And the ones we don’t own know to not fuck with us.
Frozen in shock, Sophia stares at me with wide eyes.
Shrugging my shoulders at the look on her face, I say, “Get Mitzy and Fluffers, and grab my bag. We’re leaving right now.”
Nodding her head, she swallows and doesn’t even argue with me.
Thank the fucking Devil.
Squatting down next to Trent, I stare at him for a moment before I slam my fist into the side of his mouth.
His head whips to the side before he looks up at me, quietly whimpering.
“Now normally I would go into some long diatribe about how you should pay more attention to who you’re fucking with… But I bet you know exactly who you’re fucking with. Or you will,” I say quietly.
“I’ll… I’ll fucking kill you, asshole,” he says, trying to sound hard and threatening.
It sounds a lot like whining to my fucking ears.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I grin at him. “Heard that before, and you won’t. So listen up, douche. Go fuck off somewhere else. Stay the fuck away from my girl, and stay the fuck on the right side of things.”
Reaching over him, I grab his gun as I stand up from the ground. He scrambles to reach it first, but I’m quicker and smarter than him.
Tucking the pistol in the front of my pants, I laugh at him. “I’ve got your department-issued gun, I bet, and that means I’ve got your firing pin. That should be an interesting conversation with your superiors. Though I doubt you’re dumb enough to tell them who has it.”
“Give it back, you motherfucker,” he demands as he slowly stands up, carefully cradling his broken elbow.
“Make me,” I say before launching a good kick between his legs.
I’d trot around the front yard and shout, “Goal!” if I didn’t think Sophia would kill me.
As it is, I hear her gasp behind me as Trent falls to the ground a second time today.
“James—” she starts to say before I shake my head at her.
“In the car. Will Fluffers flip out if we put a seatbelt on her?”
“What?”
She blinks at me, and I think I might have broken her beautiful mind a little bit.
“Never mind, we’ll figure it out.”
We’re almost thirty minutes into our drive when Sophia finally speaks.
“What… what did you do to him?” she asks.
I turn my head so I can fully look at her for a moment and see that she’s got Mitzy and Fluffers both bound up tight in her arms. Her eyes are still wide, and I think the realization of what just happened is finally dawning on her.
Did she just fuck a psychopath? Is she safe from me?
“I made sure he had enough incentive to stay away,” I say quietly before turning my eyes back to the road.
We’re almost home thankfully, and home is where I can keep her safe.
I’m pretty sure the guys who were patrolling around her neighborhood were trying to follow us out. My guys didn’t let it happen. But still… the longer we’re out in the world, the more likely they are to find us.
“But you…” she trails off, unable to finish.
I give her a small smile. “Sweetheart, he had a gun to my head.”
She tries to say something, her mouth opening and closing, but I don’t think her mind is done fully processing the violence she witnessed. I figure after her kidnapping she’s probably got some PTSD. You can’t go through the shit she did with the Russians and not come out fucked up.
What she just saw me do to Trent was probably bad for her…
But it was nothing compared to what I really wanted to do to the fucker.
Had we not been at her house, in plain sight of the whole world, I more than likely would have neutered the little bitch for daring to show up at my woman’s house.
Now that I think about it… I probably should have tossed the fucker in the trunk of my car.
“Take a deep breath in then out,” I tell her as I turn onto my road.
Not a lot of traffic comes out this far. I bought a house on the very edge of the city limits. There’s lots of land, and lots of space to play with my guns.
The closest neighbor is about half a mile away, and he’s an old Vietnam vet. Hearing gun shots doesn’t bother him one bit. Fuck, he even likes to come over and shoot from time to time. He also watches my place if I’m gone for a couple weeks.
He’s a good neighbor and he likes to keep to himself.
“Oscar lives down that way,” I say, slowing down when I reach his long gravel driveway. “He’s the closest neighbor and he enjoys his privacy. Anything ever goes wrong and you can’t reach me or our family, you go to him. He’ll keep you safe.”
Sophia looks at the gravel road then back to me. “Okay.”
Speeding back up, I turn onto my blacktopped driveway and make the quick drive up the hill surrounded by a small forest.
My house isn’t a compound like Lucifer’s, nor a mini-mansion like Simon’s, but it’s comfortable. Five bedrooms, four baths, and a mammoth basement.
The house keeps me happy, even if it was a bit oversized for just me and Mitzy.
Pulling into the attached garage, I glance at the empty spot next to us. It’s probably going to be filled soon with whatever type of armored car Sophia likes...
Shit, do I even want her to have the ability to leave the house? Or let alone her own car? I can’t imagine her driving somewhere and not getting into an accident.
Sharing any of my house and space isn’t something I feel odd about, strange as that seems. I was a mess without her, and something about this just feels like it’s right.
Like whether she wanted this life or not, she’s in it and mine for good.
Like I said, she’s my woman.
“Come on,” I say as I gently take Mitzy from her arms.
Sophia gets out of the car and slowly follows me through the door. At first, I’m not sure why she’s gawking at her surroundings. Then I grin. I bet she’s never seen a pantry or kitchen as nice and well-stocked as mine. I take personal pride in my house, especially my kitchen.
“This is where fifty percent of the magic happens,” I tell her as I let Mitzy down near her water fountain.
“Um, fifty percent?” she asks almost like she doesn’t want to ask.
“Yeah, the other fifty is in the master bedroom,” I say with a grin, showing all my teeth.
Narrowing her eyes, she grumbles something too quietly for me to catch before finishing with, “You wish.”
“What?”
“What?” she snaps right back before moving past me, clutching Fluffers tight to her chest.
“So, does Fluffers have any dietary restrictions?” I ask as I follow behind her, admiring her delicious ass.
“Uh… no?”
I watch closely as she slowly takes in the dining room and the living room. “Okay. Mitzy doesn’t do corn, gives her awful indigestion.”
Not gonna lie, I may talk a lot of shit about Lucifer getting married and causing all the guys problems with women, but having Lily around to help me decorate has been a huge boon for me.
There’s surprise on Sophia’s face as takes her own self-guided tour. She probably expected me to live in a filthy bachelor pad. But there’s no ratty recliners or pizza box coffee tables to be found here.