My palms are sweating. I have never been so nervous to have a conversation in my life, but I am doing it because Savvy is my heart. She’s my home, and I will make her happy for the rest of our life together. To start that, I need his blessing.
“Do you believe you’re good enough for her, son?”
“No. There is no one out there good enough for Savvy, but I will do my best every day for the rest of our lives to try and prove myself to her.”
“Well Zander, I never thought I’d look you, The Hitman, in the eyes and say welcome to the family.” He sticks his hand out for a handshake. Fuck that. I jump up, go around the bed, and pull Jack into a bear hug.
“Just because I gave you my blessing doesn’t mean you can molest me now,” he says on a sniffle.
Laughing with tears in my own eyes, I pull back and shake his hand. “Thank you so much, Jack. You have no idea what this means to me and what it will mean to Savvy.”
“Okay, now that we’ve had our girl talk, let’s talk shop. Any idea when your next fight is?”
“My manager actually called me a couple hours ago. Buckley wants a shot at the belt, and seeing as he’s the number one contender, I’ve agreed. The date’s set for September, so I have six months until we all head back to Vegas.”
Looking down at Savvy, I can’t help but smile. My next fight, I’ll be someone’s husband. I’ll have my wife cheering me on in the crowd. I’m jarred from that thought when I feel something squeeze my fingers.
“Holy shit, I think she just squeezed my fingers.”
He jumps out of his seat again, sprints toward the door, and yells for a nurse to get her ass in the room. He runs back to the bed and looks at Savvy with a giant smile on his face.
“All right boys, what seems to be the matter here?” The nurse I saw last enters the room.
“She squeezed my hand! She’s waking up. Come on baby, I’m right here with you. Open those gorgeous green eyes for me.” Reaching my hand up, I brush her hair to the side and start to stroke her face.
“That’s a good sign, but it doesn’t mean she will wake up right this second. Sometimes it could take hours for someone to wake up after they show signs of consciousness. Just be prepared that it might not happen until later today, boys.”
“I could care less as long as she finally wakes up.”
When I look at Savvy, I breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in four days. Finally, my girl’s going to wake up, and I’ll get to see her beautiful eyes I’ve longed to see. I’ve missed looking into them the past few days, among other things.
“Come on baby, you can do it. Come back to me.”
***
Savvy
Pounding…my head is pounding. Freaking hell, what the hell did I do this time? I try to open my eyes, but the bright light has me slamming them shut.
“Hang on, Savvy.”
Someone shuts the lights off, and I try opening my eyes again, succeeding this time. When they focus from the haze, I see Zander sitting next to my bed with worry etched on his handsome face.
“Wha…” I clear my throat. “What happened? Where’s Luke?” He must see the fear in my eyes because he starts brushing his hands through my hair, immediately calming me.
“He’s never going to hurt you again, baby. He’ll be going to jail for a very long time.” I nod my head in acknowledgment, which causes me to wince in pain. “You have a concussion, so try not to move your head too much. I’ll page the nurse and try to get you some pain medication.” Leaning over, he presses the call button for the nurse.
“Baby.” His voice is thick with emotion as he meets my gaze. “I can’t even begin to express how sorry I am that I let you down. You are my responsibility, and I couldn’t protect you from him. If something happened to you…” He stops mid-sentence, unable to go on. He bows his head on the bed and kisses my hands.
The nurse enters the room, asking me my pain level on a number scale. I tell her 500, which makes her laugh, but it causes Zander to lose all the color in his face. I rub his arm, trying to comfort him, when the nurse leaves to get the pain meds.
“What happened? How did you know what was going on?” I clear my throat again. “Babe, can I have some water?” He reaches to the side table, grabs a cup, and brings the straw up to my lips. I take a couple deep gulps. Much better.
“Ashlyn tried all of our phones, not knowing the bastard stole them. She called the gym’s number praying that I was there or that she could track me down. She finally got ahold of us, said what was going on, and we all rushed over to her place. I told her to call 911 and to try and flag someone down on the road. When I walked in and saw his fist flying toward your face…” He shakes his head. “That image will forever play in my mind, reminding me of how precious you are. After that, I honestly don’t remember much of what happened. I saw red and went into a trance. I wanted to annihilate him. I don’t remember much until my brothers pulled me off of him, and all I can think is I wish they didn’t. I wish they let me finish the job so I know that psycho can never ever hurt you again.”
“Babe, look at me. I’m going to be just fine. He may have gotten to me, but you saved me before he could do any real damage. He had a gun. Today’s outcome could have been so much worse.” I thank my lucky stars we are all alive and still here. I try to sit up, but I gasp when pain shoots through my stomach.
“Don’t move. You have two broken ribs from that asshole. It’s going to be a while before they feel better, I know from firsthand experience. Today is Friday, and you have been out since Monday. You’ve been unconscious in the hospital for four days, and it scared the shit out of me when you wouldn’t wake up. I need to give everyone a call to let them know you’re awake.”
He steps outside to make his calls after planting a kiss on my forehead. The nurse returns with my pain medication and puts it into my IV for quicker results. That’s fine by me; the struggle is real with this pain. When it starts to work its way through my system, I start to yawn, feeling sleepy again. I look up and see Zander walk through the door just as my eyes start to feel heavy. I close my eyes, not able to hold them open. When I feel him grab my hand, I smile.
“Babe?” I question, my voice just above a whisper.
“I’m here, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“Babe? Can we get married when I wake up?” I hear him laugh under his breath and feel him squeeze my hand slightly.
“We can do whatever you want when you wake up.” I feel my lips form a giant smile as I give in to the blackness of sleep.
When I wake up again a couple of hours later, I see my dad sitting next to my bed, reading the newspaper. My movements catch his attention, and he looks up, a smile lighting his face.
“Sweetie, I was so worried about you.” He bends down and kisses my forehead. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I was brutally beaten.” I try to laugh, but the pain in my ribs is too much, and I end up groaning.
“This is no laughing matter, young lady. If Zander hadn’t gotten there when he did, this could be a whole different outcome right now. I owe that man everything for saving you.” His voice is thick and full of emotion, showing me just how worried he was.
“Dad, we can play the what-if game all we want, but right now I’m here because Zander saved me. Luke is in jail where he belongs, and right now, that’s all I need to know.”
Dad explains that Zander finally went home to take a shower and get a nap in, seeing as how he hasn’t left my side since I was brought in. We do the crossword puzzle together for the next hour to keep us entertained. When I was living at home, we used to do them every Sunday morning. It’s kind of our thing, and it makes me so happy to be able to do one right now.
We’re a couple clues away from finishing when Zander comes walking through the door, looking like an Adonis. I lick my lips and try to sit up but wince when the pain from my ribs hits again.
He chuckles, giving me a knowing smile. “Hey baby, how are you feeling
after your nap? How’s the pain?” He walks over to me and plants a chaste kiss to my lips, leaving me wanting more.
“My ribs hurt like a bitch, but my head and wrist feel much better than before. How was your nap?”
“Short. I didn’t want to be away from you for too long.”
I reach out my hand and grab his, linking our fingers together. He explains to me that Ash, Judy, and all of his brothers stopped by when they heard I was awake. Unfortunately, I was already fast asleep at that point.
“Well honey, this is my cue to head on out.” Dad kisses my head and shakes hands with Zander before he leaves my room.
“Can you lay with me babe?”
“How about I sit next to you? If I get in that bed, the odds of me hurting your ribs are pretty good.”
I pout my lips, and he leans in and connects ours together. When I reach up to wrap my arms around his neck, I groan out in pain as my body reminds me my ribs are still tender. He pulls back, looking at me with concern.
“I’m fine, I promise. Moving around without triggering my rib pain is going to take some practice.”
He takes the seat my dad vacated, and we talk about the situation with Luke and what he’s facing. I guess he’s going to be charged with attempted murder because he beat me pretty badly, and he had a gun on him, so the intent was there. Just thinking about him makes my skin crawl, and I hope he gets what’s coming to him.
While I was doing the crossword puzzle with my dad, I remembered a few things from the attack I need to talk to Zander about. It’s not a comfortable subject, but I need to know.
“Zander.” I look down at my hands. “I remember when I was on the ground, Luke…he took off my…I need to know…” Zander hushes me.
“Nothing happened, baby. That’s as far as it got.”
A tear slides down my cheek when I think about what he could have done to me. I feel violated knowing what he had planned and how far it had gotten.
The nurse comes back into the room to check my vitals and gives me a tray of food. Thank god because I’m starving. I quickly eat my sandwich and French fries before she administers my next round of pain meds. Once they hit my system, I become drowsy immediately.
With my eyes closed. I call out for Zander.
“I’m right here, Savvy. I will always be right here.”
“Hitman…can we get married when I wake up?”
“Of course, baby, I told you I’d give you anything you want.” I feel my arm being pulled so his lips meet my knuckles. I release a contented sigh as I drift off to dream world once again.
CHAPTER 28
The next day, I’m able to go home. I want to sleep in my own bed next to Zander and not worry about being woken up every couple of hours by nurses. I’m feeling slightly better; my rib pain is still there, but it’s not as intense. I looked in the mirror when I was getting ready to leave and noticed the swelling around my eye has gone down, but the bruising will take a week or so to disappear. Once in the car, I notice Zander takes a wrong turn that will take us to my dad’s house.
“Where are we going? Did you forget we were going home?”
“Do you trust me, baby?”
“You know I do.”
“Then don’t worry your beautiful little head and let me surprise you.” He brings our clasped hands up to his mouth and kisses my knuckles.
I hate surprises, but I’ll deal with this one. I figure my dad is throwing me some sort of yay, you’re out of the hospital surprise party.
When we pull into dad’s driveway, I know something is definitely going on. I see numerous vehicles, what looks like a catering truck in the driveway, and a lot of people bustling about. I look over to Zander, starting to feel nervous. He gets out of the truck and comes to open my door for me. He helps me out, leads me up on the porch, and sits me down on the swing in the corner. Kneeling in front of me, he grabs my hands and looks up at me.
“Marry me.”
That’s it. That’s all I get from him as an explanation for all of this.
“What are you talking about? We are getting married in a little over a week.” I start to laugh at the absurdity of this situation.
“Twice in the hospital you asked me if we could get married when you woke up. Granted, you said it before you passed out while hopped up on pain meds, but that’s irrelevant. I worked some magic and have been trying to pull off a wedding for us since you first asked me the other day. When you asked me the second time, well, that solidified my decision. Marry me, baby. Make me the luckiest man on the face of the earth, and marry me today. The other day showed me how precious life really is. I want, no, I need you to be my wife.”
I don’t need to think about it. I’d be crazy to say no when I want nothing more than to be his wife.
“Yes,” I whisper.
Grabbing my face between his hands, he leans in and plants the most beautiful kiss on my lips. It’s so full of passion and love; even after several months, this man still makes me swoon.
Zander hurries me inside to my old bedroom, where Ash is waiting with a giant smile on her face. She runs up and pulls me into a delicate hug.
“Take care of my bride, Ashlyn.” He bends down to kiss her cheek, then turns toward me. “I will see you soon. I’ll be the guy waiting at the end of the aisle.” He winks at me before leaving the room.
“How is this my life, Ash? How in the world did I get so freaking lucky?” I have no idea what I did in a past life to deserve all of this, to deserve this guy who has come to mean the world to me.
I don’t even know what to think right now. I’m getting married…today.
“You deserve all of this, so start believing it yourself. You are the best person I know, and I’m so incredibly happy for you.” My eyes start to mist when she pulls me in for another hug.
“Okay, we have just over an hour to get you bride-ready. Let’s get to it, shall we?” I nod my head, and then the fun begins. Zander hired someone to do our hair and makeup, and they do both of us at once since we have a short period of time. I tell them I want to leave my hair down in loose curls and ask them to do what they can with the bruising on my face. Forty-five minutes later, I get up and head to look in the mirror.
“What the heck did you use? I can’t even see my bruises!” I walk up to Max, the makeup artist, and give her a hug. “You just made my wedding day that much more spectacular because I can get married looking like me, not some battered woman. Well, except the cast, but I can overlook that for the most part.” I also hug Deb, the hairdresser, because my hair is on point.
They quickly do Ash, which takes no time at all because she did part of it herself. When our hair and makeup is done, we realize we have ten minutes to get dressed and head to the backyard. We grab our dress bags, unzip them, and pull our garments out. I sigh. I’m so in love with my dress. It’s a shame wearing a wedding dress in daily life isn’t normal. I’ll have to wear it to work a couple of times to get some use out of it. We decide to put them on back-to-back so we can make a big reveal. Dresses in place, we count down 3…2…1…and turn.
I start laughing so hard I clutch my ribs, but I can’t stop. “Ash…you look like you’re about to be in a bad southern porno.” My Dad chooses this moment to knock and enter the room.
“Jesus Christ, Ashlyn. You should have told me to wear my sunglasses before looking directly at your dress.” He takes us in, a smile lighting up his face. “You both look beautiful. Ash you look beautiful, but that dress is ridiculous.”
“Mr. J, are you telling me this dress that I scoured dress rack after dress rack to find is…” A look of horror crosses her face as she gasps, “Hideous?”
“Um…well…you see, you look…” He literally has no words.
“Dad, she’s just shitting you. We chose this fabulously awful dress on purpose. Now, could you please lead me to my future husband?”
Sticking both his arms out for us, we link our arms with his, and he escorts us both out to the backyard. As we appro
ach the sliding door, I start to feel a mixture of nerves and excitement. I’m completely ready to become Zander’s wife.
Ash goes out ahead of me and my dad, and when she opens the door, the delicate sounds of music playing in the distance causes my arms to cover in goosebumps. I still can’t believe I’m here right now. I take a deep breath as my dad leans in to kiss my forehead.
“I think I know what you need, sweetie. Hang on a second.”
He goes into the kitchen for a moment and comes back with two shot glasses, making me groan. My dad sure does love his whiskey and is always finding some opportunity to have me do a shot with him. He hands me my shot, and I wait for him to give a toast. It’s usually not his style, but I figure for my wedding day he might have some words of wisdom. This proves to be a silly thought because we salute each other and pound it down the hatch. Coughing after the burn, I start to laugh.
“If I start slurring halfway down the aisle, it’s because of the pain pills mixed with whiskey.” I chuckle and cough a few more times. “It never gets any easier.”
“That’s because you’re a pussy.”
“Dad!”
“Let’s get this show on the road, baby girl, before Zander comes in to find you.”
As if on cue, Kyle sticks his head in the door, looking for us.
“You have a groom who’s about to raid this house in ten seconds. Are we good to go?” I give him a thumbs up before he heads to the backyard. I take a deep breath. It’s time to walk down the aisle toward the love of my life.
I hear the music again when I step out the door, but this time, I see a woman playing a harp. Tears spring to my eyes when I see all of our loved ones stand from their seats on either side of a white aisle covered in red rose petals. Continuing my gaze forward, I see the most beautiful wooden arbor draped in sheer white fabric and white roses. My eyes continue their journey and land on a set of gorgeous blue eyes trying to hold back tears. Seeing the emotion on Zander’s face makes the tears I’ve been holding back begin to cascade down my cheeks.
Bound By Cage Box Set (Complete Series Books 1-4) : MMA Romance Page 22
