Chapter 4
Jasmina
COULDN’T MY UNCLE SHINE some divine light down on me to help me with this day from hell? Of course he didn’t, which meant he probably didn’t get to heaven himself.
We’d be stuck next to the devil forever.
Or at least I would, because Callahan sat across from me in the SUV, staring at the men who were checking my vitals and fighting me for a pulse. “Back off,” I seethed, swatting their hands away. I glared at Cal. “Tell them to leave. And take me home. The funeral’s in an hour.”
“You think you’re fine?” he asked me in a condescending tone.
The heat was blasting in the SUV, and they’d thrown a heated wrap around me so the hypothermia would subside. “I am fine.” I lifted my chin, and finally Cal gave them a nod.
They all exited the vehicle, and I was left with the privacy window up in the back of the SUV, alone with Callahan Knight as a driver started to go toward my residence.
Callahan was a wolf wrapped in gentlemen’s attire. He’d worn all black to meet me, looking absolutely flawless, but I knew the suit actually hid a man with no soul.
At least I’d gotten it wet and put a hole in the back of it.
“Don’t you need my address?” I grumbled, shaking within the blanket.
“No.” He started to unbutton his suit jacket and pulled that off. “You know I have it already.” He jerked his chin my way.
“Time to strip, Viper,” he murmured as he yanked off his top.
Damn. He still looked delicious. Tattoos everywhere. Over his broad chest. Even over his abs. Abs that went on for days.
Murdering, treacherous, vile abs, I reminded myself.
“I’m not undressing in here with you,” I said through shivers.
He lifted an eyebrow as he pulled his belt buckle to undo it.
Crap.
“You have to get those clothes off or you’ll never warm up.”
“Look away then, asshole,” I said through chattering teeth.
He chuckled. “I’ve seen you naked already.”
“And so have dozens of men after you.”
His jaw popped once. “Care to share their names?”
“For what?”
“Because I don’t like men thinking they can see my future wife naked.”
“I … what?” I whispered because maybe I was confused. Surely, he couldn’t be actually giving me what I want.
“Strip, Jasmina.”
“Turn around, Callahan.” I matched his tone.
He sighed but gave me his back. He may not have been looking as I started to get undressed, but I was staring at the tattoos, at the cut I’d given him, at how his muscles still moved gracefully over his broad back.
Then he ruined it by saying, “You realize you’re nothing special I couldn’t get somewhere else?”
Damn if that wasn’t a sharp icicle through my gut as I pulled my clothes off and wrapped myself in the blanket again. Quite frankly, I might have been nothing memorable to him, but he was more than memorable to me.
I’d dreamt about our night together way too frequently over the last year to admit.
“Yeah, and I’d rather jump on Satan’s dick than yours any day. Still doesn’t mean I’m letting you perv out while I undress.” I shucked out of my underwear as I stared at him lowering his pants.
“You think I’d take pleasure in seeing you naked again?” He literally scoffed and then leaned to the side to grab his own blanket.
What a fucking asshole. I loathed that I thought about him when I was with others, that I still imagined his touch sometimes, still heard the way he said my name in the heat of the moment.
“Well, you kissed me on that cliff,” I reminded him, wrapping the blanket more tightly around me, making sure I was fully covered. The warmth felt good against my bare skin, and the vents heated the air enough that I could focus more.
“Purely for curiosity’s sake.”
“Curious of what?”
“Of whether or not you’d be worth fucking again. I like a thrill every now and then.”
“I’d never fuck you ever again.”
I was feeling better as heat came back into my veins, but Cal’s cold gaze hit me as he turned back to me, chilling me to the bone. “Or you would over and over again if I married you, just to save your little cousin, right?” A corner of his mouth lifted with his malicious question.
No desire was in his eyes. No kindness. No mercy.
Across from me in that car sat a calculating Diamond, ready to take the best deal, and I guess my hand in marriage was that.
How had I ever slept with him?
“You’re a twisted bastard,” I grumbled before I could stop myself. I knew I should be saying yes, that I’d do anything, that I’d marry him, but conceding made my skin crawl.
“Takes one to know one.” He shrugged as he turned away from me to stare out the window. The weather had taken an ugly turn just as the words he said turned my gut. “I do think I’ll marry you instead. Would that make you happy?”
I wanted to stab him again. Truly. But I couldn’t. I swallowed my pride for my cousins, for my family, for our legacy. I looked away from him and murmured words that tasted like acid on my lips. “It would.”
“Well, then. You can thank me, Jasmina, on our wedding night.”
My stomach rolled even as the weight on my shoulders subsided. I was protecting everyone, and I should have felt relief that I’d at least changed his mind. Relief that he didn’t drown me or kill me on that beach.
I didn’t know what to think or feel. The only thing I knew for sure was that I would be able to handle whatever he threw at me in a way that Maribel never would have been able to.
She was my little cousin, the one I’d sat up late at night with reading children’s books and sneaking ice cream.
The one who cried to me after her first heartbreak.
I could do this. Not her.
I could gather intel for the family, too, and plan to turn on the Diamonds later, making sure they weren’t destroying our businesses if they were going to force us to partner with them.
Even still, as the rain pelted our SUV, my throat tightened at the thought of being a prisoner to him.
It was clear my dead uncle was still as selfish as ever. He wasn’t throwing me a bone from heaven. Probably because he was in hell.
I was sitting with the enemy, naked and vulnerable.
It wasn’t enough that I’d almost drowned.
Then almost froze to death.
Then had to sit in a car with the man who’d reluctantly saved my life because his ass wouldn’t die when I needed him to.
Now, I’d have to marry him and have his kid. My life would revolve around the Diamonds who I loathed only to stave off Paolo’s other enemies.
When we turned down the wrong street, I sat up straighter. “You’re going the wrong way.”
“No. I’m going to inform your family of how you said yes to my proposal.”
“Callahan, not before the funeral—”
“Jasmina, do you not want to marry me?” He said it like I should feel bad for him.
Anger bubbled up inside me. “That’s not what I said.”
“Good. Then you’ll be happy to inform your family with me right away.”
God, I wanted to curse him out. I had to literally bite my lips together to stop myself.
We sat in silence until we pulled up to my uncle and aunt’s home. It seemed Callahan had access because five of our men waved his SUV through. No one came up to the car or tried to look through the tinted windows. And I only saw one man radio a message out.
It was clear Monte had started working closely with the Diamonds already if they’d allow Callahan’s car to pass.
And I thought of my cousins inside, of everyone. Of how they probably didn’t know I was sitting in the car with the enemy.
We were all supposed to go to the funeral together, but now they’d get a show from me too.
I didn’t answer him. I yanked on the handle as the car crawled to a stop.
He didn’t move to unlock the door for me. “They all in there?”
“Enough of them.”
He stared at the house for a second longer. It was a modest home. My aunt and uncle never were extravagant like Paolo, and I think I enjoyed the way they kept their lives small. Except now, I wondered if Callahan was judging us somehow.
I growled, “Don’t make a scene.” The longer we sat there, the more suspicious my family would become. “Unlock the door.”
He didn’t move at first, just stared at me like he was trying to figure out how our relationship would go before he reached for a duffel bag on the floor. He pulled out a fresh black shirt and slacks. He was completely unbothered with my eyes on him.
My breath hitched when he moved the blanket from his waist and moved the slacks up his legs.
Why did I have to check that he was still pierced? I was such a whore for him, and I hated it.
“Miss him?” Callahan asked as he caught me staring. I jerked my eyes up.
“You wish.”
He hummed and put his arms into his black dress shirt before spreading his legs as he met my eyes again. “Come here, fiancée. Come button up your future husband’s shirt,” he commanded, his voice low and gritty.
“What? I’m not—”
“Come here.” He patted his leg like he wanted me to sit on it, his tone rough now. “Show me you’ll be a good wife.”
I bit my cheek so hard it bled. I knew what he was doing. He was challenging me. He was going to see if I could submit, and if I couldn’t, he’d take Maribel instead.
There was no way I was letting it happen.
So, I focused on the only thing I could.
I may have hated him in that moment, but I still loved the way he looked, knew my body wanted him in a way it shouldn’t.
I decided I’d turn off every emotion but that as I went to sit on his lap.
My legs were closed in between his as I kept the blanket tucked around me under my armpits, and I hurried to work on the first button.
As I did, his hand brushed away the blue strands of hair over my shoulder, his fingers dancing on my skin. I couldn’t control the goosebumps that surfaced.
Now, I was biting my cheek for a whole other reason as his free hand went to my bare leg and inched up toward my holster. “You always carry, even to a funeral?”
I was on the third button now, but my hands shook. “It’s smart to carry always.”
“You won’t have to when we’re married,” he murmured.
“I prefer to be prepared myself rather than relying on someone else,” I said before I could stop myself.