Marked By The Devil

by Joanna Blake

  “What then?”

  “Something we’ve wanted for a really long time.”

  I looked at her, my forehead scrunched up.

  “Sex in a hot tub? Fuzzy handcuffs? Hot oil?”

  She laughed.

  “I said something we wanted. Not just something you wanted!”

  I stood perfectly still as she slipped her arms around me. She took pity on me in that moment. I could tell by the sweet look in her eyes right before she told me.

  “We’re having another baby.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Pretty darn sure.”

  I let out a whoop and scooped her up, turning her in a circle. She giggled and slapped my arm, shouting at me to put her down. I set her on her feet just in time to watch her cover her mouth and run for the sink. I cringed as she vomited, rubbing her back as she splashed cool water on her face. I grabbed her a clean dishtowel to blot the water away.

  “Sorry, love. I guess that cinches it.”

  She giggled again. Her eyes got wide. And she power-hurled. Mostly on my shirt. But we were both smiling the whole time.

  “That was the first bout of morning sickness. I guess that makes it official.”

  “Yes, you hot little mama. It is official.”

  We hugged, ignoring the puke, and then I carried her into the bathroom. I turned on the shower while she brushed her teeth. Then I started pulling her clothes off, kissing her skin as it was revealed. I knelt and pulled her panties off before kissing my way back up her body. She giggled as I kissed her belly and then her gorgeous breasts. She was so beautiful it made my head spin. I started to kiss her lips and she stopped me.

  “Are you sure?” She cocked an eyebrow at me and I laughed.

  “You brushed, didn’t you?” I kissed her soft and deep. “Besides, it’s not like you haven’t puked on me before.”

  I pushed open the glass shower door and guided her inside. We took our time lathering each other up, kissing and touching each other. I took a washcloth and rubbed soap on it before gently washing her bottom. By the time we were clean, we were both breathless and eager to get to the bed. I wrapped her in a towel and carried her to the bedroom, leaving a trail of water droplets behind me.

  I laid her gently on the bed and tugged the towel away. She giggled as I pounced on her, careful of her midsection, growling like a wildcat. Then I licked my way down her belly to her pussy and she stopped laughing. I took my time, even though I was already leaking precum. I wanted to get inside her, but I wanted to make her feel good first.

  Hell, it was a point of pride to me. I wanted to prove I could still make my wife scream in pleasure. More than once, too.

  “Try not to wake the lil angel with your sex noises,” I said with a smirk as I lowered my head between her thighs. I had a good ole time making her squeal. She had her hand over her mouth when she came. I was grinning the whole time.

  Then I slid into her welcoming heat and I was the one who had to stifle my moans. She felt so damn good. It was like coming home every damn time.

  I tried to go slow. I really did. But my body took over, driving deep until I lost my rhythm and lost control. I bucked like a wild man, hissing love words between clenched teeth. And Sally was right there with me. She climaxed hard and this time, there was no silencing her. I didn’t even try.

  Both of us were loud at the end, and we were not surprised to hear Lilly’s little feet pattering around as we lay there beside each other, covered in sweat. I laughed, still trying to catch my breath. Sally started to rise but I pushed her back and threw a blanket over her.

  “Rest. I got this. She can have her dinner now, right?”

  She nodded, snuggling deeper into the covers.

  I walked into the nursery, looking for my daughter. I decided to move Lilly to a bigger room down the hallway a little way, and change the colors in here. Well, the soft lavender worked for another girl. But if we had a boy . . .

  I grinned. My wife was against the whole pink and blue thing. She was a fan of soft green and buttery yellows. And lavender, obviously. Whatever she wanted, I would make it happen. I cradled our daughter against my chest, pressing a kiss into her downy blonde hair.

  We’re gonna have another baby.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Callaway

  “Tell me if it hurts. I’ll stop.”

  “Shut up, Callaway.”

  I glared at the beauty in my chair. She gave me an exasperated look. But then she kissed me.

  So I forgave her.

  “Of course it’s going to hurt. I’ll tell you if it gets too bad. Okay?”

  I’d already done mine, finding a spot just above my heart that had room for it. An intertwining design with our names and the eternity symbol, with intricate flourishes that elevated it way beyond a simple ‘so-and-so and so-and-so forever’ type of tat. You had to look closely to see what the meaning was.

  But we knew.

  And we’d both wear it forever.

  It was funny, but I’d never liked giving this kind of tat. I’d turned down the work eighty percent of the time. The couple shit seemed like bad voodoo to me. I’d thought it was all just a disaster waiting to happen. I’d expected every single customer to come back and ask me to ink over it a few years, or even a few months later. But now I knew why they wanted it.

  I finally understood.

  If I could tat her name on every inch of my skin, I would. She was so deep inside me, it was on the cellular level. She was already in my heart, so why not my skin? I felt better with her name on my flesh. Secure. She’d always be with me now, every second of every day.

  “Okay, sweetheart. Here goes.”

  I’d already iced her skin and dried it. Made her have a stiff drink. Everything I usually sneered at. But she was my woman, and I wanted this to hurt as little as possible. I’d do anything for my lady, dammit.

  Even mark her. It was crazy but this felt inevitable. Like we’d been working our way up to this moment since the exact instant we met. It was sacred in a way. It felt ceremonial. It felt like a real commitment.

  So I began.

  To her credit, she didn’t make a sound. Not when I did the outline. Not when I started to fill in the details. Not even when I started the shading.

  “Want to take a break? I’m nearly done.”

  She shook her head. I knew she was in pain but she wanted me to finish. So I did.

  Then I was cleaning her up, bandaging her carefully, and hauling her out of the chair to sit on my lap. Her tat wasn’t in the same place as mine. Hers was on her shoulder, where it would be easier to cover up if she needed to. For professional reasons, of course.

  The rest of the time, she’d wear it with pride. She’d even teased me about only wearing muscle shirts and tank tops to show off her ink. I teased her that if she showed that much skin all the time, I’d have to run around town cracking skulls because everyone would be ogling her.

  Mols told me she loved the new tat. She called it her ‘brand’ but it was more than that.

  It’s a promise.

  “You hungry?”

  She nodded, curled up on my lap like a kitten.

  “I thought we could swing by Mae’s and bring something to the home.”

  I knew she meant for Tommy. We’d been back together for a couple of weeks and Tommy had been improving the whole time. The kid was amazing. Apparently, all the stuff Molly had done for him had worked. All that talking and singing and stimulation. She’d had the nurses play soft classical music when she wasn’t there, though not at night, obviously. She’d held his hand each and every day he’d been in the coma. Just her presence had helped. Her voice had kept his brain working enough to repair the damage.

  He would be moving in with us soon. I was working around the clock to get the house ready. So were all the guys, even Jack. He’d put his own dream house on hold to get us in our home even faster. And damn if I didn’t love him even more for it.

  I pressed a kiss to M
olly’s head and set her on her feet. I wanted her, but there was time for that later. She belonged to me now and slept in my bed every night. I didn’t need to pounce on her when we had family to eat dinner with. But I would pounce on her after that.

  Life was good. I had my woman and we were going to start a family together. We already were a family. The two of us would have been enough, but Tommy was the icing on the cake. A baby would be the cherry on top.

  I was pretty sure I was the luckiest guy in the whole damn world.

  Chapter Thirty

  Molly

  “Would you like some coleslaw, Bonnie?”

  I smiled fondly at Tommy. He was so polite. He’d made fast friends with Bonnie, even though she was in the residential wing and he had been in critical care all this time. They also had a hospice section but that was in a separate building. Thankfully, none of our loved ones were there. Now he was in a new room in the ‘transitional’ wing. It was where they put people before they got a permanent room.

  People on the way in, and people on the way out.

  Thankfully, Tommy was on his way out.

  It was heartbreaking to see a kid in a facility like this. The residential wing was really nice, and Bonnie loved it, but Tommy belonged in school. Out playing. Having fun. And very soon, he would be.

  He was coming home in a few short weeks. Hopefully, we’d be ready for him. I was working a lot of hours at the dance studio. Basically, anything open on the schedule, I wrote my name in. Callaway had said he would cover my balance at the nursing home, but I wanted to contribute as much as I could.

  He was my brother, after all.

  My heart swelled with pride as I looked around the room.

  Family. I finally have my family.

  That’s what this felt like. Callaway and I on the faded green vinyl chairs, Bonnie beside Tommy’s bed in her wheelchair. Not that she needed it all the time, but it was about a hundred-yard walk from her room, so Callaway insisted on wheeling her over in it. He was such a good man, I mused to myself. He took care of everyone around him. His heart was so big, it had room for all of us. I’d never have thought it the first time I saw him, but he was born for this.

  Callaway is the ultimate family man.

  “So, what happened in PT today?”

  Callaway took a bite of his food and waited expectantly. Tommy was always making us laugh with his stories from physical therapy and around the home. He had a distinctly . . . teenage perspective on how things went around here.

  “Oh, I did a new trick!”

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “Well, they have these bars.”

  “Bars?”

  “You put your weight on them to help your legs get stronger.”

  I nodded. “I see.” Tommy had a twinkle in his eye, so I knew this was going to be good.

  “I’ve been doing it for a while. Sometimes, I even take my hands off and stand without them.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing! You’ll be walking in no time!”

  He grinned.

  “Walking? Dude, I’m almost ready for the Olympics! Oh, so today, I figured out it was the perfect place to do dips.” He pulled up his sleeve and flexed for us. “I’m getting so buff!”

  I chortled, nearly snorting out the French fry I’d been snacking on. Callaway gave me a look and Bonnie broke into giggles. Tommy was being funny, of course, but the thing was, he did look better.

  Tommy was no longer the waif-like kid he’d been all these years. I’d overheard a nurse calling him Snow White at one point. I didn’t get mad, even if it did make me cry. He was so pale and still.

  Now, he had pink in his cheeks and some meat on his bones. And while he wasn’t buff, he wasn’t scrawny anymore either. He was gaining strength and it showed.

  “So buff,” I agreed, throwing at French fry at him.

  He caught the French fry in midair. Tommy winked as he popped it into his mouth.

  “Mmm, grease! Just what this growing boy needs!”

  I was laughing again, holding my belly and trying not to upchuck. I was full and happy. I was safe. I had a roof over my head and so did my brother. I even had a job I liked. I had friends.

  And most of all, I had Callaway.

  I laid my head on his shoulder and listened to the three of them talk, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Callaway

  “Catch!”

  I tossed Mac and Lucky each a cold beer. Mac saluted me and popped the top, taking a long pull. It was hot and the guys were all sweaty. I owed them beer at the very least. Lots and lots of beer.

  Not that I wouldn’t have hauled ass for any one of them. Even Mac, that fucker. We’d nearly come to blows a couple of weeks before. Or I’d tried to beat the crap out of him but failed, mostly due to being shithoused.

  He’d tried to keep me from drinking myself into oblivion during the almost-breakup with Mols. Not surprisingly, my drunk ass had taken offense. I reminded myself not to blame him. He’d been tending bar and just following orders. Dev had said to cut me off, so he did, like a good little soldier. Now he was here with the others in my time of need. And I really fucking needed every last one of them.

  Today was moving day.

  Mac, his cousin Donnie, Dev, Jack, and Whiskey were here. Even Lucky had showed, even though the guy had been riding me mercilessly about Molly. He kept asking me if she had a twin sister for him to bone. I knew he was doing it to irritate me and it worked. I did not find it even slightly amusing. I shook my head. Dev had told me I couldn’t murder him. Dev was the club Prez and since he was also carrying my shit, just like the rest of us, I decided to do as he asked. Mac was the only real grunt here, still in the probationary stage of membership. But as Donnie’s cousin and the new club bartender, he had a lot more pull than your average recruit. Hell, even as extended family, he was already in the family even before he set foot in the clubhouse.

  Even my sweet granny, Bonnie, was protected by the SOS.

  It wasn’t so hard to imagine her in leather, truth be told.

  I grabbed another box and carried it into the house. Our house. Nobody had noticed that it was all my shit. I grimaced. Molly really didn’t have a pot to piss in. I wanted to change all that. Not only was the deed of the house in both our names, but I’d already started buying her clothes. I wanted her to have books, makeup, jewelry, and anything her heart desired. I’d forced her to pick out all the paint colors and light fixtures. She’d been shy at first, but once she got the hang of it, it was easy going.

  I grinned to myself.

  My woman has damn fine taste, if I do say so myself.

  Jack walked past me carrying, I shit you not, a stack of five boxes. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I pointed to the kitchen. With a grunt, he ambled that way, looking not unlike a redwood that had uprooted itself from the earth and was helping me move.

  The man really was a giant.

  I laughed and set my box down in the master bedroom, then jogged out to get another. Just in time to see a car pull up. I saw a flash of red hair and knew immediately that Janet was driving. I squinted and saw that Kaylie was in the front seat. Molly was in the back, peering out the window at the house.

  Hell, they were all craning their necks.

  I smirked, wagging my finger at them.

  “You ladies were not supposed to be here yet.”

  Molly smiled beatifically. “We were just taking a quick ride—”

  Becky jumped in, finishing her sentence. “And we happened to pass this way so—”

  Kaylie jumped in. “So we decided to say hi!”

  I shook my head sternly.

  “You were all being nosy. Just admit it.”

  They looked at each other guiltily. All of them looked contrite except Janet, who was giving me a knowing smile. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at them.

  “Everything was supposed to be perfect before Molly saw it. It’s a surprise, remembe
r?”

  “It is perfect,” she piped up. I smiled at her. She was so sweet and loyal. She was wedged between Becky and Sally or I would have pulled her out and put her over my knee for a soft spanking.

  After kissing those luscious lips of hers.

  I made a mental note to put a spanking on the menu for tonight. She hadn’t minded last time, and it had made me even hornier than usual. That ass of hers was epic. Basically, it had turned me into a set of balls with an erect cock dragging a man around behind him.

  “Alright, if you want to see it, you can come in. I was about to start unpacking so you didn’t have to do it.”

  “But I want to!”

  Janet got out of the car, slamming the door shut.

  “Silly man. Don’t you know women love unpacking?” She raised an eyebrow as she walked past. “Otherwise, how can we tell you men where things are when you can’t find them?”

  My jaw dropped and Kaylie and Molly started giggling.

  Becky nodded wisely, patting my shoulder.

  “It’s not like you aren’t going to ask her where something is fifty times a day.”

  “I am?”

  “Yes. It’s biology.”

  “Huh.”

  Becky nodded sagely and followed Janet toward the house. Sally and Kaylie were right behind her. I caught Molly in my arms when she tried to sneak past me.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!”

  She squealed as I hoisted her up against me so that her cute little feet were dangling in the air.

  “Callaway!”

  “You’re a bad little girl, you know that?”

  Her cheeks turned bright pink as she played along.

  “I am?”

  “Oh, yes. And later tonight, you’re going to get a spanking!”

  Her eyes got wider and her cheeks got redder. She opened her mouth to protest but I stopped her with a kiss. A thorough, heart-thumping, toe-curling kiss that went right to my cock.