Kristie’s phone came to life in her hand. She looked down, heart beating quickly, but it was her mother. Her mom was never up this late. Taking a deep breath, she answered.
“Are you okay?” her mother asked in a panicked voice.
“I’m fine. At home. Why are you up so late?”
“Gray called about possibly needing a lawyer and woke Lionel up. He told us the bar had been attacked and the cops were asking questions.”
Why did he call his uncle and not me? Kristie scolded herself for thinking like a child.
“I don’t know anything,” she said to her mom. “I’ve been at home.”
“But what if you weren’t at home, Kristie?” Her mother sounded as hysterical as she had the night of her father’s murder. “You could have been killed. You were already close to dying just six months ago!”
“Mom, I know. But I’m fine.”
“This time. And last time. But how lucky can you be?”
“So what are you suggesting?”
“Leave Gray,” her mom said, finally officially stating what she had been hinting at for the past six months. “You can restart. How are you going to work at the law office when your husband is so tightly entwined in this madness? It’s going to kill you, Kristie.”
“I’m not going to leave him.”
Her mom was pleading now. “Kristie, this will only end in death and violence. You deserve more than this.”
“You used to be happy for me being with him.”
“That was before you got shot and almost died!” Her mother sounded hysterical and she could hear Lionel talking in the background, trying to calm her down.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Mom,” Kristie said, hanging up the phone and sitting down on the couch.
How had everything gotten so fucked up? Kristie wanted to cry but no tears came. Her mother had been so happy for her when she had originally announced the marriage. The bullets had ruined everything – the promise Gray had made, her own mental health, her relationship with her mom and the marriage with Gray. Now Kristie could only think to herself that she was holding the pieces together, trying to make everything work.
If I could give Gray a child, then everything would be okay. Gray would settle down and she could give Gray the ultimate piece of themselves. They could move away and get away from everything. Raise a child together and be happy. I just want this one thing. Kristie curled up on the couch to wait for Gray.
***
It was almost four in the morning by the time Gray pulled up in the parking lot of the apartment complex. He was exhausted. Each muscle in him seemed to ache with the desire for sleep. Kristie had blown up his phone up until ten minutes ago so he knew she would still be up and want to talk. But Gray didn’t feel like talking. He just wanted to sleep.
He turned off his bike and stood up. The moon was high in the sky, covered in clouds. The cops had drilled him and Rick for hours, wanting to know everything that had been going on. The two of them, used to being questioned by the cops, had expertly darted around the questions the best they could.
Finally, on the way out, Gray had run into John, who had been clearly barred from questioning the two of them. He had been sulking outside, arms crossed as if he was waiting to speak to him.
“Curious that your wife gets shot and then your bar gets bombed. I’m sure it isn’t gang related at all.”
Gray hadn’t answered, merely turned away from John and walked off. John had no power over this case and he didn’t have to answer him. But his words stuck to Gray’s brain the whole drive home. It was his fault that Kristie had been gunned down. Armand had meant to kill him, of course, not Kristie. And now innocent people were hurt because of Armand again. Promise me you’ll give up this life, Kristie had said to him when they had agreed to marry. That had been before all of this. He couldn’t keep that promise.
Gray opened the door to the apartment. Kristie was sitting on the couch, the TV on and shining different colors on her pale skin. She looked so beautiful. He only wished he could somehow close the distance between the two of them. To get back to how things used to be, before the bullets had torn into her.
“Gray!” she exclaimed, standing up.
“I’m tired,” he said. “I need to sleep.”
“Are you sure? Shouldn’t we talk about what happened?”
“Tomorrow. You don’t work tomorrow, right?”
He moved past her. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kristie moving toward him. He hesitated and then turned around to face her. Her eyes were wide and shining, that endless blue he liked to dive into. Gray leaned forward and kissed her. She seemed taken aback but kissed him back slowly.
He wanted more of her, Gray realized. It came to him suddenly, just how much he wanted Kristie at that moment. Even a few minutes of truly having her would stop the screaming in his head. She took a step back in surprise as his hands trailed up her back.
“Are you sure?” Kristie whispered.
He nodded as he lifted up her T-shirt, pulling it off and dropping it to the floor. She was still in the bra from before, clearly having been too distracted to remove it earlier. Gray admired her body, taking her all in. It had been too long since he had really looked at Kristie. All their sex lately had been rushed and done almost robotically because she wanted a child so much.
Kristie kissed him, gently at first and then harder, pulling him against her. Gray ran his fingers across her bare skin, admiring the way she quickly responded to his touch. He trailed down her neck, leaving soft kisses the whole way as they moved onto the couch.
Gray tugged on his clothes, leaving them in a bundle on the floor. Kristie was watching him, her eyes wide as the TV cast different lights on her. An infomercial played softly in the background as he kissed down toward her breasts. He loved her breasts. They were so full and plump and looked amazing in any sort of bra. Just admiring her in the bra was enough to make him want to fuck her right on the spot but Gray knew she liked foreplay.
He took a shuddering breath in, kissing her breasts gently as she trailed her fingers along his back. Goose bumps raised along his skin as she did so and her breathing was coming quickly now. Kristie ran her fingertips along his back, moving them slowly along gently.
“Please…” she breathed.
Gray couldn’t hold back any longer. He yanked off her panties and pulled off the rest of his clothes. His manhood was throbbing as he positioned himself to enter Kristie. Her chest was rising and falling quickly as she looked up at him. Gray’s heart swelled just looking at her.
***
Out of all the things Kristie had been expecting when Gray got home, sleeping with him was not one of them. But he was being tender, sliding inside her slowly as he held her. Kristie clung to him, feeling as if he was her lifeboat in the ocean. He was breathing heavily in her ear as he moved inside of her. Kristie let the pleasure slowly roll over her, her breath catching with each thrust.
Gray moaned softly and began to move faster. Kristie’s body seemed to respond to each touch he made, and she threw her head back, moving her hips against him. She wanted more of him. The passion consumed her.
Her nails dug into his back as she moved her hips against him. Gray was softly moaning her name as he pumped inside of her harder. She could feel herself about to orgasm already. It had been so long since they had slept together like this…
Kristie arched her back and let out a gasp as she climaxed. It felt as if every sense was heightened as she came, clinging to Gray. He let out his own grunt and climaxed as well, shuddering in her arms. She wrapped her arms around his waist tighter, making sure that he shot inside of her.
As they both came down from their orgasms, Kristie watched as Gray slowly removed himself from her. His eyelids were heavy, and he looked as if he was going to fall apart on the spot. She stood up and took his hand, and together they walked toward their bed.
Chapter Five
When Kristie woke up, Gray was gone. It was a litt
le past ten in the morning. A hastily written note on his side of the bed stuck to his pillow, almost like an afterthought. Going to the bar, meeting with Rick, text you later.
Kristie sighed and crumbled up the note, throwing it. She flopped back down in bed, staring up at the ceiling. For some reason she had been thinking that Gray was going to stay in bed with her. Maybe even sleep with her again. Last night had been so unusual for the two of them. It used to be how they had slept together all the time. Now it was all methodical to try to get pregnant.
At the thought of being pregnant, Kristie’s mood darkened. Surely last night, with the extra passion between the two of them, would lead to something, wouldn’t it? Maybe she needed to admit that she couldn’t get pregnant by herself…
There would still be hope for the two of them to have a baby. Kristie could try a surrogate or one of the other many options they had now. Even adoption, although Kristie knew there would be no way that the two of them would be able to pass adoption screening. Oh yes, I was shot by my husband’s gang rival. Yes, we were technically cousins upon marriage. Yeah, right.
Maybe she would have to settle with living through Kass. She’d be the best godmother she could be to Kass’s child. She would spoil the hell out of that child. The child would adore her and she’d be a fantastic godmother.
But no matter how much Kristie tried to tell herself that would suffice, she knew it wouldn’t. She wanted a child of her own with Gray. But now things were even messier than they had been before, if that was even possible. The bar had been attacked by the Infernos, people were injured, her mother wanted her to divorce Gray and Armand was still out there somewhere.
Kristie rolled over, deciding she would go back to bed after all.
***
Gray wished there wasn’t mail delivered on Saturday. Some stupid force had compelled him to check the mailbox before he left for the day. Maybe it was because he didn’t want Kristie to check it. He was paranoid about her finding another note. That was the last thing she needed.
But here he was, standing near his truck, gripping another red envelope. He tore into it, ready for whatever ridiculous message was printed inside.
Consider that a warning.
Gray grunted in anger, getting into his truck and shoving the note in the glove compartment with the other one. There was no question these stupid notes were from Armand. There was no address on them. Now that Gray stared at it, he thought maybe cursing the postal service for delivering Saturday had been too hasty. What if someone just dropped these off in the mailbox? How were they getting in?
That thought was even worse. If Kristie found that out and knew someone was getting past the security she craved so much, she would have a meltdown. She was already holding on just by a thread. Last night had felt like a fluke. Gray hadn’t been expecting himself to want to sleep with her. But she had looked so stunning, waiting up for him like that. It had been easy to fall back into her arms. He had missed sleeping with her like that.
Gray made his way toward Rick’s place. He knew he had mentioned going to the bar in the note he had left for Kristie but had second thoughts. It was probably roped off and had cops like that asshole, John, crawling all over it.
Like Gray, Rick had moved once he had married Kass. They had an apartment on the other side of town. Kass made a better income than Rick did, which amounted to nothing more than odd jobs here and there with irregular pay. Because of Kass, their apartment was at one of the high rises in the center of town. The security was better than the place Gray lived and he wished he could live here with Kristie. Peace of mind would do her good.
Gray parked his truck. He stepped outside and shivered. The wind whipped through the parking garage. It was going to start snowing soon, which was the last thing Gray felt like dealing with. Had it really been almost just a year since he had met Kristie?
He pulled his jacket across him tighter as he made his way toward the front doors of the apartment complex. He was trying to remember what Kass did for a living when he thought he heard footsteps behind him. Gray hesitated and turned around, but there was no one there. You’re acting like Kristie now. No one is there. But when he picked up his pace, he could hear the footsteps again.
Gray kept walking but turned sharply at a corner, away from the main entrance of the apartment complex. He pressed himself against the side of one of the concrete pillars of the garage and peered around it. A woman was heading toward the front doors. Gray relaxed and sighed.
That was when something connected with his face. Surprised, Gray spun around, tasting blood in his mouth. His eyes widened in surprise. Gale from the Infernos was looming over him. He grabbed Gray’s shirt, pulling him close toward him, then shoving him backward. Shadows covered them as Gray was pushed back. The stench of garbage hit him, and he realized they were near dumpsters at the side of the parking garage.
Gale looked as if he was going to punch him again but rage overtook Gray. He slammed his fist up into Gale’s stomach. Gale grunted and looked down, which gave Gray enough time to punch him directly in the face. There was a sickening noise of his nose cracking as Gale fell back against the side of the dumpster.
Gray descended on him, punching him again. Part of him wanted to punch Gale until he was a bloody pulp but he held himself back. Instead, he grabbed Gale by his shirt.
“Why are you here?” he hissed.
Gale let out a low moan. His nose gushed blood.
“I will knock out your fucking teeth. Why are you here?”
“Fuck you,” Gale rasped.
Gray punched him again and his head snapped back as he let out a low sick moan. Gray’s chest heaved with rage. It was taking all of his self-control not to kill him.
“We’re watching…” Gale rasped. “Saw you…had to risk it…take a chance just to kill you.”
Gray let go of him and Gale slumped to the ground, his eyelids fluttering. Gray felt disgusted and his fists were burning and bloodied.
“If I see you again, I’ll kill you next time, do you understand?”
There was a keening noise of pain in reply and Gray left the shadows, his eyes darting around the outskirts of the parking garage. It was quiet. He had gotten lucky. Everyone must still be asleep. He made his way toward Rick’s apartment.
So Gale and the other Infernos were doing stakeouts. Gray never would have known that if Gale hadn’t gotten hasty and decided to foolishly attack him. He spit out a mouthful of blood near a shrub and hoped that he didn’t see anyone else on his way up to Rick’s place. One look at him made it clear he had just been in a fight.
The mere idea of someone watching him and the other members of the Devil’s Advocates filled Gray with anger.
***
Originally, Kristie had wanted to say no to going over to her mom’s and Lionel’s house. But her mother had been unusually stern with her, stating that she needed to see her right away. So before Kristie could come up with a good excuse, she was driving over to her mother’s house. She knew it would be more of the same from her mother. She wished she could skip it and go home.
As Kristie walked up to the front door, the first sprinkles of snow started to fall. It would be Christmas soon. She had been unable to enjoy Christmas last year due to everything going on. And it was already shaping up to be another one she would be having trouble enjoying.
Her mother let her inside and fluttered around Kristie as she sat down. The house was mostly unchanged from when Kristie had lived here briefly before she had married Gray. Her mom had made tea and slid a cup toward her.
“How are you doing?”
“Fine,” Kristie replied.
“Are you really?”
“Yes,” she lied, knowing that any sign of weakness would mean her mother would start up about Gray.
“I saw on the news this morning someone was gravely injured from the bomb that went off.”
Guilt hit Kristie in the chest, as if she had set off the bomb herself. “Really?”
; Her mother nodded, looking down at her tea. “Have you spoken to Gray?”
“Yes, last night.”
“Did you…did you mention about moving back here?”
Kristie’s eyebrows shot up. “What? No. Why would I?”
“I was hoping after our conversation last night that you maybe would want to stay here.” Her mom began to speak faster when she saw the expression on Kristie’s face. “You know your bedroom will always be here for you to use.”
“I didn’t really consider last night to be a conversation. More like you demanding things of me and being upset when I don’t agree.”
“I just don’t…I don’t get it, Kristie.” Frustration was clear on her mom’s face. “You work at a law office. If this keeps up, you’ll lose that job, you know that, right? You had mentioned going to school for your law degree. Can you imagine? How can you even consider such an idea when all of this is going on? And you want to bring a child into this?”
Kristie bristled at the mention of pregnancy. “I never mentioned wanting kids.”
“You never had to. Kass’s mother told me.”
Kass, you blabbermouth. She had been hoping to avoid this conversation with her mother for this exact reason. Her mom would never understand how much Kristie wanted a child with Gray.
Her mother went on, “You cannot bring a child into this mess, Kristie. You need to consider fully divorcing Gray. I’ll even cover the expenses.”
She felt as if her throat was closing up. “You dislike him that much?”
“No, I’m sure in another life, he’d be a great man. But his choices aren’t just affecting him anymore. They are affecting my daughter. And you need to be free of that.”
Kristie felt a lump in her chest.
***
“Here, take some more aspirin.” Kass said, sliding over a glass of water to Gray.
It had been a couple of hours since he had beaten up Gale and stumbled up to Rick’s apartment. Kass had tried to clean up the blood from his face as he told Rick what he had found out.
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