One New Message (A Dark Romance Novel)

by Vivian Ward

  “He has your eyes. Hopefully, he’ll have your personality. Lord knows I”m full of piss and vinegar as it is,” he threw his head back and laughed.

  “For sure.” I looked over the table of food, noticing that I’d eaten all of mine, and he looked like he was near finished. “We can go whenever you want. I’m stuffed and beat.”

  “I hear ya. I’m ready to crash myself,” he took some cash out of his wallet and left the tip on the table. “Let’s call it a night. I want to make sure we’re at your dad’s place early to pick up Bentley because after that, I’ve got to meet up with Henry and I wanted to swing back by your place before it gets dark and check the woods around your property.”

  I changed into an oversized t-shirt and brushed my teeth before I opened the bathroom door and turned off the light. From the doorway, I could hear humming.

  Tiptoeing down the hall, I saw him draping a sheet over the sofa in the living room and ruffling up his pillow. He spotted me out of the corner of his eye.

  Part of me was relieved that he wasn’t going to try to sleep in the same bed as I, but the other part was sad and disappointed.

  “Well, I see you’re all ready for bed,” he said. “I figured I’d sleep here until…,” his voice trailed off as his eyes fell to the floor.

  “That’s fine,” I intervened. I wanted the awkward moment over just as bad as he did. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “G’night,” he replied.

  “Good night.”

  As soon as I climbed into my bed, I couldn’t help but break down. The waterworks turned on and before I knew it, my eyes were already swollen double their size, and my nose was running like a faucet. I pulled the covers tighter, encompassing myself in them like a cocoon until I finally fell asleep.

  When morning came, I woke up refreshed. The last few days had been so long and tiresome, and I needed a deep sleep where I didn’t have to worry about waking up to Bentley and feeding—oh no! Bentley!

  I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost 8:30; he’s normally awake by 6:30. I flung the covers off of me and shot up out of bed, grabbing my aching back in the process because I’d slept so stiff that my whole body felt like it was bonded by concrete.

  Wobbling out of the bedroom, I noticed that Gage was already gone; he’d even folded his bedsheets in a neat pile before he left.

  Damn. I wished I would have driven my car over here.

  Picking up my cell phone, I called Gage, but it only went to voicemail. I started to call my dad but hung up as I heard a car pulling up to the house.

  Running over to the window, I saw Gage pulling Bentley out of his car seat before guiding him up to the house. Watching the two of them walk hand in hand down the driveway tugged at my heart.

  They looked so cute together. Bentley looked like his daddy’s little shadow as they walked next to one another.

  “Morning,” he said, pushing the door open for Bentley to walk through. “I thought I’d let you get some rest and went and picked him up from your parent’s house.”

  “Thank you,” I picked him up and kissed his tiny cheeks. “I’ll need my car so I can do some shopping today.”

  “I’ve already got you covered on that. I’m picking Henry up in about fifteen minutes; he’s going to drive your car over here and drop it off for you.” He reached into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet. “Here’s some cash; if you need more just let me know,” he shoved it into my hand.

  It was a thick wad.

  “What’s this for?” I asked, dumbfounded.

  “Groceries, dishes, diapers. Whatever you think we need.”

  “How much is here?” the words left my mouth before I could stop them. I hadn’t meant to ask out loud, but I couldn’t help it.

  “There should be fifteen hundred there. If you need more, let me know.”

  Why did I get the feeling this money was dirty?

  We stared at each other for a moment.

  “We cool?” he asked, putting his hand on the doorknob.

  “Where did this come from and why are you giving me so much money?”

  “Anita, I’m not the asshole that you think I am. I earned this money working for my boss. He covers my rent back in California and with it just being me, my living expenses are minimal. The way I see it, I haven’t paid a single red cent of my son’s life, and I owe you for all of the diapers, formula, clothes, shoes and food that the kid’s been eating while I was away, and this is just the start of things. Take the money, buy whatever groceries we need and anything else we need or the baby needs and let me take care of things from here on out.”

  I stared in awe as his words registered in my mind.

  “Like I said, we’re going to get through this whether you like it or not, but one way or another, I am taking care of my family.”

  Unable to articulate words, I looked on as he turned the handle and told Bentley that he loved him before he disappeared out the door. Bentley clung to my hip, babbling as he looked around at all the boxes and the mess all over the place.

  I’ve got to get this house in order.

  “Come on, baby. Let’s get some of this house picked up until we can go to the store.”

  I genuinely wanted to make him happy even though it seemed like we were still living in separate worlds under the same roof. First, I’d start by getting some food in the house so I could make him a nice home cooked dinner when he came home and then I’d try to unpack and tidy up as much as possible.

  He’d already told me how much work he had cut out ahead of him. I’m sure the last thing he wanted to see was a messy house and an empty plate.

  We could start there and see where things led us because I wasn’t so sure that even I knew which road was traveling down anymore.

  Chapter 10: Gage

  After we had dropped Anita’s car off at the house, Henry climbed in the front of my jeep and started giving me the details on Mask and Bethany.

  “So he’s got some third party billing the credit card,” Henry started. “Aside from the initial charges that I found on the latest card, he’s been a ghost, and I’m still working on cracking where the charges originally came from.”

  “Have you talked to Mr. Sanders?”

  I dreaded knowing that answer. He’d called my phone a couple of times, and I’d sent him to voicemail while I was dealing with Anita and the kid. I was sure I’d pay hell for it later knowing him.

  “Yep, and he’s pissed. He says he’s called you and you haven’t been answering his calls. He wants to know why—from you.”

  “Shit,” I chewed on my lip as I tried to think of an excuse I could give him.

  “Oh, it gets better,” he reassured me in his smart ass tone. “He wants to bring in another guy to help find Bethany.”

  “What?! Why?”

  “Because we’ve been following her a couple of weeks now and the trail’s ran cold. He thinks getting some fresh blood on it would help revive some life back into it before she winds up sold or dead.”

  “Damn it!” I punched my dash. “I don’t want another guy coming in and fucking things up. We’ll find her, no matter how long it takes.”

  “Look, I haven’t been able to formally apologize for the other day. I know I said I was sorry, but I didn’t know that you still cared about her or that she had a—you had a kid with her. I didn’t know anything, and I feel like a jackass.”

  “You should,” I gave him the evil eye. “What should I tell the boss?”

  “I didn’t want to get too much in your business.” I looked at him with my eyebrow cocked. “I mean, more than I already was, so I told him that you were busy handling personal family problems of your own and—”

  “You did what?” I pulled over and slammed on the breaks. “That’s the worst thing you could have done.” Henry looked at me with big doe eyes like he didn’t know what was going on. “Mr. Sanders knows about my old man, and he knows that my mom’s a homeless transient. What the hell am I supposed to
tell him now?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t know he knew all that,” he looked forward, staring at traffic. “I didn’t even know all that.”

  “Well, you said you had a good idea that they’re somewhere in Memphis, which is 30 minutes from here. If he sends some other clown in, you keep him busy here in Millington. You let me catch the son-of-a-bitch that we came down here for.”

  “You’re in charge,” he said, and he meant it.

  After the shit that had gone down, I knew from here on out, he’d have my back no matter what. He didn’t know any of the shit about the kid, my feelings or what was going to happen, but that didn’t change the fact that there’s an unspoken code you don’t get with your friend’s old girl.

  He blew it and because of that, he’d spend the rest of his trip making it up to me which was good news for me.

  I started driving again, back to the hotel where he was staying, so we could try to track down any new traces of Bethany for the day before I headed out to the property to see if anyone had returned for the items in the woods. Traveling down the road, I thought about how Anita had looked the in the long tee shirt from the night before when she walked out of the bathroom.

  I’ve always loved it when she wore oversized men’s shirts and those long socks that she loves. It wouldn’t matter if it were eighty degrees at night, she’d still complain about how cold her tiny feet were. Everything about her was so petite, except those thick, luscious curves of hers that I never got enough of.

  Thinking about how I’d like to grab a hold of her and trace along those gentle curves was making my cock throb against the zipper of my jeans.

  I readjusted myself and vowed that I wasn’t going to beg her for sex. It was going to have to be a mutual consent. I had done a lot of things to fuck shit up; this time was going to be different.

  Before the end of a painfully long day, I couldn’t wait to get back home to my new family, but first, I had to stop by the property to check on her parents and look in the woods to see if anything had been touched.

  I couldn’t get over the fact that her family refused to leave, but I understood where they were coming from. It would take a lot more than some buried shit in the woods to kick me out of my home too.

  No sooner than I pulled up, I saw her dad sitting in the front window of the office at the car lot busy doing paperwork.

  “How’s it going, Shawn?” I asked him as I walked in and took a seat opposite of him at his desk.

  “Eh, same as always. Busy,” he barely looked up at me.

  “Business is always good around here.”

  Looking around I saw their new mechanic who was doing my old job. Even though I was now professional security, I still had an itch to work on cars and get all greased up. The smell of oil was refreshing to me.

  “It’s what I’ve always worked for,” he muttered. “What are you doing here anyway?” “Just dropping by, checking on things.” I nodded towards the mechanic, “That guy any good?”

  “Well I don’t need a babysitter regardless of what you or my daughter thinks, and yes, he’s very good, but he’s a bit older. A little slow at times, but very reliable,” he continued working on invoices.

  “Everything okay at the house?” I asked.

  He stopped working for a moment to look up at me and pushed his glasses up on his nose.

  “It’s quiet,” he pursed his lips. “But I guess I knew it would happen one day, and that she’d leave. You guys get everything finished?”

  “Not really, but it shouldn’t take much longer. We’ll have to have you over for dinner so you can see the place once we get situated,” I replied as he went back to the pile of invoices he was working on. “If it’s all right with you, I’m going to head out to the woods to check on things.”

  “Suit yourself,” he waved me off.

  Walking through the woods, I didn’t notice anything unusual—if bombs and guns in the woods are a usual thing.

  Everything was just as it had been since we initially discovered it all. It gave me an eerie feeling. Why would whoever did this leave these things and not come back for an extended period of time?

  Behind the wheel of my jeep, I shut the engine off as I pulled in front of the house. Looking around, it was a good little neighborhood; nice and safe. A few houses down the street was a young mother, about Anita’s age, playing with a small girl. It was hard to see, but it looked like they were playing hopscotch.

  The delicious aroma of fried chicken filled my senses as I walked through the front door. For a minute, I thought I’d been gone for a week by the look of things. Almost the entire house was unpacked; the boxes were all gone, and everything almost looked normal. Setting my keys on a small end table, Anita walked through the living room carrying a clothes basket filled with folded clothes and Bentley followed close behind.

  “Need some help with that?” I took the basket from her.

  “Thanks,” she said, wiping the sweat from her brow.

  She looked beat; exhausted, yet beautiful.

  “Shit!” she called out and took off to the kitchen. “I almost forgot to turn the chicken,” she grabbed a fork and started flipping the meat in the pan of oil.

  “Anita, slow down. You don’t have to get everything done in one day. The lease says we’ll be here a year.”

  “I know, I just wanted things to look nice; plus, I don’t like having boxes all over the place. Bentley could get hurt on stuff if you don’t watch him,” she looked down and smiled at him. “He’s pretty quick!”

  “Yeah, but he’s a boy,” I picked him up. “If there’s one thing he’s gonna do; it’s get into everything and by everything, I mean trouble.”

  “Very funny,” she said, fishing the butter out of the fridge. “Fried chicken and mashed potatoes sound good?”

  “Sound good? Are you crazy? They sound—and smell—wonderful. I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in ages.”

  “I figured,” she laughed.

  It was nice sitting in the kitchen, just talking to her and laughing. We hadn’t hung out in two years, and as tight as the tension was between us, it was almost like we’d picked right back up where we’d left off.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I bounced Bentley on my knee.

  He smiled and smiled, and I loved his little grin.

  “Knowing you, if it’s not fast food then you’re idea of a ‘good meal,'” she did air quotes with her fingers, “is having a bag of beef jerky with one of those drinks.” She thought about it for a moment, “What was it that you were always drinking? Green teas?”

  I laughed. She knew me pretty well.

  “We’re not talking about that right now.”

  Bouncing Bentley higher, he started giggling uncontrollably. It was the cutest damned thing I’d ever seen, and it made me sad that I’d missed out on so many laughs but I at the same time, I was happy to be here now.

  “I’m just going to put this laundry away in Bentley’s room, and I’ll start making plates in a minute.”

  I couldn’t help but watch that sweet ass of hers sway back and forth as she headed for the kid’s room.

  Damn. She still had it.

  Dinner was so damned delicious that I hadn’t noticed that I’d eaten almost my entire plate of food until my fork scraped the bottom of the plate.

  “There’s plenty for seconds,” she nodded towards the counter. “I figured if you still ate the way you used to, I’d better make plenty of food.”

  “Thanks,” I sucked the juices off my fingers.

  I had to hand it to her; she sure knew her way around the kitchen. Eating the second plate of food was much harder.

  Not because my stomach was full; no, because she had Bentley on her lap eating off her plate and every time he grabbed onto her low-cut blouse, he exposed the perfect amount of cleavage to get my dick hard enough to shoot to the moon and back.

  “I’m going to put him in the tub,” she announced after he was finished. “You can just leave
your dishes on the table, and I’ll get them when I come out.”

  There was no way that I was going to make her clean the kitchen by herself, not after the way she’d unpacked almost the whole damned house plus went shopping and did it all while she dragged around a toddler. I could hear them laughing and playing in the water as I scraped the last of our plates and loaded up the dishwasher.

  Standing at the bathroom door, I watched the two of them play in a tub filled with bubbles. If someone had told me before I came back to Millington that I was going to have an instant family, I would have told them bullshit, but here I was: a genuine family man. And it wasn’t a bad thing at all.

  The little man was out cold not long after his bath.

  “Can I put him to bed?” I asked as she finished rocking him to sleep.

  “Yeah. You want to?” she handed him to me.

  I picked him up out of her arms, and I swore I was holding my entire heart in my arms; this baby owned the very breath that filled my lungs.

  Gently, I laid him inside his crib and carefully covered him up. Inch by inch, I finally made it out of his room where Anita had been watching the entire time.

  “You’re good with him,” she complimented me.

  “You think?” we stared at the kid snoozin’ in his bed.

  “Yep. A natural.”

  We listened to him snore and smiled at each other. To me, it was the most wonderful sound that I had ever heard.

  “Oh! I was talking to your dad today, and I invited your folks over for dinner to check the place out once we get settled but it looks like you’ve pretty much taken care of things. I’m going over there tomorrow if you want me to bring them home so they can check it all out.”

  “That’d be great.”

  It was another long night on the couch for me. Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit about sleeping on a sofa, but my balls were so damned heavy that I thought I was gonna start looking like a chick with a bad case of camel toe if I didn’t do something about them soon.

  Between not having a solid piece of ass since I first got here and watching her firm, round ass sway and perky tits bounce, I was about to lose my damned mind.