“Adrian—”
“I know how it sounds, but I have a plan.” Of course he does. “I told Alexandre just to distract her. That, if she resists his charms, he doesn’t have to worry about losing access to the Used because the old guard wants to punish him for not fallingin line.” As if I’d let them. “But, if he seduces her for shits and giggles, if he pops her cherry, he has to be the one to marry her. That the King said so, and if he refuses, he’ll never get to fuck another Used again.”
I almost choke. “And he went along with it?”
Who am I kidding? This is Alexandre. Threaten to take away his free pussy and he’ll do whatever it takes to be in the Order’s good graces?—
“Nope.” Adrian’s green eyes sparkle with pure mischief. “He refused.”
“Really?”
“He had a good reason.” Adrian leans forward in his seat. “Poor sap’s finally in love.”
What? “Does Bas know?”
“No, but neither does Alex.” A soft laugh, and then, “It’ll be fun to keep tabs on him and watch that unfold.”
I marvel at Adrian. “Fuck me, buddy. You sure you don’t want to be King?”
Every single time I’ve made the half-hearted offer, Adrian always scoffs and—like Alex, I guess—he refuses outright. But now… a strange look crosses his face before he shakes his head.
“Anyway, I had a back-up guy in mind. Brady. He works under me as an accountant for the Order. Good kid and I think he’ll make a good husband for Heather. I gave him two weeks off and sent him on a ‘get to know you’ cruise with Heather and her parents so we don’t have to worry about them interfering again.” He plucks his phone out of his suit jacket’s inner pocket, checking the time. “They should be embarking right about now.”
“Shit, Adrian. You’ve been busy.”
He shrugs. “That’s my job, Dal. I’ve got your back. And you? You’ve got two weeks to show off Lucy as the new Mrs. Collins before the old guard starts invoking the King’s bride’s charter clause again.”
They can try.
Two weeks? Two weeks to make Lucy my wife?
Hell, as far as I’m concerned, she belongs to me now.
If only she believed it, too.
Adrian is a smart guy.Once he confesses that he handled the whole Heather situation behind my back, he makes a strategic exit from my office. I would’ve chased after him, demanding he tell me what other plans he has brewing behind the scenes, but I had five more in-person meetings scheduled that Loni—most likely acting on her husband’s orders, or maybe it’s because I pay her good money to keep me in line—insists that I can’t cancel.
I did take ten minutes in between the second and third one to check on Lucy. She was curled up on my couch in the living room, snuffing softly as she napped. I dropped a kiss to her forehead, stroked her shoulder, and trudged back down to the floor below.
After the third meeting, I think about telling Loni to hold the next one so I can check to see if Lucy’s woken up yet when I hear a buzz.
It’s not the office line. It’s my personal phone, and though I hoped that Lucy used her new one to call me, I’m not even a little surprised to see Adrian’s name on the screen.
“Yeah?”
“I found him.”
I get to my feet, clutching the phone.Him… there’s only one ‘him’ I give a shit about right now.
“Where is he?”
“Princetown. I followed his credit cards and realized he was somewhere in that area. Fairchild fucked up, though. He renteda place instead of paying cash to stay under the radar. Check just cleared. I’ve got an address. It’s about an hour, hour-and-a-half out of town, but I got him.”
I don’t know how Adrian does it. I couldn’t care less, either. He found him, and that’s all that matters.
My pulse spikes. “Give it to me.”
He does. And then, just as I expected, he says, “I’m going with you.”
