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“You’re up early.”
“I’m supposed to help with the breakfast shift today,” she says, expression hard. “Except none of the drivers will take me to the diner.”
“Strange,” I say with a sigh. “I wonder why.”
“You ordered them not to.” Her rage is hot and tense. Some part of me can’t blame her, but another part recoils at her speaking to me like that, without respect.
“I ordered them to keep you safe. You are not safe at that diner.”
“I would be safe if your family wasn’t filled with crazy people.” Her dig is sharp and maybe she didn’t intend for it to hurt, but it cuts me deep all the same.
I lean toward her. If she knew what I did the night before, she wouldn’t be pushing me like this right now. I stare at her, unable to muster the energy needed to fight with her.
“You will not work at the diner anymore.”
“Evander—”
“Enough, Camille.” I say her name sharply. “You were nearly kidnapped from there.”
“Send more loyal soldiers. Assign me a bodyguard to follow me around.” Some of her anger bleeds away as her tone shifts to pleading. “But don’t take the diner from me.”
I let that sink in. I planned on letting her work up until Hector nearly succeeded in sending her back to her ex. If I hadn’t been on my way to pick her up so she could get ready for the signing, I don’t know what would’ve happened.
That day plays in my mind over and over. The fear in her eyes, the wounds on her body. The bruises that still bloom on her cheeks.
It breaks me, seeing her hurt like that. And now she wants to return to that place.
I can’t handle the idea of letting her out of my sight. The thought of her there, at that place again—
Panic wells up in me. Panic at the idea of something going wrong, all because I can’t be everywhere at once.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I can’t let you.”
“I was waiting for this,” she says, crossing her arms. “Now that I’m your wife, you can start cracking down, right? You don’t have to wear your ring, but I do. You can stay out all night and do god knows what, but I can’t go work at a diner.”
“We are different people.”
She steps toward me, staring hard. “Is that blood on your shirt, Evander? You want to tell me that what I’m doing is dangerous but look at you.”
I lean back in my chair and sigh. “Are you worried about my safety now?”
“Does that sound so crazy? Is it really so weird that I might actually worry about you?”
I blink slowly at her. The thought hadn’t occurred to me. I can’t imagine the last time someoneworriedabout me in that way.
My mother might’ve worried once. Helen might still. By now though, they’ve all accepted that I am the lord of the family, and that job comes with certain dangerous responsibilities. My life has always been tenuous, always existed on the edge of oblivion, and I’ve come to accept that fact.
Camille hasn’t yet.
“You don’t need to be concerned.” I stand and come around the desk. She stares at me defiantly and a spark runs down into my stomach, the spark I feel whenever she’s around. That fucking diner uniform, it’s so old school and stiff, but there’s still something obscene about it. Something too sexy.
“I’m very concerned. You’re up all night and you come home with blood on you. Are you hurt? Is someone else hurt?”
“Many people were hurt, but I’m not one of them.”
“What were you doing, Evander? Why can’t you ever come to bed?” Her tone twists with emotion.
I move closer to her. I stand, looming, looking into her eyes. “I don’t come to bed because I’m busy hurting our enemies.”
