by Natalie Dean
She didn’t care. Anything was better than the slammer. Especially as a former officer of the law…
Stone leaned back in the chair. “Okay. Adrianna, David, you two can go. I’ll have someone send you the details.” He bared his teeth in a feral smile. It was one of the first times she’d see him grin. “Until then, good work.”
He tapped against the door, and the officers opened them up.
“They’re good to go,” Stone said, and the officers unlocked her and David. Part of Adrianna wondered if there was a scenario in which he would have arrested them. If they’d been smug, she had no doubt he would have been fine letting them spend some time in jail. But because they had been respectful and appreciative, they were free.
Stone grabbed Adrianna’s arm as she exited the car, stopping her cold. When she looked back at him, his eyes were dangerously hard. “I like you, Whetmore. I’ve given you a pass. Next time, I will not be so forgiving.”
With that, he released her and closed the door.
Chapter 13
It wasn’t until about two hours later when they were back at the agency and waiting for Stone to tell them it was okay to leave, that Adrianna realized how sore her body was.
In the moment, fighting against Jacob, she hadn’t thought about it, but she had really been tossed around hard in that hotel room. Her hip hurt. Her ribs were aching. Nothing felt broken, but she knew she’d have bruises by the next day.
Ellie, meanwhile, had passed the “Quiet and Terrified” phase and gone into the “Won’t Stop Talking” phase. She chattered on and on about what she had done that was so brave when Jacob had kidnapped her. She said that Jacob was scary and mean, but he had never actually hurt her.
Adrianna didn’t mind the endless talking. She was just relieved to hear Ellie’s sweet little voice again.
“Were you brave?” David asked at one point on the seat in the waiting lounge, grinning down at his daughter.
She looked at her shoes bashfully. “Yeessss….”
He reached out and touched her on the nose. “Boop.”
The first few months she’d hung around David and Ellie, Adrianna had felt depressingly left out. However, over time, David came to care more about Adrianna. And Ellie had grown to start seeing Adrianna as a mother figure. It was all coming together for them to be a family. It felt great to finally be at peace, sitting there in the lounge with her fiancé and dear little Ellie.
Eventually, a woman came out of the office, telling them that Stone had finished up the paperwork and that they were free to go.
They ended up having to call a cab to get home because David’s car had been completely obliterated in their car accident when they’d first caught up with Jacob on the road. Ellie nodded off in the cab. She was exhausted, justifiably so. She’d had a long day.
“I feel like we should go to the doctor,” David whispered, leaning over to Adrianna. The cabbie hadn’t said anything the entire trip. He was just firmly focused on the road.
“Just to check if we’re hurt?” Adrianna replied quietly. Ellie had fallen asleep on her lap with her head across her legs, so she didn’t want to move. David came to her.
“Yeah. I mean, you busted through the windshield of my car…and I got pretty beat up. And who knows if Ellie’s got anything wrong.”
Adrianna nodded silently. What he was saying was smart. They were capable, not immortal. And she had gone through the car windshield... She’d heard of people breaking their necks in car crashes and ignoring the pain, thinking it was just a pinched spine, for years before problems started to actually emerge.
He gave her a sweet, caring smile and reached out for her hand. When she gave it to him, he squeezed it gently. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. Everything that needed to be said at that moment passed between them, without ever saying a word.
It took them a while to make it to their apartment. David paid the cabbie. Ellie was still sleeping, so very gently, David slid his arms under her and picked her up. He barely looked like he was straining to carry her all the way up to their apartment. Usually, Ellie walked up there herself, but she was zonked. She barely stirred when David picked her up.
Adrianna found the spare key and unlocked the door. Although the sun was still up, Adrianna and David fell asleep too, right after getting inside. David walked to the bedroom after laying Ellie in her own bed. Ellie had blinked sleepily before curling up in the sheets.
David dropped into the bed, still clothed. He was the kind of guy that didn’t like to sleep in his regular clothes. In all the time she’d known him, he had only gone to sleep in his day clothes once? Twice?
“I. Am. So. Freaking. Tired.” He said, face in the mattress.
Adrianna could not go to sleep without showering. Ever. She didn’t know why it bothered her so much. Everyone had their own little pet peeves. For David, it was people that called their significant other “bae.” For Adrianna, it was going to sleep dirty.
Zombie-like, she sluggishly went to get clothes – a sheer, silky smooth nightgown. After turning on the shower, she sat down on the bed to wait for the water to warm up.
David, who had not moved, geared his eyes towards her incredulously. “Are you seriously showering? Now? Just go to sleep…”
She leaned back. Without her consent, the bed sucked her onto her back, with the soft mattress cushioning her body. Her back sunk in deep. “I… I can’t,” she said with a yawn. “Just gonna take a quick...gonna take a quick shower.”
She’d been okay until she hit the bed. She’d felt tired earlier, but the longer she laid on the bed, the more exhausted she became – especially when David flung a hand out lazily onto her thigh.
“Staaaayyy.”
She moved his hand, but he put it back. “I….” she yawned loudly. “I… you know what? Forget it. One night of not showering won’t kill me.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, blinking very slowly.
She stumbled back to the shower and turned off the water. As she returned to the bed, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She hesitated for a moment, lingering to get a better picture of herself. She looked like crap, first of all. She was still obviously attractive, but she hadn’t slept well in days. She’d gone through a windshield and been through more in the last few days than most people went through their entire lifetime.
Her long black hair was tossed everywhere. She looked like she’d spent an hour in front of a leaf-blower. She blew a strand of her jet-black hair out of her face.
Maybe at another time she would have studied herself in the mirror and come to an enlightening realization or something, but right then she was entirely too sleepy. She pulled her eyes away and went back to the bed. David still hadn’t moved. He was halfway off the bed, his general upper body was sprawled across the bed, while his legs were half on the ground.
“I’m tired.”
“Really?” as she went past him, she playfully clapped him on the butt.
“Oh, my,” he said. “How very immature.”
She slid into her side of the bed. It felt like heaven.
David summoned his energy and surged onto the bed. “I’m going to sue for sexual harassment.”
“I’m terrified,” she replied, melting into the bed.
“You should be.” He pulled off his shoes and tossed them away. “I’ll have you know….” He paused. “I forgot what I was saying.”
“You were threatening to sue,” she said. She closed her eyes.
“Oh, yeah.”
There was a pause.
“Ads?” he said.
She didn’t open her eyes. She felt like she had maybe thirty seconds before she was out. Although she’d gotten some sleep on their little adventure, it hadn’t been anywhere near enough.
“Mmmmphhhh?”
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“I’m glad I’m marrying you.”
She tried to wake up enough to finish the convers
ation, but it was like running through mud while pulling a boulder. “I am too.”
He shifted to get more comfortable. “I’m too tired to be romantic today. Wanna try again tomorrow?”
“Yeah….”
Adrianna was asleep in seconds.
For the first time, she slept like a baby. Knowing Ellie was back in the house and safe, happily sleeping in her own bed, gave her immense relief.
When she woke up the next day, David wasn’t beside her. She didn’t panic. It wasn’t rare that he was up cooking breakfast. She glanced at the clock. Just before noon. She’d slept in. She was normally the kind of girl that got up early in the morning to get in a quick workout or drive over to the agency. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d slept past 9 in the morning, much less till noon.
She leaned up and instantly regretted it. She’d expected to be sore. She hadn’t quite expected it to be that sore.
“Aaaggghhhhh….”
Her body was stiff. She felt like if she made too quick of a move, she might pull something. Slowly, gingerly, she got up from the bed. She didn’t even realize that she was still dirty from the day before.
She hobbled out of the bedroom into the apartment.
David was outside, looking freshly showered with a pair of athletic shorts and nothing on his chest. He glanced back at her with a big goofy grin.
“Morning, sweetheart,” he said, holding some cash and looking towards the door.
“Morning. What are you doing?”
“I made breakfast,” he said, and someone knocked on the door. He opened it to reveal a pizza guy. The pizza guy blinked in surprise after seeing David’s sculpted chest.
“Oh, you’re- you’re The Celtic!”
“Guilty as charged.” He exchanged the money for the pizza box. Although she couldn’t see what he’d paid, she was sure that David had given a healthy tip. He always did.
“Hey, man, can I have a selfie with you?”
David managed a fake smile. “Sure.”
The pizza guy snapped a quick snapshot and scurried away after thanking David. He turned towards her, and once again, Adrianna’s breath was taken away. It was hard to see his muscularity beneath a shirt, but he was rippling with muscles. He had a boxer’s super-fit body.
“You cooked, huh?” She smirked. “Where’s Ellie?”
“Still sleeping.” He pecked her on the lips. “Are you sore?”
“You have no idea.”
He winked affectionately. “Oh, trust me, I know. I know.”
They went to the dinner table and popped open the box. The smell of freshly made pizza wafted into the room. Adrianna’s stomach grumbled.
“Do you want to wake Ellie up?” she asked. “I really want to see her.”
“She’s exhausted.” He pulled a piece away and bit into it. “She’s had a long week. There’s plenty of time, especially since you’re not going to be working for the agency for a while.”
She grabbed a slice and sat down next to him. “I’m happy about it. I can’t think of anything that could be better. Stone got us off easy.”
“How did he even do that?”
She shrugged loosely. “He’s got all kinds of connections. I’m not going to ask.”
“Scared?”
“You bet I am.” She winked playfully. After all the stress of the past few days, she was feeling even more genial than normal. “I think it’ll be a while before we go out on a nice dinner without Ellie.”
“Any dinner with you is romantic.”
“Even this one?”
“Especially this one.”
Adrianna was still trying to fully register that everything had turned out all right. Sure, Stone had probably sent an email listing out a bunch of stuff to punish them. Community service. Training classes. All that stuff. But compared to the other options that Adrianna was afraid of? Nothing.
So, with Ellie snoozing in the other room and with fresh pizza between her and David, Adrianna felt a sense of peace come over her.
“Hey Dave,” she said, calling him Dave instead of David for the first time.
His eyebrow raised. “Ads.”
“This was a stressful last couple of days.”
“You could say that.”
“So…. what now?” she asked.
He chewed thoughtfully for a moment before swallowing. “We plan our wedding, I guess.”
Part of Adrianna wanted to stay in that moment forever. She wanted to freeze time and never let this moment end. But another part of her was ready for the future and whatever it might bring. She had a feeling that life would reach depths of happiness that she hadn’t ever known. She knew it wouldn’t be easy. She knew life probably still had some curve balls waiting for them.
But she would be there with Ellie and David to face the obstacles.
And she could not imagine anything else she would rather do.
THE END