Rushing the Goal (Assassins #8)

by Toni Aleo

  “That’s debatable,” he muttered against her lips, his lips curving. “But it’s something we can debate for the rest of our lives.”

  “Agreed.”

  Pulling out of his arms, she lifted her shirt, pulling it over her head. While he loved her naked body, he was confused. “What are you doing?”

  “You have to ask? I’m getting naked. I want you, Benji Paxton, and I want you right now.”

  “I thought we were talking about our feelings.”

  She made a face. “I thought we were done! How many feelings you got?”

  He laughed. “A lot.”

  She grinned. “Well, I’ve got them too, but we don’t have to talk. Let’s do.”

  Grinning, he pulled at his shirt, and they undressed quickly. Taking her naked, sexy body in his arms, he lifted her off her feet as their mouths met in a heated tangle. His heart was soaring, his soul was happy, and God, he would never love anyone like he did her. Carrying her to the bed, he laid her down, covering her body with his as he drew the hot, sexy kisses out of her. Tearing his mouth from hers, he kissed down her neck as her hands moved up his back, gooseflesh appearing under her touch. As he fell between her legs, she arched against him, lusciously wet. His mind went wild. He wanted this to last, the feel of her, her kisses… He wanted to be inside the woman he loved.

  He pushed her leg up and her fingers came to his chest as her brows rose. “What in the world happened here?”

  Benji scoffed at the bruise on his chest. It was fading and hardly noticeable, but it still stung a bit. “Blocking your brother’s shot.”

  “Which one?”

  “Jude.”

  She winked exaggeratedly. “I’ll beat him up for you.”

  “Good looking out,” he muttered against her lips before directing himself into her body, their whimpers mingling as his eyes squeezed shut. “Fucking hell. Never, ever will this be something that I can get used to.”

  Arching against him, she moaned against his lips. “Benji.”

  “I love you, Lucy.”

  “I love you more.”

  Her toes curled against the bed and his heart jackhammered in his chest. He was pretty sure he would never get used to hearing those words from her sweet mouth. Moving out and then slowly back in, he caressed her lips with his, something more happening than just making love.

  They were becoming one.

  And it was too much for a lost soul like Benji to have ever asked for.

  It was almost like a dream.

  But as he reached his point of no return when Lucy squeezed him, his eyes met hers and he knew this wasn’t a dream.

  It was his forever.

  When Rick’s car pulled up, Benji had to take a cleansing breath.

  He wanted to get out of the car, pummel the dude’s face, and throw his body in a ditch somewhere, but that wouldn’t help their situation.

  Their.

  Lucy and Angie and him.

  They were his everything, and he could still hear them telling him they loved him. Over and over again, and he swore it was like his own version of alcohol. Their love. It was addictive, and hearing Lucy whisper it against his lips, he knew he would never find another high like that in his life. Never.

  “If there is even a mark on her, I swear, Benji, do not hold me back from scratching out his eyeballs.”

  Benji scoffed as he reached for the door. “I’ll hold him down.”

  She flashed him a grin and he shot her one back. “I love you, guy.”

  He chuckled. “I love you more.”

  But she was right, if Angie got out of that car with any marks that shouldn’t be there, Benji wouldn’t be in control of his actions.

  Because Rick Hart would be a dead man.

  To say he was still fuming from hearing about their previous meetup was an understatement. He wanted Rick dead, but he would let the courts take care of it.

  As long as Angie was okay.

  Slamming the door behind him, he went around the car as Angie shot to Lucy, wrapping her body around her mom, hugging her tightly. “I don’t ever want to go back,” she whispered, and Lucy held her daughter’s face, searching her eyes.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, but he wouldn’t let me out of my room, and—”

  “She kept screaming at me,” Rick said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I won’t stand for that shit.”

  “You were screaming at him?”

  “He locked me in my room and wouldn’t give me any toys. He gave all my toys to Nina!” she said, her eyes welling up, tears falling down her cheeks.

  “Please, she had a notebook and crayons.”

  “Yeah, that’s enough for a whole weekend,” Lucy spat back, kissing Angie’s forehead.

  “He wouldn’t give me my medicine either,” she said then, and Benji looked up at Rick.

  “She don’t need it,” he said simply, but even Benji knew that wasn’t true.

  “So you locked her in a room, unmedicated? How could you do that to her?” Lucy asked, her voice dripping with acid. “Angie, get in the car.”

  Angie nodded and then she looked over at Benji. Her face lit up and she ran to him. He lifted her up into his arms, hugging her tightly. Planting a big kiss on his cheek, she said, “Oh my God, I missed you!”

  His heart couldn’t take it. “I missed you too, sunshine,” he said, hugging her again and kissing her temple. Carrying her to the car, he said, “I think you got bigger.”

  “I did! And stronger! You gotta see my slap shot. I watched you do it for like an hour last week, and I think I perfected it.”

  “Awesome,” he said, putting her in the car. “You’ll have to show me later.”

  “We are still doing our dance party, right?”

  “As soon as we get home,” he said with a nod before handing her his phone. “Sit here for a minute, okay?”

  She nodded, pushing at his phone as he shut the door and walked around to hear Lucy say, “You basically had her in a room with nothing to do, and you expected her to be okay? Her mind is going crazy, and she has nothing to distract her? No outlet? How dare you? That’s child abuse,” she accused and Rick rolled his eyes.

  “Please. It’s no big deal. She don’t need the meds.”

  “She does, Rick,” she stressed, her voice full of emotion. “Her ADHD is serious. I don’t understand how you can just overlook that.”

  “’Cause it’s some made-up shit you are trying to use to cover up that she’s a bad kid,” he spat back and Lucy’s eyes widened.

  “A bad kid! Are you fucking kidding me?” she roared, but when she went to step forward, Benji stopped her.

  “Let it go. You know that’s untrue,” he said quickly, taking her hand in his. Looking over at Rick, he cleared his throat. “We will have the doctor write up something in simple words for you so you can see this is a real issue that Angie is dealing with. Since, apparently, Lucy’s word is not enough.”

  “He’s seen the paperwork. He should have come to the appointment, to therapy, but he’s too fucking busy,” she spat from his side and Rick rolled his eyes.

  “I have a life, Lucy.”

  “Angie should be a part of it!” she shouted and Benji shook his head.

  “Babe, come on. It won’t help,” he stressed and she looked away, swallowing hard. “Then what do we need to do to help you understand her need for the meds? Do we need to add that into the parenting plan?”

  Rick scoffed. “Dude, there won’t be a parenting plan when she’s in my custody. Everything will be under my control.”

  “Do you know how stupid you sound? No one is going to give custody to you. You are wasting everyone’s time,” Lucy yelled at him, shaking her head. “We’ll go to court, add your latest bullshit, and that will be it. The judge will laugh at you, especially with all the information I’m bringing. You’ll be lucky if you get to see her every other month after this weekend. And add in the fact she doesn’t even want to see you at all.”

>   “I’m bringing stuff too. Don’t forget that,” he spat back and Lucy shook her head.

  “You have nothing—”

  But Benji stopped her, shaking his head before looking back at Rick. “Okay, then. So we’ll factor that in, no big deal.”

  “It ain’t no we. You aren’t a part of this,” Rick hollered at him and Benji held his hand up.

  “I am. The sooner you realize I am a part of their life, the better. The easier this will be for everyone involved.”

  “Please, you’ll be gone soon. I can promise you that,” he warned and Benji glared.

  “Good to know you’re a psychic. Did you see that my lawyer will be contacting yours for invasion of privacy? To have you sign a nondisclosure agreement since you took it upon yourself to dig up my past? You had no right to do that. I—”

  “I have every right,” Rick said, and he looked nervous as he shook his head. “You are trying to be a dad to my kid.”

  “I mean, someone has to,” he said simply and Rick’s eyes widened.

  “So you don’t deny that you are trying to take my kid from me?”

  Benji shook his head. “Would I rather be her dad than you? Yeah, I would adopt that funny, amazing, sweet, beautiful child in a second. I’d give her my name, and I’d love her more than you can even imagine. More than you’re capable of. But I’m sure you’d rather run us through a nasty custody battle and hurt her in the process. So instead, where you lack in the father department, I’ll excel. And Angie will grow to be a happy, well-adjusted girl who knows who her real dad is.”

  Rick didn’t like that at all and came toe-to-toe with Benji, his eyes blazing with anger. “You don’t matter.”

  Benji shrugged. “To you, no, but I think Angie and Lucy would sing a different tune.”

  “You’ll be gone soon, so you’re just wasting your time.”

  Benji sucked in a deep breath as Lucy watched him. This dude did not scare him, and all he was really doing with his idle threats was annoying him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You’ll see,” he said, shaking his head and stepping away. “See you after the new year. Enjoy the time you do have with her.”

  He couldn’t understand Rick. It drove him crazy because how could a man act like that about his child? Still, though, Benji wanted to give him a chance. So he asked once more, “Are you sure you don’t want to just fix the parenting plan? Skip this charade of a custody battle?” When Rick went to snap at him, he held up his hand. “Not for us, please, we can handle it. But for Angie. You’ve already ruined so much with her. Don’t you want to try to make your relationship a little better instead of putting her through this?”

  Lucy looked up at Benji, her eyes full of love before she looked back at Rick. “You should want be to be a part of her life, but I can’t do this, Rick. I can’t put her through all this and urge her to want you in her life,” she said as calmly as she could, and Benji was proud. “You don’t deserve her, but you are her father and I have no problem with you being one—as long as you are going to be one. What you are right now is a douche.”

  Rick held their gazes and then slowly shook his head. “Fuck both of you. You both think you’ve already won. I’m better for her than both of you combined. A drunk and a bitter bitch? Please!”

  Benji let out a long breath and nodded. “Have a great vacation with your family,” he said simply, guiding Lucy to the truck before she clawed the asshole’s eyes out.

  “Yeah, whatever, dude.”

  But Benji ignored him as he opened the door for Lucy and helped her in. Once in the car with them, he started the ignition as he exhaled once more.

  “You’re a good man, Benji Paxton,” Lucy said, lacing her fingers with his.

  Bringing the back of her hand up to his lips, he kissed her and then nodded. “I try,” he whispered. Lord knew it wasn’t easy. He wanted to rip that bastard to pieces, but there was no point. Rick was just an idiot and not worth his time.

  “You sure you don’t want out?” she asked as he pulled onto the main road.

  He rolled his eyes. “Do you really need reassurance, Lucy? ’Cause you frustrate the crap out of me when you do that. Here, let me give you some,” he said, his voice full of frustration. “I love you. I’m not going anywhere. It’s me, you, and Angie, and I guess, that dude, for the rest of my life. The latter until Angie turns eighteen. He doesn’t scare me. I don’t care one bit about him. Stop asking if I want out. I don’t. I want you and Angie. I’m yours, baby.”

  “Mine too,” Angie said from the back and Benji grinned. “You’re mine too, right, Benji?”

  “Absolutely, sunshine,” he said, looking over at Lucy. “You two never have to ask again.”

  “Okay,” Lucy said and she smiled. “I won’t ask again.”

  “Thank God,” he said, flashing her a grin before he looked at the road. Was this easy? No. Did he hate it? Yes. But what was he supposed to do? He wouldn’t turn his back on them; he loved them. But, man, it would be so much easier without Rick in the picture. Though, like he said before, he didn’t mind one bit fighting for Lucy and now Angie.

  He’d fight for the people he loved.

  He looked in the rearview mirror at Angie. “Hey, Angie, you wanna go out, do something?”

  He was hopeful she would. But like he expected her to, she said, “Nope, I want to have a dance party!”

  Lucy scoffed as Benji nodded, groaning inwardly and wishing like hell he hadn’t agreed to this. “Dance party it is, then.”

  “But you hate dancing,” Lucy said and he shrugged.

  “When you love someone, you do things you aren’t comfortable with to make them happy,” he said simply and she beamed as Angie cheered.

  “I bet you’re a great dancer, Benji!”

  “That’s a big no, sunshine, but let’s do this.”

  Lucy brought their hands into her lap and squeezed his hand. “I love you.”

  He smiled as his heart exploded in his chest. The way she said it was so beautiful. So sweet, and he was convinced he couldn’t get enough of those three words. “I love you too.”

  “I love you both!” Angie giggled from the back and he couldn’t grin wide enough.

  He was complete.

  Benji really hated dancing.

  As he shimmied from side to side, Lucy leaned against the island, laughing so hard, she was crying.

  “You’re doing great. Try this,” Angie said, spinning like a crazy person and Benji laughed.

  “How about this?” he said, doing some break-dancing that was so bad, he almost smashed his head against the table.

  But Angie ate it up. “Awesome! Mommy, watch!”

  She did the same as Benji, and they looked ridiculous, but Benji had never had so much fun in his life. As he spun around on his ass, kicking his legs in no particular way, he looked up to see Lucy grinning, bubbling with laughter as she held her phone up, taking pictures. She looked so beautiful, so fucking happy, and while he really didn’t want anyone seeing him like this, he didn’t stop her. He wanted her to document this moment.

  When he tried but failed very badly to spin on his head, he lay on his back, watching as Angie swung her arms around like an orangutan, laughing and having the time of her life. He wondered how many dance parties she had with Rick. How many times did Rick make her laugh like Benji made her laugh? He wondered why Rick even wanted to fight for her when he didn’t even try to make her happy. When Angie looked over at him expectantly, he laughed.

  “I’m old,” he decided and she laughed, pulling him up.

  “Never! Dance!”

  Popping and locking, well, actually, he looked like he was having a conniption fit, he heard Angie laugh, the joyous sound filling his once empty house. When Lucy snorted, shaking her head, he grinned back at her as the music died down, changing to a slow song.

  “Then There’s You,” by Charlie Puth.

  He had heard it many times, liked it because it made him think of Lucy. When Angie
went to turn it off, he stopped her. “No, honey, let’s slow it down.”

  “Okay,” she said, coming to him.

  “Come here,” he said, picking her up. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, laying her head on his shoulder. Closing his eyes, he cuddled her to him as he moved her through the kitchen, thankful for the break. He might have killed himself if he’d tried another headstand. When he turned, facing where Lucy stood, he saw her lips were curved and her eyes dark as she watched him.

  “Come here,” he demanded, holding out his arm. She shook her head.

  “No, you two have fun.”

  But Angie didn’t like that. “Come on, Mommy. Dance with us!”

  “Ugh, fine,” she said, laughing as she came over, tucking into his side, holding Angie as she laid her hand on his chest.

  Exhaling a long breath, Benji closed his eyes and he leaned his head to Lucy’s, kissing her forehead. Nothing could have ever prepared him for this. To feel so overwhelmed and in love from the bottom of his soul. Living life with no purpose had been scary, but now he had purpose, he had meaning, and he was holding it in his arms.

  His girls.

  Angie may never fully be his, but he was okay with that. Because when she was older and she graduated, she would thank Lucy and Benji, her parents. When some idiot assumed he was going to marry her, he would ask Benji, not Rick. And when it was time to give her away, Benji would be the one to do it. But if Rick got his shit together and he became the father Angie needed, then Benji would have no problem being number two. As long as Angie was happy and she knew he loved her too.

  That was all he cared about.

  Kissing Angie’s head once more and then Lucy’s, he smiled as the song played and they cuddled against him.

  “This is awesome,” Angie said softly and Lucy nodded.

  “It is. I think he’s a good dancer.”

  Angie popped up at that. “The best ever!”

  Benji’s body shook with laughter as she hugged him tighter. Another slow song came on, and still the three of them stayed wrapped together, swaying to the music. At that moment, Benji decided, as much as he hated dancing, he’d do this every day if he could.