Quinten had looked gaunt when they’d met him at the prison for his release, and even though it had only been five days since then, Colter noticed that the other man had been well taken care of and even had a bit of a tan.
“That’s what happens when you have the love of a good woman who believes in you.” Quinten smiled and offered him a seat. “Thanks for coming to help us get away from here. It’s like a zoo out there. With Paul’s confession and my innocence being announced, the press is everywhere, trying to get an exclusive.”
“Yeah, the front of the station is a nightmare as well.” Coulter sat forward and stared at the envelope on the coffee table between them.
He knew what was inside because Saige had already told him, which made him angry. He never would have expected that of Richard Lockwood. The man had never come across as anything but the loving father. His attitude toward his wife, Christina, had given Coulter thought, but hell.
“It hasn’t been opened?” He glanced at Quinten.
“No.” Quinten ran his hand over his face and glanced toward Saige. “She didn’t want to read in detail what had been done to her.”
“And you?”
“I just got out of prison...I think if I read that, I’d end up back there, and I’d be guilty this time.” Quinten leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs, his head dropping into his hands.
He let Quinten get himself under control, and picked the letter up. Keeping it sealed, he put it in his pocket and placed a receipt for the letter on the coffee table. Nothing would prevent the current investigation from being followed by the book. Everyone involved would be named and he’d leave it up to the DA to wade through the charges, and to decide just who needed to pay. Although, Coulter had the feeling everyone would after the mess of the original investigation.
“Hey.” Saige placed her hand to the back of Quinten’s neck, a look of concern crossed her face, “Everything okay?”
Quinten smiled and, sitting back, tugged Saige down to his lap. Amber sat beside Coulter on the sofa and slipped her hand into his. Coulter turned, offered her a smile, and squeezed her hand to reassure her things were fine.
“Coulter has the report,” Quinten said, but Coulter figured it had been unnecessary because Saige had looked at the table as she walked over with Amber.
“Can you tell us what’s likely to happen now?” Saige asked as worry marred her brow.
“Paul Lewis is...different from other murderers I’ve arrested. He’s guilty, I’m still not a hundred percent convinced that he’s guilty of everything he’s been charged with...except this time around, there is a lot more evidence that the man we have is guilty as charged.” Coulter shrugged. “He actually said that he wanted to lead us to Alex because he was the evil brother. Do you know what that means?”
Quinten frowned and sighed. “Alex could be an asshole when he wanted to be, and he’d always have a dig at Paul whenever he came across him, until I put stop to it. I’m the younger brother, but I’m sure that I was the more mature one.” Quinten sat back and closed his eyes. “Alex changed and I realize now that it must have been when he started having an affair with Christina. He grew up.”
Coulter nodded and accepted Quinten’s explanation. For a man as unhinged as Paul Lewis, that would be a good enough reason to want to get back at Alex.
“I know you both want to put all this behind you, but it will have to wait for a while.” He glanced from one to the other. “The governor via the DA has talked to internal affairs, who have launched an investigation into the disappearance of the original statements during the original trial, which has opened up another investigation.”
Coulter was annoyed at himself for not realizing at the time what had gone on. Amber had pointed out that he couldn’t be everywhere and know everything, which he’d conceded was true. It didn’t help the claw in his gut when he thought about it though.
“The DA discovered that the detective who took the original statements died of a heart attack within days of doing so. His partner was then bribed to replace the other two with statements saying that Quinten hadn’t been where he said he had. There’s more to it but that’s the gist of it.”
“Who bribed him?”
Coulter glanced at Saige and her eyes widened in surprise. “No,” she whispered, her hand covering her mouth.
Quinten snapped his gaze to Saige and back to him, questions in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Saige. Your father paid him. I was involved in the original investigation, so other detectives will be sent to question your father...It doesn’t look good.” Coulter was glad that Amber was with him because, after everything that had happened, he felt like he’d become friends with Saige and Quinten, and he wanted to help them, except now he felt sick to his stomach that he had to tell them about Saige’s dad.
“He didn’t want me with Quinten,” Saige whispered. “I knew that he wasn’t keen on the idea of me being with him because of Quinten’s situation at home, but I had no idea to what lengths he’d go to just to keep us apart.”
Saige wiped at a tear and rubbed her fingers over Quinten’s beard. “I’m sorry. What happened to you really was my fault.”
Amber leaned into Coulter, and wrapped around his arm. Coulter unwrapped himself and tugged her into his side, an arm wound around her shoulders while they watched the emotion on Quinten and Saige’s face.
Quinten shook his head. “No,” he hissed. “You are a victim in this as much as I am and in some ways more. I was kept safe in prison. It could have been ten times worse, but it wasn’t. It makes me see red when I think about what that bastard did to you.”
Saige dropped her forehead to Quinten’s and minutes ticked by before Coulter watched the other couple pull themselves together.
“Thank you for telling us,” Saige said. “I know you’ve trusted us with information you weren’t supposed to, from the start really, and we both appreciate that.”
Coulter stood and tugged Amber up with him. “It worked both ways, Saige.” He smiled. “Let’s get you both out of here, and I meant what I said, you both can use the beach house for as long as you want to.”
Saige moved over to them, reached up, and hugged him. “Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to us.” She stepped back and hugged Amber.
“Let me wash up and get some shoes on, then we’re ready to go.”
He watched her leave the room and turned to Quinten, whose eyes also followed Saige.
“She’s stronger than me. She’ll be fine,” Quinten observed.
They’d all be fine, eventually.
Day 28
8:00am
* * *
The day he was supposed to die.
Quinten rubbed at his chest not really knowing how he was supposed to feel—thankful, relieved, happy, they all really meant the same thing except he couldn’t help the gloom that had settled over him when he woke during the early hours of the morning. He managed to slip from the bed without waking Saige, and was now on his third cup of coffee. To him, being able to help himself to coffee or food at the drop of a hat was an extravagance, and one that he’d never take for granted again.
For the past six days since they arrived back at Coulter’s beach house, Quinten had gotten into a routine that involved coffee and sitting on the steps leading from the house to the beach to watch the sun rise or set.
He loved the time alone to think, but, if he was honest, he loved the time here with Saige all the more. He needed to get a handle on his need to be able to see her at all times during the day, or to check on her when he entered the house to grab another cup. She didn’t mind, but he needed to stop.
Fabric rustled as Saige climbed into his lap, a sheet wrapped around her. He smiled and groaned when she wiggled around. “I woke and you were gone,” she complained. “Hold me close.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” His arms slipped around her waist. “Please stop wiggling around on my lap.” He pressed a kiss to her neck and groaned when she
turned and straddled him.
“What are you thinking about?” Saige asked, her hands rested against his chest, his on her hips.
Smiling, he reached up and caressed her face with a finger. “I was thinking that I was supposed to die today,” he admitted softly. He gave a sardonic smile, and quickly hurried on when he saw Saige’s bottom lip quiver, “I’m thinking that I’m a very lucky man to be given another chance at this thing called life, with you beside me.”
Saige nodded and he could see the struggle for her not to cry, so he cupped her face with one large hand and her neck with the other. He brought her closer until their lips were a breath apart. “I want to make a new memory for this day, Saige...I’ve waited a long time to hold you again, so I don’t want to waste another minute...I don’t have anything to offer you—”
“You have everything to offer me, Quinten,” Saige interrupted. “You love me. You make me happy, and I love you with every beat of my heart.” She leaned forward the inch that separated them and placed a soft kiss to his lips. “Now finish what you were saying.”
Quinten cleared his throat because there was one hell of a lump of emotion stuck in there. “Will you marry me, Saige?” His heart thumped widely in his chest while he watched all the emotions his question had created in Saige flutter across her face.
Saige slipped her fingers through his trim beard to cup his face. “Yes,” she whispered and pressed her lips to his. “Yes.” She giggled and started placing kisses all over his face. “Yes.” The sheet was tossed aside and his breath caught in his throat.
She was nude beneath.
“You’ve been sitting in my lap naked?” A stupid question considering he could see the answer for himself.
He caressed over her shoulders, down her arms and back up. His hands itched to touch more flesh as he slowly moved and cupped both her breasts and rubbed her nipples with his thumbs.
His own body was reacting to the sight of Saige straddling him without any clothes on, and his swollen flesh under her bottom hurt from being restrained.
“You’re so beautiful.” He kissed along her collarbone and the valley between her breasts before he moved back up and captured her lips.
Her hips undulated over his jean-covered dick and, if she wasn’t careful, he’d come before he even got out of them.
“I need you,” Saige moaned, and scooted off his lap, reaching for his zipper. “Lift.” And that was all it took to take his jeans to his thighs, which shook the minute Saige wrapped a hand around his solid length.
“God,” Saige sighed, and dropped her head into his lap.
“Mmm,” he mumbled, as pleasure shot through him like a volcano when her warm mouth lapped at the head of his dick.
His fingers tangled into the strands of her hair and just when he thought he was about to blow his load, he pulled her off him. “No more. I want to come inside you while you’re coming on me.”
Her eyes darkened seconds before she straddled his lap again. She stroked his shaft, driving him crazy. “Put me inside you,” he begged between gritted teeth.
Saige smiled and held him poised at the place he wanted to be more than anything right then. And as she slowly sank down on him, Quinten’s eyes rolled with the pleasure that shot through his blood.
Fully seated on him, Saige ground down and rocked, her sex tightly locked around him. His hands went to the arch of her back as he pressed his face between her breasts. He nuzzled, first one breast, then the other before he captured a nipple and sucked.
He saw stars when she tightened around him in the position she was in, her hips grinding faster. When his lips captured hers, his hands went to her bottom and held her open and moved her on him.
The hard nipples rubbed against his chest as she bounced but, when she wrapped her arms around his neck, he lost momentum, his dick buried so deeply inside of her that he couldn’t breathe.
And then he felt the first flutters of her release against his shaft. Seconds later, she convulsed in his arms, the wet walls of her core rippled tightly around him and started his own. He shuddered and spilled inside of her in sharp, hot bursts of pleasure as the thick cream of his release was milked out of him, the pleasure so strong it made him dizzy.
Minutes later, Quinten held Saige tightly in his arms while he was still buried inside her silken body, little aftershocks still rocked through their systems.
Saige sat back on his lap and ran her fingers through his beard. “I love this.” She smirked. “I love how it feels against my skin.”
His eyes lit with mirth. “So you wouldn’t want me to get rid of it, huh?”
“No way. The beard stays.” She laughed. “I love looking at you, but yeah, I love how it feels.” She pressed a kiss to his lips and became serious when she met his gaze. “Can we marry soon? We’ve been apart a long time and I don’t want to waste one more second.”
“Yes...are you sure, Saige?” His heart was in his throat while he watched her eyes fill with tears.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything before.” She kissed him. “I love you,” she whispered.
He held her tightly and only released her slightly when he realized his hold was too strong and that she needed to breathe. “I love you, too.”
She smiled. “I think we need to head inside and get more practice at making babies.”
“What?” he mumbled.
“We’re getting married soon, and even though it’s going to take time to accept what happened to me against my will, it isn’t going to stop me from having your children. I want lots of babies, Quinten.”
He had no words, so instead, he kissed her on the tip of her nose before he carried her inside and made slow, sweet love to her.
Day 365
10:00pm
* * *
Saige sat in Quinten’s arms and drank her mug of decaf coffee in silence as she watched Alex and Christina sitting opposite them. Dinner that night marked the last night of Alex and Christina’s visit at their new home in Montana. The couple had a late night flight to catch back to New York, where they’d both settled.
Christina had certainly seemed a lot happier with Alex, although on this visit she seemed a bit off. Alex always seemed to be close to her, and showed no signs of something being wrong between them.
Saige tried to ask Christina what was wrong but she’d been evasive. Saige figured she’d tell her when she was ready to, and let it go.
Although she loved having them, she couldn’t wait to have the house back to just Quinten and her. She missed the closeness she would usually share with Quinten throughout their home. Not to mention that she had some good news to tell her husband of ten months.
Unconsciously, her hand slid to her belly, a soft smile on her lips that she hid when she yawned into Quinten’s chest.
Christina laughed. “I think it’s time we left and let you get to bed.”
“I’m sorry.” She smiled. “I can’t seem to stay awake these days.”
“Hmm,” Christina mumbled, and Saige caught the other woman hiding a smile as she stood.
Saige placed her mug on the coffee table with the others and found herself on her feet when Quinten stood and steadied her. He kept her close with an arm around her back and his hand on the curve of her hip.
“Are you okay?” he whispered, as he nuzzled into her neck.
“I’m fine.”
* * *
10:20pm
* * *
Twelve months ago, the warrant for his execution had been signed and he had twenty-eight days left on earth. That had shaken him to his very core because he’d been innocent. He thanked God every day for the second chance at life he’d been given with Saige.
Just thinking about Saige, his eyes found her as they always did. He smiled as his wife hugged his brother and Christina goodbye, which caused Quinten’s heart to swell with love for the amazing woman. Her strength and resilience, after everything they’d both been through, had known no bounds. Her love and compassion held
him together on the days when his past really got to him.
Saige stood back so he could hug Christina, and then it was his brother’s turn. Men or not, he pulled Alex into his embrace and held him tightly. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for everything.”
Alex held tight and the brothers embraced for a long time before Alex stepped back. Quinten couldn’t place the emotion on Alex’s face as he backed up to the driver’s side.
Quinten frowned and wrapped his arm around Saige when she snuggled into his side.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, and kissed his chest.
He shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
Before Alex disappeared into the car, he stopped and looked at them. “I’m sorry, Quinten.” He turned and looked out at the mountains that surrounded the house before turning back to Quinten and holding his gaze. “You never should have been blamed for the college girls.” His face was serious, then he smiled like the old Alex before he climbed in the car and drove off.
Day 366
Dear Mr. Peterson,
* * *
Things aren’t going too well for me here, at least, nothing like I thought they would. The food is okay but the mattress is so lumpy that I think I’d rather sleep on a bed of leaves on the forest floor. Perhaps, it wouldn’t be as scary as this place. They have really bad people inside these walls and they keep threatening to do bad things to me.
I wish someone could help me.
I did kill Jocelyn, Fern, and Tracy, and I did take Saige with help from Jocelyn, but that is all. I didn’t kill anyone else, even though I nearly killed Detective Robinson with that bomb. I’m sorry about that.
You see, I know who killed those girls, because I had an obsession with him. He had the life that I wanted, but knew that I could never have. Who would look at me the way the girls looked at him? So one night I followed him thinking that he was meeting up with a woman, except he went to that shack. I saw what he did to that first girl. I didn’t see everything, only the ending, which is why I’ve never been able to tell the police about that first one.
28 Days: a romantic suspense Page 24