Chapter 48

**Blue**


Warm, sweet smelling air hits me as I step out of the plane.

“Where are we?” I ask Artemis.

He’s already on the ground and looks up at the sound of my voice.

“Fiji.” He says simply.

A man dressed in an all-black suit walks over to Artemis and they start talking, but I don’t pay any attention to them. I can’t keep my eyes fixed on one thing at all. There are palm trees everywhere and the air smells like flowers and the ocean. Nothing I have ever seen or smelled could compare to this place. I can’t believe Artemis flew us to freaking Fiji!

Wait, how did he do that if I don’t have a passport?

I quickly look around us for police or FBI waiting to take us into custody for leaving the country without proper papers. Will they send us to jail? Foster care and being homeless in some sketchy places is one thing, but jail…I’m not sure I would handle that well.

Although, they give you three meals a day and a bed to sleep on, so there’s that.

“Blue? What are you waiting for? The car is waiting.” Artemis calls out from said car.

I want to call back asking if it’s safe for me to get off, but then I would be revealing to everyone that I’m a criminal and that doesn’t sound smart. So, I decide to wait until I’m either carted away by police or alone with Artemis to ask about the passport situation. I quickly jog down the stairs and power walk toward the car keeping my head low just in case. When I reach the car Artemis steps back to let me slide in first, and I do so as smoothly as a slippery worm.

As in not graceful at all. Thankfully Artemis misses my blunder and climbs in just as I straighten myself out, but I catch the driver smirking, so he definitely saw it. Dammit.

Once Artemis is in the car our driver takes off.

“I can’t believe you brought me to Fiji!” I say in awe. “Illegally I might add.”

I lean in and whisper that part but when I sit back Artemis is looking at me like I’m an idiot.

“What are you talking about?”

Now I’m the one looking at his handsome face like he’s being dumb. “I don’t have a passport or ID. Remember?”

I see the moment it dawns on him because he smirks and shakes his head. “I handled all that.”

He opens the bag I didn’t notice him carrying and pulls out a passport and a wallet. When he holds it out to me I taker them with great suspicion. I open the passport first and see a picture of myself on the inside with all my information, and in nice bold letters it says BLUE RHODES.

“Where did you get this picture?” I tilt my head to get a better look at the photo, but I’m not sure why I bother.

It looks…real.

“My sister takes pictures of everything for social media. I asked her for as many of you as she could send and then the guy who worked on these used photo shop or something to make it look like an official photo.” Artemis tries to explain.

For someone who works on computers he doesn’t seem knowledgeable about all programs.

“Wow, impressive.” And I mean every word.

I open the wallet next and smile. This picture looks a lot nicer. I’m smiling in this one and I look happy. It makes me wonder when this one was taken, but I’ll ask Rhea about it later. I notice a few other cards in the wallet and carefully remove one. It’s a dark silver card with my name typed on it.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“A credit card. There’s no limit, so don’t worry about spending too much.” Artemis says without a hint of nervousness.

He seriously gave me a credit card with unlimited funds and doesn’t seem the least bit worried.

“What? Why would you give me this? We said no financial help when I first agreed to this Artemis!” My objections are weak since we have pretty much gone completely off course from what that original agreement was.

“Things have changed. I don’t want you to worry about needing something and me having to always be with you to get it. Now you can get anything you want.”

“Do you get notified when I use this one too?” I ask with a bit of snark.

Yeah, I’m still sore about a few things.

“No. I won’t know of anything you use this card for. The balance will be paid automatically each month, so I won’t receive and itemized list of charges either.”

Is he insane?

“Are you crazy? I can’t take this.” I pull the card out and tuck it into his front pocket.

I move on to investigate the other cards, but before I can pull the next one out Artemis takes the wallet away.

“Hey!”

He tucks the credit card back in and turns in his seat to face me.

“Blue. You keep saying you think I’m crazy for one thing or another but listen to me very carefully. I trust you. We haven’t known each other long, but I know for a fact that you won’t take advantage of this. You aren’t a gold digger, and I knew that after a day. So, stop worrying about proving yourself to me. I trust you with this and much more. Did you forget the conditions of my prenup and will? You are my person now. Got it?”

Uh…holy smokes.

“Artemis-“

I want to beg him to reconsider but he shakes his head before I can finish. He lifts my hand from my lap and turns it to set the wallet on top.

“Let it go, and enjoy what I’m offering you. This is supposed to be a no stress trip. So, stop stressing.”

That’s rich coming from him, but he’s right. So, I let this go for now, but I’m not sure if I will ever feel comfortable using that card. It feels like too much. I still feel like this could all be ripped away at any second and then I will owe him everything back one day. I accept the other things because they could easily be returned, since there aren’t a lot, but this is different. I’m being given the choice to literally buy anything I want, and that’s such a huge burden.

“I can still see you thinking. What should we do about that?”

The change in his voice has me snapping to attention. I swallow a knot in my throat when his eyes roam over me. I’m not sure how much he’s imagining since I’m swimming in his sister’s clothes but he has seen enough so it could be anything.


**Artemis**

Blue is watching me with wide eyes and expectation. She is waiting to see what I’ll do, but I’m not sure what that is either. These things come out of my mouth before I can think them through and I’m left as confused as her. All I know is that I want to touch her, but I also don’t want to push. It’s like sitting in front of my computer and looking at the most elegant code I’ve ever seen and not being able to dissect and study it.

Actually, this feeling isn’t anything like that. It’s more…stronger. Even after being in the hospital, she has this beauty to her that I can’t seem to ignore. There is a strength inside her that I can’t understand. She could walk through hell and act like it was a relaxing stroll in the park. Don’t get me wrong, she has her moments when things get to her, but she endures them. I have never met anyone like her. She still tries to smile through all the bad until everyone else is at ease. How does she do that?

Then there are those moments when she looks vulnerable and sad that she hardly shows, but I see them. She has dark shadows around her that she can’t get rid of, but it doesn’t take away from what she is. I couldn’t imagine her any other way nor would I want to. She’s the most interesting person I’ve ever met, and I can’t wait to learn everything else about her. I’m going to learn everything about her the same way I learned how to code…with perseverance and determination.

“OH my god! What is that?” Blue says with a more muted surprised sound.

I look through her window and smile at her. “That’s our suite.”

She looks slack jawed at me. “It’s in the ocean Artemis! The suite is in the water!”

“It’s stabilized well, and it’s far enough away to give us privacy. I thought it would be more relaxing than staying in a hotel with a bunch of loud tourists. Out there you can relax.” I try to explain.

Truthfully, I wanted to have her all to myself. I don’t want anyone bothering me as I learn everything there is to know about my new wife.

Wife…I never thought that word would sound so right.