Their only problem was solved when Jenny remembered me house was vacant and she still had a set of keys.
I solved me own problems when I called a locksmith and had them change me locks, immediately.
I’ve just finished shaving and cleaning up me beard when someone knocks on me bedroom door at me mum’s, “Ay. Come in.” I head towards the door gathering all me shit off the overstuffed chair and toss it in me closet when Rome walks in.
“Hey, brother. How are you? Don’t answer that. What the fuck is wrong with your phone? I’ve called three times.”
I glance to the last place I saw it, me bedside table. “Hell if I know, Lily probably has is playing that bloody Minecraft. Why?” I finish buttoning the sleeves of me linen shirt—I can’t do a tux, Ivy’ll have to get over it. It’s a beach for Christ’s sake.
“What flight did you take out of here? Don’t answer that, look, Ryke, Ivy came home this morning after her run wanting to know when and who you left with last night. Now, I came this close to fucking breaking Pepper last night.” He holds his pointer and thumb fingers close together, inches from me face “So call me a little distracted, but when I told my sister eight last night and alone, I’d better not have been fucking lying. Am I making myself clear?” He growls, barking out the last few words, standing in me face.
“Ay.” I speak as clearly as possible. “You weren’t lying, brother. Where is she?” I move around him before making my way out of me room. When I get into the hall, I call out over me shoulder, “You better walk and talk boy, I’m not kidding, Rome, where is she?”
Just before me mum’s front door slams behind me, I hear him tell me, “She’s at the condo, brother. And she has Livvy in tow.”
“Bloody fucking hell. Goddammit, why, me Ivy? Just why?” I mutter as I straddle me bike and pop the clutch. “Why, love?”
After I park under the carport of the condo I proposed to me Ivy at less than a month and a half ago, I run up the stairs and barge into the front door. Me future mum-in-law instantly drops a box of flowers she had in her hands, “Jesus, Ryker. You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at your mother’s, son. Not here. We only have two more hours!” She balks.
I nod.
And bolt for the stairs.
When I see her, me heart shatters. I can’t believe she’s the same girl I kissed goodbye the day before while she smiled up at me and promised to be the one in white, at the end of the aisle today. That Ivy isn’t the one before me. She’s hunkered in the corner of the bathroom with her long veil hanging over her mascara smudged face with tears streaming down.
“Livvy, just leave me alone.” She doesn’t slur her words and I breathe a held breath, watching as she turns the rest of the way, putting her back to me before lying across the cold tile floor and looking at herself in the mirrored wall she’s facing. When I see the baggies of coke fall from her lap and onto the floor, dread circles me gut before clenching down.
“Why, Ivy love? Why this time?”
I watch as her spine goes rigid and seconds later her eyes find mine in the mirrors reflection in front of her. “Ryker?” she whispers.
“What are ya doin’, me Ivy?” I ask her.
“What are you doing here?” She cries and goes to sit up, but slips on all the damn bloody lace. And me heart breaks the rest of the way.
“Where else am I supposed to be, love? Hm?” I stalk towards her and as soon as I’m close enough, I snatch her up from the floor and slam her against the mirror wall of the bathroom. When we’re nose to nose, I growl the words at her, “I’m where I’m supposed to be at, Ivy. Now get outta that bloody head of yours and get where you’re supposed to be. I’m not doing this alone again, Ivy. It won’t happen. Mark me words.”
She keeps struggling against me from behind her veil and me hands keep getting caught up in the material, so I wrap as much of it around me fist as I can, and I yank me Ivy’s head back, before boring me eyes into her dark blues, “You asked your brother two questions, love. Now ask me.” I demand.
“I what?” she cries, looking at me bewildered.
“Ask me!” I shout.
Her eyes look back and forth between mine, “Wh-what time? What time did you leave? And who did you leave with?” She stutters, almost as if she’s confused.
“At eight, and I was alone. Now why those two questions, Winter Ivy?”
When her sad eyes look into mine, the only thoughts in me head is, when did she get so lost? And why does me Ivy always bloody hide?
But it’s her answer that does me in, “I-I thought I lost you. And I can’t fucking lose you again, Ryker. I just can’t.” She whispers before my mouth crashes against hers.
Epilogue
I smile.
I pause.
I breathe.
“You ready, angel?” My daddy asks.
“I’m ready,” I whisper and as soon as I hear the beginning notes of the wedding march, I feel goose bumps raise on my skin.
I watch my daughter, Lily Blake waving at her daddy as she takes her place beside my mom and tears well up in my eyes before I can quickly blink them away.
When my eyes glance up and find Ryker’s though, they stay. He smiles and it takes my breath away. He’s so handsome. I can’t believe this day is actually happening.
I can’t believe I’m finally getting my happy ending.
Day’s like today and endings like these aren’t meant for people like me. Or so, I raised myself to believe.
Or so, I once believed.
In my old life, maybe.
Hell, I probably would have run off and hidden, or worse, used and hidden inside myself.
But Ryker didn’t let me. Not this time.
This time, he found me. He caught me. And we got our shit ironed out.
This time, he just started rambling, recording everything that had happened since he last saw me yesterday. And when he got to the part where Bowen called this morning after ADT did, all the pieces slid into place.
We made love against the shower stall after he washed and kissed my tears away. I ran my fingers through my wet hair, brushed some mascara on, smeared lip gloss across my lips, and Ryker laced up the back of my dress.
Then he linked our hands together, pressed his forehead against mine, and begged me, “Ivy love, please. Just marry me today. I won’t be able to live this life without you, hon. I know because I already tried.”
And that was that.
When Ryker’s eye brows shoot up, he winks at me at the same time I feel my dad tug on my arm and I step forward.
Because it’s what I do.
I’m Ivy fucking Payne.
I adapt.
I move forward.
I survive.
The End.
Where The Ivy Hides
Roman Book 3
By
Kimber S. Dawn
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I want to thank someone who made this book even possible for me to write. David, you make my mind go quiet. You make every single thing around you calm, your patience and smile are like the still before a storm that never comes. The world could be falling apart around you, yet there you’d be, the embodiment of peace. Somehow, you fixed all the lost and broken things, that I couldn’t seem to figure out before you came along. In my eyes, you moved mountains, by simply being you. And you’re still here. You know I do this better with words on paper, baby, so here goes…I love you, all of you, the darkest parts included, and I know I’m new to you and your life, and I know I’m insane, but I just wanted you to know, no matter what, and no matter for how long, I promise I will always love you. Always. Thank you, David Troy, for being every single thing I’ve ever wanted and needed. Thank you for showing me how to be happy.
For Kylie Sharp, girl, I think Ivy needed your ROMAN knowledge and expertise as much, if not more than I did! Thank you so much for spending the extra time on helping me make Ivy, the story it is.
Silla, girl, I couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag, if it weren’t for you!!! Haha! You’re hands down the best, babe! Ever vigilant, and ever without rainbows and sprinkles, and for that, I thank you!
And last, and certainly not least, to the reviewers, if you wrote a review for ROMAN or RB2, chances are I read that review a hundred times. Reviews are so important, SO IMPORTANT, and you can only give one. Be it a positive or a negative review, I read them, and I use each as a tool to help grow as a writer. As authors, most of us are warned not to comment on reviews, and for the most part, I do try to stick to that unspoken rule, but there was one review in particular, that I just couldn’t adhere to the rules for. Some of your review read as a one star, and some of it read like a five star, but you gave me four, and even more importantly, you struck a resounding cord within me with your words alone…thank you.
Author Bio
I was born and raised in Louisiana… and No, I do NOT live in a bayou, I actually see the beaches on the gulf coast more than I see a bayou, lol. I started writing poems and short stories very early in my life. You know, for the Michael’s and Leo’s and Nick’s in my life. I've been a book hoarder since I was eleven years old, but then a couple years ago something wonderful happened! The 50 Shades of Grey craze brought to life my inner smut whore and I commenced to read anything and everything smut affiliated. When reading wasn't enough anymore and I noticed that so many of the authors of my favorite indie authors and their books weren't getting the exposure their work deserved, I turned it into a mission, starting my own blog, buying their books and reading them one by one. I then wrote my reviews for my blog and didn't hold back in writing them (Hell yeah those motherfuckers are profanity laden). I've never done a single thing in my life halfway. I always go all in. After the success of my Blog, and the insistence of one of my bestest friends, my sister from another mister, Trina Taylor of Bad & Dirty Books, I was ready to finally take the plunge and see if I could write a book that was worth a damn. I'm a Southern girl to my core, a self-proclaimed smut whore, and I keep hearing that I’m an author, but honestly… I don’t believe the rumors, lol. I don’t feel like a kickass bitch spittin’ out lyrics, or stories, like a motherfuckin’ rockstar.
Tattooed across my ribs are the words I have always lived by: 'Aut viam inveniam aut faciam tibi.' Latin for: If I cannot find a way, I will make my own.
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