by Katee Robert
He thinks this reaction is about him.
About what we did earlier.
I might be smarter if I let him keep believing that, but I can’t. I just can’t. “No.” Strangely enough, my stomach settles the second his big hand makes contact with my back. I draw in a shuddering breath. “No, it’s not you. I’m fine. I …” A mistake to play my cards now, to let him know what Ali’s plans are? No, I can’t believe that. If I’m destined to be in a cage, better the one Jafar has crafted around me than anything Ali has to offer. He’s no better than my father. Worse than my father because he wants to fuck me.
“Talk to me.” The quiet command settles me further.
I slump back against the glass of the shower and close my eyes. Easier to speak if I can’t see him. “Ali was here.” I feel him go still, feel the rage rise in a tidal wave that can drown us both, but he waits for me to continue. I clear my throat. “He says he’s decided to save me, but I think we both know that he only wants me because he thinks the power of my father’s territory is tied up with who owns me.”
“Your father’s people need someone larger than life to follow and for all that they’re killers, they have a romantic streak a mile wide. You’re a beautiful counterpoint to any ill will the person at your side might bring to the table. They’ll follow you—will follow whoever you’re married to.”
Married.
I open my eyes. “No one said anything about marriage.”
“No one said anything about marriage.” He nodded, never taking his gaze from my face. “Yet.”
If I concentrate, I can almost feel the trap clamping shut around my leg. It’s not enough to keep me locked up in his penthouse. Or to bring me here like some prized cow to show off before it’s slaughtered.
Do I believe that what Jafar seems to feel for me is real? Yes. He might be a superb liar, but he’s never bothered to with me. Do I think for a second that it will stop him from using me as he sees fit?
No. Absolutely not.
I draw my tattered pride around me as best I can and lift my chin. “I’m not marrying anyone, Jafar. Not him. Not you.”
“We’ll see, won’t we?”
Chapter 13
Jafar
Ali was here.
He could have killed her. Would have if he didn’t still think that he could salvage this coup. The thought of him hurting her makes my entire body go cold. I wasn’t here and I should have been.
I wasn’t fucking here.
He might not have injured her, but Ali did something to upset Jasmine enough that she’s sick. Or she was. Right now, she’s looking at me like she wants to rip my throat out for mentioning marriage. A stupid move on my part, a misstep I wouldn’t have made if I was thinking clearly. But I saw her clinging to the toilet and all I could think of was that I’d broken what little trust we have between us. There’s no coming back from that shit. I know that better than anyone. Jasmine and I already have a mountain of challenges in front of us without letting my cock get in the way of reason.
My cock always seems to get in the way of reason when it comes to this woman.
I want to stand to race out of the room and track down Hades to punch in his smug face for having shitty enough security to allow Ali into this building. It shouldn’t be possible. I can’t even sneak into The Underworld. I tried when I first arrived in Carver City, but the procedures in place are too thorough.
Which means Ali didn’t sneak in.
Hades allowed him entrance.
Yes, the old bastard and I would have a conversation, and soon.
But not right now. Not with Jasmine sitting there, still shaking, her eyes too wide. I hold out my hand. “Come here.” As much as I want to pick her up and just fucking take care of her, it will do more harm than good right now.
“I’m not marrying you.”
I bite back a sigh. “A slip of the tongue, baby girl. It’s not on the table.”
“Not yet, but it will be.”
She’s not wrong. A marriage might not be enough to fully cement things, but it won’t hurt. It also has the benefit of creating a narrative people can root for. No one wants to be ruled by a monster who went back on his word and killed the man he owed allegiance to. But a man in love, desperate to save his woman from an arranged marriage? That’s a whole hell of a lot more romantic. That’s something people can get behind and celebrate.
“Come here.” I put a little sting into my words, and sure enough, that gets her moving. She places her hand in mine and allows me to pull her to her feet. I lift her onto the bathroom counter and run my hands over her body. “Did he hurt you?” There are bruises there, but they’re caused by my hands and she came apart around my cock while I gave them to her. “Did he touch you?”
“Not the way you mean.” She shivers and I open the narrow cabinet Hades keeps stocked in all the overnight rooms. It’s filled with anything a person needs if they’re unexpectedly staying, and I pull out a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a fluffy robe. After wrapping the latter around her and tucking it in tight to her skin, I tear through the toothbrush packaging and dole out the toothpaste.
She plucks it from my hand. “I can brush my own teeth.”
“I’m aware.” It doesn’t change the fact that I want to take care of her. A foreign feeling. Yeah, I’ve had plenty of sex in the past, and unlike some of the assholes out there, I actually care if my partner is having a good time. That means fucking, but it also means aftercare.
This feels different.
Everything with Jasmine feels different.
I’m not prepared for the protectiveness that surges through me as she finishes brushing her teeth and slides off the counter. I want to wrap her up and snarl at anyone who gets close. I want to rip Ali’s fucking head off. “Did he hurt you, baby girl?”
She hesitates like she’s thinking about lying to me. Finally Jasmine runs an absent hand over her waves of dark hair. “He scared me.” She lifts her gaze to mine. “He said you put my father down like a mad dog in our backyard.”
The bastard had seen that?
I had to make an example of Balthazar. More, I wanted to. If the piece of shit had listened to me, had taken my guidance, none of this wouldn’t have been necessary. At least not for a few more years, once I had my relationship with Jasmine solidified. Instead, Balthazar got greedy, and now here we are, dealing with the fallout.
“It wasn’t quite so dramatic.”
Jasmine sighs. “This whole thing was broken from the start.” She steps into me, allowing me to wrap my arms around her, and rests her forehead against my chest. “You’re not a good man, Jafar.”
“I know.” With everyone else, I can put on the charming face and pretend to be other that what I am. Not with her. Never with her. She’s always seen right to the heart of me. It’s what damned both of us.
Because I see her, too.
I make myself release her, make myself take a step back. “If you need to leave …”
She blinks those big, brown eyes at me, a line appearing between her strong brows. “You gave me that option already. I know the caveats.”
“I’ll release your trust.” I curse myself for being a thousand times a fool for offering. Her trust is the one thing that ensures her defiance will only go so far. Having her need me is a tether binding us together. I’m bastard enough to keep her. I know that. I knew that when I forced her hand with that bullshit deal the night I took her the first time. “You can leave the city if you want.”
Jasmine gives me an unhappy smile. “We both know I’m not equipped to deal with the world. Not now. Not yet. This club was enough to have me locking up in sensory overload. Do you really think I’m capable of going out on my own?” She shook her head. “I believed I could when all I had was theory. Now I know better.”
“You’re underestimating yourself.” Why the fuck am I trying to convince her to leave? What the hell is wrong with me?
She moves past me and into the bedroom. “Even if I am, e
ven if I actually landed on my feet, Ali will track me down and bring me back. He’s all but promised it. As you said, people want a figurehead, and I make a damn good one.”
“That’s not all of it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ali wants you because you were promised to him.” I should shut the fuck up right now, but she needs to understand. “But now that you’re mine, he wants you even more. If he thinks he can’t get to you, he’ll do something unforgivable.”
She gives me a long look. “You mean he’ll kill me.”
“He’ll try. I won’t let him touch you.”
Jasmine considers me for one last moment and then opens the closet and considers the offerings. Just like the bathroom, Hades keeps the closets stocked with a wide range of sizes. She pulls out a silky pair of cream pants and a matching top. They’re obviously pajamas, but they’ll more than suit on the ride home. Once dressed, she turns to me. “I have no option but you, and we both know it. Not as things stand now.”
It should make me happy that she’s capitulating. It means less fighting so I can focus my energy on other things. It means I can keep Jasmine safe.
It means I can keep her.
But as I stand there and watch her put herself to rights, the wrongness of this situation nags at me. I want Jasmine. No shit, I want Jasmine. Until I had her, that was the only thing that mattered. Now?
I want her to choose me.
I almost laugh out loud at the idiocy of the thought. Jasmine might like the way she comes on my cock, but if all things were in balance, she’d walk away and never look back. She has her sights set on things outside this world we move in, and I’d be a monster to hold her to the shadows when she was obviously meant to walk in the sunshine.
I am a monster.
I shrug out of my jacket and wrap it around her. It’s not that cold outside, but I like the sight of her in my clothes. A statement, yes, but for once, I don’t give a fuck who might see. It settles something in my chest. “I have one thing to take care of and then we’re leaving.”
Her gaze sharpens. “You want to talk to Hades.”
No point in lying to her. It doesn’t even occur to me to try. “Ali shouldn’t have been able to get past the security.” I need to know if he’s that good, or if Hades has his own reasons for letting the man in, and I need to know it soon. Jasmine’s safety hangs in the balance.
She meets my gaze. “I’d like to come with you.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to deny her. Ali got into the room, so I’m hardly going to leave her here, but I know for a fact that Meg and the other two women in Hades’s inner circle wind down in the early mornings in the lounge. I don’t trust anyone, but Hades and his people care about reputation above all else. Even if he’d playing two sides against the middle, he won’t hand over someone under his protection.
He’ll just pretend not to know anything about it after Ali snatches her.
Jasmine touches my arm. “I’ll remember the rules.”
Eyes down. Silent.
It should please me. She’s taken to submission so goddamn naturally. But I can barely breathe past the jagged feeling in my throat. “No.” The word seems to surprise her as much as it surprises me. I take her hand and place it in the crook of my arm. “No, this concerns you as much as it concerns me. More.”
“Jafar.” She finally looks up at me. Even with her expression intentionally smoothed out, there are marks of weariness around her eyes and the faintest tremble in where her fingers touch my arm. Ali was in the room with her, close enough to do or say something that left her physically sick. I can’t think about that too hard or I’m going to lose my shit.
I should have been there.
I want to bundle her up, to do something to make her feel safe, to put her feet back on solid ground. It’s not in my skillset. I destroy things. I don’t protect them. I clear my throat. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
She frowns at me as if she’s never seen me before. “If he came through that door while you were in bed with me, he could have killed you.”
As much as I wish I could say otherwise, when she and I are fucking, I’m so wrapped up in her, an elephant could stampede through the room and I’d be none the wiser. “It doesn’t matter.”
It does matter. She’s mine to conquer, yes, but more importantly, she’s mine to protect. “He won’t get to you again.”
For a second, I think she might fight me just for the sake of fighting. I can’t blame her for the urge. A cornered animal will swipe out at friend and foe alike. I’m still not sure which I am for this woman. Both. Neither. I want to burn this new fucking uncertainty inside me to ash and let it blow away in the wind. It won’t happen as long as I’m touching her, and leaving her alone in this moment isn’t an option. She needs me. She might cut out her own tongue before she admits it, but it’s the damn truth.
“Ready?”
She nods slowly. “I wish you hadn’t torn my dress. It feels like visiting a king in my underwear.”
“Baby girl, you are essentially in your underwear.” I lean down and murmur in her ear. “And you loved it when I ripped your clothes off. It had you wet and begging for my cock before I had even touched your pussy.”
She shivers. “I like what I like.” As simple as that.
Fuck, but if ever there was a woman who could send me to my knees, it’s this one.
“I’m going to spend a fortune in clothes on you.” I chuckle. The sound feels strange in my throat. The impulse to laugh only seems to come to life around her. “It’s worth it.”
“I know,” she says primly, once again the little queen. It makes me want to fuck that control right out of her. Again.
Not now. Not while there are enemies circling and I have no idea how deep the rot goes. “Let’s go.”
I don’t usually stay overnight in The Underworld if I can help it, but I have these hallways memorized. A plan is only as good as its exit strategy, though I’ve trusted Hades up to this point to follow his own rules. Ali having access to the club isn’t a direct violation of that, but his coming into an occupied room without an invitation, touching my baby girl without invitation …
I’ll fucking kill him.
Unsurprisingly, it’s Meg who meets us at the small elevator that leads up to Hades’s office from this floor. She looks just as fresh this morning as she did last night, though she’s changed clothes and hairstyles somewhere along the way. Now, she’s in a pair of slacks and a button-down shirt that’s barely buttoned, leaving a large swathe of skin exposed from her neck to her stomach. She smiles at us, though there’s a coldness in her blue eyes that she usually masks. “You’re headed in the wrong direction for the exit.”
“We need to speak with Hades. Please.” I could demand to see him, throw my weight around, but it’ll only result in him pulling a power play just to prove he can. Dealing with Hades is a constant dance of dominance and power, and I only come out on top about half the time.
Today needs to be one of those times.
She gives us a long look. “He’s expecting you.”
I bet he is. I keep my hand covering Jasmine’s as we follow Meg onto the elevator and head up a floor. She doesn’t speak, which is just as well. Meg might be Hades’s right hand, might run this place just as much as he does, but at the end of the day, he is the one who leads. Which means he’s the one I need to deal with.
We step off the elevators and she motions for us to follow her to a set of large dark doors. They stretch from the floor nearly to the ceiling, and the shiny wood is stained black and carved with a tableau of images that are drawn straight from myth. It sets the tone of any meeting conducted in this room, but I could give a fuck. I’m not here to beg on my knees for a favor. I never have.
Favors from Hades have a way of coming around to bite a person in the ass. I’ve seen it too many times to discount the danger he represents.
Meg pushes open the doors and they swing easily beneath
her fingertips. We precede her into the office. It’s done in shades of gray, which would amuse me under other circumstances because I’d bet my left arm that there are fifty of them contained in this room. The far wall is lined with shelves that are filled with knickknacks and weird cluttery shit. I can feel Jasmine’s curiosity over the space, but I only have eyes for the man behind the large gray desk.
Hades looks exactly the same as he did last night, though the suit is a little different. He smiles as we walk forward, the smile widening when Meg comes to stand at his right shoulder. “What can I do for you two lovebirds? Need a favor?”
Jasmine tenses, but I don’t look at her. “No favors today.”
“Pity. We’re under quota.”
I’m not entirely sure that he’s joking, but I ignore it. “You let Ali Tahan have a membership here.”
Hades raises his brows. With his black-framed glasses, it gives him the look of a cultured professor waiting for a student to get to the point. “I allow a lot of people to have memberships here. That’s the purpose of The Underworld. Neutral territory.” His lips quirk, even as his dark eyes stay cold. “Surely you didn’t think your vendetta was the exception to the rule?”
I’ve never seen Ali here, so I made some assumptions I couldn’t afford to make. That doesn’t change the fact that what happened earlier shouldn’t have. “He entered our room without permission and accosted Jasmine.”
The amusement on Hades’s face vanishes. “Bold accusation.”
I give him the look that statement deserves. “You have cameras all over this place. Look for yourself.”
Hades glances at Meg. “Be a darling and see what Ali was up to while he was here last night.” He watches her leave through the door on the other side of the room, his gaze dropping to her ass.
I almost roll my eyes, but manage to muscle down the reaction. Hades and Meg fuck other people, but the only loyalty they seem to hold is to each other. When it comes to the shit that matters, they are a unified front. I’ve never actually seen them play together in public, but if they aren’t fucking behind closed doors, I’ll be shocked.
