Page 62 of Red Retaliation
Before I can stop myself, I gently touch Arianna’s face. “Everything’s okay now.”
She flinches, and I quickly withdraw my hand.
Guilt: I hate and resent it, yet I can’t feel much worse. Dragging Arianna across the car park has trashed her knees. They’re bleeding. Knowing I’m responsible, I can barely bring myself to look at the tattered mess of her kneecaps.
Although I found myself apologizing - another new thing for me, she’s still terrified. Not of me, but of the Bristonis. I don’t think it’s quite sunk in that it was a false alarm. But false alarm or not, Arianna knows as well as I do that it’s only a matter of time before it happens for real.
My irritation over the situation flares once more. How could everyone have read the signals so wrong? How couldIhave read the signals so wrong? I should have been 100% sure the car was a threat before taking action. I’m only grateful I didn’t open fire.
But Idowish I’d chosen a less damaging way of getting Arianna to safety.
Walking away from the bed, I enter the en-suite and seat the plug in the large corner bath. Turning both taps on full, I lean on the washstand and stare at myself in the mirror. My reflection looks like me, just a stressed, unkempt and sweaty version.
I stare into the cold eyes looking back at me. The band previously keeping my unruly hair neatly tied back has now come loose, and strands and tufts are everywhere. I look exactly what Arianna once accused me of being: a “neanderthal thug”.
Ripping the elastic band from my hair, I enjoy the pain as it snags. Shaking my hair free, I glare at the sweaty mess of my face and grubby suit.
Two suits ruined in less than twenty-four hours.
What a fucking joke!
As the water gushes from the silver bath taps, I close my eyes. They reflect only resentment and hatred for the Bristonis, the Galvatores - the entire lot of them, and I’m sick of it. But what my eyes don’t reveal is the nagging thought that keeps pushing into my brain of what it would be like to claim Arianna.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
Thinking about that after what I’ve just put her through likens me to little better than Liam’s behavior in the cellar the other day.
Plus, I’ve probably just scarred her, and for what?
Nothing.
Couple that with it also being the day of one of my best men’s fucking funerals and the rest of the shit on my back, yet I’m still thinking like a dog on heat?
It sickens me. I’m better than this. Alotbetter than this.
The nerve in my jaw picks up its familiar twitch as I reopen my eyes to glare at my reflection. Thankfully, years of practice allows no reaction as Arianna suddenly appears behind me. I don’t turn around. I dare not. That dress might be what she chose to wear to a funeral, but I haven’t appreciated how gorgeous it is until now. It’s dirty, covered with dirt and torn from where she fell and got dragged along the concrete, but those flaws do not take away from how it clings to her every curve.
And what the years haven’t done is stop my cock reacting to what I see behind me in the mirror’s reflection.
My throat constricts I center on the rise and fall of her breasts underthe low-cut neckline of the dress. I clear my throat. “I’m running a bath for you so you can get cleaned up.”
“I... I don’t want to be my own. I...” Arianna steps forward - only slightly, but enough to fire my nerve endings. I remain facing the mirror. If I don’t, I’ll lose control.
“I-I thought we’d be killed,” she says, her violet eyes full of pain. “I thought we’d all be dead, like... like what happened to Steve. I... I don’t blame you for hating me. If you want me to leave, then I will. We can annul the marriage.”
I spin around, her words taking me off guard. “It’s all over the papers! It will achieve what I want - what webothwant, so why the hell would I annul it?”
“Because I can’t deal with this, that’s why!” Grasping at her hair, Arianna looks defeated. “Your brothers are right. Even that man at the wake was right! I’m bringing everyone down, and it’s not worth it.I’mnot worth it.”
A fist clenches around my heart.
I know what I’ve said. I know what I’ve promised, but I can’t throw this woman to the wolves. I don’t know exactly what has happened to her in the past, but enough for me to want to ensure there’s never a repeat performance. She is mine now, so if I can ensure she gets my repeat protection, then a Galvatore or not, that is what I’ll do. She’s too exquisite to ruin, even if that results in my loss.
But that doesn’t mean I’ll let my guard down.
Moving past her, I turn the bath tap off, my eyes cold, giving away no hint of the raging heat inside me. Within me is where it will remain. “I will not annul the marriage. Now, come on - your bath is ready.”
My brothers and everyone else must accept that Arianna is part of this now - part of our family. The marriage will not be annulled, and I won’t stop taking her out with me in public. Like I intended from the start, I’ll deal with the aftermath of whatever that brings.
