy clasped her hands tightly together. “While I—what? Give birth to your kids and stay loyal to you?”
Donovan nodded as if this made perfect sense. All I could do was turn my gaze back to Poppy. I expected her eyes to be full of tears or for her to look sad, but all I could see on her face was surprise.
“That’s bullshit.”
That wasn’t what I was expecting her to say either. She had been the perfect demure woman until this point. She shook her head and began pacing.
“This is okay to you?” Her voice was only getting louder by the second and I wondered if I would need to drag her out of here, or if that would even be appropriate. I couldn’t blame her; in fact, I agreed, but I didn’t know the protocol for something like this. How could you?
“Poppy girl—”
Poppy held up her hand and stopped him. “Don’t Poppy girl me. I will not be the other woman. I will not stand for this. You won’t stick your dick in someone else and then come try to impregnate me after.”
“I mean,” Donovan chuckled again, and all I could picture was pounding his face in, after letting my brother Dimitri have a few hours with him, of course.
He deserved the worst kind of torture, and I knew Dimitri still liked to live that way, even if he pretended otherwise.
He was a psychopath, after all. That didn’t just go away.
“We can always share Ailsling. It doesn’t have to be a precise thing.
She can come into a bed we share, as she has expressed she would love to do, and we could get you both pregnant. ”
Poppy’s face was so red it was almost purple. “I will not be fucking any one of your whore girlfriends. I won’t be pregnant sharing. I won’t be rolling around with the both of you, spreading who knows what. I will not be the third wheel. I deserve so much better than this. NO.”
Pride swelled within my chest until the amusement faded from Donovan’s face and he shook his head.
His laugh was no longer amused but instead dark and dangerous.
It was full of promises that Poppy never needed to discover.
And I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t protect her from this.
I should have known better. I should have prepared better because even though his bodyguards were fake, they had very real guns, and I was outnumbered.
I knew he had a few hiding out up here too, even if I couldn’t see them.
I couldn’t be dumb, but I also didn’t know what could be done.
Donovan towered over Poppy’s shaking form.
He reached up and placed his fingers on her face, almost gently.
I watched in horror and rage as his fingers squeezed until her lips were puckered out and her cheeks were pinched.
“This has been a wonderful bonding experience for the both of us. I’m glad my girlfriend was here to initiate it because here’s the thing: When you say I do, it doesn’t matter what you want anymore.
You are my property. If I want to chain you up and have Ailsling eat your pussy while you watch me fuck her, so be it.
That’s what will happen. If I want to get you both pregnant at the same time, you will say thank you.
When I say jump, you will fucking jump. If I say suck my cock, you will do so with a willing and able attitude.
You will thank me for giving you the opportunity to do so. ”
My fingers inched toward the gun at my side.
Poppy managed to tilt her chin up slightly in defiance, and I wanted to shoot Donovan dead and get her out of there.
I wanted to throw her over my shoulder and whisk her away from this madness.
He’d never spoken to her in such a manner, and I didn’t know how I was going to walk out of his penthouse without killing him.
The gun I always carried with me was right there, ready to rid the world of this piece of garbage, but instead of doing what I wanted to, I let a calm slip over me.
It was like I was hunting in the mountains all over again.
Somehow, I was able to rein the animal in and get control back to my limbs.
My clenched fists fell to my side and I began the most important hunt of my life. The hunt of Donovan Madden.
Instead of removing him from the earth, I slipped out of the shadows and stood next to the monster himself. His cold eyes found mine, and he grinned. “You think you have a say in this?”
I shook my head. “I just wanted to remind you that if you put bruises on her, the press will get lots of pictures of it. You both have more public outings and things happening over the course of the next week. You should probably get some control back.”
“And if I don’t?” Donovan cocked his head to the side, but still removed his hands from Poppy all the same. I was hardly breathing and hardly thinking. All that mattered was that I could get him away from her. At least a little bit.
“I’m sure her brothers won’t like it one bit.”
He narrowed his eyes at me before he grinned again and slapped me on the shoulder. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“I didn’t give you one.”
His eyes flicked to Poppy, and he nodded once. “Good dog.”