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When I parked in the garage I had built into the basement of my brownstone, I turned to her. “I want you to understand that I only allowed what happened at the club with your disrespectful brother because of you. If Xavier wasn’t your brother, he would be dead. I am a Don now and no one disrespects me like he just did. You better warn him that there won’t be a next time.”
She raised one arched brow. “And if you weren’t about to be my husband, he would kill you. He doesn’t give two fucks that you’re a Don because he’s a boss now too. Either way, I’m in a no-win situation.”
I asked, “Oh, you care about what happens to me now?”
“No,” she scoffed. “You can fucking die for all I care. I’m more long-sighted and level-headed than my brother. I meant that if Xavier kills you, then my family will be destroyed. I can’t ever let that happen.”
Her biting words and scornful tone only pissed me off again. I sneered, “He won’t kill me because that motherfucker will never catch me slipping. Just fucking tell him to stay the fuck away whenever we have to interact with your family.”
Her head flopped back against her leather seat. “I can’t believe we’re back to this seven years later.”
I sniped, “Back to what?”
“This Montague and Capulet feud bullshit. For a year, I forsake them for you, and then you fucking kill my cousin. I hated lying to them, and then I fucking chose you over my family once Cain found out about us. My father and brothers refused to speak to me. Only my mother had the decency to sneak and see me. I love my family from the depths of my soul, and I gave them up because I believed in you and us. And I have to be in the middle of this shit again because my brother is too fucking stubborn to ever make this union peaceful, and you hate him too much to ever let how he acts go.” She turned her head and wearily asked me, “Why did you agree to help my family?”
“I respect your father. Even my father held a grudging respect for what your father built in Harlem after running out the mob without fear. He knows his son will run it differently than he did and came to me without Xavier’s permission. He asked for my protection in exchange for territory. A silent agreement that the commission wouldn’t know about. I told him I wanted you to be my wife instead, and that would offer the best protection.”
Her eyes widened, and her breathing became shallow as she asked, “You could’ve owned some of Harlem, and you chose me?”
“I want you to love me again,” I answered honestly.
Her forehead and nose wrinkled prettily. “Why, Gavin? It’s been seven years. I’ve seen you with other women. What difference does it make if I love you or not? You can’t make me forgive you for something unforgivable. Don’t see how we can have a lasting relationship if I can’t let go of what you did to Cain.”
“You’ve never let me explain about that night.” I shifted slightly in my seat and reminded her, “You’re in this game as much as me and your brothers. It was either him or me. We take dangerous risks for this lifestyle, and sometimes we lose big. Cain lost big because he came after me. It wasn’t personal.”
“Well, this is motherfucking personal.” She slapped me so hard I tasted blood, and my temper flared.
I opened my door with one hand and snatched her roughly across the console and out of the car with the other. Storm fought me hard, scratching and hitting me fast and furiously as I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder. I slapped her ass hard several times as I pushed through the side door of my townhome. Storm cursed me, managed to get a fist loose, and got another lick at my face, blinding me for a second. I dropped her on the shiny marble floor, and she scrambled to my kitchen, straight to my knife board. She pulled out a butcher knife. “You better get the fuck out of my way because I’m leaving. You know I’ll use it.”
“Put the fucking knife down, Storm.” I calmly said, though my blood boiled over. I had no doubt she would use it. Her father and brothers had protected her from the violent side of the family business, though they raised her to be fierce and a survivor. Just never thought she would ever want to physically hurt me. We’d never been violent against each other outside of consensual bedroom games. “You’re about to be my wife. I don’t expect us to fuck, but you will spend the night. I’m not sending you anywhere this time of the night.”
She snarled, “Then fucking apologize. You deserved that slap and more. You killed Cain, and he was a part of me.”
I shut my eyes. She spoke the truth. Cain was her brother. If someone killed anyone in my family, that person would be six feet under by my hands. I would never forgive that person, and I don’t know why I expected her to move on from her pain. I didn’t blame her for hating me. Even understood why she slapped me. Unfortunately, the mind and the heart are rarely on the same page. I am utterly incapable of leaving Storm St. James alone, and how her body quivers from the anticipation of my touch tells me she can’t leave me alone either.
“Why can’t you see that you killed me too? Huh?” Her voice trembled. “That my heart hasn’t been the same. You don’t think I understand how this fucked up game works that we were both born into and accepted as our birthright? But you wanted to keep the worlds separate and outside.” She pointed to the window with her free hand. “Maybe if I remained aware that I was in bed with a killer, with the mafia, then I wouldn’t have been blindsided when you murdered Cain. You pretended to be this loving man who would never do anything in the world to hurt me, and I believed you.” She brandished the knife. “You shattered my heart in a million pieces, and no matter how much we tape it back together, it’s never the same again. Now fucking apologize.”
I ran my hand through my tousled hair, so damn frustrated. “What am I apologizing for? For dragging you out of the car or for Cain? Because the way I see it, I don’t owe you an apology. Do you want to stab me or beat me up for breaking your heart? Well, here I am.” I spread my arms wide. “I won’t stop you. But I ain’t fucking apologize because I don’t regret killing Cain, and I bet you’re wet right now because you always loved it when I was rough with you.”
She lowered her eyes and huffed before throwing the knife down on the counter. “Fuck you.”
Storm flounced past me, and I tried to hide my knowing smile. The first time around, we fell in love from the moment we stood in front of that aquarium. Our passion and love had been easy when it remained the two of us. This time would be different. She would fight me every step of the way, and I relished the challenge. I had no right to ever expect her to forgive me or to trust me again, but I damn well didn’t plan to stop pursuing her until she was mine again. Heart. Body. Soul.
“I’m too tired to talk tonight. Where am I sleeping?” Storm asked testily.
I strolled to her and touched her defiant chin with my index finger. “In my bed.”
“You a lie.” She moved my finger away impatiently and marched into my living area. “I’ll sleep on this sofa and call for a car tomorrow.”
“You still get scared to sleep alone in strange places?” I followed behind her, fully knowing that as strong and fearless as Storm was, she was a scaredy cat about being in an unfamiliar large house alone.
“No,” she answered, though the uncertainty was clear in her voice.
I pulled a heavy quilt and a down pillow from a chest of drawers hidden under my large coffee table and placed them on the wide, soft sofa. “The bathroom is right down the hall. There’s a spare toothbrush in the drawer. Soap and linen are in there for taking a shower. My room is two levels up. If you need anything, text me or simply call my name. The wireless audio is instantly connected, and I can hear you.”
“Need one of those for my place.” She acknowledged as she sat down on the sofa. “Wasn’t planning a sleepover. Do you have something I can wear? Maybe I can wear your last woman’s clothes if she left some here.”
I placed my hands in my pockets. “There’s been no other woman since you outside of the occasional hook-up. All I ever wanted was you.”
