AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
Aurora woke a few times during the night. Each time, the rest of us woke up from where we’d slept scattered through the guest suite. It was a relief to see her breathing and alive and awake, even if she was sleepy and grouchy and blinking each time.
In the morning, she woke up for real.
“Finally,” I told her. I lay on the bed beside her, although I didn’t touch her; I was worried the wound would hurt her if I pulled her head onto my shoulder like I wanted to.
I tried to convince her to stay in bed, but she heard my mother’s voice in the hallway and kept trying to hobble out to be polite.
“You’re just curious.” I placed my hand gently on her unwounded shoulder to keep her from rising. I had to reject my first impulse to grab her throat and push her down into the pillows and remind her who was in charge here. She was still fragile. “You want to know where someone like me comes from, I know.”
Her expression changed, her eyes growing darker.
“They can just come in here,” Remington said. “You don’t need to get up.”
“They?” Aurora echoed, sudden concern across her face.
“Don’t worry about meeting my parents.” We’d washed and dressed her and changed the sheets, knowing she wouldn’t want to sleep in blood. “They wouldn’t like any girl anyway.”
My father appreciated that I didn’t have many distractions. Academics, sports, and the Sphinx had kept me too busy for a serious relationship with any girl. He wanted me to focus on masquerading as a successful and honest businessman while taking over the family business in the shadows.
And I was pretty sure my mom just worried she’d lose me, her one and only partner for watching K-drama. I’d do anything to make my mom happy…as long as it was only once a month.
My joke did not make Aurora smile. She seemed on edge, in a different way than usual, her eyes gliding around the room.
When my mother and father stepped into the room, she smiled at my mother. Her gaze slid to my father and then away, and I realized with a jolt that she was afraid of him. Why? Because he was a mobster?
Maybe she wasn’t going to be my underworld queen after all. She’d seen a lot of darkness. I guessed I could understand if she didn’t want anymore. But the thought still made my hands close into fists.
“Aurora, I’m so glad you’re doing better,” my mother said warmly. “I want to know everything about you.”
“Sweetheart, the girl just had a near-death experience. Don’t smother her,” Dad reproved, but there was a gleam in his eyes. He adored my mother, and he wrapped his arm around her waist as they stood at Aurora’s side.
I introduced them. Then, as my mother started to chatter to Aurora who smiled, warming to her–everyone warmed to my mom–Dad tugged me to one side.
“Do you need any help fixing… this?” he asked me, gesturing at Aurora.
“I’ve got it under control,” I promised.
“Good job, then.” My father clapped my shoulder. He looked at me as if he had a question on his lips, as if he wanted to know how serious I was about this girl, but it seemed to die in his mouth. He just clapped my shoulder again and smiled.
He must be able to see from my face how I felt about her.
Just like I could always see how he loved Mom from the way he looked at her.
The similarity hit me hard.
“All right, she actually needs to get some rest. You can let her sleep before you try to make her watch your K-drama,” Dad teased Mom, his gaze affectionate.
Aurora smiled, just faintly. “It was nice… meeting you both.”
When they’d left and the guys gave us a minute, I asked, “Well, how bad was that?”
Some crazy part of me gave a shit. If my parents and Aurora hated each other, I’d still choose her. I’d find a way to keep those two halves of my life separate. But I wanted Aurora every minute, close enough to know she was safe, to kiss, to share those quick glances where I knew what she was thinking. And to bend her over every available object to fuck too, of course. I wanted her so badly all the time that I was hard even now, when I’d never start anything because she was too weak. And when I could hear my mother in the hall talking about making lasagna for lunch.
“It was fine,” she said carefully. “Your mom and dad tease each other a lot. I didn’t expect them to be so… happy.”
I nodded. “I've never seen anyone in love like they're in love.”
