by A. Zavarelli
I froze, and she froze, and my lips fell away as I held her at arm’s length to study what my mind was trying to comprehend. But it still wasn’t computing. And I hadn’t really given any thought to what I was doing when I reached up under her dress, and she screeched.
“Ace, what are you doing?”
I couldn’t find my words. It wouldn’t be real until I felt it for myself. Manic thoughts flooded my mind as I spun her around and shielded her from the view of everyone else. Despite her protest, she relaxed into me, and then shuddered when I finally slid my palm across her belly. It was warm and firm and dense, and my emotions immediately went to war. I had impregnated her with what would inevitably be a miniature hulk-sized baby that she would have to carry for nine months and then deliver. It was terrifying. But it was also the proudest moment of my life, knowing I’d filled her with my seed and claimed her in this way. I never wanted to be a father. I never thought anything good could ever come from me, but when I felt what we had made together, there was no doubt in my mind. This baby was good. It could only ever be good.
“Mine.” The word slipped from my lips as my head dipped into her neck, breathing her in. “Mine, Birdie.”
She swallowed and peered up at me with the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. Her face was a mixture of emotions and nerves, and she looked like she was on the verge of crying.
“But the tape,” she whispered. “You saw the tape. You saw what I was, and then you left me.”
My fingers tightened around her, fearful that she might slip away if I didn’t hold onto her. I didn’t understand what she meant, but I tried to piece it together in my mind. “The day I left the house?”
“I saw you.” She turned her face away and shielded her eyes. “That night you watched the tape in the living room, I saw how horrified you were. And then you came back to bed, and you didn’t touch me. You left even though I begged you to stay.”
“No, Birdie.” I wrapped my arms around her and held her against my chest. “I left to find out who had sent that package. I was intent on destruction, and I wasn’t thinking clearly. But I was always coming back for you. That was never even a question.”
“But the tape,” she insisted.
“I don’t care what happened on that fucking tape, angel. You were a savage, and I’m goddamn proud of you for what you did to survive. You did the world a favor, and if you hadn’t, I would have.”
She broke down crying, and I turned her in my arms, cupping her head and using my body to shield the evidence of her emotion. Birdie didn’t like to be so exposed, but she could be vulnerable with me, and no matter what, I would protect her. Until my dying breath, I would protect her.
I let her cry it out, and then she wiped her tears and looked up at me. “I thought you were done with me. I thought you didn’t want me anymore.”
“I told you when I took you, Birdie, you belong to me.” I grabbed her hand and moved it over my heart on my chest. “Until this stops beating, you’ll always belong to me. Understand?”
When she nodded, I glanced back at the sea of onlookers. I’d planned to wait, but waiting wasn’t a luxury of the living. If there was anything I’d come to understand about life, it was that if something needed to be said or done, the time for it was now. I wouldn’t waste another second with her.
“I told myself a long time ago I would never kneel before anyone again.” My body dipped as I lowered one knee onto the pavement. “But for you, I’d do it every goddamned day for the rest of my life if it made you happy.”
A beautiful shade of pink crept over her cheeks as she watched me pull the ring from my leather vest. It wasn’t in a box. It wasn’t something commercialized or brand name like the reminders of her past. It was a handmade oxidized silver moonstone ring with a band wrapped in twigs and roses. The only jewelry that seemed fitting for my gypsy woman.
“Come home with me, Birdie,” I pleaded. “And stay because you want to. Stay with me for the rest of your life.”
Maybe it wasn’t the most romantic of proposals, but my head and my heart still roared when she nodded with glassy eyes. “Okay, Huck. Take us home. Claim us for real. And don’t ever fucking let me go again.”
My face was plastered to hers as I heard the celebratory chants of my brothers behind us. But it wasn’t long until Gypsy was at our side, anxious to begin the long-overdue conversation they needed to have. There could never be peace in our lives until Birdie was at peace with her past.
“Birdie.” Gypsy reached out to touch her, trembling with visible emotion. “Before you go, there’s something I need to say.”
Instinctively, I tucked Birdie against my side, prepared to weather whatever storm might come in the next few moments. But she surprised us both when she looked at her sister and shrugged.
“I get why you did it,” she said. “I’m not mad anymore.”
“You aren’t?” Gypsy looked skeptical and hopeful at the same time. All she’d ever wanted for her sister was a better life than they’d been given, and I respected her for that.
“No.” Birdie shook her head. “We’ve all had too many secrets. In trying to protect each other, we failed to do what was most important. We forgot that we’re all in this together, and our battles should be fought together. But at the end of the day, I can’t regret those choices because it led to the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
She looked up at me with misty eyes before Gypsy pulled her away for a hug. They held each other for a long time, both shaking with emotion, before they finally let go. Gypsy wiped her eyes and smiled. “I can’t believe how much you’ve grown up. It’s hard for me to imagine you as a fully capable adult because it’s always been my job to protect you. But that’s exactly what you are, Birdie. You’re going to make a great mother.”
Birdie’s fingers settled into mine, and her other hand came to rest on her belly. “I didn’t think I’d ever have the chance to be this baby’s mother, but now that I do, I won’t ever let anything screw that up. I’m leaving the past behind, Gypsy. I can’t think about the men that got away or the things left unfinished. The best thing we can both do is move forward. I’m ready to start my life.”
“You don’t have to worry about them anymore.” Gypsy’s eyes moved to me, a secret signal to her sister that I’d taken care of it. “They’ll never hurt anyone else, B.”
Birdie looked up at me and I squeezed her hand in reassurance. Her eyes flashed with understanding and then appreciation as she came to accept what she knew to be true.
“I feel like I don’t want you to go.” Gypsy half cried, half laughed before she glanced at me. “But I know you’re right where you were meant to be. Take care of her, Ace.”
“Nothing could stop me.” I leaned down and kissed the top of Birdie’s head.
“Please call me,” Gypsy pleaded as we walked toward the truck. “Check in with me often, or I’ll worry. We can meet for lunch and go baby shopping once things have settled down. Lucian and I will come visit too.”
“Okay,” Birdie agreed.
Already, I was nervous about letting Birdie out of my sight as they made future plans, but it was something we’d have to work on. We had yet to establish the kind of trust where she would come and go freely. Things would be different this time but not too different. I needed to know she was always safe, and I think she understood that when she squeezed my hand in reassurance.
“That sounds good. Maybe Lucian and Ace can chauffeur us around.”
Gypsy offered an approving smile and hugged her sister one last time. “Okay. Be safe. I’ll see you soon.”
“See you soon,” Birdie echoed.
I helped Birdie up into the passenger seat of the truck and buckled her in, pausing to stroke my palm over the rounded curve of her belly one more time. It would take me a while to get used to seeing her this way. I would need to figure out how to handle her in this fragile state. She must have recognized the concern in my eyes because she trailed her fingers over the worry line
s and smoothed them away.
“It’s going to be okay, Huck.”
I nodded and kissed her one last time, which wasn’t nearly enough. We had a long drive back to the compound, and a full escort of bikes who’d be making the trip with us. I was grateful and annoyed at the same time because I couldn’t just pull over on the side of the road. I didn’t need an audience when I finally got inside her again.
My lips grazed along her jaw, and she shivered, an indication she was thinking about it too. “Take me home,” she pleaded. “We need to talk.”
HUCK’S BAND OF BEARDED BRETHREN escorted us all the way back to his house. When I got out of the truck, they each made a point to welcome me home and tell me if there was ever anything I needed, they were just a phone call or short walk away.
Something had shifted in my absence. This was the same group of guys who had watched me wearily when I first entered Ace’s life, but now, they all rallied around me like a bunch of scruffy older brothers. My heart was fuller than I ever thought it could be when Huck finally dragged me into the house and offered me everything short of a full buffet. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, but I could see he was nervous as he led me down the hall to his bedroom.
“I didn’t know if you’d want to change,” he said. “All your clothes were in Trouble’s car, so Gypsy helped me shop for some new ones. I got you a new phone too. I’ll try not to break this one.”
I looked at the phone on the nightstand and the closet full of brand-new clothes next to his, and liquid warmth spread through me. “You did all this?”
He nodded and dragged a hand through his beard before he sat on the bed. “You said you wanted to talk?”
His eyes moved over the ring on my finger as if he was looking for reassurance it was still there. I went to him, stepping between his thighs as my thumbs found the lines of his jaw and tilted his gaze up to mine. “I said we had to talk, but I didn’t mean with our mouths.”
A possessive growl rumbled from his chest as he pulled me onto his lap and wrapped a solid hand around my face, his lips crushing against mine. It was true we still had a lot to discuss, but right now, this was what we both needed. The reassurance that in this crazy, hellish world, we still had each other. We still had the fire that shined brighter than any other.
I tore at his clothes, fumbling with his belt buckle and unzipping his jeans.
“Birdie,” he mumbled in protest against my lips, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. Whatever he had to say could wait.
“Birdie,” he called out again as I frantically tried to remove his vest. When I didn’t listen this time, he wrapped his hands around mine, forcing me to stop and look at him. I felt a tremor move through me, and soon, it split me wide open and turned into full body sobs as I shook my head violently.
“No,” I cried out. “I need you. I need you right fucking now.”
Truthfully, I was terrified I was still going to lose him. It wasn’t a fear that would ever go away, but as long as we were under the spell of this magic between us, it couldn’t happen. Fear didn’t exist in that space. There was no room for worst-case scenarios when he was inside me. Because he was my addiction, and I was his. And right now, I just wanted to get high.
“Please, Huck.” I burrowed my face into his neck as he wrapped his arms around me and tried to soothe me.
“It’s okay, angel,” he whispered. “I’ve got you.”
“Then make me yours like you promised.” My fingers curled into the leather of his vest. “Give me what I need.”
“I will,” he rasped. “I want to. I just… I don’t know how to do this with the baby. I’m fucking terrified of hurting you.”
The agony in his voice ripped my attention away from my own selfish desires as I looked up and noticed the fear in his eyes. I touched his face, and his hands fell to my waist as I rocked my body against him. “Just like this. You won’t hurt us, I promise.”
His body was still full of tension when he kissed me, but eventually, he gave in. He tugged my dress over my head and slid my panties down around my ankles so I could kick them off. I stood before him, completely bare as his eyes cut over me with a renewed sense of awe and appreciation that I so desperately craved.
“You are my fucking goddess,” he murmured. “How can this even be real?”
I knew exactly what he meant as I watched him strip off his own clothes, revealing the body of a warrior and my savior. He took my hand in his and led me around the bed. When he sat down first, his erection saluted me from between his thighs. He was so painfully engorged, I wondered if he had pleasured himself at all in my absence.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” he murmured as he helped me settle onto his lap, sliding against the hard flesh. His hands came around my waist and then up to cup my breasts, which had grown since he’d seen them last. I was overly sensitive and cried out when he touched me. He froze, unsure of himself when he looked up at me.
“Keep going,” I begged. “Touch me everywhere. Don’t stop.”
His left hand slid down between my thighs, and he began to thumb my clit as I arched forward, and he sucked my nipple into his mouth. It was divine torture, and already, I was quaking, ready to shatter. It had been too long, and I wanted it to last forever. But Huck had learned how to play my body like a well-tuned instrument. He tortured me with his tongue and his teeth, nipping and sucking and licking at me while he brought me to the highest peak of pleasure I could reach.
The rush of blood through my ears when I came was deafening, and I couldn’t see through the haze as I collapsed against his chest. But it wasn’t enough. Even in the aftermath, I was still wiggling against him, desperate to get him inside.
“Please, Huck. I need you.”
His eyes filled with liquid heat as he reached down between us and fisted his cock, holding it upright for me.
“Get on,” he said gruffly. “Now, Birdie.”
I rested my palms on his chest and lifted my hips, positioning myself until I felt the head of his cock pushing against me. I was soaked, and it didn’t take much effort to slide over him and greedily accept him into my body. I wasn’t satisfied until I took him all the way to the root, my ass resting against his hips.
“Fuckkkk,” he hissed, fighting to keep his eyes open. “This is going to be quick the first time. I just need to fill you up.”
A smile curved my lips as I started to rock against him, pivoting my hips and adjusting to the sounds of his tortured groans. He wasn’t lying. Already, I could feel his body shaking beneath me. His muscles were rigid, his fingers digging into the cheeks of my ass as I rode him. I studied him like a fiend, noting every hitch in his breath and every vein protruding from his neck and arms. Lower yet, his legs moved restlessly as I fucked him into the bed, completely unashamed of my hedonistic desires.
“Fuck yes,” he growled, thrusting up into me from below. He pinned me against his body as his cock pulsed and jerked inside me, filling me full of his come. And just as he’d promised, he didn’t let me go. We stayed there like that, kissing and touching until he was hard inside me again. And then we made love until the sun came up the next day.
“SHE’S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I’ve ever seen,” Gypsy gushed over my daughter as she rocked her in her arms. “Other than my baby, of course. I mean they are both equally beautiful. God, I’m not even making sense right now.”
“And you didn’t just go through thirty hours of labor,” Birdie murmured sleepily from her hospital bed.
I sat at her bedside, watching my wife as she slipped in and out of sleep. Thirty hours of labor was an understatement. It was more like thirty hours of straight hell. I still hadn’t recovered and still couldn’t relax. I didn’t even want to blink, for fear of missing a heartbeat or a stuttered breath.
“Huck.” Birdie wiggled her hand from my grip and shook it out. “You’re squeezing the life out of me.”
“Sorry,” I grunted. The tension in my body only escalated at the loss of our connection,
and it must have been evident.
“What’s going on with you?” she asked.
I didn’t want to tell her that my fears had wrapped their sticky hands around my heart again. It was a lot to take in, and I was supposed to be the solid, steady hand for Birdie. But I was failing miserably.
“You promised no more secrets between us,” she reminded me.
“I know.” I hung my head. “I just didn’t want to freak you out.”
“Are you kidding me?” She laughed. “I’m already freaked out, Huck. We’re parents now. Do you even realize how terrifying that is for me?”
“Really?” I released a breath.
“Yes.” She nodded. “We could totally fuck this up.”
“I know,” I grunted. “I feel like we’re bound to fuck this up.”
“You aren’t going to fuck this up,” Gypsy butted in. “It’s totally normal to feel that way.”
“She’s right.” Birdie glanced over at Ariane. “We aren’t our parents. So we already have that going for us. I think you’re going to be an amazing father, Huck.”
“I can’t do this without you,” I told her.
“You don’t have to.” She looked at me in question. “I’m right here. I’ll be right here for the whole wild ride.”
I nodded, but it didn’t calm the raging tide of emotions in my chest. “I thought I was going to lose you,” I admitted.
Birdie’s eyes softened, and she reached over and took my hand. “What happened with your mom isn’t your fault. We made it through the labor. And we’ll make it through the rest, one minute at a time.”
I leaned over and kissed her just because I could. Every once in a while, pieces of our past would weave their way into the present, trying to ruin what we had. If either of us ever forgot what we were fighting for, the other was quick to remind.