“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner,” Wes said. “I panicked last night, okay? I didn’t know how to say anything, Aton. I’ll take the blame…”
Aton waved his hands. “No. This is not a time to worry. Wes, my boy, I can’t believe this. You’re a married man!”
~
Aton hugged me tight. He rocked back and forth then broke away. He touched my arms with a hard squeeze, shaking me a little. “And you. If I knew… I can’t begin to apologize. I was trying to ruffle some feathers. I didn’t realize…”
Realize what? Wes is… married…
I turned my head and looked at Wes.
Wait a second. Wes is married… to me?
Wes gave me a nod. “Aton, it just all happened so fast. I wasn’t looking for anything. When Rose told me who she was. Who her family was, I didn’t know how to handle it. I was going to talk to you before, but then Danny put me in that fight. And I slipped away for a little bit. She brought me back though, like a good wife would do.”
Aton touched my face. “I know it’s a mess for our families, but we can make it all work. Wes is the best fighter I’ve ever had. Here I thought the son of a bitch was a rat, but he was just protecting his wife.”
I slowly nodded. “Yes. Yes. He…”
Aton looked at Wes. “You really should have said something before I had you and Tommy go out.”
“I didn’t know how. You were so upset, Aton. I thought you were going to kill me. I had to stay alive so I could protect Rose. That’s all I was trying to do.”
“And your shoulder?”
“Someone is after her. Not just you.”
Aton laughed. “Well, I’m not after her anymore. She’s a good girl.” Aton patted my cheek. “A beautiful woman. My gosh. So naturally beautiful. Too bad it’s going to be nothing but Irish babies.”
Babies?!
I forced myself to laugh.
Aton walked away from me. Wes hurried to grab my hand and pull me in.
“Well, here’s what we need to do,” Aton said. “Do you know who would want you dead?”
“You,” I said. I tried to remind myself not to be too snarky with a high powered mob player who I was lying to.
“Besides me,” Aton said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “My family… I don’t have much. But I think the past is lingering.”
“Of course," Aton said. “Big scars leave big memories.” Aton tapped his chin. “You know, I am a little pissed that you two didn’t tell me about this. I mean, a wedding…”
“There was no wedding,” Wes said.
“We just went for it,” I said, playing into the lie. “There was no need. I have nobody. Except Wes. So we just said our vows and that was it.” I held up my hand. “Look. We don’t even have rings.”
“We don’t need rings,” Wes said. He slipped his arm around me again and pulled me close. “Right, sweetie?”
“Exactly.”
Next thing I knew Wes was coming at me. My eyes went wide and a fraction of a second later his lips were touching mine.
Holy shit. Our first kiss. But nobody else could know that…
I hurried and grabbed the back of his hair. My instinct was to pull his mouth away from mine and then slap him across the face. But if I did that, it would blow our cover. So I dug my fingers into his hair, kissing him back. Instinct was overrun by need. I had been longing for a hot kiss for such a long time. And here it was.
Before I knew what I was doing, my mouth slowly parted, offering a more passionate kiss with Wes. His tongue touched mine and everything inside me melted. There was no disgust, just pure lust.
“Okay, okay,” Aton said. He whistled. “Save it for tonight.”
Wes broke the kiss and we stared at each other for a second. It was the weirdest yet sexiest second of my entire life.
“Wait, what’s tonight?” I asked, breaking the awkwardness between Wes and I.
“I think the only choice we have right now is getting you both to safety,” Aton said. “Until I can make some calls and figure this out.”
“No,” Wes said. “Don’t do that. Let things be normal. We can do this ourselves, Aton.”
“Like hell,” Aton said. He pointed right at Wes. “You’re my prized fighter and you have a fucked up shoulder. Someone shot you? That doesn’t ring well for my business. Christ. If anyone finds out or sees you, what kind of backlash will I get for my bets? I’m supposed to be running another ring soon. I’ll just leave you off the card for right now.”
I saw anger flash across Wes’s face. I knew fighting was the only thing he had. And now because of a bullet meant for me, he couldn’t fight. I knew the tragic risk of not being able to get that release from fighting. I watched it ruin my family.
“I want you both to go to my cabin,” Aton said. “Take some time in the woods. Alone. Cool nights. Hot days. Just take some time to breathe. I can make arrangements to settle whatever needs to be done here. I’m not going to lose you, Wes. You’re worth too much to me. And if you take a bride, then I take her too. I just hope there’s no deep, dark secrets waiting.”
My heart began to pound. My knees were ready to buckle. I screamed at myself to not get dizzy and pass out. I couldn’t blow the cover on this right now. No way. If I did, I was dead. Sure as hell, I would be killed.