Page 11 of A Worthy Opponent
I manage to school my expression before they both look at me. I had no idea Tink was sending money to the church. There’s no reason Ishouldknow that, but, fuck, it doesn’t even surprise me now that I think of it. It’s exactly something she’d do.
“Shall we?” I motion Nigel and Colin into the room and shut the door. Despite there being three years between them, they could almost pass as identical twins. The only difference is that Colin wears a full beard and has a penchant for graphic T-shirts from 80s rock bands. Today’s is AC/DC.
Tink narrows her eyes as she looks at the papers I lay on the desk. “You already got us a marriage license. Somehow. Despite the fact that I’m supposed to be present for that.”
“Just greasing the wheels.” I hand her a pen. “Sign here.”
“You’re such a bastard.” She doesn’t hesitate to sign, though, and then practically stabs me with the pen when she thrusts it back at me. I follow suit.
Father Elijah shakes his head. “I didn’t want this for either of you.”
I can appreciate his sentiment—I didn’t want this shit for me, either—but marrying Tink doesn’t even rate on the list of horrible things I’ve had to do over the years. It’s necessary, yes, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want it. Didn’t wanther.
Father Elijah arranges us before him. I start to tell him we don’t need the full show, but he shuts me up with a harsh look. I stare down at Tink as he goes through the whole song and dance of our wedding vows. Even in her heels, she barely comes up to my shoulder. It’s so easy to forget how short sheis because her personality expands her presence. It’s not doing that right now. She looks too pale and a little wide around the eyes as she says, “I do.”
I repeat it when it’s my turn, and it feels a whole lot like promising shit I have no ability to give. She knows that, though. She’s walking into this fully aware of cost, the same as me. If I’m the one who forced her to this point, I’m not sorry I did it.
Father Elijah sighs. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Chapter 5
Tink
As tempting as it is to knee Hook in the balls, I am overly aware of Father Elijah watching us. He’s a good man and one of the few things I found bearable during my time with Peter—at least until that was taken from me, too.
In the end, he was the straw that broke the camel’s back. After Peter forbid me from attending church, Father Elijah tried to intervene. In the aftermath of that, it felt like I woke from a long sleep. I’d known I wasn’t getting out of my relationship with Peter alive, even if I couldn’t admit it to myself at the time. But realizing that I’d take down innocents, too?ThatI couldn’t stand for.
So I ran. Took the route and resources I’d been too terrified to contemplate before, and fled to Hades, where I begged him to save me. He could have demanded anything and I would have accepted. By comparison, five years is a bargain.
Now I’m making a different kind of bargain, though it’s just as driven by fear as the last.
I lift my face and let Hook press a surprisingly sweet kiss to my lips. I don’t know what I expected, but this wasn’t it. Ihave to fight not to step forward, not to close the distance between us, not to nip his bottom lip so he’llreallykiss me.
He lifts his head and grins. “Let’s do this.” Then he takes my hand and tows me toward the door.
Father Elijah gives a rough laugh. “Don’t be a stranger, Tatiana.”
It takes two tries to form words. “I won’t.” Every time someone calls me by the name I intentionally left behind, it feels like they’re forcibly shoving me back into a skin that’s too small. I’m not that girl anymore. I don’t want to ever be her again.
And yet here I am, right back where I started. Hook might not have set up his headquarters in the same house Peter dominated, but so much of it is the same. Various people, all obviously armed, moving about with purpose in their steps and violence in their eyes. One doesn’t run an entire territory through charm alone. Threats must be delivered and examples must be made. And Hook does it all. He wouldn’t be able to hold his power without getting his hands dirty.
Rationally, I know he’s nowhere near as evil as Peter is. I’m not even sure he’s evil at all. But he chose to take over this territory, and that decision more than speaks for itself.
Hook doesn’t quite drag me through the halls, but I have to step fast to keep up with his longer strides. I try to memorize the building’s layout, but though it seems like a straightforward business from the outside, the inside has been completely gutted and renovated into something else entirely. We move through what feel like smaller apartments, hallways, and then a living room, and then another hallway. It’s really brilliant as a way of forcing an invading enemy into pinch point after pinch point, but it’s discombobulating. I’m lost before we make it halfway through the main floor, and that irritates the hell out of me.
He hauls me to an elevator and ushers me inside. Thesecond we’re behind closed doors, I yank my arm free. “Manhandling is not sexy.”
“I beg to differ.”
I ignore the innuendo in his low voice. I may have intentionally blocked out his presence in the Underworld whenever I could, but there was no escaping the end-of-shift reports with my fellow employees. We were information gatherers, and everything we learned went into the impressive files Meg keeps on anyone of interest in Carver City.
I know more about what gets Hook off than I have any right to. I also know that he’s been paying attention tomethis entire time. He knows my kinks. He’s seen them on display. I can’t think about that too hard or I won’t be able to fight the blush buzzing beneath my skin. “Not like this,” I manage.
“Okay,” he agrees easily.
I give him a sharp look, trying to sense the shape of the trap he’s letting me walk right into. Hook might fake being agreeable, but heisfaking it. I don’t know why Hook won’t move on Peter without this sham of a marriage, but I can’t afford to be picky right now. Not when I can still feel that bastard’s fingers digging into my wrist. It will bruise, and that pisses me the fuck off. These days, the only bruises on my body are the ones Iwantthere. Not from him. Never again from him.
The doors slide open, and Hook ambles out into a massive bedroom. I whistle before I can stop myself. The ceiling arches high above us, and it’s made entirely of glass. I bet at night, the stars look close enough to touch. It’s a struggle to drag my gaze back down to earth and the room itself. It’s set up in a studio style with a surprisingly top-of-the-line kitchen taking up space on the left and a series of hardwood wardrobes on the right, half of which look like they’re in the process of vomiting clothing onto the floor.Seeing that chaos makes my blood pressure rise to dangerous levels, so I turn to the wall that appears to be made of vaguely translucent tile. The door next to it confirms it as the bathroom, and when I walk over to investigate, I roll my eyes. The entire wall is the shower, which means anyone standing there will be outlined almost perfectly for viewing from the rest of the room. Great.
