Page 51 of Provocation
He nods, looking a little ashamed. ‘I know. It was dumb. You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.’
Mav makes a sound of derision. ‘Yes, you do.’
He winces and I frown. I’ve missed something.
‘What?’
‘He wants to knock her up. Don’t you, Shade?’
‘I don’t want to knock her up!’ Shade hisses. ‘I just…for a second last night, I sort of wondered what it would be like if she was…’
My mouth falls open and I’m shaking my head before he even finishes.
‘Of course. It all makes sense. You’ve always had a thing for her. You hated that your dad sent her away, that you’ll lose her again if she marries Banderville. You want to lock her down, tie her to us.’
‘She’snotmarrying him and I’m not going to do that!’
‘You’re right,’ Mav snarls. ‘She isn’t marrying him, and trying to force her to stay with us by putting a baby in her is all kinds of wrong.’
‘I know,’ he says quietly. ‘It was just a few seconds of?—’
‘All it takes is a few seconds! She’s literally doing two majors and trying to make a life here for herself,’ I mutter. ‘What if she doesn’t want kids at all? Have you even asked her?’
‘I… No. Not really. She’s only been back for a couple of months. We aren’t…there yet.’ Shade looks away. ‘Look, I know. It was a single moment, and I… I won’t do it again.’
‘You won’t,’ I agree. ‘And if Mav and I have to watch you with her to make sure you don’t make any more dumb decisions like that, we will.’
‘You don’t have to do that,’ he says. ‘I’ll make sure I wear a rubber every time. Get her something, too. With my father in charge, there’s no way he’ll approve of her going on birth control.’
His lips curl up into a sneer. ‘He’s probably told Banderville that she’s a virgin.’
‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘I found some stuff on him. Legal issues. Nothing has stuck, but if even half of it is true, he’s one nasty motherfucker. Marcus only got into Richmond U because of the family name. He’s a fuck up and he’s a dick, but it’s Joe we really need to keep our eye on. That family lives by some really weird rules.’
‘Like what?’ Mav asks.
‘Like the sister and the mom aren’t allowed to drink or eat certain foods. They don’t get educated past high school. They barely leave the property, and if they do, one of the male family members has to go with them like a chaperone. There’s more random stuff like that. I also found out that Joe has a reputation in the escort clubs not just in this area but in New York, too. The girls are returned covered in bruises. Some have to go straight tothe hospital. But they’re too scared to talk to the police. He’s one sick sonofabitch. Daisy shouldn’t be anywhere near him, not any of those wackos.’
‘Fuck,’ he whispers. ‘Trust my father to put her in the hands of an abusive asshole. Did you find anything we can use?’
I shake my head. ‘He’s very good at staying under the radar and he either pays off the right people, or he scares them. No one wants to cross him. He’s vindictive, too. Ruined some family because a daughter wouldn’t dance with him at a party.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Shade mutters. ‘Daisy isn’t marrying him anyway. We’ll find a way out of this even if I have to marry her instead.’
I snort. ‘Why you?’
‘Can she get married without John’s approval as her guardian?’ Mav asks, ignoring me. ‘What’s the law?’
‘I’ll find out,’ I say. ‘But asking her to marryone of usshould be our last resort.’
Mav nods. ‘It’s not fair to get her out of one marriage by trapping her in another.’
Shade looks a little upset for a second, but then he shrugs. ‘No, you’re right. She wants to be free to make her own choices. That’s what she’s always wanted. I don’t want her to feel like she’s stuck with me…us.’
‘Okay. What about Envy?’ I ask. ‘Is it good enough to roll it out this weekend?’
Mav nods. ‘Her formula alterations have fixed the main problem we kept having with it. The feedback was really good. Great, actually. I don’t think we need to change much at all, but I’ll discuss it with her later at the lab. We were thinking of making it brighter. It’s kind of a hemp color right now, but we can add in a dye easily.’
Shade looks thoughtful. ‘Do it. I want it to pop. I want people to think ‘candy’, not ‘dietary supplement’.’
