AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re damn right I did. I clawed him in the face and made a run for the hatch door. Unfortunately, the attic was stuffed full of junk and the second I tripped, he grabbed me by the foot and tried to drag me back away from the door. I remember groping for something to hang onto, but nothing worked. Eventually, my hand landed on the baseball bat.”
Smoke’s eyebrows shoot up. “That’s when you turned the tables on him, right?”
I nodded, feeling stronger, now that I remembered how it felt to beat him off me. “I remember he ripped at my clothing and tried to get on top of me. He was taunting me, saying evil shit that didn’t really make sense.”
“You don’t have to repeat it. We’re supposed to be purging trauma here not generating more of it.”
“It’s okay. “I just fought like a wildcat, shoving him, and then kicking him off me. The minute he was far enough away for me to swing the bat, it was game over for him. I was so terrified, once I started swinging it, I couldn’t stop, I was desperate to keep him off me. Am I a bad person?”
He comes up out of his seat, leans over the table, wraps his hand around the back of my neck and pulls me in for a kiss. When we part, he says, “I think the sick fucker got exactly what he deserved. Getting taken out by the woman he was trying to abuse is the icing on the cake for me.”
I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. As they begin wetting my cheeks, he wipes them away with his thumb. “No crying over these assholes. They don’t deserve a moment of your thoughts, much less your precious tears. You’re safe now. We’re not going to less these degenerate fucks live rent free in our heads.”
I lean forward and claim the kiss he’s so obviously offering me by still being so close. When we pull back, I tell him, “I love you, baby. I think I always have.”
He plants a kiss on my forehead and sits back down. “I think I’ve been in love with you since you graduated from high school. When I saw you at your father’s funeral, I knew for sure. But I never suspected you saw me as anything other than your older brother’s friend.”
“Would it surprise you to know that my father thought you were the right man for me?”
The shock registered immediately on his face. “What?” he gasps. “Did Claw tell you that? Because the message I got loud and clear was stay the hell away from daughter.”
I do my best to explain what I remember. “When my old man finally realized he couldn’t keep me from going off to college in San Francisco, he did his best to warn me how things were different in the big city and how trouble can find you even when you’re minding your own business. He told me that if I ever got into trouble to come running to you. He said you were intelligent, loyal and I could trust you no matter what I got myself tangled up in. Back then I don’t think he was trying to set us up together, but maybe he knew in the future we would find one another.”
His expression closes down. “Is that why you came back to Las Salinas? So, I could protect you.”
Something about the chill in his voice worries me, and I wonder if he’s getting the wrong idea and thinks I was using him. “If you’ll remember, I came back and stayed with my brother. I did that to make a clean break with Stan, not because I thought he’d come after me. I was planning on getting my own place.”
“But you came to me, asked for a ride on the back of my bike and tried your best to ride my cock.”
Now he was pissing me off. “Yeah, because I’ve been infatuated with you for the better part of my adult life, not because I needed your protection. I didn’t even realize I needed protecting until you pointed it out.”
Smoke’s head jerks to the side and he closes his eyes for a brief moment. “You’re right about all that. I’m so busy fucking up the relationship I waited so long to get, that I’m not thinking correctly.”
“Better get your head in the game. You’re going to be a father soon.”
His head comes up so fast, I almost laugh. Damn. Out of all the ways I had been rehearsing in my head, that was not the way I wanted to tell him he was gonna be a dad.
“Say that again. I’m not quite sure I understood what you just said.”
I repeat it for him a second time. “I’m going to have your child. I’ve been trying to think of the best way to tell you, I was scared you’d think I’d gotten pregnant deliberately.”
He moves closer, and just like in my dreams he comes over and slides to his knees. Pushing up my shirt he smiles as he spreads his hand over my belly. “Your waist is thicker but you’re not thicker anywhere else.”
He bends down and reverently kisses my stomach. Instead of pulling back I feel his lips moving against my skin. He’s whispering to our child, telling them that they are loved and wanted so much. It makes me tear up a little, how things have gone from horrible to perfect in the space of a day.
Gazing up at me, he states, “This is why my mother has been hovering over you, right?”
“Your mom? She told you then?” I say in surprise.
Smoke looks up at me and smiles, “Yes, and I couldn’t be happier about it.”
I nod, blushing a little. “I didn’t like keeping it a secret, but she wanted to tell you in her own way, I hope you’re not angry?”
He smothers back a smile, “I could never be angry with you. I love you so much, princess. In case you haven’t guessed, I’m never giving you up.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I plan for us to walk down the aisle when my belly is huge. You up for a blatant display of your baby making prowess?”
His expression turns confused. “Are you proposing to me? Because it feels like you are.”
