by J. M. Dabney
“She’s very violent. Are you sure you want to make all that permanent?”
“Damn right, I got the ring to prove it,” he announced as he walked to his truck and walked around to the driver’s side.
“Shit, man, you didn’t tell me. When are you going to ask?”
He didn’t answer until they were headed in the direction of their favorite pub. A lot of firefighters and cops went there to unwind. Maybe they’d catch a few of their brothers there as well. “I don’t know. She’s not ready yet, and I’m more than happy to keep things as is.”
“I’m happy for you. I might bitch, but she’s perfect for you.”
“I think so too.”
They lapsed into silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. They’d spent their whole lives together. He could tell just from looking at one of his brothers what the man was feeling or thinking. Renz had some shit to work through in his head. Even as he was excited about his and Violet’s future, he knew Renz was nowhere near as confident as to what the years ahead of him held.
Violet was Going to Jail
She pulled into her driveway close to midnight. Pissed that she’d told Gio she’d be home hours ago, but like with his job, what they planned wasn’t always what happened. She narrowed her eyes as a massive shadow stepped off her porch. Once the figure was close enough to catch in her headlights, she felt the rage prickling beneath her skin.
Motherfucker knew better. She reached into the back and pulled the wooden bat from the floorboard. She kicked off her high heels and jumped out of her car. Ronald Canne stood in front of her car with his thick arms crossed over his chest. His belly rounder than the last time she saw him.
“I know you better have a damn good excuse for being on my doorstep.” She pointed the bat in his direction.
“Now, is that any way to greet your father, half-pint?”
“My so-called father would know I’d beat his ass down on my lawn if he showed up without calling.”
“Lettie, I need a place to crash.”
She snarled at the use of the stupid nickname.
“Plenty of shelters around, fucking find one.”
He moved closer, and she took the bat in both hands, not too tight, just enough of a grip to get a nice arc on it.
“Need to find my daughter-in-law. She knew how a man needed to be treated.”
“You ain’t finding her, old man, I made sure none of y’all could get your hands on her, especially Clem.” There was no way she’d let them anywhere near Peggy. Peggy had been so beaten down by the time she’d helped the woman escape that Peggy barely knew if she could use the bathroom without asking permission. Peggy wouldn’t even look her in the eyes for fear of getting hit. That wasn’t going to happen again on her watch. “You want to get off my property in one piece, or I’ll kneecap you and drag you to the curb.”
“You think you have it in you? Think you can take me and him?” Ronald pointed to her left, and another mass stepped out of the darkness.
“We ain’t been around to keep you tough. Got soft, girl.” Clem spoke from where he stood about six feet from her.
Fucking great. She rolled her eyes.
Clem looked her up and down in her silky dress, and she knew what he saw when he looked at her. Women were useless outside the bedroom or taking care of the men. It was one of the reasons she’d fought them so hard growing up. She’d even worked to be tougher than her mom who she knew had a body count to go along with her vicious reputation.
She’d taken on all four of her brothers at once and walked away, two on one were way better odds. She took a step back.
Rule one: keep them off her back.
They liked to go for the throat. She darted a glance at Gio’s and saw all the lights were off. On her own, at least the odds were in her favor.
Ronald lunged in her direction, and she ran around the back of her car. The empty yard to her back. She swung the bat, and it came across the side of Ronald’s left knee. He went down with a shout, but she’d been too distracted by him. Clem’s thick arms came around her, trapping her’s against her chest, and she threw her head back, connected with his nose. She felt a sense of satisfaction when she heard the crunch and knew she’d broken it.
“What the fuck is going on here,” Gio’s voice boomed. “You better put her down right now.”
Clem surprisingly did what was ordered, and she slammed the end of the bat into his gut, bending him in half. She turned to find Gio, Renz, Sal, and Montes seething in the porch light.
“Why are you having a brawl on our front lawn?”
“What brawl?” she asked sweetly and elbowed her oldest brother in the face, listening to the satisfying crunch.
“Violet,” he shouted her name sharply.
Oh, how she loved that tone of his voice. It meant rage sex. She loved rage sex.
“This bitch tried to kneecap me,” Ronald complained from the ground.
“Violet, please, come here.”
“Yes, Gio,” she answered sweetly, and as she passed her father, she kicked the fucker in the face.
“Violet.”
“I don’t know why you yell at her, Gio, your girl does whatever the fuck she wants.”
She snorted at Sal as the man rolled his eyes, then the big man winked at her.
“Now, explain.”
“Ronald, male contributor to my DNA thought he’d crash at my place. Sibling thought he’d probably get his punching bag of an ex-wife back. Two against one are a lot better odds than I had as a kid. Normally all four of my brothers stomped me into the ground.”
There was an echoing of deep, dangerous rumbles coming from Gio and his brothers. “Oh shit, I took care of it. See, they’re down. No need to get in trouble.” They all loved their jobs. No way in hell she would ruin something they’d wanted to do their entire lives.
Montes spoke up, “They did get their asses kicked by a cute little munchkin.”
“Fuck you, man, I’m short, but I’m vicious.”
“Renz, take Violet inside while we take care of the trash.”
“Aw, Gio, come on, I was looking forward to taking the trash broken and bloody to the curb.”
“You’ll go inside and get comfortable. You had a late night.”
She couldn’t believe she was agreeing after he hugged her to his side and kissed the top of her head. “Fine, I’m keeping my bat though.”
“I wouldn’t even dream of taking it away. You did look awful sexy using that damn thing.”
“You watched?”
“As much as I wanted to step in, I trust you to protect yourself, and I had a feeling about who they were. If I thought for a second, they’d hurt you in anyway—”
“Thanks for letting me handle it.”
She loved that he let her take care of her own shit. He didn’t try to step in and take over. If she wanted to be alone at her place, he gave her the space she needed. Same with him, if he wanted to go out with his brothers and friends, she never stopped him. They were dating, but they weren’t each other’s parole officers.
“Violet, you were taking care of yourself a helluva lot longer than I’ve been around. I love you and trust you to know what you can and can’t handle.”
She leaned into his side and stroked her fingertips down his cotton covered abs, lower until they danced over the fly of his jeans.
“You’re awful sexy when you let me kick some ass. I’ll reward you later.”
All the brothers snorted, and she let Renz take her inside.
“That fucking bitch, she won’t always have you watching her fat—”
“You’re talking about my future wife and their future sister-in-law, you really want to take us on, old man? Especially after you already got your ass kicked by my baby girl?”
She felt that strange heating of her cheeks again, and she couldn’t help the big smile that stretched her lips.
“He must really like me.” She looked up at a smiling Renz.
“You could say that, Violet.”
>
“No one has ever liked me before.”
“Too bad, because we all love you. You’re family.”
“I’ve never had one of those either.”
“Go on upstairs and take a shower, get into your comfortable clothes. Your man will want to make sure you’re all right when he comes in.”
She nodded and didn’t know how to respond. She’d been alone most of her life. Barely tolerated. She walked upstairs to Gio’s, well, their bedroom. It had been hers for the last month. Everything at her place was pretty much moved over since all she owned were her clothes and her sex toys. Even some of those had made it to Gio’s place.
Entering the bathroom, she didn’t bother turning on the lights. A nightlight glowed over the sink, and she turned on the shower and stripped. She let out a long sigh as she stepped beneath the scalding water. Her thoughts turned chaotic, and for the first time in months, the doubts assailed her with what ifs. She knew Gio wanted her. Told her plenty of times, but would that still be the case months down the road—years? The secret she was keeping from him didn’t help. She hadn’t been scared about much, if anything in her life, but what she needed to tell him would probably end them.
She scrubbed herself down and then stepped out of the stall. As she dried herself, she heard Gio and his brothers talking downstairs. She did owe her knight in turnout gear a reward. She grinned to herself as she went to prepare. If all she got was one more night, she was going to make sure she made the best of it.
Would She Say Yes?
He pushed his bitching brothers out the door. They’d spent the last hour making a nuisance of themselves and delaying his evening with his woman. He had taken a sick day because he had plans for his vicious little woman and he wasn’t letting her out of bed. That was after she said yes. He reached into the pocket of his plaid, cotton shirt, and after making sure everything was locked up and turned off, he headed upstairs. He hoped Violet hadn’t fallen asleep.
The door was open and the electric candles burned inside his bedroom. He stopped in the doorway and froze at the sight that greeted him. Violet was sprawled across his bed, naked except for those yellow ducky slippers and she worked a vibrator over her beautiful pussy. Sweat misted her skin and shimmered under the candlelight. She arched and whimpered. His swallowed hard as his cock jerked.
“Baby girl, you started without me.” He approached the bed, unbuttoning his shirt and slipping it off, then carefully laid it across the foot of the bed.
“I had to get all nice and ready for you.” Her voice was low and husky.
When she parted her legs farther and tossed her toy aside, he saw the flared base of a dark pink plug.
“Oh, now, that, baby girl, is what I love to see.”
He didn’t remove his jeans because he needed some protection against his girl. She knew exactly how to break him to make him lose control. They rarely went a day without sex or teasing, and he’d found he loved extended foreplay. Finding all the ways that took her breath or elicited those sexy sighs.
He crawled up the bed, kissing the silkiness of her skin with the fine, pale hairs. He loved his girl natural and couldn’t get enough of her. He alternated licking along her inner thighs until they quivered under his lips. He couldn’t wait any longer, and he buried his face between her soaked lips.
He gripped the base of the plug, pulled and pushed it out of her tight little ass. The vision of her plumping her breasts as she tugged and twisted her nipples made him reach for his dick. Palming the thick length and grunted at the pleasure. He kissed his way up the rounded softness of her belly.
“Baby girl, you want me?” he asked.
She only nodded and moaned as he reached for his shirt. It was a dirty trick, but he didn’t give a fuck. He searched until he took the cool circle of metal between his fingers.
“Now, if you want me to pound that ass of yours, you have to answer a question.”
“Whatever it is, yes.”
The desperation in her voice made him smile, and he tapped at her plug. His baby girl did love her ass played with, but they’d never gotten to the anal. He’d never been able to resist her pussy long enough.
“Now, now, baby girl, that’s not how it works. You need to focus.”
“I have a plug in my ass, and I’ve been using my vibrator for ten minutes, and you think I’m going to fucking focus. Don’t make me take it.”
He chuckled and then found himself on his back, and she was working his pants undone with hurried motions.
He held the ring in front of her face, and she froze.
“What the fuck is that?”
“Permanence.”
“You want to marry me? Me? Are you—”
“I love you. I’ve been holding onto this ring for a month, waiting for the right time. I want you to be mine, today, tomorrow, years from now.”
Then she jerked away, and she looked pissed. Where the hell had he fucked up?
“You found the fucking test, didn’t you? I don’t need you to fucking marry me just because you knocked me up.”
His brain went blank. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Oh shit, nothing, I have to go.”
He grabbed her hips before she could escape. Out of all the time he’d known Violet, he’d never seen her afraid, and her features were etched with terror. He never wanted to see that look again.
“Violet, talk to me…now.”
“Um, I took a test last month.”
“And?”
“It was positive.”
He’d never been fucking harder, he took his cock out, shoved the denim down his thighs, and he lifted her hips enough to ease into her. The plug made her tighter. He noticed things he hadn’t before. Her sexy stomach was rounder. Her upper body bowed and drove her down harder on his dick.
“You’re going to say yes. You’re going to marry me. I’m going to fuck you whenever and wherever I want.”
“Is that right?”
“You’ll do as I say.”
“Maybe I don’t wanna.”
Even as she denied it, she started to ride his cock, lifted her gorgeous body up and down. He couldn’t take his gaze off the sensual motions of her curvy form. She arched and trembled, whimpered as she threw her head back. Her long hair tickled his upper thighs. It was as far as he’d gotten his pants down.
“Why do I always end up still dressed when I’m inside you?”
“You have no fucking control.”
He rolled her onto her back, and her thighs tightly gripped his sides. He took her slow and easy; he wanted to love on her. He kissed her between whispered words of love and praise. Told and showed her how much he loved her, wanted her always to be his. He’d never forgotten protection in his fucking life, but with her, it had never crossed his mind.
“Tell me you love me, Violet.”
He needed to hear the words. It didn’t matter if he knew she did, he needed to hear them.
“I love you.”
He fucked her in slow, long strokes. “Say it again.”
“I love you,” she said the words softly, then her teeth sunk into her lower lip.
“Do you want to be fucked, baby girl?”
“Yes, please.”
He’d never make his baby girl beg. He eased out of her and turned her until he had her braced on her hands and knees.
“I want you to grab your toy and press it to your clit,” he ordered as he eased the plug out. He spotted the lube and slicked himself to make sure he didn’t hurt his baby girl. Taking his cock in hand, he pressed to her stretched ass and pushed in just as he heard the buzz of her toy. He laid his chest on her back and laced the fingers of his right through hers.
He pounded into her as he lowered his head to press his lips to her ear.
“I love everything about you.” He took her rougher and quicker. “Fucking perfection.” He bit at her shoulder, sucked until he knew he left a mark. He was going to lose it too quickly. She teased his nuts with the vibr
ator, and he sealed his hips against her ass, grinding against her. Her tortured scream was all it took before he came inside her. She was fucking herself on his cock, slamming her ass back against him. She knew he wasn’t happy if she didn’t release for him at least twice.
“That’s right.” His throat was tight. “Give me one more.” He let his girl use him because he’d give her anything she wanted. He licked the salt of her sweat from her neck as she tightened around him until he knew his eyes fucking crossed. He collapsed to the side, both of them moaning at the loss of contact. He didn’t want his full weight on his girl.
She was spread out on her stomach, her damp hair covering her face and he smiled as he turned her to shut off her toy. He found the ring in the tangled sheets and took her left hand. He stared into her heavy-lidded eyes as he slid it onto her finger.
“You’re not mad?”
“Baby girl, there’s a lot I can be mad about…” He stroked her stomach. “This will never be one of them. Not exactly planned, but a really great surprise.” He leaned in to kiss her lips gently. “I want a girl.”
“Why?”
“So, she can be as badass as you.”
He savored her tiny giggle that sounded so carefree. Different from the woman he’d met the night she’d taken him out in their front yard. He may not have seen this happening, but there’s nothing he regretted about making her his. He stroked his fingertips down the indent of her spine and felt her shiver. “You ready for round two?”
“Always.”
He slipped off the bed, took her in his arms and carried her to the bathroom; he held her as he turned on the shower. Then stepped into the quickly warming water. He carefully set her on her feet and fell to his knees in front of her.
“I already put the ring on your finger, but, Violet, will you marry me?”
“I don’t know. Your job sucks. You like to boss me around—”
“I dare you.”
“Now, Gio, why didn’t you just say so?”
Epilogue - No Shotgun Wedding
“Holy shit, did her water just break?” Renz yelled in the back of the limo.
