Taming the Wicked Rogue

Soon

Calling Rhys had been pushed to the very back of my mind as I spent the whole day lying down, fighting the spells of nausea and dizziness that would overwhelm me from time to time. Jamie had adamantly insisted on continuing to work at the diner, which made Hammer silent for a while. Jiro didn’t come back until nightfall. He was stunned to see Jamie in the house and promptly stormed off. I wonder why his reaction was adverse.

“Let’s ignore him.” Jamie scowled at his retreating back.

Olah once again stayed behind the diner to clean up. She didn’t comment on my decision to bring Jamie back, but I could feel she was hesitant. I ignored that.

“He sleeps here. No men allowed on the second floor.” Hammer warned and yanked Jamie back when I tried to bring him upstairs.

I didn’t argue. My guards were strung up enough. Bringing Jamie to Rhys home was the last straw I could pull off for today.

I brought down quilts and a pillow for Jamie before giving Hammer a warning of my own, “I’ll know if you as much as bully him. Don’t even dare!” I hissed and stomped upstairs.

The soak in the bath didn’t improve my mood. The pink cuffs made it plummet even more. The sharp ring of the phone reminded me I had no choice but to wear it.

The screen turned black, and the ringing stopped, which brought me immense relief and a pang of disappointment. Minutes trickled by, and the phone didn’t ring again.

Fine then. Don’t call!

I curled into the bed, discovering that such posture could slightly relieve the rising dizziness. My hand was placed atop my belly. “Baby, settle down, sweetie. Your mommy’s here. We don’t need your father. Look, he didn’t even try calling.”

The dizziness eased up. A two-month-old fetus couldn’t possibly comprehend what I said, but I found that every time I spoke to my baby, the discomfort would ease for some time.

“Mommy promises to protect you from all the bad things in the world,” I whispered, already drifting off to sleep when Hammer’s voice sounded from far away.

“Are you asleep yet? Boss is calling, and you didn’t pick up. Give me a sign if you’re still awake.” He called out cautiously.

“I’m awake. He can call again.” I answered softly, sure that he could hear with his abilities. Not long after, the phone rang, and this time I quickly picked it up.

“How do you feel?” I hated how his calm voice eased the discomfort quickly. I didn’t speak.

His voice sounded again, lower than the last, “Lillian? Tell me how you feel. Where is it uncomfortable?”

A scoff slipped past my lips. “You ask me that when you have been unreachable the whole day?”

As if a dam had been broken, all the pent-up frustrations from the onslaught of discomfort surged into me like a rising tide.

“You want to know how I feel? I feel terrible. More often than not, everything is spinning. I can’t hold food for too long. The worst is that I feel unsafe! The men you assigned me dislike me, and I just lay down all day. I feel miserable!”

I was panting by the time I had unloaded it all out. My stomach churned as if threatening to push out all of dinner. The other line was quiet for a long time. If not for the sound of his breathing, I could have thought he had already cut off the call.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was slightly soft. “I’ll be back soon.” The line was cut off. I groaned in frustration. But he did apologize. I could cut him some slack for now. Minutes after the call, I slipped into a deep sleep.

It was awfully quiet when I woke up. I could hear the sound of the shower and wondered if I woke up early and Tasha was still in the bathroom. It was then that I noticed the mild scent of sandalwood and evergreen in the room. My heart skipped a beat as I spied a duffel bag by the table. The chains rattled as I moved out of the bed. There was no key by the bedside table. The bathroom door opened, and the scent of sandalwood became more prominent. I breathed in greedily. The urge to go back to sleep was tempting.

“Feeling better?” A deep, low voice asked. Rhys was shirtless and only wore faded jeans that emphasized his long legs. Drops of water slid down from his wet hair to his muscular chest.

“When did you arrive?”

“Before dawn.” He slipped into the covers, and he had me in his arms before I knew it. His skin was slightly cold to the touch, but it emanated warmth. I sighed in comfort. So that was what he meant by soon?

“Can you uncuff me now?” Although the cuffs were covered by soft material, it was still uncomfortable to be restrained.

“We talk first.”His voice rumbled in his chest. I gave in to the urge to rub my cheek on his skin. He growled softly, his hold tightening but still loose for me to move.

It was embarrassing, but I missed him – just his scent and the comfort of his touch.

“I’ve already talked to Hammer and Jiro. They will not act rudely around you anymore.” He started, one hand drawing circles on my arm. I fought the urge to sleep. It was very comfortable to be held in his embrace.

“I want to work on the diner,” I murmured, the plan floating in my mind. “Matt says to avoid stress. I enjoy baking a lot. I don’t even need to do all of it myself. I could just instruct Jamie to do it.” I rambled, my mind becoming more active as the second passed. The initial plan was to have Matt say to avoid stress and use that for Rhys to agree. However, the bouts of dizziness and nausea were too hard to handle; I had almost forgotten about them.

I glanced up at him, also recalling Jamie’s status.

“Jamie is that teenage boy I saved from the witch. I didn’t actually save him. Olah saved us. We’d been neighbors for almost 3 months, and I feel better to have him around.” I need a human-like me around. I didn’t dare say it.

He gazed back down, his expression and eyes cold and calculating. His eyes narrowed. “He stays, but he needs to train.”

Happiness bubbled up inside me. I hooked a hand to his nape and placed a loud kiss on his chin. “Thank you!”

His silver eyes darkened a notch. “Half day of working only and then half day of rest.”

I nodded my head. That was fine. At least I was preoccupied the first half of the day, and maybe once he saw it's not too tiring, he’d let me work a full day. My mood brightened up even more.

“You mentioned training. What for?”

“He needs to learn how to fight. I don’t want any dead weight who might endanger you or the baby.”

I frowned, instinctively feeling he meant more to it. He tucked me back into bed. “Catch up on sleep. We’ll start training later.”

I nodded dazedly, watching him move around the room and belatedly realize there was a catch.

He said we, didn’t he?