Page 171 of The Trouble With Bad Boys

She continues to glare angrily at me as she looks around the room. “What did you give me? Where are we? I need to get out of here to see my parents. Or did you kidnap them too?”

I smile, hoping to defuse the tension between us. “No, I didn’t kidnap them. They’re enjoying a vacation to Italy. I hired a tour guide to take them to all the best spots, and they’re going to be staying in first-class hotels all the way. Trust me. They’re going to have a great time. They loved the idea. I took a shot that Italy would be a great place to visit for them, so I guess I got lucky.”

Tia shakes her head and grimaces. “You should assume that’s the last time you’ll get lucky with anyone in my family. Now where the hell have you taken me? You know I have work. If I don’t show up, they’re going to fire me.”

“I took care of that too. You’re sick. Mono. Sucks, but you’re going to need about a month to recover.”

Confusion fills her expression, which is so much better than the pure anger she’s been giving me every second since she woke up. “How did you do that?”

“I have a doctor who?—”

Before I can answer, she shakes her head again and holds up her hand to stop me. “Don’t bother. I don’t want to know. I guess you figure since you have more money than God that you can just pull this kind of shit and everyone will be fine with it. So my parents are touring Italy for God knows how long, and I get to stay here in Chez Hostage with you. Well, forget it. Nope. Not happening.”

She stands up again, and this time she doesn’t fall straight to the floor, so she storms out of the bedroom. I follow and find her in the kitchen looking in the refrigerator. Good. I was thinking I might have to stop her from leaving the house.

“I can have something made for you. Just tell me and I’ll get the cook to whip it up. She’s quite good. My uncle found her in this tiny restaurant right outside of Baltimore slaving away for next to nothing and stole her away on the spot.”

Tia leans back and looks around the refrigerator door at me like I said something bizarre. Her eyes narrowed to angry slits, she asks, “So is this a family trait? Stealing people away from their happy lives to come stay with you people? You should try a dog and leave us all alone.”

“You know what I mean. The woman was working in a crappy job, so he offered her a job as a cook for him.”

“Then what is she doing here? By the way, where is here? I need to know when I decide to leave.”

I can’t help smiling at how feisty she is right now. It’s one of the million things I love about Tia.

“She’s here because he didn’t think I’d want to cook. He was right.”

As she slams the refrigerator door shut, she mumbles, “How nice. Wealthy psychos.”

“As for where here is, we’re right outside of Philly. It’s a house that’s in my family that they don’t mind me using for my purposes.”

Tia shakes her head in disgust. “Your money never bothered me before today, but I think it’s pissing me off. You have houses at your disposal where you can take someone you kidnap and a cook who comes with the deal. How nice for you. If you don’t mind, though, I’ll be leaving. I have a life to get back to.”

When she moves to step around me, I stop her by gently grabbing her wrist. I don’t want to hurt her, but I can’t let her leave. Not until I know it’s safe.

She looks down at where my hand holds her arm and then up at me, her eyes full of rage again. “Let go of me. Now.”

With a shake of my head, I give her my answer. “You’ll stay here until you’re no longer in danger.”

“From the part of your family that doesn’t have money to burn and chefs to steal.”

I don’t know why her attack on my family bothers me, but I snap back, “You wouldn’t be in this position if you hadn’t dated my cousin first, Tia. Don’t blame me for your bad choices.”

Her shoulders sag as I finish speaking, and she sighs. “Nice. How long have you been waiting to bring that up, Jaxon? Like anyone ever asks to be kidnapped twice.”

“You weren’t kidnapped the first time,” I say, needing to correct her for some reason.

What the hell does it matter what she calls it? The end result is the same.

Once again, she’s forced to stay with me, only this time it’s because I can’t bear the thought of her getting hurt because Victor wants to be an asshole to the rest of the family.

Tia frowns and sighs again. “Right. I was just tricked. This time is the kidnapping. Do any of the people in your family simply have normal relationships?”

I think about how Ryker got together with Kaia and Cason got with Lily and shake my head. “Not really. Occupational hazard, I guess.”

She tugs her arm away and walks toward the living room mumbling, “I guess bad men don’t do things like the rest of us. How lucky for me.”

Once again, I follow her and hope we can move past this angry part of our time together. I know she still loves me. I just need to make her remember that.

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