by Harper Sloan
She moves to stand and Maddox isn’t quick enough to get me away from her. I lift up my foot and kick her right in the ass, laughing when she falls forward and knocks into the bookshelf, sending a few dozen books from the shelves onto her prone form.
“You feel better?” Maddox asks with a huge smile on his handsome face.
“Yeah,” I reply, smoothing out my hair and clothes. “I do. How about you, baby?”
His eyes go soft and he gives me a kiss. “Yeah, angel. I’ve never felt better in my life.”
Looking into his eyes, I believe it. Until I feel a sharp pain in my side and wetness against my panties.
What the hell?
I reach down, and when I bring my hands up, there is blood on my fingertips.
“Maddox?”
“Yeah, Em?” he asks, moving his eyes from where Mercedes still hasn’t moved. When he meets mine, he goes still. “Em?”
“I think it might be a good idea if we go to a hospital,” I whisper.
He looks from my eyes to my hand before his tan skin goes white and I’m in his arms. He doesn’t respond when his mother snarls his name or when his brother starts stalking after him.
He doesn’t stop until he’s slamming the car in park and carrying me into the local emergency room doors.
CHAPTER 35
Maddox
She was right. Letting go of that last tie gave me a sense of peace I hadn’t fathomed possible. I didn’t feel pain from my mother’s or brother’s words. I didn’t even flinch when Mercedes told me just how deep her deceit had been. I even wanted to laugh when Emmy threw her body on top of her and fought her like a world-class boxer.
I felt whole for the first time in my life. The weight of those monsters that had been eating away at me for so long—gone. I didn’t think there was one thing I could feel wrong.
That is until I looked over at Emmy and saw fear in her eyes. At first, I didn’t know what was happening. Then I saw the blood on her hands. My confusion turned into a fear as cold as ice filling my veins.
We were taken right back and she was immediately checked out. My world was rocked an hour later.
Emmy. Pregnant.
I look over at her as she rests peacefully in the hospital bed. They gave her intravenous fluids to help rehydrate her and an antibiotic. According to the doctor, she—and the baby—are fine for the moment. He couldn’t see any sign of a miscarriage. After we briefly explained that she had been in a physical altercation, he said that it was most likely a threatened miscarriage and that she would need to stay off her feet then follow up with her doctor when we get home.
“Hey,” she sighs, turning in the bed and curling on her side to look at me. “You okay?”
I can’t help it. I throw my head back and laugh. The tension that was rolling off my body and all the stress of the day evaporates with just the sound of her voice.
“I should probably be concerned that you’re losing it.” Her lips are curled in a beautiful smile, and even though she looks tired, I can see that she’s happy.
“You took years off my life earlier, Emmy.”
“I’m sorry,” she says honestly.
“You’re okay?” I search her eyes for any signs that she might not be happy about this news.
“I’m perfect.”
As simple as that.
Perfect.
“This is a blessing, Maddox,” she sighs, her gorgeous, honey eyes hopeful that I’ll see it that way.
Blessing.
There’s that word again. One that I never thought I could attach to my life. But now, looking at her curled in front of me—carrying our child—our love wrapped around us like a tight embrace . . . Yeah, it damn sure is a blessing.
“That it is, angel. That. It. Is.” I lean over and kiss her softly before I grab her hand, and try to figure out how to tell her how much this means to me. “I love you.” It really is just as simple as that. Her love started it all, and she never gave up until I believed her. “You made me whole again, Emmy. You drove those monsters and nightmares from my soul and replaced them with something so unbelievable that I’m not even sure if I understand the enormity of its power. I’ll never stop fighting to make sure that I continue to be worthy of that love, baby.”
“I love you back, my big, strong man.”
“One thing, Em?” I wait until her eyes come back to mine. “Future wife, huh?” I laugh lightly when she blushes one hell of a hot shade of pink.
When she said that earlier, the only thing I could think of was how fast I could drag her ass to the courthouse. We hadn’t even discussed it before, but now that she’s said it out loud, I can’t stop the visions of her with my rings around her finger and my name.
“Yeah . . . about that. It just kind of came out. I don’t want you to freak out or anything about it. I understand that kind of step takes time.”
“Says fucking who?” I interrupt.
“Uh . . . I don’t know? Everyone?”
“Jesus, Em. I think it’s safe to say we aren’t just like everyone. Everything about the road we’ve had to travel to get to this point has been pretty off the tracks of normal. Who says we need to go in a certain order?” I place my hand against her stomach before continuing. “Pretty sure we proved that point over and over.”
“Yeah,” she laughs. “I guess we did.”
“Just you wait, Emersyn Keeze. You’re going to marry me as soon as we get home, and then I’m going to spend every day blessing you with everything I have.”
“You’re going to marry me? Don’t you think you should actually ask?”
God, I love that sass.
“Keep it up, Em. I’m going to start adding up all that sass again.”
Her eyes widen at my low growl before she laughs in my face. “I’m going to look forward to it, Mad.”
“You do that, angel.”
I take her lips in a slow, sweet, and intoxicating kiss. By the time I pull back, her eyes are glossy, her cheeks are red, and her lips are swollen. I lean forward, pull her plump bottom lip in my mouth, and nibble lightly, earning a moan from Emmy.
“Blessed,” I whisper against her lips.
* * *
We didn’t spend long in the hospital. After she was monitored overnight and her bleeding stopped with fluids, we were released with the referral to follow up with her home obstetrics physician. We got a prescription for the urinary tract infection she had, another factor that the doctor said had caused her bleeding. She needs to keep herself hydrated, and as long as everything looks good at her doctor appointment, he doesn’t see us having any lasting issues.
We took our time getting home. Instead of flying, we kept our rental car and decided to make a two-week road trip out of our drive home, stopping in a different hotel each night and spending time together.
Axel called three days into our trip and said that there was some man named Jefferson calling the office nonstop. Judging by the fact that he yelled it over the line before hanging up, I’m guessing that Jefferson has been quite persistent. I figured it would happen, but I didn’t think she would rally that quickly.
“Do you want me to sit with you when you call him back?” Emmy asks later that night when we check into our hotel somewhere in the middle of Mississippi.
“Yeah. It shouldn’t take that long. He’s most likely feeling me out and seeing just what I want out of that bitch.”
“And? What do you want?”
“Honestly, Em . . . I’m not really sure. I don’t want a part of Locke Oil. I don’t even want their blood money. I just . . . I just want to be done with them. But then I think about everything they played a part in and all of the years of pain before more years of fear. When I think about all of that, I want to be done with it, but I also want to take their hurt and turn it into something good.”
She smiles and sits in my lap. “I can understand that. I think we can figure something out, baby. I’m ready to support whatever decision you make.” She’s quiet for a sec
ond, lightly rubbing my chest with her hand. “I’ve been meaning to ask . . . How did you know about all that stuff anyway about them and the company? I never did get a chance to ask you.”
Her hands start roaming my chest more freely, and for a second, I can’t speak because I’m too busy telling my cock to calm the fuck down.
“When we decided that eventually we would be going out there, I started looking into everything I could. Some searches not so legal. Their downfall with the company wasn’t hard to find. She spends more than she makes, according to her financial history. The fact that I still had my shares in the company was more shocking than anything. I guess, after everything that happened, I just wanted a clean break. I didn’t want to touch anything that they could possibly hurt me more with. So when the random letter here or there came from Jefferson, their lawyer, or anything attached to them would hit my desk, I buried it.”
She nods her head and then lays it on my shoulder, wrapping one of her arms behind my back. She continues to run her fingers against my chest while she thinks, and the whole time, I fight my body.
“So now that you know? Do you want to go through with your threat to take her for everything she has? Or do you want to talk about other options? I think I have an idea you might be open to.”
I think about her question for a moment. I’ve been asking myself the same thing since we left the hospital. It’s like running in a constant circle.
“I really don’t think I want their money. Now especially. She’s an evil bitch, Em. I don’t want to do something out of spite and vengeance that has her coming after us later just because she thinks we’re sitting on her pile of money or something. I think I’m going to have Jefferson draw something up that I sign them over with the stipulation that none of them can contact us again.”
She doesn’t say anything for so long that I wonder if she has fallen asleep.
“Can I suggest something else? You can do whatever you need, baby, and I’ll support you one hundred and fifty perfect, but what about selling and donating your money? I know that you’re struggling with what accepting this money means to all that you’ve overcome, but taking the money that is owed to you will not make you one of them, Maddox. I was looking into the Semper Fi Fund, and I think this might be a good charity for you to donate to. Your family played such a gigantic part in how you’ve lived your life for the last twelve years. Especially after your injury—when you needed them the most. What a better way to kind of help karma out than to take the money from the three people whom didn’t support you when you needed them the most and give it to a charity that will help other fallen marines when they might not have anyone either?”
I’m intimately familiar with how important the Semper Fi Fund can be to an injured member of the military. I wouldn’t have been able to pick up the shattered pieces of my life if it hadn’t been for their funding, resources, and help in transitioning into my new life.
“God, I love you, Em. I didn’t even think about that, but I think it’s a great idea. I’ll make sure that it’s in the paperwork from Jefferson. Complete sale of my shares in Locke Oil and all money be donated to the Semper Fi Fund. But I’m making sure he also includes that they can’t contact us or any of our children. I just want it done. I’m sick of the baby steps, Em . . . You told me once that we had to learn to walk again before we could run. Well, angel, it’s time for us to run.”
I feel her cheek move when she smiles.
“You’re right, baby. I’m ready to run,” she whispers.
EPILOGUE
Maddox
Five Years Later
“Stop squirming, Emersyn,” I rasp in her ear.
“Don’t you give me that tone, Maddox Locke.”
“Watch that sass, Emersyn Locke.”
She narrows her eyes and then closes them tight. She’s been making that same face for the last thirty minutes, and every time I tell her to stop wiggling that sexy ass around, she throws her sass back in my face. I can’t wait to spank her ass later for it.
“Almost done,” Rex says.
I look over her body and give him a nod.
“You said that ten minutes ago,” she reminds him.
“Yeah. Then you started acting like a baby,” he laughs at her, returning to his task.
“Watch it, Em.”
Her eyes snap open again and I laugh. Oh, it’s going to be a fun night.
Bending over so that my lips are against her ear, I promise, “You’re lucky I got a babysitter for the whole night. By the time I finish, you’re going to be knocking the frames off the walls with your screams.”
“Ugh!”
I laugh again and she rolls her eyes.
“You two need to get all that shit out of your system before you come in here next time. Fuck, man. My girl’s out of town for another week and I have my two horniest motherfucking clients in my chair again. Every damn time.”
“Hey, watch your shit,” I snap.
“Watch my shit? You’re the one saying the shit. Not my fault my ears work.” He looks down at Emmy, pulls his gloves off, and stands. “All done.”
“Good. Now, get out.”
“You can’t tell me to get out, dude. I own the place.”
“Just did, Rex. Give me a second with my wife.”
He mumbles under his breath about annoying customers, but he leaves the room and shuts the door.
I lean down, and look at Emmy’s naked torso, and smile.
Right on her ribs, sitting under her bra line, is a big-ass antique padlock. The center has a detailed keyhole, and the way Rex shaded her blacks with gray gives it an almost three-dimensional feel. The shackle is engaged with the lock, holding it closed, but along the curve in masculine scrawl is the one word that sets my blood on fire.
Maddox
Seeing my name permanently inked into her skin is the biggest turn-on.
The rest of the tattoo though . . . There are no words for how big my heart feels right now.
There are two hearts locked in. The first heart has our first daughter’s name on it and the other with our second-born daughter’s name.
Maddisyn was born four years ago and hasn’t stopped screaming since. She has been my shadow since the day she learned to crawl. Wherever I went, she would follow. Her sister, Emberlyn, was born two years ago and is our silent thinker. She gave us one giant cry when she was born then settled in and let everyone fuss over her. She’s been the same since day one.
We’ve been talking about having another baby for a few months now, and as much as I love seeing her pregnant, I’m not sure if I can handle another daughter. The first time Maddisyn told me that she had a boyfriend, I almost lost my shit. At least this way, with two, I can keep my eye on one and Emmy can help with the other.
“Damn, Em.”
“Looks good, hmm?” she asks.
I help her off the table and she walks over to the mirror. With tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, she admires it. I can tell that she loves it.
“Looks perfect.”
She turns and her eyes go to my chest—more specifically, my newest tattoo. Across my chest, with a slight curve, is the one word that has come to mean so much over the last five-plus years.
BLESSED
Emmy had the idea to add two sparrow birds on either side, one for each of our girls, and altogether, it makes the perfect tattoo to represent our life together.
“I love you,” she sighs, not taking her eyes off my chest.
“I love you back,” I reply.
“Let’s get out of here so we can enjoy a night of you making me scream the walls down.”
When I yell for Rex, he comes to finish cleaning and covering her new tattoo. I toss a few bills down, grab her hand, and drag her out of the tattoo shop.
Time to get my wife home and show her how much I love seeing my name on her body.
* * *
“I can’t take anymore, Mad! Please, baby!” she screams out in pleasure when I bring my h
and down on her already pink ass.
I smooth the skin over with my palm before running my hand down to push two fingers deep inside her soaked pussy. Her walls try to hold my fingers in deep, and I know she’s seconds away. If I give her a few deep thrusts, she is going to come hard.
But not yet.
“Please!”
“You can keep begging, Emersyn, but I’m not fucking this sweet cunt until I’m good and ready.”
“I’m ready, you big jerk!” she yells over her shoulder.
I bring my hand down again and grab her firm flesh in a hard grip. “Watch that damn sass.”
She wiggles again, her stomach moving against my swollen cock, causing me to groan.
I give her another smack just for making my cock even harder. Her skin is now bright with my handprints and her wetness is coating her thighs. I lean back and drop my body to the bed. I was sitting on the edge with her resting over my knees, but now, I need to eat her pussy until I’ve had my fill.
“Get up here and give me that pussy, Em.”
She hurries off my lap and climbs up my chest, her wet center slick and hot against my body as she moves to straddle my face. I look up and meet her bright eyes before lifting my hands, grabbing her hips, and pushing her to my waiting mouth.
I feast on her delicious cunt. My tongue swirls around her swollen nub before I nibble on her smooth lips. She cries out when I suck her clit into my mouth with a hard suction. When I feel her juices soak my chin, I smile against her skin.
Then I smack her ass and give her one last lick.
“You want to ride my cock or do you want me to fuck you into the mattress?”
“I can’t move my legs, baby,” she sighs.
“Then get on your back, Emersyn.”