Even though he does grab my belly like he always does, his fingers splaying over the bump, but his wolf eyes that always shine or glint when he touches her don’t come alive.
They’re shuttered.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, squeezing his hand.
“Nothing. Let’s go,” he says and tries to take his hand off my belly.
But I stop him. “Roman, what’s going on? What happened?”
His jaw tics. “Nothing happened.”
Something must have.
Because I know he’s coming back from work.
He was supposed to drop me off at school to study before going back to his hotel room — where he still lives despite spending the majority of his time at the glass house — to get changed and go to work.
Because he got called in, which I completely hated.
It only made me more determined to take matters into my own hands.
That and the fact that after I worshipped his cock in the foyer yesterday, he drew me a bath. He washed my hair for me, rubbed lotion on my belly, massaged my back, my knees, my feet.
How can I not give him what he so obviously wants then?
When he can be so tender and loving.
“You’re upset about something. I know. Tell me.” I inch closer to him, to his rigid body. “Just tell me, please. You never tell me anything, Roman. And I know you’re coming back from work. Something must’ve happened. You need to —”
“Fae,” he growls, speaking over me as something flashes through his eyes. “Not now. Not fucking now.”
That flash of something, something dark, tortured, makes me nod.
I wasn’t going to do it.
But that light of utter anguish makes me agree. Like it pains him right now to be asked questions.
“Okay.”
He gives me a short nod and takes me to his Mustang, helping me gently inside despite his harsh demeanor.
I watch him from the corner of my eye as he drives.
I watch the tight lines of his shoulders, the way his jaw is ticking. The way it doesn’t even look like he’s in the car with me.
As if he’s somewhere far away in his thoughts.
As if he’s in a trance.
I don’t know what’s going on but whatever it is, it’s bad.
It’s worse than his daily battles at the office. It’s worse than him going into that place every day. Worse than anything I’ve seen in the past months.
I don’t know what to do.
I don’t know how to make it better, how to reach him right now.
All I know is that I’m not going to let it go on for long. I’m not going to let him suffer like this.
This time I have a plan and I’m going to make it happen.
I’m going to set the guy I love free.
The guy who’s just taken a turn and I realize that we’re not going home.
He isn’t taking us to the glass house in Wuthering Garden.
He’s taking us to our town, Bardstown. And from the looks of it, he’s taking us back to the woods.
The woods where I first danced for him. Where he first kissed me.
Where I fell in love with him.
I’m not sure if it’s a conscious decision on his part, driving us back to this place from our past, but as soon as we arrive, my heart starts spinning in my chest.
My heart starts remembering.
I haven’t been in these woods in two years, not since the night he kissed me and told me to hold on to my dress, but I remember everything.
All those nights when he took me out here for a ride and I danced for him.
We’re back here and I’ve forgotten how to breathe.
I’ve forgotten everything except him.
Except how to love him, how to adore him, how to be his.
In jerky movements, Reed climbs out of the car and walks around to help me. Again, despite all the turmoil in him, he’s gentle. He’s oh so careful as he helps me out of his Mustang but that’s it.
That’s where his gentleness ends.
He slams the door shut and steps back, his breaths noisy.
He turns around and walks a few paces away, his shoulders moving up and down harshly, the muscles of his back so bunched up that I can see them through his cozy hoodie.
“Roman,” I call out.
His back tenses for a second before he turns back around to face me.
Before his wolf eyes home in on me, his vampire skin sparkling in the summer sun.
I watch him stride toward me with an unknown purpose. A purpose only he knows but I get myself ready for whatever it is.
Whatever it is he’ll give me.
He reaches me, his eyes agitated. “You’re done.”
“What?”
“You’re not going back to that school.”
“What? Why?”
He bends his body down, bringing all his intimidating bulk closer to me. “Because I said so. Because I don’t want you going back to that shithole school. Actually I don’t want you going anywhere.”
I don’t understand what’s happening.
“Roman, what are you talking about?”
“I’m taking you home,” he declares. “And I’m locking you up. I’m not letting you run around town unprotected. You’re not going anywhere without me.”
“But… But there’s just a couple of weeks of school left. I have my finals and then —”
“Fuck finals.”
“What?”
“Fuck the fucking finals,” he repeats in a savage tone. “A lot can happen in a couple of weeks. A lot can fucking happen, all right? And I’m not taking any chances. Not when you’re pregnant. What if something happens and I can’t get to you, huh? What if something terrible happens to you or to Halo and I’m not…”
He trails off because he has to swallow.
Because something gets stuck in his throat. Something that makes his cheekbones all harsh and his eyes all intense and liquid.
And then I realize that I don’t even want to know what the cause of all this is. I don’t even want to know why he’s being all paranoid and panicky.
I can find out the cause later.
I need to make it better now.
I need to take this look away from him. This look of anger and panic and frustration. And the anxiety of something happening to me or to Halo.
So I get closer to him, as close as I can get.
I raise my hands and grab his face. I go up on my tired tiptoes and look him in the eyes. “Nothing’s happening to me, okay? Nothing is happening to Halo. We’re fine. We’re —”
His hands come to grab my waist, or whatever is left of it due to the pregnancy. His fingers fist my summer maternity dress. “You don’t know that. You don’t fucking know that. There are things that can harm you. People, you understand? There are people who could do things to you, Fae. Who could do things to her, to Halo and —”
“Hey, hey,” I speak over him, pressing my hands on his gorgeous, agitated face. “Look at me. Look at me, okay? I’m fine right now. In this moment, Roman, no one is coming to harm me. No one is coming to harm Halo.” I grab his wrist and make him touch my belly then. “Here, feel her. She’s safe. She’s sleeping, see?” His fingers grab on to my belly again. “I swear, she’s been acting up all morning. Ever since you left. But she’s fine now. She knows you’re here. She knows her daddy’s here.”