Battleborn

by S. I. Hayes

  He sat back as Dora returned, the tension was palpable, and she quickly retreated. “Danielle handles all of that, but I’m sure it won’t take but a day to get it together. I just need to know that Caitlin is safe and that Glory is alright as well. She’s never not been with us for more than an overnight.” He nodded to Tim, who pulled out several plastic prescription bottles.

  “Caitlin didn’t take them with her. “She needs to take her medications.”

  “I’ll be sure she gets them.” I took the pills and slid them into my pocket. I’d look them over after.

  “We will be going. As soon as I have the information on the account, I will have Tim contact you. Is that acceptable?”

  “Yes, Sir, that is just fine.”

  The entourage filed out and Dora came rushing over. “Are you alright sweetheart? Do I need to have someone deal with that cuz I know people...? We are Italians.”

  I chuckled, patting her shoulder. “We Greeks don’t do it that way, but thanks.” I kissed her cheek. “Call Granddad and let him know I’m on my way.”

  “Will do sweetie.”

  Chapter 26 Caitlin

  I laid in bed in the room Jarod had made up for me. It wasn’t much more than a bed, with a dresser and a night stand. There was a window, but in a city the view was to be desired. I was lonely. I was restless and thinking about him, just down the hall, made it even harder to sleep. I thought about the spicy taste of his fingers when they had been in my mouth. About his hand as it had worked on me. I wasn’t bleeding anymore, but I was ovulating. I wondered if he had condoms. Then I remembered that I did. I had taken handfuls of them from the bathroom at the clinic the other day, just in case, because well, you never know. They were in my purse. Just across the room...

  I tossed off the covers and snatched my bag off the floor where I’d left it and with a sense of determination, I made my way out the bedroom door. I looked in on Glory, knocked out, with the puppy. Perfect. Jarod’s room was just far enough away that if I moaned too loud, she wouldn’t hear me. I went to his room and the light was on, so I took a deep breath and knocked.

  “Yeah?” I heard him breathe hard.

  “Hey, can I come in?”

  “Umm, yeah.”

  When I opened the door, he was fumbling on the side of the bed. I realized he was reaching for his prosthetic.

  “You don’t have to do that, you know.”

  He sighed, pulling the blanket across his lap, covering himself. “I thought it would be weird.”

  “Maybe a little, but this is you.” I approached the bed.

  “What did you want? Is everything okay?”

  I crawled across the length of the bed so I was kneeling behind him as he sat on its edge. “I thought, perhaps...” I licked his ear and he lifted his head with a low groan, turning toward me. His hand laced up into my hair as my lips sought his.

  “Caitlin.” He moaned, as he pushed back and I straddled him.

  “I’ve been thinking about this for hours.” I smirked, pulling my bag up to us. “I even brought provisions for the occasion.” I pulled out a string of condoms and his eyes went wide.

  “Caitlin, I-” He pushed me back. “I don’t know if I can. To be honest, it’s an issue for me.”

  I sat back on his thighs, the condoms in my hand. “We will work through it. I’ve seen you get hard for me, so I know we can manage it.” I pulled off my top, revealing my large, bare breasts to him. They bounced slightly from the action and he laughed.

  “Those are nice.” His mouth was on me instantly, his hands working the firm flesh, giving me chills as I held his head, letting him have ample access. His tongue traced my silver dollar sized areolas, making my nipples hard and extra sensitive, as he tugged with his teeth playfully. I ground my pelvis against him, and I could feel my wetness as it built up with every gyration.

  “Oh God, you’ve got me so horny.” I dug my nails into the back of his head. “I need that tongue on my clit, right now.”

  He snickered, pushing me back as he grabbed my shorts and pulled the drawstring, teasingly slow. Then he grabbed them and slid them off of me, leaving me in just my panties. As I opened my legs and the air hit my pussy, I felt another awesome chill.

  “Oh, please,” I begged as he slid me down his thighs, lifting my legs over his arms. I could feel his breath on me and it was making me crazy. My head was on the bed as his fingers grazed me through the thin cotton fabric.

  “You like this?” He asked, inches from me now.

  “I’ll like it more when I can’t hear you.” I pushed up off the bed, forcing my body to connect with his. In seconds, heat and slick, thick tongue were inside me.

  “Yes! Fuck, that’s the spot,” I called out, grasping the bed sheets as he found my clit. Flicking and sucking as his fingers worked me. He drank me up, full on kissing my aching and needing muscles, pulling an orgasm from me that rendered me utterly speechless.

  “Are you okay?” he asked when I didn’t speak for a few minutes.

  As I lay there panting, I could feel his cock twitching beneath me, dancing and lifting me, teasing. Oh God, how I needed that inside of me. I sat up on my elbows, looking at him from between my lifted knees.

  “Make love to me?” I reached out to him and he nodded, pulling me up to his chest. He pushed the blanket aside and I was pleased to find that he was already nude and... Holy Hell, huge!

  “Oh well, well.” I grasped his rigid cock in my hands as he reached for the condoms.

  “I was gonna warn you.”

  “I think I can work it out, or rather, in.” I chuckled. “We’ll just go slow and easy... For both of us, I think that’ll be better.”

  “If not torturous.”

  I took the condom, sliding, it onto him gently. “But worth it.” He grabbed my hips as I lifted myself up and onto him. It was tight. I pulled back, and turned around, sliding my hands down his thighs, stopping just before his knees, knowing I’d slip if I went farther. Then I backed up onto him. Jackpot, his cock slid into me like a knife through butter, with a twinge of pressure and a little bite.

  I let out a deep moan as he thrust against me. I sat up and he grabbed my tits with one hand and reached for my clit with the other.

  “Oh, baby. You and those hands.” I gasped, moving hard and fast with his rhythm. It wasn’t long before my first orgasm ripped through me and I was mewling like a kitten, sweat pouring down my back. He brought me to the edge, his own moans and movements exquisite, I pulled off of him so I could face him and this time, I took him in easily. I wanted his kiss, needed his lips on mine.

  This position made him go over the edge and soon his body shook to his own orgasm. I fell against him as he pumped against me, his heart beating fast, his breathing deep and hard.

  He stroked my hair and kept kissing me. God, I was in love with this man. “I love you, Jarod,” I whispered against his skin. He was quiet for a moment. I began to wonder if he’d heard me as he hadn’t stopped touching me or paused in any way.

  “I’m in love with you too, Caitlin. I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re it for me.”

  I looked up at him. “How did this even happen? I mean, I wasn’t looking for you.”

  “That’s how the best love stories are written, baby.”

  I smiled. I was happy for the first time in I didn’t know how long. I felt secure. Safe.

  “Hey, Caitlin?” he asked, rubbing my shoulders.

  “Yeah?” I nuzzled into his chest.

  “He seems to be ready for round two.”

  I looked down and sure enough, his cock was hard and primed again. “Guess it’s a good thing I have plenty of condoms.” I kissed him, reaching for the stack.

  Chapter 27 Jarod

  When she’d come into the room, I was afraid she’d come to tell me she was having second thoughts. I was also afraid of what she would think if she saw me without my leg. She surprised me on both counts. Coming to my bed for nothing more than me. She wanted me, to b
e with me, near me. To have me inside of her. She felt so fucking good, my cock was never surrounded by such a tight little space before. She knew what she was doing and we synced up just so... Ugh, if she wasn’t asleep. Hell, I got half a mind to wake her up. But she feels so good in my arms too. Just lying here on top of me. Her breathing, the little sounds she makes in her sleep. She’s not restless, either. I had worried that our little rough and tumble would have caused another trigger, but so far so good, nothing. Maybe this is it for her. The tipping point. She says she loves me, I hope she means it, because I will go to the ends of the earth to make sure she and Glory are safe and sound. I don’t give a fuck what her family thinks of this, I’m going to marry this woman, we are going to have a family and we are going to be happy. She just doesn’t know it yet.

  In the morning, I’ll ask her, after breakfast, and if she says yes, then I also want to adopt Glory, because I may love her mother, but I think I may have fallen in love with her first.” I rolled toward Caitlin and she snuggled into me, running her leg up what’s left of mine. If she had been Rebekah, she’d have felt it and rolled away, but not Caitlin. She’s just reached down between us finding my cock and laying claim to it once more.

  “Baby, are you awake?” She murmurs in my ear.

  I tighten my grip around her shoulder as my cock thickens in her hand. “Apparently,” I groan, lifting to her strokes.

  “Good.” She smirks as she disappears beneath the sheets.

  God, I love this woman.

  Chapter 28 Caitlin

  Six a.m. and my cell phone was blaring. I had forgotten to shut off the alarm I had set for my morning jogs. I rolled over and saw that I had nineteen missed calls. Eighteen from Tim and one from a number I didn’t recognize. I figured from the time stamps, calls from Tim were all the usual come home diatribe so I just burned through, deleting them, as I heard my name through his lips.

  Then the last call, which was at four a.m.

  “Hello, this is Doctor Sweeten, I am the attending at Fayetteville General, working in the ER tonight. We are trying to reach Miss Caitlin Colton, concerning Timothy Colton, as she is his emergency contact. Please call us as soon as possible at -”

  I dropped the phone, “Jarod!” I screamed at the top of my lungs and he jumped up, nearly falling from the bed.

  “Caitlin, what’s the matter?”

  “Something’s wrong, I need to get to Fayetteville General, can I borrow your car? It’s Tim.”

  “Gimmie two minutes and I’ll come with you, besides, there’s Glory to think about. If she wakes and you’re not here...”

  “Shit, fuck, damn it. You’re right.” I need to get dressed. I’m glad one of us can think before coffee.”

  “Barely.” He smirked, reaching for his crutches at the side of the bed. “I’ll pull it together; you do the same. First one done, gets Glory.”

  “Okay.”

  TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES later and I was rushing into the Emergency Room. I headed straight for the security triage guard.

  “I’m Caitlin Colton, my brother is here, I don’t know why. Dr. Sweeten called me. Is he still here?”

  “I believe so. We’ve been swamped, but let me go and find out what I can. Please calm down, ma’am and have a seat.”

  I nodded as Jarod, with a very unhappy and sleepy Glory, came into view. He was carrying her and she was just about asleep again. My girl didn’t do early mornings. She was very much like her mother in that regard. I had to teach myself to get up in the mornings.

  “They are gonna see what’s going on. God, I hope he didn’t wrap his car around a tree. He used to have a drinking problem, you know.”

  “He may have mentioned it.”

  The ER doors opened and the guard appeared with a frazzled doctor.

  “Are you Caitlin?”

  “Yes, is my brother okay?”

  “He’s stable. The bullet is lodged in his lung; we are going to have to operate.

  “Wait, bullet? What bullet what are you going on about?”

  “Miss Colton?” A woman’s voice pulled my attention away from the doctor, and I saw two MP’s standing with their hats in their hands.

  “What’s going on, where are my parents?”

  “Can you come with us, please?”

  “I don’t understand... Who fucking shot my brother?”

  “MISS COLTON, I’M OFFICER Finn, please have a seat.” The MP had taken us to a private room with a big table and four chairs. The two of them sat, as did Jarod and I. Glory was beginning to fuss so I took her, bouncing her against my already shaking knees.

  “Tell me what’s going on.” I was trying to keep my head. Screaming wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

  “Can you tell us where you were between the hours of seven and eleven p.m. last night?”

  “I was with Jarod at his house, mostly.”

  “Mostly?”

  “Well, we did do some grocery shopping.”

  “At what time?”

  I looked at Jarod.

  “Probably around six-ish, got home about eight- eight thirty. I’m sure the supermarket security cameras can confirm. As can mine.”

  “You have security cameras?”

  “All over the house.”

  I blushed.

  “Not in the bedrooms,” he whispered, holding my hand, “just on the doors.”

  “Oh...”

  “Listen, what’s this all about? What happened to Tim?” Jarod asked plainly. “You can see how upset Caitlin is. Please tell us what’s happened.”

  “Apparently, there was an incident at your residence in Honeypots Court. Your father and your brother were both shot. From the slug removed from your father’s shoulder, it appears to be a nine millimeter. From what we understand, you have a gun registered in your name.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “And what is the caliber of that gun?”

  “A nine millimeter.”

  “May we see it?”

  “Um, sure.” I opened my bag and stared. The gun was gone. “I don’t have it.”

  “That’s what we thought you’d say. Our investigation leads us to believe that your mother may be involved in the shooting. Your father was conscious when we arrived and he named her. However, the evidence brings us to you.”

  “Am I under arrest?”

  “I can get you access to my home security from here, if you have a computer with Wi-Fi. It will show where we were in the house at all times last night, until we left to come here this morning. I’m sure that should suffice for an alibi,” Jarod interjected with insistence. “You can’t hold her if it checks out.”

  “Officer Kettle, go fetch a computer and see about this grocery store story.”

  The other MP nodded, before leaving us alone with Officer Finn.

  “I am sorry we have to go through this. I love your dad. He’s been a mentor of mine for months. He speaks highly of you.”

  “Thank you, do you know how he or Tim are?” I asked, tears in my eyes.

  “Your dad and Tim are both headed for surgery. It’s gonna be hit or miss for the next few hours. We’re on this because it happened on our property, you understand.”

  “I do. I also didn’t do this. Why would I?”

  “Is it true that you were in a dispute and had left home just that morning?”

  “Yes, but I wouldn’t try to kill them over it. Especially not my dad or Tim, and what’s this about my mom?”

  “Your father said Danielle did this. Plain as day, when we reported to the complaint of shots fired at your house. Your neighbors were forthcoming with the gossip.”

  “Of course they were.” I rolled my eyes, even as I cried. “Please, I need to be allowed to see them.

  “If this all checks out and I don’t have to arrest you, and they are allowed visitors, I promise you, I will walk you in there myself.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.”

  “DADDY.” I CLUNG TO him as he grunted. “I was so worried. Please tell m
e this is all some fucked up joke, just to get me to come home.”

  “Sorry, baby. Wish I could.” He breathed hard and groaned as I held onto him. “You gotta let me go or I’m gonna pop a stitch.

  “I’m so sorry. What happened?”

  “Your mother... She, I don’t rightly understand it. She was taking your money. She has plans to take it all, and to leave us. She’s been working on this since she found out you and Tim were getting the trusts and not us. She’s fucking crazy, baby. I don’t know what’s she’s going to do now.”

  “How did you figure it out?”

  “After I met with Jarod there, I went looking for the paperwork to prove we’d been putting the child support aside. Instead, I found letters and account information in your name, but with her identifications. When I confronted her, she went ballistic. I told her she was going to give every penny back and then, next thing I knew, she was shooting at me, and then Tim showed up. He was an innocent bystander, or maybe she had inclinations for him too, I don’t know. She took all of the papers in the files with her.”

  I sat down, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This woman had raised me. My own mother had died when I was born and dad married her when I was just ten months old. She had been the only mother I had ever known. I couldn’t wrap my head around how she could have done such a thing. Jarod came to stand beside me and I buried my head in his side. He held me as he held Glory.

  “I won’t let anyone hurt her.” He looked at my father. “I don’t care what it takes to find your wife, she doesn’t get anywhere near this woman, or this baby. You understand what I’m saying, Sir?”

  My dad nodded. “Thank you. Does anyone know how Tim is? They haven’t told me anything.”

  “Us either, Daddy,” I responded, just as the doctor came into the room.

  “I see that we were able to find your family. I am glad for that. So we were able to retrieve the bullets from your shoulder and your knee, but there was substantial damage to the knee, it will need replacement, which may or may not completely correct the issue. You may have a permanent limp, either way, Sir. We are sorry.”