His Angel: The Wounded Souls Series

by Leah Sharelle

  Mia was the closest I came to cheating on my dead wife, and I couldn’t do it. But now? Now that I was married again, to her sister of all people, my inner protective caveman was on high alert. What the fuck did that even mean?

  “Creed, mate, you’re up,” Booth said from the head of the table while my brothers were all in their usual seats, looking at me. Not with looks of disappointment or judgement but looks of concern.

  Fuck, it meant a lot to me that after keeping so much shit from them, they still had my back. So, at the very least, I owed them the truth.

  “Memphis is Lila Rose’s sister. She is ten years younger than me. Very early on, she started to have vision problems. The symptoms came and went over the years, but in her early teens, she experienced vision problems more often than not.” I looked at Booth then at Deck. Those two men had always been the yardstick by which I measured myself. Steel and Mannix were great guys, don’t get me wrong, but they tended to hide behind their lighter and more fun side. It was only when they got caught by their women that they shed their masks. Deck and Booth were different, and responsibility was something they took seriously.

  “Her parents didn’t do anything?” Booth asked.

  I let out a harsh laugh. “Fuck no. They were hippies to the core, no doctors. They believed you dealt with what was handed to you. The bastards sat back in their weed muddied minds and watched their youngest child go blind. If it wasn’t for her sister and me, I hate to think how she would have ended up.” I despised talking about those two people. The shit job they made of being parents made me raging mad.

  “So by the time Memphis was seventeen, she was totally blind. There is nothing that can be done about it. No miracle surgery, nothing, and we tried. When her parents left for good, Lila Rose and I took her to specialists, but the disease had taken hold, and that was that. So we went about teaching her how to cope with being blind. It isn’t conventional, but it works for her and has for the last eight years.” I shrugged. It wasn’t the end of the story by any stretch, but if I knew my brothers, and I did, questions were about to start firing at me.

  “So you have basically been looking after her since she was seventeen?” Steel asked in awe.

  “Well, mainly Lila Rose. I joined up a year after that and spent more time away from home than being there. We all came up with counting the steps and keeping the house uncluttered so she didn’t crash into things. I wanted to get her a trained guide dog, so we were on our way one day to pick one out when she heard a bark from a neighbouring house. She did the whole female lips pouting thing, and the next thing I knew, I was shelling out five hundred bucks for a black ball of useless fluff.” I nearly smiled at that memory, remembering the way the Van Elsen women twisted me around their little fingers. There was nothing I wouldn’t have done for either of them.

  “That’s the huge fucking black monster that was sitting on my boots out there?” Mannix asked dryly.

  “That would be him. Just wait until Shiloh lays eyes on him. Shit, she thinks riding Trigger is fun. Apollo is going to knock her for a six.” I groaned as soon as I gave up the Newfoundland’s name.

  Fuck me, here we go, I thought as the laughter started almost immediately.

  “She used your codename? How the fuck did she know what it was in the first place?” Deck said in between fits of choking laughter.

  “I told Lila Rose one night. It just came out. Memphis heard and never forgot it, I suppose. She was very, very adamant to name him that, and trying to talk her out of it was a pointless exercise,” I mumbled. I wasn’t going to tell them that I kind of liked that Memphis chose to call her dog something that reminded her of me.

  Nope, not on your life.

  “So after Lila died, you took on the responsibility of her care and didn’t tell us about her?” Trust my pres to ask the question I didn’t want to answer.

  “Not her care. By then, she was pretty self-sufficient. Lila Rose and I had it in our wills that if either one died, then the surviving person would watch out for her. I am the only family she has left. Her parents perished in a fire, then her sister died, and her grandparents are both dead, which left just me.”

  “So you married her. Why? That I don’t understand. I mean, you were interested in Mia for a while there but told her Lila was the love of your life and didn’t want anyone else. Now you’re married. What the fuck gives, Apollo?”

  I glared at Steel, fucking bastard that he was, always busting my balls. He got the girl, the perfect girl for him, so why did he have to keep harping on about it?

  “Lila Rose is the love of my life and always will be, arsehole. I had to marry Memphis,” I yelled louder than I intended. I didn’t like the implication that I didn’t love my wife, my first wife. Fucking hell, I needed a fucking drink. I have never cheated on her as I promised her I wouldn’t. She was dead at the time I made that promise, but I stood by it, and not once in five years had I lain with another woman. Until now—or later—when I have to sleep with my new wife. Fuck it!

  “Creed, why did you have to marry Memphis?”

  “Because if she isn’t married by the time she turns twenty-seven, she loses the house and her bookstore. Her grandparents wanted her to have it, but they knew her parents would sell it on her if they got desperate, so they made the clause in the will to protect Memphis and Lila Rose. When their parents died, the grandparents were going to change the will and take out the inheritance demands, but unfortunately, they both died in a plane crash before that could happen,” I explained in a quiet but angry voice. My life had to take a different turn because of that fucking will.

  Booth held up his hand to quieten the outrage from my brothers.

  “You said demands, plural. What else is there?”

  And here comes the real kick in the arse in this whole fucking mess, the other clause in the will that pissed me the fuck off more than anything.

  “If she isn’t pregnant within six months of being married, she loses it all.”

  Fuck my fucking life.

  ———

  “How long can they keep cackling in there?” Steel grumbled, taking another pull on his beer. The meeting in the war room broke about an hour ago, and we didn’t get to discuss anything on Rogue. Booth decided today was not the day to talk about that prick. He had taken enough from us for the day, and talking about it seemed too much like an insult to the memory of Vegas.

  So, instead, we all gathered at the bar in the main room, expecting our wives to be waiting for us, but they weren’t. They were in the kitchen laughing and eating themselves into food comas. I was happy the flock was taking to Memphis so quickly, not that I’d had a doubt she would fit in with the tight-knit group, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about her.

  She didn’t make friends very well. The small town she lived in had an older population, and the ones who were her age were mostly married with kids, and the younger ones were just biding their time until they could leave and move to the city. Her friends were her books. Memphis had learned Braille really quickly, and before Lila Rose and I knew it, she was a pro at it. She ordered hundreds of Braille novels for her store, but they were basically for her own pleasure. To my knowledge, she hadn’t sold a single one.

  “You want to go in there and find out?” I asked him dryly, finishing off my third bottle of draught. Maybe if I got just a little drunk, the night ahead might be a bit easier. Sleeping with my sexy wife in the same bed I could handle. Having sex with her with the intention of creating a child, that one was a bit harder to think about. Fuck, I’d believed my dick was broken because he hadn’t been interested in any woman for five years. With Mia, she pulled at my heart, but my dick? Nope. Nothing there. Memphis? Yeah, that was a different story. I thought back to earlier in the day when I got an eyeful of her delicious thighs. My dick had woken from the slumber he had been in and stood to attention.

  “Another one, Seb, and keep them coming.” I wanted to get out on my bike and ride, but that was out since I was
probably over the limit by now or close to it, so my go-to escape was a no go tonight. Plus, whenever I did take off, it was to go see Memphis.

  “That was a big fucking bomb you dropped on us, brother. I mean, we knew you had a sister-in-law but not a blind one that you were looking after,” Deck said as he sat at the bar on the other side of me, his eyes on the kitchen door. It would be only a matter of minutes before he said fuck it and collected his woman. Charlotte out of his sight did not make for a happy Deck, who was the most over-protective of all of my brothers. He just tipped Booth in that department—just. My pres was at the end of the bar glaring in the direction of where his wife was, and the scowl on his face said he was on the same page as Deck.

  The party was about to break up.

  “I know, brother, I know, and I’m sorry I kept it from you guys. You are my brothers, and I trust you all. It’s just—”

  “You thought we would think badly of you? That you were cheating on Lila?” Deck said knowingly.

  “Something like that, yeah. When she died, I lost a big part of myself, and some fucked-up thinking on my part decided to keep Memph separate from my club life,” I admitted with shame. These men had my back for the last ten or more years, and I should have trusted them more, but I was so lost in my own grief that I stupidly made decisions that made no sense. That hurt people I loved.

  “That is fucked up, Creed, really fucking stupid, but I get it. Now it’s time to stop that way of thinking and join the land of the living. Stand proud beside that beautiful woman, and show her she isn’t anything less than important to you,” Booth told me, his wise words starting to penetrate just a bit. “Now, if you will excuse me, my wife has had enough time away from me.” Pushing back from the bar, Booth handed his empty bottle to Seb.

  “Two-man detail, all night. No slacking off, and wake me if you suspect anything,” Booth warned the prospect with the authority that was ingrained in him from years of being in charge of a team.

  “Copy that, Pres. No mistakes, I promise.”

  “I’m out, too. I will be taking over in four hours, Seb, so I’ll see you then, brother,” Deck announced as he, too, stood away from the bar. “You coming, Creed?”

  I immediately shook my head. Call me a coward, but I just wasn’t ready.

  “Nah, brother. I’m going to have a couple more beers. Do you mind showing Memphis to my suite,” I asked, taking the easy way out. I knew Deck’s protective nature would bubble to the surface, and he wouldn’t be able to leave her in the kitchen alone. Hell, I shouldn’t be leaving her alone, but I just wasn’t ready for what was to come.

  “This will be the only time, Creed. I won’t let you hurt that woman, and I won’t enable you to. Get your head on straight tonight, and then stand the fuck up,” Deck warned.

  There was no malice behind his words. Just a plain and simple message—pull your head out of the past and move on. Whether I could do that was another thing entirely.

  Chapter 11

  MEMPHIS

  “The bed is ten steps straight ahead from where you are standing now. Charlotte has already helped you in the bathroom, but if you need to use it during the night, it’s about five steps on the right side. The toilet is directly behind the door, and the sink is just to the left of it, no more than three steps. Creed should be in here soon. He is just finishing up some things in the main room,” Deck said, his hand still in mine.

  When Deck came into the kitchen to collect his wife, he told me Creed was busy and offered to help me to the room that was to be mine for the foreseeable future. I had hoped Creed would be the one to show me our room for the first time, but that was not to be. Instead, I told Deck how I did things, like holding a person’s hand instead of the crook of an elbow. I explained about the squeezes Creed and I had come up with, and to my delight, Deck did really well. He asked plenty of questions and seemed very interested in my own made up ways and how I coped. He even counted the steps for me and made notes of issues that needed to be changed for me. Just small things like moving a few items in the hallway, which led to the staircase that took me to Creed’s room.

  I was comfortable with staircases as long as I was told in detail about their layout, how wide they were and things like that. Being blind meant being scared was not an option—I had to adapt to what was put in front of me, so to speak. Clutter could be moved to make things easy, and staircases were a part of life that I needed to learn. So I did.

  “You mean Creed is drinking up some liquid courage before he has to impregnate his blind wife, who is also the sister of the woman he is in love with,” I replied with a harrumph.

  Deck chuckled. “Yeah, something like that. Okay, sweetie. You are in your PJs, so hop into bed before I leave so I know you are all settled. Charlotte is checking on Shiloh and Darth, both of whom you will meet tomorrow morning before Darth takes off for a couple of days. I’m on detail in a few hours, so I will check on you if Creed isn’t back by then.”

  “Is it that bad, Deck? The danger, I mean,” I asked quietly, hating to hear the answer but desperate for the truth, not the glossed over ‘that will do’ answers Creed gave me.

  “Yeah, sweetheart, it is. We lost one of our women to this guy and nearly lost Rainn and my daughter in the same explosion that took Vegas. This man is very dangerous, but there is nothing more important to Creed than your safety. He might be struggling at the moment with a few things, but I know my brother, and he will not let anything happen to you. Believe that, Memphis, and hold onto it. Creed cares deeply for you, but he just needs to let go of the past.”

  With that, I felt a kiss to my forehead, and then I was being tucked into a large and extremely comfortable bed. The click of the light was the last thing I remembered hearing before sleep claimed me.

  ———

  “You still sleep with your eyes closed.”

  I opened my eyes and blinked a few times.

  “Mmmm, yeah, I started life sleeping with my eyes closed, so why change just because I’m blind,” I answered around a yawn. By the warm breath tickling my face, I guessed Creed was lying beside me, close beside me.

  “I’m sorry I let you go to bed on your own for your first night here. I keep fucking up with you, Memphis, which is hard for me to accept because I promised to protect you and keep you safe. So far, I am doing a shit job.”

  I wiggled myself forward until I was snuggled against Creed’s shoulder.

  “I believe you promised to have and to hold, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish till death do us part,” I sassed back at him. Hmm, he really does smell so good. I may or may not have sniffed his skin to bring such a thought on.

  “Did you just smell me?”

  Okay, so I did smell him. Oh, my God! I buried my head deeper, hiding my red face from Creed.

  “No,” I mumbled, my lips moving against the muscle of his bicep, and I felt his body shiver. Did I make him do that?

  A growl vibrated from him before he mumbled something about enough, then I found myself on my back and Creed’s weight on top of me, the quickness of his move leaving me breathless. This was something I never thought would happen to me—not being married to the man I had been in love with since I could remember, not that part. Being in a bed with the man I was married to, who I had been in love with forever, and him being on top of me in just a pair of tight boxers that did absolutely nothing to hide his erection, that was the thing I never thought would happen to me.

  “Creed?”

  “This is serious, Memph. Yes, we had to get married, and yes, we have to have a baby together. But no one is making me protect you. That is something I want and need to do,” Creed said gently, his kinder tone helping to take some of the sting of the have to comments. Not to mention, the reminder that I had to get pregnant within the next six months with Creed’s baby. I’d managed to tuck that titbit away in the deep, dark recesses of my brain where memories of my parents were, witnessing their drug use, the fact they packed up and
left their blind daughter, those types of things.

  Sighing, my hands felt their way up and over Creed’s hard and ripped chest, ignoring the goose bumps that appeared on his skin the best I could and stopped when I found his face.

  “Creed, you have protected me most of my life. When Lila died, you protected me. When you got out of the military, you came back and protected me. You always protect me, Creed, and I feel safe with you, always have. I know this is not fair on you, that I definitely got the better side of the bargain. A hunk of a husband with the deepest, sexiest voice, a gorgeous muscled chest, it would seem, and arms—wow, amazingly strong arms.” I didn’t know if my little speech meant much to him, but his whole body had gone tense. The silence from him was a bit disconcerting, and my fingers instantly lingered over his brows. Nope, no frown, so I touched his mouth next, and nope, no grimace.

  “I’m going to kiss you now, Angel,” he whispered against my fingers.

  “Oh, o—okay,” I stammered nervously, but inside, I was screaming, Yes, kiss me! Please.

  Creed’s lips gently pressed against mine, and he slowly moved his mouth with gentle pressure. His tongue licked, and his lips nipped in a slow, lazy kiss, a kiss that was all about two people getting to know one another, a kiss that I would remember for the rest of my life. Creed’s arms pushed under my shoulders, bringing me closer to him, his bare chest against my thin tee, which was one of Creed’s old army shirts that he’d put in the wash years ago on one of his R&R trips home. Lila, surprisingly, never wore one of his shirts when he wasn’t home because she liked to sleep in girlie sleepwear. Me, I liked the feel of the worn material, and I liked that it was his. Of course, I never told my sister that, not that she would have been mad at me. Lila never got mad at me.