Page 233 of Savior
Dean’s eyes slowly lower from mine as he barely nods his head. Bringing that bottle back to his lips, he takes another swig of it, before it’s suddenly smashing against the side of the fireplace, glass and whiskey dripping off the stones and raining down on the hardwood floor. I gasp, startled, and before I can blink, Dean has both of my arms gripped tightly in his fists.
“I’ll kill him for this.” He snarls. “I’ll kill him, like I killed his fucking brother. I’ve warned you before, Vanna. If another man touches you, he’s dead. And I keep my promises.”
I frown at his insinuation that I don’t keep mine. I didn’t do it to hurt him. I did it for the exact opposite reason. “Let go of me, Dean! Before you do something you regret.”
His eyes look pained. “I’d never hurt you.”
“You’re drunk.”
“I’d drink myself to death, first.”
“I didn’t betray you. I’m sorry you see it that way. I was hoping you’d see this for what it actually is. I just want to protect my family. Legion is a broken man, yes. But I’m not trying to save him. I’m trying to protect the father of my child. You would have done the same. Broken a promise, if you thought you could do something to stop a perceived enemy from hurting me. Tell me that isn’t true… Lie to me, Dean.”
“I don’t lie to you.” He growls. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you. No line I wouldn’t cross. No life I wouldn’t take.”
“No promise you wouldn’t break, to protect me. That’s the loop hole, isn’t it? The Ace up your sleeve? Well, that’s how I feel about you.” When he releases my arms, I reach up to touch his face. “I love you, Dean. There’s no other man for me. If I thought Legion was lying, I’d tell you so… But I don’t think he is. I think he’s working with you now… Whatever you said to him that night, it was enough to change his mind. But he did imply there’s still a danger that wants to hurt us. That’s why he burned down the shop. He wants me closer to you, as close as possible, at all times. He knows I belong to you. Legion isn’t a threat. He might even be an ally.”
“He may not be an enemy, but I’ll never consider him an ally. And he’s most certainly a rival. At least he hopes to be.” Dean takes my hand from his face to look at the ring on my finger.
“He’s only a rival if I have an interest in him. And I don’t.”
“He could be using you as a pawn, Vanna. Just another pawn, to get me to lower my guard. To make us an easier target. You can’t trust him.”
“I’m just telling you what happened. What he said to me. My impression. Do with it what you will.” I say. “I don’t think there’s anything else I can get out of him, anyway.”
“What makes you think you can trust him, Vanna? I can’t see a single reason why you would.”
“You’re right. He has feelings for me. I think it goes against whatever moral compass he has, to lie to me at this point.”
“All the more reason to want me out of the picture. To clear his way to you.”
“But hurting you, hurts me. He knows this. And he swore he’d never do anything to hurt me.”
Dean runs a hand over his jaw as he stares at me, and we stand in relative silence for a few moments, before he says, “Maybe you should know what you’re marrying. So you can also see, why it’s impossible for me to believe a word of this… I killed his brother. I killed his brother’s entire crew. In fact, I didn’t just kill them... I took those motherfuckersapart… Buried them in shallow graves in the desert. I burned his brother alive. Blew up his club house and left him to die beneath the rubble. And that was after I beat the ever-living fuck out of him.” Dean gently rests his hand at the base of my neck, before he moves his hand up to my face. His thumb brushes across my bottom lip. “You see, baby… You’ve got a taste for bad men. And I’m one of them.”
“You’re talking about the men that trafficked Cherry? Did God knows what to her? A child!” My hands move instinctively to Ace. “You think I’m not capable of killing anyone who would so much as threaten our baby? You think I wouldn’t kill to protect you? I shot Aaron Hopper. And you took the gun from my hand when I had it pressed against Jack’s head! I’d have done it, because I love you. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you and Ace. So if killing a bunch of pedophiles and leaving them in the desert, makes you a bad man, then I’m the Bonnie to your Clyde, Dean. And I hope whatever you did to them, was sick and painful, and that their souls never find peace. And if Legion is lying, if he tries to hurt you again, I’ll put him out of his misery, myself. I’m the only one who can get close enough to him to do it, anyway. The Queen protects her King. Doesn’t she.”
He simply stares back at me, as if he doesn’t know quite what to say.
“And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to pee for what is probably the twentieth time in the last four hours!” This time, I don’t wait for him to respond. “And clean up this mess!” I storm off to the master bathroom to do exactly that!
When I emerge from the bathroom, Dean’s standing in the bedroom doorway, leaning against the doorjamb.
“How did you even know I was with Legion?” I ask, making my way over to the dresser to change into what used to be an oversized t-shirt, and shorts. It’s the only type of nightwear I own now that fits somewhat comfortably. “And why even ask if you knew?”
“I wanted to see if you’d lie to me.” He sighs, pulling out his cellphone as he steps further into the room. He flashes me the screen before he drops it onto his night table. “I put a tracking app in your phone, after the last time you went running to Legion.”
“First of all, I didn’t go running anywhere. I’m as big as a damn house, Dean. I can’t run!” I snap at him, grabbing the comforter and sheet, and yanking them back to climb into bed. “I met with him, with the intention of telling you everything he told me. So does it really count as lying to you?”
“Yes. What you did, is like lying in the second degree.”
“The second degree?”
“It’s not as bad, as if you would have flat out denied everything...” he sits down on his side of the bed, his back to me. “But you still lied to me, Vanna. You still risked your safety. And what’s worse, I know you’d do it again.”
“If it means protecting you and Ace. Yes. I’m sorry if I hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you. But I’ll never stand by and let anyone else do it.”
“Fuck, Vanna… That’s my God damned job.”
