by J. M. Walker
Her breath caught but she didn’t say anything.
I turned back to Sarge, going nose to nose with him. “You also did all of this while she was holding her fucking son.” I shoved him back.
“Your son,” he corrected.
“What?” My heart started racing, all of the anger I felt a second ago, seeping from my pores.
“Your son,” Sarge repeated. “It was all a set up. The doctor at the hospital was paid off. You are his father.”
I looked back at Eve.
Her eyes shone.
“Did you know?” I asked her.
“Travis told me tonight but I wanted to get a DNA test done. I need to be sure.” She looked down at her son. My son. Fuck me. I had a boy. A baby boy.
“Even if he’s not mine …” I turned back to Sarge. “I will raise him to be the best fucking man he’ll ever be. He’ll treat women with respect and he’ll love. He’ll love fucking hard.” I stomped back to Eve, placing a hard kiss on her mouth. “And he’ll know how to keep his woman in line if she gives him too much sass,” I whispered.
Her cheeks reddened, a small smile splaying on her lips. But as soon as that smile started, it turned into a frown. “I wasn’t a good woman before this. Before you. I … I killed Travis’ wife.” She shook her head, a lonely tear falling down her cheek. “Sarge knows.”
“Is that true?” I asked the man I had trusted. The one who babysat me when I was a kid. The one I looked to as an additional piece to our family.
Sarge stared me head on. “Yes.”
“You don’t remember,” I said to Eve, cupping her cheek.
“No. I don’t.” Her breath hitched. “But it doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.”
“It was self-defense,” Sarge said. “She doesn’t remember, and there’s no proof anyway.”
I glanced between him and Eve. “I don’t give a shit what you did or who you did it to. I’m sorry for what happened. I’m sorry that both of you were innocent victims in Travis’ twisted game. We’ll get this taken care of.”
Eve nodded. “Okay.”
“Greyson.” Tray stepped up beside Sarge. “Tell me.”
“Break his knee caps.” I wrapped an arm around Eve’s shoulders. “I don’t want to kill the fucker. When you’re done, burn the house down.” I met Butcher’s hard stare. “Come with me.”
(Eve)
While Greyson and I left the house, he tried shielding me from the onslaught of horror that had gone on while I was holed up in that room. I didn’t want to see but there was no way around it. Bodies littered the floor. Blood splattered the walls. Death. So much death. But what I couldn’t get out of my head was the sound of Travis’ screams.
Greyson had brought me out of the room Sarge had me in and unleashed Butcher onto the man who killed his wife. I had never known such hatred was possible.
I prayed Butcher felt better after getting what he wanted from Travis, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t. It would be a long while before we saw him again. If ever at all. And as long as he was happy, I was fine with that just like I knew Greyson would be as well.
We would have to deal with the police. I knew that. And I was terrified I would be put away even though I didn’t remember anything. But I also knew that Greyson and I would deal with it when the time came. If it ever came at all.
My life with this man was nothing like the life I previously had.
The nightmares were quiet. The demons were at rest.
And I could finally move on.
“GREYSON! GREYSON” I yelled his name over and over but couldn’t find him. The paper in my hand needed to be read by both of us. “Greyson!” Where the hell was he?
“What’s all the yelling for?”
I smiled at Catch over my shoulder.
He only shook his head, a slow grin spreading on his face.
I was happy, no, elated that he was fine after being stabbed, but I really needed to find Greyson. I blew Catch a kiss and ran to the bedroom I shared with Greyson. After Trixie died, we had everything moved to the other side of the house. I couldn’t stay in that room anymore. So we turned it into a room used for storage.
“You better be in—” I swung open the door “—here …” My voice trailed off when I found him feeding Jaron with a bottle.
He smiled up at me. “Were you calling me?”
I rolled my eyes, let out a breath, and held up the envelope in my hand. “It came. The results came today.”
His face paled. “Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous in my life.”
I laughed, sitting beside him. “It’s been three months. You would think with all the threatening emails and phone calls, they would have listened to you and done this faster.”
Greyson only grunted. “Open it, Eve. I’m dying here.”
I opened it, reading the words I already knew. “He’s yours, baby,” I whispered.
His eyes shone. Ripping the paper from my hand, he placed Jaron in my lap. I replaced the bottle with my breast and watched all of the emotions splaying on Greyson’s handsome face.
“He’s mine. Fuck me, he’s mine.” Greyson cupped my cheeks, placing a hard peck on my mouth. “He’s mine.”
“He is.” Tears rolled down my cheeks. “He is definitely yours.”
Greyson kissed me again. “I love you, Eve.”
“And I love you, Greyson. With everything in me. I love you.”
“I didn’t think I deserved you,” he murmured. “I was terrified you would be taken from me after only just finding you.”
My chest tightened. The fear that I would be put away for killing Travis’ wife, ran deep. Even after talking to the police about it and being reassured I was fine, we were still on edge that they would change their minds and lock me up. It all came down to self-defense. They had doctors run more tests when I said that I didn’t remember. Once they were satisfied I wasn’t making shit up, I was a free woman.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I told Greyson, kissing his palm.
We sat like that for what seemed like an eternity. It was silent, filled with warmth, love, and everything both of us needed.
After Jaron was done feeding, I placed him in his crib when I felt warm hands reach under my shirt. Greyson turned me, lowering to his knees and kissed the stretch marks on my stomach.
“These marks are because of me. Because I got you pregnant. Because you gave birth to my son.” His voice became deep as each word passed his lips. The fact he had gotten me pregnant, seemed to turn him on but he hadn’t touched me since he brought me home from Travis’ place three months ago.
“I’m all healed up,” I told Greyson. “The doctor said I’m good to …” My cheeks burned. “You know.”
Greyson chuckled. He stood and took my hand, leading me to the edge of the bed before kneeling once again at my feet. “As much as I want to make love to you. There’s something I need to do.” He kissed my knuckles. “I love you, Eve. You came into my life when I was nothing but a broken man. I was hurting and I didn’t know just how much I needed your love until you showed me. You helped me open up again.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small velvet box.
I gasped, clapping a hand to my mouth. “Greyson.”
“Marry me.”
I fell into his arms, wrapping myself around him. “I may not remember my previous life before you but I …” My throat closed up, my eyes burning with unshed tears. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He grinned, placing the ring on my finger. “I will spend the rest of my days giving you a better life than before.”
And he did.
“HAPPY TEN-YEAR anniversary, baby.”
I grinned like the lovesick fool that I was and stared down at my tiny sprite of a wife. She wore nothing but my leather cut that engulfed her small five-foot frame.
“Open for me,” I demanded, my voice coming out rougher than I was expecting.
Her cheeks reddened as she opened the jacket, revealing her pale naked s
kin to my feasting eyes.
“On the table, Trixie girl, and don’t you dare take off my jacket.”
Her eyes darkened. “Yes, Sir.” She meant it as a joke but I knew she loved giving me what I wanted. What I always wanted. Her undying willingness to submit to me and allow me control over every inch of her pleasure.
As I thought back to those days of lust, want, and an inexplicable need that I could never muster, I realized I would never have that again. It had been a year since my wife died. Three-hundred and sixty-five days since one of my best friends held her lifeless body in his arms.
My life was ripped from my very clutches the day she was taken from me.
So many questions went through my mind. Why? How? But what I had always wanted to know most was, did I do everything for her that she deserved? Was I good enough for her? Had I given her the life like those fairy tales she loved so much?
“What are you reading?” I asked Trixie, sitting beside her on the couch.
“Beauty and the Beast.” She smiled up at me and cupped my face.
“Why read that shit when you have it in real life?” I nipped her palm.
She laughed, tapping my cheek gently. “While you may be my Beast, Beauty has a library that I’ve only ever fantasized about.”
“I’ll build you a library.”
And I did.
I smiled, as memories poured in from that day. Two years after she requested a library, it was done and complete. The look on her face was priceless and the thank you sex was even better.
Kneeling on the ground, I placed a bouquet of red roses at the base of her tombstone. “Oh, baby.” Tears pricked at the back of my eyes, my throat burning with each shallow breath. “You were taken from me far too soon.”
If I only ever did one thing right in life, it was loving her.
“Until we meet again, Trixie girl.”
I stood from the grave I knelt at, brushed off the knees of my jeans, and headed down the long gravel path to my bike.
I didn’t look back. I would be there again in a year. And every year after that. No matter where I was in life, I would always come back to her.
My wife.
My Trixie girl.
The only woman who saved me.
From myself.
***THE END***
J.M. Walker is an Amazon bestselling author who loves all things books, pigs and lip gloss. She is happily married to the man who inspires all of her Heroes and continues to make her weak in the knees every single day.
“Above all, be the HEROINE of your own life...” ~ Nora Ephron
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Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
EPILOGUE
BONUS EPILOGUE
ABOUT