Page 49 of Bound By Flames

Stop staring.

“Shouldn’t you be at the club? You’re never here at…” I turn toward my phone on the bedside table, “nine. Is everything alright? Did somebody die?” The man never wakes up after sunrise. Surely, there’s something wrong if he’s still here. Even on a Saturday, he keeps on working like the weekend doesn’t exist.

“Nah, just wanted to see you before heading out,” he says in this should-be-illegal voice.

“Oh.” That I didn’t expect. Ares is a workaholic, and he stayed…for me.

“How d’ya feel this morning?” He eyes me like a hawk.

“Alright,” I say, massaging my legs, “my legs hurt a bit.” He lowers down to sit beside me, his hand touching my left leg over the covers, massaging it gently but firmly. I swallow, trying to avoid the heat rising in me. I could push him away, though.

I could.

“Do you need the doc to come check it out?” He studies my face with hooded eyes.

“No, I’m fine. I'll stretch a bit,” I assure him.

He nods, his hand still burning my leg, igniting a fire that keeps on expanding.

“Are you worried about me?” I say with a half-smile because Ares looks more like a ruthless gang president than a loving husband. His gaze sharpens, darkening with a predator’s focus, like a lion coiled to pounce on its prey.

“Can’t a husband worry about his wife?” His tone is so low it hits me right in the stomach. We stay a minute like this, the electricity building in the air as if it could be cut with a knife.

What is he doing to me?

There’s an aura about him. It’s really, really confusing. One minute, I want to snap at him, and the other minute, I want…him.

“Shadow and Ash are coming after lunch, sorry ‘bout that. I need them this morning. They’ll drive you wherever you want this afternoon. Just keep them close, alright?”

I frown.

Keep them close?

“Is there something I should know?”

He sighs, stopping his hand, and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Just keep them close. Can you do that for me, princess?”

“Jeez, I’m not a five-year-old who can’t handle your world, talk,” I fire back because I’m so over men, thinking women can’t process darker topics. As if we had been made to only blab about clothes and makeup.

He sighs. “Fair enough.”

He puts his hand back on my leg in a possessive hold I am way too much into.

Calm down, Mia.

He just likes the idea of you.

Don’t you dare get attached.

“We got a few threats coming from a gang in Pennsylvania.”

“How many?” His eyes widen at my answer as if he wasn’t expecting me to ask for details. I was born in this world too, and even if I was not partaking in it, I observed it closely during all my childhood.

“Too many to let you out alone without losing my mind,” he deadpans.

Oh.