Arranged love

“That’s it!” Dillan snaps, immediately unlocking it. “We’re not practicing today.” He gets out of the car, slamming the door and making me jump.

“What?” I gasp. “Dillan …” But he can’t hear me as he rounds the front of the car. He rips open the driver’s side door and yanks me out.

“But you promised-”

“I lied.” He interrupts me, pulling me around the car and placing me in the passenger seat of his vehicle that was just parked a few cars down from Jasmine’s. He slams the car door shut.

What the fuck? I look up to see her mouth, “I’m sorry,” before he gets into his driver’s side seat.

BONES

I ENTER THE house, and she’s following me. I can hear the heels of her shoes stomping on the marble floor.

“Dillan!” she demands.

I ignore her, entering the bedroom.

“We had a deal!” she yells.

“I lied.” I start undoing the buttons on my shirt. I wasn’t done with work for the day. Hell, it’s barely noon, but my mood has soured enough that I’m not going back. I’ll work from home the rest of the day.

She comes to stand before me, hands on her hips and lips thinned. “Then I’m breaking off this fake relationship.”

I laugh at that.

She lets out a growl. “I’m serious.”

And so am I. I’ve never thought about how dangerous the world is for a woman. Especially a woman like Mia Bianchi. Her name is out there now. We’ve gone public. Everyone knows she exists. Every enemy her father has makes her their favorite target. Every enemy I’ve ever had makes her an easy target. Fuck, I was so stupid.

“I’m serious!” she shouts. “The fake relationship is off, and I’m out of here.” She turns for the closet, and I grab her upper arm, spinning her around.

Cupping her face, I drop my eyes to her chest. It’s rising and falling quickly at her heavy breathing.

“I’m leaving.” She lifts her chin.

“You’re not going anywhere, Mia.” My eyes meet hers. “You belong to me.”

“Fuck you, Dillan!” She goes to turn from me.

I grab her upper arm, yanking her to me. Letting go of her, I lean down and grab her thighs, lifting her off the floor and slamming her ass onto the counter. My hands go to her hair, and I kiss her.

Her hands come up, and she shoves my face away. “Take that back,” she demands.

I smirk. “Excuse me?”

Her eyes narrow on me. “I said take it back.”

“No.” I place my hands on either side of her face. “I won’t take either one back. One, because I’m not letting you go anywhere. And two, because you do belong to me.”

“I’m not your property,” she snaps.

“You’re right. You’re not my property. You’re going to be my wife.” She swallows as I run my hand through her hair. I haven’t told her that we no longer need to get engaged. A part of me still wants to go through with it. But it wouldn’t be pretend anymore. “And that may not mean anything to you, but it means something to me.” I go along with it.

Licking her lips, she whispers, “And what does that mean exactly?”

“That I’m going to protect you. That I’m going to make sure no one ever hurts you. That I’m going to spend the rest of my fucking life putting you first. And that includes not putting you in danger.” My father was right-I’ll put her before everything else, including myself.

“Everyone gets to drive, Dillan.” She rolls her eyes like I’m the one being dramatic.

“I’ll buy you a car and a chauffeur.” One of those military-grade tanks. Problem solved.

“I want a normal life,” she argues.

I hate to break it to her, but she’ll never have one of those. Not as a Bianchi and definitely not as a Reed.

BONESPublished by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

I’M SITTING IN my office at Kingdom when my door flies open. “Just because you’re in business with me doesn’t grant you access to my office whenever you want,” I inform Jasmine.

“Actually, that’s exactly what it means.” She plops down in front of my desk, letting me know she’s staying a while.

“You may go,” I dismiss her.

“I think I’ll stay.” She gives me a bright and annoying smile

“Jasmine,” I growl.

“You’re being a dick. What’s new?”

“And you’re sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.” Jasmine never comes to visit me, so I know exactly what this has to do with.

“You know … I’ve never considered you to be like your father”-she shrugs-“but I see it more and more with Mia.”

I fist my hands to keep from reaching across the desk and wrapping them around her neck until her eyes roll into the back of her head. “Get out,” I order through gritted teeth.

She stands and walks over to the wall. Pulling a picture off it, she runs her fingers over the glass and smiles. “You all had other dreams.” Walking back over, she places it on my desk in front of me. “You wanted something more.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t always get what we want, do we?” I ask, arching a brow, and she ignores my question.

“I know you have feelings for her.”

I snort.

“But trust me, you want someone who would choose to stay with you, not because they’re forced.”

My eyes meet hers.

“Don’t be your father, Dillan. You have a chance to give someone what you never had. She needs your help, and she deserves to live a life, whether that is with you or not.” With that, she exits my office.

I pick up the picture. It’s of Cross, Titan, and me on our college baseball field. My brother, Grave, took the picture. He hated sports. Well, plus he’d never be able to pass the drug tests.

Leaning back in my seat, I sigh. “Fuck.” Jasmine is right. And I hate that.