Page 38 of Clever Deceit

“I’m fine,” he replied, but I could tell from his gritted teeth and clenched jaw that he was anything but.

“What the hell happened?” I demanded, and he jerked his head toward the door.

“Come on, let’s get home,” he told me, trying to dodge the question. I planted my hands on my hips and stared up at him pointedly.

“I’m not getting in there until you tell me what happened,” I warned him. He paused for a moment, considering before he answered.

“How about you get in, and I’ll tell you on the way home?” he suggested. I parted my lips to argue with him again, but a wave of tiredness hit me hard. Maybe it would be a better idea to just get back and get some rest.

And hope that whatever had happened to him today wasn’t as serious as it looked.

CHAPTER 18

WARREN

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WE CRUISED OUT ON TO the road before I said a word, but I could feel her looking at me, waiting for me to explain what the hell had happened.

And I guessed I owed her an explanation. I was hoping we could both just head home after the long day we’d had, but clearly, it wasn’t going to be that easy. The bruise on my chin had given me away. I had watched it blooming over my skin on the drive over here, my heart sinking the whole time as I realized there would be no way to hide this from her.

“So what happened?” she asked me again, her voice tinged with worry. I hated stressing her out, especially given what had just happened. But I had to tell her. The only way we were going to get through this was if we were honest with one another.

“Tony and I got into a...scuffle,” I admitted. She inhaled sharply.

“You what?”

“It wasn’t anything serious,” I assured her. “He just...pissed me off. I should have controlled myself, I know that, but the way that smug bastard was looking at me, I couldn’t have done it if I tried.”

“Oh, okay,” she muttered, her voice shaky.

“He only got one good hit in,” I told her. “And there’s not much to him. He might like to play that he’s some big tough guy, but he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

I could see the whisper of a smile on her face out of the corner of her eye, and I reached over to take her hand and bring it to my lips for a kiss.

“I’m okay,” I murmured to her. “Really. You have nothing to worry about.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, clearly not certain how to respond to what I’d just said to her. We made it back without her replying, and she climbed out of the car in silence. Once we were in the house, though, she headed straight for the kitchen and pulled a frozen steak from the freezer.

“Sit down,” she instructed, pointing to the kitchen chair. I cocked an eyebrow at her but did as I was told.

“What’s that for?”

“To ice your face,” she replied, as she stepped in front of me. She tucked one hand behind my head to hold it steady and used the other to press the steak firmly to my jaw.

“Ow!” I muttered, pulling back from her on instinct. “That’s cold.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of the idea,” she replied. “Here, just hold steady. Let me ice this for you.”

I knew this was her way of dealing with what had happened—turning it into something practical she could do to help me—but she really didn’t need to stress herself out so much.

“It’s not that bad,” I told her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her down on to my lap. She tried to hold the steak to my face a little longer, but eventually, she sighed and put it on the table next to her.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, slipping her arms around my shoulders. “I’m just...I don’t like seeing you hurt. That’s all.”

“Trust me, I’ve been through a lot worse than this,” I reminded her, tapping my bad leg. She glanced down and smiled slightly.

“I guess so,” she conceded. “But that doesn’t mean I’m okay with seeing you take a punch from Tony on my behalf.”