Page 68 of Vicious Little Princess

I looked up from my phone as Nico walked in carrying two glasses of water.

“Texting Milo. Julian’s awake, so him too. I’ve sent a covert message out to Joe, I’m looking into some more of your soldiers, and I just checked out a possible Angelo sighting which turned out to be nothing.”

“I’ve been gone barely fifteen minutes, making those calls to get the place outfitted for Julian’s discharge from the hospital tomorrow and setting up sessions with his therapist.”

I lifted a shoulder. “I don’t mess around.”

He put a glass down on the nightstand closest to the opposite side of his bed, then passed the other to me before climbing back onto the bed. As I took some big gulps because I was so thirsty after all that fucking and to also soothe my throat from all the screaming, he stared at me in surprise.

“What?” I asked.

“I lost count of the number of times you came. You should be passed out cold, but it seems to have somehow energized you instead.”

“Worried I’m in my animalistic state and gonna maul you at any second?” I jested.

“Worried about it? Never. Worried about you? Always.”

I sighed and finished up a text to Milo, who’d just reported that Julian had fallen asleep again after being up for about ten minutes. I put my phone down, then turned on my side toward Nico, who settled with his hand propping up his head on the pillow. “I just… leaving Julian and Milo there, not having them here with us… it’s upsetting.”

“I told you he wouldn’t have been able to handle all of us being in that tiny room with him. He can barely handle Milo being there right now, but there’s no way Milo would take no for an answer where that’s concerned. Plus, even with my security, Milo believes he’s the only one able to protect Julian if Angelo came for him there.”

“And you needed to get things ready for him and also have me get the ball rolling where Joe is concerned.”

“And do damage control. I knew the ramifications of what went down tonight would be severe. I suspected that Leo would come at me too and I didn’t want that to happen around Julian while he’s… like this. Male aggression right now will be one of the worst things for him. That’s how it was last time.”

“Shit, Nico, what he suffered through… I can’t… it was beyond brutal. It was worse than I’d already worried about it being.”

He wrapped his arm around me and tucked me against him. “I know. But Julian is strong. He’s full of life too. And he has the tools to work through it. He’ll be back here with us tomorrow and I’m gonna make sure that’s where he stays while he’s recovering. So all three of us can be there for him, so he’s looked after.”

“So he’s loved.”

“Yeah. So he’s loved.” He looked out at me, a whole lot of confusion coming at me.

“What’s with the look?”

“Just a little surprised that the word came spilling from your pretty lips so easily.”

“Loved?”

“Yes,” he answered tightly. “That’s the word. While we’re on this, you haven’t even commented on our marriage.”

“Why would I? It’s not real.”

“Legally, it is very real.”

“You know what I mean. It’s just for show.” I sat up, smoothing down my black negligee. “And you may have also noticed that the boys haven’t commented on it either. Not really. With the four of us being together, I’m sure they’re not over the moon about the fact that you and me have been bound by this supposed marriage with the two of them left out. But they get that it’s fake too, that’s why the issue hasn’t been raised. Although, I’m sure the reminders from our families about it don’t help.”

“There have been moreremindersthan you’re aware of.”

“What?”

“I get messages about it nearly every day from my family and your father.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“There’s enough going on without you having to be subjected to that, or hearing the lies I’ve told to tide them over.”

“Lies about what you were doing to me?”

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