“Are you going to pretend there isn’t a new young thing in this house who has things at a whorehouse?” I ask.
He stops mid pulling his pants up, then turns to face me and finishes pulling them all the way, but doesn’t lace or button them. He tilts his head to the side and in this moment, I wish that I could tap into his head quickly, because he’s thinking something, but I don’t know what the hell it is.
Then he shrugs a shoulder. “Made a deal with Bessie Silks. She wanted her girls here for the men. The only way she’d make that happen was by giving me Daisy.”
“Giving you… Daisy?”
I watch as he nonchalantly walks over to the wardrobe and continues to take his clothes out and dress, not giving a flying fuck that I’m about two seconds from blowing the roof off of this fucking bitch.
Anger builds inside of me and there is a rumbling sound in the distance but I ignore it. Staring at him, I wait for Colt to give me some reasonable fucking explanation for this woman being here.
“I guess you need help, right? To get dressed every day and things? Martha could always use help in the house, especially with so many people here at the moment.”
Inhaling a deep breath, I try to calm myself down, considering the sunshine is now gone and darkness spills through the windows.
Clearing my throat, I attempt to relax a little. It doesn’t work. I’m completely amped up and ready to tackle this no-good whore who is apparently sleeping under my roof now.
I hear the crack of thunder, then see the flash of lightning before there is a deep rumble that shakes the entire house. Only then does Colt stop and lift his gaze to meet my own. His eyes search mine, but he doesn’t speak.
“I would rather walk around outside, in front of all of your men, naked, than to have some whore that you’ve either slept with or will sleep with touch me or my things,” I grind out.
His eyes widen and he takes a step toward me, anger filling him as well. His cheeks turn red and I watch as he shakes slightly. He leans forward, his eyes sharp and glittering with what I can only describe as anger.
“You will never say such things again,” he grates out.
I jerk my chin up and look down my nose at him. “You are not only disrespectful, Colton James, you are also an asshole, and cruel,” I sneer.
COLT
Anger.
I understand the emotion, what I don’t comprehend is the way it consumes my entire being, just at the simple threat of her showing her bare body to a camp full of hundreds of my men. All of this especially when I know that she would not actually achieve it. Even if she attempted, I would chain her to the bed before she went through with the action.
Watching her for a moment, I think about what I want to say. I could tell her that I never planned on Daisy staying long, that I am going to sell her off to the first person who wants her, but I am a stubborn man and now that she’s challenged me…
The wind howls, the lightning strikes and causes light to flash throughout the room. I hear and feel the rumbling, then the crack of thunder as her anger toward me rises. I expect her to lash out verbally, but instead, she closes her eyes and inhales a deep breath, then lets it out slowly.
When she reopens her blue eyes, they flash with a gray color that gives me pause. Then, they go back to their regular shade of bright blue. She smiles, her lips curving up, but it isn’t a kind smile, it’s almost menacing.
I watch her for a moment, wondering what is going to happen next. With a woman like her, not of this world who holds magic that I never even knew existed, one can never be sure what is to come.
“The witches just said I had to be here with you. They didn’t say shit about being in the same bed or being together,” she begins. I narrow my gaze on her and press my lips together in a straight line, not quite liking where she’s going with any of this. “I’ll be moving back into my room and I would appreciate you keeping your distance, I don’t want to see you.”
I blink, unsure that she’s just said what she has, but she doesn’t even bat an eyelash as she stares boldly at me.
“Maybe in your world, this is a thing?” I ask.
She doesn’t respond, though I don’t give her the opportunity. Instead, I walk over to her, reaching out and grabbing ahold of her sheet, pulling it from her body, quickly. Climbing up the bed, I straddle her hips as she falls back on the pillow, her eyes widening.
The storm comes to a halt, though the clouds are still darkening the sky, but there is no more lightning or thunder, at least for now. I’ve surprised the storm out of her. Reaching out, I wrap my hand around the front of her throat, holding her firmly, but not too tightly.
“There is no such thing in my world.”
“You mean this world?” she asks.
Shaking my head in one quick jerk, I clear my throat and growl. “In my world. I don’t know what other people do, it doesn’t matter. I only know what happens in my home and that will never happen. Not with you.”
I don’t tell her that Adelaide and I slept separately for most of our marriage. That is what she wanted. She claimed she needed her space as a woman. Birdie gets no such luxury, not because of any other reason than I
