Chapter 7 #4
“I was ordered to.” I gave her a vicious smile. “Though I suspect my version of an apology might not meet his expectations.”
Annie stared at the airlock door, deliberately avoiding my gaze as the ship’s landing sequence engaged.
“Stop sending me food,” she said abruptly, her voice flat. “Stop watching me through cameras. Just stop.”
I studied the rigid line of her shoulders, the deliberate way she kept her body angled away from mine. Even now, after everything we’d said, she was trying to sever the last threads connecting us.
“No.”
Her head snapped toward me, her eyes narrowing. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“I mean exactly what I said. I won’t stop sending you food when you work yourself into a stupor. I won’t stop making sure you survive.”
“I’m trying to save you the hassle. I’m going to refuse the deliveries anyway.”
The thought of Annie deliberately rejecting something I’d provided sent a surge of anger through my veins. I caught her chin and forced her to look up at me.
“Refuse them,” I murmured. “Throw them away. But understand exactly what happens next. If you don’t eat the food I send, I will walk directly into your home.
I will back you against your kitchen counter, part your lips, and feed you every single bite from my own fingers.
And I won’t leave until you swallow exactly what I give you. ”
“You don’t get to decide that.” Her eyes flashed with defiance, but she didn’t pull away from my touch. “You don’t have that right.”
“I never had that right,” I admitted and stroked the soft skin of her jaw. “I took it anyway. Your survival belongs to me, Annie. I don’t care how much you hate me for what I did, but I will keep you alive and healthy whether you consent to it or not.”
The landing locks engaged with a heavy thunk. Annie stepped back and I let her go. She straightened her dress, preparing to face whatever waited for us outside.
The door hissed open, and the first thing I saw was Valor’s fucking face, standing beside Havoc. All the different ways to break his jaw ran through my mind simultaneously. I dismissed all of them.
Barely.
“Annie!” Valor stepped forward, arms outstretched as if expecting her to run into his embrace like some damsel rescued from a dragon. The dragon being me, obviously.
I watched as she deliberately sidestepped Valor’s waiting arms, moving directly to Havoc instead. The rejection was so smooth, so perfectly executed that I had to bite back a laugh.
Valor’s arms hung awkwardly in the air for 1.3 seconds before he dropped them, his camera-ready smile faltering.
Fucking beautiful. If I’d orchestrated it myself, it couldn’t have been more satisfying.
“Are you alright?” Havoc asked Annie.
“I’m fine.” Professional Annie was back, armor firmly in place. “Nothing damaged but my evening plans.”
Valor stepped closer to her, his hand reaching for her elbow. “Annie, darling.”
I tensed, calculating exactly how much force it would take to remove that hand permanently from his wrist.
“Mr. Valor,” Annie said coolly, stepping just beyond his reach. “I believe we’ve fulfilled our contractual obligations for the evening.”
The formal dismissal was so perfectly Annie. She might not have said yes to me yet, but she’d definitely said no to him.
Valor stepped forward, shoulders squared and chin lifted. Numbers ran through my head. How many teeth I’d break if I punched him again, how much the League would fine me, and whether Annie would hate me more for it.
“I believe you owe me something, Cipher,” he announced, his voice pitched to carry. Always performing. “The League has ordered you to apologize for your unprovoked assault on my person during a sanctioned event.”
The audacity of this fucker.
“You’re right,” I said, cutting him off before he could launch into what was undoubtedly a rehearsed speech about his wounded dignity. “I do owe you something.”
Valor’s eyebrows lifted slightly, surprise flickering across his face before settling into smug satisfaction. He actually thought I was going to grovel. Fucking incredible.
“I apologize,” I continued, my voice carrying the perfect blend of sincerity and regret, “that you have such a punchable face.”
Annie made a strangled sound that might have been a suppressed laugh.
Valor’s jaw clenched, a muscle twitching beneath his skin. “You think this is funny? You attacked a Hero—”
“I corrected an asshole,” I interrupted. “The fact that the asshole happens to wear a cape and sucks the Alliance’s collective dick is irrelevant.”
I turned on my heel. Behind me was the sudden scuffle of movement, a grunt, and Havoc’s low warning: “Don’t.”
The sound of Valor struggling against Havoc’s restraint was music to my ears.
I didn’t need to look back to know exactly what was happening.
The asshole’s pride demanding satisfaction, Havoc physically holding him back, Annie watching it all with that perfect mixture of professional composure and private judgment.
I stepped onto my airship, not giving Valor the satisfaction of looking back.