“There you are.” The child’s voice made his head whip around.
His eldest niece was standing at the edge of the forest, glaring, looking like an irate fairy princess in her white flower girl dress.
“What are you doing here, Sage? You know you’re not allowed down here alone.”
The newly turned seven-year-old planted her hands on her hips. “I’m not alone, asshole. You’re here.”
A laugh burst from Severin’s chest so violently he was pretty sure he’d pulled something. “You know my name isn’t actually asshole, right?”
She shrugged as if it didn’t matter to her either way. “It’s what Daddy usually calls you, so that’s good enough for me. Besides, I get to say bad words when you’re around, and then people give you heck, not me.” She flashed him a grin. The little monster was missing a front tooth. How was she growing up so fast?
“Why are you down here in your nice dress? You’re going to get dirty.”
“My sister is crying because she wants to be your ring bear and you’re making everyone wait. She’s been practicing her growl for weeks. You need to get your ass to the wedding, because what Scarlet wants, I deliver.”
“What if I don’t want to get married?”
She snorted, the sarcasm in the sound an amusing contrast with the fairylike flower girl gown. “Have you looked at who you’re getting married to? A guy like you isn’t going to get a wife and husband like that again.”
“They’d be better off without me.”
“Oh, boohoo. This is Sparta, buddy. Rub some dirt on it and walk it off.”
God, she sounded more like Church every day. It was sort of hilarious.
Severin smothered a laugh. She was funny, but the subject was anything but. “It’s not that easy.”
“It is that easy. You’re the one making things hard.”
He stared at her for a moment, feeling like a weird piece of his puzzle had just slipped into place. The world around him felt surreal – the entire situation was. She was like the ghost of Christmas future, too smart for his own good, making him question everything.
Sage snapped her fingers in front of his face and jabbed a finger at the path she’d just come down. “Move it!”
He rose, not sure why he was obeying a child who was waist high on him.
“These shoes are pretty, but they pinch,” Sage observed as they walked. “Not good for hiking. And remind me never to wear a flower crown again. So itchy. Who knew daisies could be itchy? I think some of the green stuff is poison ivy or something.”
Staff hired for the wedding stared as they passed by, but no one said anything. None of the wedding party was lurking around.
They went in, and Sage followed him to his old bedroom.
“What are you wearing for this?” she asked. “You can’t get married in that. Your shirt is covered in dirt and all wrinkled.”
“They ordered a suit for me.” He pulled it out of the closet and held it up.
She fell, laughing, into a chair. “No! You’ll look ridiculous!”
He frowned, wondering if he should be offended.
“What do you suggest then?”
“Do you have something more you? Like...armor or a helmet or something?”
“It’s at the cleaners.”
“Well, that’s just great.” She grimaced. “I have to see what you have.”
He sat on the chair she vacated, still not sure he was going, but turning her words over in his head. Why had it sounded different coming from his niece than it had from his therapist? Her little voice stuck in a loop in his brain
It is that easy. You’re the one making things hard.
Epiphanies were supposed to come from religious experiences or introspection, not from small, foulmouthed children. Somehow this seemed more appropriate in his case.
“I guess I need to cut my hair and beard,” he said, wondering what a seven-year-old girl would think was appropriate. “I don’t think I have any Prince Charming clothes in there.”
“Who the heck is Prince Charming?” she asked derisively, her voice muffled by the contents of his closet.
He couldn’t remember. “He’s from a Disney movie.”
“Like, old people Disney?”
“Probably.”
She poked her head out of the closet. “If you cut your hair and your beard, they wouldn’t recognize you, and the pictures would be weird. Besides, everyone knows Belle was disappointed when the Beast turned back into a prince. Mom said Belle probably wanted a refund.”
“But Rodrigo looks like a prince.”
“No. He’s the bad guy everyone cheers for. You’re the monster who’s secretly nice.”
“And Aunt Minnow is?”
“The boss.”
“You think so?”
“Yup. And the baby is going to be the boss of alllll of you.”
Severin had slowly relaxed, but now stiffened with tension. Sage’s rambling had been so funny he’d almost forgotten about that small detail.
“What baby?” he asked. They hadn’t told anyone other than Church yet. At least, he didn’t think they had.
“Little pictures have big ears. Duh.” She came out of the closet with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. “I wonder if your baby will be as hairy as you. You’ll have to, like, braid her beard or something to keep it out of her food.”
“Maybe it’s a boy.”
“No. Make sure it’s a girl, okay?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“She’s lucky.”
“Who?”
“The baby.”
“Why?”
“You’re all nice and fun.”
“I’m not.”
“Hey, you play Lego. A lot of uncles won’t do that with a kid. Uncle Ro tells jokes, and Auntie Min makes cookies. Can you imagine playing Nerf in this house? And you have a pool. And a lake. And four cute dogs! You just need some swings.”
“I don’t know how to be a dad.”
She patted his arm. “There’s probably videos for that on YouTube.”
“What if my kid is messed up?”
“What if she is?”
“Are you going to tell me this is Sparta?”
She threw the pile of clothes on the bed and fist bumped him.
“Get changed fast. You’ve got some wedding butt to kick.”
Chapter Fourteen
Choose.
He’d asked her to make a choice between him and his child. Without hesitation she’d chosen their baby.
Despite weeks of introspection, nights lying awake, too many awful hours crying, if he came to her and asked again, her answer would be the same.
A simple test would tell them whose sperm had laughed in the face of her birth control, but no one wanted to know except Severin, and that was only so that he could condemn the child if it carried his DNA.
“Get your ass in the shower, woman,” Rodrigo growled. She hadn’t even heard him come in. “This wedding is happening whether he shows or not.”
She opened her eyes. He stood over the bed, glowering and glorious in his suit. He always seemed so cultured, but she’d knelt at his feet too long, and she’d felt the sting of his cane too often to fall for his civilized charade. It was a mask to disguise the same dominance and sadism Severin didn’t bother to hide from the world. The two were of a like mind, although Rodrigo was less prickly – less alone. The loneliness in Severin spoke to her own.
Her wedding day, and yet her family wouldn’t be here. They’d RSVP’d a simple check in the ‘no’ box, without so much as an excuse, let alone a card of congratulations. Not a phone call or a lousy set of tea towels. Not that they needed more tea towels, but a gesture that she meant something to them would have been kind, even if it was a lie. But then, she was an outcast, and she doubted that would ever change unless they needed a kidney or something.
It wouldn’t hurt so much if she thought for a moment Severin was going to join them.
He’d pul
led away – his affection for them draining as though her pregnancy had pulled the plug on any tender feelings he’d once harbored for her. She couldn’t do what he wanted, though. She couldn’t even bring herself to think about it.
But to marry Rodrigo and leave Severin behind?
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered mostly into the pillow.
He sat on the bed beside her and sighed. “You don’t want to marry me?”
“I want you more than anything, but I also want him. I love him, Ro, but I think I killed those feelings in him.” The desperate, maddening grief threatened to overwhelm her again. As it was, if she did walk down the aisle today, she’d be red and blotchy, with bloodshot eyes.
“He’s just pissed. He can’t seem to get it through his thick skull that it’s not his choice.” Rodrigo laid a hand on her sheet-covered ass, and heat automatically pooled between her legs, even though she was in no mood to be aroused. It seemed like she swung from horny to sick and back again every few minutes.
“It’s not his choice, but he does get to decide if he’s staying with us or not. When the baby is born, I don’t think he’ll stay unless he looks like you.” She swallowed hard, trying to soothe away the stupid lump in her throat that never seemed to ebb. “Maybe I should go and let the two of you get married instead.”
“Nice try.”
“Why should we both lose him because of what I’ve chosen to do? You’ve been in love with him for years. You only got a few months before I ruined everything. How is that fair?”
“Because I’m crazy in love with you, you little jerk.” He sat on the edge of the bed, and leaned down to kiss her bare shoulder. “There’s like a ninety-five percent chance I was there when you got pregnant, at least a fifty percent chance the child is mine. You’re not the only one attached to our sea monkey. You’re giving me a family of my own, and you’re the one who made it possible for me to be with Severin at all.”
“And now you’re going to lose him because of me.”
“You didn’t get yourself pregnant, preciosa. That was at least two, if not all three of us. I think he’ll come around. Oh, he’ll brood and stomp like he’s doing now, but you’ve seen him with Sage and Scarlet, and even with the dogs. He can’t stand adults, but he’s patient and kind with children and animals.”
“What if he hates this baby?”
He flicked imaginary lint off his pants. “Then we’ll move to our other house and he can fucking wallow in his own idiotic self-indulged solitary confinement.”
Minnow stared at him. “How can you say that? You love him!”
“Of course I love him,” he growled. “I’m just irritated. Life isn’t just about us anymore. He can’t be first priority. I don’t know. Maybe if he’s just going to make this kid feel unwanted it’ll be better if we keep them apart.”
“No. We’re not keeping them apart forever.”
“Maybe we are. Maybe he’s got to live out here alone and we’ll get a sitter and visit. Or maybe he was right all along, and he should just embrace his role as la bestia completely. I’ve talked and talked to the man, and I can’t make him see sense.” He reached up as though to scrub a hand through his hair, but he stopped himself, probably so he didn’t mess it up. He was ready to walk outside and get married.
Minnow had gotten undressed to shower, and had ended up crawling naked into bed and staying there. She still needed a shower. And Severin? She hadn’t even seen him since the day before yesterday.
God, if Rodrigo thought he was going to out-stubborn Severin, they were never going to fix this.
“We’re not abandoning him, and we’re not going to keep him and the baby away from each other. That’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe us leaving him would be a fucking wake-up call. He needs to get over himself and think about other people...like the baby he had a big part in making.”
“Or maybe if we left we’d just be proving exactly what he’s secretly feared all along. That no one really loves him.”
Rodrigo swallowed hard and his lips twisted. “I’ve been patient with him for so long, but the thought of letting him be a shitty to our kid makes me want to punch him out. You and I? We’re adults. We get to walk away if things with him get too awful. Raising a child in a house where they feel unwanted? They wouldn’t get a choice. How is that fair?”
She shrugged. “We’ll have to make up the difference. Love both Sev and the baby until he gets used to the idea. Nothing is easy for him, right? This is just a new thing to wrap his mind around. He could learn to like him. Or her.”
“Maybe. The problem is he has to want to, and I think he hates himself so much that if there’s even a possibility that he might be his father, he’ll reject him outright.” He ended the sentence by stripping the sheet off her and swatting her ass. “Now get in that fucking shower, Min. You and I are getting married today. Severin we’ll sort out later.”
He smacked her ass again.
“Get up, woman. This was supposed to be your wedding to Severin, but then you both went and invited me in. Now you’re stuck with me.”
“Like a hot vampire?” She tried to think of something funny to say, but the best she came up with was, “I’ve got something you can suck on.”
“Oh, I’m well aware,” he said, his voice suddenly lower and gravelly.
She shivered and pushed up from the bed onto her hands and knees. “Fine, I’ll get up.” If she was going to do this and not keep people waiting like some sort of drama queen, she had to get a move on.
Before she could climb off the bed, he grabbed her hips and left a series of bites on her ass just hard enough to make her hiss and yelp. The hard nip to her sit spot made her scream into her pillow.
“Never call a sadist a vampire or he’ll prove you right, silly girl.”
By the time he arranged her in a pretty kneel on the bed, she was breathing hard, her body responding to him and her mind following suit.
He ran his hands over her nakedness, awakening her body to his presence. It was difficult to stay maudlin with a hot guy feeling her up.
“No more wallowing today. You’re mine, preciosa. You’re his too, but if he left us tomorrow, I still wouldn’t let you go.” He pinched one of her tender nipples, and she whimpered. His gaze went hot with desire. “Or don’t you want me anymore?”
She wanted to tell him they had to wait for Severin, but she did want him. She wanted to marry him. Today. He took her wrist and lifted it, then turned the ring he’d put on her finger in Belgium.
“You made me a promise that day, and today you’ll honor it.” He took her ring-adorned finger into his mouth and sucked, her clit protesting the waste of good sucking. She groaned.
“Why now, though? Why not wait until he’s ready?”
He pulled back, nipping her fingertip as he let go. Her clit was ready to disown both the man and his sexy mouth.
“Is Severin ever ready for anything? He’s a creature of habit that reacts to situations as they arise. He lives in the now. We can’t all sit around waiting for him.” He shook his head. “We could give him years but without the right catalyst, he won’t take the step. I want you as my wife, Minnow. I want him too, but one of you is better than neither.” He cleared his throat. “And I know you and Severin don’t care, but no child of mine is going to be born a bastard.”
“Oh, for God’s sake. You keep saying that! Like anyone cares about that sort of thing anymore,” she teased.
He shrugged. “I care. It means something to me.”
When he drew her to her feet, he pulled her against him and kissed her long and deep, until her body buzzed with an intense awareness of him. Despite the pain of Severin’s rejection and her own continued queasiness, she was excited to be marrying Rodrigo.
“Get ready, precious girl,” he said, ushering her toward the shower. “Our family is waiting.”
*
The decorations had fancy names she couldn’t remember. There was tulle – she knew
that one – and a metric shit-ton of flowers she wouldn’t even try to identify. Basically, the wedding planner, Talia, had made the whole thing pretty and white, which was called some other fancy word for the exact shade even though it looked the same as the fifty other swatches she’d shown them.
The effect was understated and classy.
She’d balked at the price tag, but Rodrigo had overridden her objections. It was still hard to adjust to being connected to two wealthy men. She couldn’t even think about the money in her own bank accounts. The numbers were incomprehensible to a girl who’d struggled to buy herself gifts from the dollar store not so long ago.
She hadn’t fought him on hiring Talia for long though. She’d been so worried about everything being perfect she’d been exhausting herself. Even if there were only a few people coming, they were the most important people in her life. She wanted them to remember the day she joined their families as a pretty occasion with good food.
Minnow felt like a sham in her loose white shift dress, walking barefoot through the grass. Virginal white, but she was about as far from being a virgin as a woman could get.
She toyed with the stainless bracelet Severin had bought during their only trip to the mall together. Above that rested the blue sea glass bracelet he’d given her that had belonged to Sutton. Church’s wife, Ilse, wore the matching one.
Today, although Minnow wore all of Severin’s marks of ownership, she would marry Rodrigo. Joy and sorrow warred inside her, leaving her with a weird tornado of feelings. She wanted to laugh and sob at the same time.
She aimed for looking serene, but didn’t think she was pulling it off.
Rodrigo stood in front of their tiny collection of guests, tall, square shouldered, filling out a suit in ways that should have been illegal. Her heart ached with how much she loved him, even though she’d seen him only minutes ago as he’d escorted her down the stairs, unwilling to take the chance that she’d actually leave him standing at the figurative altar.
From his position at the front, he grinned at her then at Severin’s nieces, who preceded her, then at her again. Not far in front of Minnow, Sage moved slowly at her little sister’s side, chin high as she guided Scarlet to the front. Scarlet was having trouble seeing through her bear mask, and the puffy paws she wore made it hard to hold the pillow with the rings, but she was doing a bang up job of the growling.
Tragic King (The Dominant Bastard Duology Book 2) Page 26
