Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 430

Behind me, Jasmine sniffed. "Who are you talking to?"

"Nobody. Shut up."

She made a funny sound right at my ear.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing, and the ache in my chest loosened.

Suddenly, a voice cut through the noise, sharp and annoyed, the kind of voice that did not expect to repeat itself. "What are you all doing standing here like statues?"

I turned, and Sparrow's grandmother was bearing down on us, dressed in gold silk with enough jewelry to fund a small war, her grey hair swept into an elaborate arrangement, her face pinched into a frown. The moment her eyes landed on me, the frown sharpened into something with edges.

I almost laughed. This old woman was radiating pure dislike at me, and I had done nothing except exist. I had not stolen her grandson. I had not corrupted her precious new granddaughter-in-law. I had simply stood here, breathing, and apparently that was enough to curdle her blood.

"Good morning, ma'am," I said, keeping my voice pleasant.

She looked at me like I had crawled out of a drain. "You are all standing in the way. The ceremony is about to begin. Get moving."

"We were waiting for the signal, ma'am."

"The signal is my grandson's hand on the bride's arm, not a flock of geese blocking the aisle."

"Then come. Do not keep your bride standing in the sun."

He offered Tasha his arm, and she took it, her small hand settling into the crook of his elbow, and the two of them looked so right together that for a moment I let myself forget it was an act.

That was when the memory of him walking toward us came back, the way his face had lit up when he saw us, the way he had walked straight for us, and I had smiled at him, and I had thought, good, he is pleased, everything is going exactly the way he planned. He had kept staring at me until the cameras had gone mad, snapping and flashing, and he had stopped, stepped back, and the moment had passed.

By saving Tasha's life, Sparrow had done the greatest thing anyone could ever do for me. He had walked into Big Bryan's fortress and burned it to the ground, had put a bounty on that monster's head that would follow him to the grave, had given Tasha back to me when I had almost lost hope.

I would be grateful to him until the day I died, even if his help came with a price, even if he used my body the way a man uses a tool. For as long as our contract lasted, I would not betray the trust he had put in me. I would keep his wishes, keep his house, keep his bed warm, and I would do it gladly. And the moment the year was up, I would take Tasha and disappear, and I would never look back.