Allie
Her wedding night was different than anything she had ever imagined before. Bishop wasn't like other men, and he didn't want what other men would want on their wedding night. At one point he actually slipped away from their bedroom, and Allie didn't even ask where he was going. It seemed better to leave it known but not said.
She had a lot to think about and, of course, a lot of what she thought about was Justice. He was the reason that she was doing it. Maybe she would have married Bishop no matter what, but Allie didn't think so. She would have probably told her brother that she wasn't interested and hoped that he would see reason. Instead, Allie had gone full tilt. But now, she wanted to tell Justice about it. She didn't want him to hear about it and think something bad. She wanted to assure him that her getting married to Bishop and living the first marriage was far better than anything else she could think of. The fact that he knew that she was pregnant and that the baby wasn't his and he was fine with it, was more than Allie could have hoped for.
Bishop wasn't around when she got up the next morning and Allie was fine with that too. Her brother had already left, and she was already feeling like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Ben could no longer hurt Justice and that was more important to her than pretty much anything else.
Allie tried her best to feel like she belonged there. It was her new home after all, but that didn't seem to matter. Allie couldn't get over the fact that the grand house that she was in at that moment was now hers. She looked down at the large ring on her finger that was so big it was almost comical. There was no way that Allie was ever going to be able to feel like the place was home. It didn't feel like home. It felt like she was living in a museum or something, and she didn't know if she liked that feeling or not. She had just rushed into it so quickly and now she didn't know what the hell she was going to do. Did Allie just get married? Not even married, she got mated for life. What was she thinking? Allie was terrified when she actually thought about what she had done.
If nothing else though, Allie was a realistic person. She knew that she’d had to do it. She knew that if her brother found out that she was pregnant and she wasn't married, he would have killed her possibly. He definitely would have found out that it was Justice’s and then killed him. She had no doubt about that, and that information was what kept her from being too worked up about it. He had to realize that. Allie knew that he was going to be hurt and upset, but he had to realize that she had done what she had to do for the both of them. Honestly, it was more for him than her. Allie doubted that her brother would kill her, though he might. It was Justice's life that she knew was in danger, and she wanted to keep him safe. She would tell him the true story and how Bishop was when she saw Justice next.
After she had some breakfast that was brought to her by a nameless maid, Allie started to get her things together because she was planning to leave. She wanted to get back to her home, grab a few things and stay for a while. She wanted to talk to Justice and let him know that they were finally going to be left alone to be with each other. Bishop wasn't going to care what she did with Justice. He would hopefully tell her brother that she needed protection while she was there. Maybe she would ask for Justice by name. Allie had lots of scenarios playing in her head. She felt that everything was going to be okay. They had an understanding. The problem was though, Allie understood things differently than they actually were.
“What are you doing?”
Allie jumped at the voice behind her and turned around. Once she saw that it was Bishop, she smiled and told him that she was going to go home for a few days and grab her belongings. “Everything happened so quickly, that I didn't even get to bring a suitcase. I have nothing here.”
Bishop's face changed. He shook his head and said that she needed to stay for a little bit longer. Allie didn't want to hear that, and she demanded to know why. Though she hadn't raised her voice yet, she was feeling like it. Allie wanted to tell Justice what the marriage was all about. She wanted to get to Justice before he was given time to let his mind run loose on it. He didn't know the situation and she wanted him to, so that he could understand that it wasn't how it seemed. Allie was desperate for that.
“I don't have anything here,” Allie reminded him.
“We can just buy you new things. I'm sure that I can afford something better.” Bishop sounded haughty, and it wasn’t the same voice he had before. Allie didn’t know what to think of the change, or the coolness that was currently in his eyes when he looked at her. Why was he acting so different suddenly? Allie worried that she had made a huge mistake without knowing it.
“I didn't get to say goodbye to anybody. I didn't know that I was coming here to get married.”
He nodded his head like he was sympathetic, but his words were not. “Well, I didn't know that my bride-to-be would already be pregnant, so I guess we both had to make some adjustments.”
Allie pressed her lips together and she truly did not know what to say to that. He had a point, obviously, but it wasn't like she felt he had a right to say that either. Yes, technically he was her husband, but they barely knew each other. He made it like it would be okay if they ended up together.
Now, Allie wondered if that was the right way to look at it. She was aware of the situation she was in. He was her mate, which meant far more than just her husband. He was also the Alpha, and she worried that she had gone from one man telling her insistently what to do, to another. That was the last thing that Allie wanted to believe was true. She’d spent enough time under the thumb of a man. Allie refused to spend the rest of her life the same way.
“So you're never going to let me go home?” Allie asked incredulously, the doom sinking into her bones.
“Of course, you can go home soon, just let's make sure that nobody finds out you're pregnant before you should be. A few weeks keeping you close to me and then you can go run off, if that's what you want to do.”
Allie scoffed, but then agreed. “Well, if that is what you want. You’re so worried about how it looks. How do you think it looked when you took off last night and didn't even stay in our bed?” Allie shot back.
Bishop had this cruel smile that lit up his face and made his eyes even colder than they suddenly appeared to her. “I have been the boss here for a long time, so I assure you that will never be a problem. My people know to keep their mouth shut.”
He looked pointedly at Allie when he said that, like his wife needed to learn the same thing, and Allie had to bite her tongue to keep her feelings to herself. This guy, her husband, what the hell had she been thinking? Surely, she should have known that it wasn't going to end well. It had been too easy, and Allie knew better. Easy never worked. She had learned that lesson a long time ago.
“Well, I'm sure that you know what's best. I will wait until you think it is better for me to go. I guess I wasn't thinking, thank you.” Allie said the words lightly, like she wasn’t bothered, even though she was shaken to her core.
Allie could hear the hollowness in her own voice, but since Bishop started to smile, she figured that he had not picked up on it. She was learning about her husband quickly. Allie was already feeling regrets, but there was nothing to be done. Allie had made her bed and now she was going to have to figure out a way to make it work. That was going to be a tough one and when she walked away from Bishop, all she could think about was Justice. Allie hoped that he would be able to keep it together and see that it was all for them to be together and for him to stay safe.
It would be even longer before she was able to explain herself, and Allie hoped that he didn't think the worst of her. She hoped that he would see that she still loved him and cared for him deeply. Allie was convinced that it was all going to work out, somehow. She now knew though that it was not going to work out the way she had imagined. Bishop was not who she thought he was, and Allie was going to have to be careful. She no longer felt the safety and security that she had before. The danger to Justice was gone, but what about the new danger that came with Bishop?
Chapter 19
Justice
“Hey, man, it's time to get up. We've got a job to do.”
Jeff kicked Justice. The big man just rolled over and went back to sleep. Justice had been drinking a lot, and it was not uncommon for Jeff to find his friend passed out somewhere random. Justice didn't know what to do with himself. He had thought one thing and now he honestly didn't know what to think. He thought that Allie loved him, that she felt for him when he felt for her. The realization that she didn't was too much for him to handle. He felt his heart breaking in new ways that he couldn't even say anything about it. He wasn't supposed to care about her. Nobody could ever know that he loved her and that was probably the worst feeling of all. It was like it never happened.
Justice wanted desperately to tell everyone that they had been together, had been something. It was like they never were ever together at all. Like the relationship that he was feeling so much pain over hadn't even existed. Justice couldn't handle that. He didn't even want to try. All he wanted to do was drink away the pain. The only problem with that method was that when he woke up, it just kept coming back.
Justice was considering why he was even waking up, when Jeff kicked his foot again. He cursed at him and told him that they didn't have a job to do because Allie was gone, and Jeff was quiet for a moment. “She is gone. She got married and we have another detail. Did you really think that we would do nothing?”
