by Sam Crescent
One of the officers seemed like a serious-looking man, high up in the ranking.
I felt sick to my stomach as he approached and held out his hand. “Thank you, Mr. Valentine, for your full cooperation.”
I was still tense as they shook hands. The officer nodded at me, and then we were alone.
I let Earl go and looked toward the officer. This wasn’t … why weren’t they arresting Earl?
“I think you’ve seen enough.” Earl took my hand and led me back to the car. I sat inside, staring out at the chaos before me.
All this time, a little taken aback.
Was this real?
They weren’t going to arrest Earl.
He pulled out of the docks, and we drove for a short time, coming to a stop near a rundown side-road café.
He didn’t turn the engine off.
The sounds of the engine filled the air.
What had I just witnessed?
I licked my dry lips and glanced toward Earl.
He stared right at me.
“Do you want to tell me what is going on?” I asked. “They didn’t arrest you. Those girls were yours.”
“No, they weren’t mine. In fact…” He reached into his pocket. “I don’t deal in women anymore. I’ve removed all parts of human trafficking from my life, and I’ve got a lot to make up for.” He held out a file.
I took it and flicked through it, not understanding any of it. “What is this?”
“This is a document. A legally binding agreement that I signed. I’m going to help stop human trafficking. I don’t imagine we’ll ever truly stop it, but with my contacts, I’m going to be working undercover as a buyer to expose the men responsible.”
“This is crazy. What about all of your other businesses? Your way of life?”
“I’ve been working to get out of it, Ashley.”
“I don’t believe you.” This was a lot to take in.
“You will be the last woman I ever take. I hope in time you can learn to forgive me. I love you so damn much, and it wasn’t just your virginity I wanted. Seven years ago, I saw you at a party. You stood out. So sweet. You had an easy smile. No matter that people were avoiding you or ignoring you. You gave them all a smile. I watched you. Not Emily. She was a business agreement, but you, you were like a fucking beacon calling to me. I had to have you.”
“You did?”
“Yes, I did. Then of course there was a great deal of unsavory business. Work needed to be handled, and I had to make sure you were safe. The threat on Emily’s and your life, it wasn’t one I couldn’t handle. I had to keep you all safe. First, I needed to guarantee a plan that would make you mine.”
“You planned all of this?” I asked.
“I didn’t plan everything. I wanted you, Ashley. I never thought I’d fall so deeply in love with you that I’d change my entire existence. My goal had always been for me to prove to my grandfather that I was better. To take his business into the next level, and I did that, with ease.” He ran a hand down his face. “I was crueler than he was, but I changed the way he did business. You already knew that there were … he didn’t believe in an age restriction when taking and selling people.”
I remembered him telling me.
“You deserve a man you can love. A man you can look at every single day and be so fucking proud to have known him. I can’t promise you I’m going to always be a good man. I will still kill people who get in my way, but I’m changing to be the man you deserve. I love you, Ashley.”
I reached across the car, put my hand to his cheek, and kissed him. I couldn’t not.
He loved me.
The words didn’t matter at this point, but what he’d done couldn’t be questioned. A lifetime of hurting others, and he’d turned it all around for me. The tears on my cheeks were those of happiness.
“Earl, I loved you even before tonight. It’s why I had to leave Crude Hill. I was so in love with you, and everywhere I looked, you were there. It hurt too much to have fallen for you. You didn’t need to change who you were. I was learning to accept that part of you.”
“I’m not going back. I will make amends for all the women I’ve hurt.” He stroked my cheek. “And I’ll do it for you and our baby.”
I laughed.
“Ask me again,” I said.
He smiled at me and ran his thumb across my lip. “Marry me.”
No hesitation. No wondering.
“Yes,” I said.
How could I turn down a man who’d changed his entire life for me? He loved me and I loved him. We were going to make this work.
He kissed me, and I submitted to him.
“Just so you know, I consider your yes a legally binding contract, and if you so much as try to back out, I’ll keep Emily and all the Monsters.”
I burst out laughing. “Yeah, right. That would have worked if I hadn’t already known the beast had been tamed.”
“Only for you and our family. I will not stand by and let anything bad happen to you, or to us.”
“I know.”
Earl was the tamed beast for me, but if anyone tried to hurt me, they would have to deal with the true evil lurking beneath the surface.
For everyone’s sake, I hoped they left us in peace.
Epilogue
Earl
Five years later
“I hate boats.”
“It’s a yacht, babe,” I said.
“It’s a very large boat.”
Even as Ashley held on to my arm, I couldn’t help but smile. Five years we’d been married. Our anniversary was tomorrow. Our two children were currently in the care of Emily and the Monsters at Crude Hill. I didn’t like leaving them behind, neither did Ashley, but I wanted to spend some time with my woman when we weren’t invaded by the patter of little feet and screams for Mommy and Daddy to wake up.
Our first child, Corey, was such a sweetheart, and had come into this world causing a few problems.
Ashley’s first pregnancy had held a whole host of complications. She had ended up bed-bound for the last few months of pregnancy, on doctor’s orders. It had made her incredibly cranky and such a fucking pain to be around. Still, I loved her, and our son was a shining light in our life.
Two years later, Athena had been born. Our precious little baby girl. Her pregnancy had been easy.
We’d settled in England. Ashley wanted us to have a fresh start, and I’d already been in the process of buying us a house. Emily and her men visited us regularly, and we went to Crude Hill a couple of times a year.
I never thought I’d fall in love or feel this way about anyone, but Ashley was different.
She was all mine, and I was hers.
I continued to run my empire. Building it from strength to strength. I didn’t need any of the other businesses, and I worked alongside law enforcement whenever they needed me. Going fully legal hadn’t come without risks. I had enemies, and I made sure my wife and children were protected at all costs. The Monsters back in Crude Hill were also protected. Their lives were not up for questioning within relation to me or what I do.
Life was a balancing act, but Ashley was worth it.
Some people believed I’d become a pussy with a wife.
I hadn’t.
I was far deadlier than ever before, and there were at least three people who were now dead who could have told everyone. During the first year, my wife received death threats, and one day, I came home to find someone in our house. I’d killed them without Ashley ever finding out, and I’d buried what was left of the body.
Each time people thought to take me on, they were fools to try.
My professional life had taken a turn, but that didn’t mean the beast lurking beneath me was gone.
Only Ashley and my babies got to see a good man. Everyone else got to see the real me, the man they all deserved to see.
Once I was in position, I removed Ashley’s blindfold. She blinked against the full beam of light. We were out on the ocean. There were several
clear days scheduled. I wanted my wife, naked, waiting for me, and with no chance of kids asking what their daddy was doing to their mommy.
A few mornings that had happened, and a couple of nights. I’d been so fucking close, and my kids were cock blockers, but I loved them.
“Hello, Mrs. Valentine.” I pressed a kiss to her neck.
She tilted her head back and moaned. “Yes.”
“I want you to get completely naked and spread those legs for me. I’m totally taking you right here, right now.”
“Anyone could see,” she said.
I growled against her flesh. “Haven’t I proven to you that no one but me will see you? No one will look at you or know. They will have to answer to me.”
She groaned as I cupped her pussy. She was already so wet. “I love you, Earl.”
“I love you too.”
By the end of this anniversary, I intended to knock her up. It was time she had another kid. Each baby we had bound her more firmly to me.
I was an obsessive guy, and when I knew what I wanted, I went for it. Ashley was mine, and no one else was ever going to know what fucking treasure they all gave up.
Mine.
The End
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BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER
SMOKEY
Sam Crescent
Copyright © 2021
Sample Chapter
Ava Sinclaire stared into her shot glass. Tequila wasn’t her drink of choice but tonight she was celebrating. The divorce had finally come through. She was a free agent from that lying, cheating scumbag.
“You okay there, sweetheart?” the bartender, Ryan, asked. He’d told her his name the moment she sat at the bar.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“I haven’t seen you around here before.”
“I’m kind of new.” She offered him a smile. Totally new. Three months new. After moving to Fort Clover, Ava had set up her bakery in town and was doing quite well. Her first official day of opening turned a small crowd, which she loved. Everyone in town was so nice to her. They all wanted to know more about her, but the moment she told them all she was in the process of getting a divorce, everyone seemed to accept that.
“You sticking around?”
“Yep. Have you heard of the baker called Ava’s? It’s mine.”
“No shit. I had one of the nicest cream pies from there just last week. You made them?”
“Yep, that was me.”
“Wow, shit. You do good. I hear you only work three days a week, though, right?”
“Yes, right.”
Someone hollered his name, and within seconds, she was alone again.
Yep, she had her bakery three days a week. Her parents had left her a small fortune that Derek had tried to get from her, but thanks to the prenup her lawyer demanded he sign, she’d been saved from handing over half of her parents’ money.
She rarely used it, or at least had rarely used it until she moved towns and bought herself a small house. It was on the edge of town. Just a small place. Two bedrooms, a nice garden. A space for her to enjoy and relax. After all the drama her ex had put her through, she wanted it.
At thirty years old, she knew it was lame to just want peace and quiet, but she was done with men. Done with all the drama they seemed to entail.
Ryan came back, filled her glass with more tequila, and she thanked him. She didn’t even know if Fort Clover had a cab company. She was way past her limit.
When the bar suddenly went silent, she frowned and turned around to see what the problem was. In the doorway stood not one, but six, or maybe it was three, or perhaps twelve angry-looking bikers. She must be seeing something, or the tequila had gone straight to her head.
The realtor had warned her there was a local motorcycle club hanging around. There had been one close by in the last town she lived in, and that hadn’t been much of a problem.
Spinning back to the bar, she stared down at her shot, wondering why the hell she was even celebrating anyway. Yes, she was finally rid of Derek, but why celebrate that? He’d been wrong for her from the start.
Before he’d entered her life, she had friends, a great job, fun. Her ex had turned her into a woman who slowly stopped seeing friends, stopped going out, and just lived for his approval, only to never get it. He’d chipped away at her armor until she walked in on him fucking his secretary, right in their bedroom. The moment she saw him, it was like a switch had gone off inside her head, and she’d flipped right back to who she was. Only now, she was all alone and ten years older. No kids. No marriage. Fuck all but a nice house, her bakery, and her parents’ money still safely belonging to her.
A large, sexy-looking man took a seat right beside her. The leather cut didn’t have any sleeves and his heavily inked, muscular arms were on full display. She also caught sight of his knuckles. Hell’s was written across them with the apostrophe in the divot between the l and the s.
She’d never gotten any tattoos. It was on her bucket list.
Thank you, lame-ass Derek. Fucking loser.
She lifted her glass into the air and knocked it back, nearly choking on it.
“Wow, what are we drinking to, pretty lady?”
His gruff voice went straight to her core. No man should ever be able to turn a woman on with just the sound of his voice. She turned her head to her little neighbor and stared at him. To her surprise, he glanced from her face down to her ass, then back up, lingering for a few seconds on her tits.
She wasn’t a slender woman. Big tits, huge hips, massive thighs, and she didn’t give a flying fuck about it either. After ten years of being told how ugly she was and how she didn’t measure up to Derek, she’d made a vow to never allow a man to see her as small. She’d tossed out every single item of clothing and bought herself a whole new wardrobe.
This move was about her. Not about a single man.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said.
“Are you a regular?”
She shook her head.
“Just passing through?”
She shook her head again. “If you want to know who I am, just ask.”
“And you’d give me an honest answer?”
“I’ve got no reason to lie to you.” She glanced at his leather cut, seeing the label marking him as President. “And why would I lie to the boss?”
He held out his hand. “The name’s Smokey.”
“Ava.” She shook his hand. “I’ve just moved here.”
He turned her hand left and right. “No ring.”
She chuckled. “Single, and I’m totally off men. I hate every last one of them.”
“A woman scorned?”
“Nah, a woman sick and tired of them and all the bullshit that comes with them.” She didn’t miss Derek. There was no pain or sadness. Just an overwhelming anger she didn’t even know she possessed. All her life, she’d been the calm one. The sweet one. The person to never make any waves and to always find the good in people. She was done with being a doormat. “To be scorned, I’d have to have actually cared what he did.”
Smokey’s hand lingered on hers, and she waited for him to say more. “I detect a mark where a ring should be.” His thumb grazed over her finger. “Recently divorced?”
“You got it.”
“And you say you’re not scorned?”
“Nope. It was the wake-up call I needed.”
“What did the bastard do?” he asked.
She chuckled. “What makes you
think he did something?”
“You’re new here. You’ve got this … thing about you. I don’t know. It says you’re the one moving on, not him.”
Ava pulled her hand away from him, running a finger across her lip. Maybe it was the alcohol or just the fact she was finally free to do and say whatever she wanted, which was why she blurted out her next part. “I went home to discover my husband anally fucking another woman. Our sex had been completely lackluster. No spark. No nothing. It was just nothing. Let’s just say I’m well shot of him. He was the worst thing I ever did.”
Ryan came back and filled her glass. “What can I get you, Smokey?”
“The usual.”
“So, you visit this bar frequently?” she asked.
“Only when I hear there is a pretty lady sitting here all on her own.”
Ava snorted. “Please, I wasn’t born yesterday.” The drink was going to her head and her mouth. She needed to stop speaking. She pushed the drink away as Ryan put a beer down in front of Smokey. “Do you know of any cab company that will take me home?”
“Not this late, sweetheart. The only guy who does that is sitting right over there.” Ryan pointed toward the corner.
“Oh, crap. Looks like I’m walking.” She opened her purse, put down several bills, and got to her feet. “Pleasure to meet you, Ryan.” Then she put a hand on Smokey’s arm. He was rock hard. Pure muscle. “And you, Smokey. See you both around.” She turned on her heel and left the bar.
The tension between the two men was clear, and she had no interest in getting involved in whatever the hell that was. She just wanted some peace and quiet in her own little world.
Holding her purse tight, she began the trek back to her home. She’d have no choice but to make the same trek back to grab her car. This was just like her. Finally experiencing freedom, and look where it got her. All alone and having no choice but to walk home. Next time, she’d plan a little better. After three months in a brand-new place, she really should have her bearings about her now.