Blood Bound

by Sasha Leone

  A driver hops out of the SUV and races around to the back door. He pulls it open and a familiar figure emerges.

  I can’t help but smirk.

  Luca Barone is finally in my sights.

  There’s no hesitation in me as I pull the trigger and blast him to hell. My bullets shred through him like a rag doll and I quickly mow down his nearby body guards as they try to scramble a return of fire.

  Before the Italian bullets can even start raining down against my windows, though, I’m back on the floor and crawling towards the weapon that can help me end this shit once and for all.

  I’m glad to have gotten my personal little vendettas out of the way. Now, it’s time to spend some time with an old friend.

  I wipe the dust from the mighty weapon and caress its barrel as bullets rain down all around us. The rocket launcher is a little dusty, but I’ve checked all of its parts and everything seems to be in working order.

  How about one last hoorah?

  I stuff the world-eater full of love and make my way to the Russian side of the battlefield.

  This is for you, Nia, I think with a bittersweet smile, before I fill the streets below with hellfire.

  25

  Nia

  1 week later...

  If I wasn’t so excited to see him again, I might be more upset about finally giving in.

  I’d made it clear, that night when he’d first returned, that if he left again, it’d be for the last time.

  Well, the stubborn lug must be about as deaf as he is handsome, because the past five days have been a non-stop barrage of him asking to see me again.

  Maybe he just thought that I meant he could leave me then, but only if he promised to never leave again, once he returned?

  I shake my head and try not to give the brute too much credit—though, I can give him a little. We both know that he’d have no trouble bursting in through Carlos’s front door and throwing me over his shoulder like a beast, but he hasn’t.

  Instead, he’d stopped by Carlos’s place again the following night, looking like a man who’d been through hell and back, and respectfully asked for my number.

  I’d slammed the door in his face.

  Don’t get me wrong, he was being cute as fuck, but I couldn’t let him know that I was willing to be a push-over for him.

  Sure enough, he showed up again the next night, dressed a little better and all washed up. He told me he’d meant everything he’d said to me before, and that he was in love with me even more now that the danger had passed.

  Carlos was home this time, and I didn’t want to make a scene in front of my gracious host, so I finally gave my number to Ronan and told him he’d better not make me regret it.

  He must have called twenty times that night alone. I only answered once, to tell him to stop—but the truth was it meant the world to me to know that he wanted to be with me so badly. I’d never had anyone pursue me like this before, and it didn’t hurt that he was the man who was also responsible for putting the little baby bump that was starting to form on my belly in me.

  Ronan had called every other hour the day after that too. I answered twice, and both times he’d practically begged for me to let him take me out, if not on a date then at least just to check up on me and my bump. I’d told him to let me think about it—and I had, long and hard.

  I dug deep into my soul and asked myself what I saw when I thought of Ronan. Did I see the danger and the violence and the seedy underworld stuff? Sure, but that was only a sliver of who he was in my mind’s eye. I also saw the softness in his eyes, the desire in his heart, the hope in his words. Not only did he want me, he also wanted a family.

  I realized that we wanted the exact same thing: each other, and the promise of what being together could bring.

  So, I let him set a time and a date, and I put on my best dress—well, my only dress—and did my make-up, with Carlos’s help.

  “You look hot as fuck,” Carlos sings as I do a twirl for him in his living room.

  I blush. “You don’t think the baby bump is too obvious?”

  “Girl, you’re literally glowing. There’s nothing that can hold you back.”

  A strong knock comes from the front door and I kiss my best friend on the cheek. “Thanks for everything,” I whisper.

  “You just make sure to put in a good word for me, in case things don’t work out between the two of you,” he jokes.

  I’m still laughing when I open up.

  There he is. The man of the hour. As big and as beefy as ever in a tight black t-shirt and dark jeans.

  Ronan’s cheeks glimmer under the hallways light as he greets me with a big, rugged smile. It’s funny seeing him look so happy—I’d never have guessed just how deeply those dimples could dig into his cheeks—but it fits him perfectly.

  I can’t keep the flustered smile from overtaking my face.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  “Heyyy,” Carlos sings from back in the living room.

  Ronan and I both share a laugh as we bid Carlos farewell and head out on our walk.

  The weather outside is warm and soft. A gentle breeze washes over me as I stroll beside the hulking man.

  “So, where are we going?” I ask.

  Ronan shrugs playfully. “Wherever we want.”

  “You’re not worried about running into anyone?” As peaceful as the city’s been for the past few days, I know from experience that being with Ronan can never be completely trouble-free.

  Still, he doesn’t seem worried. “I’ve been working out my business-man muscles for the past few days, in-between trying to call you. It looks like my little stand has garnered me some leverage among the remaining remnants of the underworld. Right now, I’m the man at the head of the table. I’ve got the Barone coffers under my control, as well as all the crooked cops that money can buy—and with that power under my belt, the remaining Russians are quickly realizing that they’d better pay me some respect or else risk getting run out of town.”

  I only half-listen. The summer weather is so nice that all the pain and darkness and violence of the past months seem like a distant nightmare.

  We turn a corner and keep walking down a street that’s a stark reminder of what we’ve just been through. Skeletons of burnt-out shops with shattered windows and empty insides litter the road. It’s sad, but there’s also hope that things can finally get better now.

  It’s so nice to be able to walk around without the worry of being caught by a stray bullet or an overeager goon.

  I let myself lean a little closer to Ronan’s shoulder as we stroll through the debris. “... I didn’t think you were coming back,” I whisper, almost more to myself to him.

  His shoulder brushes against mine and I sigh. It feels so right to be so close to him.

  “And yet, you still decided to soldier on,” his eyes wander down to my little baby bump. “That’s part of the reason I like you so much. You’re even tougher than me, and it was obvious from the moment I laid eyes on you.”

  I chuckle. “I wonder what’s more painful,” I ponder. “A bullet through the arm, or a baby out the—” We both break down into laughter before I can finish.

  “Let’s just say I’d rather you give birth than me take another bullet any time soon,” he says, wiping his cheek with one hand and straddling the back of my hand with his other.

  “Duh,” I tease.

  Ronan playfully shoulder-checks me. I lean right back into him.

  “I have to say, though,” he smiles. “It’s nice to finally see the opportunity for life come from pain. I’m so used to it being attached to the threat of death that it feels like I’m entering a whole new world all of a sudden.”

  I gently rub my belly. “Well, we will be welcoming a whole new life into this world.”

  I look over to Ronan and see that he’s raised a lively eyebrow.

  “What!?” I giggle, hardly able to contain myself. It’s weird, suddenly feeling so full of hope after spen
ding so much time in such a deep pit of despair. I still don’t know exactly how things between Ronan and I are going to go, but I do know how I want them to go.

  “You said ‘we’,” Ronan smirks.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said, ‘we’ will be welcoming a whole new life into this world... does that mean you want me to stick around?”

  I bite the inside of my lip. Obviously, I do, and obviously he knows that, but I realize I haven’t actually said it yet. “As long as you don’t go running off to any more gunfights,” I say, swaying back and forth against his shoulder.

  “I promise—on the life of my child.”

  “On the life of our child,” I remind him.

  “Of course,” he chuckles, rubbing the back of his head. “So, I guess we’ve got about six months to really get to know each other before we’re thrown completely in the deep end.”

  I can only laugh at that. “I feel like we’ve already been thrown in the deep end. Wherever we’re at now seems so much calmer than what we’ve been going through for the past three months. I think, if we can survive that, we can survive anything.”

  Ronan’s big strong arm reaches out and falls around my shoulder. His weight is heavy, but warm, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world right now. “I’m still going to spoil you rotten,” he smiles. “There are plenty of big dates on your horizon!”

  I can only roll my eyes. “I’m fine with that. But you’d better get your spoiling itch out of the way now, because after all I’ve been through, there’s no way I’m going to be the tough-love parent! I need to be able to pamper my little munchkin.”

  Ronan squeezes my shoulder as he pulls me in closer to his hulking body. “I think we’re both already tough enough as is,” he laughs. “All we need to do now is provide the love.”

  I lean my head against him and think back to that night at Carlos’s apartment, not so long ago, when Ronan had returned after all those months away and confessed his feelings to me.

  “... You said you loved me before,” I say quietly, remembering how those words had burrowed into my heart. “Did you mean it?”

  Ronan doesn’t even hesitate. “Yes.” He does hesitate to spit out what comes next, though. “... Do you think you might ever be able to love me?”

  I tease him with my smile. My arm wraps around his waist, barely able to make it to the other side. Besides his hulking frame, I can hardly see any sign of that dark, cold beast that first greeted me in the night all those months ago. “I think I might be able to manage that.”

  A gentle breeze covers us in warmth as Ronan slows us down to a standstill. His big, rough hands fall onto my shoulder and then make their way down to my hands. Our fingers intertwine and the touch of his open palm against mine sends a wonderful tingle all through my body. A wave of butterflies flutter in my stomach and I know that I won’t have to try very hard to love Ronan, because I already do.

  My eyes close and our lips meet. All of my stress from the past three months—hell, all of the stress from my entire life—seems to evaporate in the soft passion of his kiss.

  I can almost feel my feet lifting off the ground as Ronan pulls me in closer to his body. The floating sensation lifts me back up onto that perch I’d fallen off of back when my mom died. Now, even with my eyes closed, I can see sunlight on the horizon. It silhouettes the shape of a hulking Irishman with dark auburn hair and the broadest shoulders you’ve ever seen. The beams behind him pulse with the beat of three hearts, all in-sync with each other, all a part of one family.

  There’s still so much left to be done, but in this blissful little moment, I realize that not only can I be happy, but I deserve to be.

  When our lips finally pull apart, and we gaze into each other’s eyes from up close, I’m overcome with happiness.

  For the first time in forever, my future feels so bright and sunny and full of possibility. It’s exhilarating, and, I suddenly realize, it’s the exact kind of excitement I was really looking for all those months ago, when I first gave Ronan a chance on that crisp winter day.

  That cold dark shit can go to hell, I think, smiling up at the man of my dreams. It’s all warm sunlight from here on out.

  Epilogue

  Nia

  2 years later...

  Knock knock.

  “Hey, Ro’! Can you get that!?” A stray strand of spaghetti splatters across my cheek as I turn back to the little bundle of joy that’s demanding my full attention. We’re both covered in red sauce and dangling pasta. “Oran, call for your papa,” I smile, just barely holding back a laugh like I always do when I’m around my son.

  He’s almost 18 months old now, but already, he’s surpassed Ronan as the messiest eater in this household.

  “DA-DA!” the little firecracker tries his best to imitate his dad’s bellowing voice. I can’t hold back the laughter anymore, and I giggle as I wipe a streak of pasta sauce from his chubby cheek.

  I can’t help but admire the little boy. Every once in a while, I see him for what he truly is: a complete and utter blessing. Physically, he’s like a perfect mix of Ronan and I. His curly auburn-streaked brown hair is a tad darker than Ronan’s and a tad lighter than mine, as is his caramel skin and honey-glazed eyes. Emotionally, Oran seems to be right in the center of our two personalities as well. Thank god for that. Despite his endless reserves of energy, he’s a pretty even-keeled baby, never getting too high or too low. I figure it’s because he knows just how loved he is.

  “I’m coming, baby boy!” Ronan booms as he jumps down the last set of steps by our front entrance. He swings the door open and there’s a joyous exchange of greetings.

  I don’t have to see who’s there to know who it is. I wipe Oran’s messy face off just enough to be presentable. It’s a big day for his uncle Finn, after all.

  “There he is!” I smile, bouncing Oran up and down in my arms as Ronan and Finn bound into the kitchen. “The youngest police chief in the history of this crummy city!”

  “Unc’ Finn!” Oran shouts, reaching for the uniformed young man. I exchange the squirming toddler for a hug.

  “Hey, I take offence to that ‘crummy’ remark,” Finn chuckles, bouncing his unofficial nephew up and down in his arms.

  “I meant it was crummy. Now, thanks to you, it’s the best it’s ever been!”

  “Aw, shucks!” Finn jokes. “I can’t take all the credit, of course. At least not here. Your wonderful husband has had more to do with it than anyone else. If only the public could know how vital Ronan has been to the unprecedented levels of peace and safety we’ve been experiencing.”

  Ronan wraps a big arm around his buddy. “But they never can and they never will, and that’s just fine with me. I’m happy with the way things are.” His dimples dance as he studies me with those sparkling blue eyes.

  God, I love this man.

  “Can’t say I can complain either,” Finn laughs. The young chief has been the face of this city’s rebuild, while Ronan’s been the architect behind the scenes. It’s worked out well for everyone involved. “We’re still on for tonight?”

  “Duh,” Ronan and I blurt out at the exact same time. The three of us share a laugh as Ronan takes Oran from Finn. My baby never looks smaller than when he’s being cradled by his giant father.

  “You guys are getting cabin fever, huh?” Finn teases.

  “It’d just be nice to hang out with some adults for a few hours,” I say. Ronan and I have been parenting non-stop since Oran came into this world. The only breaks we take are to sleep and work, and we haven’t been doing much of the sleeping part, because there’s too much work to be done!

  Ronan’s slowly been buying up property and starting legal businesses all around town to legitimatize our money. Neither of us want anything to do with the underworld anymore, and it’s a good thing, too, because that seedy underbelly is shrinking up quicker than a grape in the sun.

  We’re just trying to create a better world for our little boy to grow up in.
Ronan’s been working with the cops to exterminate the last bits of the criminal side of this city, and I’ve been using all of my free time not spent with Oran volunteering at nearby hospitals and founding charitable boards. The two of us are blessed to have enough money and power to make a difference now, and we’ll be damned if we don’t do our best to make the future brighter for everyone.

  Still, it hasn’t left us with a lot of time to ourselves.

  Sure, we had our fun before my belly got too big to go out anymore but we haven’t had a real ‘adult’ date for about a year and-a-half now. That changes tonight. Finn’s been seeing a girl for a few months and we’re all going out to dinner; Carlos will be there too. We’ve got the nanny staying late to look after Oran, and we’re finally going to have a chance to get wicked drunk and stupid sloppy.

  I can’t wait.

  I love my little baby boy, and I wouldn’t change being his mama for anything, but Ronan and I are just as attracted to each other as ever, and as wonderfully light as everything has become in our lives, we still need our little time in the dark.

  Tonight’s when we get it.

  I’m going to let him take me like he did on that first night he walked me home. Who knows how it will go this time—maybe we’ll just end up going to bed early and sleeping in until noon the next day, or maybe we’ll stay up all night on a wild bender and come home to a happy little boy in the morning; maybe we’ll even end up having another baby, I don’t know. All I know for sure is that the rest of my life sure seems exciting, and I can’t wait to see what it holds in store.

  THE END

  SASHA LEONE ROMANCE

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