“One week? That’s it, and then we will be the Brady Bunch?”
“Well, they won’t be trying to kill each other as often. That’s a start.”
He shrugged. “Well, wife, to camp we go then.”
I grinned almost wanting to take more pride in his words. “No women allowed other than Adriana and me.”
“What the fuck is with this Adriana?”
“She is part of the crew, Liam, and if you saw past the physical looks, you would know that. She is a trained marksman, expert profiler, and a damn good personal dresser,” I added, pushing away from him to grab my phone off the desk.
“I still want to take out Vance’s cars.” He frowned. Men and their cars.
“We can, and we will.” I smirked, already loving the plan forming in my head. “Except this time we will have to steal it from Vance’s estate before he gets there.”
He looked at me, grinning like a mad fool, and stepped forward brushing the side of my cheek.
“Fucking perfect,” he said to me before kissing me once again, and I knew this time there was no stopping him.
FOURTEEN
“If the desire to kill
and the opportunity to kill
came always together, who would escape hanging?”
~ Mark Twain
LIAM
“You destroyed my underwear,” she hissed at me as she put her white shoes back on.
Straightening my tie, I tried not to smile, but I couldn’t help it. “Next time, don’t wear any at all and we won’t have this problem.”
My beautiful wife stalked up to me, slowly glaring at me with daggers in her eyes, and yet, it only made me want her more. I wanted to reach out and touch her.
What the fuck is wrong with me? No matter how many times I had her, it only made me want her even more.
“I don’t have a problem with that,” she said, glaring. “I’m not the one who has to sit through dinner thinking about how I have nothing under this dress, about how you could easily slip your hand underneath it and reach in me. But I think I will sit opposite you tonight.”
She backed away so quickly it felt like I’d been awakened with cold water from the loss of her warmth. That, and the fact that all the blood in my body was rushing to another part of my anatomy. Damn her.
“You’re going to sit next to me,” I demanded as she walked toward the door and, my eyes went straight to her ass.
“No, I’m not. I would rather shoot you, but since I can’t, I will sexually frustrate you instead. Do not rip my clothing,” she snapped, leaving me aching for her.
“Bitch is going to kill me,” I muttered, trying my best to calm myself down.
Staring at the file on the desk, I wanted nothing more than to destroy Vance now. I wanted to stare into his eyes as I lit his world on fire. However, I would wait. First I . . . we needed to fix the idiots under us.
The moment I stepped out of the study, Declan was already waiting.
“How long have you been out here?”
He smirked. “Long enough. I apologize because I would have waited, had I realized. She told me to calm down, it was just fucking sex. That woman scares and bewilders me all at the same time.”
Just fucking sex.
I frowned. “Try being married to her. One minute she kisses you and the next she has a letter opener to your throat.”
Declan’s eyes widened at me before he broke out laughing. “One day she may just kill you Liam, I swear it.”
“One day, she just may.” I sighed. Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure if she liked me for any other reason than the fact that we were married. I was ‘just sex’ to her, and it shouldn’t have bothered me as much as it did, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t going to change . . . that she would never care.
“So, I’m guessing you both handled the Superintendent? Or is there something I can do?” he asked, right as we stopped outside the door. I could see it in his eyes. His own bloodlust.
Declan wasn’t as much of a killer as Neal or myself. He had always been, and would always be, the man behind the computer, where I needed him to be. But when it came to the police, Declan wanted blood. It was, after all, an officer who had taken both his parents. He hated them and the code they lived by.
“If things get messy, you can personally clean it up, Declan,” I answered. “But until then, just keep a watch on our Superintendent. If he buys a home near anything Callahan, let me know.”
He nodded, and the dark look in his eyes disappeared the moment he stepped into the dining room. He stopped for a moment, noticing my wife sitting in his position next to Coraline. He raised an eyebrow at me before smirking as if he already knew the reason why. Saying nothing, I walked over to my Mel, kissing her on the cheek softly. She flinched as if I had slapped her instead.
“Evening, wife,” I said, trying to be polite while being just loud enough for everyone to hear. I knew full well it would tick her off as I took my seat across from her and to the right of my father. But I didn’t care.
She was pushing me and I was close to snapping.
Sedric was and would always sit at the head of the table. I didn’t care. It was a prop chair. It held no real power other than carving a turkey. I sat at the true head of the table. My mother sat on the opposite side and as always, they were speaking another language with their eyes. I tried to focus my attention on Mel. However, she seemed lost in her own mind. A mind I would give anything to read.
“Mel, is there a reason why you are not sitting next to Liam?” my mother asked kindly as I reached for my glass of brandy.
Mel frowned. “I swear he’s trying to get me pregnant. He can’t keep his hands to himself. It’s kind of annoying, actually.”
I felt the liquid rush back up my throat as I coughed. I glared at her. Of course she would bring up sex at the dinner table, of fucking course. She was my Mel and didn’t give a damn about decorum. She lived to make me fear for my life, horny, or uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong with getting pregnant?” Olivia asked, glaring as she drank her wine while the servants brought our food.
“Nothing,” Mel said, glaring back. “Nothing at all, especially when you do nothing else other than make yourself look pretty and shop.”
Declan kicked my foot, but I said nothing, simply cutting into my steak. This was not my battle, and I was definitely not taking a bullet for Olivia.
“You think you’re better than us?” Olivia snapped, causing Melody to laugh and me to stuff my mouth with meat.
“Barbie, I know I’m better than you,” Melody said, sipping her red wine. It was basically a food group for her. “All my parts are original and not made in China.”
It took all my might not to laugh, but I did grin like a fool, and in the corner of my eye, I could see my father smiling as well behind his glass.
“You bitch,” Olivia spat, rising from her seat.
Glaring over at her, I met Neal’s eyes. “Control her, Neal, or else she will need new parts. No one calls my wife a bitch . . . with the exception of me.”
“No one calls me a bitch, period. You aren’t special, Liam,” Mel said, and it felt like she had stabbed me.
“Maybe you should tell her we don’t attack family,” Neal said as Olivia sat back down.