The Marine (Black Hawke Security #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

AIDAN

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B riar slept with her back to me all night, but her little feet followed me whenever I moved.

I should have sent her home.

It doesn’t matter that by three this afternoon, Johnny Trevis will be in custody and behind bars. When she told me she had no plans to divorce him, it was like she’d stabbed me in the heart.

Thing is...I don’t believe her.

Maybe I’m dumb or na?ve, but I don’t believe Briar plans to stay with her husband. She doesn’t think we can be together. I’m sure of it.

Which means I have more work to do.

Because killing her mother isn’t an option—damn it—so I need to find a way around all the reasons she has for not being with me.

Or through them. With a fucking bulldozer.

God, I don’t know.

Six hours of drifting in and out of sleep haven’t helped me figure out a solution. Nor have the ten years in between now and when Briar last told me she loved me.

But turned her back on me.

When I did sleep, I was plagued with nightmares of her running from me, being stabbed by Kael, then making love to him while holding my gaze, almost enjoying it.

Goddamn unconscious brain.

Today’s wedding is taking place at the Glendale, ten minutes from downtown Los Angeles. I don’t want Briar driving around on her own in case Johnny Trevis is aware someone is on to him and decides to do something stupid.

I sit up on one arm and lean over the dark-haired angel lying beside me and watch her pretty green eyes flicker open.

She stretches and runs her toes down my leg.

Always connected.

“Hey.” Her is voice groggy.

“Morning.” Mine is rough but soft. “You have your dress with you?”

I’m meaning her bridesmaid dress.

“Yes. In the car in its bag.” She curls up on her side and tucks her hands under her face. “Can we just sleep for a week?”

My lips twitch into a small smile and I brush her cheek with the side of my hand.

Emotions are draining and I can tell she’s worn out. I want to wrap her in my arms and tell her she’s safe. To sleep. To know she’s loved and will be looked after.

Forever.

But she’s not ready for that yet.

“Sorry baby. You have bridesmaid duties.” We stare at one another for a moment, the memories of our conversation weighing silent and heavy between us.

I lean in, kissing her lips.

She accepts it but doesn’t melt into me like she has in recent days.

“I’ll drive you,” I say, sitting back.

She tenses. “Aidan, no. Everyone will see us.”

“Too bad. I’ll tell them your car broke down.” I toss back the sheets and climb out of bed. “You showering with me?”

She sits up, holding the sheets over her breasts.

“Sweetheart, I’ve seen almost inside your body.”

“Gross.” She frowns as I laugh and grab my morning wood.

“Aren’t you mad?” Briar asks, and I know she’s referring to her answer last night.

That she’s not divorcing her husband.

I’m not.

I know she was lying.

At least I’m 99 percent sure.

“No. I’m tenacious. Now get your ass out of bed before I climb back in there and fuck any memory of your husband out of you.”

I should feel like an asshole, but I don’t. Johnny Trevis is a criminal.

He’s not her legal husband.

He’s a dangerous man.

And Briar Sutton is mine...and always was.

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N INETY MINUTES LATER I’m parking the Porsche and Briar is clambering to open her door.

“Don’t kiss me, for god’s sakes.” She grits out, her eyes darting everywhere. “I don’t want any gossip about us.”

Jokes on her.

The entire BHS team knows she’s mine after yesterday’s meeting. Not that I announced it. But men know when another man is claiming a woman.

It’s instinct.

We’re predators at the end of the day.

Also, there’s the small fact that last Saturday she was sitting on my lap for the last hour of Savannah’s party. Compliments of the tequila shots. And our make-out session in the bathroom where I filled her with my thick needy cock.

I don’t have time to tease her—I need to check in with the team.

“No kissing. I promise.”

I’m not lying either. I don’t want to trigger her soon-to-be ex-husband and cellmate to some lucky guy. I just want him in cuffs and out of our lives.

“Good, because Kael is my date today, so please...just, please don’t...”

She’s scared.

I try to remember that as jealousy rears its ugly head inside me.

“What? Look at you like I haven’t fucked you until you screamed? Pretend I haven’t loved you for ten years.”

She stands with the door open, and all her walls and barriers vanish for a moment. It's just her and me, as she gazes back at me after my love confession. Not that she hadn’t heard it before.

“Aidan,” Briar whispers, and I feel her heart connect with mine.

Fuck, I want to fly across the inside of the Porsche and run away with her. But she’s given me nothing verbally to make me believe there’s a chance.

My insecurities flare and I say, “At least tell me you still love me. A little bit.”

Her eyes drop and shoulders sag as she shakes her head. It’s almost imperceptible, but I see it. “Aidan.”

I wait for what feels like a lifetime. But when she lifts her gaze, the walls are back, and a chill smacks me in the face.

Gripping the steering wheel, I glance away. “I’ll behave. Go get ready.”

“I—” she starts, but it's too late.

“Go, Briar.” I growl and glare back at her.

As she closes the door and I watch her walk inside the double doors, I wonder if this is history repeating itself.

Me believing that this woman will love me despite her family keeping us apart. Her mother. Now her husband.

She might not know the truth about Kael yet, but is she really choosing a man who abuses her over me?

God fucking damn it. What is wrong with her?

Is it time I faced the fact this woman is broken and can never love me back?

I stare into space and let that thought simmer. Realizing that on some level, I have always been waiting for her. Never truly allowing myself to be with anyone else.

All the dates and nights of seduction.

They were just fillers.

“Fuck it.” I slam my fist on the steering wheel.

I’ve wasted ten fucking years of my life on a woman who married a guy who picked up where her father left off.

Instead of coming back to me, a man who loved her and protected her.

I was right.

She’s stuck in a loop.

Abuse is what she knows. It might not be what she wants, but it's familiar, and she doesn’t have the ability to recognize a healthy relationship when it's being handed to her on a silver fucking platter.

Emotion rips through me and for the first time in a long fucking time, I feel tears pool in my eyes.

I curse and slam my hand down on the steering wheel again.

I’m stronger than this.

And I’m smarter than this.

I need to protect Briar one last time. Once Johnny Trevis is in custody, then I’ll walk away.

I was wrong.

She doesn’t belong to me.

She never fucking did.