Page 102 of Masked in Deception
“I wouldn’t if she had known it was him behind the mask. All the while, he knew exactly who she was. He lied to her formonths,”he says, his nostrils flaring at the reminder of what Jack did.
“Oh, even better!” she says, fanning herself with her hand.
All three men groan, in agreement for the first time today, pulling a laugh from Mom. “Ledger, why don’t you take LJ back to his mama while Henry and I go fetch us all some proper food,” she orders, placing a hand on both of her sons’ shoulders and guiding them gently out of the room, leaving Jack and me alone at last.
“Marg…”
Before he can finish my name, I’ve tackled him to the ground, stealing what little breath he had left after his beating from Ledger with a kiss. I’m not a particularly clumsy woman, but as I try to straddle him without moving my lips from his, I end up kneeing him in the ribs, causing him to whimper into my mouth.Oh fuck, I’m sure Ledger cracked his damn ribs. I’m going to end up really hurting him.I make a mental note to both punch and thank my brother for beating Jack to a pulp, then slowly get off him, helping him up as I go.
He lets me help him sit down in one of the hospital chairs in our little private waiting room but pulls me onto his lap when I go to sit beside him.
“Princess, I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t…”
“Shhh,” I say, covering his mouth with a finger, then cupping his face, wiping away the blood that’s still falling in some spots. “I know, Jack. I know.”
I’m trying to be gentle as I finally straddle his lap, but he doesn’t share my concern as he wraps his arms around me and squeezes with such fervor, I feel likemy ownribs are going to break. “I love youso goddamn much, Margot,and Iswear to youthere isn’t anything else I’m keeping from you. There isn’t anything else I’ll ever do for the rest of our lives that will ever cause you an ounce of pain. No more secrets, baby girl, I promise.”
I look down and start fidgeting with the hem of my sweatshirt. If he would’ve had some other woman’s lips on him, I think I would’ve wanted to know. “Well, in that case, I do have one thing to tell you. Michel and I did, um…”
He lifts my head so that our eyes meet, a half smile on his face. “It’s okay if something happened, baby. I wouldn’t ever hold that against you.”
“I tried. I just wanted to forget you for a night,” I admit, brushing his damp hair from where it’s stuck to his face before gently kissing his forehead the way he always does me. “But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even kiss him, Jack. The only thing he did last night was convince me that you and I were meant to be. He made me promise to forgive you and live happily ever after.”
One of the most beautiful smiles I’ve ever seen lights up his bruised face. “God, I went from wanting to kill Michel to wanting to kiss him.”
“That could be arranged as long as I can watch,” I say, not able to stop my smirk as he rolls his eyes. “Jack, did you mean all those things you said?”
He holds me to him once more, just letting our hearts beat in tandem as we melt into each other. “I meant that and so, somuch more. I pinky promise, Princess. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it too.”
Epilogue 1
“Jack!” I hear my princess yell from the living room. She was in there feeding LJ last I checked, and I’m not sure I’ve ever run so fast as I left the bottles I was sterilizing, leaped over the island, and raced to her side. I knew when we agreed to babysit LJ at Blanche’s house so that Sloane and Ledger could go celebrate her “six-week clearance,” I should have hired security. Knowing I’m responsible for the safety of Ledger’s firstborn has had me on edge all weekend. We’ve cleared the air, and I feel like our brotherhood is stronger than ever. He told me last week that he can’t imagine trusting anyone else with his sister, and we had a very manly hug and cry.
“What? What’s wrong?” I ask frantically, sliding to a stop in the living room and realizing too late that I didn’t even bring a knife from the kitchen to neutralize any threats. I’ve been training with Ledger, though, so I feel pretty confident in my ability to take most guys down. I look for an intruder, but only find Margot giving me a bemused look, holding LJ as he gazes up at me calmly with his big gray eyes.
“Don’t be dramatic, we’re fine. But I did just find something very interesting on your phone while I was trying to find the PDF of the legal agreement between the club and La Reinethat Marco sent. What exactly is this?” She hands the phone to me, going back to snuggling an increasingly sleepy LJ, and I look down to see what she’s found. I damn sure don’t have any more secrets for her to find, so I have no idea what she’s talking about. It’s a document saved in my miscellaneous folder on the cloud, and I can feel my face turn beet red when I see what she’s been reading…
I can feel you starting to panic, and I can't wait to see how your brilliant mind finds yourself a way out of this. I know you will. Speaking of panic, I bought our wedding bands this week to match the engagement ring I’ve had for years. I can’t live in a world where I don’t believe I can earn you back anymore. I can’t. So I’m out here like an idiot doing everything I can in the meantime to convince myself that I will. Earn you back, that is. I’m also working on a few backup plans, currently ranging from hiring someone to kidnap us both so that you fall in love with me again via trauma bonding to buying a private island and acting like we’re shipwrecked with no communication devices. My ideas are all forced proximity for now, but I’m sure I’ll think of more. Last week, I bought the estate that borders Sloane and Ledger's house, and the one that borders your mother’s, so that we can live close to whoever you want. Or both. I’m hoping…ah goddammit, Margot. Of all the things you could’ve done, why did you have to choose sucking on my fucking neck? Such a smart girl. Too smart for your own good. Fuck baby. Fuuuck. You were supposed to have ten more minutes, but I don’t think I can do this. Bye for now, Princess. I have to go spank you, then fuck you into next year.
Now I’m beet red with a painfully hard dick. I cough out a laugh that I hope comes across as nonchalant, then end upchoking on my spit in the mostchalantway possible. Margot offers me her glass of water while I try to recover my ability to breathe, and then quietly waits for my explanation, trying not to jostle the sleeping baby with her own shaking shoulders.
“Uh, well…so,” I begin, not really sure if she’s going to want to talk about the club at all. “All those times that, uh, well. I had you, preoccupied and um. I said I was working. I was really just basically typing my stream of consciousness and manifesting getting you back.”
“There are pages and pages of this, Jack.”
“Yeah, I, uh, printed it out once just to see, and it was eighteen pages, I think. Front and back.” I sigh. “I’m sorry. I know we haven’t talked about the club, and it’s a ton to unpack. We don’t have to discuss it if it’s mostly negative feelings for you.”
“Come here, Jackie. Sit,” she says softly, and I obey her immediately, tucking myself half behind her on the couch, wrapping one arm around her shoulders to softly play with the wisps of LJ’s blond hair as he sleeps in the crook of her arm.
“I told you that I forgive you, and I meant it. It doesn’t upset me to think about the club. I’ve actually wanted to bring it up myself, but I’ve been too nervous.”
Pausing my path tracing the baby’s tiny eyebrows, I turn my head to look at her. “You’ve been nervous? Why?”
Now it’s her turn to blush, and I can’t wait to hear what she’s got to say. “Well, okay. I’m just going to say it, but please don’t be mad. We’ve been having tons of really hot sex, and if we never change a thing, I’d be satisfied our whole lives. But I kindofmissyoudominatingme. Not that I want all our sex to be that way. But if we still played sometimes, maybe…” She bites that damn lower lip and looks at me with those sparkling blue eyes.
Oh,fuck yes.It’s Christmas and the Super Bowl all wrapped up in one. My princess misses being my pet. I could make herrepeat it, but I’m literally salivating at the thought of putting her back on her leash, so I put her out of her misery and make it very clear that I’ve been missing it too. Threading my fingers through her hair, I scratch at her scalp for a few passes before fisting a handful at the nape of her neck and locking her in place, facing me.
“You’ve missed me, pet?” I purr, and her eyes roll back in her head.
