by R B Hilliard
“Why did he do it?” Ellie asked.
“It turns out that Zippo did some pretty bad things for Dooley. We’re talking prison sentence things. Dooley was willing to cut him loose but not without extorting information on Gage and Piper from him,” Garrett told us.
“I can’t believe that,” Ellie said.
“If it makes you feel any better, he didn’t want to. In fact, he gave just enough information to Dooley to appease him. At the same time, he gave us enough information to hang Dooley. He didn’t have to talk to Buck to know what was happening. He had a front row seat.”
“Did he tell you about the files? Did you find out what Dooley was planning to do to Gage?” I asked.
“He told us that Dooley had a file on anyone he ever did business with. His file on you, Piper, was strictly personal.” Gage’s hand twitched in mine and I gave him a comforting squeeze. “He also confirmed that Dooley and Gary were planning to set Gage up to get him out of the picture, but he didn’t have the details because Dooley hadn’t finalized them.”
“He helped that psycho stalk my daughter,” my dad said. I could tell this was killing him.
“Yes, but he also helped us find our way back to each other,” Gage said.
“Well, I’ll tell you this. Both Zippo and Gary are going to see the inside of a jail cell. We have four counts of fraud and larceny against them,” Officer Galvez announced.
“So, it’s over?” I asked.
“It’s over,” he confirmed.
Six Weeks Later…
“Yes, my precious boy, your Auntie Piper loves you.”
“I want one,” Gage murmured in my ear. I glanced over my shoulder and couldn’t help but smile at the look of awe and wonder on his face as he stared down at Mac.
“Did you hear that? Uncle Gage wants one of you. Auntie Piper told Uncle Gage that first he has to make an honest woman of her.” Mac blinked and Gage chuckled.
“Auntie Piper needs to pull out her calendar and set a date or Uncle Gage is going to set it for her,” Gage told Mac, who gurgled and kicked his baby feet in the air.
“Let me know when because I want to come back for it,” Reyn said.
“Well you better, since you’re going to be one of my bridesmaids,” I told her.
“Really?” Her happy tone made me smile.
“Of course,” Gage said. “You were there when we met. We want you there when we marry.” She let out a little squeal and hugged him.
With the passage of time, things were finally getting back to normal. Both of my brothers arrived the day after the meeting with Officer Galvez. They got to meet Gage and, for the first time in what felt like forever, my family was together in one place. Benny, Tut, and Twon showed up while they were there and, at Gage’s suggestion, my dad took them all to the cafeteria and filled them in. Due to the nature of my brothers’ business they could only stay for a few days, but before they took off I made them promise that they would both be back for the wedding. My parents were a different story. It took Gage all but swearing over our firstborn child to get them to leave. They loved me and wanted to protect me, but I needed time to heal and time to be with my man.
Susannah stopped by for a brief visit. She looked horrible. I tried to comfort her as best I could but she wanted none of it. She told me that she was going back to Texas and that she needed time to get past what Zip had done. I decided I would give her a month before I started harassing her.
Ellie and Mac were released from the hospital three days before me. The second they were gone I missed them. When it came time for me to leave, Gage insisted that I not go back to Joss and Kurt’s but that I stay with him. I agreed without any coercion. I didn’t want to spend one more second of my life without him in it. If Dooley taught me anything, it was that life is too short. I was not going to waste any more time. Reyn stayed in the hospital for twelve days. Ellie and I visited her daily.
A month after I was released from the hospital, Gage and I found a four bedroom Cape Cod-style cottage located halfway between Joss and Ellie. We put an offer on it and were waiting to hear back. After Reyn was released, she decided she was going to move back to Virginia with her parents. Because of her quick departure, Ellie, Joss, and I coordinated an impromptu going away party at Dragonfly.
“What are you telling my son?” Max asked. He and Gage stood with their backs against the bar, while Dillon and Kurt served drinks behind them.
“We’re telling him how cool his Uncle Gage is,” Gage replied.
“Uncle Gage is definitely cool,” Max agreed.
“Uncle Dillon is cooler,” Dillon chimed in.
“Who’s cool?” Joss asked. She and Ellie had been out cutting a rug on the dance floor and were taking a water break. The day of the debriefing, Joss told Ellie about her pregnancy. Ellie, the sneaky little actress, pretended to be both shocked and awed. Joss said that she would tell everyone else after her first trimester. She still had a month to go.
“I am,” Gage and Dillon both said in unison. Gage tickled Mac’s feet, which caused Mac to gurgle and nuzzle his face against my chest. “Be careful there Buddy, you never know what you’re going to find stuffed in Auntie Piper’s boobies.”
“Gage!” I scolded and tried not to laugh.
“What?” he innocently asked.
“Didn’t you and Chucky once try to break into your house with a nail file?” Joss asked.
Here we go.
“They did!” Max and Ellie both shouted.
Gage eyed me for a second and then asked, “Who’s Chucky?”
I rolled my eyes at them. “No one,” I told him.
“I’ll fill you in later,” Max whispered.
“You do realize that I am holding your child?” I teased.
“Who is that?” Ellie asked. A woman I had never seen before walked into the bar. On a normal night, I wouldn’t have given her a second thought. However, since this was a private party, she stood out like the crasher she was.
“I don’t know, but I want her hair,” Joss murmured. So do I. She was a little taller than Ellie and had long, wavy, jet black hair. We watched as she made her way beside us to Dillon.
“Do you think she knows him?” Reyn asked.
“Isabella?” We heard Dillon say. “What are you doing here?” Ellie and I started to inch forward but Max and Gage stopped us.
“Can I talk to you outside?” she asked. She had one of those voices that made you want to stop and listen. It was raspy and reminded me of whisky and cigarettes.
He looked shocked and uncertain. “Uhhh, sure, give me just a minute.”
“Go ahead,” Kurt told him. “I gotcha covered.”
“Thanks,” Dillon muttered. Our eyes followed them out the door.
“Who do you think she is?” Joss asked.
“Probably an old friend,” I said. I could tell by the looks on Ellie and Joss’s faces that they weren’t buying it.
“Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop,” I moaned. Gage’s beard rubbed back and forth between my legs as he devoured me. His tongue was pure magic. The second the words left my mouth he stopped. “Don’t stop!” I pleaded.
He lifted his head and stared into my eyes. “Give me a date, Princess.”
Is he serious? “Now? As in this second?” I asked.
“Do you want to come?” He is!
I pulled up onto my elbows and stared at him. “There’s a name for this, you know. It’s called sexual extortion.” He smiled. Then he dipped his tongue back in for a nice long lick and my lost orgasm resurfaced with a vengeance. “Ahhhhh, right there,” I told him. Once again, he stopped. You have got to be shitting me.
“Give me a date,” he repeated.
It wasn’t that I was holding out on him or anything. I just wanted to be in our new house together before we picked a date. I wanted to make new memories with him and I felt that setting our wedding date would be the perfect one to start with. However, if he felt the need to sexual coerce me into picking a date,
it was bothering him and that was not acceptable. I cocked my head and asked, “You know that I’m going to marry you? Don’t you?”
The weight of his stare was so heavy that I felt myself drowning in it. “Pick. A. Date.” He slowly enunciated each word.
Little did he know that I already had a date in mind. “Fine! I will marry you on October seventeenth,” I told him.
Before I could say anything else, his mouth was on mine and he was thrusting deep inside me. Nothing felt better than our bodies connected together like this. When I was close, I moaned his name.
“Come with me, Princess,” he commanded and, like a bomb, I detonated and pulled him over with me. Gage Blackwell completely rocking my world was something I would never tire of. He pulled me in tight and wrapped his body around mine. I felt his lips against my neck and a murmured, “Thank you.”
“Gage?”
“Hmmm?” he sleepily replied.
“I wasn’t holding out. I just thought that maybe our first decision in our first house together could be when to get married. Forget it.” I waved it off. “It was a stupid thought.”
I felt his body still. Then he tapped my side and said, “Get dressed.”
“What? Why?”
“No questions. Just do it.” Once we were dressed, he took my hand and led me out the door. I followed him down the stairs, down the hall, and into the bay that held his Harley. “Get on,” he ordered. I started to ask where we were going but remembered he said no questions. Instead, I hopped on behind him. We wound through the empty streets of Charlotte until we finally came to the house we had placed an offer on.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
He pulled out a set of keys and said, “Deciding when to get married.”
I gasped. “We got the house?”
He smiled. “We did.”
“We got the house!” I launched myself at him and squealed.
He caught me in mid-air and I wrapped my arms and legs around him as he walked us to the front door. “Are you ready?” he whispered in my ear.
“More than you’ll ever know,” I whispered back.
“Told you I wasn’t letting go,” he said. Then he opened the door to our new home and carried me over the threshold.
About the Author
R.B. Hilliard lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, which is also the setting of her books. Hilliard is married and has two children and two dogs. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English and a certificate in language therapy.
Hilliard’s love of books inspired her to write her own engaging tales.
Dillon and Isabella’s story is next. If you want to chat with R.B. you can find her in various places, all of which are listed on her website:
www.rbhilliard.com