He lets out a warm chuckle and it’s so surprising that it has me forcefully turning toward him. He’s smirking in an amused and satisfied way and it’s me who has brought that side of him out.
“We can explore more of that later,” he muses, noticing the way I’m devouring him from head to toe with my eyes. His body is stunning and it surprised me that he’s self-conscious about it at all. Not waiting for me, he goes into the master bathroom and the sounds of him rifling around makes me wonder what he’s looking for. The water turns off, the trickling hitting my ears and making me feel like I need to pee.
I try to lift myself and fall right back down. My limbs are completely Jell-O and useless.
“I was getting you a rag, brat. Settle.” I do, but only because my body is exhausted and not because I’m letting him win. Defiance settles in my chest, and I hug the bed as he spreads my thighs. Unlike the others, he’s really doting and caring. He cleans me and I moan at the warmth from the rag.
After he’s done, he lays with me, kissing every exposed inch of my body. When he brings my body to him, I smile, not knowing there was this side of Bridger unless he was having a hard day.
In secret, he’d kiss me.
In reality, he’d hide me.
I hate how much it still bothers me. That’s when it hits me. Lux. I just committed adultery and if anyone in the Vestige knew, I’d be sentenced to death. Yet, a smile breaks free at the thought of rebelling against the bastards who took my choices away.
The beauty of learning their history… you learned their laws. It only furthered my determination for destroying them from the inside out.
Fuck them all.
“Sleep, Starless. We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.”
Not realizing it was even close to a normal sleeping time, I nod. He lifts me, putting my head on the pillows, tucking me into his chest, then covering us both with blankets.
Within minutes, I pass out.
Chapter Seven
Bridger
She looks so innocent sleeping. If she knew this was my first sexual experience other than the simple touching we did all those times, would she freak out?
That’s why I told her to tell me if I did anything she didn’t like. I’d studied for this moment. Hours upon hours of research between amateur porn, pro, and books. I’ve done all I can to memorize everything she could possibly want while also not knowing everything.
She seemed satisfied and doesn’t seem like the type to fake anything.
After I shower, I dress and prepare for the backlash from Mortem. Meeting him last April changed my life. Before everything with Cassidy, he introduced me to his father, stating he finally found the man who created him and Corpse.
What I didn’t realize, Mortem is the rogue who has been trying to rip the Vestige limb from limb. He didn’t realize they planned on killing Cassidy.
That’s when we formalized a plan.
We didn’t know when it would happen, just that it would.
“You’re late,” Mortem grumbles as I walk into his study. I’ve met with him on many occasions in the last eight months. The guys were none the wiser. It’s a quick eight-hour drive to meet where we’d been meeting in Dayle. He kept me in the loop on our plan and I ghosted everyone around me, forcing them to despise me for my lack of interest in everything.
Plans can’t work without conviction.
That’s why I’m dedicated and successful.
I may sacrifice it all, but in the end, I’ll win.
“Slept in,” I return, brushing a hand through my wet strands. He glares at me.
“You know these walls aren’t soundproof, right?”
“Fuck.”
“I’m ten seconds away from killing you, Clemonte. Sit the fuck down before those ten seconds become reality.” He props his elbows on his desk, intertwining his fingers in contemplation.
Clenching my jaw and biting my tongue, I take the chair furthest away. He waves me to speak, but he’s the one with the intel. As I think of Colt and everything she doesn’t know, he finally leans back in his chair and appears to be concentrating.
“From what I’ve gathered while you were at dinner before going to the Estate,” he begins, scratching his chin. “Those two dicks, DeLeon and Edgington, found my journal.”
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
“Did they read it?” He’d told me about his journal. If he were a girl, it’d be downplayed as a diary. He explains too much. A lost boy, hating life, wanting to rebel, and then falling in love with the wrong person, having them ripped away, and life changing around him.
They lied about the Grims being erased all those years ago.
It wasn’t that long ago.
Eighteen years, to be exact.
“No,” he answers. “Or they’d have found me, found us.”
I nod. “Seems like Jordan’s Italian sucks.” It’s meant as a joke but Mortem isn’t impressed.
“It doesn’t. DeLeon showed him before you left and I spooked them and retrieved it before they could come back from the Estate and read it.”
“Smart,” I comment, not knowing what else to say. I know everything.
The bloodlines.
The war.
The oaths.
The deaths.
The betrayals.
Everything that’s pertinent to the Vestige, I know.
“We need to start planning.”
I nod, biting my thumb. I’m not sure how to go about this. I tap my foot, something I’m not used to doing even when I’m in a bad head space, but my nerves are shot.
Between fucking around with Colt and knowing she’s married to someone who isn’t me has me on edge. She’s not my property, but I’ve lived my life fighting for her.
I fought and sacrificed, all in the name of the words my mom told me all that time ago, and now, she’s not even mine.
“I’m thinking we start with destroying the Edgingtons and then going for the DeLeons,” he starts, nodding to agree with his own train of thought.
Shaking my head immediately, I lean forward, knowing he isn’t going to like the news. “Actually…”
His face morphs into anger again. “What happened?” is his immediate question.
“Well,” I start again, not knowing how to tell him I completely failed, that she more than married Lux, and it fucks with everything, because now Midas can overthrow Edgington with his newfound power. Especially if Colt is pregnant.