The Sacrifice: Chapter 46

She stands before me naked, her beautiful body marked from my hand and belt. The cum is completely off her face from earlier. Fuck, she’s perfect.

I reach out and cup her face. Drugs. Luke was going to drug her. I’m not surprised. Lots of Lords give their chosens or Ladies drugs. Makes them easier to fuck. I’ve never been that guy. I’m not into fucking an unconscious woman.

I’ve wondered ever since she was stabbed if I did the right thing by making her marry me. As she stares up at me right now, I realize I did. She may never know why I married her. But I do.

But if there’s one thing I do know, it’s that your enemies will use what you love against you. And the gorgeous brunette who is staring up at me right now is the easiest target to get to me.

Love? It doesn’t sound so foreign anymore. If loving someone means you’d burn the world to protect them, then I love her. It was never supposed to be this way. Me and her. But it doesn’t matter why or how we got here. Not anymore.

Sliding my hands into her hair, I gently tilt her head back, and her eyes search mine nervously as I lower my lips to hers, needing to taste my wife.

She opens for me, her hands wrapping around my waist as I deepen the kiss. Showing her that no matter what happens from here on out, I will protect her. That means doing things that she won’t like. I’m not going to treat her any differently. To the world, she’s my whore. My useless fuck toy that I use however I want. And that’s exactly what I’m going to let them think. She doesn’t need to love me back. In fact, it’s better that she doesn’t.

Lots of people mistake lust and love. The difference is love demands a sacrifice. And that’s what I did when I changed our futures three years ago. The fact that Luke was going to drug her the night of their wedding just proves that forcing her to marry me was the right call. I’m not sure how much she gave me, but it wore off pretty quickly. If she had been given the same dosage I took? She could still be out. Add the fact that I was able to get hard and it tells me everything I need to know—he was going to give her GHB.

Pulling my lips from hers, I watch her heavy eyes slowly open as she takes in a deep breath. I rub my thumb along her parted lips. “I’m going to shower and then head back to the club,” I tell her, hating how she frowns at my words.

I’d love nothing more than to tie her to our bed and play with my wife all day, but I have a job to do. Someone wants her dead, and I need to kill them before they can get to her.

Her hands drop to her side before she turns and crawls back into bed. With all the strength I have, I turn and head into the bathroom to get ready for a long day.

LAIKYN

I lie in our bed, unable to sleep. My mind going ninety miles an hour. There’s still so much that I’m keeping from him. And I’m more afraid now not to tell him, than I am of him finding out.

I’m still in our bed but sitting up with my back against the headboard when he exits the bathroom freshly showered. He pauses when he sees me. “I figured you’d be out already.”

“I need to tell you something.” I swallow the knot in my throat, getting it over with.

“Okay.”

“But you have to promise me you won’t be mad at me,” I rush out, sitting up straighter, my hands fisting the sheets in my clammy hands.

He crosses his arms over his chest, and leans up against the doorframe to the bathroom. The white towel sits low on his hips, showing me his impressive six pack and hard chest.

I drop my eyes to the comforter to keep my mind clear. “I lost a phone.” I look up at him through my lashes, and he frowns. His eyes go to the one he gave me on my nightstand. Licking my lips, I add, “I lost a phone that my father gave me.”

He pushes off the doorframe. “What the fuck do you mean a phone your father gave you?”

“He came to Blackout—”

“When the fuck was he in the club, Lake?” he demands.

I get up onto my knees, unable to sit still as his eyes narrow on mine. “The night of our dinner at the Minson Hotel.”

“Jesus Christ,” he hisses.

“I tried to tell him that you’d be mad. That you’d find out.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he barks.

My teeth clench. “You expected me to trust you?”

“More than him,” he growls through gritted teeth. Running his hand through his hair, he knocks off the excess water and sighs heavily. “So you’re saying you’ve had contact with him this entire time?”

“No.” I shake my head. “Not at all. He said I’d receive my initiations on it.”

His eyes snap to mine. “I told you; you wouldn’t have an initiation.”

“My father said you wanted me to fail.”

“Why the fuck would I want you to fail?” he shouts. “Goddammit, Lake.” His chest is heaving, his abs flexing.

I get even more nervous when he begins to pace the large room. “What was I supposed to believe?” I whisper.

“Tell me,” he demands, “what else did he say?”

“Nothing,” I answer hoarsely.

“Lake.” His voice sends a shiver down my spine. It commands an answer, and he’s not going to repeat himself.

“He told me I was a disgrace.” Tears start to sting my eyes, unable to meet his. “That the Minson name would have been better off if I had been the one to die.” I wipe my clammy hands on my bare thighs. “I just wanted to do something right for once.”

“Lake.” He sighs my name.

I sniff. “But I even fucked that up.”

“What did you do?” He sits on the edge of the bed, his hand coming up and pushing my hair off my face, but I keep my eyes on the comforter.

“I forgot about it. Or maybe I wanted to avoid it.” I’ve been trying to figure out how I could forget something so important. Maybe my mind chose to forget about it because I’ve known that Tyson was the side I needed to choose. “I remembered the night of the fight. I had checked it right before my shift started, and it was dead. So I used Starla’s charger just long enough to get it to come on.” I swallow nervously.

“And?” he asks softly, taking my hand in his.

“It had pictures.”

His hand tightens on mine. “What kind of pictures?”

“Of me and you at the party at the house of Lords. Then pictures of me the day that I went out and had my hair done and bought my car.”

“No texts or calls?”

“No,” I answer, and he lets go of me to stand. “Why would they call or text me?”

“They don’t send pictures for initiation, Lake.”

“How am I supposed to know that?”

“Because I told you that you didn’t have to do one,” he responds tightly.

“Every Lady has to—”

“You’re not every fucking Lady,” he shouts, interrupting me.

“Why am I special?” I yank my hand from his and stand from the bed. “Huh? What have I done that warrants me a pass?”

His jaw clenches, and he looks away from me, refusing to tell me anything, and I let out a snort. “That right there is why I didn’t believe you to begin with because you never tell me anything.”

“The less you know, the better,” he mumbles. “Where is the phone now?”

“I told you, I lost it,” I answer. “I put it back in my locker, went to work, and that fight broke out. I went to go check it my first night back to work, but it was gone.”

“You mean it was stolen.” He runs a hand down his unshaven face. “Who all knew you had it? Just your father?”

I bite my bottom lip and lower my eyes to the floor. He places his fingers under my chin, forcing me to look at him. “Lake,” he growls.

“I don’t want to tell you,” I answer honestly, and I’m surprised he looks more hurt than pissed.

“I need to know because someone has a phone knowing that it’s yours. They can be pretending to be you.”

I didn’t think of it that way. Taking in a deep breath, I whisper, “Bethany.”