by Blair Grey
Erika was in the back of that vehicle, and I was going to be there with her every step of the way.
I had to go through the front entrance of the ER, and once there, I was told I had to wait. They were evaluating Erika, doing scans to make sure she didn’t have any broken bones or a concussion. A cop soon walked through the door to get more information from me, and I was better able to answer.
“What I’m wondering,” I said at the end of the interview, “is what I can do about my shop.”
“We’re going to have to go through the evidence and write up the report; we’ll let you know when you can board it up and what we can do for insurance,” he said. “I’m sorry about this.”
“It’s going to have to work,” I said with a sigh. “Bastard.”
“Well, he’s in custody now, and from what we’ve found so far, he’s going to need a damn good lawyer if he’s going to avoid getting life in prison,” the cop said.
“We’ve already got the best in the country,” I assured him, and he laughed and congratulated me. After he left, I was relieved when a nurse told me I could see Erika.
“She’s fine. We’ve cleaned her up, and she doesn’t have any major injuries, but she’s going to have to take it easy as much as possible today. Take her home, get her some rest, and make sure things stay quiet,” the doctor told me. I promised I would, but nothing felt better than wrapping her in my arms.
“I told you the bastard was going to do something. I told you!” she sobbed into my chest.
“It’s okay now. He’s locked up, and he’s going to stay locked up. I already spoke to the cop, and Kline’s going to be behind bars for a very long time,” I assured her.
“Is everyone alright?” she asked as she looked up at me. I knew that things had happened so fast for her, there was no way she knew about Carl. The trouble was, I wasn’t sure. The last I saw, he had been taken by the EMTs, and right now, no one was able to tell me anything.
But, I had to get her out of the hospital, and I knew the last thing she needed to hear was that someone might not be, so I smiled.
“We have all been taken here to be looked at, and they’re telling us what they know as they can. Right now, I’m going to take you home, and we’re going to put you on the couch and get you something nice to drink and relax, okay? I said.
She nodded, and put her arm around me as I half carried, half walked her out the door. I’d ridden my bike, but she insisted she felt well enough to hang onto the back while I drove.
“Are you sure? There’s no way I’m going to let you on this thing if you think you can’t,” I said.
“I can,” she said with a determined look on her face. “Trust me, I can.”
“Thanks, I’ll let you know what I’m going to do as soon as I get it figured out, but tonight, I’m just going to hang out and see what’s going on,” I said before I hung up. I was talking to Jonas, letting him know that I was going to figure something out with the shop.
They were going to need jobs, and I didn’t want to lose either one of them. But, I still had to get a new workspace figured out. However, tonight, I wanted to focus on Erika.
Most of the other members of the MC were calling and checking in on us, making sure we were both okay. But, it wasn’t until Zach showed up with food that I finally got to hear what I’d been waiting for.
“Dad’s going to be alright,” he said. “He got a concussion, but he’s a strong bastard, and he’s going to pull through. Hell, I’m sure he’s at the hospital harassing the nurses as we speak.”
“Oh thank God!” I said. There was a lump in my throat, and I almost gave in. I had been worried about Carl all afternoon and long into the evening, and it didn’t help that Erika kept asking about him. I’d smoothed over the question as much as I could, but I got the impression the more I avoided answering her, the more she suspected something was really wrong.
When she heard the news from Zach, however, she burst into tears, holding herself and rocking back and forth on the couch. “I was so sure he was dead. I was so scared!”
I put my arms around her, holding her close as she cried. But Zach, on the other hand, merely brushed it off with a wave of his hand. “If you hang out with us long enough, you’re going to find out nothing is going to kill that old bat. He’s going to be around until the day he wants to go.”
We laughed, partly from relief, partly from the joke. All I knew was that I felt better. It suddenly didn’t matter as much that I would need a new shop. I was with the woman I loved, and Carl was going to be okay.
We’d made it. As a family.
We would be okay.
24
Erika
I couldn’t describe the relief that ran through me when I found out Carl was okay. I’d had a bad feeling in the hospital when Adam wouldn’t give me a straight answer, and it only got worse through the day. I tried not to bring it up too much, since every time I did, he seemed agitated.
There was almost a sense of frustration to his answers, as though he was telling me he was working on finding out, when he really didn’t know himself and feared the worst. Soon, I decided to let it go. If Carl was gone, then I would hear the news.
But, I wanted to hear sooner, rather than later. I didn’t want to get through the ordeal and think everything was going to be okay, only to find out later that it wasn’t.
Then, hearing the words that the man was going to be fine, I thought I was going to faint. I had never been so relieved in my entire life, and I wanted nothing more than to go straight to the hospital and thank the man for all that he had done for me.
Hell, he could have been killed, and yet, he pulled through. It made me feel even better knowing Zach wasn’t angry. He didn’t hold it against me. In fact, he seemed to think that it was rather humorous that his father was in the ER giving the nurses a hard time.
Those two were people I’d never understand, but it was okay. I was okay, and Carl was okay. Though the tattoo parlor was far from okay, and I was sad about the loss of the building, it didn’t matter since we were all just fine.
Adam had talked to his lawyer friend, who assured me things were going to work out fine for me legally, as well. I didn’t have to worry about a thing. If I cooperated with the police and gave them all the information I knew about Kline, they would grant me immunity in the investigation.
While I wasn’t thrilled – and had a feeling the truth was going to come out to my father through the entire thing – at least now I had something good to tell him. He wasn’t going to be happy about any of this, but I knew he was going to be relieved that his little girl was okay.
And, I was damn okay.
Except, that is, for one thing.
Since Kline was locked up, there was no need for Zach or anyone else to spend the night with us anymore. So, after he gave us the news about his dad and dropped off the food, he went home, leaving me and Adam alone.
Normally, I would have been thrilled. Hell, the way Adam treated me throughout the day had made me feel like his queen. He doted on me, he took care of me, he didn’t want to let me out of his sight, even for a second. He even helped me through a bath before we went to bed.
I was glad for all the attention. There was that sixteen-year-old girl inside me that would have loved to know this was in her future. But, there was another part of me that wanted to scream and push him away.
It wasn’t that he was doing anything wrong. But, I didn’t like to be taken care of in that way. I’d just been through Hell, and I didn’t want him to think that I was so fragile that I couldn’t take care of myself. I was strong, and I was independent, even if he did bring out another side of me.
Even more than that, I was afraid. Perhaps even more afraid now than I had been before.
Kline was behind bars. That was the one thing that I had wanted the entire time I had been back in California. The only problem was, we had always assumed once the man was locked up, it would be time for me to go.
Life wou
ld go back to normal, and we would all move on. Hell, this would be one hell of a story that I would get to tell everyone, and now Adam was going to need a new tattoo shop, but those were the things that could be fixed when we got back to our real lives.
The problem was, I didn’t want to go. Nothing about me wanted to leave Adam. I didn’t want to leave Santa Rosa, and I didn’t want to move on with my life. To make matters worse, I didn’t know what Adam wanted. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to go, if he was relieved that this was all over so he could go back to normal.
Perhaps he was ready for me to pack my things so he could have his room back to himself, perhaps he was ready for all this to come to an end, and was more than happy to fix his tattoo shop because of it.
I wanted to ask him what he wanted, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. I didn’t know if that was something that I just blurted out to him or if it was something that he should bring up. Through the time that I’d spent with him, I’d learned he really wasn’t the kind of guy to initiate things.
So perhaps I should?
The night was rather strained, and by the time we went to bed, I didn’t have much to say. I was sure he thought I was just tired. He didn’t press me to talk about anything, and he didn’t pull me in to cuddle with him when we lay down.
Perhaps he really thought it was over. Perhaps he wanted it to be.
I lay in bed for a long time, staring up at the ceiling and trying to make sense of it all. I had to make a decision, and so did he. But it was a decision neither of us wanted to make, I was sure of that, and neither of us wanted to bring it up to the other in case we got an answer we didn’t like.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to find out if he still wanted me.
Slowly, I slid over to his side of the bed. He was asleep, but that didn’t stop me. We were both naked, and I started rubbing my hand over his dick. I was kissing his neck at the same time, trying to arouse him as I woke him.
I continued to press my body to his, kissing and massaging him, feeling his arousal grow as I did so. Finally, he was awake enough to start kissing me back. The passion quickly grew between us. I brushed my lips lightly over his mouth, slipping my tongue in and massaging his, teasing him with my hand.
I stroked him, getting him hard as I grew wetter by the second, and before long, he rolled over and was on top of me. He pressed his dick to the slit of my pussy, and then pushed his way all the way inside.
With a moan, I spread my legs further apart, taking him inside me as far as I could. He was thrusting now, pulling out and pushing in, fast and hard. His long dick touched every part of me, making me writhe on the bed beneath him.
I moaned loudly, I whispered his name, and I ran my hands down his back and grabbed his ass, pulling him into me. His hands all the while explored my body, touching me, grabbing my tits, as his mouth found the crook of my neck, his teeth nibbled at me.
He was moaning, letting me know how good I felt with each thrust that he made. We were both aroused, and we both knew that we needed each other. This wasn’t just fucking – we were making love to each other, and we both knew it. Neither of us had to say anything, we both knew what we were doing, and we were both doing it with a passion.
I was getting close to orgasm, but I could tell Adam was, too. I’d never cum with anyone in my life, and I wanted to make it happen for the first time with the love of my life. I held back, letting him get closer and closer until I knew he was just about to, and then I let myself go.
“Oh, Adam!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, letting out a loud gasp, as well. I squeezed him with my thighs, letting his cum fill me as my juices surrounded his cock. He moaned at the same time, holding himself inside me as far as he could go. He pressed into me, his eyes closed, the look of pleasure I loved on his face.
Then, it was over. He kissed me lightly before he rolled onto the bed, breathing deeply. We both had to catch our breath for a moment, and I couldn’t take it any longer. Our sex was too good, too powerful to be anything but magical. It had to mean something. It had to mean that we were together, and that we were meant to be together.
There was no way this was all just chance. I refused to believe it, and I wasn’t going to let him throw it all away, not unless that was what he wanted.
“So,” I said. “What now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we never really talked about what we were going to do when we were through with this,” I said. “What do you want?”
“You,” he said.
I froze. I had expected an answer, but not just that one simple word. I looked over at him, and he looked back at me. “I want you, Erika. I have for as long as we’ve known each other. It wasn’t the right time before, and I wasn’t sure it was the right time now, but I want you.”
I gasped. My chest rose and fell with my deep breaths, and I looked back at him. “Do you really mean it?”
He nodded. “I love you. Love you more than anything. When I thought I lost you, I thought that my entire world had come to an end. I know that I was a dick at first, and I didn’t give you what you wanted, but now I understand that before doesn’t matter. What matters is now.”
There was a pause as I let it all sink in. I never thought I’d hear those words come out of his mouth, and I thought my heart was going to pound right out of my chest. But he broke the silence. “What is it you want?”
“You,” I said, without a moment of hesitation. “You have always been my one and only. Even when I thought I could move on, or tried to, there was no way it could happen. I’ve loved you my entire life, and I always will. I don’t want any of this to go away, Adam. Any of it. I want to be with you, I want to live with you, and I want to be your other half. I love you, too, more than anything.”
In reply, he merely wrapped his arms around me. He pulled me close and kissed me tenderly. “Then that’s what we’re doing now. We’re getting together, and we’re staying together, for as long as you want to be with me.”
“I want to be with you forever,” I promised. And, I meant it. Just like the sixteen year old inside me would have meant it, and just like I’d always meant it when I dreamt about him ever since I knew how to dream about a guy. I meant it.
This was the love of my life. I found him when I was very young, and I’d finally found the time to come to him. Call it fate, call it luck. Whatever it was, I had found him, and I was staying with him.
Together, forever.
25
TWO WEEKS LATER
Adam
It had been a long journey – and a royal pain in the ass the entire time. It all ended with me thinking that I’d lost not only the love of my life and my president and leader, but my tattoo shop, as well.
I had to talk to the police multiple times, with Rob more than once, and with several insurance agencies before I could even begin thinking about putting the glass window back in, but I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. We had been through so much to make sure Erika was free from the man who was stalking her, I knew there had to be some way my shop was going to be rescued, too.
The first thing I did the day after Erika and I got together was figure out what I was going to do for Jonas and Tanner. The two had been with me through it all, and I knew it wasn’t fair to them to lose their jobs over a situation out of their control. So, I made a few calls around town, and I was able to work out a deal with one of the other shops.
The two would be able to work there as long as we needed to get the new glass back in my shop, as long as the other shop got to take a percentage of their fees, as well. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea. I had to have all the money I could get to get the new glass, but I wasn’t going to argue. I was lucky that they were able to get jobs at all, and I didn’t want to take that from them.
I already felt like the richest man in the world with Erika by my side. She had written to several trusted friends back in Boston, and they were going to ship several boxes of her things out to
California so she could properly move in with me. Sure, she had gotten plenty of necessities already, but there were things from her apartment back in Boston she missed.
They were so relieved to hear that she was okay, they didn’t even charge her to ship the boxes. They just wrote down a list of what she wanted, and the rest went to donations.
She used a portion of the money that she’d stolen to get out of the lease she’d been in, and she was ready to move in fully. It was a great day when she finally signed onto the lease with me, and we all went out to celebrate.
I was glad to see her getting along so well with Vanessa. The two clicked right away. Zach and I weren’t the best of friends, but we were close enough we were going to be seeing a lot of each other, and knowing that the two got along well was going to help.
Jenna brought her daughter, Allegra, to meet Erika one afternoon, and they, too, got along. Erika finally learned the truth about what had happened to Nathan’s arm, and she couldn’t thank him enough for being there the first day Kline showed up.
Erika had worked well with the police, giving them all the information she could about Kline and the men he was working with. In exchange, they acquitted her of any charges or accusations that he brought against her, granting her immunity in the entire case.
She didn’t have to worry about a thing, nor did she have to give up any of the money or her paintings. She was free to go, completely free of the fear of being followed or anyone coming after her. And, it was amazing.
Of course, she didn’t want to live with me for free, so she started looking for a job. I offered her a position at the parlor, but she didn’t want to take it. Not only would she have to wait for the glass to be put in, but she didn’t feel that was a proper use of her skills. Instead, she decided that she was much better suited to get into esthetics.