Audrey didn’t know it, but she had just given me the opportunity of a lifetime. “Have you ever heard the story of how I came to be with Priscilla and Dean Morgan? I mean you know we were adopted from a group home, but have you ever heard how I wound up there?” She shook her head, a hint of curiosity in her eye. “The woman who gave birth to me, actually the little girl, who gave birth to me, was fourteen when she found out she was pregnant.” Audrey gasped, bringing her hand to her mouth, but saying nothing. “She didn’t tell her family as they were so poor they couldn’t even pay attention. For nine months she hid her growing belly. The man who helped conceive me, was a family friend who disappeared the second the lines turned blue on the pregnancy test. She and her friend learned what they could from books they found, so when it came time to have me, they snuck off to an abandoned grocery store over on James Island, as momma tells it.” Momma helped me to try and track her down when I was eleven, the story I gained helped to make me a better man.
“She stayed in the building for two days until I developed a fever. She and her friend caught the city bus to the emergency room at University Medical. One of the nurses took me to be weighed, and when she returned, my birth mother was gone. Since she had given a false name, I was turned over to the county until my next of kin could be found. About a week later, the body of a young girl was discovered in the abandoned building. She had died as a result of blood loss, with a portion of the placenta remaining inside her. They compared our blood and confirmed she was the one who left me. Her parents came to the hospital, but chose to give me up since there was no way in the world they could afford to keep me. I stayed with my first foster family for five weeks; long enough to develop colic and have the lady return me when she couldn’t take my crying anymore. I bounced from house to house for a while until I finally landed at the children’s home, and you know the rest.” I shrugged. I’d long ago accepted all the failed homes I’d had to visit, waiting for momma to be ready to take me.
“So you see, in a way, Grace and I are kindred spirits. Both coming from a parent who didn’t want us to a family who did.” Pulling out my cell phone, I turned it so I could show her the photo I looked at every night. “I saw this on your desk one night after you left to pick her up from daycare and I had to have it.” Her confused eyes searched the photo, “What I said that day about the shop becoming a daycare was not meant to come out like it did. What I wanted was for Dylan to move over so I could play with Grace. Flesh and blood doesn’t define a family, it’s the love they share for one another”
Gripping her hand tighter, I looked into her eyes. “Audrey, I know I’m going to screw up. Granddaddy believed every man who cared for a woman, should have a florist and jeweler on speed dial, and a couch just in case they were closed. You know how hard I fight to protect the ones I love, and to what extremes I’m willing to go.” Telling her what I knew, without telling her what I knew. “As far as what happened in the pool this afternoon, you should know momma has brought more couples together than Noah.” A tickle of a smile begins to grow on her face.
“Momma wants us together.” I sucked in a breath, ready to deliver my final plea, “I want us together.”
Her nod was slight, followed by a sniffle and then her arms winding around my neck. “I want us, too.” Her confession broken by her tears, and I couldn’t help but pull her from the chair, wrapping two arms around her and taking her in.
We stood, swaying back and forth as her sobs quieted and my anxiety disappeared. Pulling her back, I saw those hazel eyes I missed so much, looking into mine. “Audrey, I’m going to kiss you.” Our lips were so close they were practically touching already. Her breath hitched, I took that as permission to continue, and closed the remaining centimeters between us.
I’d fantasized about her lips on my body, granted it was much lower than my face, but we had to start somewhere. Pillow soft lips, hesitant at first, tested the waters checking for sharks. Not that I could blame her, the sides of me I have shown her have been hot and cold, with no real sample of the perfect in between. I feel her relax, letting me take the lead and set the pace. With a hand in her hair and the other around her middle, I increased the pressure, allowing the passion to increase and my desire to become known. Audrey wasn’t a virgin, Grace was living proof of that, but I would still have to tread lightly with her, showing her the love and affection she was clearly lacking in her previous relationship. No matter how bad I wanted to toss her to the couch and love her until we tasted the same—a soft cry coming from the back of the house reminding me I had to share her. My time alone was up and, honestly, I was okay with that.
“Audrey,” my voice ragged with want for her, “That was one hell of a first kiss, now we can move on to the millions of other firsts for us.” I sealed my promise with a soft kiss as Grace’s cries grew louder, demanding to have her mother back.
Come hell or high water, I wasn’t letting her go ever again.
Forget all the reasons why it won’t work and believe in the one that will.
Dean Morgan was a miracle worker. In a matter of days, not weeks, he got an injunction to immediately remove the loans from my credit. Movers had been contacted to come and remove the trailer this week. I’d held good on my promise to let Priscilla take Grace on occasion, spending time doing silly girl things, right down to having her toe nails painted. According to the video Chase had received, she appeared to love every minute. Grace was my water baby, feeling more at home surrounded by it, than in her comfy pajamas and thick mattress.
“I was thinking,” Chase startled me, his strong arms surrounding me and wrapping me in a protective cage. “Since Momma has the baby, how about I take you out to lunch.” He pressed his lips to my neck. I rejoiced in the feelings his touch created in my belly. I refused to compare Lucas and Chase, there really was no measure to guide me. Chase is the caliber of man I read about in all of those books Lucas called me stupid for reading.
“Keep doing that, Mr. Morgan, and you can have practically anything you want.” With a nip to my earlobe which shot a sensation to the deepest side of me, his groan against my skin send me into oblivion.
“Good to know, Miss Audrey.” Where I called him by his last name, he stayed away from mine. I wouldn’t speculate as to his reason—it was a road too dangerous for my poor heart to travel.
Chase and I treasured our time together, he would arrive at my house every night with a new toy for Grace and a hunger for me, which he quenched once her eyes drifted closed. He took me to places I’ve only imagined, with his sweet words and kisses that even Hollywood would envy. He never asked for more than I was willing to give. As the crickets and frogs sang their lullaby’s, he stepped off my front porch, walking backward into the night, blowing kisses until the darkness made it impossible to see him.
“Need I remind the two of you this is a place of business and we could be fined heavily for sexual harassment.” Dylan sang from the next room, a tenor of humor in his voice.
“It’s only harassment if it’s unwelcomed.” I teased back, tilting my head to the side, capturing Chase’s mouth with mine. “And it’s definitely welcomed.” Chase allowed me to become comfortable with myself, no worry of saying or doing the wrong thing. He laughed with me and not at me, complimenting me on the little things he noticed.
Chase knew I enjoyed having lunch here in the shop as opposed to sitting in a restaurant downtown. I told him of my unhealthy obsession with popcorn and Diet Coke, and he introduced me to his addiction to energy drinks, a side effect from living in Afghanistan and needing to constantly watch his surroundings. We accepted each other’s vices, as they were part of us.
I’d learned from Priscilla, Chase was having a house built on the property he received from his granddaddy. She seemed frustrated with him when he excluded me from making decisions about the design of the house. I had reasoned with her; the day a ring goes on my finger and my last name changes, I’ll be the first to pitch a fit.
This afternoon,
he was meeting with his contractor to go over some changes he wanted in the back of the house. I didn’t question him, I wanted to tread lightly when it came to decisions which didn’t really affect me. Dylan had the music tuned to angry rock, a sure sign he was behind on a deadline. With Chase gone and Dylan occupied, I set about getting some old files ready to be placed on a disk, and the papers destroyed. Austin had downloaded a program to help, since the old owner never tossed anything away.
My back was to the door, as I lifted another box from the floor to my desk, when the alarm for the front door sounded. Since we had no pickups scheduled, and Chase had sent me a text saying he was delayed, I assumed it was a ‘tire kicker’ as Austin called them. People who were either nosey about the new owner or were trying to steal design ideas.
“You fucking bitch!” Met my ears a minute before I felt a punch to the side of my head, leaving me disoriented with a ringing in my ear. “They took my house! Stole it right off the cement pad.” Amy stood ready to punch me again. Her teeth in the front were missing, and there was at least four inches of new growth on the roots of her hair. She had taken a liking to several Disney movies, trying desperately to look like the main character of her favorite one. Unfortunately every time she colored her hair bright red, her roots would return to her natural platinum blonde, or perhaps gray.
Next thing I knew, Dylan has her bent over my desk, with her hands cuffed behind her and reading her Miranda rights. “You have the right to remain silent, bitch use it.” He commands, as he kicked her feet apart. “What’s this?” He slammed her face into the wood grains, as he slapped a handgun beside her fat cheek. “Possession of a firearm by a known felon will send you back to prison.” He runs his fingers inside the pockets of her shorts, pulling out two plastic bags full of what I know to be drugs. “And possession of this much smack, well that’s like the nail in your cell wall.”
Dylan raised his eyes to mine. “Get Chase on the phone, Audrey,” he motioned to the desk. “Tell him what went down and to take you to get checked out.” I attempted to argue, but Dylan shot me down. “Trust me, Audrey. If he finds out we didn’t call him, I will get my ass kicked.”
The thing about the Morgans, when one of them knows something, the word spreads fast. On the inside of half an hour, the cops arrived to take Amy to jail, Dylan broke the news of Lucas’s death to her, and Claire checked me over like a mother hen. But it was Chase who pulled me into his lap, running his fingers up and down my back, repeating over and over how sorry he was.
“Dean, is there someone we can get to handle her parole violation?” Austin asked his daddy, who had arrived when the police pulled up. Dean had heard what happened from Priscilla. She didn’t want Grace to see her momma shaken up, and so she kept her at the house. “It seems asinine for her to spend a few days in jail, get released, and then get picked up for something and arrested again.”
Chase stirred from his position under me. “Someone who doesn’t need to build up his credentials as a prosecutor.”
Dean and Dylan looked at each other briefly as they spoke in unison, “Jackson.”
Chase experienced too much enjoyment as he called up Jackson and let him know I was no longer on the market and would not be joining him for dinner. “She is burning up taxpayer funds with this juvenile behavior she continues to display.” Amy tried to divert the attention to herself, accusing the family of having deep pockets.
“Yep, you’re right. My pockets are deep, but not deep enough to reach the bottom of your fucking throat.” Dylan’s comeback left her speechless.
Claire and Dylan chose to have their bachelor and bachelorette parties close to one another. She had tried to get her momma and sister to come in, however neither would return her calls. She wanted something simple, dinner and cocktails at her favorite restaurant. Dylan let her know it was best she didn’t hear of the plans made on his behalf.
Fortunes restaurant was nestled on the outer banks of the Cooper River. Dylan had taken her there on one of their first dates and she swore to herself if they ever got married, she would have something to do with the event here. The log cabin style restaurant, boasted a covered porch, with a dining reservation list of six months. Claire didn’t care for the bugs which came along with the porch and chose the loft area overlooking the bar and river instead.
Our server was a friend of the Morgans—no surprise as their reputation was stellar. As dinner was winding down and all the gifts had been unwrapped, a group of girls asked to come up to congratulate the bride-to-be.
They sounded like a herd of elephants instead of five ladies in heels and short skirts. One of them in particular, a dark haired, long legged, and strikingly beautiful woman, held back as the others approached Claire. They each gushed over her mammoth ring and the fact she had managed to wrangle the one man in the city everyone thought would never marry.
“Mandy, allow me to introduce the young lady Chase is dating.” Priscilla motioned for me to come stand with her, but not before I noticed the scowl the woman in the corner’s face wore after hearing Priscilla.
“Well, aren’t you a beauty,” Mandy raved, her comment, I believed, was one she used to impress Priscilla. “Cilla, you were blessed with handsome sons and now to have beautiful brides, you may have to lock those gorgeous grandbabies up.”
Priscilla pulls her phone from her purse. “Mandy, look at Chase and Audrey’s little princess, Grace.” I held my tongue and didn’t correct Priscilla’s assignment of my daughter’s father. She continued on, showing her pictures of them at the park and riding one of the horses. “And I can’t wait until she is a little older so we can take her to Disney.” Vacations like this were once pipe dreams. Struggling to put food on the table had been a reality in my world my entire life. Being in the job and position I’m in, has given me hope I’ll be able to take her to see the city a mouse built myself, someday.
As the women hugged Claire and took one last look at her ring, clunking back down the stairs just as loud as when they had come up. “Hey, Claire, who is the ice queen in the corner?” I looked to where the woman remained, inching toward the stairs as she took one last look at us.
“A girl who Dylan fucked. She worked at the hospital for a while until she got into some trouble up north. Last I heard she was trying to break into the adult film business, but I’m not sure how it’s working out for her.” I was surprised by the ease with which Claire accepted a woman from Dylan’s past, there was no hint of wanting to scratch her eyes out.
“Doesn’t it bother you? Having to look at her and know she was with him first?”
“No, not really.” She shrugged her shoulders as Lainie joined us. “We all have skeletons in our closets. It’s healthy to take them out every once in awhile, shake the dust off and put them back..”
“Claire is right. You can let them hover over your relationship or you can remind them they’ve been asked to leave.”
“Congratulations, Claire. It’s some feet to have landed Dylan Morgan. When is your baby due?”
“Wow, Portia, the last time I saw you, they were escorting you out of the ER in handcuffs for drug possession. I know you called Dylan to come bail you out, but he told them to keep you. Bitter much?” Claire possessed a level of confidence I wished I could borrow on occasion.
“Just remember who had him first, bitch.” She sneered, a cockiness in her features.
“Nah, you stood in line for an audition and failed miserably. He took one look at me, now I’m the headliner.”
Two days later, after a long and tiring day at work, I had to stop at the pharmacy to pick up a few items. Things with Chase had progressed to a level where being with him completely was all I could think about. Having another baby…not so much. I had an appointment with the gynecologist, but I wanted to be prepared if things progressed further.
Grace had started working on a new molar, and the pediatrician had recommended a teething cookie. As I reached out to grab the box of condoms, I caught the conversation be
tween a couple of girls on the next aisle.
“Unlike some people, I’m not trying to saddle any man with a baby.”
“I heard the baby isn’t even his, some charity case Priscilla found at the shelter.”
“Does she know about you and Chase?”
“Please, girl, you know that isn’t how I play it. Chase comes to me when he needs to stop pretending, and have me do anything he wants, just like his brothers used to.”
The purple box with silver letters told me it was ribbed for my pleasure. A red box beside it claimed to be maximum sized and the thinnest brand available. While all of them promised protection up to eighty-percent, not a single box said anything about protecting my heart, or how they would give me my money back if this encounter went to shit. Where there were warnings of not using this product if you were allergic to latex, I saw no warning of watching your back when past relationships come back into the picture.
I watched as my fingers dropped to my side, leaving the marginal protection of safe sex behind. Sadly, the only one-hundred-percent foolproof way of keeping your heart and your body out of the equation… abstinence.
“Aren’t you Claire’s friend?” I closed my eyes tight, my body jumping in surprise. “You’re Ashley, right. Chase’s…baby momma?” I didn’t care to correct her. Standing before me was the ice queen from the other night, dressed just as provocatively as a girl going to a club instead of the corner pharmacy. “Although, Chase has never mentioned you or this blue eyed beauty here.” Kneeling down slightly, she tried to get Grace to look at her. I would punch the shit out of her if she touched my baby. “Wow, she really does have his eyes. Good thing, huh?” Ginny and this bitch could be best friends, always with an agenda, a prize to be won. Chewing up girls like me and spitting us back out, laughing as they step over the pieces.
Absolute Valor (Southern Justice #3) Page 24
