He had a hand-crafted casket with his last name engraved along the top, and as a family we decided to give him a place in the Brayshaw cemetery.
If I had to guess, I’d say half the town showed up to pay respects for the man I had no clue so many were connected to.
The last thing I expected today was for sadness to creep inside me, but it’s there, nonetheless.
I didn’t want to know the man as a dad, but it’s funny the thoughts that run through your mind when the possibility is stolen from under you.
The service ended about an hour ago, and we’ve been sitting at a small circular table just big enough for us for the last hour, picking at the plates of food in front of us ever since.
My head rises when Maddoc and Raven push to their feet.
“We’re heading back. Cool if we pick up Zoey on the way?” Maddoc asks.
I nod, sitting back in my seat. “Yeah, man. Thanks.”
He clamps a hand on my shoulder, and they start to walk off, but Raven pauses.
“Royce, you comin’?” she asks him.
His eyes never move from his phone. “Nah, but I am leavin’.”
He hops up, kissing Victoria’s forehead, and clasping my hand before he follows them out to the parking lot.
My dad catches my eyes and jerks his head, so I look to Victoria.
She smiles. “Meet me in the truck?”
So I nod and she runs off, catching up with the others as I make my way to my dad, and the two of us walk along the edge of the pond.
“Mallory got on the plane, I heard?” he asks.
I nod. “Mac escorted her across the fucking country, took her passport and IDs when she got there.”
“Big of you to set her up like you did.”
I shrug. “A condo and a few sets of zeros is nothing for peace of mind knowing I won’t have to see her again. She wanted nothing to do with this place anyway.”
“And if she had?”
“I’d have to find a way to be okay with it, but not for her sake.”
He nods, stopping to face me. “I know something else is on your mind. Don’t make me ask questions, talk to me, son.”
I scoff a laugh, licking my lips as I glance away. “I was never supposed to be here,” I say for the first time. “My father wasn’t one of you, like Mike’s was. I can’t help but think Mike was right to try and take what was mine. I took what should have been his. His place in this family, the place his dad left behind.”
“You’re wrong, son. Mero was a man of Brayshaw, as you have men at the warehouses and around this town and under you and your brother’s influence. But your father, the man your mother married, my best friend, he was Brayshaw. He was you as you are to them, as you stand here today. With or without you, Captain, Mike would never have been given your place. He’d have had to earn it in a different way as he grew. I have no doubt in my mind, he would have failed. He was weak-minded, as my brother was.”
“Maybe he wouldn’t have been if he grew up with us.”
“Maybe, Cap, but we have no way to know. What I do know is I’ve seen more strength and growth in this town, in this family, in the last several months than I saw in a lifetime of serving this place. That’s no coincidence. That’s Brayshaw at its finest.”
I swallow, nodding as I move my eyes to his. “Thank you. For everything you did for us, for taking us in, for giving me my brothers and for being a father to Royce and me when only Maddoc was yours to care for.”
“You were all mine, and I love you equally.”
“And I’ll love my nieces and nephews, as they come, just the same. Like my own. Like you.”
His eyes gloss over and he glances away. “Go home, Captain. Today is not the day I cry in front of you.”
A light laugh leaves me and I wrap him in a hug.
“Thank you for allowing me to be your father, son,” he whispers as he pulls away, quickly walking toward Maybell on the other side of the park.
I meet Victoria in my truck and head home.
Her eyes slide to mine when I don’t get out right away, and I smile, lifting her hand and kissing along her knuckles. “They took Zoey for ice cream,” I tell her.
She smirks, leaning over. “That right?”
“That’s right. Go up to my room, Beauty. I’m right behind you.”
“Aye, Aye, Captain,” she teases as she hops out.
I wait a couple minutes, leg bouncing all the while and then head out, taking the stairs two at a time.
Okay, Beauty. Here we go.
Life.
I rewatched the videos Maria left me, for the fifth or sixth time, and then I typed in Zoey’s name and learned what I didn’t know.
Zoey means life.
And full of life she is.
She smiles with her heart and cries from her soul, loves with all she is and listens with all she has. She’s strong and intuitive and perfect.
As is the girl who helped assure she was brought into this world, for her and for me.
This girl, she’s stubborn, bratty, and doesn’t listen for shit, but I like her that way.
Love every piece of her.
But if she keeps pretending to like candy to appease my little girl, I might throw her ass out.
“What the hell?” she whispers, only to yelp when I sneak behind her, squeezing her hips.
She whips around, laughing and shoves me in the chest.
“I knew you couldn’t handle seeing it open without reading,” I tease her.
“Well, you left it open.” She pushes me back, falling on top of me.
“I did.” I push her hair over her shoulder. “Keep reading, Beauty.”
Her eyes narrow, and I reach behind her, dragging it to my chest, my eyes on hers as hers fall to the paper.
Did that get your attention, baby?
I hope so, and I also hope you know how wrong that is.
I know there is still so much to learn about you, and I need you to understand I’m here for it. All of it.
I want all your past and every minute of your future, and not just for now, Beauty.
I want to be the king of your kingdom.
Today.
Tomorrow.
Always.
I want you to wear a ring that says you’re mine.
Her lips part, her eyes popping up to mine as she chokes on her own words.
“Turn the page, baby,” I whisper.
She does and taped to the center is a white gold band with a single amethyst flower in the center.
I push her shirt up, tucking it into her bra so I can trace the tattoo hidden there.
She doesn’t run around showing her stomach, but she no longer goes out of her way to hide it either. Her shirts are no longer constantly tucked in or half past her hips, and if she’s self-conscious about them, you’d never know it.
It was all about hiding the words etched into her skin, the ones she felt she hadn’t earned and couldn’t explain, not the battle wounds beneath them.
“I’m the anchor.” I run my fingertips along the tattoo. “You’re the waves, and this is our ocean.”
“I suck at swimming,” she whispers.
A chuckle leaves me, and she sinks against my chest. “That’s what my chain is for. For you to climb when you feel weak, for you to hold when you feel alone, for you. All for you.”
I sit up, pushing my hand into her hair, and her eyes move to mine. “You said you felt your life started with a purple flower, it’s only right your future starts the same. As mine. As ours,” I whisper. “Me and Zo.”
Her tears fall with her next blink, and I reach up to catch them.
“It’s tradition in this family to marry young, but even if it wasn’t, I’d ask you for this, for your word. Be my wife, Beauty. It can be later, I don’t care, but wear my ring, make me this promise.”
Her eyes fall back to the page.
As her fingers lift, tracing along the single question just above the ring, I read the words out loud.
“So what do you say, baby, will you be my Brayshaw?”
She slips the ring from the paper, placing it in her open palm, and waits.
A small smirk curves her lips, eyes follow as I wrap my fingers around her wrist and shift closer.
I dip my head down to grasp the custom piece between my teeth and position her ring finger to my lips. Ever so slowly, I glide the proof she’ll always be mine into its place, and as I slide my mouth up, my eyes lock with hers.
A deep brown, darker than ever.
A little soft and a lot wild.
Victoria’s lips part, and with my grip still strong around her wrist, she gently falls back on the comforter, her thighs rubbing together.
I shift on the bed, smirking down at her. “Oh, my baby wants to play.”
She chuckles, a deep husky sound as her hands slide along the comforter, until her fingers meet. “She does.” She blinks slowly. “This is our first time alone in this house.”
My abdomen tightens, heat spreading through my body and my cock hardens.
I stand from the bed, slowly kicking off my shoes, my eyes trailing over my girl, ready and waiting for me.
“Yeah?” I rasp, licking my lips while watching her bite into hers. I tug my shirt over my head, letting it fall to the floor.
Her eyes land on my chest, her back curling, courtesy of her own memory of what she knows I can do to her.
She trails my every move as I undo my belt and jeans and kick them away.
I climb onto the bed, caging her in.
Her chest inflates with a deep breath, only for it to leave her on a harsh hiss when I lower my pelvis to hers, my hard-on now pushing against her.
“And how’s my baby wanna spend our first hour alone?”
Suddenly her eyes snap to mine, a raw urgency boiling within them. “Tear my clothes off, Captain, and don’t be gentle.”
I groan and don’t fucking dare make her ask me twice.
I sit up, straddling her body, and start with my hands at her hips.
I push the thin material up and over her ribs, scooting back so I can add my tongue to the trail, but in the center of her stomach. When I get to the tattoo beneath her bra line, my cock twitches.
I dip down and bite.
Mine.
She gasps but presses her body firmer against me.
My hands glide to the center of her top, and as I bring my eyes to hers, I shred the fucking thing.
Her tongue slips between her teeth as she smiles, her fingers clawing into the blanket.
I lean forward, sinking my teeth into the threaded material of her bra, and with a tight grip to the left side, I rip through it.
Her breasts fall with a heavy bounce, swollen to their fullest and peaked to perfection.
I can’t help myself, and flick her rosy, pebbled nipple.
She moans, her hands coming up to clench my sides.
Her pants already have a few holes in the thigh, so I slide my hand inside massaging her inner thigh until she twitches and then rip them straight the fuck open, all the way up to the crotch of the jeans.
I lower and her chest rises and falls, faster and faster with each inch closer to her pussy my mouth grows.
Her legs fall open, half covered in jeans, half bare.
Pussy’s bare.
I bring my lips to the center of her, but don’t touch, allowing my heated breaths to drive her mad.
Her legs jerk and right as they settle, I pull her clit into my mouth and suck.
She moans, her feet lifting from the mattress.
“Oh, yeah,” I groan. “My baby wants to fuckin’ play...”
I stand, grab her hips and lift her from the mattress.
She’s dazed and almost falls, but I’m right here to catch her.
My fingers wrap around the back of her leg, and I glide my hand up as I rid her of the rest of her bottoms.
Her hands leave me, and I look up to find her rubbing and tugging on her nipples as she watches me, my face even with her pussy, fingers teasing now resting against the hole of her ass.
Her legs open farther, hardening my cock even more.
I press against the sensitive, virgin piece of her.
Something I’ll take when she’s ready for me.
I push to my feet, leaning my head down toward her, and her chin lifts to close some of the distance. She waits for my lips to meet hers, but seconds before my mouth meets my favorite fucking pillows, I quickly dip into the crook of her neck.
She lets out a little groan, and I hold in my laugh, kissing her along her throat.
But she doesn’t allow it.
Her fingers glide into my hair, grabbing a handful, and she tugs until my eyes meet hers.
Dark and demanding, just as they should be.
She shifts, now holding me still with a firm grip on both sides of my face, and her eyes narrow.
Victoria opens her mouth to speak, but I don’t give her the chance.
My lips come down on hers in a hard, eager kiss, and she’s desperate for it.
She drives her tongue inside my mouth, her left leg coming up to wrap around me, and I grip her behind the knee to hold her there.
Victoria stretches onto her toes, shifts her hips, and drops right down on my cock.
I growl, my hand flying to grip her ass and she cries out, her head falling back, breasts pushing up against me.
She grinds her hips, and my toes curl.
“Fuck,” I rasp, swooping down to grab her other leg and swiftly spin us, setting her ass on the edge of the windowsill.
Her legs leave me, widening, sticking straight the fuck out behind us as she wraps her hands along the edge of the wood, pushing against me thrust for thrust.
I push in more, driving my cock into her and she quivers around me.
“So fucking good, Beauty.” I lean forward, pulling her nipple into my mouth, and she pants.
“Yes, mm.” She holds my head still. “Keep—” she gasps, clenching around me. “Keep doing that.”
I flick my tongue along the swollen peaks and her fingers twitch against my scalp.
She changes her mind, slamming my mouth to hers and kisses me wild, bruising, and begging, only to rip away just as quick, her lips landing on my chest.
I lift her again, keeping me inside her and take us to the bed, but she has other ideas and scrambles along the mattress.
She turns around and gets up on all fours.
Meeting my eyes over her shoulder, she slowly lowers until her tits are touching the blanket, nothing but a tanned and toned ass in the air.
My pulse is out of control as I slip inside again, my head falling at the feeling.
All the way in.
Pure fucking heat races through my veins, and slowly I pull out, sliding right back in.
Victoria’s moan has my eyes lifting.
I run my fingers up her back until I can grip her hair in my fist and tug.
Her head snaps to the side until she is once again looking at me.
“Eyes on me, baby,” I tell her. “Watch me fuck you. Watch what you do to me.”
I fuck her harder, faster, nothing but the sound of skin slapping skin, her heady whimpers and rich moans filling the house.
She starts to shake, her legs damn near giving out, so I wrap a hand around her stomach, and lean over her.
I fuck her from behind, my lips pressed to hers, eyes locked together.
“I’m so close,” she gasps. “Right there.”
I pump shorter, harder, and faster, my fingers coming down to cup her pussy, and a heavy crease forms above her brows as her pleasure threatens to tear her apart.
“Come with me, Captain,” she moans, pushing her ass into me. “Look me in the eyes and come for me.”
I jerk and do just fucking that.
I come hard and long and as loud as she does.
Both our bodies collapse, but I spin her and slide back in, and she shakes beneath me.
I pump slow, the fee
ling almost too much to handle as my body is still on its high, but I’m not ready to let go yet.
Not of this.
I skim her neck with my lips, and she sighs, a sound that settles into my soul.
Beneath me, her legs lax at our sides, hands now trailing along my back.
“That was a hell of a yes, Beauty.”
She chuckles, her hands coming around to rub along my chest.
I lift until I can look her in her eyes.
My Beauty.
My girl.
My future.
Epilogue
Victoria
“Hey, ZoZo,” I whisper.
“What?” she attempts to whisper back, but there is no way she didn’t gain the attention of the entire car.
It’s confirmed when I’m not the only person who laughs.
“ZoZo, is Rora trying to get you to tell her our secret?” Captain asks from the driver seat.
I peek through my fingers, making eye contact with her and shake my head with a grin.
Her little jaw drops. “Rora! That’s bad! Daddy said no peeking!”
Her hands come up to cover my eyes for me.
“She can’t see, Daddy. I fixed it.”
Royce laughs at my side and the sound of a body shifting on leather lets me know Raven has turned in her seat to look back as well.
“Good job, Zo. Almost there, Beauty, keep those eyes closed a couple more minutes,” Captain says.
As Captain said we would be, only minutes later he announces we’re pulling off the highway, and then the ride grows a little bumpy.
“Keep them closed,” he says as the roar of the engine quiets, and the doors around me begin to open.
I listen as he unbuckles Zoey’s seat, hearing her little shouts as she tells her Uncle Bro to “wait up.”
Captain chuckles, his hand skating along my thigh until he reaches my seatbelt and unclips it. “She’s becoming a mini Royce. I’m kinda scared,” he jokes.
I laugh, pinching my eyes closed tighter as he drags me across the seat by my hips until my legs are hanging from the door, his body between them.
“Don’t open them yet, just listen,” he tells me as he grips my hands. “All your life you had what others gave you, did what others told you, and then you came here, and every move you made was for someone else. Never you.”
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