Scorned Love: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Scorned Fate) -
Scorned Love: Chapter 12
“Getting furniture is cursed. Trevor is in the hospital all because I needed furniture.”
Trevor had to stay overnight for observation. A bullet had ripped through his shoulder and he wouldn’t be regaining use of it anytime soon. I couldn’t help but feel responsible. Although everyone told me it wasn’t my fault.
“That’s silly talk and you know it.” Nico was driving, taking me to The Grindhouse building. “Tell her, Xander.”
“I should be the one feeling guilty,” my cousin from the back seat said. “I was the one giving you a hard time about the lack of furniture.”
“I did, so did Bianca,” Nico said. “Everyone who’s stepped into your loft is guilty.”
“You’re all trying to make me feel better.” How could they let me off the hook so easily?
“You already look like a walking carnage, cuz,” Xander said.
“Ouch, that’s mean.” I pulled down the visor. But Nico flipped it back up.
“That bad, huh?”
“Stop with the pity party.”
“It’s not a pity party. My whole face feels like I’ve gone ten rounds with a gorilla.”
“Or one round with a steel pipe,” Nico replied. Every time he mentioned the weapon of my attackers, his fingers curled and whitened against the steering wheel.
Maybe I should refrain from talking about it. We already hashed out what happened when we were in Trevor’s room.
“It glanced off.”
After I fell and lost the phone for the second time, I remembered the steel pipe glancing off my head. I rolled and got up. What followed was a blur of limbs and blocking blows. And I certainly was on the losing end. Hell, I wasn’t even sure how my wrist got sprained. My entire right side ached and I could already predict the ugly bruising. Moving even an inch would be hellish when the painkillers wore off. My joints were already feeling stiff, the swelling compromising their flexibility. Pillows cushioned my fall, but apparently not enough. That must have been how I sprained my wrist.
A giant foot was about to stomp on me when Trevor arrived. He shot at Steel Pipe and his cohorts, but clearly hit the former. I wasn’t sure how badly he was injured, but the other two dragged him from the loft screaming. Would I have prevented that man from caving in my chest? But they said they weren’t there to kill me. Just rough me up maybe? I always thought the glancing blow was on purpose. My head was too big a target to miss. If Trevor hadn’t overpowered the guy standing guard in the loading dock, would they have killed him to send a message?
Trevor and I crawled to each other like lovers in a Greek tragedy. I was so relieved they lied about killing my bodyguard. I mustered enough energy to sit up and apply pressure to the hole in his shoulder. That was how the cops found us. The loading dock attendant called 911 after Trevor shot and overpowered the guy watching them.
“Now that’s my excuse not to be on the runway.”
“Fashion week is five weeks away,” Xander said. “That’s plenty of time.”
“I guess we can hide the bruising with makeup.”
“Are you seriously talking about a fashion show when you just got beat up?” Nico muttered.
“Verdict is out on whether I would have lost that fight.” As the haze of the attack cleared, fumes of fury festered inside me. They attacked me in my home. A home I was beginning to love and make my safe place, and those assholes took that from me. The painkillers weren’t numbing my emotional pain, and I wasn’t sure if it was the painkillers that were making me feel vengeful. “Trevor and I came out alive.”
Nico’s hand reached out and entwined our fingers. He brought it to his lips and kissed the knuckles. “Yes, I’m sure fucking glad about that.”
I thought he was going to let my hand go, but he didn’t. I wasn’t sure what to make of this tender gesture, either. Shocked, for sure. And I wasn’t the only one because, behind me, Xander’s unspoken questions were like someone tattooing my skull. It was the first time Nico had shown any hint of the intimacy that had transpired between us.
“I’m so glad you arrived quickly,” I whispered.
“Not quickly enough.”
His fingers tightened around mine and continued holding them all the way to Hell’s Kitchen. When Nico was checking his side mirror, Xander kicked the back of my seat.
I glanced over my shoulder.
He was jerking his head repeatedly in Nico’s direction and making funny expressions with his eyes and mouth.
My lips pursed together, and I glared at him to quit making those funny faces.
Nico’s phone on the dash lit up with Daniel’s name.
Panic shot off inside me.
“Should I answer?” Nico asked.
Xander and I said, “No!”
“Find out from someone else if he found out what happened,” I said. “It could be he’s trying to reach me.” My phone was in pieces back in the loft. Steel Pipe crushed it. That man was a stomper, and I shuddered at what my injuries would have been if Trevor hadn’t arrived in time.
“I should come home.”
Daniel wouldn’t stop blowing up everyone’s phones. It all started when he tried to reach me. Then he tried to reach Xander. He got suspicious when Matteo and Sera wouldn’t respond to his texts either and started threatening everyone, so I talked to him.
I also tried audio at first, but Daniel wanted to see me. I couldn’t describe how my heart rolled over when my brother saw my face. I wanted to switch off the video. Hide under the table. Pull a blanket over my head.
Because the anguish that slashed his face and the tears that spilled from his eyes hurt more than my injuries.
“No, please don’t. I’ll feel bad if we lose control of the company.” I didn’t care, but it was everything Daniel had worked for in the past six years.
“Fuck everything. Fuck Wheeler Corp. We don’t need it. We have enough money to start over. We can carve out Donateka from the deal.”
I could see the cogs turning in his head. He would consider this too. “Then what will you do? You’ll be bored out of your mind with just one company to manage and fashion isn’t your wheelhouse. Maybe you should settle down and start a family.”
A look of horror crossed Daniel’s face. That would do it. Children from dysfunctional families emerged from the experience differently. My father was an expert at playing mind games with his children. He would show approval and love, only to yank it away when we failed a single expectation. That was why I pushed myself in academics, even when my interest veered toward the artistic. When the Triad assassinated my father, I dealt with the tragedy by having an affair with a man twenty years older than me. Edward was a product of the same dysfunction. Maybe that was why I thought we had a connection.
Meanwhile, Daniel dealt with the tragedy by burying himself with work at Wheeler Corp. Pre-Matteo, Sera harbored a huge crush on my brother, and even if I loved Daniel, I knew he would never open himself up enough to be worthy of my best friend.
“I wouldn’t wish myself on any woman.” Daniel gave a tired laugh. At least he was honest about his shortcomings. “Let me talk to Nico.”
“It’s not his fault, okay?”
“They should have put more guards on you—”
“And I would have balked. I don’t want a blasted entourage. The target was the warehouse then, not me.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, but I didn’t think he was seeing me. He was assessing the situation. Then he repeated his request to talk to Nico.
Xander and Nico were shuffling through two suitcases.
“Katie brought a change of clothes and toiletries,” Xander informed me. It wasn’t our stuff from the loft. The cops hadn’t finished processing my residence and the last thing I wanted Katie to see was the carnage on the floor.
“Thank God,” I said, then handed Nico the phone. “He wants to talk to you.”
Nico grabbed the phone, left us in the living room, and disappeared into the study.
Xander straightened and crossed his arms. “Okay, spill.”
“Spill what?” I asked innocently.
“I’ve been so busy with fashion week and the drama between the models, I didn’t see what was happening underneath my nose.” His eyes bore through me. “But I’ve seen it all along, haven’t I? That chemistry between you and Nico. That fake-hating.”
“Fake-hating? I don’t hate Nico. That would require energy.”
“Ouch. Still in denial.”
“I don’t want to talk about it…but…” I glanced at the closed door. “He did seem concerned—”
“Concerned? He left concerned way back at his parents’ house. More like panicked. He tore out of their house like the Hulk.”
“Oh my God, Ava’s birthday.” But apologizing for ruining it would be superficial, given what had happened to Trevor and me.
“No worries there,” Xander echoed my sentiment. “I’m sure they’re relieved you’re okay. The De Luccis are used to these emergencies, according to Lottie.”
“Oh, you’re on nicknames now with Carlotta?”
“She’s going to visit the shop.” Xander eyed me critically. “Come, let’s get you tucked in. Nico said you could use the middle room. That way you’ll be between him and me.”
Nico emerged from the study. “Need my help to get ready for bed? The shower?”
“Xander’s got me.”
“I do?”
What the hell? Didn’t he just say he was going to tuck me in? I pinched my cousin where it hurt, his torso where there was little body fat.
“Aggh,” he grumbled. “I do.”
Nico was staring at me when he said, “Can you give us a second, Xander?”
“Sure.” The “sure” was sly with innuendo. I could strangle my cousin right now.
Nico closed the distance between us. Stealthily, like he was a panther, and I was his prey, but there was a wariness around him too. His jaw hardened as he caressed my swollen cheek with the back of his fingers. “I hate that this happened to you.”
“That makes two of us.”
“How can you be so calm about this?” The rage vibrated somewhere around the vicinity of his chest, so that was where I laid my palm.
“I guess it hasn’t fully sunk in yet.”
“I don’t want you sleeping alone.”
I quirked a brow. “Are you offering?”
“Seems like I’m the most likely candidate, seeing that I had my mouth on your pussy a few nights ago.” One side of his cheek half cocked into the beginnings of a smirk. He leaned forward. “Not to mention the pounding I gave it—”
My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh, shit.”
His brows drew together, coming to the same realization I did. “The surveillance footage.”
My heart felt like it would hammer out of my ribcage. “I haven’t accessed it yet, but the detective wants to look at it. It’s all in the cloud, and my phone is wrecked. I think it only covers the foyer. The other cameras only activate when I’ve armed the alarms, so I think we’re fine.”
Nico gave a deep-throated chuckle. “I don’t think I’ll be embarrassed with my performance.”
“You’re so cocky.”
“You did have your mouth around my cock.” He gave a pained groan. “No. I can’t be lusting after a woman who just had her ass kicked.”
“Hey, I thought I was kick-ass.”
“You know what?” He nudged me toward the room. “I’ll take care of you.”
Xander chose that time to return.
Nico said, “I got her.”
My cousin looked at me. “You sure, Ivy?”
“He got cheated out of seeing me naked. I guess I owe him a peep show.” I entered the bedroom while I imagined him and Xander exchanging a silent conversation. Though my cousin teased me a lot about my dating life or lack thereof, he wouldn’t put me in a situation I wasn’t comfortable with.
Nico followed behind me and dropped a suitcase of things on the floor. He closed the door gently. Almost too gently, like he was still gauging my mindset.
“I can’t believe I said that,” I groaned, partly in embarrassment but mostly because my whole body was screaming at me.
“I think my behavior this evening already got the gossip mill rolling.”
“We agreed it would never happen again.”
Instead of confirming my statement, he asked me, “Are you in pain?”
“My whole body feels like it’s been body-slammed by the Hulk.”
“I see we’re progressing from gorillas.” He made me sit on the bed while he entered the bathroom. I heard the shower starting.
I kicked off my shoes. “The painkillers are fading.”
He came back and checked his watch. “You can’t have any for another two hours.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Who made you my pill warden?”
“No one. I took it upon myself to know.” He carefully helped me out of my shirt. He hissed in a ragged breath while his eyes took in the bruises on my body.
I kept my eyes on his face, fascinated by the way his jaw was flexing overtime.
“Get your ass up a bit.”
“I can do this,” I protested even as I let him slip the pants off my legs.
“Jesus, Ivy,” he whispered. “It’s worse than I thought.”
“I’m afraid to look at myself in the mirror.”
“Fuck the mirror,” he growled, helping me to my feet and gingerly wrapping his arms around me. “I want to murder the people who did this to you.”
“I’d rather you don’t go to jail.”
“I don’t plan on getting caught,” he said in my ear. “There are a hundred ways to kill a man and more than a few are untraceable.”
I shuddered at the thought. “Did they teach you that in Archer school?”
I lost the warmth of his embrace. He moved behind me and guided me to the bathroom. “There’s no Archer school, but I know a few assassins and learned a few things. You need to teach me the death touch.”
“There’s no death touch,” I laughed lightly. The warmth of steam engulfed me.
“We’re going to do hot and cold, baby. Then I’ll redress your wounds.” He put me in the shower and closed the door. I welcomed the water sluicing over my body and washing the night and the antiseptic away. Save for the gash on my head, I had mostly heavy bruising and a couple of shallow cuts. I kept my head away from the water, trying to figure out if I should wet the wound or not.
The shower door opened again, and Nico joined me.
I stiffened.
“Sorry,” he said. “I hope I’m not too presumptuous.”
I closed my eyes against the spray of water and said to him, “Too late for that.”
“The doc said to watch out for a concussion. I don’t want you falling in the shower.” He paused. “Besides, I think you’d appreciate someone washing your hair.”
“Oh, yes, please.” My hair was a mass of sweat and crusted blood, especially the tips where it dragged over the pool of Trevor’s blood. For that alone, I’d swallow my pride and let Nico have his way with me.
He shampooed my hair, his fingers strong and soothing on my scalp. I surrendered to his ministrations. My body had become more sensitive and he eased off on areas, judging from my body language or gasps. There was nothing sexual in the way he took care of me. He was clinical and precise, soaped between my legs and palmed my breasts without lingering. Lust was the furthest from my mind when my entire system wanted to shut down.
When he turned the water to lukewarm and then colder, I protested. “Ahhh….”
“Just a few seconds to keep the swelling down.”
He detached the showerhead and made quick work of spot-freezing the swollen areas. When he turned the water off, I was shivering.
He cursed and toweled me dry before wrapping it around me and getting me out. From there, he made me get into a terry robe. He disappeared for a bit and when he returned, he was in boxer briefs. I understood why, because he made me sit on the toilet. I guessed he didn’t want his cock to slap me in the face. I could see the outline of an erection. He didn’t apologize for it and neither did I make commentary while he dried my hair.
Throughout this, I hadn’t seen what I looked like. And I knew from various sparring sessions, any bruises would look worse after a shower. Nico’s grim face wasn’t promising.
After he finished drying my hair, he crouched in front of me.
His gaze pierced into me. “I’m going to inspect your body. Daniel texted me the name of a Chinese liniment and we actually carry it at the gym.”
“Dit da jow?” I twitched my nose. “I don’t like the smell of that.”
He grinned. “That’s the one.”
“I know of an arnica alternative we can use. I’ll order it tonight and it’ll be here tomorrow.”
“We need to put something on it tonight.” He helped me up. “Come on, Princess Ass-Kicker. Let’s assess the damage.”
“Am I ready for this? The lighting doesn’t appear too flattering in the bathroom.”
He led me to the counter in front of a full-length mirror, but he was blocking my view. “I promise not to say anything that will hurt your feelings.”
Even eye-rolling was painful. “I don’t know, Nico. You haven’t been good for my self-esteem.”
He caged me in, face coming so close, I leaned away. “Your hotness points just escalated. I’m being as impersonal as possible because a, I feel like murdering someone for hurting you and violence is simmering just under my skin, b, you can be sure once you’re able and ready, I’m going to fuck your brains out just the way we did at your loft. And c, black eye or not, to me, you look gorgeous and fierce. Like a battle princess who demands I worship at her feet.”
“So…you’re saying, despite how I look, I’m fuckable?”
“That’s exactly what I am saying.” He cleared the hair that had partially covered my face before saying gently, “Are you ready?”
Words caught in my throat and I fought back the tears, my mouth quivering. If he’d noticed my emotional state, he showed no reaction.
“You’re so nice. It’s hard to remember that you annoyed the hell out of me once.”
He busted out laughing. “Same here, princess. Same here.”
When the humor left us, I inhaled a resigned sigh. “Okay, I’m ready.”
The blow-dryer kept my body so warm that a sheen of sweat coated my body, so when Nico carefully unraveled the sash from my robe and let it fall open, cool air dotted my skin with goose bumps.
I stared at his chest, focusing on its rise and fall. Was his heart rate as fast as mine? Was he having a hard time breathing like I did?
He placed a kiss on the top of my head. “Remember, this is all temporary.”
Somehow that didn’t make me less anxious.
He stepped aside.
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