SECRET NIGHTS WITH YOU

Chapter 3

Meg

I stared in disbelief at Raven's handsome face. What a small world! Who would have thought that the head of the Imperial Clan, Raven Imperial, was actually young and extremely handsome? I was expecting Ashton's older brother to look older since his second brother was already twenty-nine. So I was expecting Raven to be thirty plus. But from what I can see now, he looks like he's only in his twenties. His brother Lambert even looks older than him.

"I arrived yesterday. I went to the church but the ceremony was over so I didn't go in," Raven replied to Ashton, but his eyes were looking at me. My chest suddenly tightened with nervousness because he might tell everyone about what happened between us last night.

So he was the man wearing shades yesterday while standing in front of the church and staring at me?

I flinched when Cirius suddenly pulled my hand before bringing his mouth close to my ear. "Do you know him? Have you met before?" he asked with emphasis in his voice. He was jealous of Raven. What a lunatic man!

"No. I don't know him." I focused my gaze on the plate in front of me and didn't glance at Raven's face again.

I gasped softly when hands suddenly landed on my shoulders, followed by the deep voice of the owner of those hands. "So you are my sister-in-law? We met again, dear sister-in-law."

My body stiffened for a moment before I turned to Raven behind me. Good thing I wasn't holding a spoon or fork because I would have surely dropped it in shock when I heard what he said. I gasped again when my lips almost touched his lips when I turned to him. I didn't expect his face to be that close to my face.

"Do you know my sister, Mr. Imperial? Have you met her before?" Cirius asked Raven with a smile, then pressed my hand tightly. I suddenly felt pain and discomfort. He was jealous of Ashton's older brother, especially since Raven hadn't removed his hands from my shoulders.

Raven suddenly pressed my shoulders before he spoke. "Yes," he answered shortly. My whole body suddenly tensed at his answer. He seems to want to ruin me on my first day of being Mrs. Imperial. I turned to him again, my eyes pleading that he wouldn't say anything about what happened between us last night. "I met her last night. She was drunk so she couldn't remember the way to her room. She politely asked me the directions of her room number. If only I knew that she was my sister-in-law, I would have accompanied her to her room number instead of just telling her the directions," Raven added.

I breathed a sigh of relief because he didn't say anything about what happened last night.

Only then did Cirius let go of my hand and smile at Raven again. "Ah. I thought the two of you had met before and my sister had an acquaintance who is a big shot."

"You mean your stepsister?" Raven asked Cirius with a raised eyebrow before leaving my back and sitting in the empty seat next to me. "You sound like you're jealous, Mr. Flemming. Do you really treat her as your sister only?" Raven added, questioning Cirius.

"You're kidding me, Mr. Imperial. Why would I be jealous? Although Meg was just my stepsister, I raised her since her father died. I treated her like my own sister and I was the closest person to him," Cirius replied, the smile suddenly disappearing from his lips.

I was secretly pleased because for the first time, someone had rebuffed Cirius. His insides must be seething with anger. And he can't do anything but swallow his anger because he can't afford to offend Raven.

"Really? Is what he said true, my sister-in-law?" Raven turned to me. The eyes of the people in front of the table were suddenly focused on me. It was as if they were waiting for me to agree with what Cirius said because that's what they knew. Meanwhile, Raven had just arrived from abroad, so he didn't know Cirius's reputation as a kind brother to me.

"Why are we even talking about that? Let's just ask Meg if she slept well last night. Are you satisfied with the room I chose for you, Meg? Did you and Ashton have a good honeymoon?" my stepmother asked with a smile to change the subject. Good thing she changed the subject because I had no intention of answering Raven's question.

"Of course, Mom. I slept very soundly last night after my honeymoon with my husband. And it's all thanks to you," I replied to my stepmother with a plastic smile. She probably thinks that what she had planned last night succeeded. What would be her reaction when she finds out that it wasn't the old man who slept with me last night but the man in front of her at the table?

"What did you do, Mom?" Cirius asked his mother with a sharp look.

Cora was still smiling when she answered her son. "I just prepared a surprise for Meg and Ashton. So that the first night of their being husband and wife would be memorable. And I'm happy that she likes my gift." Cora had no idea that the volcano inside her son's chest was about to erupt.

"Thank you for preparing that room for us, Mom. We really enjoyed last night," Ashton said with a smile, going along with what my stepmother said. Of course, he wouldn't want everyone to know that instead of his wife, he was with another woman in bed last night.

The smile on my stepmother's lips suddenly disappeared, and she frowned. She also looked confused. She didn't expect to hear that answer from Ashton. But because of Ashton's answer, she would think that her plan last night didn't succeed.

"Let's not talk about that anymore. That's private for the couple," said the uncle of the Imperial brothers. He didn't seem to notice anything unusual about the topic of our conversation.

"Are you going to stay for good, Raven?" Lambert asked Raven while everyone was eating.

"It depends on someone," Raven replied with a smile. He didn't look at me, so I thought I wasn't the "someone" he was referring to. But I couldn't understand why my chest suddenly felt heavy when I found out that he already had someone else. Maybe because he slept with me last night like he was single. Didn't he think about how his girlfriend would feel when she finds out that he had a one-night stand with his sister-in-law?

"Really? You have a special someone, Brother Raven? I'm happy for you," Ashton expressed his happiness when he heard what his older brother said. "I thought you would be single forever. I need to meet the woman who caught my older brother's picky heart."

While Lambert and Ashton looked happy that their older brother had a special someone, their uncle sneered as if he didn't believe what Raven said.

"If I didn't know that you pushed away the women I introduced to you, I might believe that you already had a woman, Raven. You seem to want the Imperial lineage to end with you," their uncle said to Raven.

"Don't worry, Uncle Ted. This time, I will never push this woman away from me. And if you don't believe what I said, take a good look at the evidence." Raven smiled as he unbuttoned one of his shirt buttons and showed everyone the three red scratches from fingernails on his collarbone and below his neck.

I couldn't help but choke on what I was eating when I saw those scratches on Raven's body. It's clearly my doing. Why did he say that it was his special someone's doing? Oh, I got it. He used those scratches to make his brothers and uncle believe that he really had a special someone. He was probably worried that now that he was staying in the country, his uncle would push him to other women again. So that means he really doesn't have a special someone? He is a virgin like me and I was the first woman in his life. I couldn't help but smile at that thought.

"Why are you smiling, Meg? You choked but you're still smiling?" my stepmother suddenly asked me with a frown. I didn't realize that I was smiling and all of them saw it. I thought I was just smiling in my mind.

"Maybe she remembered something funny. Or maybe someone?" Raven said to me with a teasing smile, as if he could guess what I was currently thinking and I suddenly smiled.

"I'm sorry. I just smiled because water suddenly entered my nose when I choked," I said to them, my face flushed with embarrassment. What I said to them was unbelievable because who would smile when they choke in front of other people instead of being embarrassed? But I couldn't think of anything to say to them, so that's all I said. "Uhm, excuse me. I'm just going to the bathroom."

I quickly stood up and hurriedly went to the bathroom. I felt like I was suffocating while all the eyes of the people I was with at the table were looking at me.

When I entered the bathroom, I just washed my hands because I didn't really need to pee. That was just my excuse to avoid their gazes at me. I waited for three minutes before I decided to leave the bathroom. But when I opened the door, I was surprised to see Raven outside the bathroom and it looked like he was deliberately waiting for me to come out.

Raven suddenly pushed me back inside the restroom and quickly locked the door. He pressed me onto the wall while holding my hands tightly. "What took you so long to come out, little kitten? I almost forced the door to open if you hadn't come out yet."

"What are you doing, brother-in-law? Let go of me. I am your brother's wife so please behave yourself," I said to him while tilting my face. I don't want to face him, if I do, our lips will touch because he's so close to me.

"Don't call me brother-in-law, Meg. Just call me Raven. No sister-in-law has ever slept with her brother-in-law before her husband," he said to me in a stern voice. "As far as I remember, you begged me last night, Meg. And then you're going to tell me now to behave myself? You provoked me first so you're going to handle the consequences of what you did."

"But I was drugged last night and you know that. And besides, I didn't know that you were my brother-in-law," I defended myself. Raven was about to speak when someone suddenly knocked on the bathroom door.

"Meg? Are you still inside?"

My eyes suddenly widened when I heard Cirius's voice from outside the door. What am I going to do now? That lunatic man is going to get mad if he sees me with Raven inside the bathroom!