Page 56

Colton

I thread my fingers through Haven’s hair while she sleeps with her head on my chest. It’s almost noon, but I don’t have the heart to wake her, nor do I have any desire to leave my bed. Our bed.

I glance at the empty spot on the floor where Haven’s cage was. I don’t want her sleeping in it anymore. She’s my wife now. She sleeps with me.

After we left the courthouse yesterday, I took her out to a restaurant that overlooks Birchwood Lakes. It was the least I could do after giving her no other choice but to marry her fucking bully.

Once we got home, I kept her up for most of the night. I edged her for hours and then ate her out until she came four times on my tongue. After that, I let her go down on me, and for once, I let her have all the control. The girl practically worshiped my cock, and when I came, my orgasm hit me so hard I could barely move after.

I still haven’t fucked Haven. Something is stopping me. I think I want us to be in a better place when it finally happens. Her trust in me, however relieved I am to have it, is still tentative. There are moments when she looks at me, and between our past and her trauma, she sees Isaiah. She needs more time.

It’s not like I can expect anything more. I still have a ways to go when it comes to earning Haven’s forgiveness. It’ll be a hard and long process, but she’ll be worth every second.

My phone buzzes on my nightstand. I’m just able to reach it without pulling my arm out from underneath Haven.

“Hello?” I answer quietly.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Mark grits out.

“Currently? Lying in bed with my beautiful wife.”

“You’re filing for divorce,” he snaps. “Today.”

“Mmm, no, don’t think so. Give the Elshers my sincerest apologies, will you?”

“You do realize you just gave up your position in the Glass Rooks, don’t you?” Mark says darkly. “You’ll never take my place now. Hell, I should ban you from the organization entirely.”

“That’d be a pretty bad look for you, though, wouldn’t it?” I ask coolly. “Kicking out your own son because he didn’t want an arranged marriage? Sounds pretty petty. You’d have a lot of members questioning your loyalty and wondering if they were next. They wouldn’t know if they could trust you.”

“Don’t think there won’t be consequences for this,” Mark growls.

“Oh, I’m sure there will be, just not ones related to the Glass Rooks. They’re my family, Dad, not you. And you’re never taking them away from me.”

I hang up and toss my phone onto the mattress. He can yell at a wall for all I care.

“What are the Glass Rooks?” Haven asks sleepily.

Shit. I didn’t realize she woke up.

“It’s better if you don’t know.”

“Uh uh, no.” Pushing herself up, she gives me a hard look. “I’m your wife now, Colton. That means no more secrets. What the hell are the Glass Rooks?”

I can’t help my grin. My wife. She called herself my wife.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

I interlock our fingers. “Haven Heverly. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

Narrowing her eyes, Haven says, “Don’t change the subject on me.”

“Angel…”

“Please?”

“Promise me you’re not pulling the wife card just to get me to talk.”

The words must hit Haven hard because her expression completely changes. She knows what a big deal it is for me to let my guard down and be vulnerable with her.

“I’m not.” She straddles me, the sheets pooling at her hips. “I want to know because I care about you. I want to fight for you. But that means we both have to trust each other.”

I swallow hard. She’s right. In my heart, I’ve forgiven her for her betrayal, but love, trust, and forgiveness are three very different things. The Glass Rooks isn’t something I can sacrifice. The organization means too much to me. If Mark somehow gets into Haven’s head again, and she tells him things he can’t know…

No. No. She wouldn’t make that mistake a second time.

Leaning forward, Haven places her hands on my chest. She’s beautiful like this—fully naked, her hair framing her face, and wearing my ring on her finger. It’d be so easy to let myself fall into her completely, caution be damned.

“Colt, Please. I want to know what’s been stressing you out so much lately, and it has to be this. Right?”

Goddammit. Who am I becoming that I can’t say no to her anymore?

“Does this have something to do with what I overheard you guys talking about during Christmas break? Something about Mark stealing from some fund?”

“It does, yeah.”

She stares at me, waiting for an explanation. Part of me is reluctant to give it, but the other side of me wants to bring her in on this. Not only do I want to trust her, but I want her to know everything about me. Someday—the sooner the better, in my opinion—I want there to be no secrets between the two of us.

“Before I was born, my father was involved in some… illegal activities. After almost getting caught a few times, he realized his life would be a lot easier if he had people watching his back, and vice versa. So he formed the Glass Rooks. Lucas’s stepdad was one of the founding members, along with some other men you don’t know.

“The goal of the organization was to create a network of criminals in various fields who could all help each other with jobs. That quickly extended into helping each other with personal problems. It was a tight-knit community of people who were incredibly loyal to each other.”

Haven’s eyebrows widen in realization. This is why loyalty is so important to me. It was the first value ever instilled into me, and I’ve seen firsthand what loyalty can do for a group of people—and how quickly disloyalty destroys it.

“So you’re a part of it?” Haven asks.

“I am. Family of members are automatically invited, although they can choose to decline.”

“So Lucas…?”

“He’s a member as well.”

“And Xander?”

“It took some work for Mark to let him in, but yes. He’s a part of the Rooks as well.”

“What do you mean, work?”

“My father and I have been at odds for years. You know that.” My palms slide up her thighs. I just can’t keep my hands off her. “He wouldn’t let Xander in purely to spite me. We had to force his hand.”

“Force his…” Haven pales. “Oh my god. Oh, Colton, please don’t tell me—”

“The briefcase?” I ask when she doesn’t go on. “Yeah. It contained information on a competitor that Mark wanted. We were going to use it as leverage to force his hand. When you told him where it was, it took us over a year to get Xander into the Rooks.”

Both her hands go to cover her mouth.

“It’s in the past, angel.”

She shakes her head. “I’m so sorry. Colt, I had no idea.”

“Hey, hey.” I take both her hands in mine and squeeze gently. “I forgive you, Haven.”

At that, she goes completely still. She’s not even breathing anymore. Then tears flood her eyes, and she drops down so she’s lying on top of me. She snakes her arms around my body and buries her face in my neck.

“Angel—”

“Thank you,” she whispers.

I wrap my arms around her. “I know we’ve got a long way to go, but I’m choosing to trust you—especially with what I’m about to say next.”

With a gasp, she sits up again. “I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“Good. This can’t get out.” My hands come to rest on her thighs again. Her skin is just so soft. “Mark’s greed is destroying the Rooks. I’ve been planning on kicking him out of his position and leading the organization for years now. Xander and Lucas have been helping me. That’s what you overheard us talking about.”

Haven’s eyes widen. “That sounds dangerous.”

“It is. If we fail, we might die.”

“No! Colton, what the hell—”

“Listen to me.” I wait until she’s looking at me, and then I squeeze her thighs. “That’s my girl. You’ve got nothing to worry about, all right? It’s taken us so long because we’ve been working to ensure a guaranteed win.”

“But—but—”

“No buts. I’m not saying it’ll be easy. Mark will stop at nothing to get what he wants, which means we have to match his drive plus more. But we’ve got this, and we’re almost there. I just have to make sure we have a few more key players on our side, and then we’re golden.”

Haven makes a distressed sound of protest.

“Angel, I promise we’ll be fine. This plan is years in the making. But you can’t tell a single soul about it. Not even Athelia, all right?”

“Not even Thelia,” she repeats.

“Good girl.” I sit up. “Now let’s get some breakfast, all right? I’m starving.”

. . .

Haven is sitting in my lap at the dining room table when Xander and Lucas get back from their run. I stopped making her eat on the floor sometime in mid-winter. Our dynamic hasn’t changed much, but it’s not twenty-four-seven anymore. Besides, I’d much rather have her sitting in my lap.

“Water?” Xander calls to Lucas.

“God, please. I’m so thirsty, I could drink an entire lake.”

“Morning, you two,” Xander says with a grin. He walks past before he freezes and does a double-take. His eyes are fixed on Haven’s left hand. “Colton, what the hell did you do?”

“Exactly what it looks like.”

Lucas chokes on air. “Dude, what the fuck?”

“It was either this or marry Delilah in under two weeks.”

“Fucking hell,” Xander mutters under his breath.

“They didn’t know?” Haven asks in disbelief.

“Of course we didn’t know!” Lucas exclaims.

“Again, angel.” I kiss her temple. “I was hoping for an actual wedding, not one in a courthouse.”

“Mark is gonna be pissed,” Xander says.

“Oh, he is. Already ordered me to initiate the divorce.”

Haven goes stiff in my lap, so I squeeze her reassuringly.

Frowning, Lucas sits across from us. “He’s going to retaliate.”

“He already tried to kick me from the Rooks, but I reminded him of the consequences that would ensue, so we should be good there. Our graduation party is coming up. We just need to ensure we have the rest of the people on the list on our side, and then we can enact our plan.”

“List?” Haven asks.

“Should we be talking about this in front of her?” Xander asks.

“I explained everything to her this morning.”

Neither of them seem too pissed about that. I think we all knew it was coming.

“It’s a list of Rooks who have power in the organization and have shown some form of dislike for things Mark has done,” Lucas explains. “We need their influence. Well, we want it, anyway.”

“It’s a safeguard,” I continue. “I’ve put in a lot of work to express my values to all Rooks of any level. They know what I stand for, and it’s what they want. We just have to be cautious.”

Haven’s eyes turn pleading as she glances between the three of us. “Please. I don’t want you to die.”

Xander grins. “Oh, don’t you worry, doll. You can’t get rid of us that easily.”