Page 53 of Ly to Me (Devils of Alliston Springs #1)

Carver

The Ring

T he confusion on my wife’s face was too fuckin’ cute.

She watched intently from her seat as Grant applied the stencil to my hand.

The moment he pulled it off, her eyes went wide, and her hand shot up to her throat, almost like she was picturing my hand there already.

I threw a wink her way right as the gun whirred to life.

With Grant’s focus on my hand and the work he backed with immense pride, I watched my wife flush crimson as her eyes skirted over the black and blue ink wells. She nearly dropped her fork when her gaze fell back to the necklace that was already taking shape.

“Wanna get a closer look, sweetheart?”

Grant snickered at the endearment and I tucked my fingers in to flip him off. He laughed more and shook his head.

“No, I—” Lyra pulled her phone from her pocket. She lifted a finger my way, signaling she needed a minute as she answered her phone, then set her plate down before walking out to the front porch.

“Those walls won’t turn invisible no matter how hard you try to see through ’em,” Grant said, keeping his head down as he worked on my hand.

I scrubbed my free hand down my face. “It’s probably her friend.”

“You think she has someone else she’s seeing?”

“Fuck no.”

“You did marry her awfully fast.”

Article One prevented me from telling Grant the truth—that Lyra and I got married on a whim because we both needed something. Looking back at it now, it had been far from the truth for both of us. I settled on, “She loves me.”

“That’s clear as day to anyone who steps foot near you two.

The entire town is talking about the woman who leashed you.

” I snorted, knowing it was physically the opposite.

“Got your whole bar in a tizzy the other night. Somethin’ about her grabbing her tits on the dancefloor and then you hauled her off to the bathroom.

People heard her moaning over the music. ”

I chuckled. If that’s all people noticed, then I’d be the last to tell them otherwise. “We did have some fun.”

The corner of Grant’s mouth twisted up. “Well, when you know, you know, I suppose.”

My attention whipped to the edge of Lyra’s blue dress as it fluttered by the window, the fabric disappearing briefly before flashing in the same fashion.

Almost like she was pacing.

Pacing wasn’t good. Pacing meant nerves, or anger. Something volatile.

“Something is wrong out there.” I peered at my hand as Grant started working faster.

“I think you’re being paranoid.”

My leg started bouncing, watching that blue dress flutter by again as Lyra dodged stepping into full-view of the window. The front door opened and Lyra stormed into the house, then kept going on toward our bedroom, clutching her phone in a tight grip.

“God fucking dammit,” I murmured as the bedroom door slammed shut.

“Give me a sec.” Grant set the gun down and wiped my hand.

When it sounded like Lyra was gathering furniture to burn or destroy, I ripped my hand through my hair, my mind spiraling, trying to figure out what the hell could have gone wrong in such a short time.

She told me she loved me, but that didn’t mean she had to stay.

She loved me then, too, and she still left.

She had yet to tell me she was staying, I was just being really fucking hopeful that she would.

The one thing I knew for certain—the person who called my wife was fucking dead .

“Done.” Grant stood and jerked his chin toward everything he’d brought.

“I’d say I’ll be back soon for this, but—” The bedroom door ripped open so hard, the walls shook.

“Call me when I can get my shit back.” Grant tipped his head down as my wife came back into the room, her arms crossed, but holding something wooden.

And small.

And embellished with gold.

“Lyra, it was an absolute pleasure to see you again,” Grant said right before turning dramatically on his heel, whistling low as he strolled through the door and shut it softly behind him.

I leaned back in my chair and matched her crossed arms with my own while eyeing the small box in her hand. I believe my smirk, though, is what set her off.

“You’re a two-faced, lying cheat,” Lyra snapped.

I arched a brow. “Anythin’ else?”

Her face turned a deeper shade of red. “I have a lot else I could say.”

“Don’t let me stop you.” I grinned and got more comfortable in my chair.

She didn’t like that either.

“How can you say you’ve loved me this whole time when you planned to ask someone else?”

“Care to say what I was going to ask?”

“To marry you!” Her chest rose and fell with uneven breaths right before she stormed up to me and shoved the box between my crossed arms and chest. “I found this, so I think you need to tell me right now who that was for and where she lives.”

I spread my legs wider, leaving the box where it was. “Hmmm, let’s see. She used to live in a shithole, but then I asked her to live with me.”

“She lived here , too?” Her eyes scanned the room, probably picturing burning down whatever that girl had sat on. She’d be burning the whole house.

“Somethin’ like that.”

“You better start talking.”

“Who called you?”

She blinked several times. “That doesn’t matter.”

I picked up the box and smoothed my thumb over the worn surface. “It does matter.”

“What was her name, and where can I find her?”

“Such a violent little thing you are over this.” I flipped the box open.

Her eyes bore into the stones along the thin metal band. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Car. I said—”

I pushed up from my seat and grabbed her by the throat.

“The her is you.” I pried the ring from the box using my teeth and let the wooden case fall.

It clattered to the ground as the color dimmed from her cheeks, settling on a light pink shade.

The same shade they’d been when she saw my pierced cock for the first time.

Just like that, I was hard as a rock. “You can find her in this house, with her husband, where she belongs.” I released her throat and took her left hand in mine, then pushed the ring on with ease.

“This isn’t making sense,” she whispered. “He said—”

“Jamie, wasn’t it?”

She nodded, her gaze fixed on the ring. “He said you were going to marry someone else. That I shouldn’t trust you, because you’ve had this”—her throat worked as she glanced down the hallway—“for a while. Before I came into the picture.”

“Which he thinks was not even two weeks ago,” I added, and her shoulders dropped.

“I figured since he lived with you, and you two were close, that he was telling the truth.”

“He was tellin’ it as he saw it.” I rubbed my thumb over the stones—a teardrop-shaped blue sapphire with two diamonds, one on each side.

“We were never close. The only reason he knows about that ring is because he got me hammered as fuck one night and asked about the box I fell asleep holding every night.”

“You…you fell asleep holdin’ it?”

“I couldn’t hold you, now could I?”

“Guess not.” Her eyes darted to the door, then she sighed. “I don’t even know how he got my number. He wouldn’t tell me, just bulldozed the conversation before I could get more than two words in.”

“He took it that first night you stayed here.” Her brows crinkled together. “He was also tracking your location, but I disabled that when I put my number in earlier. Should’ve also blocked his damn number.” Her eyes searched mine, so I finished with, “That’s also how I found you when you left.”

She nodded, chewing the inside of her cheek as she stared down at the ring. “If you don’t want me to have it, then—”

“You remove that ring from your finger and I’ll have Grant tattoo one there instead.”

Lyra reached up, cupping my cheek. “I’ll keep it on,” she whispered as I leaned into her hand, right before she lifted that same hand and smacked me.

My hand latched around her throat while the other pinned her wrist in place. “Care to tell me why you slapped me?”

“You were going to propose to a teenager.”

“You would’ve been eighteen,” I gritted out through my teeth. “And looking back now, I shouldn’t have waited until then, either.” Maybe then she would have stayed. Maybe then she would have seen how devoted to her I was, and that would have been enough.

“You would have done it when I was seventeen?”

“You were mine from the moment I saw you in the field.” I stepped into her, forcing her to walk backward until her ass bumped into the backside of the couch.

“You’ve always been mine, Lyra. Now, do something for me.

” I brushed my lips over hers, then released her and took a step back. “Get on your knees.”

She glanced down at the floor, lips parted.

“Now, sweetheart.”

Her knees made a soft thudding sound as they hit the floor in unison. She eyed the strain in my jeans and licked her lips. “So obedient,” I praised as her fingers twitched in her lap. The moment she reached for my belt, I took two more steps back.

Her hands fell back to her lap as confusion took over her soft features.

“Do you remember asking me about a ring, Mrs. Roland?” I took another step back as her gaze fell to that ring on her finger. A gentle shake of her head confirmed she hadn’t remembered enough of that night.

“I slipped that ring on your finger after you fell asleep in my arms. After an hour of holding you while you slept off the alcohol you felt you had to consume to not think about me like I’ve been thinking about you.

” Her eyes followed my boots as I took another step back.

“Do you know why I didn’t leave it on your finger where it has always belonged? ”

Her thumb smoothed over the stones while her shoulders curved in. “I think so.”