‘I need some money,’ she said with no intention of hiding what she was doing. ‘We’re married, right? What’s mine is yours?’
‘What do you need money for?’
‘I need a change of clothes and transport.’
‘For what?’
Unimpressed by his lack of expression, she tried to match it with her own. ‘Did you think I was going to hang around and let you hand me over to them?’
‘I didn’t ask what you wanted. I told you what was happening.’
‘That Trystan wants me in his bed? Thanks but no thanks, you know?’
His wallet wasn’t in his jacket and so she went to what looked like a laundry hamper in the corner to see if she could find his jeans from earlier in the day, sure enough they were there, so she began to search in them.
‘You’re not walking out of here,’ he said.
‘What are you going to do, Dax? Hmm?’ Throwing the jeans back in the hamper she moved to him and reached around to pat his back pocket. ‘Bingo,’ she said, snagging the wallet to tug it out of its confines. He didn’t stop her from taking it and when she opened it she figured out why. ‘Twenty bucks, that’s all you’ve got?’
‘It’s enough to buy you some condoms and get you to the street corner.’
‘Funny joke,’ she said, taking the money anyway. ‘Yeah, I’ll start whoring myself, ‘cause after being with you what’s the difference, right?’
‘You used me to get what you wanted, why not do it to some other poor schmucks out there?’
‘You know, I can’t figure out if you actually mean this bullshit you’re spouting or if you really are going to let your daddy issues wreck our relationship.’
‘What relationship?’ he asked.
She wasn’t going to let him blame her for things taking this turn. He’d been fine before he saw Mauri and now things were all fucked up again. ‘I’m getting out of here, this is all some sick, twisted bullshit.’
If his head was so fogged by the Starks then he would comply with Mauri’s demands and take her there tonight. Eventually he would realise his mistake, she hoped, but by then it could be too late. If Trystan had laid so much as a pinkie finger on her, Ivy knew that she would never forgive Dax for throwing her to the wolves. It just wasn’t in her. Ivy knew that she could hold a grudge, it wasn’t always healthy, but it was the truth.
Managing to swan past him, she kept the twenty flat in her palm. ‘Where are the car keys?’
‘You’re gonna steal my ride too?’ he asked, coming out of the closet to trail her through the bedroom.
‘Consider it division of marital property,’ she said, holding open her other hand. ‘Where are the keys? Come on, hand them over.’
‘I switched it out for the bike after I left the mansion,’ he said. ‘Do you know how to ride one of those?’
She never had, though she could figure it out if she had to. Her hand fell to her side and she matched his look of angry satisfaction with her own. ‘Maybe I’ll find myself a pimp who gives out perks with the job.’ Dax had accused her of using sex for her own gain, thus branding her a hooker when she had done nothing to deserve the moniker.
‘Like a company car?’
‘Or a private jet,’ she said, bobbing her brows.
‘You’re not that good, honey.’
‘And Mr. Smart Ass Tough Guy is back, I think I’ll take a pass on spending time with him. You know how he can be,’ she said, spinning to make a beeline for the door.
‘He tends to be right,’ he said, his voice following her into the entryway. ‘You’re gonna learn when to keep that mouth shut, Minx!’
‘Unlikely,’ she said and turned the handle to open the door, but it only got an inch. His hand came over her head and thrust it back into its frame.
‘You’re not going anywhere,’ he said and she rotated to glare up at him, trapped in the confines he set her in again. One of his hands was above her head, his forearm resting downward, then his other hand touched the door by her hip and his body came in closer.
‘What are you gonna do?’ she smirked. ‘Are you going to hurt me, Dax? Are you going to use your mad skills to beat me? Pummel me with your fists until I’m drowning in my own blood.’
His chin moved and she saw fury mate with disgust and his eyes grew narrower. ‘If I have to,’ he whispered like the words tasted foul on his tongue.
Closing the last inch between them she pushed onto her tiptoes to get as close to him as she could and sear her own disgust into him. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she whispered. ‘You wouldn’t lay a finger on me in anger, you never have.’
‘I’ll drag you through to that bedroom and spend the afternoon whipping your ass until you can’t sit for a week.’
‘And if I told you to stop?’ she said, but she already knew the answer and that was what made this anger flickering back and forth between them all the more upsetting. Their love was still there but he couldn’t handle that, he couldn’t make the choice to turn his back on people he thought he owed a debt to. ‘If I told you to stop, you would. If I told you that I was in pain, you would cure me. You would never see me hurt, Dax.’ She softened slightly. ‘And that’s why you’re going to let me walk out of this place now. Because if you don’t then you have to take me to them and you know they’ll never let me walk out again. Let me leave now, or spend the rest of your life knowing that I’ll never forgive you.
‘You love me, and you hate yourself for that because you know it means disappointing the only person you’ve ever really respected or admired. I wanted to fight for this. I married you because I wanted to make it work. But you have to be stronger. I thought you were stronger. I can’t make the decision to commit for you, only you can do that and if your commitment lies with them then this will never work.’
‘You’re staying.’
‘Then you have to turn me over to them, are you prepared for what that means?’
It was easier for him to believe the lie because it gave him an out and getting rid of her would make all the problems in his family go away, at least as far as she was concerned.
Their locked gazes didn’t flinch and cool frost cracked around his irises. She wanted to see them soften and hear him whisper to her that he was going to take care of it, for real this time, and how nothing would make him give her up and he’d never let them hurt her. But he wasn’t going to say that, it was in his eyes. The Starks gave him his identity, they made him who he was and everything in his life was tied to them.
Sure, he had his own place, and his own life. He even said that he’d worked for other people. But the Starks had been there for him, loved and sheltered him, when no one else had and as far as she knew they’d never made him apologise for being who he was. Asking him to turn his back on them, for her, was too much.
‘You let me go now and make up some excuse about me sneaking out while you were asleep, I promise you that I won’t make a fuss. It’s that or you take me to them and watch Trystan, and maybe some of his men, torture me. I don’t care how much you say you resent me or how much you imply that I lied to you. If you have to watch me swallow his spunk…’ His eyes closed slowly and so she didn’t finish the thought.
His hands slid down the wood in a grating slide and he took a single step back giving her enough space to fumble behind her back for the door handle. It clicked out of place and she began to sidle around it when he opened his eyes and spoke.
‘Keep your head down, Minx.’
‘I plan to,’ she said and before he had the chance to change his mind, she slipped out of his apartment.
As soon as she was out of there she wanted to go back in and pretend like nothing had happened. But it had and she knew that she had done the right thing. Yes, she loved Dax and they were still married. But until he realised what it was to be without her and to look at the Starks in a new light, he would never be ready for them to be together.