Fox

by Tory Baker

  “Fine, but I swear to God if you mother-hen me, I’m going to my own place,” I grump. We’re still waiting for the doctor to return with my CAT scan results, but my cognitive test showed no signs of a concussion. Fox was the one who was adamant I have the scan. I could roll my eyes at how he was acting, all alpha, growly, and basically beating his chest when the male doctor was taking my pulse. I know he means well, but he may need to get used to it. Men are going to be everywhere around us for the rest of time.

  “Not promising, but I’ll hide your keys if you try to get up and start cleaning the house again,” he counters.

  “Come here, please.” I lift my arm up. I’m not even admitted into my own room, thank goodness. So, aside from the hospital gown, I’m lucky to have no IVs or any other plethora of things that could go wrong.

  “Hey, sunshine.” Fox mellows out as he sits next to me and I cup his cheek.

  “Hey.” We look into each other’s eyes, but it’s more like our souls. I’m saying everything left unspoken with a look alone.

  “God, Mel. It scared the shit out of me. We have so much left to do, so much left to say. I can’t even imagine a life without you at this point. That thought alone kills me to even speak out loud. Let me do this for you, and for me.” I sit up, not giving two shits about my headache or the oxygen meter on my finger. The only thing I need is Fox, and the only thing Fox needs is me.

  “I’ll give you that, but only if you’ll snuggle on the couch with me, and can we work on getting your back deck fixed? I really love it out there, but I’m not sure I can go out there again until things are different. It’s not like there was blood out there, but I think the memory of trying to fight for my life and get away from my own blood, yeah, it causes a full-body shiver.

  “Already texted Chance. He said he’ll be down in the next few days, him and Peyton. Cruz will be here tomorrow. Think he can stay in your rental? One less thing for him to have to pay for. It’s not like he’s hurting too much, but it’ll give him that much more of an enticement.”

  “About that. I need to figure out what I’m doing. The rental will be up before we know it, and then I’ll be homeless. Do you know of any long-term rentals or a home that isn’t going to break my bank?” My father left plenty of money to my name, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go batshit crazy. A huge portion of it will be going to charity, there are a few places I’ve been looking into with Gene, a few are already becoming near and dear to my heart, and they won’t be in just one area but across the country as well.

  “I’m thinking you won’t need your own place. Your sweet self will be with me, always. If I have my way.” He kisses me, deeply this time, abandoning his tirade over my health, that is until the doctor clears his throat.

  “It seems you have a clean bill of health. The nurse will be around with your discharge papers. If things start to feel worse, or if you develop new symptoms, please come back right away.” He checks me over again while Fox narrows his eyes on him.

  I smack his thigh, mouthing for him to ‘Stop’. He takes my hand, entwining his fingers with mine, his thumb gliding over my wrist, causing my heart to skip a beat.

  “Yep, as I suspected. I’ll have the nurse come in soon. Wouldn’t want you out in the middle of the night.” He smirks at Fox, clearly listening in on our conversation, and Fox raises his eyebrows at him, untangles from me, and stands, giving the doctor his full height.

  “Thanks, we’re good here.” I shoo him out so Fox doesn’t get upset over his eavesdropping, which, hey, I’m not sure if that’s allowed or not, but I do not want Fox surrounded by four-by-four concrete walls with bars reinforcing said concrete and only seeing him through plexiglass. And judging by the vibes emanating off him, I have a feeling I know what will come next if this doctor doesn’t leave, quickly.

  “Fox,” I try to get his attention. I grab his hand, squeezing it to garner his attention.

  “Yeah, sunshine.” He still isn’t looking at me. His gaze is locked on the doctor. Finally, he gets the hint and says, “Hopefully, you won’t be back here anytime soon.” Then he leaves as fast as he can.

  “Jesus, Fox. I don’t need you to leave me, okay? No pretty bracelets for you either,” I joke.

  “Nah, you don’t have to worry about that, Mel. I know too many people, and I wasn’t going to go after him, the nosey little prick. I’m going to go find that nurse. You change into the clothes Sloane dropped off while you were getting your scan, then we’ll blow this popsicle stand.” He kisses my forehead, not allowing me to respond. Fox is already out the door, and he’s on a mission.

  21

  Fox

  We haven’t been home a full day, and I swear to Christ this place has had a revolving door. First Sloane to bring Melanie her favorite coffee and breakfast sandwich for breakfast. She’s a damn rock star and even brought me food but jetted out saying someone had to open up The Wet Spot. I laughed, and Melanie told me again she deserved a raise. I have something else up my sleeve for her though, one I need to talk over with Mel and how it may change some things financially.

  Cruz just left. His words were short and sweet. He looked at Mel, then at me, shook his head, and just said, “You got yourself a good one. Don’t fuck it up.” He’s not wrong, and I don’t plan on it. In fact, I plan on doing quite the opposite and making her mine permanently.

  “I’ll get it. You’ve been busy being a busy-body. It won’t hurt me to answer the door this time.” Melanie goes to stand up, but I hold her back.

  “Sit down. You promised me you would rest.” I hold her back, getting to my feet.

  “I’m not an invalid, you know,” she huffs. What she doesn’t know, and what I’m not going to tell her, is that her mom somehow managed to post bail. I was on the phone to Gene as he was boarding the plane to get down here, so I’m sure this is him.

  “I know, sunshine, I know.” I open the door. The man of the hour is here, trying to hold his laughter back as we shake hands.

  “She’s still at it, I take it?” he questions.

  “Hasn’t stopped. I’m hoping with you being here and us talking, maybe she’ll realize why I’m insistent on her laying low. It’s good to finally meet you, Gene.”

  “That’s who she is, full of piss and vinegar, even when she was a toddler. Though, she had her daddy and me wrapped around her finger. I’m guessing not much has changed. It’s good to meet you. Thank you for taking care of her. She’s spoken a lot about you. I know her daddy would be happier than a pig in shit to know she’s found someone to take care of her.” I’m sure that wasn’t easy for him to say. From what Melanie told me, Gene and her dad were the best of buds. Even if they were night and day in career choices.

  “She’s it for me, you know? I’m not going to let anything happen to her,” I no sooner say that before I hear her coming around the corner.

  “Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?” She wraps her arms around Gene’s neck, and I give her that time with him. Mel hasn’t processed everything, but I have a feeling after Gene tells her the shit her mom was willing to do to get that almighty dollar sign, things may change.

  “I wasn’t going to not come. Fox called me late last night, and I took the red-eye out here. That was some kind of ride, I’ll tell you. Come on, we have a lot to cover, and I have to be wheels in the air in five or so hours.”

  “You can’t stay longer?” Mel asks.

  “Afraid not.” He wraps his arm around Mel’s neck, and I see her wince. I’m not going to say anything just yet, not to either of them. I’ll let Gene know she’s still feeling some lingering pain when we’re alone. I know my woman—she’d give me a tongue lashing to rival my mother’s.

  “I guess you’re here to deliver the paperwork and to give me more bad news?” she asks as we sit down, Gene moving to the chair, allowing me to sit next to Melanie.

  “The house is sold. As soon as you sign, the closing process will be done in a matter of thirty days. Right now, the things you asked to
keep—his records, guitars, minus the one you have, the collectibles, and his desk—are in storage. Your clothes are being shipped down here. Do you know what you’ll do with everything?”

  “I want you to have the desk, and I don’t want to hear it. You know Daddy would want you to have it. As for the other items, I’m not sure yet. Fox and I were just discussing that last night, though we were interrupted. Can you hold on to it a bit longer until I figure things out?”

  “You didn’t have to ask. Everything is sitting in the detached garage. We do need to move on to the next discussion. Then we’ll sign the papers?”

  “Alright, I’m sure it’s horrible, isn’t it?” I bring her into my side, letting my warmth give her some kind of comfort.

  “Well, pumpkin, she was here with a gun. The worst of it is, she’s out on bail. Though I just had it revoked, and I’m asking to add charges. It means she’ll be held down here until trial. Fox already said he or someone else will be around. I still want you well aware of your surroundings and not going off on your own. At least until I know she’s back in jail and remains there until sentencing, okay?” Gene and I chatted while Melanie was in the shower. It was fast, but enough was stated, and I was all in for his plan.

  “Yeah, of course, but what other charges are you slamming her with? Not that I care, but I’m curious just the same.” Melanie’s body shivers, a yawn takes over, and I know she’ll be wanting a nap soon but will hate to see Gene go.

  “Attempted kidnapping, discharge of a firearm, disobeying a restraining order, those are some of the newer ones, but she also attempted to go to the bank, assume your identity, and withdraw a huge lump sum of cash. Agatha definitely isn’t smart though, because she went to the local branch, where everyone knows you.”

  “She’s really gone off the deep end. Agatha is a mess. I think if we can push a psych evaluation, we should, just in case. Though who knows what will happen with this being in the state attorney’s hand, huh?” Melanie asks.

  “I’m already on it. I have some pull, not a whole lot, but enough to put a bug in their ear. Are you ready to sign the papers? I hate to make this go faster than necessary, but I do have to get back to California, pumpkin.” I watch as Melanie nods, then signs on the dotted line. They hug, and then I walk him to the front door. I also let him know to go ahead and ship everything she has at his place here. I notice his shocked face, then he smiles, shakes my hand, and leaves. It’s time for me to take my woman to bed. After this whirlwind of a day, she needs some rest.

  22

  Melanie

  “Fox, I need to tell you something.” I’m standing in the middle of the living room.

  “Good, I need to as well. You want to go first, or me?” He’s standing in front of me, legs spread, his arms crossed over his chest, and a smirk playing on his lips.

  “I am, because if not, I’ll never get it out. I love you, Benedict Fox Adams. You’ve showed me what it’s like to smile again, how to live, how to breathe, and you’re my shelter when the rain is pounding on my back. I love you, and I apologize for using your real name. I swear I won’t ever again.” I make the sign to zip my lips and throwing away the key.

  “Fuck, Melanie. You can say my name anytime you want, well, maybe not out in public, but in here, hearing it come off your lips in your sinfully sweet voice, I want to hear it more than ever. I already told Gene to ship your stuff here. Give up the rental next door, move in with me, and let me love you until my dying breath.” I’m picked up in the next breath, and my legs wrap around his waist.

  “I love you, and I’m so damn lucky to have met your surly ass.” We both laugh at that.

  “Who knew a girl with a soulful voice, a sexy mouth, giving me a boner while she sings, would love me as much as I love her?”

  “No way, did you really?” I ask, genuinely wondering.

  “Sure did. Didn’t matter that I thought you were crying over some pansy-ass boy. I saw the way your blonde hair was hanging down, how your body curved around your guitar, and that song. Christ, sunshine, you can belt it out. Took everything I had not to march over there, pick you up, and take you right then and there.” I see the heat in his eyes as Fox tells me this.

  “Well, maybe I should get my guitar out and reenact that moment. Maybe then you’ll actually take me. You know, since I’m supposed to be resting.” I roll my eyes. The doctor didn’t say anything about no activity, just to take it easy.

  “You’d do that for me, Mel?” he asks.

  “Don’t you know that already, Fox? I’d do anything for you. Now, let me down. I have a guitar to play and a song to sing.” He lets me go, and I slide down his body, feeling his hard length the entire time.

  “Hell yes, you do.”

  “Save that for me.” I palm his length, watch his head tip backwards as a groan leaves him. I have the perfect song in mind. It’s reminiscent of the nineteen-seventies but encompasses more that I could ever say. It doesn’t take me long to slip the guitar out of the case. If I’m going to move in with Fox, we may have to designate a room for all the guitars, not to mention the plethora of keepsakes I’m keeping from my father. I can’t think about that right now though.

  “Strip for me while you sing, sunshine.” Fox’s voice comes from behind me.

  “You want me naked?”

  “Yes, because I know by the time the chorus comes around, I’ll be sinking inside you.” I do as he requests but make sure to keep the guitar in front of me. I really do love teasing him.

  “Ready?” He nods his head, losing his clothes as I start to sing. Fox wasn’t wrong, I don’t make it too far into the song before he is making me sing a totally different one, and nothing’s ever been better.

  Epilogue

  Fox

  Eight Months Later

  “What do you say we head home Mrs. Adams?” I murmur into my wife’s ear. It sure took us long enough to get to this point. I asked her to marry me a month after shit went down with Agatha. Though a lot of it couldn’t be helped. The trial took up a good bit of time, and when her mother was finally sentenced to fifteen years behind bars, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

  “You just want to take advantage of me in my state of tipsiness.” Her hair is up in some kind of fancy style, curls falling down, and she is in a white dress that hugs her curves and accentuates her figure that I love so much. But it’s the way she looks up at me that always gets me, like I’m her whole world and she without a doubt is mine.

  “Are you trying to tell me you don’t like drunken sex?” I joke, spinning her around in a circle and then bringing her back into me.

  “Oh, I love it. The best part of tonight is that our home is only a few short steps away. Race you there?” Our friends and family left a while ago. Gene, Cruz, Jax, and Sloane made up the people we had surrounding us. Cruz stayed, but not for long. Something about getting back to Florida because he’s finally ready to go after his woman. I heard him grumbling under his breath to Jax about that. Though it’s not like Jax and Sloane don’t need to get their shit together. They’re still circling each other, being friendly one day, then angry the next day. I think that has something to do with Jax and him worrying he’s too old for Sloane. It’s dumb, all of it. She’s nineteen, has a good head on her shoulders, and can probably run circles around him. Yet he’s still talking about how he’s too old for her. Jax is a dip shit, that’s what it boils down to, and if he keeps fucking around, Sloane will eventually get tired of waiting. Cruz called Jax a pussy as his parting words. I laughed because he’s not wrong. I’m still wondering who and what is happening that way when Melanie brings me back to her gaze.

  “Unzip me?” She spins around in my arms, giving me her back.

  “Fuck, sunshine, look at you, so damn beautiful it brings me to my knees.” I unzip her dress. I’m thankful for the darkness shadowing our bodies because Mel does a shimmy, leaving her in a pair of lace panties and nothing else.

  “Who, me?” She tips her head over her shoulder. I s
ee she’s cupping her breasts, licking her lips when she’s done speaking, and I already know what I’m going to do as soon as I get my hands on her.

  “Yes, you. Get your sweet ass inside before I sink my cock inside you right now.” I watch Mel’s eyes darken with desire, and then she’s running into the house. I know for a fact she wouldn’t mind us having sex out here, but nothing beats having a flat surface so I can toss her around in all the positions that get her off.

  I watch as she runs into the house, then I make my move, leaving everything to clean up for tomorrow. I’m stripping out of my shirt when I close and lock the door behind me. My belt is next, my shoes long since discarded. That’s when I hear my wife is moaning my name. I double-time my steps, making it to our bedroom in record time, wanting to watch the show she’s putting on.

  Melanie’s fingers are thrusting in and out of her pussy, her head is tipped back, tits shaking while her other hand fists the sheets beneath her body.

  “I see you started without me,” I interrupt her while stepping out of my pants and boxers.

  “God, Fox, hurry up. You’re taking too long.” The thing about Mel is when she’s tipsy or drunk, her need for my cock is amplified ten-fold. Tonight, though, I’m going to take my sweet-as-fuck time.

  “That’s okay. You wanna keep getting yourself off, or do you want my mouth?” I ask her. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her move that fast before. She takes her fingers out of her smooth-as-silk cunt, glistening with her essence. I watch as she coats her nipples with her wetness, causing me to lick my lips.