“Please take me back!”
“You want to talk about that here?” Sabine growled, pointing at the window lickers who were picking themselves up off the floor as a crowd started to gather around us. “Your family have just taken down a display in a supermarket, we’re surrounded by chocolate fingers, you…”
I saw my chance to interrupt her rant when she took a breath in. “I meant home. Please take me back home. Please, please…”
With a sniff, she turned the cart toward the next aisle and walked away from me with the other women following her, leaving the rest of us to pick up a thousand boxes of the chocolate fingers. Before she passed the mountain of old man, twat and chocolate fingers, though, Sabine of course put as many boxes of the fallen cookies in the cart as she could, daring any of us to say anything with the glare she shot at us. Of course, the boxes came from what was left on the shelf, not the mangled ones on the floor.
Waiting until they’d rounded the corner, I turned and lunged for the shit heads.
“Twat!” Crystal’s third dirty word entered the world in her cute voice. “Twat ffffffff uck ass!”
Looking over at Ren and expecting to find him crossing himself or muttering a prayer, I was shocked to find him grinning goofily at us. “I swear she has an advanced vocabulary for a one-year-old.”
No shit!
Three hours, £507.22 and four near death experiences on the road later…
“Okay,” I snapped after everyone had eaten, blood had been spilled and Crystal had been put down for a nap and had thankfully stopped yelling cuss words. “Go out. Go swimming in the sea. Go to a bar. Go to Azerbaijan, I don’t care. Just get o…” I was rudely interrupted by hammering on the door. “Who the fuck is that?”
I was swearing for no good reason, but for the love of all things Holy, I needed to talk to Sabine and every time I tried to get her alone, one of the knuckle-draggers interrupted. Last time it was Cole asking how to turn on a faucet in England, in case it was like toilets flushing in the opposite direction like in Australia. I just wanted time alone to explain everything to her.
Sighing, Sabine went to the door, walking around legs and bodies on the floor from where everyone was now relaxing.
As she opened the door I heard Luke and Isla’s voices, alongside the excited chitter chattering of the demonic twins.
“We’re here!” He shouted, like he’d been missed. “It was hell to find y’all, but we made it.”
The twins came tearing into the room, screaming and shouting as one accidentally kicked Tom in the ass and the other jumped on him as he flipped to his front on the floor screaming. It was just unfortunate that they landed on his injured ‘bum’ as Sabine had called it, making him scream even louder.
Growling, I plonked myself down on the only available chair in the room and watched as Mom got him up and took him next door for Finlay to sew up again. The whole time, the twins looked for a place to sit and then made themselves comfortable, excitedly carrying on like they hadn’t just seen all of us two days ago.
All of the adults in the room sat quietly as we watched Tom and Mom pass in front of the window on their way over to the ‘Vets’ house. That got a snort out of me. Good, he had to deal with the douchemonger’s ass, again.
"My ass needs attention," we heard Tom whining from outside.
“Again?” Came Finlay’s growl. As we were all still watching out of the window, we didn’t miss the horrified looks of the group of old women who were walking past at the time. They were dressed impeccably and even had hats and brooches on. “Hello Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Perkinson, Mrs. Richmond, Mrs. Porter, Mrs. Montague, Mrs. Able.”
No amount of pleasantries fixed what they’d just heard, though, because they just gave a sniff and walked away whispering amongst themselves. I frigging enjoyed every second of it, too.
“So, has weaksauce here explained and apologized,” Isla asked, pointing in my direction and making me growl again.
“No, he hasn’t,” Grams answered. “I don’t know what the delay is either. I mean, just explain how stupid you are and get on with it.”
Coleman, whom I hadn’t seen since we’d arrived so I’d assumed he was dealing with our uninvited, well other uninvited, guest from last night, jumped in.
“It was my fault.”
The silence that followed it was almost hilarious. It lasted a good two minutes while we waited for him to speak again, but when he didn’t Sabine made a gesture for him to continue which was just met with a confused look from the man.
“How was it your fault?” She asked him slowly.
“I said to do it,” he replied with a shrug.
After more silence, Gram snapped.
“Okay, you,” she stood up and pointed at me, “explain it because Mongo over there is lost for words.”
The reference to the Blazing Saddles character would have normally gotten a snort out of me, but the look on her face was fucking terrifying. I’d seen her in this mood before and it normally ended with one of us getting hit with a wooden spoon. Now, she might be small, old and cute, but holy shit she hit like a linebacker, so I wasn’t going to risk it. I cracked.
“I got threats and photos of Sabine with crosses and shit on them,” I stood up and started waving my hands around as everything came pouring out. Normally, I was the calm and put together one of my fucked up family, but not now. “It calmed down, then came back and it was bad. So, Coleman said the best way to keep her safe was to send her away and make it look like it was legit. Adam had a couple of female friends who agreed to be seen with me in public and we set up press releases and photo opportunities. I was already at the point of flying over here when he,” I pointed at Coleman, “found out you were pregnant. I would have gotten on the plane right then, but I got shot,” I pointed at my side. “And then all you mouth-breathers wanted to come along too,” I stopped ranting and looked down at the floor as I tried to remember what I’d just said in case I’d forgotten anything. Drawing a blank, I took a deep breath and continued, “And Tom got fingered by security because he took it in the ass.” I looked over at Sabine who was now looking at me like I was an alien for some reason. “But, I loved every second that I had you, and I missed you every second that I was away from you. You’re all that there is for me.” I decided to stop there as I saw her face soften slightly and then go back to looking confused. I really had no idea what I’d just said, apart from the ending, so I prayed that I’d gotten all of the facts out properly.
“So,” Gram drawled, making me, Ren and Cole wince. This could only end up painfully. “You tried to pull a Luke?” She made it sound like I’d licked a plug socket.
“Hey!” Luke sat scowling. He’d been a dick and had attended events with a psychotic bitch when he and Isla had gotten together, but his had been for seriously dumb reasons, not for her safety.
I figured that nodding would be the safest response because, at this point, I wasn’t sure if talking would make things better or worse. Again, there was silence as everyone sat thinking about what I’d said even if I couldn’t remember a word of it.
“Are you out of your mind?” Gram shrieked.
“It didn’t work out well for this shit-shaker did it?” Isla hissed, waving her hand at Luke.
“Hey!” he whined. “I’m right here.”
“I know you are, you big tit. That’s why I said it,” Isla snapped at him. The pussy actually sat sulking after that while all of the women continued to rant and throw around examples, calling us all names. I would have been impressed at their creativity as they came up with different names each time, but I was still too worried and focused on what Sabine was thinking.
The thud of the stack of papers and photos that Coleman chucked on the coffee table didn’t stop them, but the photos that actually fell over the edge and fanned themselves out over the floor did. The gasps as they all stood and looked down at them was nothing in comparison to the look of fear on Sabine’s face as she took in what had been done to them.
"I missed out on going to the Jane Austen museum," Sabine mumbled, still staring at the photos. “I was ready to go. Had my bag and coat, and then Finlay threw the stick at me.”
“What the hell?” it came out much louder than I’d intended to, but he threw a stick at a pregnant woman. My pregnant woman.
“I pee’d on it, and c’est tout,” she shrugged.
“I think she’s talking about a pregnancy test,” Ren stage whispered and, once again, I was disappointed that I didn’t have an excuse to throttle the pretty boy Finlay. He’d gotten to be there when she found out that she was pregnant.
“I hear that the museum is awesome,” Isla added. “Oh, should we go?”
While I tried to figure out what Sabine was talking about, the women started to make plans about going to the City of Bath and visiting the Museum and Roman Baths, doing a complete one-eighty on what we’d been talking about.
“She’s going down!” Cole bellowed across the room, which was totally unnecessary because we’d all seen her go white and her eyes roll into the back of her head before she collapsed. Fortunately, I was there to catch her. Unfortunately, the stitches in my side didn’t appreciate the impact and decided to let that be known.
Laying her down on the floor and taking the cushion that Tom had been using before Twingate to put under her head, I tried to hide the pain that I was in with my side. Cole, the ever-alert ass fiddler, just had to point it out though.
“You’re bleeding,” he mumbled around a mouthful of the chocolate fingers he said he’d never touch.
Looking down at the mess on my shirt, I nodded and tried not to pass out again. “No shit!”
Then, I failed, and out I went.
Chapter Seven
Sabine
T hankfully, Ren had taken Brett over to Finlay's house to get his side fixed, again, so I had time to think about what he’d said.
I was hurt that he hadn’t taken the time to explain it to me. I was angry that he’d done it. I was also relieved, and it was the relief that was taking over and overshadowing everything else. He hadn’t just used me, I’d actually meant something to him. Then the words he’d thrown at me went through my mind. Throwing the box of Chocolate Fingers that I’d been furiously munching on onto the table, I went to walk out of the door, and then changed my mind and grabbed the last one out of the box before I stormed next door.
Finlay hadn’t bothered closing the front door of his house after Brett had been carried over, so I just marched in and went to the office that I knew he’d be working on him in.
“Would it kill people not to go near my ass?” Tom snapped as I approached. “It’s been through enough. I mean, can you imagine how painful it is? Every time I bend the hole pulls. Every time I move, it pulls. I can’t even sit or, or…” he trailed off as he tried to think of more, just as I walked around the corner into the room.
“Shit?” Colette suggested.
“Mom,” he whined from his position on the floor. “You’re not helping!”
None of them had seen me yet, so I got to observe as Brett lay on the table with his arm over his eyes while Finlay worked on his side.
“Did you get to explain it to Sabine, honey?” his mom asked as she stroked his foot trying to soothe him. Brett was really ticklish on his feet so he kept twitching.
“A bit,” he mumbled from under his arm. The only reason I knew that that was what he’d said was because I was watching his lips as he did it. It really hadn’t sounded like that, though. From the way Colette gaped at him and Finlay took a step back, I figured that they hadn’t heard the real words.
“Oh nice,” Tom snapped. “You just go ahead and do that. I can’t take a shit because I have a bright pink bandage with paw prints on it across my ass.”
Dropping his arm, Brett looked at Tom like he was insane. “I said a bit. What’s that got to do with taking a shit?”
"You said you were taking a shit!" Tom argued back, holding his injured bottom cheek and lifting his head slightly. "We all heard it."
“To be fair to Tom, honey, I thought you said that too,” Colette explained as she went back to stroking his feet and Finlay went back to fixing the damage.
Sighing, Brett went to put his arm over his face just as he saw me standing in the doorway.
“Hello,” I walked in and up to the table. I really wasn’t good with injuries and blood, but I wanted to see what had happened to him. The raw wound wasn’t at all what I expected though, and it hit me that he’d actually been shot. A bullet had gone into him.
“Don’t cry, baby,” Brett drawled from the table. I hadn’t even realized that I’d been crying until he said it.
“You got hurt,” I whispered.
I leaned over the table to hug him, needing the reassurance that he was okay regardless of how I felt about our situation right now.
“Um, if you could just give me a couple of minutes, I’ll be out of your hair,” Finlay’s mumbled voice came from under my armpit. I hadn’t realized that just as I was bending, he’d bent too to do the last stitch on Brett. Now he had a face full of arm pit, or oxster as my Grandmother had called them.
Moving away from the table, I watched as Fin had finished his work, armpit free. Then he opened a box and pulled out a neon pink bandage with paw prints on it.
“Sorry, it’s all I have today,” he explained as Brett scowled at him.
“I’ve got it on my ass,” Tom grouched. “As if having a second ass hole isn’t bad enough, now it’s padded with the fucking Pepto Bismol version of Marley and Me.”
“Are you in a lot of pain?” I asked Brett as I helped him up off the table once Fin had finished.
“I am!” Tom snapped as he tried to get up off the floor. Every bend of his back or leg as he got to his knees and then tried to push himself up was met with a moan or a squeal. If the Mahjong Club ladies walked past again they’d think that there was some sort of a BDSM porn thing going on inside the house.
“Would you stop,” Brett growled to Tom before turning to me. “No, I’m okay. I’m not a pussy like this shit stain,” he gestured at Tom who gave an audible gasp in outrage.
As a group, we walked toward the door and were just out of it and standing in the front garden when Tom started ranting, unable to hold it in any more.
“I’ll have you know…” he hissed, “I took it in the ass like a champ, a champ! And each time it’s needed to be redone I’ve taken that like a champ too. So, no, no pussy here!”
My grandmother would have been in tears laughing at the look of horror on the club ladies faces by the time Tom was done. As it was, I was laughing so hard I was struggling to breathe and Brett was eyeballing the rolling sea that was just the other side of the road. Colette was looking at her nails and then moved onto inspecting the ends of her hair. I was pretty sure that she had a long list of distractions and excuses with these guys as her kids.
Once she realized that the talk about Tom’s ass had stopped, she reached over and grabbed his arm. “We’ll be going now. This one needs a nap. Thank you Fin for fixing him, again. We’d be lost without you.”
“Don’t you mean his ass would be lost without him?” Cole shouted from where he was hanging out of the open door to my house.
“Jesus Christ,” Fin croaked as he walked back into his own home and slammed the door.
Turning around, I saw the back of the Mahjong ladies as they hurried up the road whispering furiously again. Poor Fin was going to have one heck of a reputation now.
Finally being left alone with Brett, I took his hand and led him out of the gate, taking a left so that we went in the opposite direction to the ladies and down to the quayside.
We didn't really talk much apart from when I was pointing something out to him. Once we got to the quay, I found a bench that was out of the way of the icy wind and that was actually dry. Sitting down, I watched as Brett tenderly lowered himself to the seat, his side obviously giving him more pain than he was letting on.
As soon as his rump touched the wood he started talking. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. When I saw those photos, especially the one where they were behind you when you were getting coffee, I felt sick knowing how easily they could have taken you away from me for good. I tried to keep you safe, but obviously I couldn’t.” Taking a deep breath, he stared out across the quay and then let out a growl as he got up and started pacing. “I failed. I couldn’t keep you safe while I was with you, so when Coleman said this was the only way, I took it. I never touched those women, I swear. They’re actually in a relationship with each other, not that that would have ever crossed my mind to do,” he was panicking as he tried to justify himself, and I felt sorry for him being so tied in knots.
“I know you didn’t. I didn’t know that you did it because of that, I thought it was real. Why didn’t you tell me? And why did you throw my,” I looked around to make sure no one else was around, “virginity back in my face?”
Angrily raking his hands through his hair, he turned in my direction and I saw how glassy his eyes were, like he was trying not to cry.
“That gift meant, still means, everything to me. It tore me apart saying it, but I had to keep you safe. I can’t live without you, Sabine.”
Leaning forward, I pressed our foreheads together and sighed. It was complicated, it wasn’t going to be easy, but the second that he’d explained it back at the house, in his really bizarre way, I knew that I was going to be willing to work at it. His words just now had answered the worst of my hurt, so I could take the first step.
“Do you still want to be with me?” I whispered the words as quietly as I could, dreading the ‘no’ that he could possibly give me.
“Yes!” His tone brooked for no arguments or doubts and the determined set of his jaw backed it up. “There is no one that I want more. No one that I’d rather have. You are it for me.” Placing his hand on my stomach, he continued, “You and our baby are it for me.”
Providence Series Books 5-7 Page 6