Page 94 of When Sinners Fall
I watch her reach to the floor, picking up something she’s dropped. “You enjoying yourself down there?”
She slides her way back up me, fingers trailing my arms until she gets to my chest and taps the tattoo she scored into me. “Yes. Very much." She drops a kiss on my lips. “Thank you for the night out. It’s nice to be free.”
“Yeah.”
We’re gonna have to work on that freedom thing.
I slap her ass as I walk past her around the back of the bar. A bottle of whisky gets pulled down, and I sit backside of the bar and watch as she keeps smiling and laughing. It’s good to see, especially when I know my brand is cut into her skin, and she's living with that mark now.
My rings tap the glass I'm holding as I think back on that night a few weeks ago. It took me some time to design it. A lot of heat and heart got poured into making sure that bird was just right for her. I shaped it, stuck it into the furnace repeatedly to get the angles perfect, and finally held it up to the sky to see if it would cut in straight. Couldn’t be anything but that origami bird that forged something between us all those years back. It’s what fits us. And now it’s what seals us.
I melted it back to nothing but liquid the next day. As far as I’m concerned, a personal brand is just that – personal. No one else will ever use it. No one else will ever own it. It was made for her and me alone. I’ll die protecting that. I’ll put her first over everything if I have to, family included, if it comes down to it. She was the first one to protect me – the only one for a while - and I’m going to spend the rest of my life honouring that. Gonna need to given the bitching she did about the pain for a few days. It reminded her what being with me is all about, though. And it keeps reminding her every day when I make her stand naked in front of me and focus on it.
The door opens in the background, and I watch Shaw walk in. He nods at me and makes his way over.
“Your phone’s not on,” he says as he looks over at Mariana. “Neither is hers.” I don’t answer. It’s no goddamn business of his whether it’s on or not. “You’re both needed.”
“For?”
He shrugs. “Abel’s been trying to get you. And Knox. Up at the house. All of us.”
“Someone hurt?”
“Not that I know of.”
I sigh and pull out my phone, knocking the silence off. Four calls from Knox. Two from Abel. No voicemails, though. Which means it’s nothing urgent. It’ll be Mother. Still, I send a text through to Carlo to meet us back at the apartment. “I’ll be there in half an hour. Take Mariana with you.”
He walks over and talks with Mariana. She’s still too busy laughing to take anything too seriously, but she ends up hugging Wren and dancing her way out of the bar with him. They’re gone with little else said, and that’s fine by me. Pansy ass fuck is probably still reeling about Tijuanaand the way I treated him over there. Tough.
I look back at Wren, who’s now using the bar to hold herself up, and I round it to get back to her. “Time for bed, Wren Bird,” I murmur, grabbing under her knees to tip her backwards. She falls back into my hold and frowns, all ire and cheek giving me a pouting attitude to deal with.
“But I don’t want to go.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve got things to do, and you’re trashed.”
“I could go with you,” she says as her hands thread around my neck. “Is it dangerous?”
“Not sure yet.”
“Dark?”
“Is it ever anything else?”
“Ooooh.” She leans in, brushing her lips over my neck. “Bad things?”
I start walking until my back hits the door and we’re out into humid night air, chuckling. “Thought you didn’t want to know.”
“I don’t. Doesn’t mean I don’t think about it. Sometimes I like the two sides of you. Like two different men. Dragon and Dante.”
“You’ve never called me that before.”
“It’s true, though. Nicolas called you Dragon. That's what they all know you as, isn't it?” I frown, pissed at the mention of him. “Maybe you are to them out there, but not for me. Two sides. Their Dragon. My Dante.”
Dumping her ass straight into the car, I drive back to the apartment and keep listening to her giggling and smiling to herself about something. Don’t know what, but if she’s thinking me killing something is sexy, then we might be getting somewhere closer to reality.
She’s over my shoulder all the way up to the door, still laughing and now hitting my ass as if it’s a drum. “What the hell are you doing, Wren Bird?” I mutter, walking her straight to the bedroom and dropping her on the bed.
“I’m teasing that fine ass of yours.” She gets up on her knees and starts peeling clothes off, then gets up in my face to try stripping my top off. “You could tie me up. Do anything.”
