Page 82 of Claiming His Throne
“Yeah. I guess the street graffiti kid in me never died. No matter how much Mol here told me I was wasting my talents.”
“She’s the smartest person I know. You made the right decision listening to her,” I say.
Molly beams up at me from the bed she’s perched herself on. “See? This is why I’m marrying you.”
“Because he thinks you’re smart? Everyone knows how smart you are, Mol.” Jude rolls his eyes as he draws something on an iPad. “Anything else you want on this ring?”
“Um… nope,” she says.
I look over his shoulder at the design. “You know, if you fuck up her finger, I will remove all ten of yours.”
“Alfie!” Molly shrieks. “He’s kidding, Jude.”
“No,he’sreally not,” I grunt and move to sit next to Molly on the bed.
“Yeah, I figured,” Jude replies.
“Alfie, seriously, you cannot just go around threatening people,” Molly hisses at me.
“Why the fuck not? It’s worked for me my entire life.”
“Well, you just can’t,” she says.
“How’s your mom doing?” Jude asks, causing Molly to stiffen ever so slightly.
“She’s… Well… The doctors have said she has two months, tops. So I’ve been spending more time in Portland.”
“Shit, I’m sorry, Mol.” Jude looks at her with real empathy. “Anything I can do to help?”
“You can draw my engagement ring and you can make sure you don’t mess it up, otherwise I’ll get my fiancé to cut your fingers off.”
My lips tilt up. “Why are you allowed to threaten and I’m not?”
“Because I’m the rule maker, not the rule follower.” Molly laughs. “You gotta learn how to be a better leader if you’re planning on taking over from your father.”
“Our management styles might differ, Molly, but I get results just the same,” I remind her.
“Okay, ready.” Jude turns the iPad around and shows Molly the drawing.
“Perfect,” she says. “Is it going to hurt?”
I lean into her ear. “If you get off from another man causing you pain, I really will kill him, Molly.”
“It’s not going to hurt. You’re the toughest person I know.” Jude winks, and I want to knock the fucker off his seat.
Molly grips my hand as the hum of the needle cuts the silence. As soon as Jude starts the outline on her finger, she relaxes her hold. “That’s it?”
“That’s it,” I confirm.
“Oh, I thought it was going to be way worse.” She laughs.
My phone rings when Molly’s about halfway done. Seeing CJ’s name on the screen, I answer it. “Yeah?”
“We got him talking,” CJ tells me.
“What he say?”
“The guy you met in that room was the head. Gave us the location of the chemist, who had an unfortunate accident in his lab.”
