Page 20 of Provocation (Den of Deception #3)

His lips thin and he nods, looking chagrined. ‘Never,’ he echoes.

‘Second, you came in her again . You can’t do that. I love seeing her covered in our cum as much as you do. I want to nut inside her so bad it fucking hurts , but she’s still not on anything. She can‘t keep taking Plan B. It’ll fuck up her hormones.’

I jab him in the chest and he lets me. ‘Be more careful.’

He nods, looking a little ashamed. ‘I know. It was dumb. You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.’

Mav makes a sound of derision. ‘Yes, you do.’

He winces and I frown. I’ve missed something.

‘What?’

‘He wants to knock her up. Don’t you, Shade?’

‘I don’t want to knock her up!’ Shade hisses. ‘I just…for a second last night, I sort of wondered what it would be like if she was…’

My mouth falls open and I’m shaking my head before he even finishes.

‘Of course. It all makes sense. You’ve always had a thing for her. You hated that your dad sent her away, that you’ll lose her again if she marries Banderville. You want to lock her down, tie her to us.’

‘She’s not marrying him and I’m not going to do that!’

‘You’re right,’ Mav snarls. ‘She isn’t marrying him, and trying to force her to stay with us by putting a baby in her is all kinds of wrong.’

‘I know,’ he says quietly. ‘It was just a few seconds of?—’

‘All it takes is a few seconds! She’s literally doing two majors and trying to make a life here for herself,’ I mutter. ‘What if she doesn’t want kids at all? Have you even asked her?’

‘I… No. Not really. She’s only been back for a couple of months. We aren’t…there yet.’ Shade looks away. ‘Look, I know. It was a single moment, and I… I won’t do it again.’

‘You won’t,’ I agree. ‘And if Mav and I have to watch you with her to make sure you don’t make any more dumb decisions like that, we will.’

‘You don’t have to do that,’ he says. ‘I’ll make sure I wear a rubber every time. Get her something, too. With my father in charge, there’s no way he’ll approve of her going on birth control.’

His lips curl up into a sneer. ‘He’s probably told Banderville that she’s a virgin.’

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I found some stuff on him. Legal issues. Nothing has stuck, but if even half of it is true, he’s one nasty motherfucker.

Marcus only got into Richmond U because of the family name.

He’s a fuck up and he’s a dick, but it’s Joe we really need to keep our eye on.

That family lives by some really weird rules. ’

‘Like what?’ Mav asks.

‘Like the sister and the mom aren’t allowed to drink or eat certain foods.

They don’t get educated past high school.

They barely leave the property, and if they do, one of the male family members has to go with them like a chaperone.

There’s more random stuff like that. I also found out that Joe has a reputation in the escort clubs not just in this area but in New York, too.

The girls are returned covered in bruises.

Some have to go straight to the hospital.

But they’re too scared to talk to the police.

He’s one sick sonofabitch. Daisy shouldn’t be anywhere near him, not any of those wackos. ’

‘Fuck,’ he whispers. ‘Trust my father to put her in the hands of an abusive asshole. Did you find anything we can use?’

I shake my head. ‘He’s very good at staying under the radar and he either pays off the right people, or he scares them. No one wants to cross him. He’s vindictive, too. Ruined some family because a daughter wouldn’t dance with him at a party.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Shade mutters. ‘Daisy isn’t marrying him anyway. We’ll find a way out of this even if I have to marry her instead.’

I snort. ‘Why you?’

‘Can she get married without John’s approval as her guardian?’ Mav asks, ignoring me. ‘What’s the law?’

‘I’ll find out,’ I say. ‘But asking her to marry one of us should be our last resort.’

Mav nods. ‘It’s not fair to get her out of one marriage by trapping her in another.’

Shade looks a little upset for a second, but then he shrugs. ‘No, you’re right. She wants to be free to make her own choices. That’s what she’s always wanted. I don’t want her to feel like she’s stuck with me… us .’

‘Okay. What about Envy?’ I ask. ‘Is it good enough to roll it out this weekend?’

Mav nods. ‘Her formula alterations have fixed the main problem we kept having with it. The feedback was really good. Great, actually. I don’t think we need to change much at all, but I’ll discuss it with her later at the lab.

We were thinking of making it brighter. It’s kind of a hemp color right now, but we can add in a dye easily. ’

Shade looks thoughtful. ‘Do it. I want it to pop. I want people to think ‘candy’, not ‘dietary supplement’.’

‘Agreed,’ I say. ‘Envy should be bright and easy to recognize. I have the KIP brothers organizing the party. They’ll get the word out. We need to talk about Detective Black though. How did he even get inside the other night? Sandy was on the door, and she never saw him come in.’

Mav lets out a breath. ‘Could be a mole. There were ten other employees there on Saturday night. Someone could have sneaked him in via the alleyway.’

I sigh, hoping not. ‘I checked them all when they started and nothing stood out, but I’ll go back in and take a closer look. If one of them is on the Richmond PD payroll, I’ll find it.’

We hear movement from Daisy’s room.

‘I have class,’ Mav says, going back into his room.

‘Me too.’ Shade gives me a look. ‘You?’

‘Not for a couple of hours. I’ll walk with Daisy to campus and meet you guys in the lab. We should make sure we have enough of everything for Daisy to make the first batch for Sauvage.’

‘Get him a few of the pills early so he can test them. That’ll keep his guys off our backs at least until the party.

He’ll probably expect his batch at the same time, so Daisy will need to make enough.

’ He lets out a long breath. ‘That’s a lot of hours at Wrath.

It would be better if we all knew how to make it, so it wasn’t all on her when she’s busy already. ’

I snort. ‘After everything, I think it’s safe to say we aren’t quite there with the trust however much we wish that wasn’t the case. We need to give it time. Give her time.’

‘Last night didn’t do us any favors,’ he says quietly.

‘We stopped as soon as we saw that she was upset. And she let you sleep with her last night, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Then it’s probably not as bad as you think.’

We stop talking as Daisy emerges from her room in just a towel.

She stops short when she sees us. ‘Oh! Hi.’

My eyes travel over her slowly and I frown when I see uncertainty in her face. Maybe Shade was right. I’m going to need to explain.

‘Sorry I had to rush away last night,’ I say.

I open my mouth to give her some cock-and-bull story but stop myself. I need to stop lying to this girl. I need to stop lying to myself, too.

It’s awkward for a few seconds when I don’t say anything else because I don’t want to tell her the truth either.

Shade clears his throat quietly.

‘Well, I need to go to class. See you at the lab later?’ he asks Daisy, and she nods.

‘I have class, and then a shift at Grinder. Oh, and I’m meeting Bennet again for our project, but after that.’

I resist the urge to snarl when I hear that fucker’s name.

‘That’s a long day, gorgeous,’ I murmur. ‘Especially if you’re going back to the club tonight.’

She shrugs, not looking at me. I hate it.

Fuck. I’m going to need to tell her the truth. Today.