Page 98 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family
This was much deeper than that. Baylyn was mine.
To love.
To protect.
To care for.
After dinner at my parents house we had a discussion about her family. She told me that she lost her parents when she was a child. Instead of ending up in the system her mother’s sister raised her until Baylyn turned eighteen. They weren’t close, didn’t talk so she didn’t have family she relied on.
She could rely on me.
I also knew that if I loved her, my family would too. I damn sure planned on being there. Even beyond this shit I had her caught up in. No matter what came next, I was willing to be the choice for her.
The next day,Baylyn had an event she had to be there for. Even if she could have moved some stuff around, I wouldn’t have asked her to. I promised not to let my shit fuck up her life and I was doing my best to keep my word. But that didn’t mean I was going to get careless with making sure she was good, so I was there with her. Partially to keep an eye on who had access to her since I still didn’t know where the fuck Trent was and also because watching my baby on her boss shit was sexy as fuck.
I lingered at the edge of the event, staying out of the way with my arms crossed and eyes on Baylyn. She moved through the space with confidence, in control and handling shit. She made it look easy and it was damn near impossible for me to take my eyes off her.
I heard movement beside me, but I didn’t turn my head until a cold beer appeared in my line of sight.
“Figured you could use one.”
I barely glanced at the man beside me, but nodded in thanks before I removed the cap and turned it up. I didn’t give him myfull attention until he said some shit that could have potentially gotten him killed.
“She’s beautiful.”
My eyes were on him quick as fuck because he was playing with his life. The guy chuckled, holding his hands up in defense. “You can relax. I meant my wife, who is with the woman that has all your attention.”
I relaxed my grip on the bottle and he was quiet for a minute before saying some random shit.
“They love us, but we love them harder.”
I glanced at him while his focus was still on the women across the room. “They don’t even know.”
I turned my attention back to Baylyn. “Nah, they know.”
“My wife pretends not to know how deep it is, just to fuck with me.”
“Sounds familiar.” I grinned because that sounded just like Baylyn.
He glanced at me. “She yours?”
“Yeah.” I turned up my beer as I watched her smile at the women she was talking to.
“She’s good according to my wife who has been going on all day about how she is the only one who can do our shower. I don’t know shit about this but my wife is hard to impress.”
“Yeah, she knows her shit.” My voice was even.
He studied me for a second. “This is not your thing. You don’t have a clue what she’s good at, do you?”
I chuckled. “Not even a little but this shit makes her happy and she gets hella respect.”
“You’re here. That’s what matters and you’re right, she’s very well respected.”
I nodded in response but kept my eyes on Baylyn. Before he could say anything else, she turned my way and smiled big ashell, said something to the women she was with, then walked right into my space.
“Hey.” She eased her arms around my waist and I held her in place against me.
The guy beside me smiled and raised his beer, tipping it in my direction. “And that’s my cue, be easy.”
