I wrapped my arm back around her, pulling her closer to me until her back was against my chest. “All I’m asking for is one chance,” I whispered in her ear. “Give me a chance to prove to you that I can try to be better. If I fuck it up, then you can go when all of this is over. But at least keep an open mind and let me try.”
She turned in my arms and frowned, narrowing her eyes at me. Multiple emotions passed over her face before she resorted to a neutral expression. “One chance,” she said. “If even a hint of the monster I know makes an appearance, that’s it. The only exception is during business.”
“I can deal with that,” I said. “Now let’s seal the deal.”
“What are you—”
I cut her off with a kiss, her words melting into a sigh against my lips. She squeezed my biceps, a small moan slipping from her lips when her tongue touched mine. I smiled against her lips when she giggled, my growing erection poking her.
“That isn’t a part of the deal,” she said.
“It can be,” I murmured, planting kisses along her skin. She slightly pushed me away and frowned at me.
“Don’t think you can fuck your way into my heart,” she said, her tone flat. “That’s not how this works and that’s not how my emotions work.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Romance, unless you’re as much of a cave man as you act and have no romantic bone in your body,” she retorted.
I hadn’t done any kind of romance in years. Stephanie was a simple woman who simply liked flowers and dinner dates and shit like that. I didn’t know what Aurora liked.
“I’m capable of putting nice things together,” I said.
She smirked at me. “Okay, we’ll see. Set something up for the trip this weekend and we’ll see how romantic you are.” She pried my arms from around her. “And no sex until then.”
“Well thank fuck it’s only two days away,” I said. “But seriously, you’re gonna give me a boner and not even help me with it?”
“That sounds like a personal problem, Mr. Moreno.”
“You know, it’s terrible to give your own husband blue balls. Now you’re being a terrible, inattentive wife,” I teased, throwing her earlier words back at her.
She grinned. “Then I guess you better start planning that trip or blue balls are going to be in your future for a good while,” she said and stepped out of the shower.
I couldn’t help but to chuckle. She at least would give me a chance to prove myself. Turning on the cold water to shrink my erection, I ignored the cold, brainstorming ways to woo my wife in a weekend.
Once I was redressed, I strolled through the house in search of Bruce. I’d be lying if I said I knew what I was doing when it came to changing Aurora’s mind about me. It wasn’t like I could bring back her parents or her weak ass ex from the grave to appease her. I couldn’t rewind time to take back all the shit I’d put her through either. When I was with Stephanie, it was effortless because she and I were actually in love. It was different territory when you were married to someone who hated your existence and probably plotted ways to get out of here every single minute she was awake.
Bruce and Savannah were in the hallway, him hovering over her. The adoration in her eyes as she looked up at him was enough to make me jealous. I wasn’t sure how their relationship came about, but it appeared to be genuine, which wasn’t what I could say about me and Aurora.
I cleared my throat and Savannah gasped and slid away from Bruce. “I’m sorry,” she said to me and looked to Bruce. “Find me later?”
“Of course,” he said and turned his attention to me. “What’s up?”
“Let’s walk and talk,” I said, my voice flat.
“Oh boy,” he said with a sigh.
We walked through the kitchen and walked out to the backyard. As we walked, my palms sweated with nerves. This felt stupid, asking my head of security and good friend about how to deal with a woman. I was probably making it a lot more complicated than it needed to be, but a lot was riding on my ability to convince her that I wasn’t all bad.
“So, are you going to yell now or are you going to leave me in suspense?” Bruce finally asked, breaking into my thoughts.
“This has nothing to do with Savannah.” I sighed deeply. “Now that I’m thinking about it, it’s probably stupid to ask.”
“Try me,” he said with a smirk.
I cut my eyes to him before focusing on the tree line at the back of the property. “So…I’m not too sure how to woo a woman who has made it well known that she hates me,” I said.
Bruce snorted. “Woo? Do you even know what that means?” he asked. Nyxin and Saint crossed the yard on their regular patrol, walking toward us. Bruce flagged them over, still chuckling. “Guys, come here a second.”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” I ground out, but it was too late. They jogged over, coming to a stop in front of us.
“What’s up?” Nyxin asked. “Something wrong?”
“Boss wants advice on how to woo his wife,” Bruce said and snorted again.
Saint furrowed his brow. “Woo? I’m surprised that word is even in your vocabulary,” he said with a straight face.
“Same,” Nyxin said. “What the hell is happening with you? First you get married, now you’re talking about…woo…wooing? That word is even foreign to me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, ha ha. Very funny, dickheads. I’m being serious. She and I are married, so—”
“Which reminds me; why’d you marry her in the first place?” Saint interrupted. “I mean I don’t object to it, but I’m curious as to why you did it in the first place.”
I ground my teeth. I didn’t want to admit that I only did it to keep her here. Once my father was dead, I didn’t have a reason to keep her. I’d be an asshole to still keep her after everything that I now knew. Maybe I wanted to be selfish and keep what felt like the last piece of Stephanie with me. If I were being honest with myself, maybe a part of me wanted to see if something could happen between us if we could get over our current hurdle. It was too much of a coincidence that she ended up with me only a few years after I’d lost Stephanie. I wasn’t big on guardian angels or supernatural shit, but with everything that’d happened so far, it was hard to not believe something was happening.
“Because I simply wanted to,” I finally said, my tone flat. “Are you guys going to keep fucking with me or are you going to give me something useful?”
“Women still like flowers, don’t they?” Saint asked with a shrug. “I’m on the same boat; I haven’t had to do this woo business in a while, so I’m a bit rusty myself.”
“I don’t think flowers are going to do anything for a woman like that,” Nyxin said, shaking his head. “A woman who goes around punching people who could kill her in an instant isn’t a woman who’ll accept a bouquet of lame ass flowers.”
“Very good point,” Bruce said and snapped. “How are you doing after that, by the way?”
Nyxin glared at him. “Shut the fuck up, baldie. You wouldn’t be joking about it if you were the one she punched,” he snapped.
“Enough,” I interjected, holding up my hand. “Seriously. I only have one chance and I can’t fuck it up.”
Bruce frowned. “Oh, so you’re actually serious,” he said.
“What the hell made you think I was joking?” I asked with a raised brow.
“I mean…I don’t know, it’s just…different, I guess,” he said with a shrugged.
“So, you really want to get her to fall in love with you,” Saint said.
“Something like that,” I said.
“It’s literally a yes or no question,” Nyxin said. “You wouldn’t be asking for advice if that wasn’t your end goal.”
“Then why ask a question you already know the answer to?” I asked with a smirk.
“Well, since you aren’t going to properly answer the question, I’m just gonna assume that getting her to fall in love is your goal,” Bruce said. “Aurora isn’t the same
woman she was when she first got here. Romantic dinners, flowers, or anything that’s normally romantic won’t work for her. At least it’s not going to work for the woman she is now.”
I frowned. He was right. She definitely wasn’t the same. She was darker, more calculating, dangerous in ways that couldn’t be predicted at times. With that in mind, it made it a bit harder to figure out what to do for her.
“Wait,” Saint said and snapped his fingers. “Blood.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.
“You remember when we killed that guy who killed your mom at the club?”
“Yeah, and?” I asked, confused as to where he was going with this.
“Oh right!” Nyxin added, his dark eyes lighting up. “Hell, even I remember that.”
“Are either of you dickheads going to tell me what the hell you’re talking about or are we going to keep talking in fucking riddles?” I snapped, becoming impatient.
“She’d asked you if she could participate. Remember how you both reacted to that?”
I thought back to that moment in the basement of the cellar, watching my dark princess in her full glory. Just the thought of her spilling blood made my cock hard. After she’d spent so long being quiet, that’d been the most she’d spoken since coming out of the Retribution room after her final punishment. An intense darkness blazed in her gaze and was visible in every strike of the hammer she delivered. Then it dawned on me.
She’d said she wanted blood.
Even when we were in the car, she couldn’t keep her hands off of me, saying she wanted more of it. Had I not stopped her, Joseph would’ve had to drive us around for a lot longer than he probably wanted to while I fucked her in the backseat. If my wife wanted more blood, then she’d get that and more.
“I guess I know how to woo my wife then,” I said with a grin. “Thanks for your help, fellas.” I turned to walk toward the house, the rest of them following me.
“What are you thinking?” Bruce asked.
“I’m going to check with KC to see if he’s located the other people I’m looking for and go from there. They can’t be far.”
“I’m sure they’ll be heavily guarded though,” Nyxin noted. “The remaining people are Wilson’s top men. According to Hank, those men are protected.”
“I’m not worried about that. I have my ways; you already know that,” I said.
“Indeed,” Nyxin said with a chuckle.
The hunt for my father was still on. Ever since I’d sent Kyler’s head to him in a box, he’d been unusually quiet. I’d had KC check his records and track his phone, but he’d been smart and left that phone at his house. That probably explained the private number he’d called me from, which reminded me that I still needed to talk to Aurora about that after our weekend together.
There was only one way to get the information I needed to find my father. Calvin Westbrook handled my father’s travel and business contracts for as long as I could remember. According to our records, he was still in the States, as Wilson probably convinced him that he was safe since he wasn’t essential to the physical work of the mafia. They’d both get a little surprise when they realized how wrong they were. In the meantime, my wife and I were going to pay Calvin a little visit.
When I’d reached the house, Aurora was talking with Savannah in the kitchen. She cut her eyes to me and their conversation ceased, Savannah going back to prepping food. Aurora had changed into a pair of tight denim jeans and a white tank top. I made a mental note of taking her shopping when I looked down at her bare feet. I was sure she was tired of only wearing stilettos and didn’t make sense for her to wear them when in the house.
“Get dressed,” I said to her.
She frowned at me and gestured to herself. “I am dressed,” she said.
“Get dressed for a date. I’m supposed to woo you, aren’t I?” I asked.
She and Savannah shared a look before she turned her gaze back to me. “Okay then,” she said and walked off.
“What was that about?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at Savannah. She only giggled and shrugged.
“I’m not too sure. Hopefully things go well on your date,” she said. I looked to the direction where Aurora disappeared to.
“Did she say anything about what she wanted?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, because she knew you’d ask me,” she said with a grin.
“Touché,” I said with a chuckle.
“May I say something?” she asked, to which I nodded. “I’m not sure what happened to her when she was down in the basement or whatever it’s called but…she’s not the person I knew. At least that’s not her right now. I don’t know what she likes now, but I can tell you she’s not a flowers type of person.”
“Yeah, I kind of picked that up.” I leaned against the island counter. “What did she like?”
“Things that meant something, and usually you can’t buy stuff like that,” she said. “For example, her fiancé…” She looked at me nervously. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking just then.”
“It’s fine,” I stated.
“Well, Heath once made her a photo album of things he’d saved that they’d done together in a photo album for an anniversary present once. Like movie ticket stubs, pictures, things like that.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. That was the dumbest shit I’d ever heard. If that was the type of shit she wanted me to woo her with, I might as well start filing annulment papers. Savannah gave me a soft smile.
“But that was the old her. I don’t think that kind of stuff gets to her anymore.” She looked down at the food she was prepping and sighed. “She doesn’t even talk about our old life anymore, as if she’s accepted that we’re both stuck here.”
Well that’s a good sign, I thought. Though it didn’t solidify anything between us, it at least gave me a chance to get her to stay.
“I guess I have my work cut out for me then,” I said as I pushed off the counter.
“Good luck,” she said, giving me a small smile. “I really want her to be happy. The situation isn’t…ideal, but it’s not so bad when you have someone here that makes it better.”
“And I’m guessing that’s Brucey for you, huh?” I asked, smirking.
She giggled. “I guess so,” she said. “I tried to tell her that even the darkest people can have a good heart somewhere inside. You just have to be patient enough to get to it.”
I nodded, unsure of what to say. After Stephanie died, I didn’t know if I was capable of loving anyone else. Even if I got Aurora to fall in love with me, I wasn’t confident that I was able to feel the same thing. I knew I wanted her in a possessive kind of way, but not because I loved her. What if I achieved my goal only to break her heart in the end?
The question gave me pause. Asking her for one shot meant a lot more than just not fucking up. That included after I got what I wanted. I scrubbed my hand down my face. Things were never this complicated with Steph. I was in way over my head; maybe we both were. But I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge.
Savannah looked at me as if she expected me to respond to what she’d said. I nodded to her.
“I guess time will tell where we go,” I said. She only nodded in response just as Giana came into the kitchen to help her. I left them to their work and went to find KC. I’d work out the technical shit later, but I had a date to prepare for.
If blood was what my gorgeous girl wanted, then blood was what she’d get.
AURORA
“Congrats again on your marriage,” Savannah said when I entered the kitchen.
I frowned and shook my head. “There’s nothing to congratulate,” I mumbled as I grabbed a bottled water from the large fridge. I was still angry about the whole thing, though mostly angry at myself. Bennett could’ve told me everything I would be signing, but why would he when it was all in his best interest? I stupidly let my emotions guide my decisions when he’d warned me about that. I guess that was what I deserved for not
listening—or reading important documents before signing.
“I mean it can’t be that bad, right? I mean you could always be a whore,” she said with a small smile. I sighed. She was right; things could’ve been so much worse for me. At least my torment and pain came from one man. I knew what to expect from Bennett. It was different for Savannah when she’d dealt with different men in the bunker before Bruce bought her. Regardless of that, it didn’t make my situation “better” than hers. I still went through hell, still went through pain, and was now mentally fucked up by the man that was now my “husband.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said sarcastically. “My husband killed my parents, my fiancé, raped my best friend, raped me, and put me through hell for a week. So, forgive me for not jumping for joy because I’m married to a fucking psychopath.”
She nodded. “Fair enough,” she said. “Maybe he’s trying to change. I mean marriage is a big thing.”
“I seriously doubt it. The only thing Bennett wants is total control over me. It’s not like he married for love.”
She pulled out thick cuts of beef from the fridge and shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think he’s all bad. He has some kind of heart. You should’ve seen him with the kids.”
“I don’t care about how he is with the kids. He’s too busy trying to hide the truth from them anyway.”
“And not even that. The way he treats the people he cares about. He’s very protective over the people he considers his family.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Why are you even defending him? You’re the last person I expected to be singing his praises after what he’d done to you.”
She sighed. “I know he’s done a lot of bad things, but he allowed Bruce to take me from what I can only describe as hell.” Tears burned her eyes as she looked at me. “On my first night up here, Bruce explained to me that I was one of the girls that made Bennett a lot of money, but he sold me to Bruce for a much cheaper price—”
Rules of Bennett: The Complete Collection Page 46
