Page 60 of The Mistake

TwoWeeks Later

Charlotte has slept in my bed for the last two weeks and as I wake this morning, I find her still fast asleep. Most mornings, I wake to find her staring at me.

Anyone else, I might find it a little fucking strange, but not Charlotte. I’d never shared a bed with anyone before. She was the first woman I had slept with all night long. Staring at her now, curled up facing me, she looked at peace. One of her hands was beneath her head, the other laid flat on the bed. Her face tilted downward a little and her mouth was slightly parted. I watched her breathe in, and then out. The sounds and motion seemed to calm me, which I didn’t expect.

I reached out and slowly pulled back some of her hair, tucking it out of the way. She let out a little moan and then groaned. I’d woken her up. Her eyes opened and she looked at me, offering me a smile.

“Morning,” she said.

“Good morning.”

“You’re awake,” she said.

“Yes, so I get to look at you thistime.”

Charlotte chuckled. “Please, don’t keep bringing it up.”

“Oh, you mean how you like to look at me, and watch me?”

“How do you make it sound so bad?” she asked.

“I don’t mind.” I rest my hand on her back. I noticed whenever I touched her, at first she tensed up, but then, she’d seem to move into the touch. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine.”

Neither of us spoke for several seconds and I just looked into her eyes.

I’d never enjoyed awkward silences with women. I didn’t want to have to read a woman’s mind, which was why in the past, most women knew I was after a fuck. I didn’t have time for their bullshit.

I looked at Charlotte, and I wanted to have all the time in the world to just look at her.

“What are your plans for today?” I asked.

Cassie still hadn’t returned to the MC, while Rage had left to deal with club business. The guy who’d been shot at the French restaurant had been a Demon supporter. A man who’d wanted to see the end of the Volkov Bratva, and wanted to take back more territory.

Rage had said he’d gone missing a couple of months ago. He didn’t suspect the guy turning traitor on the club, but here he was. I’d been so pissed off that he had put Charlotte’s life at risk, I’d punched him in the face. Rage had responded by hitting me back, and as we went to go at each other, Ivan stepped between us. He’d threatened to tear us both a new one if we didn’t shut the fuck up and deal with the problem at hand.

Hank still wasn’t talking, so I’d been giving him some of my special treatment for the past couple of weeks. Not only had we slowly withdrawn food, until I hadn’t fed him for two days. We were also depriving him of sleep. Vlad was taking turns with my men to keep the guy awake.

It wouldn’t be long before he cracked and told me everythingI needed to know. As for Benjamin, he seemed to have disappeared, the fucking coward. There was also no sign of the Irish. Now this was new. One of their men was dead, and they hadn’t come to retaliate. Did they not know that every time they didn’t react normally, it told us they were up to something?

Down at the docks, there was no suspicious activity. However, Victor Abdulov was arriving any day now, as he’d been dealing with the cartel as well.

I didn’t want Victor in my territory, not with Oleg’s still exposed. Ivan was in talks with The Butcher and The Beast, and I knew it wouldn’t end well if he decided between the two of them. They were equal when it came to kills.

“Cassie and I are planningto go shopping,” Charlotte said, drawing my attention back to me. “I, er, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“Ivan said I needed to start shopping for a honeymoon.”

This was news to me. Yes, Ivan did sayCharlotte and I were to take a honeymoon, but then shit hit the fan real fucking quick. I couldn’t leave my territory until I had resolved the Hank and Benjamin problem.

“He did?”

“Yes. Do you know where we’re going?” she asked.

I rubbed at my eyes.

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