Chapter 6 #2
She smoothed my eyebrows, then flipped her hand so the back of her fingers brushed over my cheek.
“One week from today I have to walk into my parents’ house and say, ‘hey guys, I’m married’ and my brother is going to immediately lose his shit.
My father might shoot you and my mother will contemplate strangling the daughter she dreamed would marry well and have a carload of kids. ”
“Well damn.” I frowned. “Call me a lowlife piece of shit without calling me a lowlife piece of shit.” I knew that wasn’t how Dakota saw me, and again, I didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought about me, but her words still left a little sting.
She shook her head, a small smile touching her lips. “You know that’s not what I think.” The next sigh was heavier than the first, the weight of this situation almost visible on her shoulders now. “I know you’ve probably wondered if I really love you.”
“Never.” Placing the hand I held over my heart, I locked gazes with her. “I feel you right here. Every moment of every day, with every single beat I feel you, Dakota. My love. Your love. Our love. It fills me and keeps me moving every day since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“But I insisted on keeping the secret, and I know that must’ve seemed like I was also hiding our love. And I need you to know that was never my intention.”
“I know, baby.” I did know that her words were true.
While she didn’t want anyone to know about our marriage, behind the closed doors of my house and hers, Dakota was every inch of my wife.
I wasn’t lying when I told her cousins she had clothes at my house.
Hell, she had more shit at my place than she probably did at her own.
I had things at her place. Up until the moment she decided to get slick and ditch her security, we knew each other’s schedules.
We knew each other’s goals and desires and talked about how those things would intersect with our marriage.
Hell, as far as I was concerned, we were already partners.
“I feel like such an idiot for not having a better handle on this. I’m not an indecisive person. I plan and work to get what I want. I speak my mind and let others figure out how they’re going to deal with whatever my position is. I’m not a weak bitch.”
“Whoa.” Immediately shifting so that I was now sitting up, I cupped her face, tilting it slightly so she would look at me.
“Make that the last time I ever hear you saying some shit like that. There’s nothing weak about you or how you navigate your life.
You don’t have to do shit the way others think you should.
How many times have I told you this is your world, love?
Tell me what you want and that’s what it will be. ”
Doubt clouded her eyes, and I hated that as much as I hated the time we were apart. “My family,” she whispered.
“Will always be related to you by blood,” I finished for her.
“Nothing will ever change that. Your last name is different now, a fact I better see reflected on your office door, your website, every damn where, the second we get back home.” I didn’t believe in that hyphenating or not carrying my last name shit.
This woman belonged to me, and everybody was going to know it.
“But they don’t define you. The career you choose, who you marry, the path in life you take is not theirs to control.
You know that, Dakota. You’ve already been living your life on your own terms. Why is this, us, any different? ”
My phone buzzed, and her gaze dropped. It was in the front pocket of the sweats I wore and from my new position beside her, she rested her hand right there on my thigh.
“That’s your personal phone,” she said softly. “I saw you turn off the burner you use for business and put it in your bag before we left.”
Dakota paid attention to every detail. I admired that about her knowing that there would be some details I’d work harder for her not to notice.
It was my turn to sigh now. KC and Rafe knew where I was, and since my cousin, Zayn, was now the front-facing president of the club, KC had most likely given him my location, too.
The three of them were also the only ones who knew about me and Dakota.
Well, aside from the security detail I hired for her.
But even they came from an outside firm.
To protect the optics for me and Dakota, going through Spades Security was smarter than letting Rafe assemble a team to guard her.
But none of them would call unless there was an emergency.
With that in mind, and because the phone hadn’t stopped buzzing during my musing, I dug into my pocket to retrieve it. “Speak,” I grumbled after swiping to answer KC’s call.
“We got a problem,” my younger brother said. I could hear the anger in his voice. KC had two speeds—goofy and deadly. The latter was seeping through the phone and I immediately tensed.
“Maleeka?” Dakota’s eyes widened as I asked after my sister.
“Yeah, man. She just called and said they’re raiding the place. I’m headed there now, and Zayn’s gonna meet me.”
“What the fuck?” We worked hard to keep our legal businesses above reproach.
The Spades casino was one of the first big ventures we went into about six years ago.
Since it was the only casino in Destine, the small town I called home before I started Blackbond and moved to Alexandria, we knew it would be under closer scrutiny.
That’s why we put Maleeka in place to manage it, and she did a phenomenal job.
There wasn’t a license or contract that Maleeka didn’t personally oversee and confirm.
She ran a tight casino floor and the lounge attached to it.
Not to mention the fact that we had a few Destine police on our payroll. So who the hell had authorized a raid?
“LeLe is about to slit the feds’ throat,” KC said.
“Wait, it’s a federal raid? They got a warrant?”
“Yeah, Tito said the dude pressed that shit up against LeLe’s chest and told her to read it if she could read at all. I’m cuttin’ off every one of his fuckin’ fingers when I get there!”
And KC would do just that. I knew because I was the one who’d taught him how to cut at the joint to inflict the most pain.
“Shit!” I moved away from Dakota, then stood. “Tell Tito to keep her cool. You and Zayn contain this situation first. I’ll be there in a few hours, and I want names, badge numbers and that fuckin’ warrant as soon as I touch down.”
“On it.”
Disconnecting the call, I turned to see that Dakota had already started packing up the picnic stuff.
“I’m sorry,” I said when she looked over her shoulder at me. “I gotta go handle this.”
She shook her head. “No worries, baby. I know this is a part of your world.”
After crossing back to where she was kneeling on the blanket, I crouched down and hooked a finger under her chin. “This is the part you’re trying to navigate, right?”
She nodded and frowned.
“You’re not a stranger to any of this, love. Remember how we met?”
That frown lifted into a weak smile. “I know. But I can chalk that up to being a part of my job. I clean crime scenes for the police department just like I clean them after a drug-deal gone bad, or a hit. At the end of the day, I go back to my office and generate an invoice so I can pay my employees. Your end is way more nuanced.”
“That’s my end,” I told her. “You don’t have to do anything more than what you’re already doing. I’d never ask that of you.”
Before she could respond or overthink this anymore than she already was, I dropped a quick kiss on her lips meant to signal that we’d talk about this later. Then, I helped her pack.