by Emilia Finn
“Tina? Are you oka--”
“Yeah.” I turn in my seat, facing the back seat, disoriented when the world outside the back window is upside down. Then I realize the pain I feel around my hips, my seat belt cinching me in though my weight wants to obey the laws of gravity and drop me on my head. “Is everyone okay back there?”
“Yeah, but Bean is pissed.”
“Mommy!” Evie screams a deep, guttural, sixteen year old girl who just got dumped by her cheating boyfriend, pissed off. “Out. Out now!”
“And Evie’s pissed too.”
“Yeah.” I feel down along my ribs, following the seatbelt until I find the buckle, then closing my eyes and clenching my teeth, I hit the release, angling my head so I land heavy on my shoulder.
It doesn’t hurt so much, but I let out a grunt anyway and I tumble and fold over myself like a three quarters full sack of rice.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” I get my legs under me, feeling my neck tweak at the awkward angle, and I almost laugh that after everything that has gone down today, a tweaked neck of my own doing might be my worst injury. Thank god. “Where’s Sean?”
“He’s over--”
“Bubs!” The back door flies open suddenly, Jim almost ripping it from it hinges as he dives in. Then Jack is at my door, pushing it open using strong arms, since the roof is misshapen and the corner of the door is catching in the dirt. Jack’s hands are under my arms immediately, pulling me out painfully fast, and I realize my worst injury today may be a dislocated shoulder.
He pats me down, almost indecently, but his face is terrified white, his hands are shaking, his whole body is shaking. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Where’s Evie?”
I turn, suddenly finding my words missing, my tongue too thick, my eyes stinging, as I watch Jim unstrap Bean from her seat, sitting her in Iz’s arms, then sitting them on the dirt, he dives back in for Evie.
I run toward Jim, my legs definitely jello now, and I feel my knees buckle half a dozen times in the steps I take, but I reach him, falling against his strong body as he presses my daughter against my chest. I burst out in tears as I smell her sweet bubblegum shampoo fill my senses.
Jim pushes me back to Jack, who takes my weight in his arms, then Jim lifts Iz and Bean again as though they weigh nothing more than a box of feathers, and the guys carry us fifty feet away from every single car and the train, as though they’re afraid something might spontaneously explode.
Dozens of cars come screaming toward us and I wince, worried that I’m probably still going to die today, collected by a speeding cop as they fly around us. That’d be just my damn luck. But the guys cover us, protect us, the babies in the center of our group.
Evie cries against my neck and her tears cut me deep, wringing my own tears out, wrecking me and my nerves catch up to my surroundings.
Holy fucking shit.
What the fuck just happened?
“Aiden?” I spin on the spot, trying to see over the guys’ shoulders. “Where’s Aiden? WHERE’S AIDEN?” I scream the last one, though by that point I know exactly where he is. He’s straddling a man on the flat dirt, straddling him and raining fists down on his face.
He’s at least eighty feet away, but I can see it’s him, and I know, even though I haven’t seen him in years, I know the man on the bottom is Sean.
Jon is ten feet from him, holding another man down, but he’s thrown off, shoved from his own personal punching bag by police as they swarm the group.
Jon quickly reorients himself and jumps to his feet, then my gaze is drawn to Bobby as he sprints the fifty feet between the second car and Sean’s.
His arms pump hard, his feet moving faster than anything I’ve ever seen and he crash tackles Aiden, them both flying, crashing painfully to the dirt and rocks ten feet away.
More police swoop down, on Sean’s still body, on Bobby and Aiden as they grapple on the dirt, though they’re mostly just rolling around.
“He’s okay.” Jack holds me against his chest, Evie nestled softly between us as her tears fall. “He’s okay. Bobby will fix it.”
“Bobby always fixes it.” Jim nods, holding Iz and Bean against his own chest and he buries his face in Iz’s hair. His whole frame is shaking, almost painfully so. “We’ll be okay. We’re all gonna be okay.”
“Where’s Kit and Tink?”
“Home,” Jim answers on a grunt. “Didn’t want Kit or the baby hurt. How are you, Bubs? Did you hurt your belly?”
“No.” She pats his hair gently, running her fingers through the long strands at his nape. “I didn’t get hurt at all. Baby is fine.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure, Jim. He’s fine.”
“He?” Jim laughs, though the sound is strangled on a cry. His face is crumpled, his eyes spilling over, his chest almost folding in on itself. His grief is palpable, though everyone is fine. “You’re saying he’s a he again?”
“Yeah.” She kisses his palm as it caresses her face. “He’s a he.”
I find myself seeking Aiden again in the chaos, and as though called by some psychosomatic connection, he looks up from Bobby and his eyes land on mine.
I sob again when I find his face covered in blood, his shirt similar, and again, as though speaking with our minds, he looks down at his hands, then he drags his shirt over his head, wiping his face with the inside even as he runs.
Toward us.
“Peaches!” He reaches us in about three seconds flat, with Bobby and Jon on his heels though I forgot they were even behind him, then Evie and I are in his arms.
I press my sobbing face against his bare chest and keep Evie pressed between us.
But loudest of all, perhaps the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever heard in my life, are Aiden’s painful howls as he sobs into my hair. His hands are almost hurting as he holds me against him, but I choke on my own sobs as his large, strong body bounces with his own cries. So much pain. Such a near miss.
“I’m okay.” I squeeze closer to him, wanting to give him any comfort he needs. Aiden’s right arm, and my left, support Evie, and my right holds him against us, my fingers latching onto the back of his head and pressing him to us. I don’t want even a sliver of light to get between us.
“Move back.” Bobby shouts around us with his arms out, keeping the hordes of medical and emergency personnel away as Aiden rains kisses on my hair, then on Evie’s, then on my face and neck.
“Are you okay, Peaches?”
“Yeah. We’re fine. All of us.”
My gaze escapes Aiden’s for a fast second as I watch Jim lead Bean and Iz away, almost levitating them as he holds Iz to his side, then he practically tosses her inside an ambulance with a demand to check her over.
My gaze is drawn past Jim, to the wreck that used to be Sean’s Subaru, then to the man laying slack on the ground as medics work on him.
“Hey.” Aiden turns my face with his hand on my jaw and I wince at the shredded skin on his knuckles. “Don’t look at him.”
“Is he--”
“Dead? No.” Aiden uses his spare hand to wipe his eyes, then scratch along his scalp in a kind of anxious tic. “He’s missing most his teeth, his nose is just shy of being permanently embedded inside his brain, and his jaw is never going to work properly again, but he’s alive and he’ll live long enough to learn how to gum the guys in max.”
“Are you okay?”
Aiden chuckles at my question, though his eyes fill again and he scrubs them with his lifted shoulder. “I thought I lost you, Peaches. I thought I lost you both.”
“We’re okay.” I squeeze his face down to my neck again to muffle his sobs. “We’re okay, and he’s done.”
Aiden nods against me, squeezing me so tight I wonder if Evie can breathe, but she’s clutching to him as much as he is to us as her curls tickle the side of my face. “We’re okay, baby. I promise. It’s over.”
~*~
“We needed a legal reason to arrest him,” Connor begi
ns, sitting us down immediately after introducing himself to me.
I get the heebie jeebies just knowing this man has been invisible to me for years, that he’s seen every move I make. So much for my keen observation skills and hiding Evie from danger.
“As soon as they tapped your car, we were given hand engraved permission to bring him in, to search his properties, his businesses. He’s always been squeaky clean, so clean it’s disgusting. But you, Sarah, he’s always been passionate about you. He acts before he thinks. You’re his only weakness, and we finally got him.”
“What do you mean you got him?”
“I mean,” Connor sits forward in his chair, his eyes surprisingly kind despite my instant hate for him since he watched Sean hurt us. I think he’s actually probably a good guy. I get it. You can’t just search people’s homes on a whim. And Sean is slippery as an eel. I always knew that. “I mean I had men positioned everywhere, Sarah. This has been coming together for a long, long time. As soon as I found out he was on his way here, I knew it was on. I had everything ready to go. I had men on several judge’s doorsteps, waiting for him to make his move. As soon as he went beyond driving in the street and moved into intimidation, then they trapped your car, warrants were signed and warehouses were raided.”
“All that in the last couple hours?”
“Warrants were signed immediately.” Connor checks his watch with a satisfied twitch to his lips. “My men were already in his warehouses while you were still moving toward the tracks.”
“So what next?”
“Next… nothing. We’ve been building our case on his entire organization for decades. This goes beyond him and onto his Daddy, who is thankfully, dead. Sean’s passion for you brought not only himself out from his ivory tower, but he brought three of his highest ranked men. Immediately fracturing his entire organization should something happen to him, which,” Connor smiles savagely, “it did. Traditionally, men like him wouldn’t bring his entire round table with him. He’d leave some home, just in case. But this time he came with the whole team, and as a result he lost them in one swoop. All four are now under police escort at the hospital. They’re not going anywhere, and they’re not getting out on bail.
“On top of that, our warrants nabbed seventy three of his next rung. Please excuse my swearing Sarah, but he’s fucked.”
This is just… too much. It all happened so quickly, I feel like I’m going to wake up tomorrow and it will have been a dream. Aiden’s solid, warm, safe presence beside me is the only thing keeping me grounded.
His spiky stubble as he nuzzles my temple every few minutes reminding me he’s here. He’s here, and we’re okay.
And Sean’s not.
“Frankston Industries, the legitimate holdings, are going to be tied up for years with the IRS. They’ll tear it to pieces until they wring out every cent they can, then the shell will be returned to you.”
“Me?” This definitely brings me back to the ground and I almost choke on my tongue.
Connor shrugs carelessly. “Well, to Katie. Do with it as you will, but perhaps keep in mind the tens of thousands of legitimate employees you now control. They have mortgages and families, so maybe consult some professional advice.”
“I don’t want it. Evie doesn’t want it.”
“So find a good lawyer and sell, it’s completely your choice.”
“It’ll be okay.” Aiden presses me closer to his side and kisses my forehead again, softly above my brand new butterfly stitches and bandaging. “You don’t have to decide anything today, Peaches.”
“Though I’d reconsider selling, Sarah. You could sell for about one hundred and fifty billion today, or you could keep it, and earn about seventeen billion a year. Every year. And it’s going to keep going up.”
I blink at Connor. Then I blink again. My mouth opens then closes, then opens again then closes again.
“Have a think about it.” Connor taps my knee then stands. “Either way, you won’t be counting pennies to buy peanut butter anymore.”
Epilogue
I roll onto my side, lifting my torso over Tina as she smiles like the fat cat who got the cream. The beautiful cat that’s all mine. Forever. “Are you happy?”
Her eyes are closed, but her nose is scrunched adorably, her lips pulled up in a big smile. She doesn’t answer verbally, but she nods her head so hard I worry for her.
I lower over her, nuzzling her naked belly with my stubble and she squeals. “Use your words.”
She snorts at the very same sentence we’ve said to Evie when she’s being a stubborn ass and asks for things without using her manners.
“Don’t tickle me!”
I lean down and kiss her ribs again and her hands come down on my head to push me away. “Yes!” she shouts on a laugh. “I’m happy.” She pulls my head toward her, our faces pausing only an inch apart and I smile at the tears in her eyes. Thankfully, evidently, happy tears. Probably laugh tears but whatever. I’ll take them. “Yes,” she repeats, kissing my nose. “I’m happy.” My chin. “I’m so very happy.” My forehead. “It’s official, I’m a real Mrs. Kincaid now, and I can afford a broken arm.”
I chuckle against her soft cheek. “I hope you don’t break any bones.”
“Me too. But if I do!” The laughter in her voice makes my heart do this stupid pussy pitter patter thing in my chest. “And Evie’s paperwork has been filed. It’ll be a while, but eventually she’ll be a Kincaid too. I’m definitely happy.”
I lift my face away again, locking her Caribbean blue eyes into my gaze. She’s so pretty. “Smalls is already mine. She was mine before you were mine.”
Tina’s lips lift into a sexy, satisfied smile again and she nods her head softly. “Thank god for my daughter’s boyfriend from way back.”
“Thank god.”
I roll onto my back, bringing her up and over me and I smile at her bare chest. I already stripped her of her gown hours earlier, leaving her entirely bare for me to feast on as I please.
Her beauty distracts me from what could be a stunning sunset over the strip in the desert, but I’m not sad to be missing the sun rising on our first day of legal marriage. I plan to see another seventy years worth of them with her by my side. Or better yet, on top of me.
“Love you, Peaches.”
She tucks her amazing silky hair behind her ears, that same hair I used to fantasize about running my fingertips through, and I reach out and take a lock in my grasp.
Because I can.
She practically purrs, pressing her sweet face against my palm. “I love you, Aiden.”
“You know, Peaches, I’d wait on a street corner for you for the rest of my life.”
Tina smiles as her confused eyes lock on mine again. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying I found the woman I’d wait forever for.”
THE END
Thank you so much for joining me in more Rollin adventures. This is the fourth book in the series. More than 400,000 words and uncountable hours of writing, not to mention the hours you’ve invested in reading my stories. Thank you!
Like always, I want to shout out to a few of my closest friends and supporters.
My Beta’s; Arelis Cordero, Debbie Berne and Jenelle O’Shea. I really appreciate all your love and support. Truly! You spend hours and hours talking to me, letting me bounce ideas back and forth. You’re sad for my guys when shit happens to them, and you’re happy for them when things go their way.
You laugh with them (or at them) when Jimmy or Jack are smartasses. You love my people so much and I love you for that. Thank you.
Sloane Johnson – you nailed Tina’s cover. Of course! Thank you. I love your work. And yay, as I write this, you’re sending my Jon cover over. I love that one too and I can’t wait to show it off.
To Brittney of Red Hatter Book Blog - alllll the Gore! I love you lots and lots and I’ll never forget that you love my boys.
To the people over at Indie Author Support on Facebo
ok. Thank you so much! You guys help me more than you even know.
Beth Valentine – the owner of the Tree in a play story! I’m still laughing so hard. I’m sure your acting was superb, and I’m glad your hair eventually turned back to normal. Thank you for always being only a message away. And congratulations on your debut novel, released only a few weeks ago. Onwards and upwards. <3
And last but definitely not least, my husband. I love you more than all the people above combined. And I love them a lot.
Thank you for everything. I’m so proud of everything you’re doing, even while you support me and my writing, and we’re both still getting up 6 times a night to kids who are allergic to sleep. They’ll sleep eventually, right? I’ll definitely enjoy waking their asses when they’re teenagers and trying to sleep in.
Readers, do you want to know how to find me?
I have an author Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/EmiliaBFinn/
And a reader group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/therollincrew/
It’s a brand new group that I created specifically because I have a surprise for you all. After feedback from each of my beta’s; each of them independently asked for the same thing. They want more Jon and Tink. Even though their book is coming up next, my beta’s felt like they wanted more, NOW.
So I’ll be posting their prologue, and it’ll be exclusive to group members. Reader beware!! It contains a HUGE spoiler. So don’t read it unless you’re sure you don’t mind being left hanging until I finish their book.
And finally, if you love my stories, please leave a review. It lets me know you enjoy my work and that I’m not talking to a brick wall. Reviews help indie authors such as myself be seen, as each review and star rating helps our visibility, pushing our books up the list so new readers can find us. Please leave a review. It doesn’t have to be an essay. Just some stars and a single sentence telling me you liked it.
As always, thank you.
Jon and Tink are up next and I’m loving being in their heads.