Fighting Fate (17 page)

‘You haven’t asked about the rest of my plan.’

‘Plan?’ she asked, loosening from her projected action. ‘I thought the plan was to get out of there and we did that.’

‘It’s not that easy,’ he said. ‘We have to…’

‘Have to what?’

He backed off and opened the garage door to show that there was a car inside, among other things. Wheeling his bike past the car he stowed it at the back of the garage, covering it with a tarp then retrieving a backpack and a sports bag from a metal cabinet not too far from the bike. He tossed both into the trunk of the car, then got in and drove the car out of the garage, where he stopped.

‘Get in,’ he said, leaving the car to lock up the garage again.

‘Do you have a plan?’ she asked, having assumed that they would just leave the state and the Starks behind.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘My plan is to make sure that they can’t follow through with their plan.’

‘Ok,’ she said, sliding into the car, grateful to see that there was a bag of food and water on the seat and shades on the dashboard. ‘I thought that we already did that by leaving that house?’

‘No,’ he said as he got back into the car and showed her a key.

‘What’s that?’ she asked, retrieving a sandwich from the bag and unwrapping it. She hadn’t eaten anything since this morning and she hadn’t been particularly hungry then, now she was famished.

‘The key to get back into that storage unit if you ever need to. No one else knows that this place exists, so if I’m not around you’ll find everything in there that you’ll need to disappear.’

She didn’t much like the sound of that, him not being around, but she watched him put the key into his wallet and stuff it into his back pocket. Taking off from the storage compound, they got back on the interstate and she munched away on her sandwich, happy to finish it and one of the bottles of water before she spoke again.

‘I’m ready,’ she said, stowing her trash in the door compartment.

‘Ready for what?’

‘For you to tell me the plan. So out with it, what’s the plan? Why isn’t leaving there enough?’

‘Because I don’t plan to stay gone,’ Dax said. ‘We’re gonna go back.’

‘When?’

‘Tomorrow, maybe the next day.’

‘What? Are you serious? No! I am not going back there.’ If she could jump out of the car and run now then she probably would.

‘Yeah, you are,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to run forever and after we show Mauri that we’re serious about this, he’ll understand. He wouldn’t get it if he thought it was just about sex, that might make him angry, make him think that we were playing for sport, you know? You won’t have to worry about going back to the mansion, I’ll be taking care of this. I’ll go over there myself and show him that this isn’t a fling. I’m not cross-eyed over a dumb tramp that I’ll forget about next week.’

‘No! I don’t want you to go there either. If you do that and he’s pissed at you, god knows what he’ll do.’

‘I’ve been a part of his family for twenty years, Minx. I’ll make him see sense.’

‘You couldn’t make him see it this morning. Either he vetoed us being together or you didn’t tell him at all, but what makes you think that the situation will be any different in a day or two? If you needed more time—‘

‘There was no more time,’ he said. ‘Trystan is coming back to California tomorrow, Mauri planned to have you both pick up the marriage certificate as soon as possible and be married by the weekend. Why do you think there was a sudden rush with the dress?’

Considering this, a chill went through her. Married by the weekend, to the man who had tried to violate her, to the man who had insisted she be the one to go through this ordeal just because she had disrespected him. Dax had come to retrieve her just in time. Now that she understood the urgency gratitude overwhelmed her.

‘But you think that the situation will be different in a couple of days, why? Won’t Trystan be mad? Mauri might not listen to reason and Trystan could rile his father more. We could end up with more trouble—‘

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Dax said.

‘How can you say that?’

‘Because by then he’ll have no choice. He’ll have to accept that we’re together and that you’re mine. He won’t be able to do anything to keep us apart, he’ll know we’re serious.’

‘How do you plan to prove that to him?’ she asked. ‘And where are we going now? What’s the point in leaving if we’re just going back?’

‘We have something to do.’

‘Ok,’ she said, settling back against the seat. There was nothing she could do to defy him, and if he had a plan that he was sure would work then there was no point in arguing in opposition of it. Dax knew the Stark’s better than she did and her alternative was to go back to that mansion and marry Trystan. ‘What is this important thing that we just have to do?’

‘There’s only one way to guarantee that Trystan can’t marry you.’

‘What’s that?’ she asked, thankful that he’d found a silver bullet.

‘You have to be married already, before he gets the chance.’

‘I have to be married,’ she said, not sure that she had heard him right. ‘Dax, what is it that we’re going to do?’

‘We’re getting married.’

If lightening had struck her then, or aliens had landed, Ivy couldn’t have been more surprised. Sitting up, she fixed her eyes on him, but he was happy to remain looking at the road ahead as though he hadn’t said such a shocking thing.

‘We’re what?’

‘It makes sense,’ he said. ‘I don’t plan on letting you go, and if you’re married to me then they can’t force you to marry him.’

Logic wasn’t the number one reason for most people when they got married. Then again, most men didn’t propose in the way he just had either. ‘We’re getting married?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Just like that, we’re getting married?’

‘Why not?’ he asked. ‘You got a better offer on the table?’

‘What?’

‘You’re twenty-nine, you must have sewn your wild oats by now.’

‘Dax!’ she scolded and was then lost for words.

‘You agreed to do what I told you to do. I said before we left the mansion that you would be under my command and I meant it. You’re going to marry me. You don’t have a choice in the matter.’

She couldn’t decipher if his cool manner was arrogance or dominance. His suggestion – which wasn’t really a suggestion at all – didn’t offend or repulse her, in fact it made a lot of sense. But before she could agree to it, she did need to be sure of one thing.

‘Do you love me, Dax?’ she asked, now he did glance away from the road to face her, but she couldn’t make up much of his eyes that were shielded behind his own shades.

‘After everything I just did, you have to ask me that?’

‘I want to hear the words. I need to hear your answer,’ she said, just as she’d been taught to vocalise her answers in the beach house, she needed to hear him admit it aloud.

‘I wouldn’t have risked losing everything I have if I didn’t,’ he said.

‘That’s not saying it. That’s implying it. I’ve known you for two months, Dax Harrow, and I know that there’s nothing you’re afraid of. So if you can’t say three silly little words—‘

‘God damn it, babygirl, of course I love you!’

Satisfied, her lips curled and her hands settled in her lap. ‘You’re such a romantic, Dax,’ she teased. ‘I’d never have pegged you as the mushy type.’

‘Shut your mouth and get over here,’ he said, opening his arm to her.

She slid across the seat and kissed his jaw, then his cheek, prompting him to turn his head and steal a lip kiss too. Then she rested her head against his torso and his arm settled around her.

‘We have a few hours until we hit Vegas, get some sleep if you want to. You’ll want to be fresh when we get there.’

‘Won’t you want to sleep?’ she asked, nuzzling closer. ‘I can drive some of the way if you want me to.’

‘It’s not that far,’ he said. ‘I can handle it. You handle the wedding night.’

Which meant he wanted her to do the work in bed tonight, but after all that he’d done for her today she had no trouble accommodating him.

‘Ok,’ she said, turning her face into his body and closing her eyes, which were still covered by shades. ‘But if you need me to keep you awake, let me know.’

‘I will,’ he said.

She listened to him inhale her hair and her smile crept up again. This morning she had woken up with a glowing hope that had faded as the day got older. Ivy could never have imagined that her day could turn out this way.

Vegas was just the same, it was the only constantly-changing, exactly the same city that she had ever experienced. While the buildings and the attractions transformed, that buzz that existed in the air as you moved down The Strip was always the same.

Dax had parked at a hotel and checked them in under a pseudo-name, he’d then given her ten minutes to get freshened up. She tried to tempt him into the shower with her, but he’d been insistent that they’d have time once the deed was done.

Either he was nervous and getting cold feet, so he wanted it over with, or he was really eager to have them bound together. Picking up the marriage licence took no time at all, Dax had everything that they needed, including her ID, which she guessed he must have brought – or maybe stolen – from the Stark place.

He’d quizzed her on whether or not it was genuine, or if she was using an alias, but she assured him that she wasn’t. He was the one involved in criminal activity, not her, so if anyone had a right to suspect the other was using a false name, it was her. Except Dax made such a big deal about this being completely legitimate that she couldn’t really doubt him.

They went to a little white chapel advertising that it had a drive-thru window. The night was bright with neon, the city alive with possibility. Droves of people came here hoping to win the jackpot, Ivy was probably the only person in the whole state of Nevada who felt like she’d brought her jackpot with her.

Ivy reached for the front door handle of the chapel, but Dax caught her hand and drew her away from the entrance. In the shadow of the awning above, he pushed her to the wall and rested an arm at the side of her head. His own bowed head gave her cause for worry.

‘What is it?’ she asked. If he had decided that he no longer wanted her then she might be forced to go back to the Starks’, back to Trystan. ‘Dax?’ Cupping his face, she brought his stooped form up enough for him to meet her eyes.

‘I need you to say yes,’ he murmured.

‘What?’

‘I… I did something stupid, before I came to get you at Mauri’s.’

‘Something stupid?’ she asked. ‘What did you do?’

‘It seemed like a good idea at the time, but… now I’m embarrassed to admit that I did it.’ He got on the defensive. ‘And I’m not the type of guy to be embarrassed, I mean fuck the world. I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks—‘

‘What was her name?’ Ivy whispered, sick at the thought of him touching another woman. ‘Where did you meet her? Did you go looking to get laid or did it just happen by accident?’

Warring emotions overcame her because technically, until today, they hadn’t been together. Except at the beach house he had admitted that he cared for her and she had wanted them to have a future. She wasn’t sure that she had the right to be sick and angry, but she didn’t know if she could erase the images of him being intimate with another woman imprinted on her mind.

He frowned. ‘What?’

‘Was it after you were with me last night?’ she asked. ‘I know that we weren’t together, together, but—‘

She stopped talking when he sank down in front of her and she saw him fumble with something in his inside pocket. Unsure what it was, she was about to ask when he popped open a box and showed her a single solitaire diamond ring.

‘I bought you a goddamn ring, Minx, I didn’t fuck around on you.’

‘You bought me a ring,’ she said, trying not to swoon because his scowl told her that he wasn’t happy about this humiliation, so she covered her mouth with both hands to conceal her soppy grin. ‘Oh, baby.’

‘Just say yes or no so that we can get this shit over with,’ he grumbled, lowering his attention to the ground and she knew he was worried that someone would come upon them and he would be caught in this humiliating position.

For all of his stomping and strutting, he did respect her, and this act proved that to her. ‘I say yes,’ she said. ‘Yes, yes, yes.’

There might be something cliché about Vegas, but at the same time it was the place that they met. He took the ring out of the box and handed it to her as he stood so that she could slide it on herself. It looked like he was about to toss the box away, so she salvaged it before he could, then leapt up into his arms and kissed him.

That intimate action might have been naïve, because it took only half a beat for him to have her pressed to the chapel wall. Crouching, he ran a hand down her thigh and lifted it up to coil her limb around his hips. There was a busy street just behind him, and they were at the main entrance to a no doubt frequently used establishment. Their passion for each other had been contained for too long and her kiss had been enough to reawaken his want.

‘Let’s get this done,’ he said, backing off but keeping hold of her hips. ‘Once this is done, that’s it, right?’

‘Yes,’ she said again, admiring the ring on her hand. ‘Let’s get married, Dax.’

‘Then no one can take you away from me.’

It seemed that that was his biggest fear. He took her into the chapel as she considered the gravity of what he had just said. None of the details mattered to her so she let Dax deal with it all. All that mattered to her was that he hadn’t let go of her hand and his determination to do this hadn’t wavered.

Once they were joined in matrimony there was no way that Mauri could make her marry Trystan, so not only was Dax protecting their love, but he was protecting her as well. This could cost him dearly, but he’d made the choice, just as she’d told him he would have to. Dax had chosen her and she had to make sure that he never regretted his decision.

The wedding was quick, their eyes and hands remained locked throughout the ceremony, and when it came time to say “I do” neither of them hesitated. This was it. They were now man and wife; she was Mrs. Ivy Harrow.

Tonight she had learned that romance wasn’t completely lost on Dax, though tradition certainly was. As was proven when he opened their hotel room door and strode in, preoccupied by other things that were on his mind. Ivy didn’t step over the threshold, she just caught the door before it closed then cleared her throat.

Dax glanced back, still stuffing the key card back into his wallet. ‘What?’ he asked.

‘You’re supposed to lift me up.’

‘Why?’ he asked, tossing his wallet onto a side table. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

‘There is nothing wrong with me,’ she said, torn between losing her patience and laughing. ‘It’s tradition.’

‘What’s tradition?’

‘That the groom carries the bride over the threshold. Really, Dax, you’re not off to the best start with your husband duties.’

‘No?’ he asked, swaggering back to her. ‘Maybe I’ll gain points when I perform other duties.’

Crouching down, he tossed her over his shoulder and hoisted her into the hotel room in the most un-traditional pose possible. But when he threw her down on the bed and kicked off his shoes, she decided that she couldn’t care less about tradition, at least none other than the consummation part.

‘Maybe I plan to play hard to get,’ she teased.

‘You don’t have a choice when it comes to putting out,’ he said, yanking his tee-shirt off over his head.

‘I don’t?’

‘No.’

‘Because we’re married now?’

‘That,’ he said. ‘And until we’ve consummated the marriage it can still be annulled. We don’t want Mauri trying to pull that one on us, do we?’

Now that the deed was done he was much more relaxed and it was nice to see him back to his comfortable self. In front of Bruno, and the other mobsters, he was cold and aloof because it suited the image. But with her it was a different story.

This was like being back in his bedroom in the beach house, where they could tease and argue, and know that they were safe with each other. The masks came off, the games ended, and they could just be. Dax gave her safety. All of her life she’d existed in an unsecure state, never sure when or where the next pay check was coming from; or if she’d have enough money to eat and pay bills the next day. Now that she had this love, none of that mattered, because every challenge would be faced together, she finally had somewhere to belong.

‘I guess I have no choice then,’ she said.

Sitting up, she pushed down her dress and then elevated her hips to shimmy out of it. Ironically, she was still wearing the underwear that she had chosen for her wedding day, which this turned out to be. When she lay back down on the bed, Dax remained standing. As much as she enjoyed basking in his flattering gaze, she worried about how all of today’s events had affected him.

‘If you’re having second thoughts…’ she said, wanting him to know that he could still back out and she wouldn’t hold him against his will.

‘No,’ he said, loosening his jeans. ‘I’m just wondering why we didn’t do this a month ago.’

‘Because someone was sure it would all work out in the end,’ she said, holding up her arms to invite him down onto the mattress with her. But he didn’t come. ‘It turns out that you were right, just maybe not in the way that you thought.’

‘We’ve still got a long way to go.’

‘I know,’ she said, sitting up and pulling down his jeans to hurry things along. ‘But let’s not worry about that tonight.’

Taking hold of the thick appendage hanging before her, Ivy kissed his head and ran her palm along the length of his shaft. Taking him in both hands, she licked and sucked at his penis until the beads of his pre-cum were dripping out onto her tongue.

‘You keep doing that and I’ll end up consummating with your face,’ he murmured.

Ducking down, he picked her up under her arms and raised her higher on the bed, until her head landed on the pillows. He came down on top of her, already massaging her breasts, and when they were horizontal his fingers joined his lips. He sampled her nipples from every angle and with every part of his mouth.

The heat of climax teased at her and she gripped at his waist, bringing her legs up and around him, as high as she could, hoping that he would take advantage of the invitation to penetrate her. But he shifted his position higher and kissing her mouth she was further teased by his silken rod poking and stroking her abdomen.

‘Just fuck me, Dax,’ she exhaled, dragging her nails up and down his back.

He kissed her mouth and she was so frustrated that it took his tongue a few attempts at entry before she unclenched her teeth. ‘You’re tense,’ he said, pressing moist lips to her cheekbone, then her ear. ‘You’re not nervous are you, babygirl?’

But he knew exactly what was wrong with her because he was the one doing it. ‘You said I could handle tonight’s action,’ she said, remembering what he’d said in the car.

Trying to push him onto his back was futile, Ivy needed him to comply or she’d never be able to overpower him, so she needed him to choose to submit.

‘Maybe later,’ he said. ‘This here is a husband’s job.’

If she’d been asked on the night they met if she thought Dax was the commitment type, she’d have bet her life that he wasn’t. But now that she knew about his dedicated work with Mauri for all of these years, two decades, and about how long he’d been frequenting fights on the underground circuit, she knew different. This was a guy that when he was determined to be loyal, or he enjoyed something, then he was happy to throw himself into it full force.

‘We’re actually married,’ she said, gazing at the ceiling beyond his shoulder. ‘We’re married.’ Having not imagined herself in this position, Ivy needed time to let the development sink in, and then something occurred to her. She smacked the heel of her hand into the pressure point of his shoulder to get his attention. ‘You’re not gonna screw around on me.’

‘Was that a statement or a question?’ he asked, teasing her nipple between his teeth.

‘It was as statement. If your dick thinks about sniffing around any other pussy then I’ll chop it right off and carry it around in my pocket. I mean it, Dax. I don’t care how big and hard all your friends think you are, you are not allowed to—‘

‘Jeez,’ he said, abandoning his work on her body to elevate his head. ‘We’ve been married ten minutes and the nagging has started already. Keeping you happy is gonna be a full time job, Minx. I’m not interested in going out there to chase tail.’

‘Good,’ she said, broadening a smile then tracing the stems of ivy on his bicep. ‘Not many guys would do what you’ve done for me tonight, Dax.’

‘I haven’t done anything yet,’ he said, prodding his engorged head into her folds. ‘You keep waffling shit, which puts a guy off his game. In fact…’

He didn’t finish that thought, instead he rolled off the bed with his usual catlike finesse and pulled something from one of the closets. Raising herself onto her elbows, Ivy tried to see what he was doing. On his return to the bed Dax held something behind his back. Except Ivy was so distracted by the view of his intimidating erection nodding at her as he walked that she forgot all about her curiosity as to what it was he concealed.

Straddling her hips when he crawled over her, Ivy expected him to take immediate, intense action. ‘What have you got for me, big boy?’ she asked.

‘It’s not for you, it’s for me,’ he said.

Intrigued, her eyebrows slid upward, but her curiosity was quickly quenched when he brought his hand around to reveal a strip of cotton elastic. He unwound it with a single flick, then doubled it to tie around her head, gagging her to prevent further vocal disruptions.