Chapter 14

To think the night has turned out this way just because I overheard his phone call is absurd. To feel this afraid of someone whom I've come to see as a distant friend in the last three weeks is just ridiculous. To realise at this moment that I just mentally begged him not to kill me is a revelation that my past is still very much with me no matter how far I run away from it.

"Ms Summers before you jump to wild conclusions, " Mr Holt states monotonously, seeing right through my second thought process. "I suggest you come back to the suite to hear our explanation."

The tears that have been trickling down my cheeks drip onto the collar of my shirt, making small dark grey coloured circles appear meeting his dark grey eyes, I decide to hear his explanation. Following him as he tucks the revolver into the back of his sweatpants so that it's between his underwear and the waistband.

Eyeing the weapon, my fingers itch to just reach out to take it but I don't. The consequences of doing something like that outweigh the want to do it. Opening the door to the hotel room, I cautiously walk in after him, my heart pounds in my ears as we enter the other part of the 'room' where I had seen him pull the revolver out.

"Janette," Mr King greets me, smiling broadly. "I had no idea you were in the room because if I had known I would never have put on Reservoir Dogs."

His hand gestures towards the TV where the torture scene from the movie plays. Turning away immediately when I see the gasoline being poured on the guy with no ear, my mind matches the pleads and groans of pain from the earless guy with the man's voice before Mr Holt pulled out the revolver.

Hey! Aren't you forgetting something? My subconscious snarks, her hands on her hips. He shot two rounds remember?

Looking down at the carpeted floor, I see two shallow holes in the floor. Squatting down to touch the holes, I look at Mr Holt who stands behind me with his arms crossed over his chest for an explanation.

"Did you just touch the fucking spider's body, Janie?" Lucas whimpers, pulling his legs onto the couch cushions, eyeing the two holes suspiciously. "I don't even think he got it..."

Standing up, I turn to Mr Holt, asking disbelievingly, "Are you telling me you drew out a gun to kill a spider?"

Shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, Mr Holt responds, "Lucas tossed me the gun to kill the bug. The big buffalo's terrified of them. I did ask him to pass me one of the work files but he was too terrified to even reach over to the coffee table to get them."

I can't find an argument to prove his statement wrong. Knowing Lucas has arachnophobia is something of a family joke...not that I want to prove him wrong; I just find this version of what could have happened so unlikely.

Take what you have. It's better to not question the answers given to you, my inner incubus who has been silent for about three weeks coaxes, eyeing the men in the room suspiciously from the back of my eyes. Let them tell you the truth when they feel like it. There's no need to complicate things when it's just your childhood paranoia acting up again.

She has a point you know, my subconscious suits, looking over at my inner incubus, nodding in approval of her statement.

I hate these guys... really, they always come up when I don't need them...and when I do they're nowhere to be found! Both of them are also trying to fly over the fact that these guys met up in a prestigious hotel in the middle of the night to watch a movie. How the heck does that even make sense? Whatsmore that phone call at the penthouse is starting to sound more suspicious...

"Ms Summers?" Mr Holt calls me, touching my forearm.

"What?" I murmur confusedly, looking around me to see that everyone is looking at me expectantly.

"Holt just asked if you want to watch the movie with us," James chuckles at my lack of self-awareness. "Lucifer, Logan and I are against it. Lucas is for it. Holt is fine either way."

Linking my hands behind my back, I cast my eyes to the carpeted floor; deciding to follow the blind lead of my inner workings, I mumble, "Actually, I want to go back to the apartment, I don't want to bother you guys for the rest of the evening...so..."

"Stay," Mr Holt blurts out suddenly, causing my head to snap up in shock. "You're already here and I did drag you out of the apartment. Partially because I wanted you to have a break from taking care of the child for the last three weeks though you were on medical leave."

Breaking eye contact with him, I mumble to myself, "If giving me a break was your intention you should have just asked me..."

Next to me though they sit on the couch a little way away from me, Lucas James and Logan end up snorting like pigs as they try to hold back their laughter from my comment much to the displeasure of Mr Holt who thankfully looks like he didn't catch what I said.

"Well, you should have just said you wanted to spend time with Janette then, Alexander!" Lucifer exclaims breaking the tense atmosphere in the room. "I can't believe you were so shy to ask your fiance to spend some time with you that you'd even call her brothers and her ex-boss out as an excuse."

I don't know if I should try to break my head through the carpet to hide my embarrassment for Mr Holt at Mr King's statement or if I should turn around to smack his face 360 degrees around.

Gathering my brothers off of the couch by their arms, Mr King ushers their protesting butts out of the 'room', calling out something that sounds suspiciously like 'good night' and 'use protection!'.

As the door closes, the room is silent as Mr Holt and I stand opposite each other as we try to process the turn of events. Turning around to look at me, Mr Holt lets out a heavy breath, bushing past me to switch off the rolling credits on the screen.

"For the record, Lucifer asked me to come out here tonight for some urgent work matters," Mr Holt states as a matter of fact, brushing past me again to stand in front of me. "Though I did think of bringing you along for you to have a break from the child."

Lies...but I will turn a blind eye to that. "I wish you'd refer to Danny as your child and not 'the child'," I murmur, looking up at him. "Or maybe you could at least use male pronouns for him?"

"Baby steps, Janette," He replies, rubbing the hem of my shirt between his index finger and thumb in thought. "From today onwards, we're on a first-name basis. Our marriage won't look convincing otherwise."

Nodding in agreement, I mentally begin to test out his name trying to get rid of the habit of calling people who are of higher status than me by honorifics and their last name. Moving past me, I hear Alexander mumble that he's going to take a wash up a little before he joins me for bed.

Bed.

There's only one bed.

Waiting till I hear the bathroom door close and the water run, I hesitantly move into the room where the king-sized bed is. Choosing to sleep on the left side of the bed, I crawl in between the covers, losing myself in thought as he washes up.

So to sum things up for the night:

I found out my brother's work for Alexander which is the explanation for the testosterone contest earlier in the day in the office. Then, Mr Holt drags me to the Fairmount Hotel because he wants me to have a 'break'. He also called Mr King and three of my brothers here to discuss work and 'watch a movie'. He blew two holes in the flooring to kill a spider because my brother was too afraid to move and now he's washing up and we're going to sleep in the same bed together for the first time since we signed the marriage contract three weeks ago.

Wow...a lot of things happened today...most of which do not make sense but I will turn a blind eye to.

Not to mention you have a dinner tomorrow with...oh now will you look at that, my subconscious stops in mid-rant as her mouth hangs open from what she sees.

My cheeks turn a bright red as I avert my eyes from Alexander as he comes out of the bathroom with his shirt wrapped loosely around the back of his neck, the top half of his Adonis-like body on full display the vague yet prominent defining line of his muscles show as he saunters towards the bed.

"You're going to catch flies if you keep your mouth open for that long, Janette," He comments, climbing in between the covers, his sweatpants-clad leg touching my bare one, causing me to shiver slightly. "Is there something wrong?"

Vigorously shaking my head, I lay down on the soft plump pillow, turning my back to him in a weak attempt to hide my inexperience of sleeping in the same bed with a man. I feel my body tense up when his long arm reaches over my body to off the light.

Not expecting anything else, I feel confused when he pulls me against him in a tight embrace, forcing a chill to involuntarily run through my body. his hand drifting lightly along my exposed thigh.

His slow and deep calming breaths cause his chest to rise and fall; occasionally having his bare chest touching my T-shirt-clad back. Knowing what's hidden under my shirt, the hairs on the back of my neck rise in fear that he might be able to feel them with only the thin material of my shirt separating us.

Shutting my eyes in distress, I flip around so that my back is no longer to his front in an attempt to hide my back but I didn't consider how close he is. With our lips a few centimetres apart, his eyes dart to and from my eyes to my slightly parted lips and before I can do anything to avoid contact; he closes the last few centimetres, making his lips meet mine.