Of Blood & Consequence (Book 2 of The Blood Bond Series)

41. Trust

"Arthur is going to wire the money to the bank," she told him after they'd gotten back from getting Delia's things at Cassie's place and returned the borrowed car. "It will get here within 24 hours."

"Thank fuck," he breathed out, his shoulders relaxing. "I'll text Gio now and let him know the rest of his money will be with him within the next 48 hours. I don't know, but I think he particularly enjoys having something to hoard over me. I'll be glad to be out from under this debt." He looked at her, his eyes as warm as melted chocolate. "Thank you. I know you see your things as mine and vice versa, but thank you still."

She leaned into him, kissing his lips slowly before settling back on her heels on the bed. "You don't need to thank me ever. We're in this together. Oh—and, by the way, we got invited to Cassie's movie premier as well."

Michael quirked a brow at her. "Isn't he trying to lay low—stay out of the limelight? He's supposed to be something like 50 and he doesn't look a day over his mid-3os. People will talk."

She clapped her hands together, glee lighting up her face. "That's the beauty part of it! Cassie has been watching all these stupid makeup shows—you know, those reality TV ones—and she's been practicing on herself. She'd going to give him a tad bit of sophisticated gray around his temples and age his face up a bit. She's a relative newcomer to the scene so she doesn't have to do anything to herself yet, and plenty of men in the business take younger wives."

He had to admit, it was a good idea, especially since he knew Eli would have been pretty put-out if he'd had to miss the premier of his mate's first movie and she'd had to go all alone. He was as proud of her as he was of anything he'd accomplished, and it showed.

"So, I should probably learn to school my features whenever I have to look over at him." He smiled fiendishly. "I wonder how badly his aging will wound his ego."

She snickered. "I'm sure it could take a bit of bruising before his head deflates enough for the rest of us to be able to see around him. Cocky bastard."

"When is this premier thing anyway?"

"Next Friday, so if you don't have a suit, you better rent one." She was kidding. He owned several for swank engagements when he was forced to get dolled up for something...well, something much like this.

"I have several, as you well know, not that I've needed them much recently." The last time he'd had to dress to the nines prior to the funeral was last year when he was working as security for a benefit gala for SecureElite. Something about homeless housing or affordable housing, or something along those lines.

It felt like decades ago—before meeting Cassie and, in turn, Delia.

Michael had stood to get rid of the majority of his clothing and now climbed onto the bed with Delia, who sat with her head against the headboard, her eyes closing as her whole body relaxed. He used his phone to fire off a text to Gio before putting it on silent and plugging it in to charge. He didn't need to see a response right away, and he was sure that Gio was nearly fuming that Michael would be out from under him within the next several days.

Once he settled on the mattress, he pulled Delia onto his lap, resting his chin on her head, closed his eyes, and simply drank in her presence. It was the first time he'd felt right in over a day, and he was hard-pressed to find a reason to let her go to sleep right away. Even after being apart for such a short time, he found it was taxing on his soul, and he curled his arms around her, squeezing her tight.

She didn't mind. In fact, she snuggled deeper into him, his musky fragrance like dipping a toe into a relaxing, warm bath and simply soaking up all the comfort she could. When she finally lifted her head after a few minutes of silence, she gently pecked his lips, right at the corner of his mouth.