by Ember Davis
I open the house and order some pizzas. It doesn’t take long before everyone is pitching in. Some people are helping to bring Troy’s vision of his blanket fort to life. Dex and Zeke run to their houses to grab more beers. Andrea and Walsh, of all people, are making plans for a baby shower that is months away. Ryder and Olivia are making plans to get the firepit out back going for smores.
Amelia catches my eye and winks at me right before Blake claps me on the back. “Congratulations, man.” I grin at him and his face goes serious, “I hope you know I didn’t know for sure she was pregnant when I agreed to her going out and she was very convincing. I don’t regret it because we got him.” He nods toward my girl, “You’re going to get a ring on her finger, soon, right?”
I pitch my voice low, “I ordered the ring the day after I finally got her in my arms.”
Blake nods, giving me and grin and heads into the fray of the blanket fort building. I take a moment to appreciate what I have but it’s hard to push away all the thoughts of what I almost lost. I slip down the hallway to our bedroom, taking a moment to look at Amelia’s favorite piece of art on my way.
CHAPTER 18
AMELIA
Fuck, we have the best family ever. There’s a small part of me that wishes we could have our house to ourselves tonight, but I’m not the only one who was affected by Caleb’s actions. Everyone was scared and worried this last month. Everyone was looking over their shoulder. Beckett, Walsh and Troy were all deeply affected by seeing Caleb hold a knife to my throat. They need to be close, to make sure that I’m safe, that we’re all safe and that good won.
I was so fucking afraid when Caleb grabbed me, but I also knew in my heart that if I could stall, even for a few minutes, that the guys would get to me in time. I kept ahold of that and pushed my fear back and embraced the rage. I couldn’t let my mind conjure up what could happen if Caleb got me in that car.
Thankfully, playing on Caleb’s vanity and selfishness saved my life. He seriously would have hated my vomit in his car. I had a stomach virus once in college when we were dating, and he flat out refused to take care of me. He told me there was no way he would ever clean up my vomit.
Not going to lie, Caleb’s jab about being weak and disgusting cut me deeply, but the moment I was in Beckett’s arms I knew I couldn’t give his words space in my head anymore. Caleb can’t haunt me anymore and maybe this will provide closure for others too.
Telling our family that I’m pregnant, that our family would keep growing, was satisfying. I loved watching the mixed reactions because the undercurrent of all of them was love. As it should be. How lucky we are to share this experience with some amazing people. Shit, I have to call my mom tomorrow and let her know. About everything.
I saw the reaction of Grayson and the rest of Blake’s guys, but I’m not worried about it because my reasoning was sound and logical. Maybe they would have made a different decision if it was their call, but it wasn’t this time. They’re the kind of guys to assess what happened, but ultimately take the win and move forward.
Beckett slipped down to our bedroom a few minutes ago and I can feel his soul tugging at mine. I catch Walsh’s eye across the room and indicate with a few hand gestures that he’s in charge of watching over the group. He looks puzzled for a moment, but when I hook a thumb toward the bedroom his face smooths out and he gives me a knowing smirk. I roll my eyes and head down the hallway.
I need to check on my man and grab a shower. It’s like I can still feel Caleb’s hands on me. It makes my skin crawl. I think his cologne is clinging to me too. I wasn’t lying when I told Caleb I thought I was going to throw up, I just didn’t tell him that it was his disgusting cologne that was causing it. The best lies have a kernel of truth in them.
I ease into our bedroom, closing and locking the door behind me. Beckett is sitting on the edge of our bed, his shoulders slumped and his head in his hands. My breath gets caught in my throat when I see his shoulders softly shaking.
I sit next to him and wrap him up in my arms. He turns and looks into my eyes for a second before he wraps his arms around my middle and buries his face against my chest. The look on his face and the tears streaming down his face break me.
I rock him in my arms and run my hands up and down his back. I coo soothingly, “It’s okay, Beckett. I’m safe. The baby is safe. You saved me, Love.”
Beckett shakes his head and croaks, “I didn’t save you, I was there, but it wasn’t me.”
I run my fingers through his hair, “No, Love, you saved me. I’d been allowing a part of myself to continue to live in fear for years. You showed me that I was worth loving and that I deserved it. You gave me the confidence I needed so that tonight I was able to keep him out of my head and to trust that you’d get to me in time. When I saw you, out there in that alley, you were the lifeline I needed in that moment. Your beautiful green eyes told me to hold on, to wait, to trust. You were right there when and where I needed you the most. You saved me.”
He shudders against my chest and I just continue to rock him gently and let him cry. I can be strong for him right now. I makes my heart so full that he knows he’s safe with me; that he can be vulnerable, but I won’t think less of him.
Beckett takes a heaving breath and then shifts, so he’s lying on the edge of the bed, his head in my lap facing my belly. My still soft and very much not showing a pregnancy belly. He pushes my shirt up until my that entire soft belly is exposed. He runs his palm over my skin reverently.
He kisses my belly and then murmurs against my skin, “Hi little baby. I’m your Daddy.” My breath gets caught in my throat as I stare down at this big man who is covered in tattoos talk to a baby that is probably only as big as a grain of rice. “I love you and your Mama so much, sweet pea. I promise that I’ll be the best Daddy I can be. I promise to be at every school event. I promise to be at every birthday party. I promise to teach you how to be a good person as best I can.”
Beckett looks up at me and grins, “Your Mama is the most amazing person I know so she’ll help me with that. Most of all, sweet pea, I promise to make sure that your Mama, you and any other brothers or sisters you have will always know you come first.”
Oh, this man; this sweet, loving, sexy as hell man.
“You,” he looks up at me, “both, are my life.” His hand comes up and cups my cheek. “Amelia,” it sounds like a prayer on his lips, “thank you for giving me this. I can’t wait to have this baby with you, to have this family with you.”
I grin down at him and can’t help but sass him a little, “I didn’t do this by myself. You had a role in this.”
He smirks up at me, “Oh, you mean my super sperm? The sperm that even birth control couldn’t stop?”
I throw my head back and laugh, “I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to dub them super sperm.”
Beckett’s eyes turn serious and he shifts and kneels in front of me and takes my face in his hands. “I want you to know how much I love you and how much I appreciate you and this life, not just the one you’re growing but our entire life.” I nod and try and blink my tears back. “I really thought for a moment tonight that I was going to lose you.” His voice is barely a whisper, “I was so fucking scared, Baby.”
I wrap my arms around him and pull him against me, “I know, Beckett. I know and I’m so sorry any of us had to go through that.”
He pulls back from me and runs his hands down my torso and then my legs. He slowly unlaces my boots and pulls them off. He sets them aside before pulling my socks off and then running his hands back up my body, pushing my jacket off my shoulders.
I whimper, “Beckett, what are you doing?”
His eyes flash with something between desire and possession and he growls, “I can’t go another second smelling that asshole on you. I don’t know if it’s his cologne or what, but it reeks. I can’t fucking do it anymore.”
He pushes my shirt up and off in one fluid motion and collects it and my jacket and puts
them on the floor. Then he picks me up and carries me into the bathroom. He sets me down in the middle of the room and then strips my jeans, panties and bra off me, kissing my skin as he goes.
Beckett starts the shower and strips down as he the water heats up. When he pulls his shirt off, I see the plastic wrap covering his ribs. He toes off his shoes and then shucks his jeans and boxer briefs; his hard cock points right at me as he watches me. Fucking hell, I love his eyes on me. He’s so fucking sexy. I pull my hair into a messy bun on top of my head quickly, not wanting to go to sleep with damp hair even if Caleb buried his nose in it.
I take a step towards him and touch the edge of the plastic wrap, “Beck, you got a new tattoo?”
He grins at me and nods. He lifts his arm and lets me get a better look. He seems almost nervous, “Take the plastic wrap off for me?”
I peel it away slowly and then take in the image that takes up his entire side. “It’s…me,” I say in awe. “You drew this?”
He nods slowly, “Yeah, Troy tattooed it on me this morning.”
“I thought I’d seen all the drawings you’ve done of me.” I blush, “Even the one of me in the leather cuffs.”
His chuckle is low and dark, it sends a shiver up my spine. “I didn’t show you this one.”
I finally tear my eyes away from the pin-up version of me which is now a permanent part of him. “Why didn’t you show me this one?”
Beckett picks me up and carries me into the shower and lathers his hands up with body wash and starts washing me from head to toe. “I didn’t show you this one because I knew the moment I saw you that I wanted this image tattooed on me so you’d be by my side, even when you couldn’t physically be by my side.” He looks into my eyes; I see the nervousness there. “I drew this that first day you were in my shop.”
I feel my brow knit together, “You drew it after I left that day?”
He shakes his head slowly and turns me so he can wash my back. “No, Amelia, I drew it that morning.”
I hate that I can’t see him, so I turn and face him, “I don’t understand.”
Beckett turns us so I can rinse off. “Baby, that morning I was having such a shit day.” He sighs, “I was barely even awake before my day was shit. I was lonely and tired of faking that everything was okay in my life. I had been trying to coax out this idea for a tattoo that kept teasing me, but never coming into focus.” I nod because we’ve talked at length about his process and I get it because I can’t ever force my own ideas. I need to let my mind work through them. “When I got in the shop that morning I sat down with my sketchbook and just started drawing. The last thing I drew that morning was this pin-up dressed in a sunflower printed dress.”
I grab his body wash, lather up my hands and start washing him, avoiding his tattoo and hard cock. I nod knowingly, “You changed the features later? So, it looked like me?”
He shakes his head fiercely, “No, baby. I didn’t change a thing. I drew this pin-up exactly the way you see it now, I drew you before I even met you.” I gasp and meet his eyes. “I swear, you can ask Dex, he saw it that morning when he came in. He’s the only one who saw it that morning. Then you walked into my shop like you walked right out of my sketch book.”
I turn him gently and rinse him off before using a gentle soap on his fresh tattoo. I run my fingers over the features of his tattoo again, “Wow, Beck. That’s…that’s amazing. Even the sunflowers?”
Beckett kisses me softly, “Even the sunflowers. The only thing I changed was the tattoo on her upper arm to a ball of yarn and a crochet hook.” He chuckles, “That was Andrea’s suggestion actually. I showed her my sketch after I snapped at you and you, understandably, ran away. I showed her because I needed her to understand why I was acting strangely. I’ve never had one of my sketches come to life like that and I didn’t handle it very well. I didn’t understand her suggestion until you started making my hat.”
I smile at him so big my cheeks hurt as I look at his tattoo again, “She’s beautiful.”
Beckett kisses me hard, “You’re beautiful. You’re so fucking gorgeous, Amelia. You’re smart, funny, creative, kind, generous and I’m so grateful that you walked into my shop that day and then was forgiving enough to not hold my horrible behavior against me.”
I turn us slightly so his back shields me from the water before I kiss down his neck and chest, my tongue running along every ridge of his abs as I kneel in front of him. I wrap my fingers around the base of his shaft and flick my tongue out across the head.
He hisses, “Baby, what are you doing?”
My eyes meet his and I kiss the tip of his cock and smile as he groans. “I’m showing you just how much you mean to me, Beckett Banks. If I had the ability, I would have sketched you a million times over before I met you because you are every wish I’ve ever made for the love of my life and the father of my children.”
I run my tongue around the crown of his cock before taking him into my mouth and pressing my tongue up against his shaft, flicking when I come back up. I bob up and down on him as I feel his fingers snake into my hair and grasping my bun. He widens his stance and I take him to the back of my throat; he groans.
I can feel his control breaking as I work his cock in my mouth. I increase my suction which makes him groan and thrust into my mouth faster. I flick my tongue against the underside of his cockhead every time I come up his shaft.
He grunts, “Fuck, Baby, s’good.”
I don’t take my eyes off him as he throws his head back and moans, his fingers gripping my hair harder. I know he’s close when his hard shaft pulses in my mouth. I wrap one hand around the base of his shaft and pump in time with my mouth. I run the fingertips of my other hand over the pin-up version of me before bringing them down to cup and fondle his balls, humming around him.
His eyes snap back to mine and he thrusts his hips forward with more force. I relax my throat and take a breath through my nose before taking him farther into my mouth and swallowing. I have a front row seat to him losing his control and it’s hot as hell.
Beckett holds my head still as he barks, “Fuck!” He comes down my throat and I focus on swallowing every drop down.
When his fingers relax, I tighten my lips around his shaft and clean him as I pull off his softening cock slowly. When I release him from my mouth, he slumps back against the wall, bracing himself so he doesn’t fall. He’s breathing hard and has to catch himself before slipping down the wall. I can’t help the smirk as his dazed and glazed over eyes find mine as I stand up and fix my hair.
Beckett reaches out for me but his legs wobble. I giggle, “Take your time, Love.”
He chuckles but it’s breathless. “Give me a few minutes and then I’m fucking you until you scream.”
I shake my head, “Nope, that was all for you to express my appreciation. I’m good. I’m safe, I’m home, I’m in love, I’m pregnant.” I watch a slow smile spread across his face and he stands up and reaches for me again. I shimmy away from him and step out of the shower. I grab a towel and wrap it around myself. ‘We also have a house full of our family who are probably starting to wonder where we are.”
His grin turns wicked and he shakes his head slowly. “They know exactly where we are and exactly what we’re doing.”
I blush and he wags his eyebrows, laughing as he turns off the shower and steps out. He wraps a towel around his waist before he pulls me into his arms. He kisses my shoulder, right where the sunflower tattoo is.
“I love you, Amelia.”
I cup his face in my hands and let myself dive deep into his sparkling green eyes where I can see our future, “I love you, Beckett.” I kiss him sweetly and murmur against his lips, “Now, let’s get dressed and go spend time with our family. You can bring me to bed and have your wicked way with me later.”
He grins against my lips and kisses me one more time before we go and do exactly that.
EPILOGUE
About 10 weeks later
AMELIA
> It’s been a little over two months since that night with Caleb. He’s been getting the help he needs and is going to be held responsible for his actions. Not even his family’s money could get him out of it this time. The investigation into the disappearance of his high school girlfriend, Emily, was reopened and they found her body which means her family was able to finally bury her and get some closure. My heart breaks for them.
It’s been such a relief to not have the stress of Caleb being out there hanging over my head. Everyone chipped in and helped get me moved into my home with Beckett. Which shouldn’t be a surprise. I left a lot of my larger furniture for Chloe since she was planning to move out of her parent’s house and get her own place when I promoted her to assistant manager; so I’m subletting my place to her until the lease runs out.
I’m glad she’s getting out on her own, she’s a sweet girl. I see a lot of myself in her; she can be shy and a little awkward. She has a good heart and I know that, eventually, someone will see her for who she is. Even though she’s hung out with our huge crew from time to time, I don’t think she’s met everyone yet. She’s taken to her new role in the shop with ease and I’m proud of her.
I’m a little over three months along with this pregnancy and if I ignore the morning sickness, that was really all-day sickness for a while there, it’s been smooth sailing. I haven’t even started showing yet and Beckett’s protective and possessive instincts are at an all-time high. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Beckett tells me every day how much I mean to him and how much he loves me. He takes a moment every day when he gets home and talks to his ‘sweet pea’ and tells them about his day and what he drew. He’s even started to clean out the room he was using for storage and workout gear so we can use it as a nursery.