Push & Pull

by Allie York

  “He’s gonna kill him! Let me go!” I fought Briggs, screaming, “Beck!” Other words came out, pleas for Dennis to leave him alone, Harriet and Faye shouting for me, my screams for them to let me go.

  “Meredith! Stop!” Briggs yelled at me, dragging me away from the door, “I can’t let you go back out there!” I hit him, scratching his arms, scrambling to get back outside. My Beck was out there with a gun to his head. Briggs held me back, no matter how hard I fought, Briggs was bigger. Sirens, yelling, more sirens, and then a gunshot. Faye gasped, Harriet grabbed me, and everything stopped. The noise stopped, the shouting stopped, my heart stopped, my fight stopped. I sunk to the ground, unable to breathe. Briggs left me to run at the door, Harriet screamed at him, something about a baby and getting shot. A weird numbness spread through me. Faye was sobbing. Harriet held me, rocking me back and forth, but I didn’t cry, I just laid on the wooden floor against the couch, staring at the ring on my hand. My Beck was gone. My ears rang, replaying the gunshot, not letting any other sound in. Beck. Not my Beck.

  BECK

  I watched in slow motion when Dennis fell, his head hitting the concrete with a sickening crack. It was like he didn’t hear the sirens, or the police. I stumbled back into the door, hand over my mouth and groped for the handle. Meredith. It had to be Briggs who pulled her in, so she was safe, she didn’t see anything. I heard her fighting him. If Dennis was going to kill me, she didn’t need to see it and my brother picked up my slack. Police rushed me, asking me questions and an ambulance pulled up. I just stared at Dennis’ cold eyes. Briggs came behind me and shook my shoulder, making me look at him.

  When I snapped away from Dennis’ lifeless form, my brother threw his arms around me in a very unmanly display of affection, “She’s fine. Don’t you scare me like that again, asshole.” I let out the breath I had been holding and finally looked at the police. Two officers were waiting for me to start talking.

  I told them the story, and watched when they loaded Dennis onto the stretcher, zipping up the body bag, “I need to check on my wife,” The officer gestured me in, trailing after me into the house. Ma was on the sofa tears streaking her face. Her hands went to her mouth when she saw me and she stood up. Meredith was lying on the floor, head in Harriet’s lap, just staring blankly. I crouched in front of her, “Doll?” I pushed a strand of hair from her face and she blinked. Confusion crossed her face before she pushed up and jumped at me. I caught her, knocking us both back to the floor, “I got you, Doll.” I held her while the tears started.

  “Oh my god,” Meredith backed out of my chest to grab my face and kiss me, “Beck,” I nodded and she kissed me again, “I thought…” She started crying again and I pulled us up from the floor. I sat us on the couch and Ma sat on her other side, reaching over to touch me. I went back to answering the officer’s questions. Briggs pulled Harriet from the floor and hugged her to his chest. She laid into him, yelling at him for running outside when he heard the gunshot.

  Meredith answered questions, we were handed report papers, and the police cleared out well over an hour later. All five of us just sat in the silence for a few minutes, processing all the shit we just witnessed. Briggs ushered Harriet for the steps, but Meredith pulled her head off my shoulder, “When were you gonna tell us?” Briggs smirked and Harriet’s eyes went wide, “I’m not a stupid girl.” Meredith’s hand trembled when she wiped her face of stray tears.

  “We were gonna wait a while, but…” Briggs rubbed the back of his neck, “Harriet’s pregnant.”

  “What the fuck?” The words came out before I could stop them and Ma popped the back of my head, “You kept it from us? I have to almost get shot to find out I’m gonna be an uncle? What the fuck?” I stood up and charged my sister-in-law. Before Briggs could get all possessive, I put a hand on Harriet’s stomach, rubbed it, and backed up, “How long have you known?”

  Meredith scooted under my arm and I kissed her head, “A few weeks. The first one,” Harriet bit her lip, “I had a miscarriage a couple of months ago, so we didn’t want to tell anyone for a while, it would be too hard.” Meredith hugged her, “I guess I let it slip.”

  “Two babies?” Ma appeared next to us.

  “Yeah, Ma. Sorry, we didn’t tell everyone,” Briggs hugged Ma, “So, it’s been a fun night,” Briggs locked on my eyes, “We’re square now.” He gave me his asshole smirk. It wasn’t long ago that I was jumping at an armed crazy woman to keep Harriet from getting shot. Briggs pulling Meredith in the house made us more than even. I owed Briggs my life more than once. Briggs clapped my shoulder and pulled Harriet upstairs, whispering into her hair, and not taking his hands off her. Uncle Beck.

  Ma kissed my cheek and hugged Meredith before heading down her hallway to her room. Meredith wrapped her arms around my waist, “I thought he shot you. I thought I lost you, Beck.” She tangled her hands into my shirt and rubbed her face into my chest.

  “I know, Doll,” I hugged her a little tighter. I nearly missed it all, “I’m here.” I almost wasn’t. I shudder ran through me at the thought of Meredith alone, raising our son without me, making her way through the rest of pregnancy, the rest of life without me.

  “I couldn’t do this without you, Beck, and I almost lost you,” I led us toward the steps and up to our room, “They shot Dennis?”

  I pushed the door open and Sadie hopped off the bed, curling into a ball on the floor, “Yeah, Doll,” I sat her on the bed and kneeled to pull her shoes off. Meredith nodded and I kicked my shoes off before getting in bed with her. We could worry about clothes later. I just needed to hold her. Once she fell asleep, I’d undress her and let her sleep while I got a shower, but for a few minutes, I needed her against me. I pulled her back to my front and inhaled her hair, sliding my hand to rest on my son. My whole world fit perfectly against my chest, “I love you, Doll.” Meredith rolled to her back and kissed my chin. I stroked her stomach with my thumb and promised her I’d never leave them, even if she pushed me away.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Meredith

  The doorbell ringing through the house jerked me upright in bed, and I groped wildly for Beck only to find the other side empty. I shook off the bad dream and climbed stiffly out of bed. I could hear the shower running, so I knew Beck was okay, but I needed to see him. Neither of us slept well, and how could we? My husband almost left me a widow less than a week into marriage. I opened the bathroom door, stripped out of the t-shirt I ended up in, and slid the shower door open. Beck had his back to me, palms against the tile, head dropped. I stepped in and wrapped around his back, laying my head between his shoulder blades. The water hit the back of my head, drenching my hair and I felt him relax under me.

  “Beck?”

  “Yeah, Doll.” He pushed off the wall and spun around to hold me.

  “Everything’s okay,” I kissed his chin and he shook his head, “It is. I’m fine, you’re here with me, and things will calm down.”

  “I almost got both of us killed, Meredith. Do you not understand that? I nearly lost everything. You, the baby, everything,” Beck yelled at me and stepped back, pushing me away, “Maybe Dennis should have just shot me, then you and the baby would have been safe. My fucked-up past can’t hurt you if I’m not here.”

  Without thinking, I slapped him, hard across the face, “How dare you?” Beck’s expression sobered, “Don’t you ever say shit like that again. I need you, Alexander needs you, Briggs ran out into gunfire for you,” My tears joined the water from the shower, “Don’t you fucking dare say things like that.”

  Beck finally wrapped his arms around me again, “I’m sorry, Doll,” One hand found my stomach, “I need you two, so fucking much. I could have lost you both and nothing terrifies me more.”

  I let him hold me a while, until the water went cold and he leaned to turn it off, giving me a perfect view of his biteable ass. I handed him a towel and he started to wrap it around his waist, but stopped when he caught me eyeing his cock. Stupid hormones. Beck smirke
d, dropped the towel at his feet, and tipped his head for me to get on my knees. I did, very willingly. I ran my hands up his thighs and he gathered up my hair when I sucked him in as far as I could. He bumped the back of my throat and I gagged, “Easy, Doll,” Beck panted, shifting his hips slightly. I gripped the base in one hand, grabbed his ass with the other and sucked him back in, finding a rhythm that didn’t gag me. His hold on my hair tightened when I took him in a little deeper. Beck rocked into my throat a little deeper and groaned. I swirled my tongue over the head at every pass and his other hand braced on the wall, “I’m gonna come, Doll,” I didn’t stop, “You need to stop.” his words were strained, and he tried to pull back from me, but I grabbed his ass harder and his cock jerked in my mouth, a groan tore from his throat. Beck used his grip on my hair to hold me still, sending his release down my throat until the pulsing stopped and I slid back, licking my lips.

  Before I could even process how hot the whole thing was, I got jerked from my knees, “I’m so sorry, Doll. You okay?”

  I laughed at his panic, “I’m fine. You aren’t going to break me, Beck,” I kissed him, “That was so sexy.”

  “Yeah, it was,” He kissed me back and a knock came from our bedroom door, “Coming!” We left the bathroom and I pulled some clothes from the dresser, “I owe you one, Doll.” I waited until he pulled the shirt over his stomach before opening the door. Sadie scrambled in and jumped on the bed.

  “Your mother is here,” Harriet gave me a look and reached for my stomach. She was worse than Beck about rubbing on me. Beck sighed and we followed Harriet down the stairs to face my mom.

  Mom ran up the bottom few steps and grabbed both of us, hugging us to her chest, “Why didn’t you call me last night? I had to find out you two nearly got shot from Faye this morning. Are you okay?” Mom backed up and took us both by the hand.

  “We can talk downstairs in the kitchen. I’m sure Mere is hungry,” Beck answered stiffly. We made it to the kitchen and Briggs gave us both a pitying glance before nearly running from the room, “Coffee, Margo?”

  Mom shook her head, “Neither of you are hurt?” She climbed on a stool and I pulled my kit from the drawer to check my glucose.

  “No, we’re fine,” Beck put a glass of juice in front of me and kissed my head, “Shaken, but no one got hurt except Dennis.” My chest squeezed. The man was sick, like Zeke, and chose to self-medicate. I hated that he died, but I’d never tell Beck that.

  “You knew him?” Mom narrowed her eyes and Beck nodded, looking over my shoulder at the number on my meter. He pushed the glass of juice at me, “Why did he show up with a gun?”

  I tried to answer, but Beck cut me off, “He thought I slept with his wife. I may have, but I really don’t know. If I did, I had no idea it was his wife.” Beck’s jaw ticked.

  Mom looked at where Beck had his hand on my shoulder and I reached up to touch it, “Where were you?”

  “Beck tried to get me inside, but I dropped the keys. Dennis never threatened me, but I was behind Beck. Mom-”

  “What happened?”

  “I yelled loud enough for Briggs to hear and he pulled Meredith inside just as the police showed up. They shot Dennis on the stoop.” Beck squeezed my shoulder and Mom nodded slowly.

  “I’m glad you two are okay,” She paused, “I was horrible yesterday, and I keep thinking of how I would feel right now if something happened to either of you. I’d never forgive myself for the terrible things I said,” Mom picked up my hand, “You’ll take good care of them, won’t you?”

  “I’m gonna try,” Beck promised, “I’ll never take either of them from you.”

  “Okay. Well, I think we should celebrate. I owe you both a wedding gift,” Mom smiled, “Lunch is on me, then we can go shopping. Surely we can find something my grandson needs.”

  We found tons of things Mom thought her grandson needed. She bought us lunch, tried to trick us into revealing the baby’s name. Mom acted like Beck belonged in the family, finally. We made it back home that night with enough stuff to fill the whole nursery, but neither of us had the energy to set it all up. Instead, we laid on the bed, Beck’s head on my lap while I played with his hair. He talked to the baby, telling our son how great life was going to be and how much he loved him. Everything I nearly lost the night before was in my lap. I watched my husband talk to our son, and fell in love even more. The best part was that I got to keep both of them forever.

  BECK

  “I’m not going anywhere Beck.” Meredith could promise it all day, but I was too afraid to even blink. When I didn’t move, she growled at me. “Go tell them!” My wife snapped at me and I moved my ass out the door and down the hall, hurrying to get back to them. Once I rounded the corner into the waiting room, everyone crowded me at once.

  “Six pounds, twelve ounces, and nineteen inches.” Briggs hugged me, clapping my back extra hard. “He’s a redhead too.” I laughed, hugging him back. “I’m a fucking dad.”

  “I can’t wait to see him.” Briggs pushed me back to look at me, then hugged me again. After a decade of being strangers, I finally had my brother back.

  “How’s my daughter?” Margo grabbed my hand. I couldn’t blame her for being scared. When they couldn’t get Meredith’s blood sugar down, the doctor ordered an emergency induction a month early. After twenty hours of pointless labor, Meredith was prepped for surgery and Alex was born via C-section at five fifty-eight pm. Having a gun to my head was nothing compared to the fear I felt watching them prep my wife for surgery.

  “She’s great.” I hugged my mother-in-law. “I told her to sleep, but she wanted you to come back first.” Margo didn’t need more convincing, she grabbed her husband and shoved me out to the hall. Margo stayed on my heels all the way to the room then pushed me over to get in first. The scene inside made me smile even bigger. Meredith had Alex cradled in her arm, one side of her gown dropped, trying to coax him to nurse. His red hair was covered with a blue striped cap, but only for a second. Margo pulled the hat off and petted his head. I winked at Meredith and left her and her parents to talk. I had to go see my new niece to tell her all about her cousin. Griffin and Cori had all three girls huddled in the corner of the waiting room. I walked over and picked little Maverick up from Griffin. Cori started to get up, but Griffin stopped her.

  “We'll be back. I promise.” I settled her in the bend of my arm and Griffin didn’t hesitate to get down on the floor with the rest of his girls. “Okay, Mav. We’re going to see your cousin. He’s even smaller than you, but I know you’ll show him the ropes.”

  Maverick and I opened the door to Meredith’s room and found Alex nursing quietly. Her parents were gone. “We have a baby, you don’t need to kidnap Mav anymore.” Meredith rolled her eyes at me and went back to staring at our son. “He’s so beautiful, Beck.” She whispered, stroking her thumb down Alexander’s cheek.

  “He is. And yeah, we have our own now, but Maverick wanted to meet her cousin.” I sat on the edge of the bed holding a wide-eye Maverick next to Alex. “Is it rude to tell your sister that our kid is cuter?” Meredith moved to shove me back playfully, but I caught her hand and pulled her up for a kiss. With Alex in her arms and her lips on mine, I had everything I needed.

  THE END

  Acknowledgments

  My new book team is the best thing to ever happen to my writing career. From my beta readers to my proof reader, you ladies make my dream possible. Cat, Michele, Mallory, Alexandria, and Crystal. Thank you!