Tragic King (The Dominant Bastard Duology 2)

“I want you more than anything, but I also want him. I love him, Ro, but I think I killed those feelings in him.” The desperate, maddening grief threatened to overwhelm her again. As it was, if she did walk down the aisle today, she’d be red and blotchy, with bloodshot eyes.

“He’s just pissed. He can’t seem to get it through his thick skull that it’s not his choice.” Rodrigo laid a hand on her sheet-covered ass, and heat automatically pooled between her legs, even though she was in no mood to be aroused. It seemed like she swung from horny to sick and back again every few minutes.

“It’s not his choice, but he does get to decide if he’s staying with us or not. When the baby is born, I don’t think he’ll stay unless he looks like you.” She swallowed hard, trying to soothe away the stupid lump in her throat that never seemed to ebb. “Maybe I should go and let the two of you get married instead.”

“Nice try.”

“Why should we both lose him because of what I’ve chosen to do? You’ve been in love with him for years. You only got a few months before I ruined everything. How is that fair?”

“Because I’m crazy in love with you, you little jerk.” He sat on the edge of the bed, and leaned down to kiss her bare shoulder. “There’s like a ninety-five percent chance I was there when you got pregnant, at least a fifty percent chance the child is mine. You’re not the only one attached to our sea monkey. You’re giving me a family of my own, and you’re the one who made it possible for me to be with Severin at all.”

“And now you’re going to lose him because of me.”

“You didn’t get yourself pregnant, preciosa. That was at least two, if not all three of us. I think he’ll come around. Oh, he’ll brood and stomp like he’s doing now, but you’ve seen him with Sage and Scarlet, and even with the dogs. He can’t stand adults, but he’s patient and kind with children and animals.”

“What if he hates this baby?”

He flicked imaginary lint off his pants. “Then we’ll move to our other house and he can fucking wallow in his own idiotic self-indulged solitary confinement.”

Minnow stared at him. “How can you say that? You love him!”

“Of course I love him,” he growled. “I’m just irritated. Life isn’t just about us anymore. He can’t be first priority. I don’t know. Maybe if he’s just going to make this kid feel unwanted it’ll be better if we keep them apart.”

“No. We’re not keeping them apart forever.”

“Maybe we are. Maybe he’s got to live out here alone and we’ll get a sitter and visit. Or maybe he was right all along, and he should just embrace his role as la bestia completely. I’ve talked and talked to the man, and I can’t make him see sense.” He reached up as though to scrub a hand through his hair, but he stopped himself, probably so he didn’t mess it up. He was ready to walk outside and get married.

Minnow had gotten undressed to shower, and had ended up crawling naked into bed and staying there. She still needed a shower. And Severin? She hadn’t even seen him since the day before yesterday.

God, if Rodrigo thought he was going to out-stubborn Severin, they were never going to fix this.

“We’re not abandoning him, and we’re not going to keep him and the baby away from each other. That’s ridiculous.”

“Maybe us leaving him would be a fucking wake-up call. He needs to get over himself and think about other people...like the baby he had a big part in making.”

“Or maybe if we left we’d just be proving exactly what he’s secretly feared all along. That no one really loves him.”

Rodrigo swallowed hard and his lips twisted. “I’ve been patient with him for so long, but the thought of letting him be a shitty to our kid makes me want to punch him out. You and I? We’re adults. We get to walk away if things with him get too awful. Raising a child in a house where they feel unwanted? They wouldn’t get a choice. How is that fair?”

She shrugged. “We’ll have to make up the difference. Love both Sev and the baby until he gets used to the idea. Nothing is easy for him, right? This is just a new thing to wrap his mind around. He could learn to like him. Or her.”

“Maybe. The problem is he has to want to, and I think he hates himself so much that if there’s even a possibility that he might be his father, he’ll reject him outright.” He ended the sentence by stripping the sheet off her and swatting her ass. “Now get in that fucking shower, Min. You and I are getting married today. Severin we’ll sort out later.”

He smacked her ass again.

“Get up, woman. This was supposed to be your wedding to Severin, but then you both went and invited me in. Now you’re stuck with me.”

“Like a hot vampire?” She tried to think of something funny to say, but the best she came up with was, “I’ve got something you can suck on.”

“Oh, I’m well aware,” he said, his voice suddenly lower and gravelly.

She shivered and pushed up from the bed onto her hands and knees. “Fine, I’ll get up.” If she was going to do this and not keep people waiting like some sort of drama queen, she had to get a move on.

Before she could climb off the bed, he grabbed her hips and left a series of bites on her ass just hard enough to make her hiss and yelp. The hard nip to her sit spot made her scream into her pillow.

“Never call a sadist a vampire or he’ll prove you right, silly girl.”

By the time he arranged her in a pretty kneel on the bed, she was breathing hard, her body responding to him and her mind following suit.