Wicked Honey (18+)

Chapter 42

                                Greylar

I could hardly look at her.

Just the pale hue of her skin made me want to burn everything to the ground until I found the motherfucker who did this.

I take a breath, trying to keep my breathing under control so I didn't wake her. Her head is tucked into my lap, her dark hair cascading down the leather seats as we drive. Her lips barely parted as she breathes evenly in and out.

"Sin," Arrow says again. "Are you sure about this? Going back to Sin Sity is_"

"I don't care," I say, keeping my voice quiet and calm so I don't wake Ivy. "We need the upper hand. He's not going to fly his whole gang over to take us on in our own city."

Arrow glances at the passenger seat where Landon sits. The bastard was lucky he was still breathing. He was lucky I hadn't sliced open both his lungs and let him drown in his own blood.

"What do you think?" Arrow asks Landon. I scowl at back of his head wishing I could snap his neck without waking Ivy.

Landon shrugs. "I think he'll do just about anything to get his daughter back."

My grip on Ivy's hip tightens. He wasn't getting her back. And she was nothing to him. She wasn't his daughter. She wasn't his anything. Maybe biologically, but she belonged to nobody but me. Me and Arrow. The thought of anyone- even her father staking some sort of claim on her made me fucking crazy.

We'd go back to Sin Sity and we'd deal with this. On our terms. I'd handle it with my men behind me. Men I trusted.

And I'd lock her away until it was done. Fuck what she wanted. Fuck what Arrow would say. Fuck it all.

There was a primal, vicious part of me that needed her to be safe. That needed her to be around always. That needed her smell and her laugh and her lips. And I didn't give a fuck what it took. I didn't care if she hated me for it. Because she'd be there.

I wasn't trying to be her hero. If anything I was the villain in her story. The worst kind. I'd stollen her from her life. I'd manipulated her. I hadn't trusted her. I'd taken parts of her innocence she would never get back. I pushed her every limit.

And I'd do it all over again if I had to.

If it meant that I got to have her.

***

Ivy didn't open her eyes until I lifted her from the car. She immediately pushed at my chest, trying to struggle to her feet.

"Stop." I snapped at her. She looked up at me, her hands stilling against my abdomen. Those dark hazel eyes were so fucking scrutinizing. I almost looked away. But I didn't. I stared down at her, my face a mask of indifference. Until finally, she sighed and leaned her head against my chest, letting me carry her to the jet.

"Where are we going?" She mumbles against my shirt.

"Home." I say.

She's quiet as we load the jet. Not even looking at Landon and Arrow as they pile in after us.

"I'd like to call my sister." She says, her voice strong. She's afraid I'll refuse her.

I set her gently on the bed in the back. An image of her curled against Arrow in this bed flashes in my mind. My stubborn ass had been too proud then.

I still hadn't slept with her. I'd fucked her, sure. But we'd never slept in the same bed. There was a level of vulnerability that came with it that I wasn't comfortable with. Not then anyways. Now- things felt different.

Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I unlock it and hand it to her.

Ivy takes the phone and gives me a look. "You're not going to throw Landon out of the plane while I'm distracted, are you?"

My lips quirk upward. "Don't give me ideas, Angel."

She just rolls her eyes and opens the keypad.

I turn to leave but a small hand catches my wrist. I look down at her. Ivy pats the bed next to her with her free hand.

I'm not sure if she just wants to keep me from killing Landon or if she genuinely wants my presence in her bed.

But it doesn't take much debating. I decide to blame it on the exhaustion. Id barely slept the last week. Arrow and I had been up all night, every night trying to find her. Only sleeping a few hours a day when we had to.

Ivy moves closer to me when I slide into the bed. I try not to stiffen as she presses against me, her head resting on my chest.

I watch as her fingers move across the numbers before she presses the phone to her ear.

Her sister answers on the 2nd ring.

"Meg," Ivy breathes. There's shuffling on the other line, then sobs. "Meg, I'm okay."

There's a few moments while Meghan tries to find her voice before she finally speaks: "You bitch." Meghan breathes. "You scared the fuck out of me."

Ivy barks a laugh and I can feel my lips turn up.

"I'm so sorry," Ivy sniffles, wiping a hand across her cheek. "I didn't mean to. I'm coming home now, Meg."

The two continue to talk. I find myself enwrapped in the feel of Ivy's hips under my fingertips. This hospital gown didn't cover much. I needed to get her some proper clothes.

When we get back to Sin Sity I'll buy her a whole new fucking wardrobe. Or she could just wear mine and Arrow's clothes forever. Everyone will always know she's ours. That's a much more appealing thought.

"I'm not sure," The uncertainty in Ivy's voice pulls me back to her conversation. Meghan says something on the other line but I can't make it out. Ivy's lips purse. "We'll go somewhere. Away from Sin Sity. Where he can't find us."

I freeze.

I hear Meg this time. "Mom wouldn't have wanted this for us."

Ivy winces. Her eyes squeezing shut for a moment. "We won't run forever. Just until we can't find a safe place away from him, like she did."

I can't hear Meg's response. I don't care. Because my ears are ringing.

She wants to leave Sin Sity. My city. Me. She wants to leave. She wants to leave me.

I don't know how many minutes pass as I wrack my brain. Thinking of ways to make her stay. Of the ways I could tie to her to my bed and never let her go. But the truth is- I didn't expect her to want to leave. Something inside me is feral at the idea of her choosing to leave me.

Whatever this was- I thought she wanted it to. A part of me was convinced that she did. And it was convinced that even if I did tie her to my bed, that she would like it because she was with me.

Somewhere in the background I hear three beeps as she hangs up the phone. Just as she does, the jet roars to life underneath us.

Ivy starts to lean further into me but I rip the comforter off and shove my way out of the bed. Ivy hisses in pain and for a moment I feel bad, but then her words start to echo in my head again.

Away from Sin Sity.

Away from Sin Sity.

Away from Sin Sity.

No.

Fuck. No.