And the Sweet (Addiction Series Book 2)

by Delilah Frost

  I look at Celia, squinting through my sunglasses, watch her laugh at something Allison says and feel my heart beat quickly. “Better. Still has nightmares, but they’re not as bad as a few weeks ago.”

  That’s right. We’ve been in Islamorada for almost two months now. And with Marshall and Allison. They’d both taken extended vacations without even thinking too much about it, claiming to work, friends and family, it was for the holidays since Christmas is only a couple weeks away and after the new year, they wouldn’t have these chances alone any longer.

  The endgame, though, was always wanting to help Cecelia and myself not only adjust to life elsewhere, but to also feel safe.

  “I’m glad to hear that. Ally and I have been really worried about her.” Marshall cuts me a look that tells me he’s worried about me too and I just nod. We’ve had a really traumatic experience. Shit can’t help but linger.

  As we get closer to the girls, hear them talk about baby names and how ridiculous the soon-to-be grandmothers are becoming with their need to buy tons of clothes, I stop Marshall one last time.

  My palms feel sweaty as I hold the glasses in my hand and though I’m not nervous, I feel edgy.

  “Hey, so, do you remember that conversation we had months ago where you told me about the baby and how I should start to think more about my own future and not so much about the doom and gloom?” I ask feeling slightly stupid and completely obvious at the same time.

  Marshall looks at me, then at Cecelia and nods. “Yeah, mostly.”

  Nodding and swallowing hard, I press on. “Do you remember what you told me to think about exactly?” My voice squeaks and I clear my throat because even though I’ve made up my mind, it’s still a nerve-racking topic for anyone.

  Marshall nods again and I see a smile begin on his face. Fucker.

  “So, it’s not going to be white, but what would you say about standing up for me at my Christmas wedding?”

  EPILOGUE

  Several years later…

  Life is a strange thing. It can be very bitter. Tear you down, break you apart until there’s nothing left of you, and then stomp on you some more for good measure. Or it can be very sweet. Build you up, show you who your real family is, even if they’re not all blood related, or even the same skin color, and give you the greatest gifts in the whole world.

  One of those gifts is my marriage to Cecelia. We were married a few years ago, four days before Christmas. It was a beautiful ceremony and I had the prettiest bride to ever walk the earth.

  Marshall was my best man. And he truly was the best man, especially after pulling some strings to get Melody, Stretch and my brother and his family down to Islamorada to witness our ceremony.

  We never thought we’d see any of them again so to know this man who I’d met in rehab, met at a low point when I thought no one cared about me came through for me? I admit it, I cried. I’m talking full on sobs. Stretch was Melody’s plus one and I am so glad to see them trying to have something of their own.

  They like each other. Hagen is gone. They can be together now.

  Seeing my brother though, that was a breaking point. I bawled like a fucking baby in his arms. He doesn’t know everything that’s gone down, none of the blackmail or what lead to it, he just knows we had to leave Chicago quickly. Well, that and Cecelia had been shot. But he still loves me, supports me. Is there for me. And he loves Celia like a sister. I am so thankful she not only has Melody, but Allison and Tandy in her life now too.

  It’s been a few years since everything went down in Chicago but we don’t feel comfortable enough to ever return there. In fact, we’ve moved to Havana now that Americans are allowed in the country.

  We’re still learning the language, Celia at a quicker rate because of her heritage, but it’s been a good decision. Especially after hearing news from back home.

  After her return to Chicago after the wedding, we heard from Melody that some of Hagen’s crew were looking for us. They’d stopped into Coco one evening, asking questions about her coworker with the long brown hair. Hagen had talked about us constantly and sadly enough had shared our video with many of his guys, so they knew not only who we are and what we looked like, but that we were the last people to see him. His driver that night had no problem talking about the two who were with him before the warehouse burned down taking him with it.

  Thankfully they didn’t know about Hagen’s obsession with Melody.

  Since that time though, a new leader has taken over and Hagen is old news. We’re not on their watchlist. They have bigger fish to fry.

  Still, we have no desire to tempt that kind of fate.

  Just in case.

  Another person who will never bother us again is Fife.

  During his visit, Stretch and I talked. We shared some personal information, not a lot since I don’t want anyone knowing some things, but enough, and came to be the friends I’d always thought we were. I took his number, and once I got my new one, gave him a call. Not only does it allow me to have someone else in my corner, but it also keeps me informed of anything Melody may not hear about. She never liked the fights, and though Stretch has decided to retire from them completely, he still keeps in touch with some of the guys.

  One night, nearly a year after Celia and my escape, Stretched called and told me Fife had been found dead.

  There was a drug raid at one of the seedier motels and there was Fife, sprawled out on the floor, laying in his own vomit from an overdose. Turns out he’d been scouring the city for a new dealer after Hagen went missing and the new guy he found gave him some bad shit. He’d used too much, started puking on it and choked to death.

  I know it’s bad karma, but I can’t say I’m sorry to see him gone.

  He was a piece of shit liar and manipulator and yeah. Karma can kiss my ass on this one.

  So, like I said, it’s been a few years now since everything went down. And Cuba has been good to us. Allowing us to move here with few questions asked.

  Besides being the last place anyone from Chicago would think to look for us, should they decide to all of sudden, Cuba does not have an extradition agreement with the United States. It may have been in self-defense, our take down of Hagen, but we still killed him. One can never be too careful what the law thinks about a situation.

  We’ve managed to get some work here too. Celia and I both work at Melia Habana, a stylish high-end hotel in Havana. She tends bar and I help out with the flashy cars that come through, making sure they’re taken care of while guests enjoy the sights.

  It’s simple work but we don’t want strenuous. We still have our nest egg from my winnings and the money we’d saved from our checks. And it helps too that the hotel allows us to stay in one of the rooms at a discount.

  We’ve talked about our future, Celia and I. We’ve talked about what we want out of our lives and we’ve decided that we’re not going to stay in Cuba forever. While it was close and perfect for our needs, it can’t be something we rely on forever. We even started taking online classes for college, me for a degree in sports medicine, and Celia for business administration.

  Looking back on those dreams we talked about in rehab, we know we want to travel. South America, Europe, hit up the Maldives maybe. Of course we plan to save a little bit more money before we jet set off. And thanks to my brother’s accounting advice, we have a bank account that earns high interest so we can now afford these dreams we have.

  In the end, we talk about where we want to settle.

  “New Zealand,” Celia tells me as we lay in bed one night, sweaty, out of breath from making love for the past hour.

  “New Zealand?”

  “I want to see where the Lord of the Rings was filmed.”

  She giggles, the sound warming my very soul as I tickle her for her reasoning. But as we quiet down, I run the tips of my fingers along her breast, across the pebbled nipple and the bar that still cuts through it. I continue across her stomach, twirling it around her belly button and its sligh
t lift.

  Looking back up into her eyes, I smile, my face unable to help itself as I feel that slight rise of her body. “Why else?”

  “Because…because I don’t want to run anymore.” She sighs heavily, her fingers sliding through my hair, and I feel my entire life precipice on this moment. “Because I want those things I have always been so scared of before. A family, a chance to make things right.”

  “I want that too,” I tell her lifting to lay between her thighs again, my cock already hard and wanting. I’m careful to not lay on her completely though, wanting to see her face.

  It’s funny, though she’s just now saying it, just now letting herself feel it, it won’t be long until we are a family. A real one. With a chance to make things right.

  Cecelia is four months pregnant. We’re going to have a baby. A little one of our own. A chance to right the wrongs of our pasts. A chance to give our future something sweeter then we were ever allowed to know.

  Though she’s terrified, I know Cecelia will be an amazing mother. And with her by my side, I know I could never fail as a father. I’m excited and elated. And there is nothing in this world sweeter than these moments.

  In the quiet of our room, with thoughts of our future dancing behind our eyes, I slip inside my wife, my beautiful Cecelia, letting her body push and pull at mine, love mine as it loves hers until completion steals our breaths.

  She’s my best friend. My sidekick. The only woman I’ve ever wanted. The only woman I will ever be with again. I can’t wait to meet our little one. I can’t wait to live our life. I can’t wait to experience the sweeter side of things.

  For too long we tasted nothing but bitterness. Now it’s time for us to bask in the sweetness life has to offer.

  And this time nothing is going to stand in our way.

  The End…

  Thank you for reading, And the Sweet!

  Please, take a moment to leave a review to let me know what you thought of this book. I greatly appreciate it. Thanks!!!

  If you or someone you love is afflicted with an addiction, visit https://www.addictioncenter.com/ for help and resources.

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  Image and Photography c/o: Travis DesLaurier and DesLaurier Media.

  Cover Design provided by Jessica Hildreth c/o Love N Books.

  Acknowledgements:

  I have so many people to thank for helping me get this project off the ground. From Travis DesLaurier for answering my quite random email way back in March 2016, and being willing to offer up his talents not only in front of the camera, but behind it as well. To Ellie with Love N Books for working with me to get the best cover designer out there to make my covers for me. Jessica is an amazing artist and I’m so blessed to do business with her.

  To my friends and family who support my endeavors. To music for keeping me typing, and other authors and their stories for keeping my mind turning with wonderful scenes so that I don’t have time for writer’s block because I’m enraptured by the worlds they create.

  The Bitter, and its sequel, And the Sweet were a long time coming. What started as two separate story ideas more than a year ago, somehow morphed into this singular adventure.

  The first scene I ever wrote for these books involved a broken man, laying on a dirty mattress, thinking about the pointlessness of his life, listening to guys yell at him from the street below, while trying to figure out how to deal with the possible infidelity by the love of his life. The second scene was two kids, in rehab, going through the spiel of stating their name, addictions, and progress while finding the whole situation useless.

  Each set-up had different character names. Each set-up had different goals.

  I didn’t really know what to do with the set-ups so I set them both aside to focus on other projects. But after time, I found these two scenes and I began to wonder if I could connect them and if I could, how? Suddenly, an idea formed and gone were the original character names and Chace and Cecelia were born.

  Thank you to my readers for letting not only myself, but Chace, Cecelia, Marshall, Stretch and all the others into your lives. I hope you enjoyed this book and thank you for reading!!! : )