Chapter Ten
Saturday Morning
Lucian and Bishop’s
Bedroom
Six A.M.
To say the least, it had been a long-ass night, and Lucian was feeling each and every second of it. He’d made sure to barely sleep, just so he could ensure that his wife, and the man beside him, were safe in the house.
Would he pay for it today?
Yeah, probably, but there was no way he was going to risk either of them to this darkness that was after him.
The bottom line was that Ridge was fighting for his life, and from being connected with him, he was able to be in his head, watching the dreams unfold.
In each of them, he was haunted.
Not by his dead wife, but what had happened to her just hours ago.
He was running, and he was in a perpetual state of shock and pain.
Feeling that…
There was no way he was going to sleep.
Bishop, on the other hand, was very intuitive. She woke a few times, asked him if he was okay, and then was also checking on both of them.
She was now waking up, just like Ridge.
If anything, they were all morning people. Now, they’d be privy to how this encounter was going to go down.
Because Ridge had yet to realize that he was not alone, and by alone, he meant with Bishop three feet from him as he was cuddled up against her husband.
In fact, his hand was millimeters from Lucian’s morning wood, and there was no doubt Bishop was damn well aware of it.
How did he know?
Oh, he knew his wife.
When he looked over, his wife was watching him. Not only was she was wide awake, but her intuitive cop eyes rarely missed anything.
Yeah, his wife was on her game when it came to her man.
Oh, well, this was going to set the pace for their relationship, and he knew it. Because this was all in Bishop’s court, he had no choice but to let her run it.
They’d broken the rule, granted it was inadvertent, but still, it was their price to pay. Bishop would now get to decide what made her comfortable and uncomfortable.
The two of them would have to go from there.
I love you, he mouthed.
Oh, she was aware.
To reassure him, she left a kiss on his shoulder as a way for him to know she felt the same. There was no doubt in her mind that her husband had not slept well, if any, and he was worried about how she was going to react.
This was new territory for all of them, and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t aware that Ridge’s hand was all up in her husband’s business.
Granted, inadvertently, but still…
This was going to be an interesting adventure, and she knew it.
When Ridge began stirring, they both watched him, slowly come awake. When he opened his eyes, first there was the pain, and then there was the acknowledgement of where he was.
There was that flash of danger, and the immediate retreat.
“Oh,” he said, trying to pull away from Lucian as he saw Bishop not far away.
“Ridge,” Lucian stated. “Wait.”
Only the hasty retreat was there.
The last thing the man remembered was being put in a room, and that overwhelming sadness taking over. The pull to be near Lucian must have won, because here he was.
In bed.
With them.
Now, he needed to get the hell out of here before Bishop kicked his ass.
As Lucian held the man’s wrist, he had to put his faith in his wife on this one.
Bishop was behind the wheel.
“Wait,” he said again, and still, Ridge tried to pull away.
That was when Bishop stepped into the fray to handle it for her husband.
“Lucian, go take a shower,” Bishop said, her voice giving nothing away.
Because he knew that he had no choice, he gave his wife this.
Trust was paramount, and he believed in Bishop and his marriage.
So, he gave in.
It was now in his wife’s hands.
Giving Bishop a kiss, he palmed Ridge’s cheek and left his wife there to handle this.
When he was gone, Bishop pointed to where Lucian had been in bed between them.
“Come here. NOW.”
Ridge’s whole world was in tatters, and he couldn’t distinguish up from down.
Bishop’s voice gave nothing away, so he did what she asked.
Oh, and he was terrified.
He knew that the cat was now out of the bag. He was reaching for Lucian, and all he could feel was an influx of energy willing him calm.
But no words.
Nothing.
What he did know was that Lucian had spent time with his wife last night, and that’s how he ended up in their bed.
He’d been seeking out his lifeline.
Slowly, he moved toward her, and then, she took matters into her own hands. She moved into the side of his body, and rested her head on his shoulder.
And Ridge didn’t know what to do with this.
Not.
At.
All.
This was not the behavior he’d expected, because he was pretty sure Lucian was going to be the one who told Bishop what had happened between them.
The man was honorable, if nothing.
Now, he was worried about one thing.
Was he going to get his ass kicked or not?
She had her hand on his abs, and her one leg over his, pinning him. This was quite possibly the most awkward and dangerous situation to be in.
“So, you slept with my husband on this plane, too, huh?” she asked.
Oh, Jesus.
Why was he not shocked that Bishop was going for the kill, not beating around that bush?
Well, he’d been right.
Lucian had told her.
“Bish, before you kick my ass,” he began, but didn’t get to finish.
She went there.
“We’re going to have to figure something out.
If sex magic has locked you together, that’s out of all of our control.
I know that in the static, you need to have that bond in order to survive it, and I accept that.
I also accept that whatever is chasing all of us, likely did this to damage Lucian further. ”
Ridge said nothing, but instead listened.
“It took out your wife, Ridge, so you’d be weak, and it made Lucian break his promise to me so that I’d be angry and hate-filled. Only, that’s not my vibe, Ridge. I could never hate Lucian.”
His lip quivered.
Oh, and she knew he was in a bad place. His wife had just committed suicide, and now, he was worried about losing the one person who had his back. That had to be incredibly scary and lonely.
So, she was curious.
“Going forward, no lies. I have questions.”
He didn’t speak, but she felt his head nod.
“Do you love him?” she asked, much like she’d asked Lucian.
There was silence.
When she looked up, there were tears in his eyes, and they were slipping past his lashes.
Bishop hugged him.
“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you,” she said. “I’m not cruel, Ridge. You just lost your wife. I know that you’re struggling. I’m just trying to navigate all of this, too. We were all tossed into this, and we need to work it out.”
He sniffled.
“Bish, I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to even understand any of this. Why didn’t she tell me she was seeing a therapist?” he whispered. “Why was I kept out?” he asked, not answering her question because he had a million of his own.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have an answer to that.
“I don’t know, Honey. All I know is that as a woman, admitting weakness is tough. We’re expected to hold shit together. Maybe she was afraid you’d think less of her. Maybe it was a momentary loss of sanity. I don’t think we’ll ever know,” she admitted. “Unfortunately.”
As for what she said, thinking less of Wynter, he would never do that.
EVER.
He loved Wynter.
She’d saved him all of those years ago when he’d been suspected of killing his family. Then, she saved him when the killer came for him.
His heart was always hers.
Even though he loved Lucian so much, his wife had been his wife. They were a team.
They would never hurt each other or break that bond.
Period.
“I hate that she died alone.”
Bishop kissed him on the cheek.
“I know. I’m sorry she died. I miss her too. I’m going to miss her coming in and laughing. I’m going to miss margaritas on the patio. I can’t imagine the hole in you over this.”
He closed his eyes.
Yeah, it was a huge, gaping one where he’d feel guilty for not being by her side to save her.
“I don’t know how to raise a child and then tell her one day what happened. Wynter did the heavy lifting with Sophia. I don’t even know how to begin.”
She ran her hand gently over his abs to soothe him while he was struggling.
“Well, you start by leaning on your family.”
That hurt too.
Because his list of family was quickly dwindling.
Bishop saw it.
“And before you say you only have Jo, that’s a crock of bullshit, and you know it. You have Lucian, and you have me. You have Cassia, and you have the Littlemoons. Right now, my husband is in the shower, freaking out that he’s going to lose you too.”
He looked down.
“You’re in his head?”
She smiled.
That was the LAST place she wanted to be. Lucian was a complicated man, and right now, he’d be a turbulent storm. She trusted him, despite what happened.
This wasn’t some secret affair.
It was a situation that happened out of their control, and had Lucian not come to the conclusion that this darkness had planned it to break them, this might be different.
“No, I just know how much he loves you. Which brings us right back to my question, Ridge. Do you love him?” she asked.
He hated answering this.
Why?
Truthfully, he felt like he was betraying Wynter. He felt like he was a shit human being, but he owed this woman the truth. Lucian was, after all, her husband.
“No anger? Because I can’t fight for my life any more than I am right now, Bish. I can’t fight you, either.”
Well, that told her everything she needed to know.
“No repercussions. Just discussion so we can figure all of this out.”
Well, then, he took a chance.
“God. Yes. I love him so much that it hurts not being right beside him. A part of me is screaming in pain that I’m not in there with him. Even devastated by all of this, my body needs his. I’m so sorry we made this mess.”
She figured as much.
Over the last few weeks, she’d seen the metamorphosis in Lucian when it came to his protectiveness for Ridge. She’d have to be blind not to see that he treated Ridge EXACTLY how he treated her.
There were little gifts to show he cared.
Sweetness.
The Beast tended to be particularly gentle with the Beauties in his life, and there was no doubt Ridge was one of his loves.