Fixing Justice

by Halliday, Suzanne

  “Okay, let’s calm down and figure this out,” she offered. “I think that…”

  Cutting her off in mid-breath, Draegyn erupted, sending her a scathingly dismissive glance. “I cannot be married,” he bit out in terse, no nonsense language that spoke volumes. “Marriage is not in my wheelhouse.”

  Was he kidding? Disregarding the blazing rage evident in his face, she felt her ire go up at the anger she felt was directed solely at her. So much for any post-coital afterglow. Hurt and confused by his overreaction to their predicament Tori blurted out the first stupid thing that came to mind. “Oh, so…what? This is all about you? Marriage puts a crimp in your style, then? No more find, feel, fuck and forget for Draegyn St. John? Poor baby.”

  He winced at her pithy use of the expression he knew people used to describe him. It sounded so wrong coming out of her mouth but he was fucked-up in the head at the moment and wasn’t thinking straight. “I do not want to be married,” he yelled for no good reason.

  “Fuck you, St. John,” was her tart response. “Sorry to disappoint that infernal ego of yours, but you’re not my idea of husband material. I want an annulment. Now!”

  He snapped and started yelling like a madman, “Who are you fucking kidding? An annulment?” Sneering derisively he spit angry, hurtful words at her. “I think you’re a couple orgasms short of meeting that goal. Last time I checked, we fucked each other pretty thoroughly last night. And there’s still the issue of the unprotected sex yesterday morning. Scratch an annulment.”

  Drae was gripped by anger. A cold, dark fury exploded inside. When his rage connected with her fierce indignation she became a hellcat, spitting and hissing at him. What was she so mad about? This wasn’t about her. This was about him, dammit. What a mess. In twenty-four hours he had made himself a husband and a potential baby daddy. The corner of his eye twitched harder. “Get ready to leave. I need to get out of this place and think.”

  His turbulent emotions overrode any awareness of her stricken expression when he’d thrown down the orgasm taunt or the ugly fact that he’d fucked her with no protection. Drae knew he was callously riding roughshod over her part in all this, but the realization didn’t stop long-held beliefs from taking control of his mind.

  Keeping his voice hard and gruff, he laid out how he expected things to proceed with the absolute conviction that she would simply do as she was told. After all, he was the one calling the shots. “I will find out what has to be done to fix this - mistake.” She flinched at his delivery. A feeling somewhere between cringing and disgust when he referred to fixing something he’d done, pushed him half a bubble off plumb. Awareness roared in his ears, momentarily blinding him to the presence of the other person in the room.

  Draegyn was lucky she had the presence of mind to hold herself back. Why, that arrogant, son-of-a-bitch just called her a mistake! Outrage flooded her mind. And the way he was talking down to her, as if she was a piece of dirt on his shoe! Without thinking, Tori went into fighting pose, legs spread and unyielding, ready to kick some serious ass. Hands planted firmly at her waist, fingers twitching as if readying to slap a certain someone’s conceited face.

  The cause for this irrational display of anger was still a mystery, but his ugly words were not. His loathsome putdowns referencing her orgasms, and the very real likelihood that she could be pregnant, hung in the air like the aftermath of artillery fire. Oh, so this was somehow all her doing. She’d stolen his precious semen with her Jezebel ways and plotted to marry his unwilling ass, apparently all just to fuck with him. What. A. Dick.

  “No one is to know about this,” she hissed tersely. “I mean that. Absolutely no one. There cannot be even the slightest chance that some enterprising paparazzi might stumble upon this information and use it to build a salacious story. More importantly, I expect you to do as you’ve said. Fix this mistake, as quickly and silently as possible.” She made absolutely sure to insinuate a wealth of meaning into her use of his description. “And stop with the icy blue-eyed stare. It doesn’t scare me,” she bit out, waving her hands dramatically in imitation of being frightened. “Save it for someone who gives a shit.”

  Dismissing him with a final look seething with distaste, Tori retreated to her room to gather her belongings. Needing to say one final thing to put a stamp of finality on something that had started out so exciting that was now crashing and burning in spectacular fashion, she snarled in his general direction. “Don’t speak to me again, Mr. St. John. We have nothing further to say to each other. Understood? Unless it has to do with business, I don’t want to hear from you. Ever.”

  The super-charged emotional silence between them made the noiseless conditions in the main cabin of the jet deafening. Drae had been boiling over with raw, undignified emotions since the moment their confrontation ended. When she’d railed at him, calling him ‘mister’, he’d wanted to drag her back into the room by the hair and make her take back her words. Don’t talk to her ever again? No one told him what he could or couldn’t do. The bitch.

  That was how he’d felt ever since. Angry. Raw. Out of control. He seriously wanted to hit something and had even measured up the damage he’d cause by slamming his fist into a wall before they’d made their silent, angry retreat from the hotel. Drae wasn’t a fool. His rational mind was keeping up a running commentary while his irrational one drove his thoughts and actions. He knew that finding a marriage certificate with his name on it had detonated a psychological time bomb that had been silently ticking inside him for a very long time. It was one thing to have his normal Mr. Cool ways completely obliterated by a brown-haired pixie with a smart mouth and a sexy pout. Yet another altogether to find himself embroiled in the one thing that was sure to blow his world to smithereens.

  Married. The word made his stomach lurch. He didn’t do married. Didn’t do relationships. Never wanted to either. Drae knew deep in his heart that he was far too emotionally scarred by his parents’ bullshit to ever contemplate tying himself to another human being. He wasn’t built that way. Didn’t matter who the woman was.

  He didn’t so much as glance in her direction. Didn’t need to. He knew what she was doing without having to look. If ignoring him were an Olympic sport, she’d be scoring straight tens in every category. Reluctantly acknowledging the psychology at work inside him that made him grind his teeth, Drae carefully checked the sigh he felt before it hit the air.

  When the pilot announced descent for landing, she fidgeted with her seatbelt, turning sunglass-shielded eyes toward the window. He could have run through the cabin naked with his hair on fire and know with certainty that Victoria wouldn’t have reacted at all. He should be glad, or relieved at the very least. But he wasn’t, and didn’t know why.

  The ride from the Sedona hangar out to the Villa also played out in total silence, with the arctic chill wafting from her side of the car neutralizing the red-hot rage he was struggling to contain. When Ben cheerfully met them as they disembarked from the plane, nothing about her pleasant greeting or interactions with the gregarious man gave any indication of the shit-storm they were embroiled in. It was just him that she pointedly ignored. Well, one cold shoulder deserved another so he spent the wordless drive texting his lawyer with a plea for complete discretion regarding a confidential matter he needed handled. Trusting his long-time legal counsel wasn’t a problem, but Drae felt it necessary to indicate from the outset the confidentiality he expected. The last thing he needed was for even the slightest hint of this mess reaching his parents’ ears.

  It was a relief when they made the turn down the long private drive to the main portion of the Villa. He needed out of the car and away from the woman next to him who was barely hiding her contempt at his presence. Not wanting to be married wasn’t the same thing as wanting Victoria to be pissed off, making him grimly admit his handling of their situation so far effectively meant that ship had sailed. Pissed didn’t even come close to the vibe she was putting off. Maybe he should have grown a set before throwing that
tantrum, remembering that she was just as much a victim of circumstance as he was.

  As was always the case, there was activity all over the compound. Dogs were barking, he saw a small group gathered around the horse yard, and several ATVs went zipping by as they drew up to the back parking area. He could have sworn she was out of the car and at the trunk before Ben put the vehicle in park. Drae struggled with the headache thumping behind his twitching eyes. Keeping their messy predicament a secret was going to be difficult if they openly treated each other with hostility.

  Alighting from the vehicle, Drae stopped to speak with Ben, keeping an eye on Victoria as she struggled with her bags. He needed to say something although he had no idea what that might be. Getting control of his anger and approaching the problem with a calm mind was still a stretch too far. “Victoria,” he growled at the same moment she turned away from the car, gripping her rolling bag as she stomped along. Nothing. Dammit. She didn’t even slow down. “Victoria!”

  This time his bark got the surprised attention of Ben who had been securing Drae’s luggage in the trunk for the quick trip down the lane to his home. Shit. Catching the man’s raised brows from the corner of his eye, he stood there stunned by her blatant disregard of his command. To his credit, Ben never indicated anything untoward had just happened, but that didn’t mean Drae couldn’t feel the man’s brain working overtime trying to figure out what was going on.

  The urge to hit something overtook him again as he watched Victoria’s angry retreat in silent dismay. He wasn’t handling this very well. Before he did or said something to make things worse, as if that was even possible, Drae needed to submerge himself in the distraction that could only be found in his woodshop. He’d run home, get changed, and hunker down with a project while he waited to hear from his attorney and set the legal balls in motion to fix the mess he’d made. This time he didn’t try to block the cringe he felt at the word. It was like having his shrill, manipulative mother laughing in his face, smugly rubbing in the irony. The chilling notion that he was, after all, the woman’s only son unleashed a wave of contempt that disrupted his ability to think rationally. After having vowed never to be like her, never to let cynicism and conceit inform his life, he’d turned cold and unreachable anyway. In his determination to avoid emotional attachment, he’d lost his ability to feel. The thought scared him more than it should.

  Ben nattered on during the short jaunt to Drae’s house, filling in the empty, silent spaces. It was a guy thing. Having just been pointedly dissed by a furious Victoria, they were hardly going to talk about what had just gone on. The older man, bless his heart, was acting like Drae hadn’t just been shot down in blazing fashion. Once at the house, they chatted about nothing, pulling luggage from the trunk, pretending like pros. He couldn’t ditch the business suit and hide out in the woodshop fast enough.

  Tori was running on adrenaline, anger, and something else that felt wretched and gloomy. Taming her temper had always been a struggle, especially when something truly hit a nerve. That blasted egomaniac had shown his true colors, landing one direct hit after another. Whatever happy, shining contentment she’d briefly glimpsed was in flames on the ground.

  Relieved to be away from him, she’d practically hurled her heavy suitcase as if it weighed nothing through the apartment door and then slammed it with an angry thud for good measure. It had taken every ounce of strength she possessed to remain silent and still during the car rides and plane trip, when what she really wanted to do was leap on the son-of-a-bitch and tear him limb from limb. Draegyn, I’m-so-perfect, St. John had behaved horribly in her eyes. His expression and tone upon discovering their shocking little secret had been offensive at best.

  Flinging herself onto an oversized wing chair with enough force to shove it back a few feet, she loosed a sound from deep inside that started off a groan and ended as an angry growl. Men! Self-centered narcissists, all of ‘em.

  Why the hell was it always about the guy? Watching in stunned disbelief as he’d gone through the steps of an epic meltdown while totally disregarding her involvement had taken Tori back to another time when she’d ended up as nothing more than collateral damage. Well, she snorted, that was not going to happen this time. No effing way. As quickly as her temper flared, so did it sputter out when too-bright images of their physical intimacy knocked on her consciousness demanding equal time. Not helpful, she sighed, tucking a wayward curl behind her ear. Now that he’d shown his true colors and behaved like a jerk, it was easier to pretend that getting naked with him, twice in one day, had been an aberration at best. Sexual curiosity. Yeah, that sounded good.

  At first, her response to the blond-haired Adonis had been suspicion and distaste. After all, he wore his arrogance and conceit like a second skin. But, little by little, he wore her down without even trying.

  Something between them had shifted, changed when they’d declared their verbal truce. Once they’d stopped hissing, snarling, and taunting each other at every turn, she’d quickly succumbed to his wolfish charms. And it wasn’t just because he had the sexiest ass she’d ever seen.

  Oh dear God. Was she falling for him? Was that why she defaulted to fire and brimstone the moment he’d morphed into angry, alpha male? Damn. This wasn’t good. She shivered and felt her nipples quickly peak against the sheer lace of her bra. Though she was upset and furious with Draegyn, the notion that she had developed real feelings for him scared the crap out of her.

  Groaning, Tori turned her face into the upholstered chair and squeezed her eyes shut. No, no, no, she chanted. How stupid could she be? High profile, sophisticated men like Draegyn St. John didn’t go for her type. Plain, half tomboy girls like Tori always ended up in the scrap heap in these situations. Allowing her body to override common sense had been a dumb move. And now look where she was. Married by mistake and realizing she had some serious feelings for her unhappy husband. Well, whatever. She had no choice but to put her big girl panties on and deal with the whole stinking mess.

  Her cell phone going off startled Tori, bringing her upright in the big chair, silently searching with each ringtone until she found it. Ah, damn. It was Alex. She really didn’t want to answer but knew if she didn’t it would more than likely result in him banging on her door next. Another powerful man, another attitude.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey Tori. I know you just got in but could you come over her after you unpack? I want to run something past you.”

  Dammit. She didn’t want to face her boss just yet, not with the secret she carried. Her feet felt like lead blocks as she stood with the phone pressed to her ear, suddenly fretting that Draegyn might actually tell his friend about their predicament. Sure, the fact that there was a marriage certificate between them was a big deal but at the moment, she was struggling to deal with the very real feelings she was harboring. A light bulb went on over her head. “Um, well Alex - to tell you the truth, I’m going to relax here if you don’t mind. Maybe take a pain reliever and put my feet up.”

  “Why? What’s wrong?” he demanded.

  Trying to sound very matter-of-fact she answered in a way that would have any man backing off in a hurry. “Oh, nothing. Really. Y’know – female things. NBD.”

  “Oh!” A few seconds passed while he processed the information, then said, “I understand. This can wait.” She didn’t feed words into the silence. Just let him end the call on his own so he wouldn’t wonder or ask questions. “Can I get you anything?”

  “No, no. I’m good but thanks for asking.” Tori shrugged and chuckled. “You know how it is. Nothing a gal can’t handle given a handful of cramp meds and a heating pad. I’ll catch up with you in the morning, okay?”

  “Yeah. That’s fine.” She thought he might be about to hang up when she heard him ask, “Is Drae with you? He’s not answering his phone.”

  Mentally counting to ten before answering, Tori kept her voice neutral, belying the hysteria churning in her gut. “Nah. Ben drove him down the lane. Guess he’ll s
urface when he’s ready.” That sounded benign, right? Lord, she hoped so.

  Call concluded, Tori put the phone on silent and tossed it on the coffee table. Putting Alex off until tomorrow meant she bought herself a little time to wrap her head around everything that happened in the last forty-eight hours. She’d have to talk to Draegyn at some point. Work out the legal details of the mess they were in but for right now she needed to be left alone. Needed time to figure out what she did next.

  Alex was not a happy camper. Something was going on between his assistant and Drae. Their behavior was sounding alarm bells in his head that were hard to disregard. Not that he could ignore the fact that three days had passed and his old comrade-in-arms and current business partner had been off the radar the whole time or that Tori seemed unusually distracted.

  When she’d turned up in the tech cave the morning following her return from Vegas, she seemed different somehow. The same yes, but also giving off a very subtle vibe that suggested something had changed. She looked the same but something wasn’t quite right. He couldn’t put his finger on it but he knew enough to conclude there was most definitely a disturbance in the force.

  Whatever it was, he’d had enough. He’d known Drae long enough that the signs of unusual behavior he was displaying stood out like red flags against a snowy background. They’d done stuff and been through plenty of shit together over the years but this silent, hiding in plain sight nonsense was different. At first, he answered the phone when Alex called but shrugged off any suggestion of meeting face to face. He was, busy. Last night, the calls started going straight to voicemail.