I open my mouth, then close it like a fish out of water. I cannot believe this is really happening.
A wedding.
I didn’t really expect an actual wedding to come out of this. I thought it would be some kind of justice of the peace courthouse thing, but here Lorenzo is, throwing a whole wrench in my shit.
“A wedding?” I blurt out
Lorenzo doesn’t respond to me, though. I’m staring at him, but his focus is on Axton and only Axton.
“Lainey can go back to her life for the month and get everything closed down there. After the wedding, she’s here with us. Is that acceptable?’
“Is this what you want?” Axton demands.
The way he asks that makes me want to say yes. Shifting my gaze from his, I finally allow my eyes to connect with Viking’s. He’s watching me in a way where I wonder if he’s even blinked tonight.
“Yes,” I exhale.
But I’m not sure if it’s really what I want. I don’t know what I want. I thought this was the right choice, but now I’m not sure. I already miss my family. I want to forget this whole thing, act as if it never even happened, but I can’t do that. I’m here, in the thick of it, and I have a feeling there’s no turning back now.
“I guess we need to come up with a contract, then?” Ivy asks.
And there it is.
A contract. A sale. I am going to be sold to the Front Mob Family.
Sold.
VIKING
I want to rip this motherfucker’s throat out and smash it on the floor, then grind the heel of my boot into it before I laugh into his fucking face at what I’ve done. That’s what I want to do.
But as much as I want to do all of that…
I don’t.
No doubt, Bullet wouldn’t approve, and Lorenzo really wouldn’t fucking approve. Instead, I stare at the asshole, imagining all the things I want to do to him while Ivy and the man at Lorenzo’s side go over details of a fucking contract. He must be their lawyer, the man at Lorenzo’s other side, the older one.
They’re discussing the contract as if they’re buying a house or land or some shit, not a woman.
The sale of the woman I want.
I can’t believe this shit is actually happening. In my head, we busted in here and killed them all, then took Lainey home. But that’s not fucking reality. What it is is some fucking bullshit.
The only somewhat decent shit that comes out of this meeting is that Lainey gets to come home with us tonight. I don’t know why that’s so important. But right now, it is. I bite the inside of my cheek until I taste blood, but it’s the only way I can keep from blurting out some shit that would probably get me or someone else killed.
I look at her.
Watch her.
Take her in.
Lainey attempts to avoid my eye contact while the details are discussed, but eventually, whether it’s because she wants to look at me or if it’s more because she feels my gaze burning a goddamn hole into her skin, I’m not sure, but I’m glad she sees me. I need her to look directly at me and convince me that this is what she wants.
I can’t determine shit. She’s hiding her thoughts from herself and from me. A throat clears, and my head swings to the side. Tearing my gaze away from her, I look over at Bullet, but then shift my attention to Piggy because he’s the one who begins to speak.
“I love my sister,” he begins, then he shifts his attention to Paul. “I’m going to agree to whatever she wants, but just know, I’ll trip this shit up and kill every single one of you if she gets hurt in any goddamn way. This may be an agreement for this marriage and our contract to work together, but do not mistake that for the right to do anything, to have any kind of control over her.”
Piggy is trying hard to assert his dominance in this situation, but I have a feeling he’s not going to win the war on this at all. They’re going to agree to whatever it is he wants, and then they’re going to do whatever they want.