I sat across the table from her, snagging a piece of pineapple from the fruit platter that had shards of ice melting over it. “He normally ensures I know how he’s progressing. He grabs me and shows me, in no uncertain terms, how rapidly he’s taking back his strength. However, this morning...he kicked me out. He said he had a ton of work to do, for me to send Cal to him for a meeting, and that I should come see you and ‘stay out of trouble.’” I air-quoted that last bit. “What the hell does that mean?”
Her eyebrows raised. “Dunno. But you’re right, it does sound fishy.” The barcode tattoo on her wrist flashed as she snagged a piece of watermelon and sucked on the juice. I glanced down at my matching one, running my thumb over the slightly raised ink lines.
She caught me looking. “Ever think of lasering it off? We could fly to Jakarta and get it removed.” She eyed her own one, rolling her wrist to catch the sun.
I shrugged. “Is it wrong that I don’t hate it?”
She shook her head, seriousness filling her stare. “I’m glad you said that. I thought I was the only one.” She took another bite of watermelon. “I don’t see it as a bad symbol. I never really did. Yes, the kidnapping part was awful and the not knowing where I’d end up was petrifying, but the moment I stepped foot on this island, I knew I was home.”
I nodded. “I agree. This tattoo was given against my will, just like I was given to Sully against my will...but, thanks to those events, I found exactly where I was supposed to be with a man I was supposed to belong to.” Raising my wrist, I waited until she pressed hers against mine. I laughed and winked. “Besides, it’s like an unofficial friendship bracelet.”
“Ha ha.” She grinned, her hazel eyes growing wistful. “If Cal falls in love with me, we could all live happily ever after. Two couples. Four friends. Two parrots. And a hell of a lot of rescue critters.”
My heart glowed. “I’d like that.” Placing my hand on hers, I added, “And he can’t fall in love with you if he’s already fallen.”
She blushed. “You think? I’m not so sure. I’m not expecting him to—”
“Oh, believe me. Even if he doesn’t know it himself yet, he’s smitten. Next time he hugs you, feel what his arms say. I knew Sully loved me just by his touch, well before he ever had the courage to say it aloud.”
“Ah, Ms. Grace.”
I whipped around in my chair.
A stranger stood in the doorway to Cal’s villa. Tucked down the end of the guest villa’s laneway, Cal’s home had the last private bay before the island became wild with jungle. He was as far away from the main beach as possible, ensuring we hadn’t heard a helicopter land.
Jess frowned but didn’t stand, leaving me to pad barefoot toward the Indonesian woman with an ebony bob, dressed in a stunning white suit and the biggest sunglasses I’d ever seen. “Can I help you? You are?”
Where did she come from?
She had to have been invited. Otherwise, she would never have stepped foot on Sully’s shore alive...but why exactly was she here?
Pulling the huge lenses off her dainty nose, she blinked pretty black eyes. “It’s time, Ms. Grace.”
“Time?”
“To get ready.” She backed up, holding out her arm for me to follow. A dune buggy waited with Arbi acting as chauffeur. Ever since Cal arranged to have the ATV shipped over from Lebah, Sullivan had ordered a few dune buggies to make it quicker to get around the island now there was just the four of us—not including the discrete staff who ran this paradise.
“You too, Ms. Young. I took the liberty of bringing a dress for a maid of honour as well as a bride.”
“A bride?” I coughed.
“Yes. For your wedding.”
My head whirled.
My heart exploded.
Sully...
How had he done this?
When?
The woman grinned, enjoying my shock. “I’m Jaya, and I’ve been tasked with preparing you. The ceremony is in two hours, just before sunset.” Beckoning again, she added, “Please, we don’t have much time.”
I looked over my shoulder at Jess.
She stood, but her eyes flared with worry at how far she could walk without falling flat on her face. Darting back inside, I hooked her arm over my shoulder, moulding her feminine curves to mine, so different to the hard planes of Sully’s body. “So that’s why he’s been acting weird,” I murmured.
Jess snickered. “He’s keeping his promise.”
“Seems so.” I tried to fight the smile on my face but couldn’t. I tried to stop my heart from running away with romantic notions and erotic conclusions but started to shiver with anticipation instead. “That man only managed to walk on his own this morning, yet he somehow organises to marry me by the evening.”
“What did you expect?” Jess asked as we cut across the living room. “He’s a god ruling his own version of heaven and you, my dear friend, are his chosen goddess.”
Chapter Forty-Three
JAYA HAD DONE EXACTLY what I’d hoped.
The small arch she’d crafted from vines and palm leaves from my island framed the open-air altar where I stood. The celebrant—a middle-aged man with a bald head and iron-pressed grey suit—stood behind me. Cal waited off to the side in a charcoal suit, complete with waistcoat and cravat. I’d told him not to dress up, but my command seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. At least he’d obeyed when I’d asked him to video call Eleanor’s father and wedge a small table into the sand so my laptop could record and transmit our ceremony.
Ross Grace had been polite—even after I’d hung up on him previously—and run to get a glass of champagne that he’d been saving for special occasions. He now waited quietly, watching my beach and the glowing sky, poised for Eleanor to arrive.
I’d yet to meet Eleanor’s mother, but at least her father was in attendance. He could watch his stunning, amazing daughter swear her life to mine.
She was no longer his.
But I would share her occasionally because that was what good husbands did.
Jess appeared on Arbi’s arm. The man who’d once had a job of keeping imprisoned goddesses in line and bowing to every sinister guest’s request now had a much more important calling. He’d been tasked with being head of staff, ensuring food was plentiful for us and the locals who lived on neighbouring islands, the villas were maintained even while currently out of use, and being at the beck and call of the two women who remained here.
Jim Campbell wasn’t a part of our wedding witnesses, having flown to see his grandchildren in Chicago at the same time as Louise Maddon and her team flew home to Geneva. Louise had returned with a personal payment, along with a bank deposit substantial enough to fund another wing at her hospital. A gift of thanks for her tireless work giving me back my legs and life.
Campbell had also left with a gift. A hefty sum that spoke of gratefulness for his care toward Jess, Cal, and Skittles. He’d left with my blessing. He no longer thought of me as something to exterminate and I managed to accept his reasoning for his betrayal.
I’d expected his departure to be our last interaction. However, he’d requested if he could return in a month. Now that elixir had been destroyed, girls released, and no future imprisonment planned, he’d second-guessed his retirement.
Regardless of our amicable respect, despite the treason and tragedy we’d both caused, I couldn’t make up my mind if I’d welcome him back. He was still the reason Serigala was bombed and so many animals crucified. But he’d redeemed himself by saving others’ lives.
Ah well, that decision could be made another day.
Today was my wedding and all I wanted to focus on was my wife-to-be.
Cal sucked in a breath as Jess continued her laboured stroll toward us. She shared most of her weight with Arbi, her face tight with strain. Determination to keep going and not give in sparkled in her gaze. Her blonde hair had been coiled and pinned, complete with a sprig of jasmine in the fairness. Her lips glistened with gloss and her smile seemed
to stop Cal’s heart as he jerked beside me.
Jaya had done well, choosing a golden dress that skimmed Jess’s ankles with a floaty hem, adorned with just enough lace and decoration to be perfect without overshadowing the bride.
Not that anything could overshadow Eleanor.
She could wear kelp from the ocean, and she’d still look exquisite.
Speaking of the bride...where the fuck is she?
I fought the urge to fidget, clasping my hands around the cane wedged into the sand in front of me. I’d managed to walk unassisted. My endurance increased each day. However, my balance still came and went and I had no intention of falling on my ass as Eleanor walked down the aisle.
Pika sensed my building tension, nibbling at my ear with his beak. “Jinx. Jinx!”
I stiffened, looking at the tiny parrot on my shoulder. “Another new word, huh? Decided to expand your vocab, little nightmare?”
Pika narrowed his black eyes, that cheeky look that always heralded mischief appeared. He squawked and stomped his claws on my blazer, kicking up a fuss. The ribbon where I’d tied our wedding rings dangled preciously in his talons.
“Don’t you dare drop that.” I growled as he fluttered around my head, the silver ribbon in question swinging wildly.
Three rings hung from it, clinking together with flashes of flawless Hawk diamonds as Pika continued to zip and dip. The glitter reminded me of the first diamond I’d given Eleanor. Disguised as a guest’s payment for the cave fantasy, but really, it’d been a troth of my love for her even then. Eventually, I’d commission that stone to be turned into a bracelet or necklace—another piece of jewellery for the woman who owned me in every way.
“It was a mistake giving that damn bird a fortune in rings. What if he flies out to sea and drops them, just to piss you off?” Cal muttered, his gaze locked on Jess as she continued to close the distance between us.
“He wouldn’t.” I held out my hand, keeping one fisted on my cane and the other acting as a perch for the chaotic caique. “Would you, Pika?”
He chattered and chirped, sitting on my forefinger and spearing his wing into the sky to preen. The rings continued to swing, almost as if he’d been a thief and pilfered them, instead of being my ring bearer.
Soft waves licked around my ankles, soaking the linen suit I wore.
I’d stood in my walk-in wardrobe for longer than I wanted to admit, staring at the racks of severe, regal, and CEO suits that hung on hangars ready to be worn. Ties of every colour waited to be chosen. My uniform of my past felt familiar and appropriate for an event as special as a wedding.
But...as I’d reached for the usual dark and dense fabric, I’d stopped. The man who wore suits for power as well as protection had died in Geneva and not come back. I was marrying Eleanor today with a much lighter soul and not nearly as many sins that needed to be hidden within a stifling suit.
Today, I was free and I’d chosen simple linen trousers, rolling up the cuffs to reveal bare feet that patrolled the sands of my Elysium. A white shirt tucked in with buttons undone around my throat to let humid air lick around my chest, and a blazer that held a simple orchid pinned to the breast pocket.
I was underdressed for my own wedding but it felt like the perfect choice because I was underdressed in all manners when it came to Eleanor. The only decoration that’d felt appropriate was the dangerous purple flower that’d started me on this journey. A path full of deceit and corruptibility, using sex against women and possession against life, but it’d ended with four hundred bottles of elixir being destroyed by Mrs. Bixel in Geneva at my command.
Those who deserved to die had died—including me.
Those who deserved to be freed had been freed—including Eleanor.
Life had untangled the mess I’d caused and I’d never been so fucking grateful.
“You look amazing,” Cal murmured as Arbi relinquished Jess to him the moment she was close enough.
She smiled as her eyes glowed with affection. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” Throwing me a glance, she added, “You either, Sullivan.”
I nodded, unable to tear my eyes from where the sand kissed jungle, desperate for Eleanor to appear and begin her journey toward me. Two men caught my attention in the distance, alert and ready to protect, patrolling my shores.
Radcliffe and his team from Quietus had traded in their murder-for-hire and accepted new positions as my security team on Batari, Monyet, and Serigala, protecting the people and animals I held most dear. The team who’d failed to shield my scientists on Monyet—when Drake stole elixir—had been dealt with, the families of the guards who’d died in my employee had been heavily compensated, and I’d paid off Google Earth to obscure my archipelago, so no other man like my brother could spy on my islands and drop a bomb of destruction.
I’d done what I could to protect me and mine, and it helped knowing Quietus had my back.
Jess whispered, “You should see her, Cal. Wow.”
My skin instantly puckered with goosebumps. Impatience flared through me. Pressure filled my stomach and lust thickened my cock.
I hadn’t even seen her yet and I already wanted to tear off whatever she was wearing and consummate.
Licking her lips, Jess spoke to me, almost mocking in her smug laugh, “If you manage to stay standing when you see her, Sullivan. I’ll be beyond impressed.”
My heart switched its heavy chug for a possessive gallop.
Come on, Jinx.
I miss you.
“Shit, she’s here,” Cal muttered under his breath, wedging his elbow into my side, pointing at the beach farther down.
My gaze instantly searched for her, but at the last second, I squeezed them shut.
I closed them because I needed fucking strength.
If I looked before I’d locked my knees and braced against my cane, I would do exactly what Jess predicted and fall into the shallows the moment I set eyes on my soon-to-be wife.
“Fuck, sir. You’re screwed for the rest of your life,” Cal snickered.
Gritting my teeth, I looked up.
I tracked to the shoreline where Eleanor had appeared and all my fight to stay standing abandoned me.
Fuck.
Just...fuck.
Her grey gaze caught mine, holding me upright even as my legs threatened to buckle. I swayed and clung to my cane, dropping the hand holding Pika to double fist the carved handle.
Pika squeaked and flew around my head but he was insignificant.
I couldn’t tear my eyes off the fucking gorgeous creature coming toward me. The girl I’d purchased. The goddess I’d fallen for. The woman I would spend the rest of my godforsaken life worshipping.
Her hair had been left loose—that glorious, aphrodisiacal hair glistening and tumbling around her naked shoulders. Skittles fluttered beside her, a green jewel glinting in the sun, hinting that Eleanor’s beauty wasn’t just outward but to her very core.
She’d gained the trust of a shy bird all by being her. She’d stolen my pet of fourteen years because of her empathy. And she’d ripped out my heart just by fucking existing.
She was wrong that it was something at first sight with us.
It wasn’t something.
It was love.
Pure, buckling, brutalising love.
I’d just been too shit-terrified to admit it.
Almost as if Jaya knew our story, she’d rejected the traditional white pomp and overly beaded gown, leaving Eleanor almost naked in refinement.
Her gown was sleeveless in the same soft simple linen as my suit. It clung to her body, revealing sensual curves and barely hiding the shadows of her nipples beneath. The tightness flared from her hips, falling in swathes of uncoloured, untampered fabric.
It mimicked the colour of the silver-golden sand she padded barefoot over, a diamond anklet glinting around her leg, the train of linen leaving a sweeping path behind her.
Parts of the skirt had been torn and left dangling in a way that hinted at a gi
rl shipwrecked on my shores, gowned in the sails of her broken chariot, island bound and all mine to plunder.
“Breathe, man.” Cal chuckled as I stumbled.
Opening my mouth, I sucked in fragrant orchid air and the salty tang of my sea.
And I couldn’t fucking wait.
Why was it tradition for the bride to walk to the groom?
Why was I forbidden from meeting her on her journey and interrupting her path because that’s exactly what had happened in life. Our paths had collided, entwined, and changed course.
The architecture of romance and finding your perfect mate didn’t follow fucking rules, so why should I?
Digging my cane for purchase, I strode to claim my goddess.
Chapter Forty-Four
PAIN.
Delicious, consuming body-clenching, heart-suffocating pain.
I drowned in it. I succumbed to it. I would feel such pain for the rest of my life simply by looking at this man who was almost mine.
Sully had transcended from a mere god to a resplendent demon.
He had the magic to make me wet just from a stare, the power to stop my heart just from a touch, and the ability to bring me to tears just by the way he staggered toward me, refusing to wait for me to join him at the altar, abolishing tradition and scribbling out the rules just because he could.
The finger snap for the celebrant to chase him had all the characteristics of a conceited royal who bled power. His sniff of expectation for Cal and Jess to follow echoed with habits of his past. But beneath that arrogance lurked a newer, fiercer scandal.
A lecherous man who would always retain the outward exterior of cruel and impeachable but had somehow let me into the den of his heart. A den where he let down his walls, permitted me to see him, allowed me to cultivate the goodness deep within.
He didn’t speak as he met me on the shore.
The jewelled kayaks that I’d used to run away had been hidden along with the loungers and umbrellas for banished guests. The beach was as empty as an uninhabited island and we were both dressed as if we’d been washed up with no belongings or past between us.
Fifth a Fury (Goddess Isles, #5) Page 33
