Chapter Seventeen #4
He moved her hair so he could see her profile.
There were times it caught him off guard, and times it took him back to when that asshole kicked her face in.
Sometimes, he expected to see that Bishop, like everything beyond that incident, had been nothing but a nightmare he was just waking up from, but it wasn’t.
“You know you can always come to me and tell me you can’t handle it, and I’ll fix it, Bishop. If you can’t bear what is happening with Ridge and myself, I want you to say something.”
She went there.
“I want to watch and see what it is like between you both.”
Oh, boy.
This was going to be a delicate situation, and he already knew it.
“It’s not my kink, but I need to see it. I need to understand it. I know it’s a lot to ask.”
He stopped her.
“No, Bishop. A lot to ask is me wanting that relationship with Ridge, too, and you having to make that choice. If you want to watch, you can. I’m okay with it.
I’ll have to see if Ridge is. For all I know, it’s never happening again.
We have to break his heart, and this is going to take a while to recover once he finds out that Wynter had escape plans. ”
She faced him.
“Is it weird that I’m curious?”
He shook his head.
“No. If you told me you were shacking up with a woman, I’d want to watch too. Just not out of curiosity but because men are perverts,” he said, laughing.
She nuzzled him.
“I need to see how much he matters to you. Once I do, and I see how much you matter to him, I’ll understand it. My brain is almost there. I just want to let go of that irrational fear you’ll leave me.”
He reassured her.
“It’s not irrational. You’re allowed to feel how you feel. I’m here to make you feel better about it, not worse. If you want to see myself and Ridge in the throes of sex…”
She stopped him.
“I want to watch you while you’re in the static, and to see if it changes here. You said you lost control in the static. I want to make sure you’re safe, and to see if it’s like what we have.”
He kissed her.
“When Ridge isn’t in pieces, I’ll talk to him.”
She stopped him.
“No, I’ll talk to him.”
He laughed.
“You want to make him impotent? Scare the shit out of him? What? Because you saying, ‘I want to watch’ is going to freak him the fuck out.”
She snorted.
“I mean, he did lie and tell you that you didn’t give him a good dicking, so…”
He caressed her cheek.
“Okay, Bishop. I won’t say anything. When he’s back together again, you can scare the shit out of Humpty.”
She was honest.
“He and I have to build a relationship,” she admitted. “I think I’m going to ask him out on a date.”
Lucian stared at her.
“I’m sorry, pardon?”
She snorted.
“What’s wrong, Lucian? You don’t want your boyfriend to have a girlfriend?”
He was to the point.
“Oh, he can have a trip. He can have a party. He can have a field of fucking poppies, but he’s not having my wife.”
She laughed.
“Not what I meant. I want to get to know him as you know him. If we’re going to rebuild our family, and include him and Sophia, I need to learn how to love him, too. That means opening myself up and him doing the same. We’re sharing the same man, and your dick is in him and me. That’s intimate.”
Lucian understood what she was saying.
“Now I need to ask one thing because I’m not nearly as secure as you are. Are you attracted to him?”
She shook her head.
“Nope, and not in the least. I’m a one-beast kind of a girl. I don’t like the boy next door, and in this case, literally. I like a slick as spit attorney, who can talk himself in and out of trouble.”
He didn’t miss a beat.
“You rang?”
She winked at him.
“I was thinking he and I could go to dinner and talk. We could build our relationship outside of yours. That way, we could both be who you need. I’m willing to love him because you love him. Now, I have to learn who he is.”
He smiled.
And this was what he meant when he said Bishop was not the ordinary woman.
She was extraordinary.
“You’re a good woman, Bishop. Not a day goes by that I don’t thank the universe that you’re mine—and it’s why I’m not sharing you. You’re the treasure that everyone seeks, and few find. I know that to the depths of my soul.”
When he kissed her on the tip of her nose, she broke it to him.
“Yeah, yeah, but I am still going to get some pussy.”
He stared at her.
One of the issues with loving Bishop was her ability to go from subject-to-subject, leaving his rational mind in the dust. Now, he had to figure out where this was going.
And fast.
“Wait. What? Where did that come into play? I know we didn’t discuss that,” he admitted. “I mean, I joked about it, but I wasn’t serious.”
His possessiveness made her feel all safe and secure, and she liked it.
A.
Lot.
A beast had to beast on the best and worst days.
Rolling out of bed, she laughed on her way to the bathroom, and she did it without an explanation.
It was show-and-tell time.
“Bishop! I was kidding about you having sex with a woman. That’s not my kink! Where are you going?”
When she came out, she was carrying the cat carrier.
Oh, and he eyed it up like it was going to blow up and kill them both.
“What is that?” he asked, horrified.
She put it on the bed and opened the door.
“The last victim had a cat. Meet Luna. We’re keeping her if the victim’s family doesn’t want her. Meet the pussy I want to cuddle up with on a daily basis. She’s a sweet cat.”
As she explained, he stared at the cat.
Then his wife.
Then the cat again.
Oh, she knew Lucian was NOT pet-friendly. The man never had a pet in his life. Any time she ever suggested it, he started sweating and getting itchy palms.
Someone did not like pet fur on his very expensive suits and furniture.
“Problem?” she asked, almost daring him to say no.
Instead, he just sighed.
“Thank God it wasn’t a fucking horse,” he stated, knowing he was not winning this one. His wife let him have another person in their relationship, so the least he could do was let her have this cat. “Touché, Bishop. Checkmate. This is a first. The professional arguer has nothing to say.”
And she laughed.
It was rare that she could pull one over on her husband, but in this case, it appeared she’d gotten the upper hand. Never let it be said it couldn’t be done.
Timing was everything.
CLEARLY.
It looked as if she was keeping the witch’s cat if her family didn’t claim it.
“I thought so,” she stated.
Petting the cat, Lucian sighed.
“Cassia is going to love this cat. She loves anything that is furry,” he admitted, as the cat rubbed against his hand. “And she seems friendly.”
Bishop smiled.
“I agree. Kids should have pets, and when in Salem, pick the most appropriate pet. This witch has a cat.”
He lifted a brow.
“Okay, it’s spelled with a ‘B’, but tomato-tomatoe, I guess,” she joked.
He was amused.
“You could have asked for a jet, an island, a yacht, and of course, you’re going to play dirty by getting a pet.”
She laughed.
Sue her.
Because they were burning daylight, and Bishop had work to do with her partner, they needed to get shit handled.
Shit being Ridge.
“Want to go take care of the Ridge situation?” she asked, knowing she needed to get back out there with her partner and the Littlemoons at some point.
Lucian knew they should.
“Yeah, probably a good plan,” he said, getting out of bed to go get dressed.
“Hopefully, that cat isn’t bad luck, Bishop!” he called from the closet as he was finding new clothes to put on. “You know what they also say about black cats!”
Bishop laughed.
“Lucian, it’s a cat. What’s it going to do? Bring on the plague?” she asked, zipping up her jeans.
Only, Bishop forgot one thing.
Well, maybe two things.
First, that the cat had been wearing the pentacle the killer had left, and secondly, that said pentacle was currently in her blazer pocket.
Yeah, that had the potential to be really bad luck.