Deception (Infidelity #3)(18)
“She’s a part of who you are, Nox. And for helping to make the man who holds my hand and my heart, I thank her.”
I let go of her hand and pulled her toward me. This wasn’t where I’d intended to go during our walk. I’d said more than I’d ever said and still there was so much to say. As our lips came together, I marveled at Charli’s understanding.
She was right. I was the man I am today partially because of Jo. No one lived through that kind of love and loss and walked away without scars. I’d read somewhere that scars served a purpose. They created tougher skin. They became a shield and made a person stronger. Jo had done that. Loving her and losing her had made me strong and unbending.
Not until Charli had I even had a desire to bend.
When our kiss ended, words continued to flow. I rarely spoke without thinking, yet this morning it was as if I had no control. My voice was strong yet quiet. The words didn’t come from my lips but my heart. They were words I’d never thought I’d say again, but I wanted to. The need was too great to suppress. She needed to know the truth.
My world dangled on a string as I spoke and waited for her reply. “I love you.”
THEY SAY THAT men fall in love faster, but women fall harder. I didn’t know if that were true. I didn’t know much of anything as leaves swirled and danced about Nox and I in the late summer breeze. Beyond the small world of our park bench, people carried on their daily routines completely oblivious to the declarations being made. Some ran while others walked. Mothers pushed babies in strollers with wheels large enough to be upon a bicycle, and others walked dogs of all sizes, tethered to leashes and unimpressed with the other canines that they passed.
As Nox’s words registered, my mother’s expectations crashed down around me.
The pressure in my heart and chest was crippling as everything multiplied.
Love.
Duty.
Legacy.
Nox.
Had I ever been loved—truly loved?
The unfamiliar emotion lifted me above the colorful trees and my own mayhem. I wanted to believe that his declaration wasn’t a whim or the result of being apart for one night. It wasn’t how I interpreted it. I didn’t believe that a man like Lennox Demetri made casual professions of love.
Love was the way Nox made me feel like his princess, whether we walked the paths of the park or the sidewalks of New York City. It was the trust I had in him to bind me helpless, yet to know without a doubt that he’d never harm me. It was my desire to take away the pain of Jocelyn’s death while at the same time leave space for the memories of his first love.
My lips smiled as tears fell from my eyes. Sleep deprivation did that to me—made me emotional—but so did a declaration of love from a man like Lennox Demetri.
“I love you, too.”
The words weren’t said to pacify him or as an expression of gratitude for his honesty. They were real and with everything inside of me, I wanted to show more than tell him. I leaned closer.
Again our lips united and his hand went to my neck pulling me towards him. The breeze and birds disappeared. The morning chill was replaced with liquid warmth washing through us and melting us together. We were on an island—alone. No other people, birds, or squirrels—nothing and then…
Chaos.
Commotion.
My blood raced in double time while simultaneously my breath stilled in my chest, and my heart, which had just been made whole, crashed to the depths of my stomach. Men I didn’t know or recognize ran toward us, yelling Nox’s name.
“Mr. Demetri!” It came over and over, hushed in a veil of secrecy as they surrounded us.
The sudden turmoil paralyzed me as people screamed and sirens wailed in the distance.
Thick, strong hands pulled at my arms, lifting me from the bench as Nox’s grip of my hand held steady like an iron vise. Together we moved, or more accurately we were moved, from the place where we’d declared our love.
We’d been somewhere within the interior of the park, and yet somehow a large black SUV appeared, and the men in dark suits hurried us inside. One sat in the front by a driver I didn’t recognize while the other large man piled in beside me. Sandwiched between Nox and a man I didn’t know, I huddled closer to Nox, my mind a whirl of uncertainty.
Outside of the tinted windows, the mothers with strollers, people with dogs, runners and walkers, all stopped and stared, turning and pointing. Some yelled while others stood with their mouths agape as confusion played on their expressions. The same mystification stirred inside of me as my backpack landed at my feet and the vehicle began to move forward.
What happened?
Where are we going?
Are we being kidnapped?
Determination as I’d never seen covered Nox’s expression. No longer was he the man that I loved: he was obsessed or possessed—I couldn’t tell. Mechanically, he scanned me from head to toe.
“Are you all right?”
I nodded, also giving myself a once-over.
“You’re sure? You aren’t hurt?”
“N-no.” The word came out shakily as I looked at him. “What about you? Are you all right?”
“Fuckers,” he mumbled. “I’m fine. Assholes are going to pay…”
“What happened?”
My question lingered in the air. He wasn’t talking to me any longer—his brow creased as he pulled his phone from his pocket. Within seconds, words and orders were being barked. The person on the other end of the line couldn’t have been responding. He wasn’t giving him or her a chance. His questions came rapid-fire, never pausing for answers. Names I didn’t recognize—Costello and Bonetti—flew from his lips as accusations abounded.