“As soon as I’m sure you’re all right, I’ve got a lot I need to tell you,” I said, glancing at her.
She glanced back at me and quickly turned away again, but in that brief moment, I saw that she already knew way too much.
Chapter 39 - Clem
I was safe from Jordie, but was I truly safe, as Rurik assured me while he drove me back home? Not home. His mansion, where I had been installed like a piece of fine furniture. Turmoil kept me from relaxing, confusion kept me from saying anything. What could I say? Where did I begin with all the questions that swirled through my mind?
Everything I thought I knew about Rurik was upside down. My own eyes told me he was no stranger to violence. That wasn’t my imagination, even though I was sure I was seeing things when he burst in. But Jordie wouldn’t have pulled a gun on a figment of my imagination, conjured from hope and too many blows to the head.
Rurik was really there. And about to be killed, because of me. Because he’d come after me. As we drove silently through the dark streets of his secluded neighborhood, those images kept flashing before my eyes, even when I shut them tight.
The gun raised to Rurik’s face. Oh, the look on that face, so dark and full of barely controlled rage. The sound that ripped out of his throat when he effortlessly got the gun away from my psycho ex and cracked him in the side of the head with it. Beautiful. A work of art, and so fast I would have missed it if I had blinked.
Normally, something like that would make me want to turn away, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Rurik as he took Jordie to the ground, incapacitating him and removing the threat. No normal, everyday businessman could move like that. It was pretty clear by then that my bookish husband might actually be a mafia king.
His eyes then cut to me, and the anger drained away, leaving only relief. He was at my side in a second, and now I was back where I had been longing to be. And wondering if I was out of my mind when I had been yearning for him to find me and get me out of there.
Now what?
Back at his house, he carried me inside. “Don’t bother telling me you’re fine,” he said roughly, though his hands were gentle as he cradled me in his arms. “You’re clearly not.”
He frowned at my forehead, which throbbed not only from headbutting Jordie, but from the punch he gave me that ended up knocking me out long enough to end up tied and gagged.
“That’s partly my fault,” I mumbled. “I headbutted him. They don’t act like it hurts at all in the movies.”
He laughed, holding me closer as he took me upstairs. “It hurts like a son of a bitch.”
So he’d done it before. Why was I not surprised by that? “I really don’t know you at all,” I said, head down.
“Yes, you do,” he said firmly.
In his room, he settled me on the bed, bringing me fresh pajamas and a robe to change into while he found the medicine I had made him buy when he turned up with that mysterious black eye only a few days before our first big meeting.
I changed, glad to be out of the clothes I had been in since we left Japan… when? It seemed like a year ago. Exhaustion made me sway on my feet as I tugged the nightshirt over my head. A strong hand steadied me, and when I pulled it down, concerned green eyes met mine.
“Sit,” he ordered kindly. But it was still an order.
“I wouldn’t make it far if I tried,” I said, trying for levity and failing.
His brows shot together, and what looked like pain filled his eyes. “Do you want to?” he asked. “Make it far away?”
I shrugged, wincing at the pain that caused. Getting slammed to the floor and then having my hands tied behind my back had taken a toll, and more aches and pains were making themselves known every time I moved. I wasn’t sure how to answer his question, so I stayed silent.
He began to carefully dab the ointment onto my face while shaking his head. “I think I might understand why you’re such an expert in bruise management,” he said bitterly.
There was more than a statement there. He was subtly asking me who Jordie was and why I was with him. I studied his face, wondering why I wasn’t quaking with fear to be so close to him. It was time to confess my secrets, and I felt my cheeks begin to burn with shame.
“He’s my ex,” I said. “The reason I came to LA. I thought I was doing a good job hiding from him.”
“Who is he?” Rurik asked meaningfully. “Who is he working for?”
I huffed. “He hasn’t had a job since I first met him. He’s a parasite who lives off weak and stupid women.”
His fingers tightened almost imperceptibly on my chin as he scowled. “You’re not weak, and you’re definitely not stupid. Don’t imply that you are because you ended up in a bad situation.”
It was like I had been waiting for words like that for years and never knew how much I needed to hear them. If only I could melt into his arms and let him comfort me. Let the horribleencounter with Jordie fade from my mind and sink back into life with Rurik.
A life that wasn’t real. But what in the hell was it?