Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(21)

Today, it’s more intense, and that’s saying something.

I stand up, hating how I always wake up hard as fuck, even when my mind’s been torturing me for hours with sad, lonesome thoughts. All the shit I wish I had a memory button for that I could press and just forget.

But life doesn’t work that way. I figured that out a long time ago.

Maybe I’m just sad as hell it’s a lesson I can’t keep from that spitfire right down the hall. A sick, angry weight churns in my gut, and I don’t know why.

Call it a premonition.

Before this is over and done, that poor girl grieving Jonah seems all too likely to pick up a few gifts from hell she’ll want to forget.





5





The Deal (Bella)





I’m lost in a deep, dark hole, trying to crawl my way out when I finally force my eyes open.

Recognizing the room, the sunlight, I close my eyes and sigh.

A dream. Just a bad, claustrophobic dream.

A knock at the door has my eyes opening wider. That’s what I’d been trying to reach in my dream. Someone was pounding on a door, calling, their voice muffled, desperately guiding me so I’d know which way to go.

Throwing back the covers, I climb out of bed and walk to the door, opening it a crack.

“Sorry to wake you. Kept thinking you’d be up soon.”

Drake. Huge, serious, his bright blue eyes beaming down and studying me. I’m not sure I needed a wake-up call this intense.

I have to blink a couple times to make my eyes focus. He’s dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans today, and has a solemn, slightly tormented look on his face.

Jeez, don’t tell me there’s more bad news?

“It’s almost eleven.” He cocks his head, probably wondering if I’m taking any of this in.

“Eleven o’clock?” I’m shocked. I haven’t slept so late in years.

“I figured you were exhausted, so I didn’t want to disturb you, but Roger Jones called earlier.”

Jones? The name registers.

Roger Jones has been the acting CEO of North Earhart Oil for years. Gramps thought the world of him. “Roger? Why? What’s up?”

“Your parents. They’ve been at corporate headquarters since early this morning, running their mouths.”

Crap!

And so it begins. I throw my head over my shoulder, ready to bolt and throw on my clothes so we can get moving.

“Wait.” His firm, but gentle hand clasps my arm, holding me. “Roger has it under control. It’s not an emergency, not yet, but I thought you’d want to know.”

I can’t help but wrinkle my nose. This is going to be so freaking ugly. “Give me five minutes. I’ll get dressed and be right down.”

Drake nods as I shut the door and walk over to my suitcase.

The jeans and plaid shirt I’d worn yesterday are lying on top. For a second, I hesitate.

I suppose the owner of a billion-dollar company should dress the part, but Gramps never did. He wore overalls and leather jackets to the company headquarters more than once.

It’d piss my parents off something fierce, but if I had a pair of overalls, that’s what I’d wear right now too.

I settle for the clothes I had on last night and head for the bathroom.

With my hair in a pony tail, I know I hardly look like a millionaire business owner, but I am.

I tell myself I’m the one who has to believe it as I fly down the stairs a short time later.

If Drake ever questions my attire, it doesn’t show on his face. His eyes are pinprick flickers, firm, mission-focused. I barely know him, but I shudder when I think what might happen if anyone ever crossed this man.

He jerks the front door open the second I step off the stairs.

“I’ll drive today,” he growls, a look on his face like it’s the only option.

I should probably say that’s not necessary, but at the moment, I’ll take any support I can get.

Facing my parents won’t be easy, and I don’t want to do it completely alone.

So I nod, mouth a 'thanks,' and walk out the door. Then I see the big black truck parked near my Jeep and feel a grin pulling at my face.

It’s a massive, sleek GMC. No wonder Gramps liked him.

It’s much newer than Grandpa’s old red one, with black leather seats and tinted windows. The stereo and navigation are ten years ahead of his, too, tricked out with speakers that could probably echo through bone.

Unassuming, but loud, I wonder, buckling myself into the passenger seat. I guess vehicles do sometimes match their owners.

“So how’d you and Gramps meet?” I ask as he snakes the truck down the long driveway.

“Accident.”

I turn, quirking an eyebrow, waiting for him to say more.

He glances my way. “Literally.”

“What do you mean 'accident?'” The almost hidden grin on his face makes me wonder. “Like...car accident?” I cringe.

Drake says nothing, just keeps his huge, inked hands on the wheel. Dark stylized flames graze his skin, bleeding into lattices of something like feathers.

A phoenix, maybe? I wonder what I’m seeing but can’t quite make it out.

“Don’t tell me...it was his fault?” I finally ask. I’d always worried about Gramps driving back and forth to town, especially in the winter.