by Harlow Layne
“Happy Birthday, baby. I hope this year is the best year ever.” Her fingers tangled in my hair as she pulled me down and licked along my bottom lip.
Grabbing her ass with both hands, I pulled her flush against me. “I need to get you alone as soon as possible. What do you say to some office sex?”
Licking the shell of her ear, she whispered. “I think that can be arranged.”
“Oh my god, is that…?” Alex shrieked.
All the girls' heads swiveled our way before looking back down on the dance floor. Gabi’s faced turned furious as she growled out. “What is he doing here?”
“Let’s go see what’s going on and then maybe we can get some alone time.” Walking over to the railing, we looked down to a writhing crowd down below, but nothing unusual. “What’s going on?”
Alex and Gabi turned with weary eyes to my girl. “We thought we saw someone peeking from the stairwell and then we spotted Tommy down below looking up here and he was livid.”
Luke, Jack, Holden, and Jax turned to look over the railing. “Your ex-boyfriend?”
“Why is he still around?” Holden growled out.
“I hope he didn’t move back.” Prue looked at Lily with worry.
Making my way toward the stairs, I was stopped by a strong grip on my bicep. Turning around, I found an intense Holden looking at me. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Shrugging out of his hold, I looked down at the dance floor. “I’m going to get some answers about what the hell he’s doing here and why he’s in my club. That guy is a fucking creep.” Color me surprised when both Holden and Jax followed me downstairs. It wouldn’t be easy to find the asshole, especially with the downstairs fuller than normal because we had taken over the second floor.
“Let’s split up.” Jax nodded to the right. “I’ll check over there.”
When Holden barged through the crowd on the dance floor, I headed left toward the bar. My eyes scanned through each body as they laughed, writhed, and ordered drinks. As I passed each person without seeing Tommy, the angrier I got. Had he been trying to get upstairs to get to Lily? There was something about him that didn’t seem normal and every time I thought about how he’d destroyed Lily’s self-esteem it made my blood boil.
I circled the entire first floor before I met up with Holden and Jax at the stairs. They both wore scowls, so I knew they hadn’t found Tommy. We were quiet as we made our way back upstairs. With the thought of Tommy, I only wanted to go home and hold Lily. As we reached the top of the second floor, Holden stepped to the side and jerked his chin toward my office. The moment my office door closed, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked like he was about ready to explode.
I sat down at my desk to wake my computer up. Holden and Jax stood behind me as I brought up the security cameras to see if it had been Tommy the girls saw or someone who looked like him.
“What’s going on? I thought you guys didn’t find him.” If they had why hadn’t they let me in on the action?
“We wouldn’t be standing here talking if I spotted him. I’m not sure how much Lily has told you about dear ole Tommy, but damn…I don’t know how to put this. I’ve only been around him once and it was after they’d broken up, but that dude didn’t seem right. There’s a screw loose or something, and I would hate for anything to happen to Lily because I didn’t say anything.”
“I won’t let anyone or anything hurt her. You’ve got my word.” I looked to Jax, and he nodded. “Thank you, guys, for always having Lily’s back. It means a lot to me.”
“Not a problem,” they both murmured.
“I don’t see anyone who looks like Tommy, but there are a couple of blind spots the footage doesn’t show…” I trailed off at what that could mean.
“If he knows the places you won’t be able to spot him it was planned, and he means trouble,” Holden growled.
“Right, let’s go get our girls. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to get out of here. While I appreciate everyone showing up, it’s…” I didn’t know how to express what I was feeling. I definitely wasn’t in the mood to party and I didn’t think anyone else was either.
“It’s been tainted. I get it,” Jax finished for me.
“I hope Lily and Franca aren’t too disappointed. I know they worked hard planning and keeping it a secret.”
There was no need to worry. By the time we came out of my office, all the girls had their purses and were waiting for us. Tommy really knew how to kill the mood.
Smiling, I hugged all the girls and shook the guys’ hands. Holden and Jax were huddled around Luke and Jack, probably giving them the lowdown on how we hadn’t found Tommy. “Thank you all for coming. I appreciate it more than you know coming here for Lily to celebrate my birthday.”
They all gave their well wishes and said goodnight before leaving. Franca and Lily were standing close and talking in hushed voices when I approached them and hugged my sister. “I’m sorry the night didn’t go according to plan, but it was a good night. Maybe next year we can have a party at our house.”
Franca’s brows rose to her hairline. “Are you moving to that small-town?”
“Possibly, if Lily will have me, and after I’ve trained the manager.” I looked to Lily to see what her reaction was. We hadn’t been apart since our first date, but we’d never talked about officially moving in.
Hugging my arm, she looked up at me with a bright smile. “I would love nothing more.”
“Looks like I should start packing.”
12
LILY
Putting the finishing touches on dinner, I danced around the kitchen, excited that Dante was coming home early tonight. His manager was finally trained and now he didn’t have to work crazy long hours and get home late into the night. He’d moved all of his things into my place, and Franca was now living in his old place. I couldn’t wait to sleep in with him and fall asleep in his arms every night.
My music cut off as my phone rang. Running over to the other side of the kitchen, I squealed when I saw it was Dante calling. “Hey, sexy! Are you on your way home?” I answered, going back to stir my sauce so it didn’t burn.
“I’m walking out now and wanted to call you to let you know I’m on my way.”
I heard his car door close and the engine roar to life.
“Perfect. Dinner will be ready when you get here.”
“You didn’t have to make dinner. I would have been happy to bring something home.” The rev of his engine signaled he was trying to get home as quickly as possible.
“I know, but I wanted to celebrate you finally having Steve trained and that you’ll be home at night now.”
“If you would have asked a few months ago, I never would have thought I would have found the love of my life, moved to the country, and finally have some time to myself instead of working all night.”
I swooned, but at the same time, wondered why Dante had yet to tell me he loved me. I’d said it once when he was sleeping but had felt like it was too fast—even though I thought we were feeling the same way.
“I’m so glad you walked into Rocco’s two months ago and asked me for my number. When I saw your handsome face across the bar, I never thought we’d be where we are now. Get your ass home so I can thank you properly.”
“I’m trying. I can’t seem to catch a break with the lights tonight.”
A loud noise sounded outside the front door causing me to jump.
“Dante,” I whispered as I moved slowly from the kitchen to the living room to peek out the window.
“Is something wrong?” I could hear the worry in his voice.
“There was a loud noise out front. I’m going to check it out.”
“Please be careful.”
“I will. I’m sure it’s nothing,” I tried to placate him. At least that’s what I thought until I heard another loud thump and the lights went out. “Oh my god, the power just went out. I think there’s someone out there.”
“The power
went out?” Dante swore on the other end of the line, and I could hear his engine rev higher as he sped up. “I’m twenty minutes out. Fuck! Call 911 and text Holden and Jax. Tell them you’re in trouble and need them there now.” With shaky hands, I put the phone on speaker and pressed buttons until I was in my messages as I moved into the bedroom downstairs and hid in the closet. “Are you still there?”
The worry in his voice only caused me to panic more, but I tried to hold it together. “Yes, I’m in the downstairs bedroom closet.” I tapped out a quick message to both Holden and Jax stating I was having an emergency at my house and needed them.
“Perfect. I’m going to get off the phone with you so you can call nine-one-one.”
The sound of glass shattering and my alarm going off sucked the breath out of my lungs. The wall of windows and living so far out of town was now biting me in the ass.
“Fuck, Lily, are you okay?”
“No,” I whimpered as I wrapped my arms around my knees.
“I’m calling nine-one-one now,” he shouted.
“Please hurry. I’m so scared.”
When the phone disconnected, my entire body started to shake. My phone buzzed with a message from Jax saying he was on his way. Luckily, he and Gabi didn’t live too far.
When I heard footsteps walking down the hall, I held my breath. Whoever was in my house was going from room to room with no care that the alarm was going off. I listened as the footsteps came into the bedroom and left and let out a sigh of relief. Only a couple more minutes until someone showed up. The pounding on the stairs let me know whoever it was, was going upstairs and as far away from me as possible.
A quiet shuffle outside the closet had me straining my ears to hear what was going on. The door flew open and there stood Tommy with a menacing look on his face. Reaching inside, he grabbed me by my ponytail and roughly pulled me out.
“Did you think you could seriously hide from me, you stupid bitch?” I screamed as he pulled me up and started to drag me down the hall. “What were you thinking, moving that pretty boy in here?”
My mouth opened to respond but Tommy violently threw me into the kitchen counter. My hip slammed into the marble sending a crippling pain through me that would have brought me to my knees if he wasn’t holding me up by my hair.
Pulling me through the kitchen and dragging me outside through broken glass, I tried to pry his fingers out of my hair as my bare feet hit the grass. I knew if he took me anywhere it wouldn’t end well. I needed to be here when the cavalry arrived. “Where are you taking me?”
“Nowhere.” Jax gravelly voice sounded from our left as he barreled toward us. One second he was by the front of the house and the next he was throwing Tommy to the ground and on top of him.
In the commotion, I fell on my ass and crab crawled back toward the house. Strong arms picked me up and pulled me away. Looking behind me, Holden’s strong jaw flexed as he took in the sight before us.
Guiding me to his truck, he placed me inside before he leaned down until we were eye to eye. “Are you hurt?”
“Not badly.” I shook my head as my lower lips start to tremble. I was a mess internally, feeling about ready to have a nervous breakdown. “Why did he do this?” I cried out.
Pulling me into his arms, Holden hugged me to his chest. “I can’t answer that for you.”
Red and blue lights flashed in the distance as a familiar car raced down my driveway. Dante’s Range Rover came to a screeching halt next to Holden’s truck before he bounded out and around to where I was sitting. Seeing the worry turned to relief in his eyes caused the dam to break. I couldn’t hold back the sob that tore out of me.
Taking me in his arms, Dante repeated over and over again. “Shh, I’m here. I’ve got you now. Everything’s going to be okay.”
“It was Tommy,” I sobbed. Pulling back, I looked to Holden. “You need to go check on Jax. He had Tommy pinned to the ground, but—”
“I promise I’ll go check on him,” Holden interrupted. He placed a hand on Dante’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
“Thank you for getting here when I couldn’t. I’ll never be able to repay you for being here for Lily when I couldn’t.” The sorrow in his eyes gutted me.
“Treating her right is all the payment I need.” He gave us a tight smile before he walked away and around the corner of the house.
Pulling me to his hard body, Dante cupped the back of my head and tucked me into the crook of his neck. “I died a thousand deaths as I drove here. The thought that you could be hurt or worse nearly drove me insane with each passing second. I knew I couldn’t call you…” He choked on his words, making the tears cascade down my face like a raging river.
“He would have found me sooner if you’d have called. I thought it was someone robbing the place as he went through the house, but then all of a sudden, the door flew open and there he was. He took off his shoes so I wouldn’t hear him coming.” I bit my bottom lip to keep from sobbing again. “I don’t know how he knew where I was. I was quiet.”
“I’m sure you were. Maybe he was watching from the outside and was tricking you all along. The only thing that matters is the police have him and now you’re safe. I’m not sure if I’m ever going to be able to let you out of my sight ever again after tonight. If Jax and Holden hadn’t—”
“Stop thinking like that,” I cut him off. It wouldn’t do either of us any good if we kept this up. “We can’t keep going over the what ifs. Just hold me and don’t let me go.”
“I promise.” Cupping my cheeks with his hands, he scanned my face intensely. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“My scalp is sure to be tender and I might have a few bumps and bruises, but I’ll be fine.”
Leaning down he lightly brushed his lips across mine before he rested his forehead against my temple. “I love you, Lily. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to tell you. I was waiting for the perfect moment to tell you and the whole way here, I was thinking I might never get the chance. I couldn’t wait a single second longer to tell you how I feel.”
Smiling through my tears, I tangled my fingers in the soft hair at the nape of his neck. “I love you too. I have since the first night I stayed at your place. I said it one night when you were sleeping and I thought it was too soon, but it wasn’t. Our love may be fast, but it’s what’s right for us. I’ll never go another day without telling you how much I love you.”
“I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you dancing on top of the bar at Rocco’s. You put your spell on me and have never let me go. My beautiful, siren.”
“You’re my world. I’m never going to let you go.”
Epilogue
DANTE
After Tommy broke in, he was carted off to jail. With the possibility I could have lost Lily, I knew I needed to stop holding back. I knew Lily was the one for me and there was no reason to wait for the social norm. Fuck what others thought. I’d already waited too long to tell her I loved her. If anything would have happened to her, and I’d never uttered those three words to her or I’d never seen the way her face lit up when I told her I loved her, I wasn’t sure if I could have gone on.
The next day, while I was at Flux, I called Luke and asked for his help. I needed an engagement ring, fast, and one that was worthy of Lily. He hooked me up with the perfect place that was willing to FaceTime with me so I could tell them what I wanted and then I could see it with my own eyes. We had arranged for the girls to take Lily for a spa day while the guys helped me set up for my surprise as we tried to make the pool area look like Venice. For our honeymoon, I wanted to show Lily where I grew up and my beautiful country. She had expressed on more than one occasion wanting to visit Italy and see my hometown.
Putting the final strand of lights in the trees, Luke looked over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. I gave him a thumbs up for a job well done. “Are you nervous?”
“Terrified. What if she says no?”
Holden laughed. “We wouldn’t be he
re doing all this manual labor if we thought Lily would say no. She’s crazy about you, man.”
“She thinks I’m going crazy with the way I’ve been acting, but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. I hated forcing her out of the house, but I couldn’t do this with her here, and the longer she kept herself locked away inside the more the night Tommy attacked her would haunt her. She needs to see she’s safe.”
“I couldn’t agree more. I was on set in LA and Alex and Mason were at my house when this…” he looked off into the distance, remembering, “this woman, a stalker, got on the property and threw a rock through the window. Luckily, when I bought the house it had a panic room, and Alex and Mason stayed in there until I got there. She watched as Ashlyn hit the bedroom door with a baseball bat trying to get to her. My brother was visiting at the time and he drove us since there was no way in hell I could have gotten us there safely. I couldn’t get there fast enough. When I heard how scared Alex was…I know how you felt. I beefed up the security there and here. There was no way I was going to take any chances of something like that ever happening again.”
If anyone knew, it was Luke.
“I don’t want to waste a single day with her. How did you propose? Something grand?” I set the floating candles in the pool before we each sat down around one of the tables.
“Nothing grand. I finished shooting early and flew back while Alex was sick. Like you, I was tired of waiting. I pretty much bought out a flower shop and had one of her friends pick up the flowers during the day. When I got there, I decorated the entire downstairs with flowers and candles. She had no idea. I woke her up and carried her downstairs. I’m sure you can guess the rest.”
That I could.
Jutting my chin to Jax, I asked. “How about you?”
“It was at Luke and Alex’s New Year’s Eve party. Gabi came last year, but never made it because of an ice storm. I found her and since her phone was dead and Luke and Alex live in a gated community, we couldn’t get in or call, so I took her back to my place. The rest is history.” He laughed, his eyes lighting up as he spoke about when they’d first met.