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Twenty-Six
Savannah
"You nervous?"
"No," I muttered with a huff, peeking into the mirror to check my make-up.
It had taken a while to conceal the rainbow of bruises on my jawline, never mind the hickeys Aidan had given me. I wasn’t complaining, but they made me a little nervous.
Who wanted to meet the parents for the first time with their throat looking like something Dracula had been gnawing on?
It was all fun behind the bedroom door, but for Christmas dinner? Nope.
"Why do you keep messing with the hem of your jacket then?"
I heard the amusement in his voice, and rolled my eyes. "I’m about to meet a hero."
Aidan shook his head. "Fucking Isardo."
My lips curved. "Hey, if it wasn’t for him and years’ worth of therapy, we’d never have met."
He smirked at the road, and I had to drool a little at how the veins and muscles in his forearms were in stark relief as he commanded the wheel of his Range Rover. I already knew this was a secured version, because it drove heavy as if it were a tank.
"What did you really do with Wintersen?" I asked, curious because he’d raised the subject of Isardo.
As we pulled up at a stop light, he shot me a look. "What do you think?"
There was such disdain in his voice I had to laugh.
"Guess that was a bit of a ‘duh.’"
He shrugged. "Least I could do."
"Funny how you’ve swept through my life like you pick up trash for a living, but you always stuck to the sidelines, never coming forward, so I didn’t have a chance of seeing you in the full light of day, did I?"
"For your own safety."
"I’d have preferred you."
"You say that now," he intoned quietly as he set off again.
"No, I know that now. I knew it back then. The last few nights gave me a taste of mob life, sure, but Aidan, I’ve always been in danger. There’s no difference. One of my father’s psycho fans is just as likely to torture and rape me as much as one of your enemies—"
"Jesus, Savannah!" He slammed on the brakes, making me grateful no one was behind us in traffic. "Don’t even fucking talk like that!"
Touched, I turned to him with a soft smile. "I didn’t mean to freak you out."
"No? Well, you did."
"Thought nothing scared you," I mocked, deciding that if the bear wouldn’t poke me, then I could poke him.
His hands tightened on the wheel. "I don’t want you even thinking shit like that."
"Thought it for long enough. I think we all accepted it after one of the twins got kidnapped. You know how fans are about my father and the rest ofnoxxious."
"I do," he grumbled, and his tension flooded the car, intoxicating me with how much he cared. "Conor’s not exactly stable where they’re concerned."
My smile widened. "Didn’t realize any of him was stable."
