Fall for You: Boys of Alabama

by Mica Halstead

  “You bitch!” He roars, blood running down his face as he steps towards me and all those self-defense lessons come back to me. Lungs burning, I draw my hand back and punch him in the mouth, splitting his lip open. He stumbles and I take my out, grabbing him by the shoulders and bringing my knee up to his dick, effectively dropping him. I turn to run, and he grabs my ankle, dragging me down to the floor with him.

  “Shouldn’t have done that, Lex,” he shakes his head as he spits blood out, dragging me towards him. I lash out, kicking him in the face and scramble up, pushing out of the pantry and into the kitchen. I just needed to get to my purse where I stashed my gun before we left. I hear the click of the safety on his gun and I freeze.

  I turn around and he’s pointing it right at me. I raise my hands, placating him.

  “Let's talk about this,” I beg, my throat raw from him choking me, my words coming out hoarse. I’m in the foyer, mere steps from the picture window and he’s in the threshold of the kitchen, the gun pointed straight at my head. He’s going to kill me.

  “I tried talking, Mrs. Crenshaw. I told you how this was going to go. Fuck, I should have just let you go. You’re not worth the fucking trouble I’ve gone through to get you back here with me.” He shakes his head and I close my eyes. This is it. A gunshot rings out and I scream, the window behind me shattering into a million pieces. I hit the ground, thinking it’s me who's been shot but Jase is still standing there with the gun in his hand.

  “What the fuck?” He roars, closing the distance and snatching me up off the ground, spinning me so my back is to his front, he presses the cold metal to my temple. “Move and I’ll blow your fucking brains out,” he whispers harshly in my ear.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Ford's voice comes from outside the now shattered window and my body sways in relief. He comes into view with a gun pointed directly at Jase’s head.

  “Hey, baby,” he says, not taking his eyes off of Jase. I let out a choked sob, Jase’s arm still wrapped around my neck holding me flush against him.

  “Move an inch and I’ll fucking shoot her,” Jase says, “I’ll scatter her brains all over this fucking foyer and then I’ll shoot you.” Ford laughs.

  “Lex, did I ever tell you that I used to go hunting with my daddy?” He asks, like now’s the time to be making conversation when my husband is just waiting for a reason to kill us both.

  I shake my head in response. “N-n-no, you didn’t,” I whisper, taking in every feature of his beautiful face that I can. “You need to l-leave Ford. Please.” I can’t let him get hurt. Those babies need him and I need him and god he’s so fucking beautiful it hurts.

  He grins, cutting his eyes to me, then back to Jason. The gun still trained on him.

  “Oh yeah,” he goes on. “Every chance he had he took me hunting. Taught me everything I know about shooting. He was in the Special Forces, too. Just like Zander. Did you know Z’s a sniper?” He asks, lifting his chin and motioning backwards with his head. “He’s out there, somewhere. Has his rifle trained right on your head, Crenshaw. So even if you did shoot my girl here, you’d be next. Zander won’t miss. And neither will I.” He finishes by taking a small step forward and Jase tenses, pressing the gun harder into my temple. Tears are running down my face.

  “Alexandra Renee Carter, you’re everything I never knew I wanted. You came into my life and turned it upside down in the best way,” he says, cutting his eyes to me and then back to Jason.

  He goes on, “and I just need you to know, if any of this goes south, that I want you to do good and have good things in life, even if I can’t be there to share those things with you. Just know that I love you. So much. More than I ever thought I could,” he finishes, and I can’t say anything but sob and nod.

  Jase swings the gun from me to Ford and I let out a scream. “No, no. Shoot me Jase. Not him. Me!” I plead with him. “Please, don’t hurt him.” I sob out, turning around and clutching his shirt and banging on his chest. I reach up and grab his face. “Me, Jase. Shoot me.” He doesn’t take his eyes off of Ford.

  “Precious,” Jase sneers, “too bad you’re both about to be dead.” He points his gun at Ford and pulls the trigger. Two shots ring out and I scream, dropping to the floor at the same time Jase does. There’s a bullet right between his eyes, I scramble up and turn towards Ford but he’s on the ground too. I climb through the shattered window and reach him on the porch. There’s so much blood. Too much of it. Dropping down on my knees I press my hands to the open wound on his stomach.

  “Don’t you dare die on me, Crawford Winston James,” I sob, “Help! Help!” I scream, tearing my tank top off and pressing it to the hole. “Stay with me baby,” I can hear sirens in the distance. “Stay with me god damnitt,” I cry, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his mouth. His eyes flutter open. Reaching out and grazing my cheek with his hand he gives me a small smile.

  “I love you,” he whispers, right before he passes out.

  Lex

  Curled up in a ball in the corner of the bench in the ER waiting room is where I’ve been for the last three hours. They rushed Ford here in an ambulance, but they wouldn’t let me ride with him, saying he was too critical. Zander drove us separately after he hit the porch the same time the paramedics did. He made the shot that killed Jase but not before Jase shot Ford. He coded two times in the ambulance on the way here, is what the ER doctor said when he came out to tell us they were taking him back for emergency surgery and they weren’t sure he’d make it because he had already lost a lot of blood.

  Zander excused himself to call their mom and he’s been back by my side ever since. He’s sitting next to me with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. A commotion comes from the entrance and Nina comes barreling through the entryway with Steve behind her. You can tell she’s been crying. Zander stands and meets her halfway, tugging her into his arms, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and shaking Steve's hand. She pulls out of Zanders arms and makes her way to me.

  Standing up on shaky legs I start to apologize, and she grabs my shoulders and gives me a shake.

  “Now, sugar, I won’t hear anything about that. This right here is NOT your fault, do you understand me?” She says, taking my face in her hands and bringing me down so we are eye to eye.

  “That young man in there loves you and he wouldn’t want you out here taking the blame for this. It is not your fault that your ex was a no-good-piece-of-shit that wanted to kill you,” Zander snorts and Nina turns a glare on him, “zip it,” she says and Zander makes a zipping motion across his lips and throws his hands up in surrender.

  “James family?” A man in a white coat calls and we all say “here” in unison. He approaches us and introduces himself as Dr. Lennon. He clears his throat. “We were able to remove the bullet but Crawford has lost a lot of blood. We had to put him in a medically induced coma and quite honestly, it will be touch and go for a while. You’re welcome to come back and see him but, please, make it brief.” He gestures for us to follow him and we do. After winding through some brightly lit hallways, we approach room 2032. He’s intubated and hooked up to all these machines. There’s a nurse typing away in the corner of the room and she gives us all a polite smile before going back to her task. Nina pulls up a chair beside him and takes his hand, she’s whispering and pressing kisses to his palm. Zander and Steve are talking in hushed tones on the other side of the room.

  And me, I’m standing there with my heart broken because this larger than life man looks so different than the man I’ve come to love. I’m so angry at Jason for trying to destroy the life that I’ve built and the bonds that I’ve formed. I approach Ford’s hospital bed and run my fingers over his eyebrow and down his cheek, a tear slipping from my eye that I swipe away. I cover his hand with mine and drop down in the chair next to him. Before I know it, I’m sobbing. Sobbing for what happened with Jase. Sobbing for the way everything went down just hours ago. But mostly, I’m sobbing for the role I played to get us here, to thi
s moment.

  Zane and Aria have lost one parent already. It’s not fair that Ford is here, hooked up to all these machines, no one knowing if he’s going to make it through this. I can’t believe I was so selfish to think that it wouldn’t end this way. To think that I could just disappear and Jason would never come looking for me.

  I don’t deserve this man and this family. But damnitt, do I want to. I’m still weeping when I feel myself being pulled away and Zander is dragging me into his arms and taking my place in the chair. He tugs me into his lap, and I wrap myself up into a ball and I cry.

  ◆◆◆

  2 Weeks Later

  It’s been a long couple of weeks. Between trying to continue teaching and helping Nina take care of the kids, I’m exhausted. My days are spent in class and my nights are spent helping Aria and Zane with homework and bedtime routines. We are trying to keep them on some sort of semblance of normal, but it’s been hard. They’re worried about if and when Ford will wake up. The doctors are hopeful but realistic. His body is tired. We’ve had numerous tests run to check his brain function and they’ve all come back good. The doctors really think it’s just a matter of time before he wakes up. We just aren’t sure how much, if any, he will remember about what happened.

  The doctors have stressed to us that he may not remember anything when he does wake up. The memory loss could range from just short term, the shooting and the things leading up to it. Or long term, any of his memories of Zoe and the kids. I could never forgive myself if he had no recollection of all of his years spent as a husband and father. I’m not sure if he would even be able to forgive me if that happened. Rounding the corner to the room where Crawford has been at, I hear a commotion. Nurses are rushing in and out, there’s a lot of activity and it’s all directed at his room. My heart drops to my stomach and I break into a sprint. I fling the curtain back and I gasp.

  “Baby,” I sob out, my hands flying over my mouth. Ford is sitting halfway up in bed, swatting at a nurse who keeps trying to take his blood pressure.

  “Fuck,” he rasps, throat dry from having a tube down it. He swats her hand again, “damnitt devil woman, knock that shit off.” He’s got his eyes on me and he reaches his hand out, motioning for me to come to him. I timidly make my way over to the bed, another sob breaking free. He wastes no time pulling me into the bed with him. I can’t believe he’s awake. I run my fingers over his face and down his shoulders, pressing my lips to his.

  “I can’t believe you’re awake,” I whisper as he runs his fingers through my hair. He finally allows the nurse to take his blood pressure and the doctor goes about evaluating him to see what he remembers, if he knows how he got here, and how he’s feeling. He answers his questions without ever letting go of me.

  Once the doctor is finished and the nurses start leaving Ford turns his attention on me.

  “I was so scared that you’d die,” my voice cracks as he holds me. I shove my face in his neck and let the sobs wrack my body.

  “Shhh,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to my head. “It’s fine. I’m fine,” he reassures me.

  “But you might not have been. I almost took away the only parent Aria and Zane have left. I was so fucking selfish thinking Jason wouldn’t find me.”

  “Come here,” he says, pulling me onto his lap and holding my face so that we’re eye to eye. “Now, I need you to listen to me. None of this was your fault. NONE of it. You could never have known that it would come to that. There’s no use exploring the what-if. I did that when I lost Zoe and it damn near destroyed me. There will be no what-if’s and why me’s. We are moving on. Right now, all four of us. I am stupidly, ridiculously, and unequivocally in love with you and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life loving you.”

  I shake my head, tears running down my face, still trying to figure out what I did to deserve this incredible man. “I swear to god Crawford James if you propose to me while I’m straddling you in your hospital bed, I will never fucking forgive you.” I say, narrowing my eyes at him. He shoots me that lopsided grin and my heart melts all over again. I love this man so much.

  Epilogue

  3 years later

  “Good morning, Mrs. James,” I open my eyes to see Ford standing next to the bed, looking delicious in a pair of gray sweatpants and nothing else. He’s holding a tray with food and what looks to be mimosas on it.

  “Mmm,” I groan, stretching, “good morning, husband.” The warm, salty breeze blows through our island cabana. I sit up, bringing the sheet with me and wrapping it around my chest before knotting it. Ford sits the tray on the nightstand and snakes his hand through my hair, tugging me forward for a kiss. I happily oblige.

  “My wife,” he murmurs, and I grin against his lips. Wife. I know I’ll never get tired of hearing him call me that.

  We got married yesterday in our backyard in an intimate ceremony. Beautiful yellow and red Sunflowers lined the aisleway. No more than thirty people, all our closest friends and family. It was the perfect spring wedding. Aria was my maid of honor and Zane was the best man and it was more than I could have ever dreamed of. And then this man, my husband, swept me off my feet after a night of dancing, stuck me on a plane, and flew me here to the Bahamas. I had no clue we were going anywhere. I was content with just this man, surrounded by our kids and family, saying I do.

  But he insisted that we needed a honeymoon with just the two of us. Time to celebrate just us as a couple, as husband and wife. The last three years have been a whirlwind of teaching and coaching and enjoying all of our moments together as a family.

  “Now, Mrs. James, I had room service bring us breakfast and drinks,” he says, tugging the stand with the tray of food towards us and lifting the lid off of the plate. There’s scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, and French toast. He hands me a plate and a fork, grabbing his own as we settle in to eat. He’s eyeballing me while we eat, and I quirk a brow.

  “What?” I ask around a mouthful of food. He clears his throat.

  “I had them bring us mimosas,” he begins and then stops.

  “Ohhhkay….” I say, waiting for him to go on. He raises his eyebrows at me.

  “So, you’re going to make me ask?” He starts, putting his plate back down and snagging both glasses. “Okay. Well, one of these has champagne in it and one of these is just plain orange juice….” he trails off.

  Fuck. He grins and shakes his head.

  “Baby. I saw you dumping your champagne in our Azalea’s last night. You know you’re not sneaky.” He laughs, that rat bastard.

  “You son of a bitch! I was trying to be so discreet!” I should have known I wouldn’t be able to hide it for long. I sigh. He hands me the virgin mimosa and I sip it, glaring at him.

  “I want the good stuff.” I huff out, instantly annoyed that I’m fucking pregnant, but not annoyed at the same time.

  “And I want to know when my wife was going to tell me that she was pregnant?” He asks, sitting his cup down on the nightstand and plucking mine out of my hand to do the same. He tugs me onto his lap.

  “Well I planned on telling you last night when we were alone but then you decided to drag me off to some island,” I say, acting like I’m super put out. He scoffs, running his hands up my thighs before settling them on my stomach.

  “How far along are you?”

  “Twelve weeks. But I swear I just found out two days ago,” I go on. “I didn’t want to tell you before the wedding. I just wanted this weekend to be about all of us finally becoming a family.” I’m being honest. That’s all I wanted. I didn’t want any big to-do about me being knocked up, I just wanted the focus on us and the kids and the wedding. I really was going to tell him last night but then he was ushering me out of the yard after saying goodbye to the kids and we were here and I was just so tired. I’ve been so fucking tired, and I proceed to tell him that.

  “That’s normal,” he says, unknotting my sheet and letting it fall away, his eyes dropping to my chest before meeting mine again. “I’m not mad t
hat you didn’t tell me, honey. I’m fucking thrilled. I can’t believe we’re going to have a baby.” My eyes begin to well up with tears because these hormones are fucking ridiculous. He kisses me hard, falling back on the bed with me on top of him. “We’ll need to make an appointment.” He says, rolling so that I’m beside him and not on top of him.

  “Obviously,” I say, rolling my eyes. He runs his hand down my chest and between my breasts, pausing at my stomach as he makes his track down to my pussy. Sliding one finger through my folds, I’m instantly wet. Pregnancy hormones are weird, y’all.

  He fills me with two fingers and begins pumping them in and out of me. Leaning down, he scrapes his teeth across my nipple and the sensation of that and his fingers inside me has me begging him to fuck me. He pulls his fingers out quickly and I whimper at the loss, but he wastes no time dropping to his knees at the foot of the bed and dragging me towards him.

  “I need to taste your sweet pussy,” he says, dragging his tongue through my folds and flicking my clit with it. My head falls back on a moan and I arch up into him. He chuckles, sliding his hands under my ass and pressing the lower half of my body up to his face. I prop myself up on my elbows just in time to see him dive back in, licking and sucking until I’m a writhing mess. I can’t take my eyes off of his head between my legs, working my cunt. The contrast of his dark blonde hair between my pale thighs and the feeling of his tongue fucking me sends me over the edge and I cry out, screaming his name as my orgasm hits me. He doesn’t stop until I’ve come back down and then he’s prowling up the bed towards me and thrusting into me in one swoop as he climbs on top.