“Wow. I love it. I once read a story by the author CM Owens, and she wrote a story on these very gods and goddesses. But her spin wasn’t based off history, rather than her own personal story. In her story, Poseidon is a good guy all around, and he is with Aphrodite rather than Athena. Aphrodite isn’t only the god of lust; she can also control the skies. So with her control of rain, and Poseidon’s control of water, the two were a force to battle. She could control the rain, lightning, thunder. And it was all controlled by her emotions with Poseidon being her trigger. Medusa was in fact beautiful and powerful, but her stone stare had no effect on Aphrodite, because she had a total of three entities inside of her. It’s actually a pretty good story, if you like that kind of thing,” I wink at him.
“I love that you also enjoy it, as I do,” he smiles.
“I love that, for a hard ass, you’re secretly a nerd. That makes my motor run,” I wag my eyebrows at him, loving the afterglow we are still basking in.
“Anything I do makes your motor run, baby girl,” his cocky grin makes its appearance.
“So? I have no shame.” I give him my best whatever look.
“It’s okay, I like your no shame having ass,” he kisses me. “But it’s time for sleeps. I wanna take you for a hike tomorrow.”
I scrunch up my nose and give him a look of mock protest. “Walking?”
“No, you whiney baby,” he winks at me. “You’ll be getting some time with Rapunzel again,” he smiles.
“Eeeeaaakkkkkk!” I squeal and hug him around his neck.
“Rest, baby girl,” he says as he pulls the comforter over us. Never letting me go, he bends his head down and kisses me.
“Always kiss me goodnight,” I mumble before my exhausted eyes close on their own.
I wake up in the morning to sunlight filtering in the window. I already know Aaron isn’t in bed anymore due to the lack of warmth of his body.
I lift my arms and stretch in the bed, amazed at how well I slept last night. What’s even more amazing is the fact I woke up with a smile on my face as well. Today is gonna be a good day.
I get up and head to the bathroom. I love this guest house. The bedroom is huge, and the shower in the bedroom, is nearly the same as the one at his house back home. It’s perfect.
I pause at the door when I see there is a note taped to it.
Baby girl,
I got up early to go help feed the neighs. There are RTVs and ATVs in the garage outside. Pick one when you’re ready and come to the stables. I have some breakfast for you down here.
Yours, Aaron
P.S. You’re so fucking beautiful when you sleep.
My face starts to hurt from the smile I have plastered on it.
I rush around to get ready, throw on some jeans and a flowy shirt topped off with boots, and I’m out the door. I go to the garage and I pick out the four-wheeler that is screaming my name. It’s white, and has one of those metal racks in the front. The thing looks beastly, and I smile even bigger. Brent would love it here. I remember him and me racing each other through the mud on these things. He had a friend in high school whose parents had a lot of property and after school; we would go over there and just forget that we had to be adults for a moment.
I back it out of the garage and shut the door. I was about to take off when I remembered I had to plug in my iPad just in case Brent emailed again. I knew it was most likely not going to happen, but just in case I told myself. I hopped off my ATV and ran inside to plug it in. I checked myself in the mirror once again before heading back to the door. As I grabbed the door handle to shut the door, I noticed another note that I missed on my way out the first time because I left the door open. I pull the note off the door with a smile and open it up.
Wife --
I love how you think you are safe with him. I could have already killed you.
-- Your loving husband
My hands start shaking right away, my heart sinks to my toes, and I’m frantically looking around. Is he watching me? Does he know I saw the note? Is he in the fucking house?
I run out to the ATV and hop on. I drop it into first gear, but before I race to the stables, to Aaron, I notice the tires on his truck are slashed. I feel the tears threatening to fall, and the emotion getting ready to choke me. I hit the throttle and head to the stables, changing gears, and never letting up on the throttle. I slam on the breaks, turn the tires, and slide the four-wheeler to a stop. I still have the note clutched in my hand and I run into the stables. I swing open the entry door and look around, my eyes searching for Aaron. When I see him walk out of one of the stalls with a bucket, a sob breaks free from my mouth. I clasp my hand over my mouth at the same time Aaron looks up and sees me. The smile he was starting vanishes before it can even fully form.
“Come here,” he commands as he starts walking briskly towards me.
I jog to him and as soon as his arms surround me the dam breaks behind my eyelids.
“Shhh, baby girl. What’s wrong?” he says after a few moments.
I sniffle and lift my head and look at him.
“He’s here,” I say as I gave him the note. “I was scared he did something to you. I didn’t know if you were okay,” I whisper.
He unfolds the paper and reads it and his eyes darken. “Baby girl, trust me when I say, he wouldn’t hurt me. I’m okay,” he tells me as he wipes his thumbs under my eyes.
“He slashed your tires, too,” I say as my eyes search for Hudson.
“He is trying, well succeeding, at trying to scare you. Come on, I already sent Ma and Dad away this morning. Let’s go up to the big house and make a phone call,” he tells me softly, but I know he is enraged.
“Where is Hudson?” I ask, my feet rooted to the barn floor.
“She went into town a little bit ago with a friend of hers. I tried to get her to leave, but she’s just as stubborn as me.” He shrugs but I know he hates having her anywhere near danger. Shit I do too.
We walk outside and I hop on the ATV I brought down here, while Aaron hops onto the one he rode. We both take off and as I ride back, my fear turns to anger. I’m fucking pissed. How fucked up in the head do you have to be, to go this far?
We arrive at the house and as we hop off, Aaron pulls his phone out and calls someone while walking to his truck.
“Hey. He’s here,” he says.
He goes over and squats down and looks at his tires.
“Yeah, he slashed my tires. But he let all of the air out of them first,” he says while picking up the valve cap off the ground.
“Yeah, fucker is smart. That way it didn’t make the loud bang it usually does. Yeah, you’re right. Okay. I’ll let her know. Tell ’em to come on over. Ma and Dad are gone. Thanks, man.”
He stands up when he ends the call and comes to me.
“Come on, baby. Let’s get inside so we talk,” he pulls me by my hand into the big house and we walk to the kitchen. He pulls out a bar stool for me to sit on, and goes to the cabinet and gets out two glasses. He walks to the fridge and pulls out some orange juice and some champagne and makes us both a mimosa.
“It’s too early to drink the hard stuff, but this will help take the edge off,” he tells me.
“Thank you,” I say as I put my head down. I need to think. I need to know how serious Leroy is because I’ll be dammed if I sit around and let him target people I love.
“What’s going through that head of yours?” he asks.
I lift my head and I look at him, and I tell him the truth. “I’m fucking pissed, Aaron. At first I was consumed with fear. Then once I saw with my own eyes that you were okay, rage filled me. From the depths of my toes, to the top of my head, I am consumed with rage.” My voice is eerily calm. “Him coming at me back home? Alright. I get it. But here? HERE?” I yell, spreading my arms wide to express my point. “Where I fucking found peace? Where I found a family that I fit in with? Oh yeah, I’m pretty fucking pissed off about that one, my past is coming back to threaten the people who
have accepted me. And two, he took ANOTHER thing away from me!”
“He didn’t take anything away from you, baby.”
“Oh, but he did,” I say shaking my head, angry tears coming to the forefront.
“What’s that?” he asks lifting a brow.
“You,” I whisper, blinking back my tears.
“I already told you I’m not going anywhere,” he tells me with a stubborn hint to his voice.
“You don’t get it, Aaron!” I yell as I stand. “You honestly think I’m going to just stand here and let him fucking hurt you? You think I’m even going to stand here and fucking chance it?” My angry tears fall out, and I wipe at them franticly, not wanting him to mistake my anger for weakness. “I will not let anything happen to you. I will not let anything happen to your family. I will leave, and when I do, he will follow. He wants me, not you.”
“I think you are underestimating me, baby girl,” he replies in a dead voice. His eyes are dark, and they look dangerous. I shiver. I must be pretty fucked in the head, because my whole entire body hums for his touch right now.
I explain to him: “When I woke up this morning, it was the first time in. . . god. Forever. That I woke up with a smile on my face. I was excited to hang out with you. To see your sister. To have dinner around that table again,” I say as I motion to the table where we ate last night.
Aaron walks over to me and puts his hands in my hair and tilts my head back so we lock eyes.
I continue, “I got up and saw your note on the door, and my smile became painful, because I’ve never been this happy. I got ready so quick, I’m not even sure if I brushed my hair. And I didn’t even care because I just wanted to see you. I ran outside to get on the ATV so I could do just that. Then I remembered I had to plug in my iPad, and it’s a good thing too, because I also left the door open. And that’s when my heart fell to the floor. I was so worried,” I wrap my arms around him and shake my head. I told him how my mind began to race: “Did he get to you when you were not paying attention? Is the man I’m falling in love with laying somewhere hurt? Dead?” I end on a breath.
He lifts my face back up and his eyes search mine. I don’t know if he’s on the same page as me with his feelings, but I can’t let him get hurt.
“I know it’s so soon,” I say while I place my hands on his wrists. “But my feelings are so strong,” I shrug.
“I don’t deserve you,” he says as his lips come crushing to mine.
I open for him and I’m assaulted with so much love from his kiss. It’s a kiss of devotion. It’s firm, but gentle. It’s controlling, but slow. It’s an action that words can’t describe. I press my body into his, and I savor the warmth he gives me. When the kiss breaks, I snuggle into his chest, feeling the rise and fall of his breathing. His hands rake through my hair, rubbing my scalp as my mind races. I need his touch. I need the connection we have to anchor me. I need his love to soothe me.
“He scares me more now than he ever has before,” I mumble into his chest.
He tugs on my hair and lifts my chin, his eyes finding mine, searching.
“Why, baby girl?” he asks.
“Because now I have you to lose.” I raise my hand and stop him when he ties to interrupt. “I know you’re not going anywhere, but what if something happens to you? Accidents happen, people misjudge others. Anything. Can. Happen. And that scares me so much, because I love you more than I love myself. You let me be me. You don’t push me to be someone you want me to be. I’ve never felt the connection my soul has with yours, with anyone else. Like I said, I know it’s soon, but I love you, and it scares me to think of you getting hurt over me.” I look at the tile on the floor in the kitchen. I don’t want to see rejection on his face. It’s okay if he’s not on the same page as me, but I want him to know what page I’m on.
Aaron begins to confess, “I think I’ve loved you since you walked your sassy ass into Tim’s ER room.” He lifts my chin and kisses my forehead. “I might not have known it then, but my soul did. I want you. I love you. Not because you said it first. Not because I want to fuck you every second of every day. Not because what you can give me, or that you are a client of Hudson’s Blueprints. I want you. I love you because of you. Because of what’s in here,” he says as he kisses my chest again, right over my heart. “I love you because you’re willing to walk straight into danger for me, and my family. To keep us safe. But one thing you need to learn is that you’re mine. Only mine. You’re in this family. And I’m not leaving you. Not ever. So you need to stop trying to run from me. It’s you and I, together, from here on out. No running. Okay?” he asks.
As the tears flow down my face, I nod. “No running,” I whisper.
Chapter Eighteen
We are sitting in the living room off of the kitchen and the tension is high. Aaron is next to me, his hand on my thigh, and he keeps looking at the two guys in the chairs across from us.
“You sure you don’t want to leave?” Doc Doug asks.
To say I was fucking surprised to see his face among the faces of the guys who were sent to help is an understatement. They showed up right before Hudson got back. She ran supplies down to the stables, and Aaron demanded she come back up here when she got done. Poor girl has two fathers it seems.
“I told you no Doc,” I say.
“If I was you that would be the last fucking time you ask her the question. She is a grown ass woman, so let her make her own choices,” Aaron says, barely containing his anger at the doctor who I thought I knew.
I squeeze his hand to let him know I’m okay.
“If you cared for her at all, you wouldn’t want her around this shit,” Doc Doug pops off to Aaron.
Aaron leans his head back and takes a deep breath. Then suddenly he says, “Nope,” and jumps up and lunges for Doug.
Aaron hits him once in the face before the other guy with Doug gets up and pulls Aaron off.
Aaron rages at the men in the room, “I will tell you this one fucking time. I don’t give a fuck who your president is. I will kill you if you keep disrespecting my woman. I will also kill you if you ever disrespect my feelings for her again. You think I fucking want her here in the middle of this fucking shit storm? You think I want her open to this bullshit that can come for her any damn second? You’re wrong. I don’t. But I’ll be goddamned if I let her walk out that door with zero fucking protection and have her face this shit alone. And fuck you for thinking I would,” he shrugs off the guy’s arms.
“She wouldn’t be alone. She would have the Fallen Angels,” Doug says.
“Fuck you if you think I’m going to just walk the fuck away from her and let you protect her. The difference between you and I is the simple fact that I would die for her. Could you say the same?” he ends with a questioning tone.
“You’re too close to this shit Aaron! Your feelings are gonna get everyone fucked! She works for me, and yeah, I care for Bridget. But not on the same level as you! Not as much to where I’d let it cloud my common sense!”
I jump in before Aaron punches my friend. “Whoa, fellas. I’m right here ya know.” I give them a little wave to press my point. “Look, I’m ready to face my fears and get this over with. Doc, you’ve been my friend since I started at the hospital. Please don’t take that away from me and make me not like you. Because just like Aaron is protective over me, I am of him. And I won’t have anyone questioning his loyalty to me.”
Just as I finish, we hear a huge explosion. I slam my hands over my ears, just as a warm body connects with mine and I’m being thrown on the floor.
“Hold on, baby,” Aaron says to me before he starts shouting out to everyone else.
“Where the fuck is Hudson?” I hear him yell above the ringing in my ears. My heart plummets to my toes and tears spring to my eyes. No, no, no. Please god, let her be okay. Please.
I hear more shouting back and forth that I don’t pay attention to because my heart is set on Hudson. She usually stays in the apartment above the stables,
and I have no idea where the bang came from, only that it was loud and close.
“Stay here, baby girl. I want to check it out,” Aaron tells me while he kisses the side of my face.
Once his body weight lifts off me, I feel cold and numb. Detached.
“Fuck!” I hear Aaron roar. “You come with me Adam, and you stay fucking glued to her side Doug. If anything happens to her I will fucking gut you,” he says before he runs out of the front door.
“What happened?” I ask looking around the room. I get myself into a sitting position, and look around. It’s then that I see smoke outside the window.
I gasp and run to the window, putting my hands on the warm glass as the tears run down my face as I see the barn being covered in flames.
“No,” I sob. “NO!” I scream out.
I stand there staring, willing Hudson to walk out of those flames. Watching as the love of my life runs into it.
“I’m going upstairs to the spare room Aaron moved our things into. I need a minute,” I say in a dead voice.
“I’ll walk you,” Doug says.
“Thanks, but it is right up the stairs. I’ll be fine. I seriously don’t want you standing outside of my bedroom door hearing me cry,” I deadpan.
“Yell out if you need anything. I’m serious, Bridget.”
I just nod and walk up the stairs right outside the living room. I get to our room, shut the door, and walk right to my camo bag. I pick it up and throw it on the bed. I dig through all the clothes until I see the little hidden zipper compartment at the bottom. I unzip it and see the beautiful black Glock with the pink slide sitting there waiting for me. I started to take target lessons about three years ago, and now I finally understood why my subconscious led me in that direction. Not to just protect myself, but my family too. I’ve wanted a family for myself, for years. And now that I finally have one, that bastard wants to hurt it. Not today.
I get out the under-bra holster and set it on the bed. I take off my shirt and pick up the holster. It has a strap on the end that goes over either the middle of your bra, or the band that goes around your ribs. I personally like to carry it around the band, right under my left arm. I snap the button, and place my gun in the holster. This is my favorite one I have, and not a lot of people can see it. This is why I often wear baggy off-the-shoulder sweaters.
Worth The Fight (Worth It Series Book 1) Page 13