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By the time dinner is done and cleaned up, Joss still hasn’t emerged from her writing, opting to eat in her room, and Magnolia is looking too exhausted to stand any longer.
“Bed, pet,” I instruct as I close the dishwasher.
“Hmm?” She can hardly keep her eyes open.
Scooping her up into my arms, I carry her to her room, where I changed the sheets earlier in the day. Placing her on her feet, I help her out of her clothes, kissing and nipping at bits of flesh as I reveal them. My eyes are drawn to her tiny bump, standing out against her fair skin. Freckles dot along her smooth body, and I want to lick each and every one of them.
After she’s slept.
Once she’s rested, she’s fair game, and I intend to take up as much of her time as possible once the school year is finished.
“Sleep now; I’ll join you soon.” She nods as she lays her head down on a pillow. Covering her naked body, I draw the curtains closed and turn the fan on that she has next to her bed.
She’s constantly at war with the temperature, often vacillating between sweltering hot and shivering cold within the span of a minute. I have a lot to learn about my little love, and this pregnancy is showing me things I don’t believe I’d have discovered for years to come.
Like her love of peanut butter and pickles isn’t just a craving. She hates sleeping with the window open, no matter the temperature outside. Preferring to cool off with the fan. She has always had trouble sleeping, but it got worse after the shooting, and worse again after the attack that brought me into her life. The pregnancy drains her, unfortunately, so she falls asleep faster but often startles or screams herself awake multiple times a night.
I have yet to witness that one, and I’m hoping it’s because she realizes she’s safe with me. I’ll never allow a damn thing to happen to her.
Back in the kitchen, Magnolia’s phone beeps from the counter, and I look down to find a nasty message from her mother about how I kicked her out and that she is making a mistake having a baby, let alone with the likes of me. I want to tell the other woman to shut the fuck up, but I haven’t a read on how Magnolia feels about the woman yet.
Deleting the vile remarks, I’d rather my girl be angry with me than upset over what she reads from the snake of a woman she calls mother.
I text Rio next.
I pay him, Javier, Clay, and Cake well to watch over my girl, so they jump at the chance to come sit on her front step and keep an eye out while I take care of Vega.
As the boys roll up, I see that Cake has a laptop under his arm, and I hand Javier the key. “Doors are locked. You go in there only if they’re in danger. No other reason, got it?” They all nod. “Don’t fall asleep, or I’ll keep the other half of this cash.” I hand them each a wad of bills.
“We got this, boss.” Rio salutes as they settle in on the stoop.
Climbing in my car, I regret leaving Magnolia again, but it must be done. Vega showing his face in Houston hadn’t been part of my plans. All I wanted to do was eliminate the man who sent Magnolia’s life into a tailspin, then claim her. Learning she was pregnant threw a wrench in my plans of simply dragging her off to Africa, but it certainly wasn’t a deal breaker. It never would be, not with her. It could have been another man’s baby, and the only shift I would have made was kicking him out of her life. I believe her when she says it’s mine.
The innocence in my woman can’t be faked. There isn’t a deceptive bone in her body. Her fucking mother, on the other hand, is another story. I suspect Magnolia is more like her father.
Shaking my head as I drive past Vega’s location, I’m not shocked to find a lack of security around the perimeter and briefly wonder about the inside. Torres couldn’t find any other men that were exclusively loyal to Vega like his father had. Which is more telling than not. Carlos Vega, Jr. is nothing like his father. He doesn’t instill fear or loyalty in any man.
Parking a few blocks away, I circle through the back of the beach house. Most of the homes on this street are empty, given the majority are Airbnbs. I’m sure more people will begin arriving for the end of the school year this weekend.
Slipping in through the back door is too easy, heightening my suspicions. My senses tingle as I search through the house, clearing the main floor before quietly taking the stairs to the second level. I hear snoring from the end of the hall, but my gut screams at me to check the door to the right of the stairs first.
I always listen to my gut. It’s never steered me wrong before.
Tonight is no different as a bullet rips through my thigh.
A-fucking-gain.
* * *
Magnolia
“Cage!” I wake up screaming, my body in a complete panic as I reach for him, but he isn’t here. Heart pounding, I hear Joss stumbling her way across the house to get to me before bursting through my door.
“What the hell?” she huffs, her eyes bloodshot and hair a mess on top of her head. “You okay, Mags?”
Frozen to the bone, I’m unsure of what I am. “Something’s wrong.” Snatching one of Cage’s shirts off the bench at the end of my bed, I pull it over my head. “Is Cage out there?”
She begins to shake her head before looking back out. “Nope. Thought I heard him leave a couple of hours ago, though.”
