Page 112 of Ballistic

“Why? Because I’ll drive you to drink?” I grinned against his lips, threading my fingers through his hair. “Or to take those green pills in the bathroom?”

“No, because I’m hard again.” The prodding of his groin proved his point. “You’ve got me fiending like some sorry ass junkie.”

“Rudy said you have to savor the lows to appreciate the good shit, remember?”

“Rudy’s never had his face between your thighs.” He lifted his head and kissed along my jawline. “It’s a tough road to recovery, sweetheart.”

I giggled as his stubble brushed across the sensitive skin at the crook of my neck. “Sounds like an addiction you need to kick before it messes you up.”

He fell back onto the pillow, staring up at me again with those warm brown eyes. “Nah. I like this high. Feels good.”

“Feels good to me, too.”

Epilogue

One year later …

I stood biting the shit out my nails, like a teenager on the first day of high school. I never bit my nails, but I had to bite something, because I was about to become a dad, and nothing scared me more than the thought of being responsible for a small human being.

The woman sitting across from me had strands of hair sticking out of her loose bun, and wore a corduroy jacket over a messy blouse. She handed me a pen and pointed to the line that would turn me into a parent. “Sign here.”

I signed my name beside Eden’s, taking note again of how perfectly her name paired with mine. Eden Wolfe. Sounded like something out of a fairytale. Only, in our version, she was the badass girl in the dark forest who tamed the big wayward wolf.

The second I pushed the paper back toward the heavyset woman, I felt Eden’s hand on my thigh. In an effort to calm my nerves, I lifted her hand and kissed the back of her hand, hoping she didn’t pick up on my breaths stuttering out of control against her skin.

While the woman looked everything over, I studied the tattoo on Eden’s wrist that Rhys had inked of a nautical star, and I rubbed my thumb over the words below it that read, Hold Fast. He’d also covered up the circle seven tattoo on my forearm with an elaborate compass set against a map, Eden’s amber eyes staring out from its center. A reminder that I wasn’t alone.

“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe. Welcome to parenthood.”

That only made my heart beat faster, and I looked to Eden for some measure of doubt, but she didn’t show a trace of it on her face.

Why should she?

We’d moved into a nice place on the west side—four-bedroom house with more room than we’d ever need. Our wedding hadn’t been anything big, just a small Justice of the Peace ceremony, with Jase and Lucy as our witnesses. I’d proposed on the roof of Book Tower after watching another sunset, and we’d spent our honeymoon in the Caribbean, soaking up the sun and fucking like rabbits. Our life was everything we’d dreamed it would be, and yet still felt like something had been left unfinished.

That something turned out to be the kids we’d left homeless.

It was Eden’s idea to adopt the siblings, who’d apparently been bounced around in foster care, so I got in touch with Gina, who put in a good word with the court. Soon after that, we’d filed a petition through a lawyer and got the process going. It’d be another few months before we’d be official parents, all dependent on how the kids would adjust to their new life, but they’d be placed in our care until then.

Gina opened the door to where Daniel and Larissa stood in the hallway. They looked cleaner than last time I’d seen them, bathed, at least, and wore clothes that seemed to be their size. The shyness in their eyes told me they hadn’t forgotten me, but maybe didn’t trust me, either.

I knelt down in front of Daniel, my mind spinning over what to the hell to say to him. “Hey, buddy. I, um …. I was …. I mean, we’re …” The words escaped me, and when I looked up at Larissa, who wouldn’t even look at me, I still couldn’t seem to formulate a proper sentence. Like my tongue had been severed, or some shit, which was weird. Should’ve been easy for me, having grown up on the streets most of my life, without a family, or a good home. There should’ve been some kindred connection between the three of us, but even if Kenny was a fucking scumbag piece of shit, the fact was, I’d killed the kids father and lied to them. I’d thrown them into the same system that’d failed me as a kid.

Taking them in was my penance. The right thing to do.

“Are you gonna be my dad?” Daniel stared down at his clasped hands, his pudgy little fingers fidgeting.

“If … if you want that. Yeah, we’d very much like for you to come live with us. If you want that.”

In my periphery, Eden knelt beside me and reached out for Larissa’s hand.

The girl swatted her away and hid her hand behind her back. The sharp angle of her brows told me a world of pain and anger was trapped inside her small, skinny frame. Couldn’t tell if it was her dad, or me, she hated more. I supposed only time would reveal that.

“Larissa, I want you to know … no one’s ever going to hurt you again.” Eden tipped her head, her eyes sympathetic, but sincere. “I promise you that.”

Larissa’s gaze lifted to Eden’s, tears brimming over the bright blue. “No more spankings?”

Eden shook her head. “Never.”