by Bry Ann
The sun is blinding when they open the back doors to let us out, but I revel in it. There’s a black car already prepared for us. Adam storms over to the car, but the red-eyed agent’s voice stops us.
“This isn’t over. You sons of bitches will be behind bars, mark my words.”
Adam glances over his shoulder with a dark smile in place.“Good luck with that, agents.”
The door’s thrown open and he crawls inside. I’m right behind him. Before I close the door, I see the narrow brown-eyed agent grab his phone and click someone on speed dial.
“Collin, they’re out.”
We’re fuckin’ free, assholes.
Adam
THANK FUCK.
Jesus Christ. If my driver doesn’t speed the hell up I’m gonna shoot him and take the wheel. My very limited line of patience has long since expired.
“Hurry the fuck up. Last time I tell you, Mav.”
“Sir.” He nods his head and slams on the gas. There, that wasn’t so hard. Sven’s next to me, seemingly cool, but he’s got tells. His foot is tapping the ground like a rabbit. His expression is too schooled to be natural. Women make things better, but they sure fuck shit up as well. I would have been fine with all this, but I have Lacey and a daughter now. Prison is unacceptable! I’m pissed. I don’t give a fuck that he’s an agent; Enzio, Derek, is gonna have an accident. Something they can’t tie to me, but they’ll know. They’ll fucking know not to screw with me again.
God, I’m so fucking pissed off. I can’t ever remember being this mad.
“Boss?” Sven’s voice cuts through my internal dialogue.
“What?”
“I know you’re pissed the fuck off, but there’s something you should know.”
I turn to him, eyebrows raised.
“When Nix came to visit, he asked me to keep this hush, so you wouldn’t be distracted, but that’s past us now.”
I can’t really be pissed at the guy no matter what Sven says. Nix is the reason we’re out. Not the information I gave them on Carson. I’m not naive, but I really have no clue how the fuck Nix got us out so quickly. That takes some real criminal mastermind shit. Nix seems too “surfer kid” to pull that off, but apparently not. Hmm, interesting.
“It’s about Lacey.”
“Lacey?” My heart kicks up, shoving all anger aside. “What about Lacey?”“She’s not good, Boss. Nix wouldn’t tell me much, only that whatever she did is permanent.”
“Shit! Shit!”
I slam my fist into the side of the car and turn away from Sven so he doesn’t see the pain on my face, even though I know he knows it’s there.
“Thought you should know before you go in there,” Sven finishes in a softer tone.
“Yeah.”
That’s all I can say. All traces of the anger from before are gone. I’m left with only concern for my wife… and child. Oh God, Lacey hasn’t shown Rose anything, right? No, no, she’d never.
God, Lacey, what’d you do?
When the mansion comes into view, I unlock the door and jump out of the moving vehicle. Sven follows suit. Everyone’s on the porch waiting: Rose, Maria, my little angel, and Cut off in the corner, arms crossed over his chest, emphasizing the obvious missing person.
Lacey.
Lacey’s not here.
“Dada!” My daughter, Rose, screams, little feet waddling toward me at a full run. Rose is already in Sven’s arms, crying and feeling him all over, smacking him, just spazzing the fuck out. Sven, of course, is finding great amusement in it, calming her and loving her, all that. I turn back to my daughter. My heart swells with love for this little girl and guilt for who I am. When she gets close, I scoop her up in my arms and twirl her around.“Daddy missed you, angel.”
“No mow vactes.” No more vacations.
“Oh, was Daddy on a vacation, pumpkin?”
“Yews.” Yes.
“Yes, no more vacation without you and Mommy, okay?” I lean my head against hers and pinch her nose to stop some of the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Daddy, Mommy sad!” She scolds. My heart caves in.
“I’m so sorry, angel. Where is mommy?”
“Bathwoom.” Bathroom. Yeah, sure. “Okay, I’m gonna go find her, alright? I’ll be right back. Go say hi to Uncle Sven while I go get Mommy.”
“She in poddy.”
“I’ll knock first, I promise,” I say, suppressing a smirk.
“Come bwack. Wose missed you.” Come back. Rose missed you. She’s on a whole third person kick right now, but only sometimes. She flips in and out of it. It’s adorable.
“Did she?”
“Yes, Wose missed you a wot.” Yes, Rose missed you a lot.
“Well, I missed her, too. I’ll be super fast.” She wiggles to get out of my arms. I set her down. She starts running around in fast circles like a dog chasing its tail.
“Like this fwast, dada?” Like this fast, dada.
She runs harder in her ridiculous circles. I bust out laughing.
“Yes, angel, just like that.”
I scoop her up. She’s breathing heavy, her little curls fluttering up and down.
“Maybe faster, ‘cause I’m your dad and I’m super strong and fast.”
Her eyes go wide. That brings my attention to their steel grey color. The ones she got from her mother.
“I have to go get Mommy now.”
I set her down and kiss her head.
“I’ll be right back.”
I look to Sven, who nods, letting me know he’ll distract her. Rose, his wife, catches it too and runs over and playfully scoops her up in her arms.
“I got you!” She screams, pinching her nose. I leave as my Rose wipes her aunt’s tears with a frown. Rose may have bugged me in the past, but she’s family now. The love she gives my wife, best friend, and daughter, I can’t possibly feel anything but gratitude toward her at this point.
I sigh as I push through the doors. I’m physically exhausted, but that’s so secondary to finding Lacey.
“She’s in the guest room on the second floor, left hallway.”
I spin around to see Cut standing there, arms crossed over his chest.
“Why is she there?”
“Don’t know, but that’s where she is.”
“Thank you.”
He nods. “Ruston?” He calls before I can leave.
“What?”
“She’s not… right. She’s been there for Rose, but that’s about it. Be prepared.” He nods and walks off.
“Thank you,” I mutter, and take off at a full sprint. When I get to said door, I pause. I’m not ready for this. Multiple people have told me I need to be ready, but I’m just not. I inhale heavily and push the door open.
I almost expect Lacey to be hiding, but she’s not.
My wife stands there, drowning in oversized clothing, looking at the floor, fiddling with her knuckles, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Adam?” She whispers.
I slowly approach her, using my thumb to tilt her chin up. Her watery grey eyes meet mine. There’s so much pain there.“I love you, little dove.”
That breaks the dam. She jumps into my arms, trembling, and holds me tight. Uncharacteristically, Lacey breaks down sobbing. Well, I guess lately, she has been crying more. Hmm, that’s strange.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Shh, no. Little dove, stop. It’s okay. Never apologize for your tears.”
I rub small circles along her back. She’s shaking so hard, I don’t know how to calm her.
“Can you breathe for me?”
“No.”
I chuckle under my breath. “Alright, then. You hold that breath all you want.”
That gets her to relax a bit. The humor sends a jolt of calm to her tense muscles.
“See, there you go. There you go. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I thought I lost you,” she whispers.
“Never!”
I pull her back
and look in her eyes, so she can see how serious I am.
“Lacey, you have to trust me when I tell you I’d never leave you forever.”
“I thought I was stronger than this.”
“It’s okay to be scared.”
“This is more than that, Adam. I broke.”
“You always piece yourself back together, and that’s what matters.”
Lacey pushes off me and wraps her arms around her torso. I know instantly I will need to put some work into our relationship, into her, after this. She isn’t being fully open with me. I know there’s more. She did something and she’s not talking to me about it. She’s back to the double XL clothing. She’d gotten down to light jackets, or at minimum, appropriately sized clothing, but now we’re back at the beginning.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, sweetheart?”
Her legs give out before I can catch her. I rush over and run my hands over her for injury, but she’s totally numb. I feel my heart swell with panic. Lacey, little dove, come back to me. Come back.
“Adam, I’m pregnant. Oh God!”
Her head falls into her lap and she screams at the top of her lungs. I stare at her, stunned. It takes me three wide-eyed blinks to pull myself together. I grab her and pull her into my lap, letting her sob into my shoulder. I don’t know what to think. I… I don’t know what to think.
She’s pregnant? We’re having another child.
I squeeze her tight. She’s not emotionally ready for another pregnancy. If she can’t be ready, I’ll carry her load. I’ll do whatever it takes.
Derek
“Is it Adam?” Iris asks immediately. “Is he out? Oh God, he is. He is! I know he is.”
Her sweet, beautiful face breaks out in a sneer.
“What are we gonna do?” “We? Woah, slow down. I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Iris stands and leaps from the tree, earning an eyebrow raise from me. We’re pretty high up. I’m surprised she didn’t hurt herself. Not wanting to humiliate myself in front of her, I follow suit, tumbling toward the dirt, somehow managing to land on my feet. With steady footing, I step up beside her.
“Iris, calm down. It’s just work stuff, but I do have to go back. I’ve had an amazing time. I really have to thank you.”
“You are good at your job, but you’re not gettin’ out of this. Is it Adam or no?”
“Hey, Kingston!”
“Kingston?” Iris gasps. She spins around suddenly. When she’s fully turned around, I take off running to the truck, full on laughing.
“Son of a bitch!” She yells, chasing after me. “I’ll find out, Derek!”
Once I’m in the truck, I ride up beside her and roll down the window.
“Do you need a ride back? I’m not telling you anything, Iris, so don’t get in this truck to get answers. For the record, I’m sorry, alright? My job comes first.”
“I know.” She throws the door open and gets in the backseat. It’s not missed by me that she doesn’t climb in on the passenger side. FBI isn’t so glamorous now, is it? I go through this with all women. It’s so hot at first until it’s real. Nothing about what I do is sexy.
“You buckled in?”
She rolls her eyes. “We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“Seatbelt.”
“Derek, for real, no one wears a seatbelt out here.”
“I do.”
“Just drive us back. It’s not that far by car.”
“I won’t drive until you’re buckled in.’ “Oh my goodness, Derek!”
She throws the buckle on, clearly furious. It’s the first time I’ve seen her mad, but you know what? That’s too damn bad. I’m pissed, too. She was supposed to be different than other girls.
“There. Happy?”
“Seeing as I lost both of my parents because their seatbelts weren’t buckled, I’m very fucking happy. Thanks.”
I throw the car in drive.
“Oh my God, Derek. I’m so s-sorry. St-stop the car.”
I ignore her. I’m too pissed off. Iris, apparently, is the most maddening woman in the world, because she unbuckles her fucking seatbelt and starts to climb over the console. I throw the car in park and growl under my breath.
“What are you doing?” I look at the road and not her. This hurts. It hurts to talk about.
Iris is the passenger seat now, leaning over the console. She touches my face with cold fingers, rough and dirty from climbing.
“I’m so so-sorry. I’m such an idiot.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I’m stupid.”
“Stop saying that.”
She starts crying, which gets my attention. Iris has been nothing but positive this whole time since we’ve been back. She doesn’t cry easy.
“It’s fine, really. I’m mostly over it. Seatbelts are just a weird thing of mine. I won’t drive if everyone isn’t buckled. I don’t care if we are just going across the parking lot. People’s seatbelts will be on.”
“That makes sense,” Iris says hurriedly. “I’m… I’m sorry.”“Relax, it’s fine. We both got angry and snapped.”
“I got cheated on!” Iris blurts out. “And the guy spread all sorts of bad rumors about me afterwards. It’s a tiny town so it got around.”
I turn and look at her, eyebrows creased. She turns away.
“I don’t know wh-what I’m saying. You shared so, I’m tryin’ to. I’m just so sorry. I just got mad. I’m dumb. Of course you’re leaving. You have an important job to do. And of course you’re not gonna tell me what is going on at the frickin’ Federal Bureau of Investigation and…”
“Iris?”
“That was stupid, so stupid, and I’m truly sorry. I can’t even imagine all you’ve been through and continue to go through. I’ll wear my seatbelt forever. I’ll try to get more people to, also.”
Okay, I start to chuckle. “Iris, hun, slow down.”
She blinks up at me like she’s just remembering I’m actually in front of her.
“It’s okay. Really. I’m sorry you got cheated on. I’m assuming it was that asshole, Wes.”
“Be nice, but yeah. It was him. It wasn’t really his fault. I couldn’t be a good girlfriend.”
She blushes. I frown.
“What do you mean?”
Her cheeks redden further. “Uh, like girlfriend duties. I’m not good at them.”
“Girlfriend duties? What the…? Iris, English.”
“I suck in bed! There. Happy?”
“Wait.” I shake my head and stare at her. “That’s what he told the town! That’s the rumor he spread after he cheated on you.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t about me. It’s about you. What happened to your parents? Did you go into foster care? Or did you have other family? Wait, is that too blunt? I’m being rude, I think.”
“No, you’re fine,” I smile softly. “We’ll get to my sob story later, if you want. Back to you.”
“Ugh!” She throws her hands over her face and slumps back in the seat. “Do we have to?”
“We don’t have to,” I say softly, realizing, despite my fury at this ridiculous bullshit that is her ex, this is probably a very sensitive topic for her. No woman, person, wants to hear they’re bad in bed. Let alone hear the whole town talking about it. Yet somehow, I highly doubt anything this Wes guy has said about her is accurate. He’s a piece of shit.
At my words, her eyes snap open.
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. It’s your secret, your life.”
“Well, it’s really no secret. Not around here,” she mumbles.
“That’s total shit, Iris. What he did was wrong. I hope you know that.”
She starts to pick at the paint on the glove box. “I do. Really. People don’t seem to understand that just because I forgive him doesn’t mean I don’t know it’s wrong what he did.”
“I’m not gonna claim to fully get it for the sake of making myself sound like a better
person, but I respect that you are able to forgive him. I wouldn’t be able to. But like I said, you’re a better person than me.”
“You don’t think I’m a naive idiot?” She mumbles. Clearly she’s been called that several times, because she couldn’t sound more bitter.
“I do not think you’re a naive idiot. I think you’re a good person.”
Her eyes widen, but she keeps her eyes locked on her lap. I lift the console out of the way.
“I really like you Derek,” she whispers.
I shouldn’t say anything. I really shouldn’t…
My finger tilts her chin my way. Her crystal clear, hazel eyes widen.
“Derek,” she whispers in an anxiety-filled voice.
“Shhh, hun. I’ll lead.”
She starts to shake, but I’m determined to prove Wes wrong. I lean forward, closer and closer, until my lips lock with her soft, pink ones. She freezes against me. She’s scared. I wrap my arm around her back, slow and gentle, gently increasing the pressure of the kiss. When I don’t quit on her, she slowly starts to reciprocate. The kiss is hesitant, but meaningful. When heat starts to build, I pull away. I think slow and steady is the way to go with Iris. Has she even been kissed since that rumor spread? When was that rumor spread? Damn it, this has me whirling.
“You okay, hun?”
Her eyes are wide, her lips pink and swollen.
“Wa-was I-I… um…?”
“Shhh,” I stroke the soft spot on her palm. “You are a great kisser Iris. Wes couldn’t have been more wrong.”
“You’re… you’re s-so nice.”
“No, I’m honest.”
She gives me a sad little smile.
“That’s what Car used to say a lot.”
“Must have been a cool dude, then.”
“Th-the best.”
“Iris, I still have to go home.” Iris clamps down on her lower lip, shifting her gaze to the seat of the car.
“I know. Of course. Makes sense. Yeah, I know.”
“But I hope we can stay in touch. See each other as soon as I can. I can’t make promises, but…”Her neck snaps up. “You’d want to see me again?” “Yeah, I may have a secret.”
“Oh,” Her eyebrows furrow. “What is it?”
“I like you, too, Iris.”