Chapter Twenty–Six

CHAPTER TWENTY–SIX

A s Mahrci closed herself and Remis in the bedroom, she made sure to stay next to the door. She hadn’t lied to Hemmy about there having been no violence between them during their relationship, but there was a lot going on. A lot that she knew now that she hadn’t before.

And as Remis’s nostrils flared and he looked at the messy bed she hadn’t yet made up, she realized she had made one mistake.

His expression went dark. “You . . . fucking bitch .”

She forced herself to hold his glare. “Do you honestly care I was with someone else—”

“You’re fucking the help ?” He slashed a hand through the still air. “ That’s why you ended it with me?”

The sad thing , she thought, was that as topics went, this was better than so many others.

“Just stop,” she said with exhaustion. “I know you didn’t come up here to fight for me.”

“Is that what you want?” He gestured around. “For me to beg you to come back? Is this whole drama some kind of attention-getting bullshit? Because you’re right, that’s not why I’m here.”

“So why did you make the drive,” she said in a low voice. “What are you doing this far upstate in the snow.”

“Your father sent me.”

“Ah, yes. I should have known—”

“You’ve made him so proud. I mean, who wouldn’t want a daughter like you, who doesn’t give a shit about who she disgraces.”

Fuck you , she thought as a wholly uncharacteristic rage hit her.

“Oh, I care about that,” she shot back. “Trust me. I’m pretty happy I disgraced you. It’s the best thing I got out of our relationship.”

That actually shut him up for a moment. And as he stood there, blinking like an idiot in that slick, dark gray suit, she just—

“I wanted to make it work,” she blurted. “Even though I knew you didn’t love me. I wanted to be the good female, do the right thing, but then I realized . . . I don’t know who you really are. Underneath your fine clothes, and the manners that hide your true nature, you’re not what you pretend to be. So I’m not sacrificing myself anymore to the lies—”

“Oh, spare me the vestal virgin shit,” he spat. “You’re not innocent, and I know that firsthand, don’t I. You’re lucky I was willing to stick around after that little news flash.”

Mahrci shook her head and told herself to shut up.

She didn’t. “And you only love my father, that’s who you care about. I was just a way for you to cement your connection to him—”

“In case you haven’t noticed”—Remis leaned in—“he and I are doing just fine without you. The only thing that’s changed is you’re out of his will, and I’m right by his side.”

Mahrci smiled as she lowered her lids. “That so.”

“Yes, that’s so.” He smoothed his tie. “You can get off your sacrificial mount. You’re the only one who’s impressed by it. And while you’re at it, you need to leave this property immediately. You’re trespassing.”

In the silence that followed, the chuckle that came out of her was no sound she had ever made before. “You know something, I feel really sorry for you.”

As he cocked an eyebrow, Remis clearly thought she was delusional.

“The glymera are not so kind to those who are less than.” Mahrci took a step closer to him. “How was your drive up here. Pity you can’t dematerialize like the rest of us—”

With a growl of rage, Remis launched himself at her, grabbing her by the front of the throat with both hands and slamming her against the wall. His expression was so furious, there was a blankness to it, as if he weren’t even seeing her, and his whole body was shaking as he squeezed her windpipe closed.

Mahrci gasped for air and clawed at his—

The bedroom door burst open, and Hemmy took control of the situation, picking up Remis by the armpits and pulling him off of her. As the male started to flail and holler, it didn’t make any difference.

Hemmy just walked out with his unstable load.

Mahrci sagged and caught her breath. Then she stumbled out into the hall. She was still grabbing at oxygen and tripping as she followed the pair to the staircase. Halfway up to the first floor, her vision cleared, and that was when Remis threw his head back and glared at her.

“You fucking cunt!”

Hemmy stopped short. “What did you say.”

Remis twisted around, shoving and pushing, and still getting nowhere. “She’s a cunt, and she fucked you to get back at me—”

One moment, the male was being held far enough off the steps so that he was kicking the handrail and the wainscoting. The next, he was being banged back and forth between the walls in the stairwell like a rag doll.

Banga, banga, banga—

And then Hemmy threw the male up the staircase, like he was heaving a bag of potatoes. The force of Remis’s impact on the closed door busted the latch open and the male spilled out into the hall beyond.

All those Idaho bakers rolling across the floor.

After which, Hemmy strolled up the remaining stairs. As if he hadn’t just tossed a fully grown male into a door—and broken the latter with him.

Meanwhile, Apex stepped into view and looked down at Remis, who was pinwheeling on his back like he had no idea what had happened to him.

“You know,” the male remarked dryly, “this actually went better than I thought it was going to.”

“Because I didn’t bust the door off the hinges?” Hemmy offered.

“Well, there’s that.” Apex shrugged. “And he’s still breathing.”

Yeah, the fucker who had laid his hands on Mahrci was still breathing, Mayhem thought. But he was seriously considering shutting that down. Seemed only fair considering the male had gone for her throat.

He was never going to get over what he’d seen as he busted into that bedroom.

On that note, he glanced down the stairs. The female who had been unforgettable even before he’d kissed her was staring up at him, echoes of shock and fear paling her face, her eyes wide. After he noted all of that, the only thing he could see was the bruised, red band around her neck. It was like a second collar at the loose opening of the fleece she’d worn for their trip to the supermarket.

Are you okay? he mouthed.

He wasn’t sure she’d understand him. But when she nodded and smoothed her hair back? Guess so.

Meanwhile, the ex was getting his shit together, rolling over and planting a pair of squeaky palms on the varnished floor so he could push his chest up. Without thinking about what he was doing, Mayhem drew his boot back and aimed for that ass—

Apex yanked him out of range. “Nope, you’re done. The message has been received and we don’t need this.”

“He called her a cunt. After he started to strangle her.”

The change in the other male was instantaneous. Those black eyes narrowed, and those lips went straight-line. “I’m sorry—what?”

“He tried to strangle her.”

There was a pause. And then Apex lowered himself on his haunches and tilted his head so he could look the ex in the face. “Did you do that? You put your hands on her?”

Remis met the male right in the eye. “None . . . of your . . . fucking business—”

“You called her a cunt?”

By this time, Mahrci had reached the top of the staircase, and Mayhem wanted to step into her, pull her against his body, and feel the warmth and solidity of her. But he stayed where he was—because he wasn’t too sure that Apex wasn’t about to jump on Remis.

And if anybody was going to go beat-down properly on the guy, it was going to be—

“You’re a dead male.”

As the vow hit the airways, Mayhem thought it was Apex talking. But then he realized he was the one being addressed.

The ex’s nasty, unhinged eyes were staring up at him with a hatred that was surprising. Most aristocrats didn’t have that much passion in them. Then again, this was the new order of the glymera , where money counted more than breeding.

Apparently, the male still had some starch in his bloodline.

“I have people,” Remis said grimly. “And you’re fucking dead—”

“You know what,” Apex announced as he straightened and clapped Mayhem on the shoulder. “You just keep going with your workout. Cardiovascular health is so important, and really, when was the last time you went to the gym?”

“God, it’s been weeks.” Mayhem bent down and palmed the ex’s face, lifting Remis up to his feet by the guy’s features. “And I had a New Year’s resolution. So I’ve been letting myself down.”

As he started walking for the front door, Apex followed along casually. Like there wasn’t all kinds of tap dancing going on next to them.

“Oh, yeah?” the guy commented.

“Yeah, totally—” He steered the ex around a table with a bunch of boating pictures on it. “Watch yourself there, Remis, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt. That would be such a shame. Anyway, what was I saying—oh. Right. Yeah, so I was going to start going twice a week, but I couldn’t keep that up—hey, would you get the door for me?”

“Pleasure.” Apex jumped ahead, cranked the latch, and pulled things open with a flourish. “And I do mean that.”

The cold rushed in, and so did the glare of the bright white landscape: Thanks to the exterior security lights, it was easy to see the shoveled walkway, easy to pilot the stamping, hollering douchebag to that BMW.

When they were about ten feet away from the car, Mayhem gave the ex a good push and the male skated forth, landing on the hood of the sedan like a deer that had been hit.

The recovery was pretty quick, all things considered, the male getting back on his feet—even if those Gucci loafers gave him some traction issues.

Hard to look like a badass when you were skating while holding still.

What a pity.

“You shouldn’t have gotten involved,” Remis said.

Mayhem inclined his head. “Thanks for your opinion. I’ll file it where it belongs—”

“She’s only fucking you to get back at me.”

Time slowed to a stop. And Mayhem glanced down at the snow. “Now, see, why’d you have to go there—”

Apex stepped in between them. “Okay, I let you have some fun. Now he has to go—”

“Does that bother you?” Mayhem talked over his friend’s shoulder. “That she’s fucking me? ’Cuz if it does, good. I’m glad. I hope it keeps you up all day long—”

“I’m coming for you. Watch your back—”

Apex wheeled around on the guy. “Shut up, Remis. Get in your fucking car and go back to Caldwell—”

That finger he clearly liked to jab in people’s faces swung in Apex’s direction. “Stay out of this. If you know what’s good for you—”

“Right now, I’m all that’s keeping him from killing you. So how about you do us both a favor and leave? I don’t really like you, so I’m not sure how long I’m going to keep the peace going. FYI.”

With a last look toward the house, the ex marched around, got behind the wheel—and made the mistake of trying to peel out in the snowpack. Even with those snow tires, and all that fancy, computer-aided traction, he didn’t get far with that.

So he was forced to creep out, his luxury sedan making like a child’s remote control toy—

A heavy arm became a bar across Mayhem’s chest. “Let him go.”

“I’m not going after him.”

“Then why did you just take two steps forward.”

Did I? he wondered.

Well, Apex was probably a better judge of his actions than he was at the moment.

Nodding, he turned back to the house. Walked back.

As he came up to the entrance, he stopped in front of Mahrci. And it was then when he realized what he’d said.

Fuck.

He glanced over his shoulder at Apex. “We’re not sleeping together. Just so we’re clear. I only said that to get a rise out of him.” Then he turned back and rubbed his face. “I’m sorry. I probably should have handled . . . all of this better—”

Mahrci threw her arms around him and squeezed him so hard, she nearly popped his head off his spine. Not that he cared. The sound of her weeping just about tore him up—

“That was frickin’ awesome!” She pulled back, and was laughing so hard she had to wipe her eyes. “Did you see the expression on his face? And what was the move around the car?”

Oh, okay. Not crying, but laughing hysterically.

All at once, the three of them were imitating Remis’s slippery strides, their hands waving around over their heads, the laughter echoing all around—because clearly, they all needed it. And when the tension had been burned off, they stood out in the cold and caught their breaths.

“Okay, that was a little mean,” Mahrci said.

Mayhem glanced at her throat and thought, Not even close to mean .

And then Mahrci was taking his hand and holding his eyes intently. “You’re not the help, not like he meant it. I want you to know that.”

Even though Apex was right beside them, Mayhem reached up and brushed that one strand of hair out of her face again. “I wasn’t offended because I know I’m not. But thank you, for caring how I might have taken it.”

She nodded. “And thank you . . . for coming in when you did.”

“Wellllllllllll, I mighta been eavesdropping. A little bit. It goes without saying that I think you did the right thing getting out of that mating.”

“I had to.” Her face grew grave. “I didn’t have a choice. I had . . . to do the right thing.”

When she shivered, he knew that it wasn’t the cold.

Slipping his arm across her shoulders, he led her back into the house, the warm, well-lit house, where he would keep her safe.

For however long she would let him.

“I’m going to cook,” he murmured. “For the both of us.”