AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She steadies herself, letting me go. “Is Jane okay?”
“She’s fine,” I tell her, “but your boyfriend’s in jail.”
“I don’t know why I was with him. He was never a good person. I just felt so alone. Sometimes, I got drunk with him and was cruel to Jane. I want to apologize to her for that.”
“You might get your chance. Come on. Let’s go. We need to take you to the hospital to get looked over.”
First, I have a stop to make. I lead her across the street to my car and open the door for her. As I climb into the driver’s seat, a primal howl sounds inside me as his words repeat in my mind. He thinks he’s gotten away with it. Right now, he’s driving into the sunset, into what he thinks is his new life, under the impression I’m going to let that go. Lily stares out the window as I drive, humming softly to herself.
“He would’ve done some horrible stuff if it wasn’t for you,” Lily says.
She places her hand on my arm. I lean away, glancing at her as I pick up speed, the engine purring.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
She moves her hand up and down, looking at me seductively, causing my stomach to swirl with sickness. She’s widening her eyes, nodding, almost as if she’s beckoning, thinking she’s teasing and attracting me.
“Take your hand off me now.”
She snatches it away, and I shake my head.
“Just worry about getting better, and if you’re really sorry for how you’ve treated Jane, you won’t hit on her goddamn boyfriend.”
“I didn’t know you were that serious.”
I say nothing, then pull up at the side of the road.
Just ahead of me, a beat-up car is parked. Sergei stands at the side of the road, two of my security guards staring him down. I step from the car and march over. The street is quiet, but there are a few people around. I keep my fist low at my side, like a hidden weapon. Sergei turns to me, leering.
“Cheap trick, Luke. We had a deal. These idiots ran me off the road.”
“They did what I told them,” I growl. “Wait until you leave. Follow you. Then call some clean cops to come and arrest you.”
“You were going to do that?”
“We still are,” I tell him, “but I’ve added an extra step.”
I drive my fist into his kidney, swinging my torso with the momentum, tensing my legs for power, feeling my fist press through his shirt and into his soft body. He collapses onto his front, wheezing, coughing, and clutching his side.
“Say one more word about Jane,” I snarl.
“Sir,” one of my security guards says, his voice urgent. “Not here…”
“One. More. Word.”
Sergei gasps, drooling on himself, and says nothing.
“Escort Lily to the hospital,” I tell them, “in your car.”
I’m glad she’s okay. She doesn’t deserve to die or whatever else Sergei would’ve done to her, but I can’t sit in the same car as a woman who would offer herself to me and touch me.
I own Jane, it’s true, but she owns me too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Jane
“I remember when Luke promoted him to head of the security detail,” Lois says, smiling sadly as she looks into the distance. “We’d only been on the East Coast for six months, but Christopher had stopped Luke from getting mugged and steered him clear of journalists several times. He was efficient. Strong. Better than the injury made him believe for a while.”
We sit at Christopher’s bedside, tubes coming from his mouth and nose, the machines beeping as they do their job and keep him alive.
“Who are you to Luke?” Lois says after a pause.
I grip my hands together even tighter. I’ve been doing it this whole time, waiting for Luke to call or for one of the guards to come and tell me what’s happened to him, my man, my lover.
“I don’t know,” I whisper, “but I think we might be everything.”
“If you feel that in your heart, your soul, then chase it. Never let it go. People said Christopher and I were too young or didn’t know what we wanted, but now, I know he’d rather have nobody else sitting at his bedside.”
A soft knock came at the door. I try to mask my eagerness, but I sit up sharply, my heart pounding.
“I’m sorry to intrude,” the guard says, the same one from before, “but Mr. Hart is on the phone for you, ma’am.”
It’s a tricky situation because I partly want to hide the emotion, to bury it beneath a mask of impassiveness for Lois. She’s still waiting to hear if her man will be okay, and I’ve just received news that makes my heart soar, but she smiles, reading me.
“Go, Jane,” she says, “and don’t even think about feeling guilty, you hear?”
I rush out of the room and almost snatch the phone from the guard.
