Justified

by Aurora Rose Reynolds

  “You don’t find it odd that a motorcycle was driving on a sidewalk of one of the nicest streets in Manhattan?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugs and smiles at the EMT, making me growl at him, which causes him to jump back and me to get hit in the chest.

  “This is not a joke, Chloe. You could have been seriously hurt—or worse.”

  “I know it’s not a joke, but I don’t think you’re right about this. I think it was an accident. I mean, how would anyone even know where to find me?”

  That’s what I’m going to find out. None of this was by chance. There had to be a reason all of this is happening now.

  “I will figure it out, but until then, you’re not to go out unless I’m with you.”

  “I would like to remind you that I didn’t want to go out in the first place, but our mothers insisted I find a christening gown.” She lifts her hands before dropping them to her side. “I didn’t even know we are Catholic,” she complains, making me smile despite the situation and kiss her head.

  “We’re not Catholic—well, not practicing, anyways. But Mom was baptized, and so was I, so she just wants to keep the tradition.”

  “I think our moms need a hobby that doesn’t include me.”

  “They are excited about the baby.”

  “I know.” She leans her head on my shoulder as we watch the police talk to our mothers while Bernard stands near them, listening to the details of what occurred.

  I make eye contact with Bernard and nod when he shakes his head. I can tell that he doesn’t believe this was an accident either.

  Chapter 8

  ‡

  “Who’s on the phone?” I ask Chloe, walking into the bedroom, where she is sitting up on the side of the bed with the phone to her ear while she paints her toenails some strange purple color.

  “Bre called to see if I was okay,” she says, leaning her head back and accepting my kiss.

  “What did I tell you about speaking to her” I ask.

  She presses her lips together then frowns and pulls the phone from her ear, setting it down on the bed next to her hip.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “She hung up.” She shrugs and begins painting again.

  “Good,” I mutter, looking down at the phone and seeing that the image on the screen is a picture of Bre that pops up when she calls. The longer I look at the picture, the more something in the back of my head keeps niggling me. I know her from somewhere, but I just cannot place where. I shake off the feeling and head for the shower.

  My guys are working on getting the security tapes from what happened this afternoon. Hopefully, they will have something for me before too long. I want all of this shit taken care of before Chloe has our child. There is no fucking way I will be able to work if I think for even one moment my family is in danger.

  “What’s this?” I ask as I walk into my living room.

  Four heads turn my way, and I know that Chloe is going to get her ass spanked tonight for disobeying me again when one of the heads that turns towards me is Bre’s.

  “Our moms were here going over the plans for the nursery and Bre stopped by to bring me flowers, and when she saw what we were doing, she asked to see the plans,” Chloe says as her eyes plead with me to understand.

  But all I can think about is the woman in front of me and the familiar way she looks. My mind keeps nagging at me to remember, but for some reason, there is a block. The idea of her knowing anything about the room that my child will sleep in makes me feel like I could kill.

  I look at Chloe and nod towards the kitchen. She bites her lip but gets up from where she’s sitting on the floor and heads in that direction. I give her a few moments before following behind her. When I reach the kitchen, Chloe is standing near the sink, her eyes on the doorway, and she looks away as soon as our eyes connect.

  “What did I tell you about Bre?” I growl, stepping towards her.

  “Be reasonable, Nolan,” she pleads, looking back at me.

  “What did I tell you, Chloe?”

  Her face falls at the sound of her name. I never her call her by her name; I have always called her Angel or Beautiful. But she has pushed me too far.

  “I don’t understand why you have such a problem with her.”

  “I told you already I do not trust her. I also explained that, once I find out what is going on with you, and if she has been cleared and proven to be innocent, you can resume your friendship.”

  “She’s really nice. If you just give her a chance, you will see that.”

  I shake my head no. “People believed that some of the most notorious mass murders in history were nice, Chloe. So please forgive me if I don’t buy it.”

  “You’re insane,” she hisses.

  “Get rid of her or I will,” I snarl, pointing towards the door of the kitchen.

  “Fine.” She stomps out of the kitchen.

  I follow a few steps behind her into the living room. When I walk around the corner, Chloe is talking to our mothers and Bre is nowhere in sight.

  “Are you happy now?” Chloe asks, turning to look at me. “She left.”

  “Good.” I shrug.

  My mother looks at me like she’s going to say something, but I hold up my hand.

  “Chloe is in danger, and until I know who is trying to hurt her, everyone is a suspect.”

  “Darling,” my mother stammers, putting a hand over her heart.

  “No. This is not up for discussion. And know that if you do anything to put her in danger and she goes along with it, I will be spanking her ass for it.”

  “Oh my,” Chloe’s mother mutters as Chloe’s eyes light with fire.

  “Now, I have work to do. Please stay out of trouble,” I tell them before leaving the room and heading towards my office.

  In the back of my head, all I can think about is Bre—something about her is setting off red flags. I know I may seem a bit harsh right now, but this is about keeping my woman and unborn child safe, and I will do whatever is necessary to see to that.

  *

  “You’re sure about this?” I ask Bernard while going through the stack of pictures he just handed to me.

  “One hundred percent certain,” he says as I come across a picture of my ex-wife with Bre.

  It took some time for it to click, but after a few days, I got it. I realized who Bre really was. Plastic surgery had changed her appearance, but her eyes were still the same.

  Breanne’s were just like my ex’s—her older sister’s—cold and distant. She had a way of looking at you that made you feel like she was looking right through you.

  “Tell me what the plan is,” I say, leaning back in my chair and setting the pictures down on the top of my desk.

  “Hear me out before you say anything.” He sits down.

  “If your idea has anything to do with Chloe, the answer is no.”

  “Hear me out.”

  “No.” I slam my hand down on the top of my desk.

  “I want to build the best case possible,” he says calmly.

  “Do that without risking Chloe in the process,” I snarl, the idea of Chloe being in danger making my blood boil.

  “I would never let anything happen to Chloe.” He shakes his head, running a hand through his hair.

  “I know I would never let anything happen to Chloe.” I point a finger at myself. “And I refuse to put her in harm’s way, so figure something else out.”

  “I will figure something else out,” he says.

  I nod and watch as he walks away. Then I pick up my phone and look at the clock on the wall.

  “Shit,” I mutter, picking up my phone. “Hello.”

  “Darling, you need to come home,” my mother says in a tone I have not heard from her since I was thirteen and my dog got run over.

  “What is it?”

  “Just come home,” she whispers before the phone goes dead.

  I rush out of my office and out of the building, where Ricket is waiting for me.
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br />   “What happened?” I roar.

  He shakes his head and opens the door to the car. I try to call everyone on the ride home, but no one is available. When we finally pull up to the estate, I see that there are at least ten police cruisers out front. I don’t even wait for the car to come to a complete stop before I’m out running to Chloe.

  “What happened?” I demand from the officer while pulling Chloe into my arms, breathing in her scent.

  “The two women in the back of the squad car over there tried to kidnap her,” the officer says.

  I follow his eyes to a police car that is parked near the entrance to our home. Lynda and Breanne are both handcuffed and sitting in the back of a squad car. I push Chloe slightly away and begin checking her over, making sure she was not harmed. Once I see that she is okay, I pull her back towards my chest.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Bre told me that she wanted to go out for lunch. I told her that I couldn’t. Then she told me she had something for the baby in her car and to walk her out. I…” She pauses. “I just got a weird feeling. So I told her I would get it from her another time, and that’s when the other woman pushed into the house. Then Bernard and a few other guys showed up,” she says quietly.

  I shudder at the idea of what could have happened. Then I look around the crowd for Bernard and give him a chin lift.

  It takes about an hour for the police to leave after getting statements from everyone, and I have Chloe’s mother and mine take Chloe inside while I talk to Bernard. It seems that he tracked down my ex-wife and her sister in a small, one-bedroom apartment in SOHO. When they were able to enter their apartment, they realized the extent of their delusion. The two of them had devoted their lives to trying to hurt me.

  From what they were able to gather, Lynda and Breanne had planned for me to meet Breanne and begin a relationship with her. They believed I would marry her at some point, and then their plan was to have me murdered and collect the money from my life insurance. When they realized I was already taken, they formed a new plan to use my devotion to Chloe against me.

  They drugged Chloe and were going to try to set it up to make it look like she had been cheating on me with her high school boyfriend. When that didn’t work, they were planning on making it look like Chloe had moved out on me, and they sent Chloe the e-mail with the pictures of me in Japan, planning on Chloe seeing them and ignoring my calls. All of their plans were being foiled, and when Chloe told Bre that we’d gotten married, that sent my ex over the edge and she tried to run Chloe over.

  After Bernard and everyone leaves, I find Chloe in the library, standing in front of one of the windows, looking out over the estate. I walk to her.

  “They are really insane,” she whispers as I reach her side.

  I wrap an arm around her shoulders, watching as Bernard pulls away. “They are, and they are both going away for a very long time.”

  “I hate that Bre did this,” she whispers.

  I’m not one to condone hitting women, but I could choke the shit out of that bitch for making my beautiful angel this upset, for coming into her life, pretending to be her friend, and then using her like she did.

  “I’m sorry, Angel.”

  “Me too,” she says, stepping out of my hold and walking out of the room.

  I watch her go, knowing I will only give her a little time to get over what happened. I do not want her to dwell on this shit—not when we have so much to be happy about.

  *

  “Get up,” I tell Chloe as I walk into the bedroom.

  “For what?” she asks, looking at me from over the top of her Kindle, not moving.

  “You’re not going to lie around and pout all day. Now, get up.”

  “I’m not pouting.” She frowns.

  I shake my head, walk over to her, rip the Kindle out of her hand, and toss it onto a chair across the room.

  “Hey! I was reading that,” she complains, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at me.

  “I don’t know what happened to my submissive little Angel, but I’m telling you now—what you’re going to be doing is getting undressed, getting on your knees, opening that pretty mouth of yours, and sucking my cock until I tell you to stop. Then, if you’re good, I will eat your little pussy until you come,” I growl, pulling her out of bed. “When I’ve had my fill of your taste, you’re going to climb up on my cock and ride me until we both come.”

  “Nolan,” she hisses as I rip her shirt off over her head.

  “No.” I turn her around, bend her over the bed, and spank her ass with three hard swats before bending over her and growling in her ear, “Enough.” Then I move my hips so my cock is sitting in the crook of her ass. Using one hand to free up her pants, I pull them down around her thighs and then slide my hand between her legs, feeling her arousal coat my fingers. “You’re so wet, Angel,” I tell her, sucking my fingers into my mouth. Then I unbuckle my pants, freeing myself before sliding just the tip inside her. “Do you want me to fuck you?” I groan, sliding in a little deeper.

  “Yes,” she breathes, trying to press back against me.

  “Then do what I tell you.”

  I press into her balls-deep then pull out slowly, feeling my length slide along her inner walls. Once I slide out completely, I fight the urge to slide back in and quickly help remove the rest of her clothing. Then I pull one of the pillows from the bed before setting it at my feet and helping her to her knees in front of me. As soon as her knees touch the pillow, her eyes meet mine and her mouth opens.

  “Lick it,” I command.

  She starts at the head then works her way down my shaft to the base until my cock is halfway down her throat. Her hands travel up my thighs, and one wraps around the base. She begins twisting it, bobbing her head. I start to feel the tingle in the bottom of my spine.

  “Easy, Angel,” I groan, not ready to come.

  She releases me on a pop, and I help her stand then position her as I had her earlier, leaning over the side of the bed with the fat lips of her pussy peeking at me from between her legs. I fall to my knees behind her, wrap my hands around her thighs, and bury my face between her legs, probing her entrance with my tongue then sucking her clit into my mouth.

  Her body starts bucking against my face and her loud moans begin to fill the room. I move my hands and spread her pussy open farther, paying close attention to her clit, fluttering my tongue against it until she begins to flood my mouth with her sweet juices while her nails dig into my arms and her toes raise her up off the floor.

  I slow down and ease her out of her orgasm before helping her stand up and turn to face me. When I look up at her, her eyes are clouded with desire. I take a breath then place a kiss above her pubic bone. Then on her lower stomach, where the life we created together is growing. I stand and get on the bed, helping her up and over me with her thighs straddling my hips. As soon as she is in position, the look in her eyes changes and she sinks down on me until the tip of my cock touches her cervix.

  She leans forward, her hands holding on to my shoulder as her hips rise and fall. I pull her face down to mine, biting her bottom lip then the top, leaning back to look at her as her eyes close to half-mast and her hips start to move quicker. My hands travel down her hair and back to her ass, holding one cheek in each palm, lifting and dropping her onto me as her pussy begins to milk my come from my cock, the fluttering drawing my orgasm to the surface.

  Her scream and my roar travel through the air at the same time that her body slumps forward and my head bends back into the pillow. It takes a few moments to catch my breath and for my heart beat to go back to normal, but when it does, I use my fingers under her chin to lift her face up towards mine.

  “Love you, Angel,” I say, and her face goes soft. “From this day forward, we’re just going to enjoy life. I know what happened is horrible, but we have too much to live for.”

  “You’re right,” she says as her face goes even softer.

  I pull her back down onto me, tucking her head under my chin, where she fits perfectly. No matter what happened in my past or what I have gone through, having this with her now makes all those struggles worth it.

  Epilogue

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  “I can’t see my feet.” Chloe laughs as I open the glass shower door. “There is no way I can shave my legs.” She shakes her head, sitting down on the marble bench that is built into the shower wall.

  “You look beautiful,” I insist as I run my fingers through her hair, gently tilting her head back.

  “You love me, so you have to say I look beautiful.” She sighs, opening her eyes and looking up at me.

  “I do love you, but you are beautiful as well. I love seeing you pregnant with my children.”

  “I know,” she mutters, rolling her eyes. “I learned that after the first three kids.”

  “You have begged for them each time,” I tell her, smirking.

  “I told you before. If we’re in the moment, it doesn’t count.”

  She laughs as I mimic her screaming for me to give her my seed.

  “Mommy!” our daughter yells, breaking the moment.

  I sigh and close my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to finally get a piece of Chloe. I thought we had finally snuck away, but as usual, our kids have perfect timing.

  “Your mom comes into town tonight, so you better plan on not sleeping for the next twenty-four hours.”

  “Nolan.”

  “No.” I shake my head and pull her closer, lowering my mouth over one of her nipples. “I need you.” I lick around her nipple before biting down. “I need to be inside you.”

  “You had me this morning.”

  “That was only me getting rid of my morning wood. That doesn’t count. You owe me,” I tell her and smile when she begins to laugh.

  “You’re obsessed.”

  She is not wrong. I have been obsessed with her from the moment I met her, and nothing has changed. Even after five years, three kids, and another one on the way, we’re still inseparable, and I want her more now than ever.

  What can I say? I have a beautiful wife.

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