Paradise: The Masters of The Order Novel Two (36 page)

Jerard was right. Jacques did love her and she knew it. She was stronger than “what if.” Somehow she would make this right. She smoothed her hands over the wet spot on his chest.

“Now that I’ve ruined your shirt with my blubbering, tell me why you’re here.”

“I came to show you something. I hope you’re not mad.”

“As if I could ever be mad at you, Jerard.”

He started to unbutton his cuff. “I drew her while I was in the clinic. Got this done the day after I left. Pretty ironic if you think about it. I was sitting in the chair while you and Jacques were getting married.”

He rolled his sleeve up to reveal a tattoo on his forearm, beginning with bare feet floating over his wrist. A flowing gown clung to a voluptuous female body that covered his lower arm. Her face rested below the crook of his elbow. Her eyes were cast upward to her raised arms and the fluttering wings that spread up his bicep.

When Isabella focused on the angel’s face, she started to cry all over again. “It’s me.” She pressed her thumbs on either side of the face, recognizing why her visage was positioned as it was: Jerard had used that spot to inject himself.

Jerard smiled with a nod. “My angel, forever with me. Thank you for saving me, Isla.”

“You saved yourself, Jerard.” Trembling fingers trailed over the exquisite piece.

Jerard put his fingers to her chin to make her see, as well as hear, the vow. “I will never do it again. If I ever try, my angel will save me all over again.”

Isabella threw her arms around him. She didn’t have the words.

Jerard squeezed tight and whispered, “Jacques will let his angel save him too. You’ll see.”

*****

As soon as Nicolai stepped next to the banquette, Jacques knew his choice of venue wasn’t going to stay off the topic he’d spent the day swimming around in a bottle to avoid.

“Did you apologize yet or are you still being an asshole?” Nicolai asked like a mother hen pecking at her chick.

It wasn’t the first time. There was last night and this morning. His cousin began his little ‘
get on your knees and beg for forgiveness
’ campaign before Jacques even stepped foot on the plane back from Greece.

Jacques shook his head. Guess a little sympathy was too much to ask. Couldn’t Nico see that he was still smoldering? Man, that gypsy wasn’t kidding when she said his woman would be full of fire. Every inch of him was burned by Isabella’s wrath, not to mention the image she’d scorched into his retinas. His pride wanted his mouth to say that it was his wife who owed him the apology, but Nico wouldn’t buy that line of bull any more than he did at this point.

“Fair warning, brother. It’s time to drop the asshole routine,” Sabin said as he appeared behind Nicolai.

Oh, fabulous. Now there are two of them
. “What is he doing here?” Jacques asked, eyeing Sabin and trying not to look as nervous as he suddenly felt.

“I’m here for you, Jacques,” Nicolai shouted over the music blaring through the Dungeon.

“And I’m here for your lady,” Sabin added with a threatening growl.

Jacques’s lips snapped shut over the curse he didn’t dare release. If Sabin heard him utter one word against Isabella tonight, he might just punch him in the head. Again. He’d really done it to himself. Why the hell had he been fool enough to suggest Timonen be the one in the Order to look out for Isabella? He groaned and pressed his face into his hands in defeat.

He knew he’d been wrong to react the way he did in Greece. Knew it the second he looked into his father’s silent face and saw his role model staring at him with love and patience as he made a complete ass of himself with his woman. And instead of reigning in his arrogance when they got home, he just kept pouring it out all over Isabella.

He ended up at the Dungeon around noon. The place was closed, but no one would turn him away. Having the infamous Dom in the house was good for business. He sat alone all afternoon trying to drown his sorrows, along with the memory of his luscious wife flying around the bedroom in a naked rage. It didn’t work. The tequila only made his head ache. Both of them.

But even the booze couldn’t make him swallow his gigantic pride and go home. He called Nico instead, and as always, the man who had been closest to him for his entire life came running.

With Sabin in toe.
Damn you, Nico.

Sabin and Nicolai ordered drinks. Their first, his…Jacques eyed the bottle…
oh, fifteenth, maybe
. At least the alcohol would keep him from feeling the beating that was sure to follow this conversation.

“Hey there, Jacques."

Jacques looked up to find a woman bent over the table, her open invitation radiating from her heavily lined eyes to her patent leather boots. The small whip attached to her bustier was a nice touch, but he wasn’t interested. She was just another in the long line that had been hassling him since the Dungeon opened its doors for the evening.

“Not tonight, sweet thing,” Sabin drawled as he pulled her into a stand.

She turned to Sabin and ran her hand over the turquoise cross dangling between his pecs. “You sure, cowboy? The three of us could have quite a rodeo.”

The polite southern charm melted away. “I said not tonight.”

She looked at Nicolai. “Don’t even think about it,” he sneered.

Man, had things changed since Julianne came along.

Rodeo girl jacked up her chin and backed off. “Your loss.”

“What the hell are we doing here, Jacques? This isn’t the way to work things out.” Nicolai eyed the almost empty bottle sitting on the table.

Nico was right, but that was the problem. Jacques didn’t know how to work things out. Everything in his life was a mess. Total control.
Hah!
How about no control? He downed another shot of tequila, thinking things couldn’t get any worse. Then his worst nightmare sidled up to the table.

“Hey,
pendejo
,” Teo said with a smug grin, then turned to his friend for the evening. “I’ve got to talk to him for a minute. Wait for me at the bar, baby.” He swatted her ass and she giggled at him as she headed off. “And if I find you with another guy when I get there, you won’t be giggling or sitting down for a week.”

Sabin laughed at the bravado of Isabella’s brother and held out his hand. “And you are?”

“Asshole’s brother-in-law, Teo Rey.”

“Will all of you stop calling me an asshole,” Jacques snapped.

Three sets of male eyes landed on him and said in unison, “No.”

“What are you drinking, Teo?” Nicolai asked as he moved over to make room and motioned to the waitress.

Great, now his brothers from the Order were inviting his brother-in-law to join in his beat down. And wouldn’t Teo get off on that.

“I’ll have what
pendejo
is drinking,” Teo said as he slid into banquette next to Jacques.

Nicolai laughed and ordered another bottle of Patron.

“Alright, you want me to say it? I will. I’m an asshole,” Jacques groaned.

Sabin sat next to Nico as another woman cozied up to their little group. The sharks had been circling all night. Adding the little ensemble gathered around him now was like throwing a boatload of chum into the water. Something for every taste: custom Armani suit, black Prada couture, Tom Ford suede jacket over some serious jeans, or head-to-toe leather. Take your pick.

“Hey, honey, you keen on rejection? He already said no,” Teo said coldly and the latest predator moved away.

Jacques looked at the retreating woman, make that girl. She did look kind of familiar. At least the fuzzy pink mini dress did, but he hadn’t said a word to her. He looked at Teo with a question in his blurry eyes.

“Been watching you for about two hours. Waiting for you to fuck up even more. Kind of hoping you would so I would have a reason to beat the crap out of you, but you didn’t.” Teo nodded as if he approved of something. “Kind of cool to see, man.”

“See what?”

“How busted up you are over my baby sister. There might be hope for you yet.”

“I told you, Teo, Isabella is the only woman in my life. For the rest of my life.”

“So why are you sitting here instead of going home to the only woman in your life and getting on with the rest of your life?” Nicolai asked, using Jacques's words to make him feel stupid.

Jacques understood Nico’s exasperation. He felt it too, but he couldn’t go home. “You know why, Nico.”

“No, I seriously do not. You’ve got everything a man could want waiting for you there and here you sit like a dumb asshole drunk. You’re a lot of things, Jacques. A coward isn’t one of them.”

Leave it to Nico to hit that nerve.

“Neither is a fool,” Sabin added.

Both men looked at him, but instead of judgment or criticism, he saw how much they cared. Their bond to one another was for life. They both wanted to help him find his way back to Isabella and they would both be there whatever happened after he went home. He had no clue about Teo’s motivation, but he sported the same encouraging look.

Under their watchful eyes, Jacques took another shot and felt his gigantic ego slide down his throat with the tequila. He shook his head with a humorless grin. “Goddamn, I fucked up big with this one.”

“Yup, you did,” Sabin said as he downed another.

Teo nodded and followed suit. “But not as much as you think, daddy-o.”

The shock must have shown in Jacques’s eyes because Teo answered before he asked. “Who the hell do you think she called after she left you this morning? Nice going.” Teo started to laugh, really laugh.

Well, that wasn’t exactly the reaction he expected. “You’re laughing? Kind of thought you might, oh, I don’t know, pummel me into the ground.”

Teo only laughed louder at the sarcasm and clapped him on the back. “No need. You better look out, hubby. I’ve never seen my baby sister that mad. You’re either the bravest man I’ve ever met or the biggest idiot. I’m betting on the latter.” He nudged Jacques with his shoulder.

What the hell happened to the raging bull who ripped me a new one in Barcelona?
Ice Man looked as if he actually liked his little sister’s idiot husband.
Wow, I'm more drunk than I thought
.

Jacques shook his head to clear the blur and everything around him started to wobble. “You know about the baby and you’re not mad?”

“When I said, ‘do it right,’ you really took it to the extreme, brother-in-law. Congrats. And no, I’m not mad. You’re part of
la familia
now and you know how this shit goes. We’re stuck with each other.” Teo dropped an arm across Jacques’s shoulders and pulled him into a sideways hug. “If I were in your shoes, I’d freak too, but you and Isla will work it out.”

As if that proclamation was gospel, Teo sat back, sprinkled salt onto his hand, sucked back a shot and chased it with a bite of lime.

“What did she say? Is she alright?”

“She’s holding it together.”

“You’ve got to get your head out of your ass, Jacques,” Nicolai said.

“For Isabella and for the little critter.”

Teo looked at Jacques. “Imagine how adorable Isla’s kid will be.”

“Let’s hope she looks like her mother,” Jacques found himself saying to his new brother.

“Here’s to that. To Isabella and her beautiful daughter.” Sabin poured a fresh round.

“Or beautiful son,” Nicolai added.

They all raised a glass to toast and Jacques started to think about the baby. Would it be a boy or a girl? Red hair or black? God, he hoped it would be red. With Isabella’s chocolate eyes. A drunken smile slipped over his lips.

“You know, I may be a sorry excuse for a father, but at least my baby will have a stellar mother.”

“That she will,” Teo said with pride.

“Or he will,” Nicolai added again. “Do you want a boy or a girl, Jacques?”

“Don’t care. As long as the baby’s healthy.”

Did those words just come out of my mouth?

Maybe it was the liquor talking, but the image that popped into Jacques’s head said otherwise. Ten tiny fingers. Ten little toes. Chubby cheeks. Butter-soft skin.
Oh…my God
. He wanted a healthy baby. He didn’t care if it was too soon or unplanned. He wanted
his
baby.

“
Merde
, I’m having a baby,” Jacques declared with a megawatt smile as he shot to his feet, only to crash back down into the banquette. “
Opa
!” He tossed back another shot. As if that would improve his coordination.

Teo held up a shot glass. Nicolai and Sabin joined in and they all sat there, drinking and laughing like drunken idiots. No one said it, but they all felt the bond of the new life they would share in a few months.

“I call godfather,” Teo shouted.

“Not happening, Teo. I’m the godfather,” Nicolai challenged.

“You,” Sabin said to Teo, “can’t call godfather. And you,” he looked at Nicolai, “dream on. Isla’s gonna pick me.” Sabin pointed his thumbs at himself.