Chapter 62: 62

NADINE’S P.O.V

Whatever the nurses gave Rowan was healing him faster than humanly possible.

I tried to ask them about it a few times but they told me I didn’t have the security clearance to get that kind of information. It pissed me off to no end. I knew my father would have the clearance but I couldn’t ask him. Our last conversation didn’t go very well and I had no interest in rehashing it.

I had been living out of the hospital. I refused to leave Rowan’s side, not even when Joshua offered to let me stay with him seeing as I didn’t want to be with my dad. Even Rowan had tried to get me to leave the hospital but I didn’t.

There was nowhere else I wanted to be.

“Nadine,” Joshua frowned after I refused him for the fourth time. “You need to speak to your father at some point.”

I glanced over my shoulder to where Rowan stood. The nurse was next to him, watching his steps to make sure he was healing right. It had been four days and he was almost at full strength. They were releasing him but with strict orders that he shouldn’t do any strenuous activity for the next two days.

“What do you want me to say to him?” I asked. “Do you want me to thank him for calling me a disappointment? Do you want me to be grateful that he said he would have preferred I died instead of disgracing him by coming here with Rowan?”

Meeting with my father taught me that he hadn’t changed. In one breath, he managed to insult me while simultaneously telling me how much he missed me. He told me how he wished I was dead while also telling me he was glad I was alive.

He pursed his lips. “Your father didn’t mean that.”

“Then you don’t know him as well as you think you do.”

“Look, just tell him you’re not with Rowan-”

“Caine,” I corrected and his brows furrowed.

“What?”

“You call him Caine. I call him Rowan. Don’t let him hear you make that mistake.”

He was clearly taken aback. He opened his mouth to speak but at the last moment, closed it and nodded. “Fine, Caine. Tell him you’re not together.”

“Why?”

“Come on, Nadine. He is a guard and you’re not. You’ll never be one and your family will never agree to this.”

“It’s a good thing I don’t care what my family wants. The worst they’ll do is throw me out. I already survived out there, I can do it again.”

“What happens if he gets hurt again?”

“Then we’ll figure it out.”

He sighed. “Where will you stay? The guard quarters? You wouldn’t survive a day in there.”

“Don’t presume to know me, Joshua, because you don’t. I have survived worse things than you could imagine. I’m not this princess that you all need to protect and I think it’s time that you all realized that.”

“Is everything alright over here?”

I didn’t even notice Rowan making his way over to us until he was right behind me. One hand came to rest on my hip and he pulled me back into his chest. It was a simple action but the intent was clear. I could feel him glaring at Joshua over my head. Thankfully, Joshua had the common sense to take a step back.

“Yes,” he gave a tight smile. “I was just trying to convince her to stay with her father.”

“She stays with me.”

Joshua’s jaw ticked. “That’s not possible. You’re a guard. She can’t stay with you.”

“It’s a good thing I’m not staying in the guard quarters.”

“That’s not possible.”

Rowan just shrugged and tugged me away from Joshua who stood in one spot spluttering. He stood there for a few more minutes before storming out of the hospital room. The corner of my lips tugged as I turned to Rowan who was also biting back a small smile.

The nurse handed him a bottle of pills and disappeared into the back room leaving us completely alone. For a long stretch of silence, we just stared at each other, neither of us knowing what to say.

“Am I really going to stay with you?”

He nodded. “I called in a favor.”

My brows furrowed. “From who?”

When he didn’t respond, I immediately knew who he was talking about.

Rowan hated his father more than words could describe. The idea of him calling in a favor just so I could be with him was both endearing and terrifying.

“Why?” I asked and he shrugged. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Rowan. I need an answer.”

“Because I wanted you to be comfortable. I knew they’d stick you with your father and judging by the way you’ve avoided him, you don’t want to be there.”

“What did you have to offer him for this? It couldn’t have been worth it.”

He hissed, tugging me to his chest. “You are worth it.”

“What did he ask for?”

“I’ll be joining the guards. More specifically, the patrol team.” He must have noticed my confused expression because he continued. “There is a team that patrols the outside and alerts the bunker in case of any danger. Your friend is one of them, that’s how he saw us.”

“No.” I pushed back from him. “You’ve spent far too much time outside.”

“Princess-”

“I won’t let you do that for me.”

“It’s already done.” He stepped closer slowly, almost as if he was gauging my reaction. “Do you think he couldn’t have forced me to join them? He didn’t have to make the deal.”

“Then why did he?”

“Because he likes to show that he has power. He wants me to know that I am under his thumb as long as you’re here.”

Confusion speared through me. “What do I have to do with it?”

“You’re not stupid, princess, don’t act like it. You have everything to do with this. You’re the only reason I’m here and he knows it. As long as you’re here, he can twist my arm as far back as he wants and I have no choice but to give in.”

“Then let’s leave.”

“We can’t. We need the technology that they have.” He smiled softly. “We can stay here and fight about it or we can go to our room and I can spend the rest of the night making up for lost time.”

“Rowan-”

He took another step.

“You got the implant, right?”

I nodded slowly. “That’s not why I said what I said.”

Another step.

“That’s not why I asked. I asked because when I fuck you in our room, I want to make sure there’s nothing between us.”

My cheeks burned. “You can’t seduce your way out of this.”

He closed the gap between us. “Not even when I tell you I leave for work tomorrow?”

“But the doctor-”

“The General doesn’t care what the doctors want,” Rowan’s smile was wry. “I really don’t want to fight with you, princess. I need you to trust that I know what I’m doing.”

“I trust you.”

“Good,” he leaned down to kiss me. “Let’s go.”

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