Chapter 2 #2
“I convinced her to marry me when I knew she wasn’t entirely sold on the idea.
Convinced her to let me move into her apartment, when we both know she’d prefer to be alone.
Now I’ve convinced her to move to the Waterfalls, where we have wrought-iron gates, security systems, an armory within arm’s reach, cameras, a panic room, and a bombproof bunker under the kitchen.
” I clap my best friend’s shoulder and grin.
“One step at a time. Soon enough, she’ll accept the security guards I’ve appointed for her. ”
He chuckles. “Uh-huh. Sure she will.”
“Beneath her independent streak is a woman who loves deeply. If she knows I need this, she’ll come around.”
“Emotional manipulation?” he quips. “Cool. Love that for you, bro.”
“Coercion, too. And I’m not sorry.” Chuckling, I leave him behind and start through the crowd, past Soph’s Checkmate soldiers—just as dangerous as Felix’s and Cordoza’s men, but less obvious about their mission.
I pass Detective Drake Banks—the smarmy bastard—and his sweet girlfriend, who walks with a permanent limp.
Poor kid.
“Detective!” Eli Emeri steps in my way, his beefy hand grabbing on to mine before I can evade. “I guess we’re family now, huh?”
“Looks that way.” I peek past him to make sure Minka is where she’s meant to be. “My brother married your sister. Eventually, there’ll be babies, and we’ll both be uncles to those babies.”
“I’d consider you an uncle to any baby she carries for Curtis and me, too.
” He drags his husband around and into a conversation he’s not entirely sure he wants to be a part of.
“Obviously, our baby wouldn’t technically share DNA with your brother, but Aubree would still create that bridge, don’t you think? ”
“So, it’s settled then?” I set my hand on my hip and track Minka over his shoulder, her eyes coming up as Cato approaches. “She’s agreed to be your surrogate?”
“Not yet.” Curtis side-eyes Eli. “His enthusiasm sometimes overtakes what’s right and what’s socially appropriate. I’ve nominated myself as the buffer that stands between his excitement and her right to choose without pressure. She didn’t say no—”
“Which is amazing, right?!”
A soft laugh rolls through my chest. “It’s amazing.”
“Carrying someone else’s child is not a small deal,” Curtis continues.
“It’s life-changing. It’s life-giving. Aubree has asked for the time and space to decide what she and her husband are comfortable with, which means I intend to chaperone every conversation between Eli and his sister from now until she’s made her choice.
And I swear not to speak of the nursery he’s already painted a warm, gentle brown.
Or the clouds he stenciled onto the walls.
Or the cute giraffe with growth markers he can measure this hypothetical future child of ours against as he or she grows. ”
“I’m being totally chill about it,” Eli squeaks. “Ridiculously, serenely chill.”
“Says the giraffe on the wall,” I chuckle. “Sounds like you’ve got your enthusiasm on lock.”
“You won’t tell her, will you?” Surging forward in a flurry of inebriated panic, Eli takes my hand between his.
“Please don’t tell her, Detective. If she finds out, she’ll feel obligated to say yes, which will break my heart.
And if she really doesn’t want to do it and says no, her heart will break for me.
It’s important that my emotions don’t sway her. ”
“I promise not to tell. But, uh…” Frowning, I glance between the couple. “Doesn’t she have a… gift? The kind of gift that makes secret keeping useless?”
“He has a gift, too, Detective. One quite like hers.” Curtis inches just a little closer. “Which means he knows how to communicate—or not communicate—certain things to his sister.”
“Really?” Surprised, I pull back and consider Eli. “You can block her out?”
“We all have the ability to do so, Detective.” Eli releases my hand and draws a deep, chest-filling breath.
“Even you. You just don’t know how to control it yet.
The longer you know her, the more you’ll understand.
In fact, when she has her own child someday, a child who shares her gifts and mixes them with Malone blood, you’re likely to understand even more. ”
“Dunno that the Malone blood will elevate that baby’s future prospects in any positive way,” I tease. “Can she regulate how much is mixed in to make the baby? Because if she can, I suggest she make it, like, ninety-five percent Emeri.”
“You underestimate your family’s noble lineage.” Curtis’s eyes flash with some kind of old-time wisdom. “Don’t be so fast to write yourselves off.”
“Noble?” I find Felix in the crowd, then Tim and Aubree.
Finally, I lock eyes with a quietly watchful Estefan Cordoza.
“Murdering innocents, stealing things we never earned, abusing kids who deserved better…” I bring my focus back to the duo.
“There’s a lot of history for me to look back upon, gentlemen. But nobility isn’t a part of it.”
“You mark your entire family line with the actions of just two generations.” Tutting, Eli takes my hand again.
It looks like a handshake, but it feels like when Aubree touches.
“Don’t allow two men to destroy what was once so much more.
You need only go back one hundred years to find honor, bravery… generosity.”
“You need only look in the mirror,” Curtis counters firmly. “To find those things. We’re in the presence of a Copeland City detective, no?”
You’re in the presence of a killer. A liar. A thief. A man who manipulates his wife, even now. One who wants her to live somewhere, be someone, do something other than what she wants, so I put things into place to make that change happen.
Just because I act in—what I deem—her best interests, doesn’t absolve me from my crimes.
I’m not so far removed from the men who came before me. I simply have fewer casualties on the side.
“We’ve upset you.” Eli’s electric gaze dims under pinched brows. “I apologize.”
“No need to.” I carefully drag my hand free a second time and transfer my beer across to avoid a third attempt. “It was good to see you both today. I’d really love to dance with my wife, though, so if you don’t mind…”
“Of course not.” Eli backs up, almost stepping on Curtis’s toes as he makes room. “And the baby thing?”
I make a show of zipping my lips. “Not a peep. Though I haven’t mastered the blocking thing, so if she reads me the way she usually does…”
“You’ll do your best,” Curtis cuts in, letting me off the hook easily. “Things will work out however they’re meant to.”
“I merely wanted to welcome you to the family,” Eli concludes, not nearly as exuberant as he was before holding my hand. “Someone from your family married someone from mine. It’s an honor to consider you my brother.”
“Likewise.” I pat his arm and swallow words like, ‘but did you get the shit beat out of you once a week for your entire childhood?’ And, ‘my brothers survived hell and came out the other side on a first-name basis with the devil himself. Unless you can say the same, I’m not sure we’re on equal footing.
’ But none of that is for him. Eli is a decent dude—he’s kind and smart, he adores his baby sister, and even knowing who she married, he chooses acceptance over judgment, and he keeps the worst details away from their parents.
Offering him one last smile, I drop my hand and cut through the crowd, side-stepping Justin Lawrence as he dances with his youngest daughter—and her daughter, too—and though his eyes wing up and attempt to latch on to mine, I keep my focus firmly locked onto Minka.
On her delicious curves and silky hair. Her adoring gaze as she talks to a man damn near asleep already.
Being in this room, with these people, without her plastered against my side… It’s fucking exhausting. My well is dry. My tank, depleted. My soul is tired. So I go to the only human on this planet capable of topping me up again.
“I’ll have you driven to the house and set up in a room on the ground floor,” Minka presses. “There’s a bedroom right there by the kitchen, and I already sent a couple of the guys ahead, instructing them to make the space comfortable and functional—”
“You need to stop.” Steve’s voice is shaky and fatigued. Gritty, like he’s been shouting all day long. “Mary is doing a fine job, Miss Minka. You don’t have to worry so much.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t—”
“Mayet?” I rest my hand on the back of her neck, squeezing my fingers just tight enough to control the way she startles and jumps at my appearance, just like I knew she would.
I stop only when my chest and her back touch, and breathe again when she straightens out and leans into me.
Fuck, she’s like oxygen to a man who has none.
“I’d hate to make assumptions, but it kinda looks like you’re harassing a sick man. ”
“Harassing or doctoring?” She slips under my arm without me dragging her in. Because I’m oxygen for her, too. I’m her peace in a chaotic world. Her quiet amidst the noise. “He was discharged by an inept surgeon with no care for the fact his chest was open in an OR just two days ago.”
“Five days, actually.” Steve slumps in his chair, but turns starry-eyed as Mary approaches with a glass of water. “And I don’t think the surgeon was crappy, either. Seeing as she saved my life and all that.”
“She tossed you on your ass to empty a bed. You’re nothing more than a number to her, Steven. You should sue.”
“Sue for what?” He snickers. “Not letting me die?”
Minka tenses against my side, her jaw gritting with the rage she’s been carrying since Doctor Fielder announced a discharge date. But before she can open her mouth and spew her hatred for a woman not even here tonight, I press my palm to the side of her face and force her to look at me.