Beauty in the Broken

Chuckling, I grip her chin and lift her face to mine. “I’ll remember that. I’ll have to keep a supply.”

She looks away again.

“You only have to ask. No amount of jelly beans will ever be too much.”

An almost-smile tugs at her lips. It’s not enough to make her dimple appear, but it warms my heart in a foreign kind of way, a good way. I want that smile more than anything, but I won’t have it tonight. There’s one more thing standing in the way of trust and smiles.

I peel off my jacket and walk to the bathroom. In the door, I turn. “Anne is leaving tomorrow. If you ever try to hook me up with another woman again, it won’t end well for you, either.”

The raspberry red drains from cheeks. “Are you going to punish me?”

“As you deserve, but only when you’ve healed.” She needs to understand how seriously I’m taking our vows. “It’ll give you something to think about until then.”

I work from home the following day, setting myself up in the lounge while the cleaners vacuum upstairs. It’s to keep an eye on Zane. He blamed Lina for Anne’s hasty departure, and I don’t like the expression on his face when he looks at my wife. I drew several security tapes and watched them randomly but didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary.

There’s an even greater distance between Zane and me, and no flowers in the entrance, today. Signs are everything. Taking the sign of the empty vase to heart, I order one of my most trusted guards, Drew, to watch every single security feed, second by second.

The next task of the day is getting a jail connection to look into Clarke’s household staff records. I want names, dates, and designations. I instruct him to also get an employment record for Willowbrook. If someone had been paid under the table, I want to know. If someone had as much as licked a stamp and stuck it to an envelope in the name of that establishment, I want to have his name.

Ellis is in town to oversee the purchase of new equipment. He grudgingly comes over for a meeting in the afternoon when the annoying vacuuming finally ceases.

“Where’s that lovely wife of yours?” he asks when I show him into the study.

In bed, wearing my shirt. I get hard just from the thought of it. “Busy.”

“Pity. She’s a good one. You’ll be wise to hold onto her.”

He has no idea. “Drink?”

I go over to the liquor tray and lift the decanter. Something on the bottom catches my attention. I hold it up to the light. Strike me dead. Gooey balls, some discolored, spoil my five-thousand-rand whisky.

I replace the decanter. “Or maybe not.”

Ellis gives the alcohol a curious look.

“Let’s get to business.” I take a seat and shift.

Something hard and knobby digs into my ass. Letting out a disgruntled groan, I get up and pluck the thin cushion aside. Fuck me. The seat of my favorite chair is covered in colorful balls.

Jelly beans.

“Is everything all right?” Ellis asks, taking the visitor’s chair.

I brush the candy aside, unable to hide my grin, and sit down as the little balls run in every direction over the floor.

“Perfect.” I open my leather satchel and take out the file I prepared, only to have jelly beans tumble from the bag. They’re everywhere, the little fuckers. In every fold, nook, and cranny of the bag.

Turning the file upside down, I shake. Another explosion of balls hops and bounce everywhere.

Ellis leans to the side, staring at the balls and raising an eyebrow.

I’ll have to teach my pretty wife a thing or two about revenge. My smile is drawn-out and broad, this time. Still determined not to let Lina’s stunt distract me, I flick open the file. The paper is filled with colorful stains. Pulling it from the folder, I hand Ellis the ruined contract.

He looks it over, his frown deepening. “Are those…?” He leans to the side again and scratches his head. “Jelly beans?”

I hold up a finger. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.”

I march straight to our bedroom. The door is open, but Lina gives a start when I enter. She’s sitting in a window seat, reading a driver’s license manual.

She lowers the manual warily when my steps eat up the distance between us.

“Damian, I—”

I don’t give her time to say more. I grab her face between my hands and kiss her hard. Urgently. I bite her lips and suck on her tongue. The manual drops to the floor, discarded like candy. She’s one of a kind. My kind. I knew it six years ago. I know it now.

Cute, innocent, beautiful, clean, the light to my dark. I’m going to buy her a jelly bean gun so she can shower me in candy bullets. She’s fucking priceless.