AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Mostly, we talked about you. I told him how I missed you guys, and how we were going to run things differently than our fathers.” He leans his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. I can tell by the way he speaks that he is trying to keep the emotions at bay.
Squeezing his hand gently, I lay my head on his shoulder. A single tear trails down my cheek and I let out a sad sigh. “I miss him so fucking much, and it’s not even been forty-eight hours. How am I supposed to do this for the rest of my life, Declan?”
“I don’t know… but we will figure it out together,” he replies and rests his head on mine.
His words send a wave of familiar comfort over me. I close my eyes, just listening to the sound of our breathing.
After a few moments of silence, I clear my throat. “I should probably get home. My father is probably looking for me.” I slide off the bed. Walking over to the dresser, I find a new pair of leggings and grab Dmitri’s hoodie off the floor.
“Yeah, mine too.” He stands. My eyes go to the tattoos that extend further down his body.
“Those are new,” I say as I step closer to examine them. “May I?” I ask, looking up at him, and he nods. Reaching out, I run my fingertips along the intricate designs on his stomach. I try to ignore the way his muscles contract as they brush his skin. “They suit you.” As my eyes trail back up to his chest, one tattoo in particular jumps out at me. Two wolves sitting side by side on a rock. They both have the bluest eyes. Tracing the outline of the first wolf, I smile slightly and drop my hand.
“Thank you,” he smiles down at me, reaching out to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear.
I feel my cheeks heat as his hand grazes my face and I avoid his gaze. “I really can’t stay longer.”
“I’ll go change so my father doesn’t question anything when I arrive at home. He will think I just went out to do some business things early this morning.” Declan says as he backs out of the room.
After I change into my new clothes, I stuff my dirty clothes into my overnight bag. When I open the door, my breath catches in my throat.
“Cat got your tongue?” Declan asks with a smirk. My face must betray the coolness that I tried to portray. He is standing in front of me in a form fitting navy suit. The jacket is laid over his arm and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows.
“Yeah, something like that,” I mumble and force myself to look at his face.
“Can I see you again?” He asks.
“I would like that… it’s just, I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to sneak away now that I will be Ivan’s sole focus. Well, finding me a husband anyway.” I say with a groan.
“I have an idea,” Declan says, leaning against the door frame.
“Oh, yeah?” I ask standing in front of him. He’s an entire foot taller than me, so I have to tilt my head slightly to look at him.
“Your father will need someone to hand over the business to in five years, right?” He questions, although it's rhetorical. “If you haven’t found someone to marry in four years, and I haven’t either… let's get married.”
I gape at him. He has absolutely lost his mind. There’s no way on this earth that my father would agree to this. First of all, he will definitely be pushing me to marry someone before then. He won’t do well with not knowing what the future of his empire will be. “You’re insane,” I finally manage to reply,laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.
“I’m not, and you know it. Our families are two of the most powerful families on the East Coast. Your dad will be thrilled. Especially when we figure out who murdered Dmitri,” he explains. He has a point. My father is all about power.
“I guess you’re right,” I mumble as I chew on my bottom lip. “But what happens if one of us isn’t single?”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” he says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Let’s get going before they do something crazy like track our cars.”
I let out another dry laugh. That is definitely something our fathers would do. “If I can sneak away, can we meet here like once a month or something?”
“Of course, how does the fifteenth of every month sound? We can meet here at seven p.m. and stay the night.” He grabs his gun off the nightstand and turns to look at me again. “If both of us aren’t here by eight-thirty, then we just assume the other can’t make it and we can go back home.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I say as I look around the room. “Where’s my gun?”
“Oh, hold on,” he says as he retreats to his room and returns with my pistol. “I took it to bed with me last night because you were not in a state to have it just lying around.”
Giving him a smile, I slip my arms around his waist. I just need one last moment of the solace I find in him before I am left alone with my thoughts and the harsh reality that will, no doubt, crash down on me the minute I am alone again. “Really, Declan. Thank you so much. You don’t know just how much I needed you last night.”
“No need to thank me, you know that I would be here any chance I could if things were different between our fathers.” He wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head. “Do you still have the same phone number?”
“I don’t. Give me yours.” Once he gives me his number, I shoot him a text and save his contact information. “I really do need to go. The funeral is today…” I say as I take my gun from him. “I wish you could be there.”
“I do too, but unfortunately I can’t,” he murmurs, before following me out of the house. We walk back to our cars in silence, but once we arrive, Declan turns to me once more. “Anytime you need me, Nat, let me know. I may not be able to make it past the security at your home, but I can always talk to you on the phone, or we can sneak away. If we change up the location, it shouldn’t be that suspicious.”
