The next week goes by pretty quietly, Erica popping over on Wednesday after classes finish to talk table settings and finalise the menu. I have never really agreed with the idea of forcing people to sit with complete strangers, so we decide to forgo the traditional wedding seating plan, letting people choose to sit where they like.
Sheer multi-colored sari tablecloths over white ones will cover the tables, bunches of rainbow-colored flowers in ceramic jugs sitting in the centre, along with glass jars full of fairy lights. The marquee will be lined in colourful transparent fabric, making it appear like a rainbow tent with swags of more flowers and fairy lights decorating the edges.
We decide to have a menu that represents both Ash and I; loaded hot dogs, pulled pork, as well as British cheeses with oat crackers, and a play on boiled eggs with soldiers for dessert. The guys looked at me with confused faces when I spoke about it until I explained that for breakfast we’d often have soft boiled eggs, the yolks still running, with buttery toast cut into slices to dip into them. This time, there’ll be a vanilla vermouth mouse with a mango puree centre in a tall ramekin, with shortbread biscuits to dip in.
There will, of course, be a rainbow sponge wedding cake, covered in fluffy buttercream as well as a donut cake, each tier being a different flavour of a very well-known American donut brand.
She tells me that she’ll organise tasters of everything, and we set a date of next Wednesday at some place in town to try all the food and make sure it’s what we want. She lets me know that almost everyone who has received an invitation either via courier if they’re in the US or email if they’re abroad, has accepted. Excitement runs through me at the idea of seeing Lexi and Ryan again so soon.
Friday rolls around and I find myself once again tired but less exhausted than I was last week. Willow informs me that it’s because I’m now in the ‘glowing’ phase of pregnancy where I look radiant, no longer need to pee all the damn time, and generally will find things a little easier. I must admit that I don’t feel sick all the time, although I have banned Kai from preparing any fish dishes in the kitchen as the smell turns my stomach.
I’m walking back to the dorms with said bush baby fairy—totally a thing—when I remembered something that I wanted her advice on.
“If someone wanted to, say, get revenge on a predatory cougar, what, theoretically, would be the best way to go about achieving it?” I bat my eyelashes at her, causing a throaty laugh to erupt from her lips.
“Hmmmm,” she murmurs, a serious look coming over her face. “One could, in theory, leak video footage of said cougar to the police, reporting the abuse,” she answers, an excited gleam coming into her eyes. “Oooohhh! Could you also discredit her with Julian somehow? Like, make out that she’s disloyal to Black Knight?”
I pause, my head tilted to the side as I think on her suggestion.
“It would be funny to see her carted away in cuffs,” I muse, liking the idea. “And you’re definitely onto something with casting her in a black light with Julian…”
“Lilly,” she says, interrupting my internal plotting. I look at her, pausing when she lays a hand on my arm. “I know that there’s more going on here, with Julian and Black Knight, than you can tell me, and that’s okay. Just know that I will help you however I can. My brother…he has connections and I will use them if need be.”
My eyes soften as I study her, my hand resting on top of hers and squeezing gently.
“You are an awesome person, Willow Anderson, and one of my favourites.”
But then a fissure of worry runs through me, and I bite my bottom lip. “But how would Loki feel? To be exposed so publically?”
“You could ask,” she replies as we resume walking. “It probably should be him who makes the final call after all.”
She’s right. It definitely should be his decision. He was the one that suffered the abuse. I just hope he goes for it, as I can’t help feeling that it’s the closure he needs to finally see that it wasn’t his fault. That she was a predator, and he an innocent.
“I’ll ask now,” I tell her, reaching my door and turning to face her. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck, you bad bitch,” she says, darting in to kiss my cheek. “I’ll catch you tomorrow?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely!” I respond, chuckling as she gives me a dorky as fuck wave, before walking off down the hall to her own room.
Miraculously, she managed to snag a room all to herself, all of the dorms being full after my arrival. She claims that palms were greased, which doesn’t surprise me in the least given this place, and the way money seems to talk.
Taking a deep breath to still the butterflies suddenly fluttering in my stomach, I put my key in the lock and open the heavy wooden door. Pausing in the doorway, I take a moment to admire the guys. My loves. The other parts of my soul.
Kai’s in the kitchen, preparing something that makes my mouth water and my stomach grumble, as Nothin but a Monster by Ari Hicks plays softly in the background. Jax and Loki are sitting on one sofa, Ash on another, all clutching gaming handsets, and playing what looks like a pretty violent game if the blood and gore on the screen are anything to go by. Loki shouts at the screen as something appears to kill his avatar, Ash’s lips lifting in a smirk as Loki swears at him. Jax laughs, the sound deep and low, making my nipples pebble even from here.
“You’re a dirty fucking cheat, Ash!” Loki shouts, throwing his controller down in disgust, getting up, and finally spotting me as he turns. “Pretty Girl!” he exclaims, leaping over the back of the sofa and rushing towards me.
He wraps me up in a breath stealing hug, like he literally didn’t see me just this morning. My arms go round him anyway, inhaling the vanilla scent that smells like home.
“I missed you,” he whispers in my ear, nuzzling the side of my neck, goosebumps appearing across my skin where he touches me.
“I missed you too, love,” I reply, finding his mouth with my own, and losing myself in his plush lips and soft tongue. My whole body relaxes into him as he kisses me back, all of the tension I didn’t know I was holding escaping out of me with a sigh.
Reluctantly, I pull away, looking into his eyes. My lower lip slips under my teeth as I try to think of the best way to broach the subject of Clarissa.
“Out with it, baby,” Loki tells me, keeping his arms round me as he arches a brow.
“I’ve been thinking about Clarissa,” I blurt out, wincing at my own bluntness. His arms stiffen, feeling like solid marble as they hold me, but he waits for me to continue. “And, uh, how we should deal with her.”
His lip twitches on one side, a mischievous glint entering his eyes.
“You planning to seek revenge in my honour, baby?” he teases, some of the tension leaking out of him.
“Yes.”
“So fucking hot,” he moans, thrusting his hips at me, and I feel his hard length pressed against my rounded stomach.
“Loki!” I chastise, shaking my head. “Focus, man!”
“Why don’t you two share with the class, Princess?” Ash drawls from the sofa, and I peer round Loki to see him sitting there still, the game controller on the coffee table in front of him.
I step away from Loki, taking his hand in mine and lead him to the others, Kai having sat down as well. Letting go of Loki, I walk over and place a kiss on Kai’s lips, then do the same to Jax and Ash. Only, being the Ash-hole that he is, he pulls me onto his lap, grasping my face in both hands, and kissing me soundly.
As usual he dominates with his lips and tongue, obliterating everything and everyone else with his touch. My body lights up under his caress, a whimper leaving me as he pulls back with a final peck on my kiss swollen lips.
“Now, what have you been plotting, Princess?” he asks, sounding cool as a motherfucking cucumber whilst I’m a hot mess.
I go to get up, but he lets go of my face, encircling me in his arms and pulling me more firmly into his lap. Guess I’ll stay here then.
“I’ve been thinking about how we can deal with Clarissa,” I tell them, my voice firm and upper lip curling as I say her name. She doesn’t deserve a fucking name, cum guzzling slutbucket.
Jax growls, but not at me, at the aforementioned slutbucket. Loki stiffens again having sat down next to Kai, and Kai clenches his hands into fists. Ash, unsurprisingly, remains still and unmoving underneath me.
“And what do you propose?” he questions, voice level, letting me know that he’s taking what I say seriously. This is what makes him a great leader. He may be an arsehole, but he will still listen to every opinion and suggestion, weighing it and considering it.
“Well, we start by leaking the videos to the police.” I watch Loki take a sharp breath, but he doesn’t interrupt. “Reporting her for sex with a minor. At the same time, we ‘find’ evidence of her betrayal of Black Knight Corporation, and share that with Julian, ensuring that she earns his ire, getting the maximum sentence for her crimes, plus total public humiliation and annihilation.”
Jax whistles, Loki’s brows raising to his hairline, and Kai is nodding, fingers tapping out a rhythm on his thigh as if he’s itching to grab his tablet and start typing.
“It’ll also have the added benefit of earning Julian and the board’s trust, helping to show that you are the good soldiers they’ve trained you to be, and so can be trusted. That way, they won’t see the knife coming when you stab them in the back.”
Ash’s fingers tighten against my hip, one hand lifting up to my face, grasping my chin, and turning me to face him.
“Loki was right, Princess,” he whispers seductively, his steel grey eyes boring into mine, banked heat in their depths. “You are so fucking hot when you’re plotting revenge.”
“So, you like the idea?” I ask, my pulse speeding up as I stare back at him.
“I fucking love it,” he tells me, a gleam in his eye and a satisfied smile on his face. “Kai.”
He doesn’t let go of my chin, gazing into my eyes as I hear Kai get up, then sit back down, the gentle tap of his fingers on his tablet sounding soon after.
“I’ve just transferred several lump sums into her account, under the guise of being from the CEO of Wolfgang Security,” he tells us, sounding distracted. My eyebrows raise to my hairline, a chill sweeping over me at the things Kai can do all from an iPad.
“Who?” I ask, still trapped in Ash’s stare.
“Our biggest competitor in the security industry,” he tells me.
“Also sent some incriminating emails to her from him that I’ve put in her deleted folder,” Kai tells us.
I place my hand on Ash’s, silently asking him to release me, which he does. Turning my head, I look at Loki.
“Are you okay with this, Loki?” I ask, looking intently at his reactions to see how he’s feeling.
He rubs his hand over his face, drawing his fingers through his auburn locks, my own hand itching to do the same.
“Yeah, I guess. It’s about time she paid for what she did,” he says, his voice getting stronger as he finishes. Kai stops tapping to place a hand on his knee and squeeze it.
“In that case, Kai, can you send that too please?” I ask, and he looks at me with a cheeky grin which makes my stomach somersault.
“You ordering me around too now, darling?” he questions, his smile getting wider as I blush. He gives me a wink, then looks back down at his tablet, his fingers flying across the screen. Minutes later, he looks back up at me, his look sombre. “Done.”
“And now we wait,” Ash supplies, trepidation running through me at his words.
Kai sets his tablet aside, getting up.
“Dinner’s ready,” he announces, heading over to the kitchen and opening the oven.
“I’ll help lay the table,” Loki says, giving me a small smile, then following Kai over.
Jax stands too, walking over to me and holding out his hand. Grasping it, he helps me up, and we go to take over plates and cutlery to the table, Ash bringing glasses and a jug of iced tea. Loki helps Kai carry Asian baked chicken, veggies, and steaming fragrant rice.
We sit down to eat as if we hadn’t just planned the ruination of someone’s life.
Just another day in paradise, I guess.
