Page 71 of Coercion

He tilts his head as his eyes flash and then I realise what it is, what’s going on. He thinks he’s protecting her. He thinks that in some way, keeping her off limits is doing his duty to a man who’s been dead in his grave for over five years.

“She won’t thank you for trying to control her life.” I say. Like I haven’t been controlling every aspect of hers since I forced that ring on her finger.

He smirks getting up. “Nice try, Preston.” He says, walking out and leaving me to follow like a dog that’s just had his balls chopped off.

When we sit back down with the others, I whisper to Blaine what’s going on. Between the four of us there are no secrets. The only reason Eleri isn’t here with her husband is because officially she’s in bed, sick with a cold, but the truth is she’s pregnant. It’s early stages, and neither of them want to reveal their hand before they have to.

Maybe that’s why Nico seems more on edge.

But then again, he’s always been a rocket waiting to go off, we all are, that’s the nature of our lives. If we don’t show our strength, if we don’t react with speed and force, someone else will steal the rug from under us and we’ll be lying in a gutter with a bullet between our eyes.

Some barmaid leans in putting fresh drinks on the table. As she does it she rubs her tits against my arm. The old me wouldhave loved that. The old me would have had her choking on my cock in one of the toilets before she could even pretend to protest.

And yet, now, I don’t even contemplate it. She doesn’t even register. While I might be desperate to get laid, the only woman who will actually give me the reprieve I need is the one god damn woman I can’t have.

I murmur my thanks, barely looking at her face. Nico tells her to go in only the way Nico can and she only just stifles the gasp before disappearing quickly, anxious not to infuriate him more.

He leans in, muttering away into my ear.

I can tell his head is spinning, that in many ways he’s as eager as me to be getting on with this new task. It’s always the same when the Head of a Family falls. The politics, the scheming, the sneaking around and whispering in the dark. It makes people edgy. It makes people untrustworthy. These are the moments that can make our break you. Say the right thing to the right person, offer the right level of support and someone relatively low on the pecking order can jump right up the ladder and find themselves suddenly top boy.

If Nico has sons that will help secure his future, that is, if they come of age and are strong enough before he passes. And if they’re not, well, the future might not look so good. A different Head might see them as a threat, might eliminate them just on the off chance -it’s another brutal fact about the life we lead, and another reason why I never wanted to get married and have a family of my own.

This life is messy, complicated, brutal. I don’t like the idea of one day being too old and weak to protect the very people who depend upon me.

“Preston,” Blaine says, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Isn’t that your wife?”

I blink, looking around. What the fuck is he… my eyes widen as I realise itisher. She’s sat at the bar, at an angle but I can still see her face. Every one of the men sat at our table can see that it’s Ruby.

And she’s talking to a man, having a full on conversation by the looks of it, and he’s even got the balls to put his arm on her stool.

“You’re really gonna sit here and let your wife behave like that?” Blaine continues with a grin, stirring the pot the way he loves to.

I get to my feet. Everyone around me is looking from me to the beauty the other side of the room.

The man leans in, he has the audacity to touch her. To touch my fucking wife, right here, in front of me.

And I see red.

I don’t stop to think.

I don’t stop to breathe.

I storm across the room, fully prepared to wage a fucking war.

Who the fuck does he think he is?

Who the fuck does Ruby think she is, to be here, to be behaving like this when she should be tucked up in my bed, waiting for me to come home like any good wife would.

Ruby

This is stupid, reckless even, but I’m so sick of being cooped up in that house.

When Sidney told me Preston was working late, I knew exactly what that meant; he was at the bar, the one Eleri spoke about, and some impulsive, perhaps naïve part of me wanted to see it, to see him, to understand more his world and not just be a sidenote in it.

So I did my hair, my makeup, I mean, Annabell helped with that, and I selected what felt like a sexy enough outfit before I got Sidney to have the driver drop me off. Besides, it’s not like I’m doing anything wrong, Preston has never told me I can’t comehere, and with the tracker in my arm, it’s not like he can’t look and see exactly where I’m at.

My eyes widen as I step inside. It’s big, bigger than I imagined in my head. It’s darker too, like they’re all into ambient lighting but I suspect it’s because it helps hide their more nefarious activities.

---