“Give us a minute,” I tell Hayes.
“One minute,” he says before closing the door behind him.
“I’m so sorry,” I say as I climb back up the bed and straddle him again, this time fully clothed. I wrap my arms around his neck and stare deeply into his eyes.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. It won’t always be like this. Someday, we’ll find a way out. For now, this is enough. I get to have you almost every night. I get to kiss you, to love you.
“And even though you are technically married to that son of a bitch, and you have responsibilities you have to attend to tonight, I don’t have to worry about sharing you—not really. I’m the only one who gets to kiss you.” He leans in and kisses me tenderly. “And I’m the only one who gets to fuck you.”
I swallow down a lump in my throat. I haven’t told him everything that has happened between Lennox and me. To be honest, I don’t even know the whole truth of what has happened or how Lennox feels. And I decide I’m not going to share anything with Kit until I understand myself. There is no point in discussing it until then. And I don’t have time to talk to him about it now anyway.
“I love you. I’ll text you later when I can,” I say, kissing him one more time.
He smiles. “I love you too, bug.”
I offer him a small smile before heading out and finding Hayes. He doesn’t speak as we leave Kit’s apartment or as we walk to the car.
Hayes starts driving. “You should talk to Kit.”
I frown. “Eavesdropping, were you? I thought you said you’d put your AirPods in and not listen to us.”
Hayes grins. “What fun is that?”
I glare at Hayes. “If you’re going to be my main security when I visit Kit, you can’t listen to us fuck.”
He frowns. “I need to listen for any signs of an intruder.”
“Find a way to do it without listening to us.”
“Fine, I’ll come up with something. But that doesn’t change the fact that you should talk to Kit. It’s not fair to him.”
I sigh. “I know, but none of this is fair to me either.”
Hayes snaps his mouth shut and doesn’t say anything the rest of the drive to Vincent’s condo. And I don’t ask why we’re going there, assuming that’s where we’re headed.
I spot Lennox’s car in the parking garage. Hayes and I step out of our car as Lennox and Gage get out of theirs.
They both look serious and intense. I try to read the situation, but I come up empty.
Lennox grabs my hand like we hold each other’s hands all the time. But that one motion tells me all I need to know—we need to put on a united front.
We enter Vincent’s floor and head to the conference room to find a dozen of Vincent’s high-ranking men are gathered. I’m the only female in the room, so I’m not sure what I’m doing here.
Everyone stares at Lennox and me as we walk in. It’s expected every time I walk into a room, but this time it feels different. These men heard what happened on our wedding night. They heard us fighting, me pleading. They heard what they thought was Lennox forcing himself on me.
Most of the men look at me with a smug expression of near ownership—it’s disgusting. They look pleased to think Lennox has finally put me in my place. I will no longer bring Vincent or any of the Corsi men any problems from now on. I’ve been tamed.
They don’t know the truth.
I stand tall and proud—trying to look as strong as River would be in this situation. I don’t cower.
I try to pull my hand loose from Lennox’s grip, not wanting to look like he controls me, but he holds on tighter, not letting me go.
As we walk to our chairs at the far end of the table next to Vincent, a hand reaches out and grabs my ass.
“When you’re finished with her, we’d all like like a turn,” the man says.
My heart stops.