Chapter 8

CHAPTEREIGHT

I needed to apologize. But after our intense conversation that ended when Davis told me to look through the bags of clothes that had been left for us while he excused himself to make a phone call on the balcony, I didn’t know how.

I mean, I knew how to say the words, I’m sorry for acting like a crazy bitch. I just didn’t know how to say it without having to explain why I’d behaved like a crazy bitch. Though he deserved the explanation along with the apology.

I seemed to have this horrible affliction when I was around Davis—I spoke too much. I said things I’d never told another soul. There was a reason why I changed jobs so frequently, I didn’t want friends. Friends made you do things like share stories. They talked about the past and my past was off-limits. They talked about dreams and the future, neither of which I wanted to discuss. The former because I had none, the latter because it was depressing.

I hadn’t lied. I knew who I was, my heart, and my worth. That didn’t mean that every now and again when I allowed myself to think about certain things, my father’s cruelty didn’t tear me apart. It didn’t mean that I didn’t have moments of weakness, and telling Davis about how I got my name was a big, fat, honking moment of weakness. I never should’ve told him. That story left me vulnerable. I knew better. Trevor had drilled it into me since I was a child, never to allow anyone to have the upper hand. Never trust anyone with your secrets. Never let anyone close. In the thirty-five years since he’d explained to me how the world worked, I hadn’t let a single person in.

I kept everyone at arm’s length.

Until Davis.

Now I was spilling secrets left and right.

I heard the door open and realized in the time Davis had been outside I hadn’t looked through the bags. I was still standing in the same spot I’d been in since we’d walked into the beautiful hotel room staring at the bed—the only bed.

Perhaps running off at the mouth wasn’t the only thing I suffered from when I was around Davis. Time loss and rapid heart rate were also symptoms only he inflicted. If I was being totally honest, wet panties and hard nipples could be added to the list, however, I was all for pretending he had no effect over my body.

“I need to apologize,” I blurted out.

Davis finished closing the door and gave me his attention.

Before I lost my nerve I told him the truth, which meant my mouth spoke more words, spilled more secrets, that didn’t only leave me vulnerable but wide open.

“It was the statue. It was telling you that stupid story. It was remembering my father slurring his words as he told me he wanted to name me Aphrodite. It was hearing the pain in his voice when he spoke about my mother and the anger directed at me. I was a bitch to you when we got into the room and I lashed out because I was feeling raw. That’s no excuse but it’s why I said what I said to you. I’m sorry. You’re entitled to your thoughts and you don’t have to tell me what they are. You didn’t lie to me, I was just acting crazy.”

Davis stood perfectly still staring at me, which made more words that shouldn’t have been said come out.

“And I know who I am. None of what I told you was bullshit. I know I’m a good person. But that doesn’t mean that every once in a while I don’t feel their filth coat my skin. That doesn’t mean that I don’t remember where I came from and who my father is. I was raised by club skanks and my big brother before he turned into our father. Trevor was all I had. There was a time when I knew he loved me and he protected me from my father’s brothers.”

Now that I’d started I couldn’t stop. I needed Davis to understand. I needed someone to understand. I needed to tell the truth. Not because it would absolve my brother but someone had to know why he was the way he was.

“He slept beside me so no one would sneak into my room in the middle of the night. He wouldn’t let them touch me and when one tried he almost died protecting me. It was not the brother he disrespected who called the meeting. It was my father. His father who called the brothers to the table to vote on Trevor’s punishment for protecting me. His little sister. I was thirteen and my father didn’t see an issue with a man older than him…” I stopped to suck in much-needed oxygen before I spat out the rest. “Trying to force himself on me. My father, his father, didn’t care that his teenage daughter was almost violated by his road captain and I would’ve been if Trevor hadn’t come home when he did. Instead, Trevor was beaten by every patched member who wanted to take a swing at him. That doesn’t make anything he does now right. It almost makes it worse because he knew what that did to me. He knew how scared I was. But that day, after that meeting, my loving older brother was gone. That day Trevor turned into Zeus. He made it known he’d slit any man’s throat who dared to touch me. The next day he proved that true when my father’s road captain was found dead and Trevor took off. After that no one tried again. My brother did that for me, not my father. I don’t know Zeus, I don’t want to know him, I can’t know him. But I love my big brother.”

When I was done Davis was still staring at me.

I said nothing. Mainly because I was panting, partly because I didn’t know what else to say.

Now he knew.

Davis knew that Trevor had saved me from something that would’ve scarred me for the rest of my life and because of that he had my undying love.

Zeus, no.

Trevor, always.

“I need a minute, baby.”

With that Davis turned, opened the door, and slammed it behind him.

I watched with no small amount of horror as Davis walked to the railing and dropped his head forward.

This time I’d said way too much. Things I couldn’t take back but was having a hard time regretting them even though I knew Trevor would be angry I’d told his secret.

It might’ve been seconds or minutes or a really long time but the door opened and Davis came back into the room. I didn’t need to see him entering, I could feel his presence. Overwhelming anger filled the room. So much I found it hard to take a full breath.

“First,” he started and it sounded like a gunshot rent the air. “I’m sorry that happened to you. To say I’m glad your brother stopped it would be a gross understatement. And you’re right, Jane, it makes what he does now worse because he does it to a woman who might not be his sister but they could be someone’s sister. These women are someone’s daughter. They are people who don’t deserve what he does to them. I’m sorry if that hurts you, but it’s the fucking truth. And seeing as he stopped his baby sister from being violated.” That last was ground out like the filthy verb it was. “He damn well fucking has it in him to do right. As for your apology, I appreciate it. Not just the apology itself but you trusting me with the explanation.”

Trust.

I’d never trusted anyone but Trevor and now I didn’t trust him at all.

“Now since you gave me honesty, I’m gonna give you some,” he continued. “Pretty much everything you tell me about your father and brother pisses me right the fuck off. So in the future when you tell me something and I need a minute to digest what motherfucking assholes they are, you need to understand it’s no reflection on you. You came from where you came from. None of us can change that. It’s their filth, and baby, it doesn’t coat you. You don’t have a damn thing to hide or be ashamed of. If someone wants to judge you for your family and not see the strong, beautiful woman you are, fuck ‘em. They aren’t worth your time.”

I wanted to believe that.

I really, really did. But just a few short hours ago, Davis was looking me like I was one of them—scum, filth, a criminal.

Something had changed but I didn’t want to know why or how it had. I needed to keep my distance. I needed to remember he was only there to help me with my father, then he’d leave and go back to his life and I’d have to find a new place to live. One that was far away from my brother, something I should’ve done years ago but was too scared. Even though Trevor was who he was, I still felt safe knowing he was close.

I had no one else.

“I talked to Wilson,” Davis abruptly changed topics.

I didn’t know what to say to that so I said nothing and waited for an explanation. He didn’t elaborate, instead he looked at the bags on the bed.

“Did you go through the bags?”

“No.”

Davis made his way to the bed, grabbed a bag, and opened it, looked inside, then set it back down. He did this with three other bags before he obviously found the one he was looking for and rifled through it until he found what he wanted and tossed two boxes on the bed. One was a rectangle and one looked a hell of a lot like a ring box. Then he went back to the bag and pulled out a tie and black dress socks.

“Your dress is hanging in the closet,” he announced.

“Dress?”

“We’re getting married.”

I felt my breath leave my lungs in a woosh, which made it impossible for me to protest. This was unfortunate because it gave Davis the opportunity to continue speaking.

“Wilson had a sit down with Zeus and laid out my plan. Your brother agrees. We get married tonight. Tomorrow your brother gets the word you’re married and to whom. As you said, your father won’t give the first fuck, until he looks into me and who I work for.”

“My brother and Wilson had a sit down?” I asked.

“Yep.”

I was sure Wilson McCray was not happy he’d had to sit across from my brother for any reason, but I was positive he was less happy to be doing it to discuss my problem, which had nothing to do with him or Takeback.

“And the two of them decided it was a good idea for me to marry you?”

“Yep.”

“No, Davis, hear me…” I paused to reel in my temper. “My brother and your boss decided what was best for me without me being a part of that conversation.”

“Us getting married solves—”

“That’s not the point,” I interrupted. “My brother doesn’t get to make decisions on my behalf. Hell, he doesn’t get a say in my life, period. I only went to him because I needed to get out of town quickly and he’s the only criminal I know who could get me a fake ID and credit cards.”

“So the other criminals you know weren’t available?” he teased.

I felt my temper flaring and since I’d already made an ass out of myself I was trying extra, super hard not to act like a bitch again. It was a losing battle. I was too pissed.

“You think this is a joke?” I snapped. “I don’t think it’s amusing that decisions about my life are being made behind my back.”

Davis was quiet for a moment before shook his head. “No, Jane, I don’t think any of this is a joke, especially the part where your father wants you taken back to Montana so he can trade you to pay off a debt. Hear me,” Davis mocked. “Your father wants to trade you. I think it goes without me having to explain this, but your brother’s not Wilson’s favorite person. He’s not mine. So it fucks me to say this, but he’s right about this. Once your father finds out you’re married to me and he sees I work for Takeback who has ties to law enforcement, including the feds, you become untouchable.”

I hadn’t thought about that when Davis first proposed his crazy plan.

And it sucked they were right.

But still…

“You might be right, but—”

“There’s no might about it. I’m right. Rhode is right now laying a nice easy trail of information for your father and his idiot brothers to find. They won’t even have to dig to find it.”

I wondered if counting to ten really worked. I tried it and found it didn’t. So, I went to fifteen and was no less pissed when Davis called, “Jane?”

“Quiet, I’m counting.”

“The ways to murder me in my sleep or…” he let that hang.

“If I was going to murder you, you’d be wide awake when I did it.”

“Right,” he mumbled through a grin.

Dick.

I let my gaze drop to the floor, this time not bothering to count but instead taking a deep breath.

Okay, this was fake.

The marriage would be on paper only.

I could do a fake marriage if it meant I was useless to my father.

I’d be untouchable, as Davis said.

Divorce was easy enough. It wouldn’t be like a real marriage where love and feelings and finances were all tangled together. That’s when it got messy.

I could marry the handsome Davis Wright, then divorce him, and move on.

It was actually a fool-proof plan.

He’d never fall for someone like me and I sure as hell knew better than to fall for him.

Perfect.

Decision made, I lifted my head and looked at my soon-to-be-fake-husband.

“So, here are the rules,” I started. “I participate in every decision that affects—”

“Nope.”

“What do you mean, nope?”

“No, Jane. You don’t participate in every decision when it comes to your safety. Actually, you have no say in that at all. Protection is quite literally my job. When it comes to your father and your brother and me keeping them from harming you in any way you have no say. That’s non-negotiable. And this is the last gift you accept from your brother.”

I was now rethinking how easy this marriage was going to be.

“Gift? What are you talking about?”

“The private jet, the Four Seasons, this is all on your brother’s dime.”

I glanced around the beautiful room located in a luxury resort and I knew it had to cost thousands of dollars a night and that wasn’t including the ride on the private jet. I couldn’t begin to guess how much that cost.

Thousands and thousands of dollars Trevor got from drugs, prostitution, and God knew what else.

My stomach twisted in disgust.

“We’re leaving,” I announced.

“Come again?”

“We’re leaving. Right now. We’re not staying here, not with his money. Not the way he earned it. No fucking way, Davis.”

“Jane—”

“He hurts people,” I hissed. “I’m not staying here using his money knowing that someone was hurt so I could hide away in a crazy expensive hotel.”

“Okay, baby. We’ll find somewhere else.”

Wait. What?

“We’ll find somewhere else?”

“I’ll call Wilson—”

“Just like that?”

Davis had been standing across the room. The space wasn’t huge but it wasn’t a Motel 6 either. I had plenty of time to watch him move to me. So that’s what I did, I watched thinking I liked the way he carried himself. He was tall and built, his strides confident yet graceful. And when he stopped in front of me I had to tilt my head back to look at him.

I liked that his height made me feel safe. He could wrap his arms around me and cocoon me in his warmth.

I quickly shoved that dangerous thought away.

Though as soon as he lifted his hand, curled it around the side of my neck, and gently squeezed, the thought was back along with a trill of excitement that wasn’t as easy to push aside.

“I’ll call Wilson,” he softly told me. “See if he can get the time of the wedding changed to earlier. After that we’ll grab our shit and find someplace new to stay.”

Okay, so, this fake marriage was absolutely not going to work. Not when Davis was being sweet while stroking the side of my throat.

“Am I overreacting?”

“Not for me to say.”

His thumb continued to stroke, the feel of it familiar and intimate. Way too intimate for who we were yet I didn’t step away. I stupidly stood there accepting his easy affection, and not only that, I soaked it up and let it settle the knot in my stomach.

“I asked,” I reminded him.

“Okay, then how about this? You’re entitled to feel however you feel. I can’t say I disagree. This room was paid for by someone else’s misery.”

That was a nice thing for him to say. Too considerate actually. I needed Davis to go back to being a highhanded dick. That Davis was easier to deal with.

“Will it be safe for us to leave?”

“You’ll always be safe with me.”

That sounded a lot like a promise and hearing it spoken softly made it harder to remember it was his job to keep me safe. Though, I wasn’t paying him to do this particular job and I was too afraid to ask if Trevor was paying Takeback. Sometimes ignorance was bliss. If Trevor was paying I’d have to walk away from Davis and as much as I talked a big game about taking on my father alone, the truth was, he scared the hell out of me. The thought of being taken back to Montana and being used as payment for whatever problem my father found himself in didn’t terrify me—it made me wish for death.

“So there are times my safety’s negotiable,” I teased in an effort to lighten the mood.

Davis read my tone and dropped his hand but didn’t move.

“Did you miss the part about being safe with me?”

I wasn’t sure that was true.

Being alone with Davis was the exact opposite of safe.

“Davis…” I started then stalled because I wasn’t sure what I was going to say.

He stepped back while at the same time pulling his phone out of his pocket.

“Just go with it,” he muttered.

Just go with it…

That sounded dangerous…to my heart.