The Don's Baby: A Bad Boy Romance

by Sophia Hampton

  “Fat J said he’d talked to you and you wanted out as much as I wanted you out. I’d asked for him to get a plan for us the night before so he was already thinking and I’m not sure what you said or what he found out that made him figure out the rest of the plan. I do know he needed your exact weight so we could tranquilize you quickly but not take you out for good.” He enjoyed looking at her when they talked her red hair had strands of gold within that he hadn’t seen before. Maybe because when they’d been together before it was rushed and forbidden. If either of them had been caught it would have been the end.

  “I remember he asked for my weight and told me not to lie about it. It seemed odd at the time but with what I was going through it really didn’t seem all the time.”

  “I know you wanted to know what happened after I shot you and I can only tell you what Fat J told me because the plan was for me to walk away. That was one of the hardest things I had to do, but if people were going to go back to the way they were a bad guy was needed. So I was going to take you out because your death wasn’t what they had in mind for you, but something worse.”

  “Before we went to the field I was introduced to the same men who wanted to buy me before I joined the club. Remember I told you that Dustin had saved me from my mother trying to sell me to human traffickers, well Joe found them and offered me to them again. He said if I was found innocent he’d just let me go but the look on the men’s faces told me no matter how this went I was going with them.”

  “That’s what Fat J. heard as well. That Joe is a slimy bastard.” He was enraged at how Emma had been treated but even more so of what his plans for her entailed. He was done with that life, but the sharp shooter in him wanted to take him right out.

  “That’s very true but that part is over,” she said, looking very pleased with herself.

  “After we all left Joe asked Fat J for a favor. They didn’t need anymore trouble after the death of Mark. They thought the police would be looking at them closely for this and since no one was going to help with the story it would look like they made it up.”

  “What happened to my body?” She watched him interested like it was a television show or a story and he had to give it to her. She was doing better than he’d thought she’d do.

  “Well Fat and another guy put you in his car and everyone thought he was going to take you to the hospital or dispose of your body some way but he had his two associates bring you to this location. It’s off the map so I have directions to get to the main road because after you turn into this private road it gets kind of dicey.”

  “Where did you get the bruise on your jaw?” She rubbed the tender spot and although it hurt like hell for the first 24 hours or so he’d almost forgotten about it.

  “That was a gift from Aaron who didn’t know what the plan was and thought I’d gone bat shit crazy. I’d told him earlier that day that I’d need to get you out of town and I’d probably not be coming back. I had no idea that they were going to show up but I’m glad they did. It may have been a different story if I didn’t have back up.”

  “Why did you come alone?” she asked and he had to think about it for a minute to figure it out himself.

  “I’d placed all of them in a bad place. I wanted to help you but when Mark pointed that gun at me, I knew I’d made a bad decision to talk to him. There was no way we were both going to get out of there alive.”

  “I shouldn’t have asked you to talk to him. I’ve gone around and around about that decision since I asked you. I knew you and he were both men of action and I wasn’t sure what you could have said to make the situation better. Any way you would have come at him would have felt like a threat.” She looked so sad and guilty he laid back on the bed and pulled her into his arms. Emma snuggled into him and breathed in his skin.

  “That’s about it. From where we came from and where we’re going to have nothing to do with each other. It’s going to be about now.” He kissed her quickly on the mouth and she returned the kiss but then hopped up from the bed and pulled his tee shirt on. It was long enough to be a dress on her and he thought that maybe she should wear that all the time, because it looked comfortable and sexy on her.

  “Well now I’d like to get something to eat. I remember you saying there was a month’s worth of food here so I’d say we dig in.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said getting up and throwing on a pair of boxer briefs before following to the kitchen.

  She turned toward him on the way as she took in her surroundings. “So Fat J made sure we had clothes and other supplies here too?”

  “The man is a genius. He’s thought of everything.”

  “So if no one is looking for me because they think I’m sleeping with the fish and you have been ex communicated from your club where are we going to go?” She looked puzzled and he guessed he could understand her concern. He was more of a take it one day at a time but it appeared his woman was a planner.

  “How about we get through breakfast and then we and figure out where we want to go. If your concern is about money, don’t worry. I’ve saved a bit of every job I’ve pulled so I’m close to 10 figures.”

  “You have all that in cash?”

  “Yes. You don’t think I could go to a bank with this do you?” he said and was grateful that he’d been saving up. He didn’t know what for, but he knew there would be a day when he’d need it and he didn’t want to waste it on drugs, booze and chicks. Well maybe on this particular chick it wouldn’t be a waste but in the past he didn’t spend much on anything.

  “Well that’s good.” She found a lot of items in the stocked kitchen but she brought out the same spinach, eggs and cheese that let him know she was preparing to make one of Miss Marlene’s famous omelets.

  A loud knock on the door startled them both, but he moved to the window beside the door to look out and found Fat J standing on the doorstep. Rafe opened the door and pulled the big man in with a hug.

  “That was quite a plan. How is everything going back home?” Even as he said it and thought about the people he was leaving behind he wasn’t down but a little nostalgic. He was going to have a new home, but to this fostered child having roots was important and digging them up stung just a bit.

  “Everything is going well. The Reapers think Emma is dead and disposed of and that you have been kicked out of the Tribesmen. It’s an early diagnosis but it looks like everything is going to be right as rain or at least return somewhat to how it was before.”

  “Emma’s making something to eat would you like to stay for a while?”

  “I’ll say hello to Emma and then I have something for both of you.” Fat walked to the kitchen and Rafe followed him in.

  When Emma saw the big man standing in the kitchen she dropped what she was doing to come over and give him a hug. “There are no words to thank you for what you’ve done for us and how you’ve put yourself out there. I just want to say how much it means to both of us.”

  “Don’t worry yourself about it. It was my pleasure.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t tell me the plan, because I would have tried to get you to do something else.” She laughed and returned to finish the meal she was making.

  “It was more believable that you didn’t know. The expression on your face couldn’t have been faked it was authentic fear and that’s what we needed.”

  Fat put a briefcase on the table and it was the first time Rafe noticed that he’d had anything in his hands, but he watched the man unlock, open and then shuffle through neatly organized papers. He arranged them on the table and Rafe went over to look at what his buddy was doing.

  “This is everything you need to start anew. I’ve gotten you both birth certificates, social security cards, financial statements and credit cards. You have moved to wherever you’re going from Butterfield California and I know that you have enough money to get started. This is your new life my friend. A clean slate for you to mark it with whatever you want.”

  Rafe could hardly believe
that Fat J had done all this. When he’d asked for him to make a plan he hadn’t been asking for the plan to be all inclusive but it looked like his friend just worked like that. He was grateful, but he wasn’t a man who was good with words like that, especially to another man. When he looked at his friend he found Fat wearing an expression of happiness and that was saying a lot for the stony face man who’s expressionless visage was his trademark.

  “You don’t have to say anything, Rafe. I know this isn’t something you asked for but as this is a good bye there needed to be some closure to the plan and you know I always say the devil is in the details.” Fat J put all the information back into the briefcase and closed it up. Then he clapped Rafe on the back and went over to give Emma a hug. “Be well my friends. I’m glad the plan worked out and you are free to live your lives. I’ve left instructions for how to get out of here and I’ll be on my way.”

  “Thank you, Andres,” Emma called out to him as he walked away and he raised his hand in a quick wave.

  At the door Fat J turned to Rafe. “You guys are going to be fine. Take good care of each other and stay safe. Stay as long as you’d like and when you leave just put the key on the table. Text me when you go I’ll have someone come clean up and close the house back up.”

  “Will do Fat J and thanks again.”

  “Don’t mention it.” Fat J said with a grin and was on his way moving pretty quickly for a man his size.

  When he walked back to the kitchen the omelets were done and Emma was looking at the paperwork.

  “You’re friend is something else,” she said still going through the papers. “I’m Emily Tanner and your Rafael Tanner. So I guess we’re married.”

  “Well I did a lot more than propose on the big screen at Wrigley Field, I shot you for love.” He waited until she put down the papers and then pulled her into his arms. Looking down into her smiling face he knew his friend was absolutely right. They were going to be fine.

  EPILOGUE

  It had been 6 months since she’d been shot by her lover so they could start a life anew and she was the happiest she’d ever been. They’d moved to central Ohio in a small town called Treeville and the people were welcoming and friendly. It took a little while for Rafe to get used to it because while Emma (short for Emily) had never met a stranger, her husband Rafe had never met a friend. They had to work on that but it worked for them.

  They had a large house and they worked together at the carpenter’s shop Rafe started. There was a lot of time for them to talk about their ideas and desires for each other and their future. Emma was even learning a bit more about wood working.

  The phone rang but it wasn’t the one in the shop or their cell phones it was a phone that Rafe had tucked away in a desk drawer. Emma had always wondered what it was for but since it didn’t concern her then she didn’t bother with it.

  “Do you want to get that?” Rafe asked while he had his hands full sanding down a dresser top.

  “Sure.” She brought it over and he told her to put it on speaker.

  “Hey there Lucky.” The booming voice said from the phone.

  “I’m a lucky guy but I no longer go by that name.” Rafe was smiling fondly so she knew that this was a call he wanted to get.

  “It’s been a few months and I just wanted to check on you. Everyone has been asking and I wanted to know as well.”

  “Me and Emma are settled in real well and I’m using my hands to make a little honest money.” Rafe told the caller.

  “Honest money is usually little, my friend.”

  The men laughed together about what must have been long standing joke because Emma didn’t think it was that humorous.

  “I’m glad you’re well and I’m glad your woman is too. I just wanted to give you the latest run down here in case you’ve had anything plaguing your mind about how you left this place.”

  “Aaron, I’d like to know anything you want to tell me. Emma is here and you are on speaker phone.” Rafe told who she now knew was the president of his club.

  “That’s not a problem. I was hoping she’d be there as I have a few nuggets of information for her as well.”

  “Well then great,” Emma spoke up for the first time since he’d been told she was in the room.

  “First off the leader of the Reapers, Joe Burgundy, has been killed in some kind of take over. The house went to pieces after the quote unquote death of Emma and the two men who were promised Emma were upset that they didn’t get anything so Joe offered up a few of the other ladies of the house. That didn’t go over well with the club and they’ve been fighting within themselves so hard they haven’t really had time to fuss with us. No women were taken and I think all of them have found somewhere else to stay.”

  “That’s a good thing right?” Emma said happy that her friends were able to be free of that place. Her death had given a lot of people life so she was happy for that part of it.

  “Also the spy you caught and put down in the basement decided to do his own lights out and cut himself with one of the bottles in the cellar. He didn’t do a good enough job of it and we sent him to the ER when we finally cut him loose.” Aaron was having so much fun with his stories it was easy to get sucked up into them.

  “It sounds like all is well there and all is well here.” Rafe put down his sanding equipment and took the phone from Emma.

  “I don’t want you to feel like what went on is something you should feel any guilt about. This will be my last call to you. I hope both of you have wonderful lives together. If you need anything I’m just a call away.”

  “Thanks Aaron,” Rafe said as he hung up the phone. He stood staring at it for a long while so Emma came up behind him and hugged him around the waist.

  “It feels like a whole other life we had back there. Sometimes when we don’t get calls it feels like we’ve been living like this forever instead of just a couple of months.” Rafe said and Emma found she wanted to look at his face when he was talking.

  She move to the front of him and lay her head on his chest while he put down the phone.

  “I’m tired of pretending that this is our life,” Rafe said walking her backward toward the wall.

  Emma was so caught up in the soft sexy tone of his voice and his heartbeat under her ear she almost missed what he was saying. She picked her head up off his chest. “What?”

  “I said I’m tired of pretending that this is our life.”

  “I know what you said I just don’t know what that means. Are you tired of being with me or tired of being in this rural area.” Emma knew she was sputtering because she was at a point in her life where she was the happiest and it would break her heart to know that Rafe didn’t want what she was enjoying so much.

  “It means that I want to renew our vows and have the honeymoon we never took.” Rafe continued to walk her backward but veered off going towards the tall table.

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was almost like the words didn’t make sense. Was he saying he was done? His body was acting like he was just getting started and she couldn’t make front or back of what he was saying.

  “I should have done this better.” He stopped when she could feel the table behind her. “Mrs. Tanner?”

  “Yes Mr. Tanner?” She could see he was in a weird mood. Serious and playful but there was a hint of something else she couldn’t decipher. Something she’d never seen from him before, but since he was keeping this light she would too.

  “Would you do be the great honor of renewing our vows and marrying me again?” Rafe looked so sincere that she knew he wasn’t joking.

  “I thought we were already married.” She tried to get the waver out of her voice but this was something that she’d wanted but didn’t think she was going to get it. When Fat J had given them papers that said they were married she’d thought that’s all she’d ever have and she was alright with that, but deep down she wanted more.

  “We are but that was for convenience, but it wasn’t real. I
didn’t ask you and you didn't say yes. We did that because that was what we needed to do to survive. It’s more than that for me and with what we’ve been through and what we are now able to do I want you as my partner for good.”

  “I will absolutely be your partner. In bed… in life… in everything, forever.” She hoped it sounded like a sacred vow to him because they were as good as married now. Emma liked the look she saw in Rafe’s eyes when he heard her answer. That must mean he was as happy as she was.

  “Good answer,” Rafe said as he picked her up and plopped her on the table spreading her legs wide before stepping between them. She’d learned that Rafe loved to fuck her with her panties on so she made sure she had the hottest underwear he’d ever seen. Not that he looked at them all that much he was quick to pull them to the side. Of course today would be the day he wanted to play and he petted her pussy through her panties.