Page 111 of Peaches & Pistols

“Ah, honey, you know I want nothing more than to be in your arms but I’m filthy, I don’t want to get you dirty.” He tries prying me off, but I hold tighter.

“I don’t care,” I mumble into him, and he chuckles.

Over my head, he addresses Reid. “All good in there?”

“All good. Where do you want us?” Reid asks.

“Out in the truck did just fine,” Greyson replies.

Reid exits his truck, stomps up the porch, opens the door and hollers for James and Connor, who tromp out of the guest house and pile into Reid’s truck to stay warm.

Greyson shifts me enough that he can walk me onto the porch and see my face.

“You doin’ okay, honey?” His large hands rub up and down my arms in the cold night.

“Better than okay.” And I mean it.

Greyson’s perplexed but satisfied with my response.

“Before we go in, I need you to know he’s completely restrained. He can’t reach for you, touch you, or hurt you in any way.” He waits for my approval.

“It wouldn’t matter if he wasn’t restrained. You’d never let him hurt me.” His jaw ripples.

“He ain’t looking too pretty right now, he’s fucked up. I don’t want you to look at me differently after seeing what I’m capable of.” Greyson gulps and looks away.

I guide his face back to me, hovering right over his lips.

“I love you even more for it. You did what it took to protect us.” I kiss him softly.

“Now, I can get the papers signed and bring them out for you to sign and you never have to lay eyes on him.” I shake my head.

“Or, we can go inside and take care of the paperwork, but you don’t have to say a word to him.” I shake my head again.

“This can go however you need it to, honey. What do you want to happen?” Greyson asks, genuinely okay with executing whatever I want.

“I want my chance to stand up to him and close that chapter of my life.”

Greyson kisses me again. “That, we can do.”

He goes in ahead of me to make sure it’s safe before allowing me inside. My eyes go straight to the mess in the center of the room.

Carter is unrecognizable.

Head tilted to the side, I circle him, taking in what he’s become.

A visible cut at his hairline makes me pinch my lips from laughter knowing how important his hair is to him. His nose is badly broken, which I love because not only will his face never look the same, but he’s afraid of doctors and will hate getting it fixed.

I’m not sure what’s going on beneath his clothing, but based on the boot prints on him, I imagine he’s bruising nicely. Now he’ll know what it feels like to re-live his injuries day after day as the bruises ache.

He’s pissed himself, which is perfect because he’ll never emotionally recover from wetting himself like a child. Even if no one but us ever knows about it, his pride will have taken an irreparable hit.

Rounding the back of him I gasp and stumble back.

“What’s wrong with his hand?” I squeak.

Greyson stands behind me, arms wrapped around my front, pressing kisses to my temple.

“Carter here had some lessons to learn.” Greyson raises his voice, “Didn’t you, sweetheart?”