Chapter 106: A Summer Of Vibes
ADRIEN’S POV
The silence in the stupidly large bedroom stretches thin, heavy enough to suffocate a man. To suffocate me.
I stare at the shining platinum band wrapped around my left ring finger. The metal feels heavy, cold, and downright absurd.
Beneath it sits my name carved into Orion’s ring, and his name carved into mine. Marriage papers finalized. A thumbprint taken while I was literally passed out from a concussion and drugs.
My mind skips a beat. Then two.
"What?" The word comes out as a harsh, strangled rasp from my raw throat.
Orion keeps smiling at me, his dark eyes wide and bright. He looks sickeningly pleased with himself. He rests his forehead against mine, his thumbs tracing my cheekbones as if he’s just handed me a shiny medal for surviving a full week in hell.
"I asked what surname you would prefer," Orion repeats, his tone light and breezy, as if we are picking out paint colors for the living room. "I was thinking we could fuse them, or perhaps pick something totally new. We can make a whole event out of it. A big party."
A hot, sharp surge of pure rage bursts right in the center of my chest. It burns through the lingering exhaustion, through the dull ache in my ribs, and through the thick haze of the painkillers still floating in my blood.
Isnap.
"Are you insane?" I scream, my voice cracking as I yank my face out of his hold and shove his massive shoulders with all the strength I have left in my good arm. "Are you out of your actual fucking mind?"
Wrong question. He clearly is.
Orion doesn’t even budge. He just rocks back slightly on his knees, sitting squarely over my thighs, watching me with that unbothered, affectionate tilt of his head.
He looks like a tired dog watching its owner throw a mild tantrum. I want to kill him.
"Adrien, lie back down," he says softly, reaching out to pat my knee with a steady hand. "The doctor said you need to avoid sudden movements. Your ribs are barely holding together."
"Fuck my ribs! Fuck the doctor! And fuck you!" I yank my leg back, trying to kick him off the mattress, but he just catches my ankle with effortless speed, placing it gently back down.
"I was gone for seven days! Seven whole days! I was kidnapped, pushed off a road like a bloody deer, then dragged through a casino, and ninja’d in the throat by a crazy bastard!"
"I know, my darling duckling," Orion says, his voice dropping into a soothing, low purr that makes my teeth grind. "I was very upset about it too."
"You were upset?" I let out a sharp, hysterical laugh that turns into a rough cough. I wipe my mouth with the back of my bruised hand, glaring at him with pure venom.
"I spent all that time wondering if every single breath was going to be my last! I was trapped in a room with a crazy bastard with a dice fetish! I was praying you would show up with a fucking nuclear bomb at the least to tear the place down! And what were you doing while I was fighting for my life?"
Orion blinks, looking genuinely confused by my anger, his brows drawing together in tiny, innocent folds. "I was looking for you...and what was that about a dice fetish?"
"You were filling out marriage forms!" I roar, pointing a sharp finger right at his handsome, infuriating face. "I was gone for a week, and your grand, brilliant idea to handle the crisis was to legally shackle me to you while I was unconscious?"
"Well, yes," Orion answers nonchalantly, adjusting the crisp cuff of his shirt. "It was the most efficient use of my time. I couldn’t sleep anyway, and I needed to make sure that when you returned, every legal avenue for you to slip away was closed off forever. It saved us a lot of unnecessary court drama later."
"Efficiency?"
I grab the heavy feather pillow behind my head and slam it straight into his face with a wild swing.
Orion takes the blow without moving an inch. The pillow bounces off his chest and falls into his lap. He picks it up without a word, fluffing it back into shape with neat, precise movements before setting it gently behind my back again, tucking it in tight so I don’t slump over.
"You need to calm your heart rate," Orion advises, his eyes scanning my face with genuine concern. "Your cheeks are very red. Do you feel dizzy?...and about that dice fetish...?"
"I’m dizzy because I’m sitting in a room with a certified lunatic!" I reach out and grab his shirt collar with my good hand, yanking him down until our faces are inches apart. "I’m not your fucking husband! I didn’t sign a single document! You pressed my unconscious thumb onto a piece of paper like a criminal!"
"Technically, the doctor witnessed it," Orion offers thoughtfully, completely unbothered by my tight grip on his shirt. "So it is legally binding in three different jurisdictions. Four, if we count the offshore accounts. And you’re clearly my duckling, not my husband."
I stare at him, my mouth opening and closing as my brain struggles to process the sheer audacity vibrating off him.
"You unbelievable bastard. Do you even know what it means to get married?" I ask, my voice shaking with raw exasperation. "You are genuinely sick in the head."
"You already know all of that, dear," Orion says softly, reaching up to lay his broad palm over my hand, his fingers weaving through mine until our matching platinum rings clink together in the quiet room. The sound makes my stomach turn.
"You were taken from me, Adrien. Do you have any idea what those seven days felt like? I sat in this room and watched the walls close in on me. I realized that keeping you close was not enough. I have to lock every single door that you could use to leave me."
"So you bought a pair of matching rings?" I sneer, trying to pull my hand back, but his grip is a steel clamp.
"I bought four," Orion says brightly, a soft smile returning to his face. "Two for daily wear, and two for formal events. The silver ones have tiny tracking chips embedded under the band, but I felt those were a bit subtle for a wedding set."
My blood turns to ice. My eyes snap from his face down to the heavy platinum band on my finger.
"What did you just say?"
Orion smiles, looking thoroughly pleased that I’m paying attention again. He strokes the back of my hand with his thumb, his dark eyes shining with a frightening light.
"Well, Yaya jammed your old tracker when his men dumped you near the garbage chute," Orion explains smoothly, as if he is describing a minor technical glitch on his phone.
"It was very rude of him. So, while you were asleep, I took the liberty of renewing your tracker. The new one is embedded directly inside the platinum setting of this ring. It syncs with my watch every three seconds."
I sit there, paralyzed.
"You put a tracker in me, and then put another one in my wedding ring," I state, my voice dropping into a flat, dangerous tone.
"Of course," Orion says, leaning down to press a warm, gentle kiss to the side of my neck, right over the bruised skin Yaya had touched. "I’m never losing you again, duckling. You can kick, you can scream, and you can throw as many forks at my head as you want when breakfast arrives. But you’re my husband now. You are home."
I look at the lunatic hovering over me, radiating manic joy and suffocating devotion, and for the first time in seven days, I realize Yaya was not the most dangerous man in my life.
Not even close.
Orion pulls back slightly, resting his chin on my shoulder while his hands slide down to frame my waist, pinning me gently against the headboard. He settles his weight over me like a giant, heavy blanket, humming a soft, wordless tune under his breath.
He looks completely content, like a man who has just finished a hard day of work and settled down in his favorite chair.
"We need to discuss the reception," Orion murmurs against my throat, his breath hot against my bruised skin. "I was thinking of summer. The leaves will match my vibes, and you look lovely in dark suits."
I close my eyes, squeezing them shut as a deep groan pulls from my chest. I tilt my head back against the pillows, staring up at the dark wooden beams of the ceiling again.
"I am going to poison everything you ingest, you lunatic," I tell him softly.
"And I’ll drink every drop," Orion promises without skipping a beat, his grip tightening around my waist. "Now go back to sleep, my duckling. You have a long life ahead of you."