Tally nudged his ribs. “You’ll just have to start using a condom, for double protection.”
“Ok.”
She didn’t expect such immediate acceptance. As they stopped outside Fitzpatrick’s, she looked up at him. “Really?”
“Boss, it’s done now,” he said. “I got the next nine months bareback, by the time you push this little guy out, you’ll have forgotten all about this conversation…” Bowing forward to kiss her, she noted the curl in his lips. “And, you’re gonna love him so much, you’ll be begging for number two.”
He reached over her to grab the door handle. “Then Daddy better hurry up and get a damn job. If Mommy is pushing out all these babies, she can’t be working shifts in a bar… unless you’re going to stay home and breastfeed.”
“Don’t worry, baby. I’ve got it all figured out.”
Didn’t take him long to get that cocky attitude back. There had been a real transformation in him over the last couple of days. Turned out that you could take the guy out of the hood, but the hood didn’t go far. He hadn’t shaved, hadn’t washed his hair or thought about styling it. He’d been as attentive with her as he always had been, but still managed to drink beer, watch sports, and let her do all the cooking.
Being with him felt right. Living with him was what she was supposed to be doing. Giving up what he had for her and their child still baffled her mind. He could have had a jet-setting lifestyle and a different model every day of the week. She wouldn’t have pursued him or asked for a cent, she’d have raised her child and let him live his life.
History would have repeated.
But, any time she tried to bring up the possibilities he was shunning he’d kiss her and change the subject. His tension over the issue was palpable, and as much as she didn’t want to have a full-blown argument about it, she didn’t want him to resent her for what he’d given up.
The truth was, she didn’t think he even registered the fortune he’d sacrificed. He was so casual about it. But, that was Max. He was happy with her, in their apartment, planning their future. Being him again meant so much to him, she could just sense his anxiety and aggravation seeping away, and in her selfishness, she was thrilled to have her Max back.
“Whatever happens in here,” she said, laying a hand on his chest as he started to open the door. “We’re going to be ok.”
“Damn right,” he said and bent to kiss her head.
Pulling open the door, Max laid a hand on her shoulder when she turned to stride in first with him at her back. Those at the bar saw her, they smiled and seemed ready to speak, but when they registered who was behind her, those smiles faltered.
“What’s going on?” Robbie asked, sliding off his stool to come toward her. Ryan, Mark, Tomas, and Bobby moved in behind him. “You ok, G?”
“Haven’t times changed,” Max said and took her shoulders to move her aside. “Anyone want to take a swing, I’m open.”
Tally wasn’t going to have them brawling, especially not when she was supposed to be behind the bar. Working here was her second job, she only took a shift or two a week, and helped Trey out when he needed it. But, as an employee, it was her responsibility to make sure there was no violence.
Leaping in front of him, she opened her arms to block Max. “No, we are not going to fight.”
“We will fight if they keep going with this G shit,” Max said because she’d explained the abbreviated nickname. “It’s MG.”
All the guys dropped their scowls to look at her. “It is,” she said. “We’re back together.”
“Wait a second,” Robbie said. “I thought he was the asshole who fired you… got you to sign that weird sex contract.”
Although she wanted to groan, she didn’t. “It wasn’t a sex contract and I told you that I wanted out. He only gave me what I wanted.” Reaching behind her, she threaded her fingers through his and brought it around to her stomach. “He was a prisoner there too and only did what he did because he thought it was what made me happy… But, we’ve talked and… we’re going to do this.”
The guys all switched their focus to her stomach. “You told him?” Ryan asked.
“Whoa, wait,” Max said, putting his other arm around her shoulders. “You told them?”
“They would have noticed,” she said, thinking about her belly looking more and more pregnant as the months progressed. “And, I work with them every day. I knew I’d need their support.”
“Yeah,” Robbie said. “We said she could bring the kid to the garage if she wanted. We’re gonna look after her. She doesn’t need you bailing her out.”
“No, I need her bailing me out,” Max said. “You guys have a right to be pissed, I was an asshole. But, I gotta say it straight, I was messed up. That life, everyone said I should want it, but it’s a crock of shit. There’s nothing there for me. So, you know what? I’m sorry if I fucked it up for every guy on the street who’d kill to have that chance. But, the way I see it, you all should be more jealous of what I’ve got with my girl… And, I can’t give that up.”
“Hold up,” Ryan said. “You’re giving it up… You’re… coming home?”
Inhaling, Max breathed out and nodded. “Yeah, it’s over, man. I choose this. I choose Tal… Might not be easy and we’ll have to deal with Stretton’s shit, but he’s nothing here now. This woman is all I care about.”
For a second, the guys all considered him, and then they looked to her again. “You happy, Tal?”
Nodding, she widened her smile. “We’ve got him back, Rob,” she said. “This is the life he wants, I’m sure of it.” Rubbing Max’s arm that was around her throat, she tilted her head to rest her cheek against it. “It’s selfish, I know. But… I want him back. I need him.”
Drawing in a long breath, Robbie folded his arms and glanced back at his posse. “Well, why the fuck didn’t you say so?”
The guys all moved forward, jeering and patting Max, welcoming him like a returning hero. Figuring it was safe to leave them, Tally squeezed out of the group and went to her place behind the bar. If she wasn’t able to drink anyway, it made sense to be pouring the drinks rather than on the other side of the bar watching others getting drunk.
She was slicing fruit when the gang of guys came back to the bar and they seemed to be making plans for Max’s return to the garage.
“You’ll need money, right?” Robbie asked. “Are you gonna buy a house? Man, you just come back to the neighborhood and then you’re leaving again.”
“Tal doesn’t want to,” Max said, sliding onto the stool he’d occupied the first night she’d met him there.
Everyone looked at her. “We’re only having one child right now, and it doesn’t make sense to leave our support network. There are some bigger apartments on the edge of the neighborhood that are a bit nicer, if we decide we need to move. But, while it’s just the three of us and the baby is little, I’d prefer to stay where we are.”
“Gives us time to plan the wedding,” Max said.
That did make her groan as all the guys perked up and began to declare their congratulations. “I told you we would just go to the courthouse for that,” Tally said. “I don’t want a fancy ceremony. We get it done, come back here, order some pizza, and then have a honeymoon at home.”
Max winked at her and then sort of puffed out his chest as he scanned the guys. “I got myself a good one, huh?”
“Low maintenance, that’s for sure,” Robbie said. “You don’t want the big dress and all that shit?”
After her life with the Stretton’s, Tally had been to enough fancy occasions to last her a lifetime. She wanted to enjoy her wedding day and constant reminders of how her life used to be and the invisible shackles she’d lived in wouldn’t make it a fun day for her.
“I want my man,” she said, putting a bottle of tequila on the bar and a bunch of shot glasses. “And, I want my friends… that’s all I need…” Max began to pour out the shots. “Though, it would be nice if my man was gainfully employed.”
“Don’t worry, Boss, we got it all figured out,” Max said. “I’ll be back in there Monday.”
“Another guy on the schedule for you to order around,” Ryan said and leaned toward Max. “She’s really damn good at barking orders, whipping us into shape.”
“What do you think she’s like in bed?” Max muttered, so she threw a lemon at him, but he caught it and put it on the bar.
“Don’t you forget it, baby,” she said, mimicking his use of the pet name. The guys raised their glasses and downed their drinks together, slamming the glasses to the bar as they finished. Max started to pour again. “I want to get laid tonight, Flynn.”
Pausing, he raised his amused eyes to hers and the guys burst out laughing. Tally just smiled.
“We scheduling sex? I want it in the morning, tomorrow, probably for the next fifty, sixty years.”
“I’m saying,” she said, taking the bottle from Max to hand it to Robbie. “I don’t care if their pee-pees work after midnight or not, but yours has a shift to pull.”
“He’ll be up to it, Sugar, don’t you worry about that.”
Trey came upstairs from the cellar and dumped a crate of beer on the counter. “What’s going on?” Coming over, he curved an arm around her waist and dipped to kiss her cheek. “Thought this guy was history.”
“When the fuck did I become ‘this guy’ around here?”
“Around the time you started to wear a real Rolex,” Ryan said, reaching around Robbie to pull at Max’s sleeve. “Let’s see it.”
“Left all that shit at the old man’s place,” Max said.
At the apartment, Tally had shown Max all the jewelry she had that they could hock if they needed to make ends meet. Max had had a bunch of nice accessories and suits, but had left everything at the Estate, bringing back only what he’d taken from his apartment in the first place. He didn’t want anything from the man who’d almost cost him everything, that’s what Max had told her. And he didn’t want his father to accuse him of theft and get him in trouble with the cops once he found out Max was shunning his Stretton heritage.
“There’s gotta be a damn fortune there,” Bobby said.
Max raised his glass to her as she took the lemon from in front of him. “See that beauty there,” he said. “She’s my fortune.” He downed the shot and then propped an elbow on the bar to turn toward his friends. “Now, how many asses I gotta kick for getting too close to my lady without my eyes on… Who made a move?”
Leaning over, she laid a hand on his wrist. “Go earn some money at the pool and poker tables,” she said. “Kick the asses after you take their money.”
Sliding his arm back, he picked up her hand to kiss the back. “That’s why you’re the boss, baby.”
Max started to move away with his friends who were walking toward the back of the room, but she tightened her grip to stall him. Waiting a few seconds, Tally let the guys get some distance. “I’ll come find you on my break… There’s this alley out back…”
The corner of his mouth rose. “Can’t wait.”
Letting him go, she watched him disappear into the darkness at the back of the room. His friends had accepted him back and it was such a relief. Their life was coming together and she could almost envision how incredible it would be, or it could be. But, they hadn’t faced Teddy yet and until they did, they wouldn’t be free.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Waking up in Max’s arms was still a dream. Tally wasn’t sure how long it would take her to get used to it, but having lost him, she knew never to take it for granted.
On her back, she opened her eyes to find him on his side beside her, his head on her shoulder, hand on her belly. He was stroking her with such care and tenderness, she immediately smiled.
“I hope you’re this attentive when he’s up screaming his head off at two AM.”
Shifting back, Max kissed her cheek and kept his head on her pillow. “Are you happy, Boss?”
His hand was still on her belly and the soothing caress was enough to make her eyes sink shut. “It feels normal,” she said on a content sigh. “I can’t believe how fast it’s become just… normal.”
“I lost who I was. Being back home with my girl, doesn’t take long to remember what I loved about this life.”
His attitude helped, but hers was transformed too. While being a mistress, she’d known they had no future, that they were controlled by Teddy, so she could never relax. Tally had always known she couldn’t be with a man she couldn’t rely on. But Max wasn’t a Stretton superior anymore, he’d become who he’d been for his whole life; the Max she loved.
It probably shouldn’t have been a surprise that being away from Teddy’s scrutiny and back in his natural habitat, Max had relaxed back into his old rhythm.
Rolling toward him, she combed her fingers into his hair and drew him close for a kiss. “I am happy, Max Flynn. You make me happy. I love you.”
“I’ve been lying here waiting for you to wake up forever,” he said, scooping a hand around her face to pull it under his.
“Wow, you’re civilized now,” she said, parting her legs when he moved over the top of her. “You never used to wait.”
“Never wake a pregnant woman,” he said, trailing kisses down her jaw. “That’s what I was told last night… I’ll be all animal again soon as this kid is out of you.”
Opening her arms, Tally stretched them upward to drape them around Max’s neck. “You put this kid in me, Buster, so that’s the last time I better hear you complain.”
“I don’t think you heard me complain, Mrs. Flynn,” he said, taking his mouth to hers.
But she pushed deeper into the pillow to get some space so she could search his gaze. “Uh, what?”
“Just trying it out,” he said. “I like it.”
His bliss rubbed off on her. It was so relaxed and cozy there in their bed that it was easy to be seduced by it. “Me too.”
Pulling his mouth back to hers, Tally tilted her head to welcome his kiss and enjoyed the lazy pace of their good morning greeting.
She was so lost in the delight of their kiss that it took her a minute to register the sound coming from the other room. Banging on the front door made both her and Max break free of the kiss.
“The guys said they’d come over,” she said, skimming her hands over his face and shoulders in a soothing motion when she saw how his frown deepened.
“They wouldn’t knock like that.” He kissed her. “Stay here.”
Leaping out of bed, he began to get dressed and she rose onto her elbows. “Maybe they’re messing around,” she said. “Think they’re being funny.”
“Yeah, hilarious,” he said. “If it’s them, I’ll still put my fist through their faces.”
“Max,” she droned. “Please, don’t fight…” But, she could see the look of anger on his face. “You’re going to be a father. What if junior was here and this happened?”
Tally pushed the covers away from her body to lie back down and rest both hands on her stomach. Pausing, Max looked at her for a second before seeming to forget the knocking to come and sit by her on the edge of the bed.
“If junior was here, I’d shoot the bastard,” he said, bending down to kiss her, stifling her exclamation. He bounced down to kiss her belly and then strode over to the door. With the handle in his grip, he looked back at her. “Stay here, Boss.”
The moment Max left the room, she flew out of bed and went straight to her underwear drawer. Tally had put on her panties and bra when she heard the raised voices. There was no way the guys were out there and if she recognized the angrier tone, which she did, the moment they’d been dreading was here.
Figuring that there wasn’t time to get dressed, Tally went to the door, grabbing a robe from the back to pull it on. Closer to the door, she could hear what was being said in the living room.
“You are walking out that door with me this minute,” Teddy Stretton asserted.
Tally couldn’t believe it; she would n
ever have thought that in a million years Teddy would be persuaded to come here to this neighborhood and this apartment. Losing Max must have had quite an impact on him.
“No, man, I’m not,” Max said. “And, unless you brought an army, you’re not getting me out that door.”
“You can’t want this,” Teddy said, his disgust apparent. “What the hell does this life have that I can’t offer you?”
Taking that as her cue, Tally tightened her robe and left the bedroom, staying just by the door. Teddy was only a couple of feet inside the front door, and the moment he saw her, his disgust turned to a sneer.
“Hello, Mr. Stretton.”
Her words, and probably Teddy’s expression, made Max whip around. “Get back in the bedroom, Tal.”
“No,” she said. “I’m not ashamed of us.”
“So, that’s it,” Teddy said. “You’re choosing the whore?”
Max spun around. “Don’t you fucking—”
“You’re as insane as your mother,” Teddy spat. “This isn’t a life for anyone. I can offer you anything you want. Anything at all. You’ll tire of this life and then what? Then what will you be left with?”
“I haven’t tired of this life in thirty-two years,” Max said. “Your life bored me real quick. This is where I’m supposed to be. Where I want to be. I don’t have a damn clue what you think is so good about your big-ass house and your ass kissing friends. None of what you have is real, it’s shallow and sick. I don’t want any part of it. You can keep it all.”
Teddy laughed, a deep, disturbing humorless sound of conceit. “Stay then,” he said and let his attention jump to her. “But, Tallulah is still in contract.”
Inhaling a slow breath, it was difficult not to show her surprise or let fear seep into her voice. “You said if Max fired me that you’d allow me to terminate my contracts. Employment and otherwise.”
“Yes, but there was never any official termination of services,” he said. “And, I think it’s obvious that my son has rescinded any implication of termination.”
If it was just a matter of going back and seeing out her duties, then she would do it and just battle through the months that were left. But, that was the trouble, there were months left on the contract. Her pregnancy wasn’t showing now, she could conceal it. But, for how long? If she got sick or had other pregnancy symptoms, Teddy would find out. Even if she hid all of those, eventually, she’d have a bump, and he wouldn’t miss that.
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