“Hey, you’re the one who opened the door. Too late to lock it now.”
“More like padlock and fucking bolt it,” Shep muttered.
“What was that?”
He let out a long-suffering sigh. “Just regretting my life choices right now.”He walked over to the door, pulled it open, and waited for me, tapping his foot—yes, tapping his fucking foot.
It took everything I had not to walk over and stomp on it.
“You know what I think your real problem is?” I said as I studied him.
“I’m sure I don’t give a shit.”
I strolled over to him. “It’s that you don’t regret it at all. In fact”—I pulled the folded handkerchief from my pocket and held it out to him—“you’re just worried people will know what you were in here doing.”
Shep stared at the white square with a questioning brow, and I gestured to his hand.
“You’re not the only one who left a mark.”
Shep glanced down to see some blood and teeth marks marring his skin. He snatched the handkerchief from my fingers, and as I strolled past him, the last thing I heard was, “Fucking animal.”
5
SHEP
IWASN’T A man who made decisions lightly. Doing so led to mistakes, which led to regret, and I wasn’t a fan of either.
It was why I was so good at being the powerbroker for the Kings, why I was made for being in the public eye in the first place. Cool, calm, and collected. That was me. Always had been.
So where in God’s name had my brain gone in the last twenty minutes for me to make such a catastrophic mistake?
I didn’t have time to think about that while I was hauling ass back to the sanctuary, where members of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic had already begun to play. Theo better have gottenhisass where he needed to be, or all hell was going to break loose. I couldn’t say whether it would be his brother or me who got to him first if he fucked around, but as I entered the vestibule, I caught his mother’s eye from across the room, and she acknowledged me with a smile and a nod.
Thank fuck.Theo had made it, and now everything would go off without a hitch.
Hopefully.
I blew out a heavy breath, adrenaline still pumping through my veins as I made my way down the aisle to where Lucien and Kai sat in the fifth row.
Lucien arched a brow as I slid in beside him. “You good?”
“Fine. Why?”
He glanced down at the blood-flecked handkerchief I still held, and I cursed under my breath and shoved my hand in my pocket.
“He’ll be here. That’s what matters,” I said.
“But he drew blood first?”When I didn’t respond, Lucien let out a low chuckle and shook his head. “He’s a wild one. Glad you sorted him out.”
Shit, I had never been more thankful for my poker face than I was right then.Sorted him out.More like fucked his brains out and sent him on his way, which just so happened to be front and center in a church with the ceremony being broadcast around the world.
No big deal.
The music changed then, and soon after came the priest who’d be officiating, followed by Prince Jean…and Theo.PrinceTheo.
I swallowed back my mortified groan as I stared at the perfect fit of Theo’s tailored suit and remembered the exact way those pants had looked pulled down under that tight ass of his?—
Fuck.
