“Bitch, you ain’t gonna have the chance to call no fucking police!” he snarls, spittle flying from his mouth. His eyes are still noticeably swollen and red from the mace.
Boom!
The loud noise causes all four of us to jump. I pull Trudy closer to me and Gary and his friend shift toward the hallway.
“Who the fuck—” the friend starts to yell, but he’s cut off when a bullet pierces his skull, immediately and thoroughly ending his life.
“Aaahhh!” Trudy screams upon witnessing the blood that spurts from his wound.
“Aww shit!” Gary yells, holding up his gun, preparing to fire. He doesn’t even get it halfway to his chest because a bullet splatters his hand. “Fuck!” he yells, dropping his gun.
All I see after that is a pair of strong hands reaching for Gary, pulling him out of the bathroom and into the hallway. I can’t even get a full grasp of what is happening before I see blow after blow raining down on Gary. His screams are full of agony as he realizes fighting back is useless. I will my feet to move, bringing Jeremy’s full body into my view. He’s perched over Gary beating him savagely. I only catch a glimpse of his eyes, but there’s a look I’ve never seen before and I damn sure never want to see again. Just as that thought passes through my mind, Trudy’s shrill screams bring me back to what is happening in front of us.
“Jeremy! Stop!” I call out. Truth is, I don’t want him to stop. I’d rather Gary have his life ended right here, but there is a twelve-year-old girl who’s already been traumatized enough witnessing this.
“JEREMY!!” I scream to no avail.
I even notice Liam behind Jeremy trying to pull him off Gary, but he’s having little effect as well. On instinct, I yell, “WOLVERINE!!!” I belt the one word at the top of my lungs.
Our safe word.
And just like that, fist in mid-air, Jeremy halts, breathing heavily. His eyes finally move upward to meet mine. The look in those sea green orbs sends a cold shiver down my spine. He stares at me and then glances behind me, finally noticing Trudy. Then he looks back at me.
“Take them outside,” he says, never removing his gaze from me, but he’s obviously speaking to Liam.
A heartbeat later, I feel Liam’s hands pulling me and Trudy down the hallway toward the door. “Let’s go,” he urges, his voice as stern as Jeremy’s glare.
Wrapping my arms around Trudy’s shoulders, I shift her body so mine is between her and Jeremy, Gary, and the dead body. Once outside, I feel like I can breathe again. I close my eyes and inhale deeply. It’s not until I open my eyes again that I realize Trudy’s arms are tightly wrapped around my waist. She’s shaking as she cries against my stomach. Wrapping her up in my arms, I hold her tightly, whispering soft words in her ear. I look up and finally notice that they aren’t alone and it wasn’t just Liam. His whole team of security is out front, running in and out of the house. Another one reaches for Trudy and me, ushering us to a black SUV with tinted windows. I go willingly, feeling safe.
“We’re going to take you to the hospital to have you checked out,” Liam informs me.
I stop at the opened door of the SUV. “Wait. Jer—”
“He’s going to follow us.”
I hesitate, looking toward the house to see if he’s emerged yet.
“Trust me. He’s not letting you out of his sight anytime soon,” Liam reassures.
“All right.” I nod, knowing that Trudy needs to be checked out. I hope to God she hasn’t experienced the worse of what my imagination thinks she has.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jeremy
The anger flows through my veins just as assuredly as my blood does. My grip is so tight on the steering wheel my already sore knuckles, beg for relief.
“You can’t tell Coral.”
That makes my eyes squint even tighter. “What?”
“You can’t tell Coral that I turned my back to Gary. She taught me better and she’ll be pissed to find out I did,” she explains.
I cut my eyes at her, fighting the instinct to pull the car over and show her exactly who she needs to be afraid of in this moment. “You think Coral is who you need to be afraid of right now?” I see her visibly swallow and then bite her lower lip at that. Yeah, you should be nervous.
It was now well after nine o’clock. We’d been at the hospital for hours. Our security team at the house had disposed of the two bodies before we got to the hospital. As soon as Tasha left out the house with Trudy in tow, I commenced to beating that fucker’s ass until he took his last breath. My knuckles bared the evidence of that. And even with the pain shooting through my hands, my anger overrode it. A doctor that I paid to keep our visit off the books gave Tasha and me clearance. I had no fingers or knuckles broken. They were just bruised to hell. Tasha had a few scratches mainly from Trudy clutching at her arms. Trudy didn’t have any scratches or bruising, but she’d had to have a gynecological exam. Just thinking about that makes me sick to my stomach and stirs my anger again. Too bad you can’t kill someone twice. We still couldn’t find Trudy’s mother and after all the hoopla, Liam had agreed to take the girl to his place for the night and figure out how to handle the situation in the morning. Right now, I had to tend to the woman next to me.
****
Tasha
“Argh,” I groan as I roll over to my side from my ass. I reach beneath the cool sheets, rubbing my butt. I close my eyes, sighing just thinking of the punishing my body took last night from Jeremy. The worst part, though, is rolling over to the empty side of the bed. After an ass paddling, intensified by nipple clamps and then Jeremy’s refusal to let me cum as he took me from behind, he’d sent me upstairs to sleep in his bedroom while he remained downstairs in a guest bedroom. I frown more from missing him than from the soreness of my body. I squeeze my eyes shut as I sit up and think back to the night before. Jeremy’s anger in the car had been palpable. I knew he would be angry, but not nearly as much as he was. But there was no way I couldn’t answer to Trudy when she called. Still the worry that was so clearly etched on Jeremy’s face the previous night made me feel guilty. Thinking about it, I could have gone about helping Trudy differently. I had ended the night, screaming my apologies to Jeremy as he took me over and over. I really meant it. I promised to call him from here on out if anything like that arises again.
Standing, I recall the bruises on Jeremy’s hand. I throw on a pair of shorts and T-shirt and make my way to the kitchen first, grabbing an ice pack and a dish towel before heading to the guest bedroom where Jeremy slept. I listen to the door for any noises or stirring on the other side. When I don’t hear anything, I knock lightly and open the door. Those eyes are the first things I see, wide, alert and with a hint of the anger they were filled with the previous night.
Is he still mad? I hesitate for a second. I wonder if it was a good idea to come down here, but I push forward anyway. Stepping inside, I push the door closed behind me and make my way to the opposite side of the bed. I climb under the warm blanket that now is filled with the scent of him. Without looking at him, I pull his hands over to me, lightly placing the ice pack across his knuckles that are now swollen and marred in purple and blue.
“I thought you could use this.” I finally take the opportunity to peek up at him to find his half smirk on me.
“My knuckles are fine,” he insists, trying to pull away only to be trapped by my hands on his wrist.
“Just sit with the ice pack for a few minutes.” Something in his eyes changes and his body relaxes as he realizes this is my way of continuing to apologize.
“I don’t need the ice pack. Come here.” His arms move quickly, pulling me to his side and moving the ice pack to the dresser.
“I missed you last night,” I confess, laying my cheek to rest against his chest.
“Good. You deserved to.”
I frown. “I apologized.”
“You’re gonna be apologizing all day, doll.” He grins, his hand grabbing one of my ass cheeks and squeezing.
“Still sore?” he asks as if he doesn’t already know the answer to that damn question.
I frown at him. “What do you think?”
“I think your ass can take it.” He pushes me back onto the mattress and rests over me. He grins, squeezing my butt again and lowering his lips to meet mine. “You know what I couldn’t take?”
I look up at him, questioningly. “What?”
“Losing you.”
My heart flutters.
“That’s why I can’t have you running into dangerous situations like you did yesterday. You’re mine, doll. And I protect mine. I told you when we started this I wasn’t a soft, romantic type. I’m still not so much, but I do love the hell out of you and if feeling my paddle is what’s going to keep your ass out of trouble then so be it.” His voice is hard, stern and uncompromising.
I should feel fearful, but all I feel is safe, cared for and loved. I shift, raising my head to meet his lips because I’m at a loss for words. When I lower my head I feel an uncomfortable lump underneath the pillow. I frown. “What’s that?”
“Take a look.”
I stare, noticing the hard expression he wore just a few moments ago has changed to one of anticipation. I allow my gaze to linger on his as I reach back behind me with one arm feeling around under the pillow until I feel a hard box. I bring it to my face and I see it’s a ring box. My eyes fly back to Jeremy’s whose gaze is now completely serious.
“I hated sleeping without you last night too,” he says as if that answers the question my shocked face is asking. “And every other night of my life before I met you.”
“I-is this…” I can’t even finish my question.
“Open the box.”
With shaky fingers, I open the ring box and gasp. Inside is what looks like at least fourteen karat diamond sitting atop a white gold infinity band also adorned with diamonds.
“Jeremy…”
“Read the inscription.”
Looking from the ring to him and back to the ring, I pull it out to read inside the band. My Storm…
“I made a stop in New York on my last business trip.” He plucks the ring from my hand, examining it and then reading the inscription. Nodding his head in approval, he grabs my left hand and slides it on my ring finger. “Perfect.”
I pause, waiting for words that never come. “Um, don’t you have a question to ask me?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “What is there to ask?” He looks genuinely confused, as he rolls us both over so now I am on top of him.
My mouth hangs open. “Are you serious?!” I screech.
The rumble from his laughter starts in his chest, moving up his throat and finally spills out of his mouth.
“What’s so damn funny?” I pout.
“You,” he quickly answers. “You think I’m going to ask you to marry me and give you even the slightest chance to say no?” He chuckles some more. “Unh unh, doll. That’s not how this works. I’ve already poured my damn heart out to you. You’re mine. Probably from the first dance we shared back at Liam and Coral’s wedding. I love you and I damn sure know you love me.” His grin widens. “This ring just makes it official to outsiders, but you’re already mine, especially after the shit you put me through yesterday.” He frowns, his hands coming around to clasp both sides of my ass in his firm grip. He pushes down my shorts to touch the skin on my ass. I have to keep from moaning when he begins massaging my butt, relieving any lingering soreness.
My heart rate quickens, but I try to ignore it. “So I don’t get that whole getting down on one knee thing?” I try to frown to hide the smile threatening to erupt on my face.
“As I recall I had you on your knees last night.” He looks pensive as if trying to remember.
I lower my head into his chest, grinning.
His face softens as he stares at me. “I’ll leave the date and location up to you. The honeymoon will be my secret, though. Marry me and give me the family we both want?” he finally askes.
My heart flutters at the sincere look in his eyes. How could I say no? I hold out my hand, displaying my gorgeous ring.
“Doll, the ring is pretty and all but I’d rather you focus on what I’m trying to do right now.”
At that moment, I feel him sliding my shorts all the way down my legs.
“Sit on me.” His voice causes goose bumps to rise up on my skin. “Take that damn shirt off. I don’t want you wearing anything but my ring.”
I do as instructed, tossing my T-shirt to the side. I raise my hips to slowly lower myself onto his stiff cock. “Mmmm,” I moan as Jeremy raises his hips to meet mine. Head thrown back in pure pleasure, I shout out, “I love you too. Yesss!” agreeing to be his wife.
My fiancé pulls me down, crushing my lips to his. “Damn right!” he grunts and we fall into a wonderful rhythm, getting lost in one another.
Epilogue
Six Months Later
“Crawl to me,” he orders, his voice deep, full of love, and demanding.
I bend over on all fours and crawl to my husband at the other side of our cabin suite. We arrived in Tucson earlier today for a five-day honeymoon. It’ll be short, but Jeremy has promised we’ll take a longer one once Trudy is out of school for the summer. Despite my current position, I smile, thinking about Trudy. It took days to locate her mother after what happened with Gary. As it turns out, she’d been arrested for possession of drugs. Since it was her third strike, she’s going to be locked up for at least another fifteen years. I went to see her in the local county prison. She’d had the decency to ask if I wanted to take Trudy on to raise. Her mother explained that Trudy’s father wanted no parts of her and there were no close relatives in the picture. Trudy’s aunt who’d she spoken of before, turned out to be a family friend who had no interest in taking on another child. So, after consulting my fiancé, I readily agreed to be Trudy’s guardian. Jeremy and I had to break the news to Trudy. She appeared to be relieved. I’ve gotten to see a side of Jeremy that many don’t see when he’s with Trudy. He’s comforting and so loving with her. We’ve already begun the adoption process. It should be finalized in the next few months.
In addition to getting Trudy settled, we’d been planning the wedding and redecorating Jeremy’s home. Jeremy decided to move everything out of the playroom and set it up again in the hotel suite. Now, anytime we have playtime, we do it far away from the home Trudy sleeps in. At Jeremy’s insistence, of course.
“Look at me, doll.”
The seriousness in his tone catches my attention. My eyes rove up his long legs, bent as he sits in the plush leather chair. I stop just at his knees, sitting back on my heels.
“It’s time we really make this official.”
My eyebrows raise, questioningly. We just got married twenty-four hours ago. I’d say that’s pretty damn official.
“This,” he begins, grabbing my hand and kissing the white gold wedding band and engagement ring. “This is you becoming mine legally.” When his lips part giving the most seductive smile I’ve ever seen, the seat of my silk negligee becomes soaked. “But this,” he leans over pulling something out from behind him.
I gasp when I realize what it is. A leather collar with his initials, made also of white gold, hanging from it.
“It’s so you know just how much you belong to me.” He sits forward to wrap the collar around my neck. The fit is snug, but not too tight. “Perfect.” His voice is hoarse.
“Thank you, sir,” I say through a wobbly voice and a sheen of tears.
He nods. “Thank me properly.”
I give him my most lascivious grin. “Yes, sir.” I reach for the button of his pants. Reaching in, I grab his stiffness and lower my head and begin to show my husband and Dom just how grateful I am for my new gift and life.
The End
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