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“Like what?”
Christ, men were thick sometimes. “You said it yourself. Your wife got attacked. Despite how strong she is, she needs to know that she’s safe and protected. That’s your job.”
“Why bother? She doesn’t listen to me anyway.” The sulky, grumbling man resembled nothing of my happy-go-lucky cousin, and I relished the realness. Maybe the marriage wouldn’t be the worst thing I’d ever done.
Still, the image of Aislynn in the hospital bed burned too brightly in my mind to forget. “Because you’re trying to command her like she’s a soldier,” Dominic pointed out.
“She’s your wife, man. You’ve got to learn to compromise.”
Cameron crossed his arms over his chest, though he seemed less angry, more thoughtful. “Safety isn’t something I’ll compromise on.”
Dominic shrugged. “Then find something you will. Relationships are about give-and-take.”
I didn’t know where he’d gotten the relationship advice, considering how badly we’d burned out, but I was grateful he was giving it anyway. My cousin and Ash needed to find some kind of peace, or their marriage was going to be nothing but fighting. I wanted more for them.
“I don’t know what I’m doing with her. I can’t seem to keep my temper.” Cameron sagged a little, and even if I felt obsolete, it was eye-opening to watch their conversation.
“I’ve never seen you this uptight before, man. The old Cameron would’ve wooed her to his side by now with sweet words and thoughtful gifts. Instead of spanking her raw, why don’t you try that?”
“Because she’s my wife.” Why did he say wife like it was the answer to the question?
“Exactly. Arranged or not, she’s yours for life. Why not make the most of it?”
Cameron said nothing, so Dominic carried on. “Ash is fierce, but she’s still a woman who wants to be needed and loved. It’s plain to see, just like it’s easy to see that you need that. Someone to love and protect. You two can be happy together if you put down the weapons and just try.”
Dominic looked at me, eyes brimming with honesty and self-loathing, before jerking back to my cousin. “Don’t push her away because you’ve got shit dragging you down, man. Pull yourself up so you’re on her level, or you’ll regret it every second for the rest of your life. You either try now, or prepare yourself for watching her find what she needs with someone else later.”
I didn’t know what to say, and thankfully, I didn’t have to figure it out because an irritated Aislynn stomped out in scrubs that were three sizes too big and rolled up too many times just to get them to stay around her waist.
A smirk twitched on Cameron’s face, but before he could tease her, she cut him off. “Don’t. Start. I’ve had a bad night, and I am not in the mood.”
“Okay, princess,” he said, reeling her into his side and pressing a kiss against her temple. Ash looked frozen, stunned, as he dragged her down the hall to the elevator. “I’ll save it for tomorrow.”
“You’re going to bodyguard me, aren’t you?”
“Every step of the way,” he agreed. She grumbled a little but melted into his embrace like she was meant to be there.
Dominic and I grinned at each other, and my heart clenched in my chest at how easy we were again. How well they fit together. I tasted a bitterness at the back of my tongue that said I wanted that too. Maybe I already had it; I just had to decide whether I could forgive the past and move on.
“What’s the fallout from this car accident?” Ash asked when we were back in the SUV, batting Cameron’s hands away from the seat belt he was trying to tug over her. “I can do it!”
With his arms up in surrender, he sat in his own seat, though I noticed he put Ash in the middle while he took the window. The better to protect you with, my dear.
“We are not going to allow you to get hurt,” Cameron answered pleasantly once Dominic pulled out of the parking lot. We were boxed in like a convoy, with extra guards sticking close in their own vehicles. There wouldn’t be a second accident with Aislynn. “Not only because it looks bad on us because you’re family. That means you will take the guard with a smile on your face. No sneaking out without one again. No driving alone, and until Cash is dead, you’re borrowing one of Mari’s armored cars.”
He looked at me in question, but I was already nodding. A car was the least I could do.
For once, Ash didn’t complain. “What about the guy who attacked me? Do you know who he is?”
“Oh, we’ve got plans for him,” my cousin said darkly.
For a moment, they watched each other. Finally, she sat back with an equally dark smile on her lips. “I accept your deal, if you let me watch.”
“Watch what?” Cameron frowned.
“Watch you interrogate him.”
Shocked, he looked over at her face, trying to find the deception, but there was none. Aislynn was an O’Bannon, a mafia queen in every way that mattered, including her own thirst for blood. If my cousin thought she was an innocent little flower, he was sorely mistaken. Only the strong survived in our world, and Ash was one of the strongest people I knew.
