Designing Woman (The Sloan Brothers Book 2) (26 page)

“You haven’t been out of the hospital twenty-four hours sweetheart.  You should take it easy for a few days.”

My hands were roaming slowly over his body and every now and again he’d gasp or moan.  He was fighting with himself and I was making it difficult.  I didn’t care.  Not even a little bit.  When I leaned up and nipped the spot where his neck met his shoulder, he growled.

“Anton?  Know what I want?”

His voice was tight and he was moving against me without realizing it.

“You’re making it pretty plain there babe, so yeah.  I think I know exactly what you want.”

“Then what in the hell are you waiting for?”

“I don’t want to hurt you Mel’.  I can wait...”

Well now he was just pissing me off.  Wait?  Wait for what?  I was done waiting.  I gripped his thigh with one leg and kicked off with the opposite foot, rolling against his body.  His eyes flew open when he found himself flat on his back with me sitting upright over my target area.

I grinned in satisfaction and waggled my eyebrows.

“Hello down there.”

He chuckled and ran his hands up my thighs before turning serious.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

I reached between us and divested him of his boxers.  While I grabbed, pulled, and maneuvered, I watched him break out in a fine sweat while his pupils dilated.

I settled with him exactly where I wanted him, and moaned in satisfaction.

“I cannot believe you’re questioning my mad skills, you silly, silly man.  Better hold on Anton.  This first time is gonna be wild and fast.”

He threw his head back as I began to move.

“That is such a guy line Melody.  I cannot believe that you’ve made me your bitch in ten minutes flat.”

“We’ll take turns.  I’ll be your bitch next.  Deal?”

He flexed his abs and clenched his teeth as I picked up speed.

“Deal.”

It was several hours later before either of us had the energy to discuss the matter further.

Before I opened my eyes I reached over, although I knew he wouldn’t be there.  Anton had always been an early riser so it wasn’t surprising.  What was surprising, was that I didn’t automatically assume that he’d left me during the night like he used to.  After the night that we shared, I knew he was around somewhere.  I’d lost count of the amount of times he’d murmured his love for me and then backed it up with actions designed to leave me breathless.

I grinned to myself, cloaked as I was in a teenage type crush that made my toes curl.  Damn I loved that man.  I giggled when I thought about how lucky I was that he was mine and I pulled the covers up over my head in embarrassment.

That’s when I saw it.  It stood out like the bruise that I was gonna put on his face in about five minutes.  I sat up and reached for it, but it was on good and tight.  It wasn’t going anywhere.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and reached for my cane.  I walked into the bathroom, feeling the weight of it pressed against my skin.  I finished my business, then slipped on pajama pants and a t-shirt.  If he wasn’t alone, there was no reason to flash his company.  At least not until I killed him first.  Then, if his company was cute, the flashing might commence.  I’d decide on the fly.  The death of a certain fiance had to come first.

I limped down the hall, my foot getting stronger every day.  I figured by next week, the cane would be retired to the closet.  As I neared the living room, I heard two recognizable voices.  Stepping from the shadows of the hall, I saw Anton sitting on the sofa sipping coffee while staring at Chase who was likewise enjoying his morning brew.

With renewed anger and indignation flowing through my veins and fueling my attitude, I walked with purpose to Anton’s side.  I brought my cane up as I came to a stop and put the end of it against his temple.  He froze.

“Babe?”

“I’ll ‘babe’ you, you prick.”

In my peripheral vision, I could see Chase shifting in his chair.  My eyes flew to him, although my cane stayed right where it was.

“Don’t you dare move McCartney.  You’ve had a hand in this, I’d bet his life on it.”

Chase froze and swallowed.  If he’d had a gun handy, he’d have been reaching for it.  I was obviously off the rails and he was contemplating the backlash if he put me down.

Anton repeated the only word he seemed able to formulate.

“Babe?”

I nudged his head with the cane and his eyes got bigger.

“An ankle monitor Anton?  Are you out of your fucking mind?  Since when am I under house arrest?  I suggest you answer because I am holding on by my last good nerve.  If it goes, I’m taking your head off with this cane.  Before you say something stupid like, ‘you wouldn’t do that babe’, I want you to remember that it wasn’t long ago that I bit a guy’s dick off.  Sure, this is a step up.  But I feel I’m ready for the challenge.  You feel me Anton?”

Chase was making noises that sounded something like, “Hummina, hummina, hummina”, and Anton was swallowing and thinking.  Hard.

“What’s the matter Anton?  Nothing witty to say?  I know.  Why don’t you tell me what made you think you had the right to tag me like an endangered panda?”

While I watched the reasons and excuses flit through his mind as he searched for one I might accept, I saw his eyes flash to Chase and the pieces fell into place.  I slowly turned towards Chase and he actually squeaked.

“This was your idea?  I assumed you gave the damned thing to him, but this whole thing is on you?  You put the idea in his head?”

Chase stood before I could club him.

“Now Mel’, be reasonable and listen.”

“I was reasonable yesterday.  I was more than reasonable last night.  This morning?  Not so much.  It’s odd waking up with nothing on but an ugly ass black ankle bracelet.  One I haven’t earned or asked for.  I want it off my ankle in the next five minutes or I’m out of here.”

Anton, thinking the heat was off him and centered on Chase, added his two cents.

“Out of here?  Shit girl, it’s not like we won’t be able to find you...”

He started laughing and I reached out and smacked him on the back of the head.  He grabbed his head and looked at me in surprise.

“Hey now!  I’m only telling the truth and the last time you wandered out alone, look what happened!  There’s no way in hell I’m going through that again.  Nuhuh, no way Mel’.  You’re a target now babe.  You’re wearing that thing until he’s caught.  I mean it.”

I put my hand on my hip and stared him down.  He never flinched and never wavered.  He did mean it.  I looked at Chase who seemed equally as determined.

“You two are serious.  Who’s monitoring this damned thing?”

Chase looked sheepish as he took a step closer.

“There’s three monitors, not one of them is at the police department.  There’s one in Anton’s office here in the condo, there’s one at Austin’s that I have access to, and Deacon has one.”

“Deacon?  What the hell does Deacon have to do with this?”

Chase looked at Anton and they both looked nervous as they silently debated who would be the one to tell me.

“Just spit it out!  Why does Deacon have a monitor?”

Anton blew out a breath.

“He was worried about your sister.  Your experience had a serious affect on her Mel’.  She had false labor pains over it and it scared the shit out of Deacon.  He wanted to be able to show her that you couldn’t disappear again.”

“Why don’t you people just put my ass in a cage?  You could all take turns watching me go crazy.”

Anton caught me off guard and pulled me onto his lap.

“You’re a remarkable woman and a lot of people worry about you.  I worried more than all of them combined.  It turned out we all worried for good reason.  I know you’re pissed and I also know you’ll get over it.”

I started struggling to get up and he held me tighter.

“Sit still and listen to me.  If I let you up, I’m leaving.  Chase can take the bracelet off and he can leave too for all I care, because if I leave, I’m not coming back.  Getting engaged was scarey.  You know me and you know that’s true.  As frightening as that was for me, the experience of almost losing you because you’re stubborn and stupid, frightened me more.”

I turned in his arms and scowled at him.

“Stubborn and stupid?”

“I could have said you played fast and loose with my affection because you did.”

“I did no such thing!”

“The hell you didn’t!  You were safe living with Pierce, but no.  You had to rock the boat.  You gained our acceptance because you promised us that you wouldn’t go anywhere alone.  You looked me right in the eye and you promised me Mel’.  Then you waited for the perfect opportunity to orchestrate your own custom made disaster!  You invited HIM out for a drink, not the other way around.  Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m willing to bet that if I asked another woman out for a drink, you’d be all over my shit in a major way.”

I started to argue and protest, but he held up his hand in a commanding way and I stopped.

“I’m not debating this with you.  The facts speak for themselves.  You went to meet a dangerous man who was already pissed at you, and you went alone.  You said you wouldn’t do it, then you turned around and did exactly that.  You lied.”

“I wouldn’t call it lying exactly Anton...”

“Call it whatever you want, but it amounts to the same thing.  You lied.  Now let me tell you what happens next.”

“I don’t want to wear this ugly thing on my ankle.”

“I don’t care what you want.  Know why?  Because you didn’t care what I wanted.  If I wanted to be a real prick, I’d tell you that I refuse to marry a woman that will go behind my back to meet other men and lie to me to do that.  I can either trust you or I can’t Mel.  You’re not off to the best start here.”

I didn’t know what to say.  I knew I hadn’t thought it out well, but I never gave the, ‘lying to Anton’ thing any thought at all.  I’d never do anything to put us in jeopardy, but that’s exactly what I’d done.  This sucked.

He watched me process and he waited patiently.  Chase kept his mouth shut, which was probably the smart thing to do.

I saw his point.  I was even able to follow his train of thought on this.  The thing was, no matter how hard I tried, I didn’t agree.  By effectively strapping what was essentially a tracking device on me, how was he being any less controlling than Tony?  Tony’s restraint was more obvious, but Anton’s was just as efficient and less noticeable.  In a strange way, Tony had been more honest.

Anton saw when the penny dropped and his posture changed.  He started to say something, but I put a finger over his lips.

“You said your piece.  Now it’s my turn.”

He sat back but he didn’t pull me with him.  Later on I’d see this for what it was.  His first step in letting go.

I looked at the engagement ring he’d slipped on my finger at some point while I was in the hospital.  It was beautiful in it’s simplicity, kind of like him.  Anton was the most beautifully complicated simple person I’d ever met.  I looked up at him, only to find that he’d been watching me the whole time.  Something passed between us and it was grim and intense.

Nothing would happen if I let this go.  I knew that.  I also knew that if it wasn’t this, it would be something else in the not too distant future.  Because folks, if you don’t communicate and compromise, the relationship is nothing but a drawn out power play.  The proof was strapped to my ankle.

“Anton, I know I screwed up.  I knew that when I woke up cuffed to a bed...”

“You should have known before that.  See Mel’, that’s what I don’t get.”

“What?”

“You say you love me and always have and I believed you.  Then you snuck out to meet the one person you swore you’d stay away from.  He’s seen you naked and now there’s a running joke going around about the intimate way you injured him.  How is that supposed to make me feel Mel’?  I sat in a hospital for days going crazy and waiting for you to come back to me.  I couldn’t work, eat, or sleep.  You did that to me.  You did it on purpose and without giving me a second thought.”

I looked at him and he shrugged.

“Now you know how I feel Mel’.  Tell me how you feel.  After everything you’ve put me through, tell me how that ankle bracelet is worse than what you did to me.”

I wish he’d said anything but that.  He’d left me with limited choices.  I could acquiesce and allow him to tag and trace me, setting a precedence for every situation in the future in which he felt threatened or nervous, or I could draw a line right here, right now.  I could not see a happy ending in my future and I was finding it difficult to keep it together.

He was waiting for an answer and he had a right to one.

“First, I want to apologize for putting you through all of that.  In my defense, I want to say that I never meant to hurt or worry you.  I thought it would be a way for me to get information from him in public.  Things started to spiral out of my control and I’m sorry.”

He smiled and started stroking my arm from my shoulder to my elbow.  I smiled at him but it didn’t touch my eyes.  I felt it and he saw it.  He dropped his hand to my thigh and waited.

“What I did was wrong.  What he did was wrong.  But this?”

I raised my pant leg and pointed to the bracelet.

“This is worse.”

He looked incredulous and ready to be angry.  He stared at me, willing me to continue.

“Anton, I’m not even going to pretend that what I did was okay.  It wasn’t.  But I did it to try and end all of this.  I did it to get information.  Something.  Anything.  His address, his admission to something we could nail him on, hell I’ll admit I was grasping at straws, but I was tired of the upheaval.  He had our whole family afraid of our own shadows.  What kind of life is that?  How long was it supposed to go on?  The cops couldn’t find him and I had him.  Anton, I had contact with the asshole!  What was I supposed to do?”

He didn’t skip a beat.

“You were supposed to tell me and together we would’ve worked something out with Chase.  We could’ve helped you.  We could’ve worked together to prevent exactly what happened.”

He took my hands.

“But you couldn’t let me in.  You couldn’t trust me Melody.  You went it alone like you always do and it almost got you killed.  Tell me something.  When are you planning to become half of a whole?  I committed to that.  Why can’t you?”

This was not going as I’d planned.  I was on a road I did not want to traverse and I saw no way to turn off or turn around.  I was speeding towards a brick wall without brakes.

“You’re making more of this than it is.  I do trust you Anton.  I invited you to move in for god’s sake.  I’ve never felt close enough to anyone to do that before.  How can you say that I’m not committed?”

He pushed me off of his lap and onto the sofa, then he stood and ran his hands through his hair.  He reached into pocket and pulled out his keys.  While he did that, I scrambled.