Page 95 of When Sinners Fall

I grab her chin and kiss her briefly. “No. Sleep.” She pouts and flops back onto the sheets, rolling her shoulders. “Unless you want me to tie you up and leave you for a couple of hours.” My own smile breaks as I begin enjoying the thought. “I can do that.”

“Well, that’s not the same at all,” she purrs. “Unless the boys are outside.” Her ass wriggles further up the bed until she’s staring straight at me. “Maybe they could help me and-”

“Don’t even think about tempting that shit outta me, Wren. You won’t like the result.”

“Oh god, it was a joke, Dante. Calm down. I can wait. Go do whatever you need to do.” I keep staring, making sure she understands how stupid that joke was for her well-being. “Yes. I get it. No jokes.” No. None. Not like that at least. “Come back soon. Alive preferably.”

“Give me two hours.”

“Might be asleep by then.”

I turn and start walking out. “Good, because I’ve got some damn fine ways of waking you up.” Not sure how many of them she’s gonna like, but nothing’s gonna stop me after that tease.

Carlo is in place in the foyer by the time I get down. I keep moving until I’m back in my car without really acknowledging him. It’s not like he needs an explanation from me. Both he and Darius are on call to protect her whenever I need them. That’s their whole damn existence, as far as I’m concerned. Nothing else is more important than her.

The drive is filled with my own annoyance. Not because of what she said back there, but because of this type of summoning. I’ll do anything I can to protect all of them when I’m needed, but this isn’t me being needed. This is me being made to be somewhere when I’d far rather be somewhere else with someone who does need me. It makes me start thinking about getting out of here again for a while – taking time for just us two. And then that leads me to wondering where it all goes from here on in. Marriage. Kids. Maybe some kinda life that gets her away from being so deeply entrenched in what I am one day.

The winding driveway is under me before I’ve finished thinking about the future for us, but one thing's for damn sure – Wren isn’t going to settle for danger in her everyday life when that time comes. She’ll challenge that when we talk about more than just me and her. She’ll get that backbone of hers all up in my face and refuse to back down because she’ll need something safer. Maybe I will, too.

I look up at the house as I pull up.

I can’t offer safety here.

Everything is still a risk, no matter the guards protecting her, or my ability to defend us.

The car door slams behind me as I light a smoke and I make my way up the steps and around the veranda. Abel’s waiting for me by the cutoff down to the pool. He frowns and watches me approach, then looks out to the lights around the house in the gardens.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“You alright?”

“Yeah. You?”

He looks down and scowls. “Yeah.”

“Why am I here then?”

He turns away and is walking back into the house before he’s bothered with an answer, so I follow until we reach the main lounge. Everyone’s in there already. Knox is over in a corner reading a book. Shaw’s drinking from cut crystal like he thinks he deserves it. Mariana’s leaning on a wall, scowling. And, low and behold, Mother’s glaring at me like the witch she is.

“This better be good,” I mutter, taking a seat.

“Nice of you to join your family, Dante,” she snarks.

I roll my eyes and look at nothing instead of her. “Yeah. Whatever. What’s going on?”

“I’m waiting for an answer.” She takes her time looking at me, and then Shaw, and then Knox, until she finally lands on Abel. He isn’t looking anywhere else but into the garden opposite Mariana. “I told you I’d need one. And as Mariana isn’t useful to the cause anymore, which one of you is it going to be?”

“This shit again?” I get up and start walking for the door, about ready to get my ass home to Wren. “I’ve just ended any threat Ortega was bringing by ripping his guts out. I’m done here.”

Abel moves slowly, folding his body until he’s in front of me and looking at the floor. “The deal is still set, Dante. Sit down.”

I hover there in front of him, unsure what the hell he’s talking about. “We don’t need any goddamn deal with them now and-”

“Yes, we do.” He looks up and stares, cold as fuck eyes warning me not to push this argument. “It’s done. The decision is made.”

The sound of the main door closing in the house ten seconds later tells me we’re not alone anymore. Heels sing loudly along the corridor, slow and steady in their stride. I don’t turn, and I don’t make a move other than staring straight back at Abel. “She’s here?” He nods. I wish I knew what he was trying to tell me, but at this point in time, and with the limited information he’s been offering, I’m not understanding a goddamn thing.

I glance over at Shaw, then Knox, then straight back to him. “You’re really gonna make one of them do this?” The door opens into the lounge while he’s still looking at me, and I try thinking back on a teenage kid who I once saw at some joint out in San Diego. She must have been about fifteen then, but that was a long ass time ago.

“Hello, Melena.” The voice coming out of her drips with privilege and edge, and knowing Ortega like I do, I’m betting the nails are razor sharp as hell. “Boys. So who’s it going to be?”

I sigh, light a smoke, and close my eyes to pull some nicotine in. I’m gonna need it for what’s about to go down. The smoke gets blown back out into Abel’s face to make sure he understands just how pissed I am, and I slowly turn my body until I get a good view of what’s coming for us. I wasn’t wrong. She’s everything an Ortega woman would grow up to be.

And it sounds like one of us is gonna have to deal with this bitch for the rest of our lives.

The End