* * *
"Ethan said he’s going to be here in ten minutes," Emily says to us as she holds Aubrey in her arms. "Can you hold her? I need to go to the bathroom." She hands me my niece, who just smiles at me and lays her head down on my chest. "She didn’t nap today, and if she goes down now." She shakes her head. "There will be no mommy daddy time."
I laugh at Emily as she walks away from me. I sit on the couch, kissing her head as she watches her cartoon on the television. The screen door slams shut, and I hear footsteps coming into the room. My father is the first one to walk in smiling when he sees me and then Aubrey.
Ethan and Mayson are right behind him. Aubrey sees Ethan and calls his name. "Da da da da." Holding out her arms, he comes over and takes her from me. "There is my princess," he says, kissing her head. "Where is Momma?"
"Bathroom," I say, and Mayson stands there next to my father with a weird look on his face. "Hey," I say to him and then get up to hug my father. My mother comes into the room, and my father walks to her and hugs her, kissing her lips.
I walk to Mayson, and I smile at him. "Hey there," I say, and I don’t know if I should kiss him or not. I am not sure how we are going to do this. I’ve thought about it all day, and then I tried to tell my mother, no lie over a hundred times, but each time, I stopped talking.
"Hi," he says softly, and I just walk close to him and kiss his lips.
"Hi," I whisper, and we don’t notice the silence in the room. I turn and see that everyone is looking at us. "Well," I say under my breath. "Here we go."
"What the fuck is going on?" my father says, putting his hands on his hips. He looks at me and then Mayson. Then he looks at Ethan, who is hiding his smile with Aubrey’s head.
Emily walks back in the room, stopping when she senses something is wrong. "What happened?" she asks, looking around, and I slip my hand into Mayson’s and smile at him.
"We’re dating," I say to them.
"Called it," Emily says and stops talking when she looks over at my father, who is shaking his head.
"Absolutely fucking not," he says and my mother goes to his side and calls his name in a whisper. "Don’t start with me, Savannah. This is not happening."
"Um, with all due respect, Dad,” I say, "I’m twenty-three."
"I don’t care if you’re sixty," he says now. "This is not happening." He uses his finger to go between Mayson and me. "Chelsea, think about your future," he says, and I just look at him, shocked. "This is about what’s at stake right now. Just last month, he was fighting for his life."
I’m about to grab my stuff and walk out of the house. "You can’t just be in a relationship with him. He…" he starts. "He…" But he doesn’t have a chance to finish because Mayson speaks.
"I know I’m not your first choice," Mayson says, and we both look over at him. "Trust me, if I had a daughter, I would not want her with someone like me. I can’t give her what she needs, but I know that I will protect her and love her. I have nothing. I am nothing."
"You are everything,” I say.
"Listen, I know that you have a lot going on right now." My father looks at Mayson.
"He’s me," my mother says, and my father looks over at her. "Right now in that spot." She wipes the tears from her face. "He was me all those years ago."
"No, he’s not," my father says.
"You are judging him because of who his family is," my mother says to my father, the tears just rolling off her cheeks. "You are doing to him what everyone did to me. We are a product of our environment. He is not his father, just as I am not my mother." She shakes her head.
"That is what everyone whispered about me every single time. That is what some of them still say about me." She looks at my father. "How many times did people tell you to walk away from me?" My father doesn’t say anything. "I loved you from afar all those years because I always felt I was nothing."
"Mom," Ethan says, and she looks over at him.
"I feel what he just said." She looks at the whole room. "I felt it deep down to my bones. Knowing that you love this person, yet everyone thinks you aren’t good enough for him. That I wasn’t good enough for you." She looks at my father. "Would you have walked away from me?"
"You know that I wouldn’t," he says, walking to her.
"Then don’t expect your daughter to," she says and bends her head. My father takes her in his arms and kisses her head. She turns and looks over at me, and I have my own tears running down my face. I look over at Emily, who just stands next to Ethan as she kisses his arm.
I look up at Mayson, who just wraps his arm around me and kisses my head as I wrap my arms around his waist. "I’m sorry," my mother says, looking at Mayson. "We taught our kids to accept everyone no matter who they are or where they come from." She looks at my father. "My husband tends to forget sometimes."
"I just don’t want her to get hurt," my father says.
"We are on the same side," Mayson says. "I tried to fight it."
"The heart wants what the heart wants," my mother says, and Ethan and my father both groan. "Excuse me?" she says, putting her hands on her hips. "Did you guys just groan at me?"
"Here we go," Emily says, and Mayson looks at me now.
Ethan and my father start trying to talk to my mother, who ignores them and walks out of the room. "You." My father points at Ethan. "This is your fault."
"You groaned with me," he tells him. "I think your groan was even louder than mine."
My father shakes his head as we hear cupboards in the kitchen slam shut. "She’s pissed," Emily says, grabbing Aubrey from Ethan. "Which means you guys go in that kitchen and say you're sorry."
"Fuck," my father says, running his hands through his hair. “Baby," he says, calling to my mother as he walks out of the room. "I’m sorry."
"I don’t have much experience in this," Mayson says low. "But what the fuck just happened?"
"You just experienced your first family talk," Emily says, "and then a family fight." She smiles at him. "You got a twofer." She kisses her daughter’s head. "Welcome to the family."
The front door opens again, and this time, Gabriel comes running in. "Mom, Dad," he says, ignoring us. "Uncle Toby and Uncle Keith taught me how to shoot a gun."
"Oh, here we go," I say, and Mayson just looks at me. "Family fight number two coming in three, two, one," I say, and we hear the front door slam again.
Chapter 27
Mayson
I turn her over and lick from her stomach up to her neck as her chest rises and falls in deep pants. "I need just…" she says softly, picking up her arm, and then it drops with a plop on the bed next to her. I suck on her neck, and she moans. "Mayson." Her hips are rising now.
I rub my cock up and down her slit, sliding in easily. I close my eyes for just a second as her pussy squeezes the shit out of me. Her hand goes to my ass to make sure I don’t move. "Not fair," she says breathlessly. "You said I could ride you."
I smirk down at her and kiss her lips. "If my girl wants to ride me…" I slip out of her, and she groans. "Then she is going to ride me." When we got home from dinner with her parents, we lay on the couch, and it was only minutes before we were both naked, and she rode me for the first time.
Now, it’s twelve hours later, and she wants to ride me again. I sit in the middle of the bed as she throws a leg over my hips. Grabbing my cock, she slides down it. "Yes," she whispers, wrapping her hand around my neck. Looking up at her, I see that her cheeks are flushed and her eyes half-closed as she moves her hips up and down on my cock. "I love you," she says right before her tongue slips into my mouth.
One of my hands goes to her hip while the other wraps around her back. I let her lead the pace this time, afraid that I hurt her this morning when we walked in from watching the sunrise, and she bent over in front of me. That led to her bent over the counter with one leg up as I fucked her ruthlessly. I thought she would look at me differently, afraid I hurt her, but she just looked over her shoulder after I came in her, and
said, "We should do that every single morning."
She puts both hands behind her now as she picks up the pace. "So good," she says, closing her eyes, and I watch her tits rise and fall. I lick my thumb and rub it over one of her nipples, getting it hard. She moans, and her speed picks up. "Oh, god," she says. I lean forward and bite down on the nipple and then suck in, and her pussy spasms on my cock. "Yes."
"Tell me what you want?" I ask, and she just opens her eyes and looks at me and then closes them again when she sinks back down on my cock. I hold her hips down. "You won’t be able to move until you tell me what you want."
She groans in frustration and then moves her hips side to side. "I have to move."
"Tell me what you want," I ask her again, my hips thrusting up to get deeper in her.
"I want to," she says as she rolls her head from one side to the other. "To make me come."
I smile now. "I can do that,” I say. Releasing her hips, I lean forward, put her hand on my neck, and move up and down now faster than she did before. I lick my thumb again, but this time, I find her clit. "So close." I feel her, moving my thumb in little circles. "So close."
"Yes," she pants out, arching her back, and my mouth catches one of her nipples and bites down. It’s the last straw, and she coats my cock, calling out my name over and over again. Her arm lets go of my neck as I lay her down, my cock still buried balls deep inside her.
She wraps her legs now around my waist, and she smiles at me. "Fuck, I love you,” I say as I make love to her softly and slowly until I can’t wait anymore, and the thrusts get harder and shorter. We come together this time, and when I roll to the side, taking her with me, I feel her kissing my shoulder.
"Is it always this good?" She looks up at me with her hand on my chest and her chin resting in the middle of it.
"No," I answer her. "But with you…"
"Yes?" She smiles at me.
"It just gets better." I curl up and kiss her lips.
"Are we going to shower together?" I ask, slipping out of her and rolling off the bed.
"You don’t have to ask me twice,” she says, walking into the bathroom and starting the shower. "What time is Ethan picking you up?" she asks when I step into the shower with her.
"Soon,” I say, and she turns, and I see a twinkle in her eye.
"Soon that we can’t have shower sex?" She tilts her head to the side. "Or soon we can have shower sex, and I get to wash my hair."
My cock springs into action. "Soon, meaning we can have shower sex, but I can’t wash your back." I lean down and take her lips.
"I can work with that," she says, and forty minutes later, I’m stepping out of the shower alone. "That was good," she says, and I laugh to myself as I grab the white towel and dry off. "Not as good as the kitchen but still okay."
I look over at her, seeing her wash her hair now. "Are you rating us?"
"Yes," she says without skipping a beat.
"What was the worst?" I ask, and I stand with my hands on my hips.
"They were never bad." She shakes her head. "There are just some times that were better than the last."
"Okay?" I lean back on the counter and fold my arms over my chest. "Which one was number one?"
"It’s a tie," she answers me, rinsing her hair. "Between the first time and the kitchen table." I want to say something, but I don’t because she continues talking. "Like the first time will always be special because it was the first time you touched me. But the kitchen is just..." She rubs the shower door to see me through it. "The kitchen was animalistic. It’s like you couldn't stand it no more, and you just had to have me. It was hot."
"I didn’t hurt you?" I ask her.
"You aren’t going to break me," she says, turning off the water now. “You can’t medically break my vagina. Medically, you can tear my vagina but not break it. But that only happens when someone is dry down there."
"Am I really having this conversation?" I ask, and I hear her phone ringing from somewhere in the house. "I’ll be right back." She laughs.
I walk to the kitchen, but I come face-to-face with Ethan, who stands there with his phone in his hand. "I was calling."
He spots me with just a towel on. "Can you go and get dressed, please”—he shuts his eyes tight—"and I’m going to pretend that my sister isn’t in the shower with you."
"I’m not in the shower." I point at myself. "I’m out of the shower." I point out to him. "Which means I’m not in the shower with your sister."
"Thank fuck," he says.
"I mean, I just left her in the shower." He groans as I walk over to my bedroom. "But I’m not in there with her now."
"Tonight, you get your own car,” he says, and I walk into the room and get dressed.
When I walk back out, Ethan is sitting at the counter drinking coffee and Chelsea is dressed in shorts and a top, her hair wrapped in a towel. "I’m just starting breakfast."
"I told her we would get something on the way, but she’s sturbborn," Ethan says.
"My man needs his energy," she says, winking at Ethan, and then he pushes away from the counter, making her laugh.
"And we are out," he says, and she laughs even harder. "I’m waiting in the car."
"I have to go and buy some new clothes,” I say. "I have a couple of things left from what Ethan brought over."
"I can go and grab you a couple of things if you want,” she says. "With Amelia." The uneasiness is hitting me in the stomach.
"I’ll see if Quinn can come with you,” I say, and she rolls her eyes at me. "I’ll see you later."
"You bet your ass you will," she says and leans her head back for a kiss. "I’ll call Quinn. He likes me better than you."
"Good call," I say, walking out of the house and going over to the truck. "She’s going shopping."
"I’ll get someone to trail her," Ethan says, typing something in the phone.
"She is going to call Quinn." He nods at me as we make our way to the barn.
We walk in, and Casey is there waiting for us. "Morning,” I say, and he just smiles at me.
"Morning," he says. "Do you have a couple of minutes?"
Ethan slaps me on the shoulder. "I’ll get that thing going."
Casey waits for Ethan to walk away from us before he talks. "How are you doing?"
"Good," I say, and he just looks at me. "I’m anxious but okay. I just want to find him and get this over with."
"Especially now that you are dating my niece." He cuts right to the chase.
"Is that going to be a problem for you?" I ask, but I don’t wait for him to say anything. "Because if it is, I can continue this on my own."
"I want you to work for me," he says, and I shake my head.
"I can get my own job," I say.
"I know you can," he says, "but I need someone like you on my team." He pushes off now from the desk he was leaning on. "Come with me," he says, walking over to the room I spent all of yesterday in. He turns on the light in the room, and I see the whiteboard I was working on. “This,” he says, pointing at the board where I started doing a timeline for my father. “This is what you’re good at."
"There is a gap," I say, looking at the board. "For three years, he was quiet." I look at the board. “The answers are there."
"Well, if anyone can find it, you can,” he says. "This is what I need." He points at the board. "Think about it,” he says. "Something tells me you aren’t leaving when all this is done."
He stops right before he walks out. "I’m happy for you," he says, and I look over at him. "But if I’m honest, I’m happier for Chelsea. She’s loved you for a long time."
"Did everyone know but me?" I ask, and he laughs.
"No, I think you and Beau were the only ones who didn’t know," he says, laughing now. "Thank you for that. I will never let him live it down." He walks out at the same time Ethan walks in.
"Quinn is with the girls,” he says, handing me a cup of coffee. "He wants it on record that he took one for the tea
m." I laugh. "He was not kidding."
"I’ll put a sticker next to his name,” I say, looking back at the timeline. "I want to make a couple of phone calls,” I say.
"Who are you going to call?" he asks as I sit down at the big desk in the middle of the room.
“Every single neighbor he ever had during that time.” I pick up a pen and start to make a list. “Someone had to have had a run-in with him. There has to be someone somewhere.” I look down at the blank paper now. “If my father was there, trust me, he made enemies."
Chapter 28
Chelsea
"We have to leave in twenty minutes,” I say as I walk into the closet and look for something to wear. It’s been three weeks since he made me his. Every single day for the past three weeks, he gets more and more on edge, and I have no idea how to make it okay for him. Three weeks without one sighting of his father. No sign of him, and I secretly wish he was dead somewhere in a ditch.
"Then stop walking around naked," he says from behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. The only time he lets go just a bit is when we are home and locked in.
"I’m not naked,” I say. "I’m wearing a thong and a bra." I turn to the side, and he kisses my lips, his tongue slipping in with mine.
"Same as being naked," he says, and I turn in his arms now. "I can’t get enough of you,” he says between kisses. Both of us forget we only have twenty minutes as he carries me back to bed and makes love to me.
"I can nap right now." I look over at him as he gets out of bed.
"There is no time to nap. We’re already going to be late," he says. "We were late last week, too."
"Two weeks ago, we showed up at the barbecue when they were eating dessert," I remind him.
"That was your fault." He points at me. "You wanted to ride." I laugh, shaking my head.
"I did,” I say, getting out of bed now and walking to the bathroom. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”
“I’ll text your mother this time,” he says. “She is the only civil one.”
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