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She grunted.
“I’m serious.”
Even as she considered different hair colors, a part of her knew she wouldn’t do it. So much had changed that something simple like dyeing her hair could bring on a panic attack.
“What are you going to do when Nora wants purple hair?” She hoped Nora grew up with all the personality and zeal she never had.
“I can handle it.”
Of course, he would handle it. He would do anything for Nora. That knowledge edged out her ambivalent feelings about her parents and filled her with warmth. Her daughter was loved and would grow up having the support and love she never received. Nora wouldn’t have her insecurities.
She examined Gavin as he tapped on his phone. The image of her husband in a three-piece suit covered in blood with swords in each hand clashed with the man sitting up in bed writing emails on his phone. Lucifer called him a veteran of Hell … The fact that Gavin had once visited that evil place on a regular basis chilled her, but that wasn’t him anymore. He was the boogie man of the underworld, but at the moment, he looked domesticated and, for the most part, harmless. He kept his word to her and got out of the underworld once he found a replacement. Since Manny and Vinny had been avenged, he seemed content with his lot in life. That was all that mattered, right?
“You’re a good husband,” she said.
“Of course, I am,” he said without looking away from his phone.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, you’re the best unless you have to be sedated and thrown in the basement.”
He stopped typing and his eyes narrowed on her.
“You drove me to the breaking point.”
The lazy mood began to slip away as the reason for him being locked in the basement reflected in his eyes. Her ex coming back into the picture three months ago nearly broke them, and it was clearly still a sore spot. When she shifted to slip her head off his lap, he stopped her.
“Only two things could make me lose control,” he said quietly.
“Jonathan.”
The muscles in his thigh flexed. “Don’t say his name.”
“What’s the other thing?”
His thumb dipped into the moist cavern of her mouth and rubbed saliva on her dry lips. His penetrating eyes bored into hers. “Leaving me.”
“Oh.” Well, that wouldn’t happen. They were a unit. Psychotic, murderous episodes aside, she loved him. There were two things they hadn't agreed on—his position as crime lord and Jonathan—and neither of those was a factor any longer. Jonathan was now working for Gavin. As long as she knew he was still breathing, she didn’t need to know all the details. Jonathan must have done some fast talking when Gavin went to Maine to—
“Lyla!”
She jolted. “What?” She was baffled by the banked rage in his eyes.
He gripped her face a bit too hard. “You’re mine.”
She scowled. “I know.”
“He’ll never be a part of your life.”
Gavin went berserk when he caught her and Jonathan in a hotel room together. If Blade hadn’t sedated him, who knew what he would have done?
Gavin’s cold, golden eyes drifted over her face. “You threatened to leave me for him.”
“No, I threatened to leave you if you killed him. He shouldn’t have to pay with his life for being my friend.”
“He was more than your friend.”
The very mention of Jonathan made him homicidal. Gavin would spill blood to protect her and kill without mercy if she showed signs of love for someone he didn’t deem worthy.
As if he could read her thoughts, he stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Careful who you give your affection to, wife.”
