Present
WALKING INTO THE CRIST HOME, I gave Edward a small smile as he took my coat and then helped my mother with hers.
She looked so beautiful.
It had been three weeks since she’d returned from the facility in California, and although every day was like a ticking time bomb, I grew more and more relaxed as the days passed that she wouldn’t relapse.
Her A-line black dress hugged her body that no longer looked so frail, and the color in her cheeks made her seem ten years younger. She was looking more and more like the mother from my childhood every day.
I wore an ivory-colored dress that fell to the tops of my knees, and my mother had politely mentioned that it might be too tight for Thanksgiving dinner. I didn’t hesitate to let her know that Michael liked looking at my body, and I liked him looking, so there.
She blushed, and I laughed.
“Rika,” I heard Mrs. Crist call.
I looked up to see Michael’s mother strolling through the foyer, decked out and looking elegant and as usual.
“Darling, you look wonderful.” She embraced me, giving me a quick peck on the cheek.
Then she turned to my mom. “Christiane,” she said, hugging her. “Please come and stay with me. Since your house won’t be ready until next summer, I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be here.”
My mother pulled back and smiled. “I would love to, but right now, I’m enjoying the city so much.”
No one except Michael, Kai, Will, and me knew the real cause of the fire, and since the restoration on our house here had slowed down due to the falling temperatures, I’d brought my mother to Meridian City with me. I’d offered her the spare room in my apartment, but she wanted to give Michael and me our privacy, opting for a hotel instead.
I’d stayed with her there for a couple of weeks—to make sure she was okay—but I slowly relaxed when she started spending her time at the gym, getting her health back, and volunteering at a shelter to keep busy and meet some new people. She was eating well, sleeping even better, and surprisingly, in no hurry to return to Thunder Bay.
Eventually, though, I gave her some space and took myself back to Delcour. Much to Michael’s relief.
Not that he didn’t want me around her, but he still got antsy about my safety. He said it had to do with Damon’s unknown whereabouts, but I knew it was something else.
Since the night at the yacht over a month ago, he’d woken up in the middle of the night a few times sweating and breathing hard. He’d had nightmares about the water. About me being pulled down and him grabbing for my hand just like he had that night.
Only in his nightmares he didn’t find me. I was lost.
“Mrs. Crist, I can’t believe how busy you’ve been.” I said, looking around, amazed at the newly redecorated sitting room and all of the holiday décor splashed around the house. Garlands and wreaths hung from the walls and stairs, and I looked up, seeing Michael appear at the top of the stairs. He descended in his pressed black suit with the smallest smile curling his lips. His eyes zoned in on me, and I inhaled a deep breath, feeling my stomach flip like always.
“Well,” Mrs. Crist said, sounding sad. “I needed to stay busy.”
I tore my eyes away from Michael and met his mother’s glossy eyes that welled with tears.
Guilt washed over me. “I’m so sorry.”
Trevor was dangerous, more so than Damon because Trevor hid it so well, but I couldn’t imagine losing a child. Even one like that.
I hoped I never had to feel what she did.
But she just shook her head at me, sniffling. “Please don’t say that. Who my son was wasn’t your fault, and you’re both safe,” she said, and then looking to Michael. “I wouldn’t trade that.”
Michael stared down at her, a look of regret crossing his face.
Other than me, I was pretty sure his mother was the only woman he loved. And while his first instinct had been to protect me, his second had been to protect her. After Trevor had drowned, Will tried to talk Michael into dumping him into the ocean on the way back, so Michael wouldn’t have to deal with telling his parents that he’d killed his brother.
Michael wouldn’t even listen. He couldn’t leave his mother’s son out there. At the very least, he had to bring a body back to her, and he knew he couldn’t look at her day in and day out and lie to her.
So after we’d brought the yacht into port, we’d called the police and told them everything. How Trevor took me, lured Michael and his friends there, and nearly killed Will and me.
It was devastating, and while Mrs. Crist was thankful we were okay, she would hurt for a long time.
Mr. Crist, on the other hand, seemed more disappointed than grief-stricken. He only had one son now, and instead of the contempt with which he usually treated Michael, he began getting very involved in his life, wasting no time in shifting the hopes he had for Trevor onto Michael.
Good thing for Michael he had plenty of practice standing up to his father.
My mother and Mrs. Crist walked toward the kitchen, and Michael’s father approached, carrying a drink in his hand with a cigar between his fingers.
“I want to sit down today. We’ve got things to discuss.”
He spoke to Michael but glanced to me, his indication clear. Since I wouldn’t be marrying Trevor, his plans now included Michael.
“Things to discuss,” Michael mused, taking my hand. “You mean my future and Rika’s money? Because it’s too late. I broke the trust. Everything is in her name now.”
“You did what?” his father growled.
I grinned, letting Michael lead me away. “I’d love to sit down and discuss my future next time you’re in town,” I told Mr. Crist, letting him know I was the one in charge of my family’s business now.
There were several pieces of real estate he and my father co-owned, so I had no choice but to work with him, but I wasn’t a pawn for men to marry and govern. Now he knew.
Michael and I walked into the dining room, seeing Will and Kai standing around the table, talking with drinks in hand while their parents and several others congregated in small groups around the room.
Servers flitted in and out, carrying trays of hors d’oeuvres and refilling champagne glasses.
Kai met us halfway, closely followed by Will.
“I found Damon,” Kai told Michael right away.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“St. Petersburg.”
“Russia?” Michael said, a stunned look on his face. “What the fuck?”
Kai continued. “His parole officer came looking for him. Damon missed his check-in with him, and after tracking his passport, they found him there,” he explained. “It makes sense. That’s where his father’s people are from, so he’s on friendly ground. They’re not going to go after him, of course, but we can.”
I shook my head. “Just leave him alone.”
Michael turned his eyes on me, looking down. “I’m not waiting for him to just show up back here, Rika. He’s dangerous.”
“He won’t come back,” I stated. “He won’t want to fail a third time. Just leave him alone, and let’s move on.”
Kai and Michael studied me for a few moments, and I hoped they understood what I wasn’t saying.
There had been too much pain. Too many years and too much wasted time. We all needed to start living again.
Damon wouldn’t try to hurt me again. Another attempt after two failures would make him look pathetic. He was gone.
And since we’d found the phone from Devil’s Night right where I suspected—in Trevor’s cabin on board Pithom—and destroyed it, there was absolutely nothing holding us back anymore. It was time to start having some fun.
“So what do we do now?” Will asked.
The corner of Michael’s lips lifted. “What we’re good at, I guess. Wreaking a little fucking havoc.”
And then he jerked his chin, gesturing to the two female servers behind Kai and Will.
The guys turned around, seeing two college-age girls, dressed in black pencil skirts, white blouses, and black vests. They tried to their hide smiles, eyeing them as they lit candles and checked the table settings.
“Delay dinner for us?” Michael asked.
Kai turned back around, his chest shaking with a quiet laugh. “How long do you need?” he asked, backing away with mischief in his eyes.
“An hour.”
Kai and Will turned around with shitty-ass grins on their faces as they followed the girls and disappeared into the kitchen.
I narrowed my eyes up at Michael, confused.
“Come on.” He tugged at my hand. “I want to show you something.”
And then he pulled me along, out of the dining room.
I STEPPED OUT OF THE CAR, the leaves rustling under my heels as I pulled my ivory-colored coat tight around me and slammed the car door.
The day was clear, not a cloud in the sky as I breathed out steam and looked up, seeing the scaffolding, tarps, and small yellow bulldozers sitting around the old cathedral.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
It wasn’t being torn down, was it?
“I’m having it restored,” he answered, taking my hand and leading me inside the front doors.
I walked in, my gaze immediately shooting everywhere as I took in all the work the crew had already done.
The broken and trashed pews in the balcony were now all torn out, and all of the garbage and piles of debris around the floor were completely gone. The sanctuary and old altar had been removed, and there was now a proper door hung at the entrance of the catacombs. Tarps hung over exposed areas in the roof and walls, and a new cement foundation had been laid, clean and solid.
To the right and left, scaffolding went all the way up to the roof, and I also noticed wood framing, as if a second floor were being added.
There were no workers here, probably because it was Thanksgiving.
“Restored?” I repeated, still confused. “As what? As a church, a historical site…?”
He opened his mouth, taking in a deep breath as if he were a little apprehensive. “As a… house,” he finally answered.
“A house? I don’t understand.”
He breathed out a laugh and approached me. “I should’ve talked to you about it, but I…” He looked around. “I really wanted this, and I was hoping you’d want to live here.”
I froze.
“With me,” he added.
Live here? With him?
I mean, yeah, I was already practically living in his penthouse in the city with him right now, but I still had my apartment, and this was a house. A whole different level.
I loved the idea of turning it into a home. As strange as it might be to other people, it’s where some of my favorite memories with Michael occurred. I loved it here.
But…would this be just his place, and I’d live here? Or would it be ours? Could he send me packing any time he wanted?
Or did a house mean something more?
“So what does this mean exactly?” I inched out, my heart drumming faster.
He kept his eyes on mine and walked up to me slowly, moving forward and pushing me back. I gasped, hitting a stone column.
With amusement in his eyes, he leaned in, whispering, “Turn around.”
I hesitated, wondering what he was up to, but…
I never backed away from a challenge.
Turning around slowly, I let him take my hands and plant them on the column in front of me. Then he snaked a hand around my waist and covered my back with his chest, nuzzling my neck with his lips. I wasn’t cold anymore.
“It means that I want to keep playing,” he said, his voice deep and filled with heat. “It means that until the house is done and we’re ready to settle back here, my apartment is your apartment, my bed is yours, and my eyes are only on you.”
He kissed my neck, his hot lips sending shivers across my body.
“It means that I’m going to do my best to piss you off every chance I get, because there’s nothing hotter than you when you’re mad.” I could hear the grin in his voice.
He dipped his hand down to the inside of my thigh. “And then I’m going to do my best to remind you of how nice I am, so you can’t stop thinking about me when we’re not together.”
I sucked in a breath, feeling his fingers inch up my thigh, already making me throb.
“It means that you’re going to finish school, but I respectfully request that, when you come home, you do me before your homework,” he continued, brushing his thumb over my clit through my panties. “And it means that you’re going to have to constantly look over your shoulder for what I have up my sleeve next, because I’ll always be coming for you.”
And then his other fist came up, and I watched wide-eyed as he uncurled his fingers and a glint of sparkle appeared in front of me. I stopped breathing as he slid the ring on my left hand and continued to whisper in my ear, “And you’re going to want every second of it, because I know what you like, Rika, and I can’t live without you.”
I shook, my eyes pooling with tears as he wrapped both arms around me and held on for dear life.
“I love you,” he breathed out in my neck.
Oh, my God. I pulled my hand down, holding it with my right, as I looked at the ring.
A flood of heat hit my chest, and I stopped breathing. I know this ring.
It was a platinum band with an array of diamonds, looking almost like a snowflake. One stone sat in the middle, surrounded by ten more, with yet another circle of about 20 diamonds on the outside.
“This is one of the rings I took on Devil’s Night,” I said, my voice shaking as I looked up at him. “I thought you had returned everything.”
“I did.” He nodded. “But this one I bought.”
“Why?”
Why would he buy a ring for someone he hated? It would have been after the videos exploded online, so it didn’t make any sense.
He tightened his arms around me. “I don’t know. Maybe I couldn’t let a piece of that night go.” And then he leaned in whispering in my ear, “Or maybe somewhere down deep I always knew this day would come.”
I smiled, tears streaming down my face. It was perfect. The ring, the house, even the proposal.
He’d promised to piss me off, but he also promised to be good to me and always come for me.
But I had to wonder…would we really be able to do this? Keep up the games? The excitement? The passion?
“People don’t live like we do, Michael.” I turned my head to look at him again. “They go to movies. They cuddle in front of fires…”
“I’ll fuck you in front of a fire,” he retorted, spinning me around and smirking as I laughed.
But then he came in and leaned his lips into my forehead, speaking quietly. “Other people don’t matter to us, Rika. We don’t let their rules contain us. What we can and can’t do is irrelevant. Who’s going to stop us?”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, elation sweeping over me as I tilted my head back, staring up at the high ceiling.
“What?” he asked.
I inhaled a deep breath, my veins charged with excitement. “Our house,” I mused. “I can’t believe this is ours.” And then I met his eyes. “I love you.”
He grabbed my face and kissed me, his warmth spreading down my body. “I love you, too,” he told me. “So is that a yes then?”
I nodded. “Yes.” But then I popped my eyes wide and pulled away. “The catacombs!” I blurted out. “They’re not filling them in, are they?”
He laughed. “No. They’ll stay accessible.”
I dropped my arms and walked for the door, slipping off my coat and hanging it over the scaffolding.
“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked.
I spun around, cocking my head coyly. “You forgot to get on one knee.”
He snorted. “Well, it’s a little too late, Rika. I already proposed.”
“You can still get on your knees.” And I crooked a finger, turning back around.
“Well, the contractor said he might stop by today to do some more assessments,” he warned.
But I only grinned and shot him a challenge over my shoulder as I opened the door. “Are you tapping out?”
He shook his head, his mischievous eyes telling me everything I needed to know as he walked toward me.
He was always game.
And thanks to his tutelage, now so was I.
He’d corrupted me.
