Page 35 of Cora

I found Remi on the kitchen floor, attempting to pull himself together. He tried to put on a brave face, but I could see that he was shaken and still in shock. I’m not sure how he will feel about being touched, so I kneel in front of him and open my arms, leaving the decision for comfort in his control. Remi wraps his arms around me with such force that it takes my breath away. He buries his face in my neck, and I wrap my arms around him and hold him as he cries.

Five minutes later, he releases me and wipes away his tears. A near-manic energy seizes him as he springs to his feet and starts trying to straighten himself. “I have to get cleaned up! Theothers will have heard the gunshots and will be home soon. They can’t see me like this!”

I placed my hands on his shoulders and used all my strength to push him into a kitchen chair. I held out my hand to tell him to stop, then breathed deeply and pointed at his chest. I held up my finger and ran to his room to grab a new pair of pants. Then, I detoured downstairs to grab my new iPad and a first aid kit. I went back upstairs and set everything down on the table.

“Pants first,” I typed. Remi looked at the new iPad with surprise, and I smirked when he looked up at me.

“Cora, I owe you the biggest fucking apology. I took my insecurities out on you, which was completely unfair. And then I broke your iPad, which... I’m so embarrassed by my behavior.”

I held up my hand to silence him, pointed at his pants, and then jerked my thumb toward the ceiling as I waved the new pair in his face. Maybe it was a little unfair after what he just went through to leave him flapping in the wind a little longer, but he broke my damn iPad and yelled at me.

Dejectedly, Remi stood and removed his ruined pants. I took them from him and tossed them through my door to make them disappear later. I helped him into the new pants and sat him back down. I hopped onto the table in front of him, resting my toes on the chair between his legs.

“It’s water under the bridge. Apology accepted.”

I tapped the iPad and set it aside as I opened the first aid kit. My kit wasn’t one you would have typically found in stores. Daddy curated our kits with the inaccessibility of modern medicine in mind. I took an alcohol wipe and started cleaning off the blood on his face so that I could see the extent of the cuts. They did a number on him, but except for a gash on his forehead, which I decided to glue rather than stitch, they were all minor.

“All set,” Siri said.

“Thanks, Cora,” Remi replied, resting his head on my thighs momentarily before looking at me pleadingly. “Do you think we could keep what almost happened to me between us?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I winked at him and tousled his hair.

“Thank you.”

I nodded in response. I heard a stampede moment before the front door slammed against the wall. I grabbed my gun and pointed it at whoever was busting through my door.

Today was not the day to fuck with me.

Chapter eighteen

Isaac

Istop dead just inside the house as I stare down the barrel of the gun in Cora’s hand. My eyes shift to the two dead bodies in the kitchen and then back to her. We’d heard the gunshots and immediately came running back to the house. When I saw the dead body in the yard, my blood had turned to ice. I expected the worst when I came inside. I didn’t expect to have Cora pointing a gun at my head. Cora lowers the weapon, and we rush to Remi’s side. He’s been beaten badly, but whatever happened, he wasn’t too badly injured. Cora looked unharmed, and, given the gun in her hand, I wasn’t too surprised.

Trent lays his hand on Remi’s shoulder, and the man flinches.

“I’m sorry,” Remi says immediately, reaching for Trent when he withdraws his hand. “I’m still a little sensitive.”

“What the fuck happened?” I asked. “Who are these guys?”

Remi shrugged. “I don’t know who they are or where they came from. Suddenly they were kicking the door open and beating the shit out of me. They told me they were claiming the house for their “Queen,” whoever that is. They dragged me overhere to torture me when Cora came busting through the door like an avenging angel. She saved my life.”

Cora blushed and shrugged like it was nothing. She grabbed her iPad and typed something. “Nobody hurts what’s mine without paying the price.”

“Yours?” I asked.

Cora nodded and then typed some more. “All of you are mine now!”

Being claimed by Cora felt like a stab in the heart, but in the best way possible. “I think we can live with that, Princess,” I assured her.

“Good,” Cora replied. “Now, can you get the dead bodies out of my house?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I chuckled. Derrick and I carried each body outside and laid them next to the third man. Derrick kicked him onto his back, and I tilted my head in confusion. Why the hell did this guy have his dick out? I looked at Derrick, who also had a puzzled look on his face as he stared at the dead guy’s dick. He looked at me, and together we looked back at the house.

“Do you get the sense that we weren’t told the full story?” Derrick asked.

“I’m starting to,” I grumbled.

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