Tara
Kellen gets up early the next day and does his best not to wake me, but he fails miserably. I watch him dress from beneath a tangle of sheets and marvel at the mess of scars crisscrossing his back.
“Don’t stare too much, you’ll find you like it.” He glances at me and grins.
I close my eyes and pretend to be asleep.
He laughs and leaves the room. I wait until he’s definitely gone before I get up and do my best to follow my usual routine. I dress, make coffee, eat a light breakfast, and head out into the early morning sun to get started on my chores.
The cottage is quiet and strangely lonely as I rummage through the shed and gather up my tools, and I’m tempted to go in there just to have some space to myself, but I hold back as if stepping over the threshold for any reason beyond grabbing a few things I need is like a betrayal.
I don’t owe Kellen that level of loyalty. We’re not really married and he wouldn’t care if I wanted to sit on my own couch and watch the news while I sip from my usual mugs for a half-hour. And yet for some reason, I feel like it would break my promise to him.
I’m his wife now. Not for real, and not forever, but right now that’s what I need to try to be. What he told me last night about his mother and Hugh is still bothering me like a fly that won’t leave the room. I have incentive to help him win this game—I get the gardens, the house, the cottage, everything, but more than that, any person that wouldn’t actively try to take care of an old, sick woman deserves to be destroyed. Which I guess means I’m on Kellen’s side even more than I realized.
If I go in that cottage right now, it’s like I’m admitting defeat already and refusing to fully commit.
I grab my stuff and carry it over to the bed I’ve been working on. I lose myself for a half-hour until I stand up straight and notice Rory sitting nearby in the shade, watching me. He waves, grinning.
I walk over to him with a sour feeling in my stomach. I take off my gloves and brush my hands on my jean shorts. “What are you doing out here?”
“Just hanging around and keeping an eye on you.”
I arch my eyebrows. “You’re watching me?”
“Let’s call it guard duty. Angus will switch with me in a couple hours.”
“I’m sorry, hold on, guard duty? Nobody told me I’d have guards.”
He shrugs, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Not my call. Kellen’s orders.”
“You tell Kellen I don’t need a babysitter. I’ve been working out here for years.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”
“Seriously, you don’t have to watch me. I really don’t need an audience and I’m perfectly safe. Believe it or not, there aren’t any monsters hiding in the bushes.”
He hesitates, mulling over his reply, before he tilts his head to the side. “You’re Kellen Hayles’s wife now. You know what that means, right?”
“It means my husband is an overbearing prick with more money and power than he deserves.”
He grins and shakes his head. “No, it means the target on your back just quadrupled in size. Kellen’s got enemies and not just the people up in that big, fancy house over there. There are guys in this city that would happily cut his throat ear to ear and watch him bleed out in the dirt, and they’d do the same to you if it meant nothing more than ruining his day.”
My hands tremble at the thought and I have to look away. Kellen seems almost normal and sophisticated here, and I have to remember that for the past seven years he’s been building his own crime empire through blood and ruthless violence. Rory’s calm smile is terrifying, and the picture he paints doesn’t help with my discomfort. I walk a few feet away and take a couple deep breaths, trying to square what he’s saying with the facts staring me in the face.
If I accept this, I’m going to have a guy follow me around for the remainder of my time with Kellen. There will be guards on me constantly and I’ll never have a moment alone. My husband in the room and his goons out in the gardens, and any peace and contentment I might’ve felt working this land will slowly fade away as the facts of my imprisonment stare me in the face.
That’s only slightly dramatic.
But it’s not far from the truth.
I signed up to be his wife and help him win this stupid game he’s playing with Hugh, but I didn’t anticipate having a babysitter.
I turn back to Rory. “I want you to leave me alone.”
His smile falters. “I can’t.”
“I’m serious. Go back to the house. Call Kellen and tell him I sent you away and wouldn’t stop screaming until you left. Tell him whatever you need to say to keep your ass from getting in trouble, but go away.”