Patrick laughed. “Have you decided on a major yet for next year? I’m thinking law. You make convincing arguments.”
Ruby smiled as she dished herself some fruit.
“I’ll be in and out of the tower.” Patrick reached for Madeline. “Call me if you feel anything or you need anything.”
“Five more weeks,” she said, laying her hand over her enlarged midsection.
“Promise you’ll call.”
“She will,” Ruby added as she settled with her hot chocolate, fruit, and toast and lost herself to whatever was on her iPad.
Similar to her emails, Ruby was in full voyeur mode online until Reid had the security on all her devices updated. No chances were being taken online or in person.
As I reached for empty plates, Reid reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. “You don’t need to do anything you’re not up to doing. Everyone wants to help. You can head back to our apartment.”
Shrugging, I looked around the kitchen. “I think I want the company.”
“We won’t let her overdo,” Madeline said with a grin.
“You’re the one who should rest,” Laurel scolded.
“Come with me,” Reid said, tugging me from the kitchen.
Reid
Lorna followed, her hand in mine.
The opulence of Sparrow’s penthouse or even the changes that Araneae had made over the last few years were lost on me. My mind was vying between the woman with me and the computers down on 2. While Lorna had been my top priority since before I asked her to marry me, the importance of what was waiting on 2 was magnified due to its connection to her.
The DNA results would give us a name—the name of a dead man walking—because he wasn’t long for this world. Same as the other men had given their wives a nonspecific description of their daily whereabouts, I couldn’t say with certainty that I would remain in the tower. First, once it was scheduled, I would attend the meeting with Edison Walters in DC. Second, once I had a name to go with the blood found near Lorna’s, I would search heaven and hell; I wouldn’t spend my day sitting behind a screen in the tower.
Dark crimson colored my thoughts as I contemplated the future. I’d killed before, in the war for our country and in the war for this city. Though Sparrow may claim that I was deadliest when behind a screen, with what had happened, I would no longer maintain that distance. This time, as Lorna and I came to a stop and I peered down at her healing face, I was determined to be the one who watched the asshole who hurt my wife take his last breath.
I was assuming it was a man.
Truly, it wouldn’t matter.
When it came to enemies, women were hardly the weaker sex. No one, male or female, would get away with harming anyone in our world simply because they had two X chromosomes. Actions had consequences—for everyone.
Images of destruction momentarily danced in my mind’s eye.
A pull of a trigger and the echo of the blast could combine to give me the satisfaction of witnessing the shower of brain matter splattering over the walls. Or maybe a twelve-inch blade would be my weapon of choice. Once in Iraq, my platoon came across a man in an abandoned building, one who had been sliced through his gut. In the heat, his remains baked as insects feasted. The horrendous odor has stayed with me, petrified into my memory. I also recalled how his intestines and bodily fluids had spilled from his body. Terror still showed on his face as he died with his hands unsuccessfully holding back his protruding insides.
A bullet would end his life with only seconds to contemplate his final moments.
Slicing his gut would not be fast. That means of execution was deliberate and slow, allowing the victim to remain conscious. It definitely held a certain kind of appeal.
I imagined looming over the faceless man who’d harmed my wife and watching as he died, his mind full of things he should or shouldn’t have done.
Then again, maybe there wouldn’t be a weapon. I could use my hands, doing to him what he’d done to Lorna, beating him repeatedly with my fists as his bones cracked and splintered.
Yes, I’d given these possibilities much thought.
“I’ll be fine,” Lorna said, tugging on my hand and bringing me back to present. “As long as I know I have you.”
Running my finger gently over Lorna’s cheek, the lightness that dwelled within her shone like sunshine streaming from her emerald stare. Though the consuming darkness that fueled my innate need to avenge her was near, reverberating through my circulation, in her presence I could keep it at bay.
“I fucking hate leaving you.”
“You’re not. You’re going to be on 2, doing what you do.”
The potential inaccuracy of her response made me want to bristle. Instead of confessing my possible alternative whereabouts, I replied, “That’s where I’m going now.”
Her gaze narrowed as if she heard my unvoiced dissent. “Now? Are you leaving? No, Reid” —her words came faster— “if you leave this tower” —her tone changed— “please tell me.”
I placed my palm over her cheek as the warmth of her soft flesh radiated to my hand. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine the woman I married, her undamaged skin, her contusion-free appearance. But my eyes weren’t closed. They were wide open. “I don’t want you to worry about me or where I am. I can’t stand to cause you any more pain or worry.”
She reached for my hand. “Reid, I have worried about you and what you do from the day we met. What happened to me hasn’t changed that. Now I’m afraid you’ll do something because of me that will put you or any of the others in danger. Don’t do that.”
“Don’t create possibilities that don’t exist. This isn’t our first fight. Lorna, we’re fucking good at what we do. The four of us didn’t get to where we are today by taking stupid chances. Besides, we have Sparrows all over who will follow through on our orders. None of that is your concern. You concentrate on healing.” I feigned a smile. “I wish I could stay with you and make sure you followed my orders.”
There was a second of question before her lips curled, her fist went to her hip, and her eyebrows arched. “Your orders?”
I nodded.
“And what would we do all day, Reid? Watch movies on television or binge a new series?”
“Actually, I was thinking that we could spend the day as we had earlier this morning.”
Her arms relaxed as pink filled her cheeks. Its hue clashed with her bright red hair, making her blush more noticeable as the soft crimson radiated upward from her neck.
I lowered my volume. “I figured we could spend the day assessing all the possible positions I can take you in repeatedly, positions that have your tight cunt at my disposal and positions that make you scream in ecstasy, not pain.”
As her stare held mine, she shifted her feet. The movement made me grin. Lorna and Madeline had mentioned Mason’s tells—his unconscious outward signs that gave away his inner thoughts. Lorna had them too. When I said or did something that turned her on, she would fidget.
It was cute in a sexy way that went right to my cock.
“Reid...” She turned toward the kitchen.
Leaning down, I brought my lips to her ear, exaggerating each word as my warm breath tantalized her sensitive skin. “Like you did this morning.”