by LeAnn Ashers
I immediately strip out of my clothes and pull my hair out of the bun on top of my head. “Today has just been draining.” I yawn, falling face-first into bed. I hear him laughing. I know I look funny because I didn’t even bother putting on his shirt, and my naked ass is sticking up in the air. I have come so far. I thought that I would never show anyone my back, let alone be half naked in front of anyone. But that has changed.
His tongue swipes up my ass cheek. I tilt my head and Smiley winks before he falls to his knees. His hands grip my hips, and he twists me around onto my back. “To tired for this?” he teases, kissing the insides of my thighs.
“Never for this.”
He chuckles, moving closer and closer, teasing me. I intertwine my fingers with his hair and move him exactly where I want him.
“Fuck, baby.” He groans before licking me from top to bottom.
“Mmm.” I throw my head back as two fingers slip inside me. His fingers and tongue move in sync. He is not playing games today. “God!” I cry out. It’s too much, too fast. He grumbles, the extra vibration from his mouth enough to push me over the edge. I bite my lip so I don’t cry out loudly and wake the baby. I look down at Smiley, and he smiles and licks his mouth. Fire burns between my legs instantly.
“Scoot up the bed, sweet girl.”
What do I do? I do exactly as he wants. I hurry to the top of the bed as he strips out of his clothes, his cock hard and ready.
When he climbs on the bed, I shiver in anticipation. He doesn’t come to me right away like I thought he would; he is staring down at me. “I will never grow tired of how beautiful you are, sweet girl.”
“I will never grow tired of you, Smiley. I love you.”
Wait.
Did I just say that? My eyes widen, because it just happened. He smiles at me so happily that another piece of my heart heals.
“I love you too, my girl.” He kisses me so softly, like he is pouring everything he feels into that kiss.
I knew, deep in my soul, that he loved me, but hearing those words? Something totally indescribable. I sink into the mattress, pulling him with me. He sinks into me slowly, and tears fall down the side of my face.
This is soft, slow, and amazing lovemaking. The kind that shows how much we care about each other. Just feeling, enjoying, and being together.
This is just perfect; all of this is perfect. I am so happy.
I hear Noah crying over the baby monitor, and I crack open my tired eyes. Smiley rolls over, and I slide off the edge of the bed.
“We forgot the bottles and formula downstairs. I will grab them, sweet girl.” He walks ahead of me. Noah’s room is softly lit by a lamp in the corner. “What is wrong, sweet boy?” I pick him up and close my eyes, enjoying the feel of holding him.
“Someone is mad.” Smiley chuckles and takes Noah from me; then he sits down in the recliner and starts feeding him.
“You know how attractive that is to me, seeing you take care of him?” I say. His hair is disheveled on one side, and his face has scruff on it that immediately has me thinking of when he had his head between my…
“Go on to sleep, sweet girl.” He smiles, rocking gently from side to side.
It honestly feels wrong leaving him to take care of the baby by himself. I am used to doing everything myself. “You sure?” I ask.
“Yeah, sweet girl, get some sleep.” He nods toward the door, and I walk out of the room slowly so he can change his mind. When I step out into the hallway, he says, “Adeline.” I peek through the doorway, and he is still smiling. “I love you.”
My heart. “I love you too,” I tell him softly. I go back to the hallway and lean against the wall, holding on to my chest.
I remember when I was sitting on the couch in Alisha’s house, so lonely, thinking that maybe I could have something like this—but I never expected it to happen.
Hell, he exceeds everything that I ever expected or dreamed of.
I lie down in our bed, staring at the ceiling, just so happy that I can barely lie in this bed; it’s like I am floating.
Adeline
We just left the doctor. We got the blood test results back, and Noah is perfectly healthy, but he never had any of his shots. Smiley told me this morning that we are both going to be on the adoption certificate. In this together.
Now we are walking into a huge baby store, and Smiley is carrying Noah in the baby carrier. “We need to get a crib, changing table, and a shit ton of clothes,” Smiley informs me.
Smiley sets the carrier inside a buggy, and Noah immediately starts crying. I laugh. “I will carry him.” I bend down, unbuckling him, and lift him into my arms.
Smiley takes a blanket out of the diaper bag. “It’s cold in here.” It really is; it’s like being in the grocery store.
I wrap up Noah, putting the paci in his mouth. “I love him so much.” I run my finger over his cheek. “It’s still hard to believe that I am a mom again.”
“Gigi!” a child screams, and I turn around and see Smiley’s granddaughter Tiffany running toward me. Lane is right on her heels. “Tiffany Lynn, never run away from me like that.” Her eyes widen like Lane has never told her not to do something before.
“I am sorry, Daddy, I just see Gigi,” she says in a soft, pitiful voice that I know is completely fake.
Lane falls for it just like that. “You can’t run off like that, baby—promise me, okay?” he says to her softly, touching her shoulder.
“I promise.” She smiles and looks away, the fake tears gone. “Gigi, do you have a baby?”
I bend down so she can see him. “He is cute!” She touches his small hand. “Can I babysit him?” she suggests, looking at her dad to back her up.
I laugh. “You can come over anytime you want, baby, help me take care of him.”
She jumps up and down. “That is great, Gigi. Can I come now?” I laugh at her enthusiasm.
“Tiffany, did you forget your grandpa?” Smiley says, and she looks at him like she is just now seeing him.
“Oh hi, Grandpa.” She runs over and hugs his legs. “I was just excited to see Gigi.”
I shrug. It’s not my fault; I can’t help it that all of my babies love me. Lane rolls his eyes. “Every one of the kids would abandon their parents in a split second for Gigi.”
. “I love my babies.” I rub the back of Tiffany’s head, and she takes my hand in hers.
“Can I come with her, Daddy?” she widens her eyes and gives him the look.
Lane looks at his dad and me. “Is that okay with you guys?”
“I don’t mind one bit.”
She squeals and runs over to hug her dad. “Thank you sooo much!” She drags out the “so” dramatically.
Noah is asleep. “How is he today?” Lane asks, moving closer so he can take a look at him.
“Myra said he is perfectly healthy. She did mention that he was a bit malnourished, but nothing we can’t fix.” I kiss his forehead.
“Anytime you want us to watch him so you guys can have a date night, let us know,” Lane says.
With my free arm, I hug his side. “How nice of you to offer. I am sure we will take you up on that sometime.”
“We will for sure,” Smiley pipes in.
I laugh because I know exactly what he is thinking. I peek over at him and wink, and he smirks.
Noticing Noah is asleep once again, I gently lay him back down in the car seat and cover him with a blanket.
Tiffany reaches inside the diaper bag, takes out a blanket, and wraps it around her shoulders. “I am cold too.” She shrugs and takes Smiley’s hand.
An hour or so later, we finally have everything we need, or so I think. They are going to deliver everything to us tomorrow. While Smiley is paying for everything, I turn around and I see him.
Flashes and flashes of him raping me, getting paid by others to allow them to do horrible things to me, and my ex just standing there allowing it to happen.
He waves at me and walks out the door like it’
s nothing.
“Baby, who is that?” Smiley touches my face, getting my attention.
“He is the man who made me a prostitute,” I whisper in his ear, so Tiffany doesn't hear.
Smiley’s face grows angry. “He is going to pay, baby.” As he pushes the buggy out of the store, I look everywhere in case I see him again. But I don’t. Did I imagine it?
Smiley
It takes every single part of me not to run outside and track that sucker down, but I won’t allow Tiffany, Adeline, and Noah to be exposed to that.
I will find him, don’t worry. That shit is the worst fucking thing he could have done: approaching her and fucking tormenting her.
If he wants to fucking play games, I’ll play too.
A Couple of Hours Later
The fucker is inside a restaurant in town; our Tech guy tracked him down. I walk inside and sit down directly in front of him at another table. I own this restaurant, stupid fucker.
He is eating dinner alone, staring at his cell phone, so I guess he is just in town to make my woman scared.
Biggest mistake of his life.
Normally, I would torture him a bit and then I would kill him. But this time I am going about this a whole different way.
I am going to stalk him. I am going to be outside his house when he eats dinner. Wherever he is I am going to be there, or a brother will be there.
I am going to fuck with his head; then, when he least expects it, I am going to take him to the club and make him pay for every single thing he has done to her. He is the person behind most of her suffering. His death won’t be a fucking easy one.
I take out my phone and text him. It fucking pays to have a brother who is good with computer shit.
Me: Look up.
His face scrunches up in confusion before he looks up. I smile. His face pales, and he jumps up so quickly his chair hits the ground.
“Boo!” I say. He fucking sprints out of the restaurant and I laugh. Pathetic, if you ask me—not so tough now, is he?
I follow him out of the restaurant; he is parked toward the front. He is struggling with trying to open the door. “Well, funny seeing you here.”
He flattens his back against the door. “Why are you following me?” he stutters, sweat pouring off his face.
I split the distance between us, smiling as I fucking do so, enjoying seeing him squirm. He looks like he is two seconds away from pissing his pants.
“Well, it seems that you tried to pay my woman a visit today.”
He shakes his head. “Your woman?”
“Adeline.”
He pales, his knees buckling. He grips the sideview mirror, holding himself up off the ground. “I had no clue she was yours. I will leave and never be back.”
Throwing my head back, I laugh. “Do you fucking think that will be the end of it?” I take out my gun and scratch the side of my head. “You raped her, you got paid by others so they could rape her. You will be lucky if I let you die and don’t keep you alive so I can torture you every day of your life.”
He bursts out crying. “I am so sorry!” he screams. People look over at us before going back to their own business.
“Keep an eye out, you never know when I am coming for you. I will be watching your every move.” He is huddled in a ball on the ground at this point. “A man that can hurt a woman or allow her to be hurt doesn’t deserve to live, but you committed the worst fucking offense and did both.” I lift my gun and shoot his small toe.
“This is day one of your hell.”
I turn around and leave him lying there. This stupid fucker is the main cause of her suffering. He is the fucker who provided the drugs to shoot her up, the one who got paid.
Game fucking on.
Smiley
Two Months Later
I laugh in pure fucking delight at the sight of Randall. I have been fucking with him for two months. He tried to run, but we made him come back. The brothers have joined in right along with me, and don’t forget the Devil Souls MC. He has done the worst thing imaginable; Adeline is someone everyone loves.
When I knock on the window, Randall is curled up in a ball in the middle of his floor, rocking. He jumps up and looks around wildly before spotting me at the window. He screams like a little girl and takes off running to the bathroom, which he does every single time. I walk around the back of the house, push in his bathroom window, and look inside. “Boo.” He screams again. This shit literally makes my day every single time.
“Please leave me alone!” he pleads, snot running down his dirty face.
“Adeline suffered at your hands for fifteen years. Two months is nothing.”
He cries louder because he knows that this shit isn’t going to end well. It will end with his death. That will happen sooner rather than later, and all of the clubs will come together for this.
This involves everyone; she is my woman and she is the mother of an ole lady in the Devil Souls, but it’s more than that. She treats every single member of the clubs as if they were her kids. Right fucking now, I have a brother in my house pretending to be dying, and she is taking care of him.
I fire off a shot in his bathtub, not even bothering to aim. I hear him yelp, and I peer inside and see that it got his hand.
“Oops.” I slam his window shut and he continues screaming. He is a bit overdramatic.
Adeline
“Gigi, I feel a bit warm,” Derek says through the door, and I roll my eyes and walk into the bedroom.
Derek is a huge man. What I mean by huge is that he is almost as big as Butcher, and that is saying something.
He has the flu, but he is acting like he is dying. All men act like this. I sit down on the edge of the bed and touch his forehead with the back of my hand. He does feel warm. I take out the thermometer and press it to his forehead. Yes, it’s meant for Noah, but it works just the same.
It beeps. “Well, you do have a fever. It’s one hundred and two.”
Derek is interested in Lane’s cousin’s daughter, Brittany, but she is a bit of wild child and won’t give him the time of day. She is making him work for it. She is loving being chased, and he is loving the chase. It’s getting close to the breaking point, though, and it will all come an end soon.
They both deserve to be happy.
Travis and Bailey melt my heart when I see them together. I knew he was doomed from the moment I saw how he reacted to her.
“Gigi, I hurt,” Derek whines and I smother my laughter. He is such a baby. “Man the fuck up, Derek!” Smiley yells as he passes by the door.
“Let me be sick, Smiley!” Derek yells back, not moving an inch from the bed.
“Let me get you some flu meds, you need to sleep.” I walk to the bathroom medicine cabinet. Smiley comes into the bathroom and wraps his arms around me. “How is Momma?” He started calling me that soon after we got Noah.
Noah is growing like a weed; he is growing way too fast for my liking. He is such a sweet little baby, and he rarely cries.
I take the medicine out of the cabinet. There is enough for one more dose and that is it. “I am going to run to the store and grab some more medicine.”
“Want me to go, baby?” Smiley asks.
“Food in the microwave, I won’t be gone long at all.” I kiss his cheek, smack his ass, and run out of the room before he can catch me.
I hand Derek the pills and water off the counter. “Sleep, honey, I will check on you later.”
He wraps his hand around my forearm. “Thank you, Gigi, this means a lot.” I smile at him, my heart warming.
I love taking care of people. They know that I will take care of them, and that’s why he came here. I also know that he doesn’t have a mother. She died when he was a baby, and he was raised by his father.
“You’re welcome, I am going to the store. Want me to get you some Gatorade or anything?”
He smiles. “Gatorade is fine, Gigi.”
“See you in a bit.” I shut the door gently behind me. Smile
y was leaning against the door eavesdropping.
“You’re such a sweetheart, baby.” He kisses me on the lips, grabbing my ass. “Hurry back soon, okay? My knees are aching to be on the floor.”
I laugh and kiss his cheek. “Don’t worry, you can have them there anytime.” He smacks my ass as I walk down the hall. “Noah should be asleep for a while, I just laid him down.”
Lane walks into the house. “Hey, guys.”
“How about I go with you, baby?” Smiley says. “I need to get some things for the house.”
I shrug.
“Lane, do you mind watching Noah for thirty minutes?” Smiley asks.
“Not at all,” Lane says.
Smiley takes his keys off the counter by the door, and we walk to his truck. “Is something wrong?”
“I just had a sudden urge to go with you.” Smiley is very protective of me, especially since Noah came into our lives. Noah has brought us so much closer than we ever were. Smiley helps me into the truck; then we are off to the store. We live out the outskirts of town. It’s close to town but far enough away that we can escape city life and have some peace.
I have officially moved in with Smiley. After everything in my apartment was ruined, I just hired someone to clean everything out, and that was it.
I don’t miss my old apartment, that is for sure. That was a place where I slept, but my home is here with Smiley. Here I feel safe and at peace.
I am deep in my thoughts, and it feels like only seconds have passed when we pull up outside the store.
I scoot out the driver’s side, so Smiley doesn’t have to walk around to the passenger’s side. He holds my hand, and we walk into the store.
The owner runs the store every single day. He usually greets everyone who comes through the door. But this time he doesn’t. I look over to where he usually sits, and he is there—but something is not right.
I pull Smiley with me as I move closer. The owner’s eyes are closed, and blood covers his stomach and legs.
“Smiley,” I whisper in pure disbelief at what I am seeing.