Two armchairs to the left of the fireplace had a small table between them. There was a couch opposite the fireplace, and it was here that Dax took her and sat her down.
‘Stay here,’ Dax said and pushed Rosie’s shoulders so that she sat down as well.
‘Where are you going?’ Ivy asked, watching Dax cross past the two armchairs.
‘To the bedroom, I’ll be back.’
He knocked again on a different door this time but didn’t wait for a reply, he just went straight in and closed the door behind himself. Ivy and Rosie sat quietly until Rosie spoke.
‘Do you think that Trystan will be pissed off?’
Ivy couldn’t care less about Trystan’s mood. ‘Why do you ask?’ Ivy asked her sister.
‘I don’t want a guy like that annoyed at me, what if he comes after me?’
Ivy wanted to tell her sister that she should’ve thought of that before running away with Trystan, but she figured that she’d given Rosie enough grief about that choice already, at least for today.
‘Trystan isn’t a fan of hard work,’ Ivy said. ‘Without Dax and other minions around to do his work for him, he shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. Dax is on our side, we’ll be fine.’
But Ivy knew that Trystan could hold a grudge and that when he did the consequences could be grave. Scaring Rosie wouldn’t get them anywhere, but Ivy would be talking to her husband about Trystan’s reaction to what happened in Vegas.
Rosie, Dax, and Ivy hadn’t had time to disrespect Trystan in Vegas, Mauri had got there first by having his henchmen burst in to drag Trystan home. Trystan wouldn’t go after his father. For one thing, Mauri would squish him like a bug if he tried. Father provided son with the money to go gallivanting around to suit himself and Trystan wouldn’t risk losing that income.
‘Dax is on your side,’ Rosie said. ‘I’m not going to be following you guys around forever.’
‘Don’t worry,’ she said, taking her sister’s hand. ‘We’ll talk to Dax later and see what he says about it. He knows Trystan better than I do.’
Dax had been the one to warn Ivy about Trystan’s tendency to hold a grudge. He’d been working for Mauri back then, so at the time his words were more of a threat than advice meant to protect.
The door that Dax had exited by opened. Ivy sprang to her feet when Trystan came in with Mauri in his wake. Much to her relief, Dax wasn’t too far behind but he looked more pissed than ever.
‘Hello, ladies,’ Mauri said, nudging Trystan along to stand in front of the fireplace. The two of them stood together, father smiled while son kept his head bowed. ‘I apologise for what has transpired over the last day or two. Trystan has something to say to you both.’
It took him a minute and a grumble, but he raised his chin an inch to speak. ‘I apologise for my behaviour.’
‘And to Rosie?’ Mauri asked.
Throwing daggers through his eyes, Trystan glared at his father, but eventually exhaled to concede. ‘I shouldn’t have taken you to Vegas.’
‘I went willingly,’ Rosie said. ‘I thought that we were… that there was something between us.’
Trystan exhaled such a callous scoffing sound that Ivy glanced to Dax, ready to sic him on the disrespectful bastard. ‘You were easy, Rosie, that’s all I wanted. I spouted off a few cheesy lines, and you fell for them, talk about desperate. I don’t know you, and I definitely don’t care about a cheap piece of trash like you. You were a way to piss off your sister and that bastard over there. I used you, and you made it easy for me. The sex was just a bonus, though it was hardly worth the effort from what I can remember of it.
‘They treated me like shit, so I gave it right back. Except even when I treated you like shit, you still lapped it up. I don’t give a fuck about you, and I never did, never would. Why would a guy like me want anything to do with a tramp without class?’
‘Trystan,’ Mauri warned. ‘That is an unacceptable way to talk to a lady.’
‘What? I’m just being honest. She’s no lady. You wanted me to stand here and apologise, fine, I did it. But that doesn’t change the fact that Dax and his bitch were the ones in the wrong.’
‘We were in the wrong?’ Ivy said, her urge to lash out overpowered her. ‘You are a twisted bastard who tried to rape me, you attacked me, not the other way around. You’re insensitive and unfeeling; a selfish prick who thinks of nothing but himself. All of you, you were all wrong! Trystan, Mauri, Bruno, all of you! You hurt me, your friend, Bruno, beat me! You locked me up in that beach house for weeks like a zoo animal because I fought you! Because I said no, you thought that you could treat me like—‘
Dax was at her side, pulling her away from the others. Ivy tried to twist her arm out of his grip, but he kept hold of her and dragged her to the far side of the room. ‘Keep your mouth shut,’ he growled from the back of his throat. ‘This is not the time to—‘
‘It will never be the time,’ she hissed, jerking herself free of him. But he snatched her waist and propelled her back to the wall. With an arm resting beside her face, he used the other to hold her in place by pressing it along her diaphragm.
‘Listen to me, Minx. You won’t get justice here. At the push of a button, Mauri can have a dozen guys in this room. You don’t want me to be fighting my way through them while you and your sister are up here. There’s no quick way out and while I’m occupied you’re exposed.’
‘Fine,’ she said, pushing his arm off her body. ‘I’ll be quiet.’
‘Good,’ he said.
When he began to turn away, she grabbed his face and hauled him close to force his mouth down to hers. Sticking her tongue into his mouth, she used his return caress as a way to get out some of the anger that she wanted to aim at Trystan and Mauri. Arguing with the Starks might be crazy, Dax was right about that, and Ivy didn’t want her husband to be hurt just because she had to state her case. But pushing more of herself into this kiss, she reminded him of the future they had, because she didn’t want his past to try and steal him back.
Pulling away, Ivy gasped in a breath and smiled at his confusion. ‘I told you that they couldn’t have you. Don’t forget who you belong to.’
‘Like I could,’ he murmured.
He tossed an arm around her shoulders and yanked her into his side, the more relaxed pose set her at ease. His frown was still there, but he was showing them that he was proud to be owned by her and that lessened her need to rebel against the men standing on the hearth rug.
‘Trystan apologises for his behaviour throughout all of this,’ Mauri said when she and Dax came to stand beside where Rosie sat. ‘There have been trials faced by all of us over the last year and Ivy, I am sorry that many of the experiences you have had with the family have been negative. You are right. You were treated poorly.’
That was an understatement, but Ivy had told Dax that she would be quiet and so she would. ‘Why did you need us here now?’ Dax asked Mauri.
‘Trystan, leave us now,’ Mauri said.
The still huffing Trystan stormed out of the room, probably relieved that he wouldn’t have to uphold the contrite façade anymore. Trystan didn’t know how to be apologetic, he felt no contrition because to do that he would have to first feel humility and compassion, neither of which were in his repertoire.
‘Rosie, I apologise to you too, for my son’s actions and for his disrespect,’ Mauri said.
Rosie had been very quiet since Trystan’s outburst. ‘I’m going to get out of here,’ Rosie said, getting to her feet.
‘Rosie,’ Ivy said, trying to console her sister by taking her arm. ‘I’m sorry that you’ve been through all of this.’
‘No, it’s my fault, Trystan was right, and you were too. I shouldn’t… I should never have come here. These people have been horrible to you and it’s not safe. I’m going to leave but call me and let me know that you’re ok.’