Page 3 of Bitter Desire
I had zero reasons to push for information Law didn’t want to give. But when he was like this, tender looks and soft eyes, he wasn’t the man with a past I knew was violent. He wasn’t even Lawson Sokolov, CEO of Law Acquisitions now. He was just Law. He was mine.
He moved close and kissed me, lips soft against mine before he pulled back to look at me. “You’re lucky white lies are okay, little girl.”
I rolled my eyes at him. The move earned me a gentle squeeze on the neck and then he was pushing away from the couch. I raised my arms, reaching out for him, but Law dodged my hands. “I’ve got unfinished business in the kitchen,” he said, shaking a finger at me. “Go back to watching your movie.”
I pouted but did as I was told and turned back to face the television. I hit play on the remote and leaned to the side, the blanket I’d wrapped around myself, once more settled over my shoulders. The sounds of Law cooking resumed, along with a curse here and there and I grinned. I was happy. This was perfectly...perfect.At least, it was for me. I was smiling, not even focused on the movie that was going on in front of me but enjoying the domestic feel of the moment–the outright hominess of it–when Law called out to me.
“Honey, your phone’s going off.”
“Thanks.” I waved a hand and hopped up from the couch. “I bet it’s Elaina letting me know if she wants me to water her plants while she’s outta town with the twins,” I told him, ambling over to the counter where I’d tossed my bag. When I got closer, I heard the familiar ping letting me know I had a text. I reached in the bag and tried not to laugh when I saw Law in front of me. He looked like he was making a study of the mac and cheese box, hands on his waist and eyes on the box in front of him.
“Just let me–” I began, ready to pressure him into letting me help cook when I saw the messages on my phone. I had several. The first of them was blinking up at me.
PICK UP YOUR PHONE!!
I stared at it, fingers going tight on my phone for a second before I raised my other hand and slid the lock screen open. I had to see the others. This couldn’t be for me.This couldn’t be for me.It had to be a wrong number. I knew it.
I opened the texts and saw I had four waiting. The newest was the one I’d just read. The others were just as unsettling, but the first, the first had to be the worst of them all.
‘Honey. Stop ignoring me.’
That cleared it up. The messages were for me. When I scrolled to the top, I saw the first message I’d ignored from three weeks ago sitting there taunting me.
‘Stop ignoring me’
So, it had been for me after all. There were also three missed calls from different numbers to my phone, all within the last fifteen minutes. What the hell was I supposed to do with this?
“What’s wrong?”
I jumped, eyes flying from the phone screen to Law who was looking at me intently, the mac and cheese forgotten beside him. “Nothing, nothing,” I said quickly, giving him a strained smile.
“Honey…” His voice had dropped, and he crossed his arms over his chest. He knew I was lying. Fuckity fuck. Fucking hell. He wasn’t going to let this go.
“How’s the mac and cheese coming?” I asked and started to come around the counter to help him, “I really think you should let me help you with that an–” My phone buzzed again and I jumped, flinging it away from me with a yelp.
Law’s eyes followed the phone, and he flicked a finger at it. “What the fuck is on that phone?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me, Honey. You know that shit isn’t allowed.” He took a step towards me as he spoke, “And this isn’t a white lie. I know the difference, and you know it.”
We stared at each other, locked in a standoff, neither of us moving a muscle. He knew I was lying; I knew he knew it, which meant I was kind of screwed on buying time to figure out who the hell was sending me messages.
My phone’s text reminder went off and we both looked at where it lay on the counter. “Answer me, Honey.”
“I don’t know,” I whispered when I finally found the will to speak. I swallowed hard and reached for the phone with a sigh. “I don’t know who it is.”
“Who it is what?”
I picked it up and held it out to Law with a shaky hand. “Who’s sending me these messages.”
Law’s eyes narrowed and he took it from me. He dropped his eyes to the phone and tapped on the screen. I knew he had seen the messages when I saw his mouth go tight, his chest rising with a deep inhale as he read. “I’m going to kill them.”
My eyes widened. “What? But you don’t even know who is sending them.”
“Doesn’t matter. They’re dead.”
“Law, look I know that–” I broke off and considered his words, “Wait, are you serious?”
