Wed to the Bad Boy (14 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Joanna

Willa’s words pounded in my head.
You are staying with him for a reason, Jo. It’s not like you to do anything you don’t want to. So what is it?

I told myself it was because my uncle was threatening me, my father. But he would never hurt us, would he? I didn’t believe that.

Could it be that I was staying with him for his soft smile, or the pain behind his eyes, or the anger in his voice when anyone threatened me? He was strong, and protective, and he looked at me with a fire like no one else had ever done. Those eyes saw into my soul and they melted me, the deep greys and greens of them swirling and mixing and oh so deep.

He was sexy, and he was powerful and it turned me on.

But was it more than that? I buried my head in my hands. It was practically spinning.

My phone buzzed. It was probably Mary finalizing details. I’d called her on my way home from the teashop, but she said she would chat with me later about it.

“Hello?” I said into the phone. I didn’t even look at the number.

“Ah, niece. Glad to hear your voice.”

My blood ran cold, it was Dennis.

“Are you somewhere you can talk?” he asked.

“I’m at the penthouse. Alone.” It was lonely when he wasn’t here, so I couldn’t be closer to the truth.

“Good.” I could hear the smile in his voice and it made me shiver. My uncle wasn’t an archetypical evil person, at least not in my opinion, but I was starting to get a more and more negative view of him. “What information do you have for me?”

“Information?”

“About the family. What can you tell me about their weaknesses? The way they operate.”

I sighed. I knew he wanted this from me, but I just wasn’t ready to start giving him information. To begin with, I didn’t really have anything of value, but it also just felt wrong.

“I don’t-“

“The only way this little arrangement is going to work is if you give me the information I need, Jo.”

“I don’t even want this arrangement,” I said, my eyes filling with tears. The emotion of the forced wedding, of my feelings for Greyson. It was all too much. I couldn’t control the tears that were falling from my face any more than I could control my fate. “I don’t know anything.”

“No matter how small, it could prove helpful.”

“I dunno. His parents fight, his sisters are quiet. One of them never even came home for dinner. Then there is his half-brother.”

“Half-brother?”

“David. He came and offered to marry me, said I would be able to stay at UMBC. But he’s… I don’t trust him. It sounds like he wants power for himself.”

“Very good. See. Anything at all could be helpful, Jo. Now calm down, do some yoga or meditation or whatever you girls do. I’ll be in contact soon.” Click. Just like that he was gone. Off the phone.

And I was alone crying into my hands on the couch.

As soon as I heard the door open I sat up and wiped my eyes, but it was obvious. I’d been crying all afternoon, my nose red and runny, my eyes puffy. I was a mess.

“What’s wrong, Jo?” Greyson asked. He looked like he could kill someone the second he came in.

“It’s nothing,” I said, swallowing and waving him away. How could I tell him that my uncle was a slimeball, my wedding was terrifying me, and I was more afraid than anything else that I was falling for him.

How could I love him when I barely knew him?

“Clearly it isn’t ‘nothing’. Tell me what’s going on.” He sat down next to me and tilted my chin up so that I could look him in the eyes.

It was the last place I wanted to look. I knew when he saw into mine he would see the fraud I really was. A pawn for my uncle and nothing more.

“It’s just, the wedding. It’s all happening so fast and-“

“I know. I’m sorry. This whole thing is my fault.” He bent down and kissed me softly. It wasn’t something I was used to from him and judging by the way he pulled back he wasn’t ready for it either.

“Look, I have to ask you something,” he said.

“What is it?” I asked finally calm enough to stop crying. I sucked in each breath long and slow, letting them calm me until no more pain remained. He was here. He was leaving, again, but he always came back.

“It’s about your uncle,” he explained. I could tell by the look in his eyes that it was serious.

Fuck. Did he know the truth?

“You don’t know anything about his plans, do you?” he asked. I couldn’t believe he was asking me this. Was it a test?

“What do you mean?” I asked honestly.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” He shook his head. “Look, I’ve got somewhere to be, but I want you here tonight when I get home. Can you do that?” he asked.

Why the hell did he make my heart skip a beat? I was so close to this, to him. I didn’t want him to go.

“I’ll try.” I had some last minute work to do, including sending that letter of resignation to the school.

“I’ll be home soon, baby girl. Wait for me.” He kissed me, hard. With every single moment of the kiss I felt the truth overwhelming me. I loved him.

He was half monster and half tortured soul and I loved him.

“Be careful, Greyson.” I said. I wanted to tell him what a horrible man my uncle was, but it wasn’t something he didn’t already know. He was well aware of the inner-workings of the mob. He knew what he was fighting.

“I always am.”

Greyson

I knocked not once, but twice. I knew Dennis O’Brien was there. I had eyes on him and they’d told me beyond a doubt that he was hiding in his mistress’s apartment.

“I’m not going away, O’Brien.” I said finally, knocking one last time.

“Are you serious?” he said as he opened the door. “What the fuck do you want?”

“I want to know what the fuck you think you’re playing at.” I stepped into the room. I was probably a head taller than him, my muscles much more pronounced, but I knew how dangerous he was. He could kill me anytime anyplace. There would be consequences, but he could still do it! I knew that and so did he.

But I would take him down if he ever messed with the family. With Joanna. Even if it meant certain death. Because she deserved to be protected. It was a promise I made to myself. It was a promise I made to her.

“What are you talking about?”

“Jordy, that little piece of shit you were trying to turn over.” I wasn’t about to play games with him. He was a very powerful man, but so was I. Our families were equally matched, it was what made confrontation between them so difficult. We were playing a dangerous game, a race of arms, and we both knew it. Except now the stakes were higher. They didn’t just include some lower level street fights, no. Joanna was all tangled up in it now.

“What?”

“Don’t bullshit me, I just slit his stupid ass throat for lying to me.” My hand itched. I wanted to get my fingers on that belt. I wanted to feel that dagger slice into his flesh. It was sick and twisted, but when I let that part of me out to play I had a hard time getting it back in.

“Just a little bit of recruitment. You think daddy-dearest doesn’t pull the same shit?” He asked as he turned away from me. “Nadine is in the bedroom, hiding. She doesn’t like ‘our type’ whatever that means. Would you like I drink? I had a wet-bar installed.”

“Know how to make a Gin Ricky?” I asked.

“What?” he asked.

“Just a bourbon, then,”  I said. I watched as he poured the drink.

“Might as well make it a double,” Dennis said as he poured a bigger drink and handed it to me. “It’s just business, Greyson. And it happened before our new… arrangement.”

“You mean the one where you blackmail your niece into marrying me? Because you get a merger, or because you get a messenger?” I asked. The thought had crossed my mind more than once. She was smart, she saw everything. I didn’t dare bring up the issue with my father, but I thought about it.

“Does it matter to you?” he asked as he stared me down. “Would you turn her away if she was?”

“I don’t know what you are insinuating.”

“You know exactly what I am trying to communicate.  I see the way you look at her. The way you lust after her. You think I’m not watching you when you talk to her, when you drive her around in that car of yours?” He glared at me. “You don’t even know her. You didn’t watch her grow up, you weren’t her friend.”

“Does it matter?” I asked.

“Does it?” He countered. “If I told you that you could walk away right now, right this instance.”

I glared at him. He knew my answer before I could say it. “I want her.”

A slow grin traversed his face. That was exactly what he was looking for. The confession of my guilt. My love for her.

“And now I know your weakness. You will have her, but you will work with us.”

“What are you proposing?”

“That you support this merger with your father. That you protect my niece. That you do not get in my way.” I ground my teeth. “As long as you don’t fucking betray my father, I think I can do that.”

“Then we’ll have a deal.”

Joanna

I sat there on that couch running my hands through my hair over and over again. He should’ve been home by now, right? It had been hours.

Wait for me, he said. And I did. I sat there and waited for him, my ass glued there until he got home.  It felt like half my life was me there, waiting for him.

And getting knocks on our fucking door. Like the one banging on my door this time.

I stood up and looked through the peephole. David.

God. Fucking. Dammit.

It’s like he knew I was there alone. I hesitated.

“Come on, Jo. I’m not going away until you let me in,” David said. He smiled. “I just want to talk.”

“I, I don’t know.” I couldn’t help but want to grab that door handle and pull. I wanted to be able to give him a chance. To talk to him. Anything.

But it wasn’t safe. He wasn’t safe. I knew that much.

“I can’t,” I said as I leaned against the door. “I don’t even know why I should.”

“Because I want to let you have your own life. Because I don’t want to betray you.”

“You don’t know me.”

“No, but I know my brother. I know my father. You might believe what he tells you. That I’m a bigger monster, but I’m not. I’m a man who wants to help.” I could hear the growl at the edge of his voice. He was every bit the monster I thought he was.

I was so glad I didn’t let him in.

“Better the devil you know,” I said. “Please. I can’t do what you’re asking. I can’t go there.” I slammed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to fight back the headache that was threatening to overwhelm me. My stomach was swirling and my head was pounding. I didn’t need this right now. I didn’t need any of this.

“Joanna, you do not want to deny me,” I could hear the warning in his voice. What the hell? Had he actually gotten to know me, did he understand who I was at all? No, he’d just shown up, twice. What the fuck was he thinking?

I was starting to feel like this man was anything but stable. “Let me in, Jo.”

“I’ve already told you no,” I answered slowly, precisely.

He slammed against the door.

“Get out of here, David.”

“You’re going to respect what I say, or I’m going to call Greyson.” I was deliberate as I said it. “I don’t think you want him to have a reason to go after you.”

“Fuck. You are going to regret this, Joanna. You are going to wish you’d chosen me. You don’t know Greyson, know what he is capable of, but I do. I know everything that could happen to you. I want to protect you from that. Don’t you see? You don’t belong here, with him.”

“I don’t know Greyson, but I also I don’t know you. I want you to leave.” I said finally and then I turned and walked away, and I sat on that couch. I would rather wait for a man like Greyson than be anywhere near a man like David. “Go away.”

“I will, but I’ll be back.”

It was a promise, one I was sure he would keep.

Chapter Fifteen