“There’s just one thing left I need to say to you about Valerie Gilson,” Philip said abruptly.
“You don’t need to use her full name every time you bring her up.”
Philip slapped his arm. “Just listen to me, will you?”
Kavan grinned and nodded. “Fine, fine. What about Valerie?”
“Just… treat her with respect. Okay? Whatever it is between the two of you. You think that you know people better than they know themselves, but when you fuck up, you fuck up badly. And in this case, it can come back to bite you in the ass.”
“Who’s getting bitten in the ass?” A deep voice came from behind them.
Kavan straightened as he turned. The two vampires stood there, eyes narrowed and arms folded. Samuel Carter’s broad shoulders stretched against his perfectly tailored suit and beside him, Wayne Jonston scowled so deeply that Kavan could almost trace a map in his face.
“Nobody,” Philip said. “Kavan and I were just talking.”
“What are you talking for when you’re supposed to be working?” Jonston demanded.
Kavan looked around the empty store. The only person there besides the four of them was a single worker, who currently sat on a stool behind a computer screen and was no doubt working on the novel she was writing.
“The store’s dead. There isn’t any work to be done,” Kavan replied. He knew that the vampires were just trying to intimidate him and Philip, and he wasn’t about to let that happen. He had had many dealings with various vampires over his years with the Family and they had always been similar. There was something about vampires that became somewhat homogenized after a hundred or so years.
Maybe it was the boredom. Maybe it took a hundred years for them to develop that air of entitlement or to stop caring about other people’s feelings.
“If the store is dead, then you can be working on your reports,” Jonston shot back. “Or you could start tracking traffic patterns and find out where the most incidents of theft, attempted or otherwise, are. Otherwise, why the hell are we paying for two of you?”
Carter put a hand on Jonston’s shoulder. “Easy, Wayne. There is nothing wrong with taking a break every now and then. Especially when you have such a celebrity working for you. You have seen Mr. McBride on the news, haven’t you? His face seems to crop up every day.”
Jonston still scowled. “You think that’s why business has dropped off? People are recognizing him as being a mobster and are getting scared off?”
“No, I think that’s just because we see a drop at this time every year.”
“Whatever. Although now that you mention it, it’s weird, isn’t it?”
Kavan tensed, already guessing what they were going to get into now.
“What’s weird?” Carter pressed.
“That someone like this, a known mobster, could get a hot piece of thick ass like Judge Valerie.”
Kavan’s wolf leapt to the surface snarling and howling. He barely held it in, and anger surged through him. At the back of his mind, he was surprised that he would have such a strong reaction to someone saying that about Valerie. He didn’t dwell on that, though, as he glowered at Jonston.
“Don’t talk about her like that.”
Philip grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back, but Kavan shook him off.
Jonston’s eyes sparked with something. Entertainment, maybe? Carter was trying to pull him back as well, but Jonston refused to let himself be budged. “Why shouldn’t I? Only a blind man couldn’t see that she’s hotter than the fourth of July. Are her tits really that big or does she pad them?”
Kavan’s hackles rose. He growled deep in his chest as his wolf worked itself closer to the surface. I have to play the part, he reasoned to himself. If I didn’t get angry at him talking about Valerie like that, they’d know that it’s not real. I can’t let him go around talking about her like she’s a piece of meat; I have to defend her. For the sake of our story.
“I’m warning you,” he growled, once more shaking Philip off him. “Don’t talk about her like that. Valerie is smart and strong and determined and—”
“I don’t care,” Jonston snorted. “You’re the one marrying her, not me. All I want to do is give her a good fuck. Does she like anal?”
That did it. With a howl of fury, Kavan threw himself forward. Jonston was expecting it and dodged his attack while Carter shouted. Jonston laughed. It cut off abruptly when Kavan’s fist hit him square in the face. Kavan grinned as he felt the vampire’s nose break, then followed it up with a swift uppercut to Jonston’s jaw. He’d learn that he couldn’t talk about Valerie like that!
Something heavy rammed into his side. Philip kicked his legs out from under him and pinned him to the floor. He twisted Kavan’s arms behind his back while Kavan howled and thrashed.
“Easy,” Carter rumbled from above them. “What’s going on with you, Wayne? Smarten the fuck up.”
“He attacked me,” Jonston snarled. “I have a right to—”
“Call the police,” Carter interrupted. “You have a right to call the police.”
Kavan tried to throw Philip off as his heart sunk down somewhere around his toes. Shit. Valerie was going to be furious.
***
By the look on Camille’s face when she came into Valerie’s office, Valerie knew it wasn’t going to be good. She clenched her hands together, holding herself straight as she gazed at Camille, waiting for her to speak. Camille set a few files down on her desk.
“So, these were dropped off by the attorneys for the Lancaster case,” she said. “And you need to get down to the forty-second precinct.”
Valerie took a moment to process before asking. “Why?”
“Well… It seems like Kavan has gotten himself into a bit of trouble.”
There was something about the way she said it. Valerie’s heart plummeted. A bit of trouble? She had plenty of ideas of what that could mean and none of them were good. She sat there, trying to think of what to say, what to do. Part of her wanted to ask what kind of trouble they were talking about, but she didn’t know if she wanted to know. Had he tried to rob the jewelry store he worked at? Had he attacked someone? Had he been caught with drugs? There were so many possibilities, and Valerie didn’t want to consider them all.
She grabbed the files and opened the first one, not looking at what it said. “I’m too busy. You can go down and sort whatever this is about.”
“You’re not going to go help your own fiancé?” Camille’s eyes widened. She leaned on the desk, her head bobbing up and down as she tried to capture Valerie’s gaze. “Are you two fighting? Did he do something? Did he hit you?”
“No.” Valerie pressed her palms to her eyes and tried to think this through. Yes, it was important that she keep up the act. But these past couple days… had been weird. Her body burned for Kavan. In the middle of her workday, she found herself slipping her hand between her thighs as she thought of the way he used his tongue on her. The hours ticked by torturously, and she rushed out of the office because she wanted to see him so badly.
But it was still fake. This was for appearance’s sake. And she still didn’t know what he really wanted… he hadn’t cut his hours at the jewelry store, hadn’t started looking at the high school courses she had set up for him. She had a gut feeling that he was lying to her about something. It was the same gut feeling that she had gotten with her past boyfriends. She didn’t need to get any more invested in this when it could be that he was just waiting for the right time to turn around and tell the world it was all fake, to ruin her life.
“I just have so much work to do,” she finally said. “And I know you can handle it. He didn’t hit me. He would never hit me.”
That much she knew was true.
“But Kavan asked for you to come get him.”
But he didn’t ask to speak with me.
“The forty-second precinct, you said?”
Camille nodded.
Valerie considered for a moment. She knew t
he Captain there and had a fairly good relationship with him. It wouldn’t be entirely out of protocol to go down and see what was going on. She bit her lip, drumming her fingers on her desk. “What was he arrested for?”
“It’s not an official arrest yet,” Camille said slowly. “But they’re saying he hit someone?”
Hence the question about why he had hit Valerie. She stood, hating that she was interrupting her work for this. However, if Kavan did need her help… it depended on what the circumstances around the hitting were. If it was someone going after him and he defended himself, fine. She could deal with that. She’d make a case against it if she needed to. If he was the aggressor, though, or if he had used excessive force?
Then he was about to have a ring tossed back in his face. She didn’t even care if he told everyone it was a fake engagement. She could potentially contact Rainer Weiman, a media mogul and get him to cover her side of things. It wouldn’t stop the diehard haters, but it might be able to stop people from jumping all over her.
“Go ahead and file all this,” Valerie said as she gestured to her desk. “I have a feeling that this is going to take the rest of the day.”
Camille nodded. “Good luck.”
***
Valerie was greeted by Captain Jake Santiago as soon as she walked into the precinct. He ushered her to his office, and she sat down in the offered chair and accepted a glass of water. On the way over, she had had plenty of time to think and so was able to remain poised as the Captain introduced her to Samuel Carter, also in the office.
“We’ve met,” Carter said with a nod in greeting.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, trying to keep her voice pleasant.
Carter smiled, showing his sharp fangs. “For the same reason you are here, I’d imagine. Your fiancé took a swing at my business partner, Wayne Jonston.”
Valerie’s eyes widened. Hitting people was bad enough but going after someone rich like Wayne Jonston? What the hell was Kavan thinking? She had to hold her breath to keep from exclaiming out loud. Oh, this was over. She was not going to even pretend to be with someone who lacked so much judgment. Did he think she was a get out of jail free card? Did he think that she was going to just overlook this sort of violent behavior?
This is why he should be in jail. He’s never going to change. He doesn’t want to change. He’s only involving himself with me because he wants something.
Betrayal ached as deeply as her anger. She clasped her hands on the desk and nodded once. “Then I don’t see why I should be here. Book him.”
Captain Santiago looked startled. “What?”
“Kavan and I have an agreement,” she said, fighting to keep her voice even. “If he goes back to his old ways, it’s over. I’m not going to overlook this sort of violent behavior—"
“Whoa, there.” Carter reached over and put a hand on Valerie’s shoulder. His eyes twinkled with mirth and there was a distinctive, pleased look on his face. “How about you hear what happened before you start jumping to conclusions and breaking off your engagement to him?”
Valerie scowled but a little of her anger faded away. If Carter was defending Kavan, then maybe it wasn’t as bad as it seemed… What if Kavan told him everything and that’s why he’s so amused?
“I have to say, though,” Carter continued pulling back again, “this lack of trust you have in him, that’s not a good sign. No relationship can survive without trust. Don’t you agree, Captain?”
Santiago looked distinctively uncomfortable and mumbled something under his breath that Valerie didn’t catch.
Carter didn’t bother replying. He focused once more on Valerie, a smile curling his lips. “McBride’s attack on Wayne wasn’t entirely unprovoked. You see, Wayne has been having a bad week, and he came into work today wanting to pick a fight with somebody. You should have seen the way he went at the Starbucks barista because she filled his cup a little too full for his liking.”
“Your point, Mr. Carter?” Valerie asked, her hands starting to clench on her knees.
“My point. Yes. Well, my point is that as soon as Wayne saw Mr. McBride, he started to… make some comments. About you. Deliberately trying to provoke him. What red-blooded man would not react to such comments in defense of his mate? So, really, it’s not McBride’s fault so much as it is Wayne’s.”
Valerie sat there in shock, not knowing how to react. Kavan was defending her honor? But… why? Was he really just playing the part, or was there something more going on?
She tried to shake those thoughts from her head. When had Kavan shown anything genuine toward her? But then she remembered all those dinners. All the lunches he brought her. The tender way he’d made love to her. And heat crept into her cheeks. The diamond winked at her on her finger. Was it… possible? Could Kavan actually be trying to genuinely win her? It seemed impossible and yet, if it was anybody else doing this, she would have gobbled it up.
Were his tattoos such a big deal that she would force herself to be blind to his intentions?
Maybe we need to talk about this together.
“It was actually refreshing,” Carter continued, oblivious to her internal struggles. “So often people just look at our fangs and money and roll over. It was… nice to have someone challenge Wayne. I mean, he’s fairly young still, but we need to be kept on our toes lest we end up stagnant.”
“I see,” Valerie murmured, not really seeing where he was going with this at all.
Carter grinned. “And that is why I convinced Wayne not to press any charges. You’ve got a rare one, Judge Gilson, and I’d hate to see you lose him over something so petty.”
“Well, I… I’m still not happy that he decided violence was his best option,” Valerie said.
Carter shrugged. “No skin off my nose.”
Captain Santiago cleared his throat and stood. “Your Honor since there are no charges being filed, you are free to take Mr. McBride whenever you wish.”
“Thank you.” Valerie thought about letting him stew for a little while but quickly decided against it. She wanted to know what Kavan’s side of the story was. So, she requested that they be able to leave right away.
Kavan was silent on the way back to her house. He had a split lip which was rapidly healing but seemed no worse for wear otherwise. Valerie drove, wishing she knew what to say. It was so much easier speaking in a courtroom full of people than it was trying to speak with him privately. Especially considering what she had just learned.
Finally, she cleared her throat. “Samuel Carter told me what it was all about.”
“Ah.” Kavan’s voice was tense. “That’s why you didn’t ask me.”
“That’s right.”
A beat of silence passed. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Aren’t you going to tell me that even if I was defending your honor, you don’t want me to beat anybody up? That you would rather I have just taken it in silence rather than getting violent and involving the cops? Aren’t you going to say that it’s going to be bad for your public image, no matter what my reasons were?”
Valerie’s cheeks heated. She gripped the wheel tighter and stared straight ahead, determined not to look at Kavan. She wished that she could say those thoughts hadn’t even crossed her mind, but they had been the first thing she thought of. After a long moment, she released a breath as her shoulders slumped.
“If you know that I was going to say it, I don’t think I need to say it. You already know.”
Silence.
“Kavan, I…” She swallowed. “I… would like to know.”
“Know what?”
“Why.”
“Why what?”
She shot him a side glare. “Right now, why you’re being deliberately obtuse.”
Kavan let out an aggravated sigh. “You’re not giving me anything to work with here. You want to know why what? I’m not being obtuse; I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
“Why you felt the need to take a swin
g at Wayne Jonston… for me. Was it part of an act or…?” The question was so stupid. Of course, it was part of the act. She shouldn’t have even brought it up. But now she couldn’t take it back, needing the answer from him.
Kavan shrugged. “Don’t know. Guess it was just the wolf in me. Can we get a burger? I’m starving.”
Valerie nodded. She wasn’t sure how she felt about his answer… except that it brought up more questions than it had laid to rest.
Chapter Nine
The news that Kavan had hit Wayne Jonston spread like wildfire. Whatever goodwill Valerie managed to salvage by saying she was going to marry him had disappeared. Sure, there were still some people who voiced their support, but that was drowned out by the waves of letters written to editors, comments on news pages and calls to the governor all demanding that she step down from her position.
It was very clear that nobody wanted her trying the Lancaster case. Valerie wondered if this had been enough to push Bloom into feeling confident enough to fire her. To her dismay, she heard nothing from him.
She didn’t know what he was planning and that was what bugged her the most. If she had had some sort of contact, she would at least know how to move forward with this. But there was nothing. He didn’t even call to gloat. Maybe he was biding his time, waiting for it to swell to an all-out hurricane before launching himself into the midst like some goddamn superhero.
Valerie snorted when an image of herself came on the TV, stating that the charges against Kavan had been dropped by Wayne Jonston. And cut off before she said that she was very unhappy with Kavan’s behavior, that she did not condone it and that she and he would have a serious talk about their future. Instead, it moved right away to the news anchor.
The man smirked, “Well, I think we all know why those charges were dropped. How soon do you think it’ll be before those changes to the architecture laws that Jonston’s been lobbying for go through—”
The TV blinked off. Valerie turned, scowling, to see Kavan holding the remote in his hand. His face was pinched, his eyes narrowed as he shook his head. “I don’t see why you are watching that junk. You know it’s all just designed to make you look bad.”
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