The American Soldier Collection 18: This Cradle Won't Fall (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever)

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “Thank you for the food.”

  “You don’t need to say thank you for anything. We’re happy that you and the baby are safe. Which, by the way, what is his name? Did you have one planned?” Frankie asked her.

  She lay the infant on the bed and began to undo his onesie.

  “The diapers and wipes, please. I’m not sure. There were a few that came to mind, now that I know I have a son,” she said, and Lou handed over the things she asked for.

  The smell of baby powder instantly filled the air. He watched her change the baby, that robe lowering slightly, enough to reveal how well-endowed she was, and not just because she was making milk either. She was a petite little thing otherwise.

  “How about after the father, maybe?” Pierce asked.

  “That isn’t going to happen,” she said and exhaled.

  Then she finished up and stroked the baby’s cheek as he remained sleeping. She lifted him up and held him in her arms against her breast and inhaled as she closed her eyes.

  “More food, sweetie,” Pierce said to her softly. She opened her eyes and opened her mouth.

  “I’m so tired,” she said and leaned back against the pillow.

  “Milk. Have a few sips,” Frankie said to her and she looked at him, sat back up, and then reached for the glass. She covered his hand with hers and took a sip. Then as she swallowed she looked at him and quickly pulled her hand away.

  “I can’t keep my eyes open,” she said, and then Pierce passed Frankie the plate.

  “I’ll take the baby. Maybe while you’re sleeping you’ll think of a name,” he said and lifted the baby up into his arms, inhaling that scent that smelled so good it shocked him.

  “Benny. Maybe Benny,” she said and drifted right back off to sleep.

  He looked at Lou, who stared at her with such a serious expression.

  “She’s okay. She’ll be fine,” Pierce said to him and then stood up with the baby in his arms and walked around the bed.

  “So you’re holding him now?” Frankie asked.

  “For now. Go lay down on the bed in my room, Lou. I’ll sit and watch over her. Ella will be here in no time,” he said, and Lou nodded, stood up, and stroked the baby’s cheek.

  “It isn’t right, that this monster wanted to hurt them. They’re both so innocent.”

  “As we know, the evil prey on the weak and innocent, not the strong and empowered,” Frankie said and walked out of the bedroom with the plate of food and the glass of milk. Lou followed.

  Pierce stared down at the tiny little bundle in his extra-large arms. It amazed him how a couple could create a life. It was a miracle in itself. Some people had no right being parents or baring children. He wondered about Evonna’s life and the father of her baby. How long had they been together before she’d gotten pregnant? Had he wanted her to get rid of the baby and she’d refused? Many thoughts went through his head, but he kept thinking about what Scout had told them. That her boyfriend abused her, beat her, and was capable of worse.

  Obviously, it was a lot worse than even Ella knew if Evonna was willing to drive all day and night to get as far away from New York as possible. His gut clenched and his instincts were on alert. Evonna and the baby may not be out of trouble just yet. With that thought came the instant desire to protect them and be there for them. He didn’t know why, and he didn’t think any more about it. He just watched over both of them, absorbing her beauty, her youthfulness, and wondered if they would continue to be friends when she left to go live with Ella and Ella’s men.

  * * * *

  “It’s been a couple of months since we went by her aunt’s house and nothing. Still no sign of her. Where could she be?” Murdock asked Detrix.

  Detrix lowered down and snorted a line of cocaine, then sniffled and wiped his nose.

  “Beats the fuck out of me. You should just forget about her. You’ve been screwing anything in a skirt since she said she was pregnant anyway. Who gives a fuck? Besides, if she was still around, you’d have to pay that child support shit.”

  Murdock leaned back into the couch. She’d been hot and a virgin. He’d taken her virginity and knocked her up. She was obedient, submissive, and petite. He could control her. For some reason, the fact that she had the guts to disappear and take off with his kid pissed him off. It was like he wanted to be the one to kick her to the curb. Like this, though, he was the one being kicked to the curb. She’d stripped him of his authority, his manhood, and power, and it enraged him. The bitch needed another good beating. By now she’d probably had the baby. She would be back in shape and fuckable again.

  “I’m going to hire someone to look for her.”

  “You’re fucking obsessed. That pussy was that fucking good, man?”

  “You help me and you’ll find out just how good it was.”

  Detrix’s eyes widened.

  “You’d let me tap that sweet, young thing? Damn, you are obsessed with finding her and getting it again. What about the baby?”

  “The fuck if I care. I want her back, and after we have ourselves a little party with her, then she can go back to wherever she disappeared to. Maybe,” he said, and then leaned down and aligned some coke on the mirror and snorted a line.

  He fell back against the couch and took a slug of beer. “Now, how about this hit on that warehouse in Chicago? Its’ all good? And an easy job?”

  “Should be. Hopefully the security guards we paid to turn the other way do so. Then we’ll have a truckload of drugs, guns, art, and other shit we can sell to our buddies down south. It’s an easy hit.”

  “Who owns that fucking warehouse anyway?”

  “The fuck if I know or even care, Murdock.”

  “You sure double crossing Nuvon is a smart idea? He’s hooked us up with the other jobs, as well as this one coming up in Hoboken.”

  Dexter smirked. “You want to be rich? You want to be a king? But we don’t have a family name like these fucking gangsters do, so we need to improvise. Because of the work we did for Nuvon, I came across this other shit. We can get away with it and Nuvon or these gangsters won’t be none the wiser. Mark my words. We’ll succeed and not get caught.

  “Nuvon wants his money and shit. He’s willing to pay us top dollar to do the job. Let’s do it and then be done.”

  “It brings us a few steps closer to gaining some power and other jobs. It’s about fucking time, my friend. About fucking time,” Murdock stated and then guzzled down the rest of the beer and thought about Vye. She would be in his bed again. Detrix and he would teach her a thing or two about being obedient to your man.

  Chapter Three

  Vye rocked Benny to sleep on her lap while swinging on the porch bench. It was another beautiful day on the farm, and the ranch house that belonged to Ella and her husbands was spectacular. Vye smiled as the baby slept. She couldn’t believe that nearly two months had passed. That she was working part-time running the register at the farm, and was helping out with the office work, as well.

  She heard the screen door open and then close and a few deep voices she recognized.

  Ford’s brothers, Ghost, Laverty, and Evan, along with their woman, Lois, came out onto the porch. Their children, Kenny, Waylan, and Jessica, ran out and hurried to see baby Benny. Lois walked slowly. She was due any time now and looked more than ready to deliver.

  “Is he sleeping again? When does he wake up? Did we miss it? Did you feed him?” Waylan asked a bunch of questions and Vye chuckled. It had been a surprise to learn about the ménage relationships in town and across the Brazos family. At first, she was a bit unnerved about it and uncertain on how it all worked, but seeing families like Lois and her men with the kids made it all look pretty normal. It was obvious that the men loved Lois. They kept close, protected her, and kissed or touched her at every opportunity. Vye was envious. Lois’s sister Valentina and her men had the same type of relationship. They also had four kids.

  “Don’t go waking that baby up you three. He needs his rest. Just like
when your brother or sister is born, they’ll need a nice, quiet house,” Lois said and took a seat next to Vye.

  Vye smiled. “How are you feeling? Still getting the small contractions?”

  “Sure am. It will be any day now.”

  “I bet you can’t wait.”

  “I can’t wait to be able to breathe fully. Right now it’s difficult to take a deep breath, my feet ache, I have to pee every twenty minutes or less, and my boobs are aching.”

  “You are definitely ready.”

  “You look amazing, Vye. No one would even think you had a baby. I guess those workouts you do and the special meals you prep really work. I’m going to need your help to take this baby weight off.”

  “Sounds good to me. We can put them in the stroller and walk, or even jog,” Vye said to her and smiled.

  “Sounds like a plan. Did Ford stop by and tell you about the part-time job being offered at the police training center?” Vye shook her head.

  “There’s a program that’s started. A security and defense thing. They get specialists to come in and train law enforcement personnel from the four surrounding towns. Anyway, they need someone to run the front desk and help register the officers as they come in for training sessions they’ve signed up in advance for. The person would just keep everything logged and maintain documents. Anyway, Ford will probably explain it to you. He thought it might be a good part-time job for you. The place is opened Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from nine to two.”

  She glanced up at Ghost, who placed his hands on Lois’s shoulders and massaged them.

  “I don’t know. It’s soldier and police and stuff?” Vye said.

  “Yeah, that’s a pretty safe place to be.”

  “I guess I’ll see what he says,” she replied, but wasn’t certain.

  “I thought I heard you all come in. Ford just pulled up, too. Come on inside for some sweet tea. I also made cookies,” Ella said and the kids carried on and ran into the house.

  “Wash those hands,” Lois said and went to stand up with Ghost’s help.

  “This baby needs to come already,” she said and Vye chuckled.

  “Is Vye out here?” she heard Ford say, and Evan and Laverty told him yes. Vye turned around and smiled as Ford smiled, too.

  He stopped Lois and kissed her tenderly. “Doc says any day now. I don’t want you traveling too far from town,” he said to her.

  Lois rolled her eyes. “No risk in that.”

  He gave her a wink, then held his Stetson in his hand. “Did Lois mention the job opportunity?”

  “She mentioned a little bit about it. What else can you tell me about it?”

  “It pays twenty an hour.”

  “What?”

  “Yes. That’s why I kind of secured it for you already. Had to negotiate some terms with Linda in admin, but as soon as I mentioned that it was you, she agreed.”

  Vye felt a bit embarrassed. So many people knew her as the woman who nearly had a baby in her car alone on the bridge with the risk of drowning and being swept away.

  “It starts Monday. You’ll know a few of the men in charge there.”

  “I will?”

  “Sure thing. Pierce, Tex, Frankie, Lou, and Kendrick are instructors and run almost all the training programs.”

  She nibbled her bottom lip.

  “What’s wrong? Don’t you like them? They’re good men.”

  “Oh, I know they are. I owe them so much for rescuing me and taking me in, but I’m still feeling a bit embarrassed about it I guess. I haven’t seen them in a while.”

  “Well, I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you. They’re like the first friends you made in Salvation. Think of it that way.”

  “I guess so. Okay then. What are the responsibilities?” she asked, and Ford told her a little bit about how things would go and that Linda would explain a lot and help her at first to get things organized, but that Vye had control over the organization of everything.

  “Well that’s great. I can definitely handle it. Thank you so much for thinking of me and securing this. I won’t let you down or embarrass you, Ford,” she said and Ford smiled.

  “Embarrass me? Honey, you are a gem. You’ll love it. The hours are perfect and if you miss Benny too much, Ella can bring him by to see you at lunch time.”

  She smiled and then looked down at Benny who just started to blink his eyes open.

  “Looks like he heard that,” she said and stood up. Ford reached out and stroked his cheek.

  “He’s a cutie. You’re a good mom, Vye. Keep it up,” he said and winked. She smiled. “Thank you, Ford.”

  “Let’s head inside, then I need to get back to work. I’ll have one of the dads drive you by the job location in town, that way you’ll know how to get there.”

  “Great,” she said, and as they headed inside she couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions about seeing the McCann brothers again. Then, she realized it would be nice to see them.

  * * * *

  Frankie walked into the building and the first sight he saw knocked him for a loop. His breath caught in his throat, his eyes widened, and he had to do a double take. Evonna was leaning over the counter helping three men fill out paper work, and the three men were staring at her chest, not the paper.

  She looked up as he removed his sunglasses and took in the sight of her himself. She looked drop dead gorgeous—like make a man halt in his tracks, his dick instantly hard, and completely lose his train of thought. He felt jealous, pissed off at the three men obviously hitting on her, and he showed it.

  “You guys need to fill out the paperwork at your departments and get approval first before showing up here.” He scolded. The three men stood up straighter, but one looked back at Evonna and gave a wink.

  “Vye here was assisting us with the paperwork. Our captain called her up an hour ago and said we were on our way over,” the man stated.

  “The fax machine isn’t working, Frankie. Tex is back there with Linda trying to fix it right now,” Vye said and then looked back at the three men.

  “Why don’t you fill out the rest of this over there, and then I’ll get it all filed and your confirmation sheets printed for you so you can take the class you wanted,” she said to the guy who’d winked at her.

  “Sure thing, doll. I think we’ll be interested in taking a lot of classes here. You’re so sweet. Make a man feel real welcome and all,” he said and gave her a wink. Frankie watched Vye handle the man with finesse.

  “That is awfully sweet of you, Tyler. I appreciate the compliment.” She then turned around and walked toward the computer and started typing away.

  Frankie stared as the guy checked out her ass in the slim fitting black skirt she wore. Her legs were bare, no stockings, and she wore open-toed heels and a pretty white blouse. She was thin, too. No one would know the woman had a baby. He came around the counter and greeted her hello. She gave a big smile.

  “Hi, Frankie. It’s good to see you again,” she said to him. He stepped closer and placed a hand on her hip and she tightened up.

  Staring down into her gorgeous baby blue eyes, he felt so much it was shocking.

  “How are you feeling? You sure you’ll be up to this? What about baby Benny? He needs his mamma close,” he said sort of loudly. She smiled.

  “He is doing great. I need to make money though. I’m hoping to move into my own place if the opportunity arises.”

  “Your own place? Baby, you need to be careful,” he whispered and looked around them, but then back down into her eyes. That gorgeous platinum blonde hair cascaded along her shoulders and down her back. The dip in her blouse revealed the deep cleavage of her breasts. She was well endowed, sexy, petite, and feminine. He felt protective of her. Like him and his brothers had a responsibility—yeah, a responsibility—to watch over her, considering how they’d met.

  She touched his arm and then pulled back, obviously feeling the same attraction he was feeling.

  “I’m good. I think this wil
l work out perfectly. Plus, at lunch time, when I take my break, Ella or one of the men will bring by Benny for me to feed him. That way I won’t need to pump all that extra milk and make the bottles,” she whispered to him. He glanced down at her breasts. Lucky little Benny. Damn, the woman was hot. He couldn’t believe his thoughts. She was a mommy feeding her baby and he was envious. Fuck.

  He pulled back and let his hand slide slowly off her hip. He licked his lower lip.

  “Well, you call one of us if you need anything at all,” he said before Linda appeared.

  “It’s fixed, and just in time. This place is going to start filling up soon. Let’s get ready for them, Vye,” she said.

  “Good morning, Frankie. You’re looking good,” Linda flirted.

  But Frankie turned away from her and reached out to stroke Vye’s cheek, then tap her chin with his pointer finger. “Anything you need, you find one of us. Understood?”

  “Yes, Frankie. Thank you,” she replied softly, making his dick even harder. How the fuck was he going to train a class? Fuck. He walked away and into the main room and saw Tex and Kendrick, then he glanced back out toward where Vye was, once again by the front counter as more men came in for the program. They smiled wide, checked her out, and he was all pissed off and jealous again.

  * * * *

  “More fucking guys hitting on her? What the fuck, man?” Kendrick said, taking a peak out of the doorway.

  “She looks incredible,” Frankie said to them and put his bag down onto the seat.

  “I know. So healthy, vibrant, and a lot better than the night she had Benny,” Tex said, then handed over a clipboard to Frankie. “You and Kendrick have twenty men in your group. Pierce and I have the same amount.”

  “And Lou?” Frankie asked.

  “He’s going to be working with Vye on the registrants coming in, helping her understand what each course offers and what is required. She’ll gain a better understanding of the work we’re trying to conduct here.”