He closes his eyes. “Liv, I won’t let you get hurt like that again. It made me sick to my stomach to see what he did to you. What he did because you were defending me.”
“He won’t do it again. He really sees now that I am in love with you and that I will protect you from anything, even from him.”
He opens his eyes at my words. “I don’t want to let you go.”
“Then don’t. Please, Cole. I want to be with you. You have given me an out, but I choose to stay. I choose to be with you. Please stay with me.”
He leans down and kisses me, cupping my face with his hands. “I love you. I’m sorry for what he did to you.”
“Hey, you don’t need to apologize for his actions. I love you, Cole. Will you stay with me?”
“He loves you,” he says.
I wait in silence.
“He loves you,” he says again. “But I love you. I won’t let you go. I take it back,” he says with a small smile.
“Good. Or I would have had to kick your arse to make you see sense.” I pause and my face goes serious. “I know it’s hard and painful and for that I’m sorry.”
He sighs. “I wish it was different, but I know this is how it has to be. If I want to be with you, I have to share you with him. I hate it. But I know he will never let you go. He will just have to wait,” he says with that half-smile I love. “But you had better tell him it’ll be a fucking long wait as I plan on never leaving you. Ever.”
“I’ll be sure to pass the message along,” I say, and he kisses me deeply.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-FIVE
He leaves me while I get dressed. I hear a hushed yet firm conversation coming from the sitting room. I use my advanced listening capabilities to eavesdrop from the bedroom.
“I know that she loves you and I accept it, but she is my wife and you will respect that,” Cole says to Constantine.
I can see he is at his usual pensive spot by the fireplace as I peek through the crack in the door.
My sire just glares at him, so Cole continues. He pulls my ring out from his back pocket and holds it up. “She wants it back, so give it to her. I won’t. I don’t want anything to do with it. I told her I would let her go,” he pauses as CK’s eyes flick to his, wide and expectant. “I told her I would walk away so that you could have her. She chose to stay with me. She is mine and she will always choose me. But know this, I will never give her an out again, not ever, so you may have your fantasy, pretend that she will be yours one day, play house together, but I am not going anywhere.”
Constantine’s face is like granite as he hears Cole’s final words and he grabs my ring from him. Without a word, he stalks to the door and pockets it. My ring. He is walking away with my ring. I step into the sitting room as he slams the suite door closed behind him and look at Cole.
“Go,” he says. “I’m sure he has something he wants to say to you.”
I beat a hasty retreat and catch up with my sire waiting impatiently for the elevators. It makes me smile to see him stabbing at the button, trying to make it come quicker. It must be difficult for him to not be able to Teleport. I stand beside him and he ignores me. We stand like that, in silence, until the elevator arrives with a ding and the doors open, thankfully, to an empty space. We both step forward at the same time to enter and he pushes the button for the ground floor.
“What do you want, Liv?” he asks me as I just stand there looking at him. I flinch at his use of Liv.
“An apology would be a nice start, Constantine,” I say, and he glares at me briefly before turning away again.
“I have nothing to apologize for. It was your own misguided actions that got you hurt,” he says coldly.
Ouch. Not the reaction I was looking for.
The doors ding open a few floors down and a couple are waiting to step on. We both glare at them and they back away mumbling that they will get the next one.
We start to descend again and I pull the emergency stop button. The elevator grinds to a halt.
“What are you doing?” he asks me.
“No more interruptions,” I say briskly and lean back against the handrail. “I am not expecting an apology for you shredding me to ribbons. I expect an apology for the fact that you were going to do it to Cole.”
He flinches at my words. “It was a long time coming,” he says. “I have let him get away with too much disrespect because of who he is.”
I raise my eyebrow at him and his pompous attitude. “Try it again and I will beat you down,” I say mildly.