It was oddly quiet and empty for someone who planned brunch. I pulled my phone out and checked my calendar. Yep, brunch was this morning for him to show off his home and where they would live before having kids.
“This is awkward,” Donovan chuckled as he walked down the hall, pulling up his boxer briefs. Tattoos snaked up his arms and over his shoulders to cover his back and chest. He was a big dude, I would give him that. He definitely spent a lot of time in my brother’s gym. “I’m so hungover I completely spaced ourdatethis morning.”
Poppy just watched him wide-eyed from the kitchen. The nerves she’d been feeling before must have been even worse now. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the wall. I wouldn’t leave Poppy, especially not now. Her cheeks were slightly pink, and I could see that she was breathing harder than she had been before.
Was it out of arousal? Oh God, I hoped not.
“Donny,” A voice whined from down the hall, and Poppy’s cheeks flamed redder. “Come back to bed.”
Donovan rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled again. “I guess this is a good time for you to see how things will be.”
If it weren't for my gaze being fixed on Poppy, I would have seen red. What the fuck did he mean by that?
“Excuse me?” Her voice was a soft squeak.
“This is why we really needed to have separate houses,” he leaned against one of the two islands in his impressive chef's kitchen. “I didn’t want you to find out this way, but it is forthe best.”
Poppy’s mouth gaped open as she blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“Poppy girl, I know you’re smarter than this, but just in case you aren’t…” He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. “That’s Ailsling. You might see her around, or you might not. If I hadn’t been so drunk last night, I probably would have remembered to kick her out last night; so we didn’t have to speak about this so early in the relationship, but honesty is good.”
“So you’re going to have a girlfriend…” Poppy clasped her hands tightly together. “While I—what? Give birth to your kids and stay loyal to you?”
Donovan nodded as if this made perfect sense. All I could do was turn my gaze back to Poppy. I expected her eyes to be full of tears or for her to look sad, but all I could see on her face was surprise.
“That’s bullshit.”
That wasn’t what I was expecting her to say either. She had been the perfect demure woman until this point. She shook her head and began pacing.
“This is okay to you?” Her voice was only getting louder by the second and I wondered if I would need to drag her out of here, or if that would even be appropriate. I couldn’t blame her; in fact, I agreed, but I didn’t know the protocol for something like this. How could you?
“Poppy girl?—”
Poppy held up her hand and stopped him. “Don’tPoppy girlme. I will not be the other woman. I will not stand forthis. You won’t stick your dick in someone else and then come try to impregnate me after.”
“I mean,” Donovan chuckled again, and all I could picture was pounding his face in, after letting my brother Dimitri have a few hours with him, of course. He deserved the worst kind of torture, and I knew Dimitri still liked to live that way, even if he pretended otherwise. He was a psychopath, after all. That didn’t just go away. “We can always share Ailsling. It doesn’t have to be a precise thing. She can come into a bed we share, as she has expressed she would love to do, and we could get youbothpregnant.”
Poppy’s face was so red it was almost purple. “I will not be fucking any one of your whore girlfriends. I won’t be pregnant sharing. I won’t be rolling around with the both of you, spreading who knows what. I will not be the third wheel. I deserve so much better than this.NO.”
Pride swelled within my chest until the amusement faded from Donovan’s face and he shook his head. His laugh was no longer amused but instead dark and dangerous. It was full of promises that Poppy never needed to discover. And I couldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t protect her from this. I should have known better. I should have prepared better because even though his bodyguards were fake, they had very real guns, and I was outnumbered. I knew he had a few hiding out up here too, even if I couldn’t see them. I couldn’t be dumb, but I also didn’t know what could be done.
Donovan towered over Poppy’s shaking form. He reachedup and placed his fingers on her face, almost gently. I watched in horror and rage as his fingers squeezed until her lips were puckered out and her cheeks were pinched. “This has been a wonderful bonding experience for the both of us. I’m glad mygirlfriendwas here to initiate it because here’s the thing: When you sayI do, it doesn’t matter what you want anymore. You are my property. If I want to chain you up and have Ailsling eat your pussy while you watch me fuck her, so be it. That’s whatwillhappen. If I want to get you both pregnant at the same time, you will saythank you. When I say jump, you will fucking jump. If I say suck my cock, you will do so with a willing and able attitude. You will thank me for giving you the opportunity to do so.”
My fingers inched toward the gun at my side. Poppy managed to tilt her chin up slightly in defiance, and I wanted to shoot Donovan dead and get her out of there. I wanted to throw her over my shoulder and whisk her away from this madness. He’d never spoken to her in such a manner, and I didn’t know how I was going to walk out of his penthouse without killing him.
The gun I always carried with me was right there, ready to rid the world of this piece of garbage, but instead of doing what I wanted to, I let a calm slip over me. It was like I was hunting in the mountains all over again. Somehow, I was able to rein the animal in and get control back to my limbs. My clenched fists fell to my side and I began the most important hunt of my life. The hunt of Donovan Madden.
Instead of removing him from the earth, I slipped out of the shadows and stood next to the monster himself. His coldeyes found mine, and he grinned. “You think you have a say in this?”
I shook my head. “I just wanted to remind you that if you put bruises on her, the press will get lots of pictures of it. You both have more public outings and things happening over the course of the next week. You should probably get some control back.”
“And if I don’t?” Donovan cocked his head to the side, but still removed his hands from Poppy all the same. I was hardly breathing and hardly thinking. All that mattered was that I could get him away from her. At least a little bit.
“I’m sure her brothers won’t like it one bit.”
He narrowed his eyes at me before he grinned again and slapped me on the shoulder. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“I didn’t give you one.”
