Thirty thousand dollars? That was an insane amount of money. I could only imagine the kind of advice Graham had received from his fancy pants lawyer to come out with that kind of offer. I wondered how much I could take the Beringers for in court if that was the amount they were offering us to walk away.
"I'll think about it," I said.
Graham's eyebrows fell together and his mouth turned sour. "I need an answer now."
"Too bad," I replied. "I need to talk about your offer with Jack. I'll get back to you by tomorrow."
I took great satisfaction from denying him, especially since I bet I was the first person to do that in some time. Graham was desperate and it showed.
"Fine," he said finally. "But I expect to hear from you by nine AM sharp tomorrow. Understand?"
I nodded. "Completely. I'll talk to you tomorrow."
Jack laughed. It was the last response I would have expected from the news.
"Don't you think it's at least a little funny?" he asked. "The great Graham Beringer had to come all the way down from his high horse to deal with this. Donnie must be in some pretty massive shit right now." He grinned. "I think it's reasonable to find that funny, after everything."
I chuckled. "You're right. I guess I was too focused on the very serious issue of deciding what we want to do. Thirty grand is a lot of money."
Jack shrugged. "That's up to you, sweetheart. He was your boyfriend. He was your abuser."
"Yours too," I pointed out. "Just in a different way."
We were cuddled up on the couch, my head resting against his side. I looked up at him with serious eyes.
"I don't want to be bought off."
"Then don't be."
I groaned. "But thirty grand..."
"We could go for more if we sue," he suggested. "I know this isn't about the money for you, though."
"It isn't about the money, you're right, but I don't know what it is about, you know? I don't know what I want from all this except outta here."
Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Either way, we're getting out of here. You just gotta decide whether you want to leave quietly or with a middle finger salute to everyone on the way out."
I smiled at the thought of me walking down Main Street with my middle fingers high in the air, laughing maniacally. The fantasy was nice, but in reality... I still just wanted to forget about all this. I wanted to start over somewhere new, start a family.
"Let's take the money." The words fell out of my mouth and I knew the second they did it was the right choice. "I just want to get out of here. If we take the money we can put a down payment down on a place and never look back."
Jack kissed the top of my head. "I think you're right, sweetheart. This is our chance."
Our chance.
The words resonated in my brain. Everything we'd been working toward, struggling for like moonwalking through quicksand, was finally clicking into place. And all it took was a little prison time and trauma. Go figure.
Chapter 35
Jack
I wiped the sweat from my brow and stood back to admire my work. My boss, Marshall, came over and, seeing my smiling face, inspected my project.
"Yep," he said. "That's an IKEA bunk bed."
I laughed. "I struggled with this one, okay? The instructions were impossible."
"You're a man, you're not supposed to use instructions." He playfully smacked me on the shoulder, chuckling. "You did a good job though. I didn't think it was possible to get all the furniture put together in the time we had today. You've got some impressive work ethic, just like Neil told me."
I bent down and started gathering up all the garbage from my work. "You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
“Funny, too. Just like he said.”
The burly foreman's face split into a wide smile. "You keep it up and once you're finished getting that GED I can take you off odd jobs and start you on carpentry. I've got a buddy down at the trade school and it wouldn't be hard to get you in there."
I stopped and stood to my full height, unable to hide the smile on my face. "Thanks, Marshall. That means a lot."
"Not as much as it means having a worker who's actually worth their salt." He clapped me on the back so hard I jerked forward. I still hadn't gotten used to that. "Aren't you glad you moved out of that nowhere town?"
I laughed. "You have no idea."
All Melissa and I ever told anyone about Cannon or why we left was that it was too small and we wanted to be somewhere more connected. She and Melissa spent a lot of time together now that we lived here and I loved it. It was good for both of them.
Marshall strode off and I finished cleaning up my work area, still pleased with his comments. Neil must have felt pretty bad for firing me, since all three jobs who checked my references offered me the position. In the end I got to choose my favorite of the bunch, and I was more certain than ever that I'd made the correct decision.
Finishing time rolled around faster than I expected, and my heart started to race when I realized that I was only a ten minute drive away from home and from Melissa. We'd only been here a couple of weeks, but so far the happiness refused to dwindle. I got excited every morning to see what the day was going to bring, and I could tell Melissa was feeling it too. We were different here. Better. We were the versions of ourselves we'd always wanted to be before but didn't know how, and distance and a little time had helped us get there. The money from Donnie's dad didn't made things harder either.
I bobbed my head to the radio the whole way home, soaking in the cool air from my air conditioning and thinking about the night to come. We were having spaghetti for dinner, something I was looking forward to. Melissa discovered a love for cooking when we got here. She'd never explored it before because she didn't want to cook for Donnie, but now that we had a proper kitchen she excitedly made dinner every night. And hell, I wasn't going to complain—even if she wasn't nearly as good a cook as she was an artist.
I pulled up to our little stucco paradise and strolled up the tidy front path. I was barely inside the door before Melissa came bounding into the foyer covered in paint.
"Baby!" she cried, throwing herself at me.
I caught her and held her in a tight hug, not caring if any of her paint got on me. These were my work clothes, and besides it was worth it just to touch her.
"Hey sweetheart." I pulled back and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips.
Her eyes were bright with excitement and she grinned up at me. "I sold another painting."
"What? That's amazing!" I picked her up and spun her. "Which one?"
"The bigger cactus."
"I liked that one. Your patron has good taste."
"You like all of them," she said, punching me in the arm. "And stop calling the people who buy my paintings 'patrons'."
"That's what they are."
She rolled her eyes but I caught the corners of her mouth twitching. Grabbing my hand, Melissa dragged me into the living room.
"Sit, I have more good news."
I sat down on the leather recliner and waited patiently for her news. I could tell it was something big because I hadn’t seen her so excited since the day I got out of jail.
Melissa clasped her hands in front of her and bit her lip. "The University of Tucson finally got back to my about my application."
"And?" I leaned closer.
This wasn't just big news, it was the biggest. Melissa spent a lot of her time working on her art recently, but still didn't know where she was going to go with it. Being accepted into a fine arts program was the next big step that would take her to the next adventure.
"They want to offer me a spot in the program!" she squealed. "A full ride!"
My mouth dropped open. I shouldn't have been surprised to hear it since she was incredibly talented, but it was still a shock. An amazing shock.
I charged up out of the chair and wrapped her in my arms, swinging her around the living room. We laughed, a silly, carefree laugh.
"I gotta tell Sadie," I said, depositing her back on her feet. "We can have her over for celebratory drinks."
I slipped my hand into my back pocket for my phone but Melissa stopped me. "Wait, not yet."
"Not yet?" I grinned. "More news? Not sure I can take any more."
"This isn't news so much as a thought." She turned bashful all of the sudden, letting her gaze drop to the floor.
I lifted her chin with my fingers and stroked my thumb over her cheek.
"What is it?"
"I..." Melissa smiled. "I want to have a baby. I know that we said we would wait and that it wasn't the right time... but things have been coming together so perfectly lately and—"
I cut her off with a swift kiss on the lips, wrapping my arms around her waist and squeezing. My heart pumped into overdrive and my head spun. I didn't say anything more, just swept her into my arms and took off toward the bedroom.
I remembered the days when our whole lives took place in a room the size of our living room. I remembered the days when the future was a scary place, when we didn't know whether we'd have two dimes to rub together at the end of the week. I remembered the days when we were in transition from our past lives to the life we had now. We were happy then and we were happy now. And with a baby in our future, I knew we would be happy always.
Chapter 36
Melissa
Jack lowered me to the mattress like I was made of fine China, supporting me all the way down. A giant grin covered his mouth, one that refused to abate even when I started kissing him. I traced the outline of his smile with my tongue and teeth.
"You really want to have a baby with me?" I asked.
It seemed too good to be true that all I had to do was ask. We were far from where I thought we would have to be to start a family, after all. Hell, we weren't even married. At the end of the day, whether I wore his ring or not didn't matter, but I still craved the commitment the act of getting married provided. For us, marriage would never be a business contract or a thing to do just because we felt obligated to. If we got married, our marriage would be about declaring to each other and the world how perfect we were for each other and celebrating that fact.
"You know I'm still on birth control, right?" I giggled as Jack began to kiss down my neck. "I can't get pregnant for at least another month after I stop taking it."
His breath fanned my throat, sending prickles of pleasure into my hairline. "I know," he said. "But don't you think we should practice?"
I chuckled. As if we didn't practice enough.
"I suppose you could use a little bit more practice if you intend to get it right."
Jack lifted his head and I grinned mischievously.
"What are you saying?" he drawled, dipping his mouth to my neck and sucking hard on it. "Are you unsatisfied, sweetheart?" His teeth scraped over my skin and I arched up. "Are you telling me I'm not up to snuff?"
I did a noncommittal shrug against the sheets. "You're fine."
"Fine?" His growl reverberated through my throat. My toes curled and I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning.
"Yeah, fine."
Jack scooted me further up the bed and unbuttoned my jeans with one hand while he kept lavishing attention on my sensitive neck. Without warning he plunged under the waistband of my panties and rubbed a finger over my clit in a slow circle. My breath caught.
"I think you're lying," he murmured, moving on top of me until his hard length jabbed into my leg.
"Me? A liar?"
His deep chuckle kicked my heart into overdrive.
"Yes, a filthy liar." His finger found my entrance and slipped inside. It was tantalizingly slow, so slow that I tried to arch my hips up to get more of him inside. "If I'm just fine, then why are you so wet, baby? Is there someone else turning you on?"
Any words I might have been about to say evaporated before ever reaching my lips. I moaned instead, low and guttural, as his thumb took up stroking my clit and his finger pumped in and out. I luxuriated in the feeling, in the sheer ecstasy of his touch.
Until it stopped.
Jack pulled his hand away and sat back on his heels, grinning down at me.
"Hey!" I complained.
Jack's eyes darkened with lust. "Tell me how much you want me. Tell me how wet I make you, and how I'm the only man who can fuck you like I do. Only when you do that will I give you what you want."
"Playing hardball today, I see."
He smirked and ground his erection into my leg. "I always play hard ball, sweetheart. Now tell me who owns that sweet pussy of yours."
I felt my cheeks redden and my mouth dried up. Fuck, he made me so horny when he talked like that. And how could I deny him a single thing he wanted?
"This pussy is yours," I told him. "Nobody else fucks me like you do. Nobody else loves me like you do. I'm yours forever, Jack. Body and soul."
Something shifted in his expression, lifting the lust away just enough for some love to sneak through. He reached for my face and held it tightly in his hands, eyes boring into mine.
"I love you, Melissa. I love you so much it hurts and I love that pain too. I need you forever." His eyes turned pleading. "Say you'll marry me."
My mouth fell open. Talk about coming out of left field.
"Of course!" I practically screamed. "Yes!"
Jack's mouth crashed into mine, and the next moment was a flurry of movement and flying clothes as he ripped the fabric from both of our bodies in a frenzy of lust.
We never broke the kiss as he entered me, sliding in tauntingly slow. I grunted in complaint but Jack took his time. He always knew how to put me on edge, how to make me squirm with need. He also knew how to satisfy those needs, how to make me scream, how to make me beg.
Our chests pressed tight together as he began to move. First it was long, slow strokes. Each one was a gift and a curse, as I had everything I wanted but still needed more. I needed the passion. I needed the friction.
Jack pulled back from our kiss and looked me in the eyes, holding my face tenderly.
"I love you, Melissa Collins."
"I love you too, Jack Paxton."
He grinned. Then, without any warning, Jack thrust back inside so quickly that I screamed in surprise. My hair stood on end. My body glowed from the inside out.
This man was my savior. My fighter. And soon, my husband.
Epilogue
Three years later ...
It was a beautiful day. Happy energy buzzed through the air, coaxing the nervous graduates lined up on stage to smile and wave out at their friends and loved ones. Sadie waved at us from her seat in the middle row with a blinding smile.
"Wave back," I urged gently. When that didn't get me anywhere, I sighed and picked up my shy toddler's hand and waved it around.
Jack chuckled softly beside me and I glared at him.
"What?"
"Nothing."
My glare narrowed until my eyes were merely slits. "Spit it out, Paxton."
He had the nerve to don an expression of bewilderment. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
The lie might have been convincing if it weren't for the subtle tilt of his lips. Smug bastard.
"Hmm. Fine." I turned my nose up at him and looked the other way.
Jack's hand found my chin and turned me back. He pressed a gentle kiss on my lips, and for a second I forgot that I was supposed to be mock angry with him.
"You're just adorable, is all," he said. "You're the most supportive parent here and you aren't even technically a parent."
"I'm a parent!" I complained, pointing demonstratively at the beautiful dark-haired girl on my lap. Emily had just turned two and today was a rare occasion of quiet from her. Normally she babbled nonstop about whatever crossed her mind, but the crowd was making our shy girl nervous.
"Not Sadie's, though. It's just cute. I know it means a lot to her, too."
My heart warmed and all was forgiven. I took Jack's hand in my free one and squeezed. Meanwhile, I hugged Em
close and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair. She had her father's hair, as well as his eyes and mouth. She had my nose though, and Jack always said she took after me the sass department too, though that remained to be seen.
We had a few minutes before the ceremony was due to start, so when Dr. Ferdinand caught my eye from down the row and gestured me over, I happily placed Em down with her dad and walked over.
"Mrs. Paxton," Dr. Ferdinand greeted. "I forgot that your sister was graduating this semester. And you'll be finished soon, correct?"
I nodded. "Only another year or so."
"I wanted to commend you on your latest project. Dr. Gerstimer and I were chatting about it between classes the other day and we both agreed that your use of color has a definite and unique style to it. Your work certainly stands out amongst the crowd, particularly for someone with such a relative lack of experience. You should be proud."
"Thank you, Dr. Ferdinand." I bit my lip in an effort not to smile so wide my jaw fell off. "I wouldn't be where I am now without you."
He shrugged. "Who knows? In any case, I'm excited to see what you come up with next. Is that your husband you're with?"
"Sure is. And our baby girl Emily."
"You have a beautiful family."
"Thank you. I'm lucky."
The MC walked onto the stage and I gave a curt goodbye wave before making my way back to my seat. My pulse danced under my skin, a jaunty, happy clog.
"What was that about?" Jack whispered.
I leaned closer to him and ran my hand over Emily's crown. "He wanted to commend me for that underwater painting I did."
"Good job, sweet heart." Jack leaned over and kissed the top of my head. "I told you you could do it."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah."
He still rubbed it in my face whenever he got the chance that he had been right all along about where I could end up. Since fair is fair I rubbed it in his face whenever possible that I was right about him being able to go further in life if he applied himself. He just finished trades school and now had a carpentry designation that had opened up so many doors we didn't know which one to go through. Jack was still sifting through job offers, but whichever one he selected in the end would be incredible.
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