Elijah’s face is a mess. Whatever was happening in the basement before I stormed in must have been bad. His eyes are swelling by the minute and purple bruising ripens against his cheeks.
The front door flings open the moment I carefully pull Elijah from the low sports car, and I barely stop myself from cursing the car. Driving home has calmed me, but the anger raging through my blood is still palpable.
I’ve never felt such contempt for my family as I do right now.
Mary flies out the door, both hands held over her mouth as her eyes sweep over Elijah’s injuries. Once her initial shock wears off, she hurries down the steps, meeting us at the bottom. He’s allowing me to support some of his weight, but I have a feeling it’s more for my benefit than his. He walked himself out of the estate and got himself into the car without any complaint, so I’m certain he could do this himself, but I’m not willing to allow him to try.
“What happened?” she asks, her brows pulled together with concern.
I look to Elijah to answer, and he does the same to me. There are a few seconds of silence where we each wait for the other, but when understanding dawns on me, I sigh. “We ran into some trouble with my family.”
She watches me for a moment before looking to Elijah. “Are they not pleased about the wedding?” she asks.
“We’ll talk about it inside,” I say, wrapping my arm around Elijah’s waist and tugging him forward carefully.
He doesn’t struggle on the way up the stairs or as we walk through the house toward our bedroom, and by the time we reach the bathroom, I’ve all but stopped helping him. He doesn’t need it and there’s only so much a man like Elijah is going to allow me to coddle him.
Without a word, I reach for the first aid kit he keeps above the basin and point for him to sit on the edge of the bath. I’m not sure if I want to scream and let out the anger, or if I want to cry from all the emotions whirling around inside me.
I’ve never felt so out of control.
“Snowflake,” Elijah murmurs, and I realize I’ve been staring at the contents of the first aid kit for long enough to warrant his concern.
I take a deep breath and turn to him, brushing my eyes down his face before looking back to the kit. I pull some cotton and antiseptic from the pouch and set it on the edge of the basin. “Take your shirt off.”
Elijah scoffs. “Do you want me to strip for you, Snow?” he drawls.
I huff out a sigh, barely holding on to my composure. The rubber band inside me only stretches so far, and I’m so close to snapping I won’t be able to control myself if it does. “Just do it.”
“Since when do you call the shots?” Elijah cocks his head to the side, challenging me. He knows what he’s doing, and he wants to see me detonate.
“Since you just had the shit kicked out of you,” I snap.
A smirk tugs at the corner of his lips, the movement so slight most people wouldn’t notice it, but I do. I notice everything Elijah does, and that’s part of the problem. The longer I’m here, the more I fall for him. And the more I fall for him, the harder I’ll hit the ground when it’s all over.
I’m not so naive to think something like this can last. A romance founded on obsession that started when he kidnapped me. That’s not the makings of a successful marriage, and although I am going to go ahead with it, I’m going in with my eyes wide open.
“If I were a betting man, I would think you were worried about me,” he muses.
“So what if I am?”
“Well, my little Snowflake. If you’re worried about me, that means you care about me.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, centering the anger beating in my chest. “Is there a point coming?” I hiss.
Elijah reaches for me, and while I should pull away from his embrace, I need it right now, and I’m not ashamed to say, I need him right now. His arms wrap around me tightly, his head resting on my breasts as he holds me against him. His warmth radiates through me, bringing me comfort I didn’t think would be possible. The rage that vibrated through my veins calms, and his presence brings me a reprieve I so desperately needed.
“That’s better,” he murmurs.
“I need to check you over,” I whisper, holding him to my chest despite my words. I’m not ready to give up what we’re sharing yet, but I know what I need to do. Blood seeps from the open wounds of his face into my white blouse, the red a direct contrast to the silky fabric. It’s not the shirt I’m worried about though. No, it’s the injuries I can’t see. My brothers and Everett are fucking machines when they want information, and I don’t need to have ever seen them interrogate someone for me to know that.
“I’ll make you a deal,” he mumbles into my breasts, my nipples hardening against my bra despite the layers between his face and the hard peaks.
“I’m not making a deal with you, Elijah. You’re letting me patch up your wounds.”
He draws back and looks up at me through amused eyes. He’s getting too much enjoyment out of this considering how messed up his face is. I’m surprised he can still open his eyes at all, and I suspect the swelling will soon take over. “I’ll let you clean me up if you do it with my cock inside you.”
My mouth drops open and I quickly snap it shut. He’s the only person to ever render me speechless, and I don’t like it. I’ve always been quick-witted and snappy, but not with Elijah. He knows exactly which cord to strike to have all the words in my mind disappear.
“So do we have a deal?” His green eyes peer up at me despite the swelling.
“No, we absolutely do not have a deal,” I snap, pulling my body away from his only to be tugged right back in. “Elijah, let me go. That is not happening.”
He tilts his head and stares at me, as if he doesn’t understand the meaning of the word no, which actually makes a lot of sense. The number of times I’ve said the word to him since I got here and he’s completely ignored it seems to grow by the day.
I take a deep breath, allowing some of the anger in my chest to roll off me. I shouldn’t clean his wounds while I’m angry, I could end up hurting him more. “I am barely holding on to my composure right now, I still have my period, and sex is literally the furthest thing from my mind.” The words come out low, but the anguish behind them is clear.
There are so many reasons I don’t want to have sex right now, starting with all the blood he’s coated with, and ending with the deep ache in my chest because I won’t have one member of my family at my wedding. Everett won’t let Wynter come without him, and I don’t want him anywhere near the church on Saturday, just the same as my brothers. The emotional pain burns in my heart, and the more my adrenaline calms, the harder it is to stop the tears behind my eyes from falling down my cheeks. Sex won’t help anything. All it will do is make me more vulnerable than I already am.
“If you do it, I’ll call that as your punishment and we’ll be even.”
“Punishment?” I cry, pulling away from him and stumbling back. “What the fuck am I being punished for? I saved your ass!” All the rational thought I had a few moments ago has gone out the window.
Elijah stands to his full height, his injuries barely making his movements slow before he stalks toward me. For each step I take, a larger step he takes toward me until my back hits the cool tiles of the shower and he crowds my space. “You put yourself in danger today, Snow. You inserted yourself between me and a threat, and you could have got seriously hurt,” his voice is low and menacing, and the blood in my veins cools under them.
“They’re my brothers! They would never hurt me!” I move my hands to his chest with the intent of pushing him away, but he quickly bundles them into one of his and holds them above my head, rendering me completely helpless, just the way he likes me.
