28. Easton

Chapter twenty-eight

Easton

E mily sits as far as she possibly can from me at the table the next morning. She smiles as she speaks to Raul, even as he asks her questions about the food for our reception and her preferences for the cake. She refuses to look at me at all. Her eyes immediately falling back on her plate when Raul leaves us alone. Samuel and Daniel both give me looks, but I ignore them. I have enough on my plate. I'm just lucky Tracey isn't a breakfast person, or she'd kick my ass in front of everyone.

Mikey's been covering for me on the business end of things for the past few days, but I need to get back to being a more visible presence at the warehouse and the docks. We're stretched thin with the threat from the Andreevs looming over our heads, but that doesn't stop me from sending both Darius and Micah with Emily.

I have a busy morning planned–I'm determined to sit down with Al and get some of the business stuff straightened out. I'm going to be a husband and a dad soon. I need to get my shit together for that reason, if nothing else.

It's close to eleven when I get a text from Jacob at the front gate.

Boss, there's a huge flower delivery at the gate for you.

I dial his number and only have to wait for the call to connect; he doesn't even give it a chance to ring. "Are they for the wedding?"

"The driver said they go to you. It's a kid, his name is A.J."

"Are the contents secure?"

"Nothing back there but flowers."

I sigh. I wonder what Emily is up to. "Send me a photo of the kid."

I hang up just as a text pops up on my phone. Sure enough, it's the kid that helps Emily out in the afternoons.

Send him up.

Five minutes later, I can hear the bump of wheels against the tile floor as a cart moves down the hall towards me. The kid walks in with a cart full of vases of a bright purple flower that hangs down from the main plant. The flowers and the vases they come in are sealed with cellophane and tied with matching bows at the top. He's wearing a facemask and gloves. "Where would you like these?" The kid asks, a vase in each hand.

"The desk is fine," I tell him.

I stand back and watch as he begins to unload half a dozen vases, each one full to the brim with the purple flowers. "If you'd sign here," he says, holding a clipboard out to me. I sign where he points, hand him a fifty, and watch him as he disappears down the hall. One vase has a card peeking out from the arrangement. I move closer, loosening the bow to pull out it as the tap tap tap of heels on tile warns me of Tracey's impending arrival.

"Holy fucking hell, get away from those," Tracey says. She does something she hasn't done since I was a kid and pulls me by the sleeve until I'm out of the room beside her in the hall.

"What's wrong?"

"They're wolfsbane, dumbass. They're poisonous as all get out. Is Andreev going fancy in his attempts to get Ivan back?"

I shake my head. "Can you stay here and keep the cats out? I'll be right back." She nods and I hurry off to the basement. One of the rooms serves as a medical bay when we can't hit the ER for…reasons. I dig out gloves and mask and head back up to my office, where Tracey is shooing cats off with her foot.

I pull the mask and gloves on before heading to the desk. The kid is Emily's driver, but maybe he works for more than one company. I open the one arrangement with the card, pull it from the top, and bring it to the hall.

Tracey peers over my shoulder. "You said ‘over your dead body'. Hopefully, I have time to make that happen. Love, Em" Tracey reads aloud. "What does that mean? Is this from Emily? I told you not to play with her and now she's sending you poisonous plants. You're a fucking idiot, Easton Degarmo." She shakes her head and wanders off, leaving me alone to deal with keeping the cats from getting to the plants while I try to find someone to come in and clean them out.

"The cats are attracted to the wolfsbane." I casually mention it at dinner, hoping to guilt Emily into speaking to me, but she just continues to eat without looking up from her plate. She refuses to speak, answering every question from me in as few words as possible.

The next day, when my next shipment of wolfsbane arrives, the cats are nowhere to be found. Jacob finds them later, down by the gate where a large amount of catnip has been dropped. These arrangements are a step up from the day before–they have nightshade mixed in, much to Tracey's amusement. Wednesday, A.J. arrives with wolfsbane and oleander. Thursday, even though she claims she's going dress shopping, I still receive a delivery of wolfsbane, this time arranged with foxglove.

Friday arrives, and she's still not speaking to me. I've been sleeping on the couch in her room ever since the household staff was able to change the bed linens for her. Every night I sit in the room with her after dinner, every night she scrolls her phone, showers, then heads to bed as if I'm not even there.

Somehow, she always manages to wake before I do, but this morning I set my alarm to vibrate early and rise before her. It's our wedding day and I want to make sure things will run smoothly, even if our relationship is anything but.

"You'd never catch me putting up with a snobby ass bitch like that. My woman will listen to me or else," says a voice just as I pull open the bedroom door. I step out into the hall and pull it shut quietly behind me, not wanting to wake Emily. One of the new men–a kid named Erik–is laughing softly at his own words until he catches sight of me. The other kid with him straightens up quickly, but Erik doesn't see me until I'm on him.

"What did you call my wife?"

"Boss, I–" he steps back as I prowl toward him, his back hitting the wall with a thud. My hand fits easily around his throat. He weighs nothing. I pin him by his neck up against the wall as his partner smartly stares straight ahead, not moving a muscle. "Movement will make you look like prey," was a famous Holden Degarmo saying and this kid smartly takes it to heart.

I can feel Erik's pulse beating against my fingers as I choke the life out of him, his body growing limp slowly as I take out all the week's frustrations out on him. "You will not speak of my wife that way, do you understand?" My voice is low.

He can't speak and his eyes grow large, seeming to bulge out as I press harder and harder against his throat. "Brother," Samuel says from behind me. I have no idea where he came from. Everything is shades of gray and the blood is pumping in my ears so loudly, the wolf will take over soon. "Perhaps I should handle his punishment."

I look between the two and then step back, not sure why I'm willing to give up my prey so easily. Erik slumps to the ground, landing on the floor with a thud. Samuel motions to the other kid, who throws the dumbass over his shoulder and walks away.

"It's your wedding day, maybe no wolf today, huh?" Samuel says. "I'll stand guard over Emily today. Go get ready. Most of the men are already securing the church."

I take a deep breath and nod, running a hand over my face. "I've made a mess of things."

Samuel shrugs. "These things just take time."