“Come here.” I put a little sting into my words, and sure enough, that gets her moving. She places her hand in mine and allows me to pull her to her feet. I lift her onto the bathroom counter and run my hands over her body. “Did he hurt you?” There are bruises there, but they’re caused by my hands and she came apart around my cock while I gave them to her. “Did he touch you?”
“Not the way you mean.” She shivers and I open the narrow cabinet Hades keeps stocked in all the overnight rooms. It’s filled with anything a person needs if they’re unexpectedly staying, and I pull out a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a fluffy robe. After wrapping the latter around her and tucking it in tight to her skin, I tear through the toothbrush packaging and dole out the toothpaste.
She plucks it from my hand. “I can brush my own teeth.”
“I’m aware.” It doesn’t change the fact that I want to take care of her. A foreign feeling. Yeah, I’ve had plenty of sex in the past, and unlike some of the assholes out there, I actually care if my partner is having a good time. That means fucking, but it also means aftercare.
This feels different.
Everything with Jasmine feels different.
I’m not prepared for the protectiveness that surges through me as she finishes brushing her teeth and slides off the counter. I want to wrap her up and snarl at anyone who gets close. I want to rip Ali’s fucking head off. “Did he hurt you, baby girl?”
She hesitates like she’s thinking about lying to me. Finally Jasmine runs an absent hand over her waves of dark hair. “He scared me.” She lifts her gaze to mine. “He said you put my father down like a mad dog in our backyard.”
The bastard had seen that?
I had to make an example of Balthazar. More, I wanted to. If the piece of shit had listened to me, had taken my guidance, none of this wouldn’t have been necessary. At least not for a few more years, once I had my relationship with Jasmine solidified. Instead, Balthazar got greedy, and now here we are, dealing with the fallout.
“It wasn’t quite so dramatic.”
Jasmine sighs. “This whole thing was broken from the start.” She steps into me, allowing me to wrap my arms around her, and rests her forehead against my chest. “You’re not a good man, Jafar.”
“I know.” With everyone else, I can put on the charming face and pretend to be other that what I am. Not with her. Never with her. She’s always seen right to the heart of me. It’s what damned both of us.
Because I see her, too.
I make myself release her, make myself take a step back. “If you need to leave …”
She blinks those big, brown eyes at me, a line appearing between her strong brows. “You gave me that option already. I know the caveats.”
“I’ll release your trust.” I curse myself for being a thousand times a fool for offering. Her trust is the one thing that ensures her defiance will only go so far. Having her need me is a tether binding us together. I’m bastard enough to keep her. I know that. I knew that when I forced her hand with that bullshit deal the night I took her the first time. “You can leave the city if you want.”
Jasmine gives me an unhappy smile. “We both know I’m not equipped to deal with the world. Not now. Not yet. This club was enough to have me locking up in sensory overload. Do you really think I’m capable of going out on my own?” She shook her head. “I believed I could when all I had was theory. Now I know better.”
“You’re underestimating yourself.” Why the fuck am I trying to convince her to leave? What the hell is wrong with me?
She moves past me and into the bedroom. “Even if I am, even if I actually landed on my feet, Ali will track me down and bring me back. He’s all but promised it. As you said, people want a figurehead, and I make a damn good one.”
“That’s not all of it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ali wants you because you were promised to him.” I should shut the fuck up right now, but she needs to understand. “But now that you’re mine, he wants you even more. If he thinks he can’t get to you, he’ll do something unforgivable.”
She gives me a long look. “You mean he’ll kill me.”
“He’ll try. I won’t let him touch you.”
Jasmine considers me for one last moment and then opens the closet and considers the offerings. Just like the bathroom, Hades keeps the closets stocked with a wide range of sizes. She pulls out a silky pair of cream pants and a matching top. They’re obviously pajamas, but they’ll more than suit on the ride home. Once dressed, she turns to me. “I have no option but you, and we both know it. Not as things stand now.”