Every Wound We Mend

by J. E. Parker

  Hendrix was bad enough. Throw in Tuck, then Ty, and I’d be eaten out of house and home before I had a chance to padlock the fridge and pantry.

  And don’t even get me started on Lucca and Maddox. They were just kids, but they sure didn’t eat like it.

  Hell, Gracie either.

  They were all bottomless pits.

  “That is bullshit if I ever heard it,” Tuck interjected, jumping back into the conversation. “I’m offended.” Sure he was. “You know I need food, else I get grumpy on account of being hungry.”

  Crossing my arms, I glared at him. “You must constantly be starving then since you’re always an ass.”

  Evan, who’d been silent until that moment, laughed, earning a middle-fingered salute from Tuck, who sneered in the former’s direction before focusing his attention back on me. “You’re one to talk, Captain Dickhead.”

  He had a point there.

  With a roll of his eyes, he stood, taking his and Carissa’s nearly empty plates in his hands and heading toward the sink.

  “Where’d Carmen go?” he asked, answering the question that my mind, even though it had been momentarily distracted, had been silently asking since I moved into the kitchen.

  Jade speared a piece of heavily peppered scrambled egg with her fork, then answered, “She took a plate of food out to where Shelby, Faye, Amelia, Felix, and half the kids are eating out on the deck. She’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Good,” Tuck scraped and rinsed his dish, then Carissa’s. “Because somebody needs to come put Cap in his place before—”

  My ears grew deaf, the words he was still busy speaking becoming mute when the backdoor swung open and the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on stepped into the house, her cheeks pink with activity and her eyes alight with happiness.

  Gaze instantly finding mine, she dipped her chin the slightest bit, tucking a strand of errant hair behind her ear before smiling in my direction. “Guapo,” she started, almost breathless. “I was wondering when you’d—”

  I’d crossed the kitchen and had her in my arms before she could finish whatever she was about to say. Unable to tolerate not having her scent invading my lungs and the taste of her lips lingering on mine a second longer, I slid my left hand into her hair and inhaled, dragging her essence deep inside me.

  The woman made me crazy.

  I fisted her locks tight and bent her back over my right arm, loving the way her soft palms cupped my stubble-covered face and her chest deflated as oxygen fled her lungs, leaving her starving for air.

  And hopefully, for me.

  “You left me this morning,” I grumbled, lips hovering a hairbreadth from her plump ones. “And I didn’t like waking up without your softness curled into my side or your hair blanketing my shoulder.” Her eyes slid closed. “Don’t do that shit again, baby.”

  She swallowed, the bob of her throat tantalizing. “I won’t,” she whispered in reply, gliding her hands over my jaw and down the sides of my tense neck. “Prometo.”

  Satisfied with the promise she’d just made, I nipped her bottom lip, unable to hold back from tasting what had been mine since the moment we’d first met. “Better not.” My nose brushed against hers as her eyelids fluttered open. “Or else I’ll tie you to the mattress.”

  I half expected her to roll her eyes, maybe even haul off and verbally smack me with a dose of her infamous attitude, but she did neither. On the contrary, she dug her fingers into my skin, holding me tighter. “I wish.”

  My brain didn’t have time to register the words she’d spoken—if it had, I may have short circuited—but my gut sure as hell felt them as they delivered a one-two punch to my lower stomach.

  Left reeling, I nearly hoisted her over my shoulder and carried her little ass back upstairs. But then she decided to take matters into her own hands and take my mouth with hers in a mind-bending kiss that was both steeped in love and doused with passion.

  And in it, in her, I was lost.

  Preoccupied with the way her tongue rolled over mine, along with her sweet taste and gentle but desperate touch, I forgot all about where we were, as well as the witnesses that surrounded us, their gawking stares glimpsing just one of the many beautiful memories we’d create.

  At least, until Gracie, our resident ball buster, happened. You know, per usual. Then, as fast as lightning, I remembered.

  “Mama!” I heard her holler from the open back door, which Carmen hadn’t had a chance to close thanks to me, allowing the sound of the other kids’ laughter, baby Brielle’s included, to float into the house from the deck. “Pop-Pop and CeCe are bein’ all disgustin’ again!” She gagged, calling on the dramatics her mother and uncle had gifted her. “I think I’m gonna be sick!”

  Ripping my lips from Carmen’s, I shook my head as the little tyrant stormed back out the door, no doubt ready to fill all of her cousins, along with the adults, in on what she’d just witnessed a second time.

  “Mark my words,” I mumbled over the sound of the slamming door. “Between her and Shelby—”

  “They are going to kill you,” my Pixie finished for me, removing herself from my hold and standing tall once more. “Si, I know.”

  Head tilted to the side, she smiled at me as she straightened the simple white sundress she wore. It was one of her favorites, and swear to Christ, no matter how hard I tried to inhale, I couldn’t. The effect she had on me was consuming and life-altering.

  Not to mention heart and soul mending.

  Chest nearly cracking with an array of emotions, most of which I couldn’t decipher from one to the next, I raised my hand and traced a scarred knuckle down the side of her face.

  “You’re wrong, Pixie.” My throat bobbed as a lump formed center mass, almost stealing my ability to speak. “It’s you that has the ability to be my end, baby.” I forced myself to swallow down the anxiety climbing and tightening my esophagus, clamping down on it like a steel vice. “If I ever lose you again…”

  It will kill me, I mentally finished.

  Stepping forward until her chest brushed against my stomach, my beautiful woman tilted her head back, holding my stare.

  “You won’t,” she assured me, wrapping her arms around the back of my neck. “As you always like to say, not ever again.”

  Pushing to her tiptoes, her lips touched my chin. “Now...” She smiled sweetly, comforting me in a way I can’t explain. “You hungry, Guapo? Because if so, I made you breakfast.”

  I opened my mouth to speak, to ask her if she was talking about the same breakfast she gave our pain-in-the-ass son, but she didn’t give me a chance.

  “As soon as everyone started showing up, I wrapped you up a plate and stuck it in the microwave so someone”—she cut her teasing eyes to Ty—“wouldn’t inhale everything before you had the chance to take a bite.”

  Just when I thought I couldn’t love her more, she proved me wrong.

  Repeatedly.

  Giving me her back, she moved across the room as Ty grumbled about being a growing boy, his favorite excuse for being a human garbage disposal, and opened the microwave, pulling a covered ceramic dish from the inside.

  After unwrapping it, she turned and placed it at the head of the table before grabbing a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice and refilling Ashley and Jade’s glasses.

  “Sit,” she said to me, her tone leaving no room for argument. “Neither of us has a lot of time before we have to help get the kids to school, then leave for work, but I’m not letting you step a foot outside this house without eating first.”

  My back stiffened.

  With only a handful of softly spoken, but firm, words, that damn chest tightening that always plagued me when she was near, returned.

  The Crazy Old Biddy had done her best to take care of me over the years, even when I was a piece of shit who hadn’t deserved an ounce of kindness. But having Carmen cook me breakfast, then demand I eat simply because she cared?

  It was yet another gut punch.


  My kids loved me, my grandkids too.

  There was no doubt in my mind about that.

  But the truth was, nobody loved me with the same unyielding fierceness that my Pixie did. Just as no one would ever love her with the same undying fervor as me.

  Taking a seat where she’d placed my food, I wrapped an arm around her lower back and pulled her down onto my lap. “It’s your turn to sit,” I said, glancing around the still crowded room, along with all the food she’d cooked.

  How she’d pulled off such a feat in such a short amount of time, I didn’t know. “You’ve done enough, especially considering you have to be at work soon.”

  She sighed and leaned her head against my shoulder, taking a momentary breather from Mom and CeCe duty, which she’d quickly come to treasure.

  “Si, I know. Which, speaking of, is it okay if I come to the station for a few minutes after I get off this afternoon? I know I sound ridiculous, but I don’t want to go until tomorrow without—”

  Needing her eyes on me as I spoke, I forced her to sit straight and look at me. “You can come to the station anytime you want,” I told her, speaking a truth she should’ve already known. “Doesn’t matter what time of day it is. If I’m on shift and you want to visit me, you show up. Understand?”

  She dipped her chin in affirmation.

  When she didn’t speak further, I kept yapping, determined to drive my point home. “I mean it, Carmen. You want or need me, baby, you find me. And if you can’t find me because I’m out on a call, then you pick up the phone and hunt me down by calling Hendrix, Tuck, Ty, the station’s direct number, or hell, even county dispatch.”

  Her lips twitched. “You really do love me.”

  Her statement wasn’t a question.

  Still, I answered as I picked up a piece of crisp bacon from my plate and ripped it in quarters before slipping a piece between her lips.

  “You’re damn right I do. Now eat,” I said, partially parroting back her earlier words. “Or else your pretty little ass isn’t leaving the house.”

  “Aww,” Jade said, diving headfirst into the intimate conversation I’d once again forgotten we had an audience for. “Look at Dad being all sweet in a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal sort of way. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like it!”

  Beside her, Ashley Jo giggled, elbowing her softly in the side. “I like it too, and you know what? Since Mama C’s heart is well on the way to being fixed, I think it’s time we find you your own prince charming.”

  Jade’s face instantly fell, and Carmen stiffened. Stomach dropping, I watched, waiting for the inevitable anxiety attack to come.

  Little One had come a long way, a blind man could’ve seen that, but I didn’t know if she was ready to look in a man’s direction, much less start dating.

  To my surprise, though, she didn’t panic.

  She did, however, scowl so hard I briefly worried her gorgeous face was going to get stuck that way. “I don’t think so, Ash. I don’t want a prince charming.” She was clearly horrified at the thought, much to my temporary amusement. “Especially not since he’s considered the good guy in romance.” She waved her hand in the air. “You know, the hero.”

  Ashley Jo looked as confused as I suddenly felt.

  “Trust me, if I’m going to fall in love with somebody one day, permanently chaining my heart to theirs, then it’ll be the dang villain, not the mushy knight in shining armor.”

  Wait a minute.

  “Excuse me?” Hendrix, who’d just walked into the kitchen, asked, beating me to the punch. “What do you mean”—dropping his now empty plate onto the countertop with a clank, he formed air quotes—“the villain?”

  Across the table, Hope ducked her head, fighting back a smile as Heidi snickered, her eyes unabashedly bouncing between Jade and me.

  “Oh Lord, here we go,” the former murmured, her petite shoulders shaking from suppressed laughter. “Cue Pop and the Behemoth’s mutual stroke in 3, 2…”

  Tossing down her napkin onto her empty plate, Jade stood and squared her shoulders, ready to take her big brother head-on.

  “Listen…” Face flushing, her hands went to her hips. “I read this meme online last week, and it really hit home with me.”

  Tuck’s jaw ticked.

  Should’ve known he’d get in on this.

  “What did the meme say?” he asked.

  Face red with restrained laughter, Carissa buried her head in her hands as Jade defiantly lifted her chin in the air, not the least bit affected by the rising cloud of testosterone filling the room.

  “It said that the difference between a hero and a villain is that the hero will sacrifice their heroine to save the world, but the villain, well, that bad boy will douse the world in gasoline and set it aflame without a second thought in order to save his woman.”

  Carmen’s chin dropped.

  And my blood pressure? It skyrocketed.

  Did my impending heart attack stop Jade?

  Hell no.

  “Most girls want the honorable hero,” she continued, flicking her hair back over her shoulder. “Which, if I’d lived another life, I probably would too.”

  She paused long enough to pick up her messenger bag, the one that held all her school stuff, from the back of the kitchen chair and secure it over her shoulder.

  “But after everything I’ve been through, I only want a man who is willing to strike a match in order to keep me safe. Therefore, I’ll take the big baddy.” She cleared her throat. “If he happens to be tall, dark, handsome, and covered in colorful tattoos, all the better.”

  Hendrix exploded without warning.

  Same as Tuck and Evan. Ty, though, he was surprisingly quiet. The human garbage disposal was probably still distracted by the bacon.

  Raised voices quickly filled the room, bouncing off the walls, but I can’t tell you who was hollering what since the sound of my chaotic pulse was busy filling my ears, drowning out their words.

  Shaking my head, I focused on taking deep breaths in an attempt to stop my heart from exploding. Convinced it wasn’t working, and that I was two-seconds away from falling over dead, I lifted an abnormally silent Carmen off my lap before standing.

  “Oh hell no,” I mumbled, temples throbbing as the nightmare Jade had just laid out came to life in the forefront of my mind. Christ almighty, she’d been home less than a week and was already trying to give me a stroke. “A villain? That is not happening. I will be absolutely damned.”

  Turning on my heel, I walked over to the kitchen sink on instinct, leaving my Pixie behind, and raised the window above it with numb, shaking hands.

  “Grandmama!” I hollered, spotting the Crazy Old Biddy through her own open window right away. “Get over here!”

  With a yelp and a southern curse I couldn’t quite understand, she spun to face me, dropping her cell phone in the process. Hand clutching her chest, she heaved for breath.

  I’d clearly surprised the old bird.

  “You scared the dickens outta me, you doggone howler monkey!”

  That was a new one.

  She’d never called me a primate before. I supposed she was making good use of her new National Geographic subscription.

  “You almost caused me to stroke out right on my newly-mopped kitchen floor!”

  Great, now my ass most likely had an appointment with her swatter coming thanks to such an infraction. Right then, though, I couldn’t have cared less.

  “What in the good Lord’s name is all the hollering about—”

  “Bring me your pistol!” Lips pursing, her faded green eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at my hastily shouted demand. “’Cause I’ve got a big baddy”—did I really just say that?—“to find and murder before the bastard has the chance to corrupt my daughter!”

  Grandmama needed no other explanation.

  The chance to shoot someone was motivation enough.

  Grabbing her oversized purse, the same one that housed her trusty revolver, along with
God only knows how much ammo, obscene-colored lipstick, and Aqua Net hairspray, she gently patted the hot-pink tote like one would a baby.

  “Don’t you worry none, Superman, we’ll handle it. I just picked up two boxes of hollow points, so might as well put ‘em to good use!”

  Without another word, and with a giant grin plastered on her face, she took off, hoofing it through her house and toward the front door so fast that I did a double take, checking to make sure her ass wasn’t on fire.

  Thankfully, it wasn’t.

  A bit relieved over having reinforcements on the way, I turned and met Jade’s narrowed gaze, not missing the challenge that danced in her eyes, silently daring me to pick up the gauntlet she’d just thrown down.

  Call it instinct or maybe some sort of all-knowing dad gene, but right then I knew the battle my beautiful little redhead was ready to wage had the potential to turn into an all-out war if I didn’t find a way to stop it.

  In the end, I was right.

  25

  Carmen

  I would never be free of fear.

  The mental realization hit me like a ton of bricks as I stood next to Guapo in front of the shelter’s open gate, my stomach filled with dread and worry, the toxic mixture close to making me vomit all over the sidewalk.

  Feeling sweat break out along my brow, I slipped my trembling hand into James’ strong one and moved closer to him, needing his formidable presence to calm the anxiety roiling inside me.

  “You’re safe,” he whispered calmly, noting my rising alarm as his calloused thumb caressed the clammy skin covering my clenched, white knuckles. “Beautiful, I swear that nobody is going to hurt you. Never again. Like I’ve told you before, as long as I have a single breath left in my body—”

  “No harm will come to me,” I finished for him, my tone dripping with panic, which no matter how badly I tried, I couldn’t conceal. “I know that, si, it’s just that...”

  Fighting to swallow down the unease snaking its way high into my throat, I sealed my dry lips and darted my eyes up and down the familiar streets of Toluca.