by Dee Ellis
Hunter pounded into me now, harder and faster, the axles of the SUV protesting beneath the force. My fingers wound around his wrists as he tightened his hold, but I didn’t try to tear his hands away. I liked the pressure. The weight of him pinning me down. Punishing me.
“Fuck. So fucking good being inside you, baby. Feeling you come for me. Watching those pretty tits go pink. Fucking sexy.” Hunter lowered and drug his mouth over mine.
That did it. The press of his lips, the push of his tongue, it took me right over the edge. My fingers clutched at his bald head, marking the flesh as I came again. Hunter pumped a few more times before he moaned long and low into my mouth, coming too.
I closed my limbs around his wide shoulders and waist, clutching him close. We were both panting and breathless. Hunter, still clothed, was soaked. He allowed the sweaty, sticky embrace for a moment.
Pushing off me, smirking when I whimpered in protest, he straightened. My jaw loosened when he tore his shirt off. Sweaty abs. Pecs. Tattoos. Swoon. Quickly, he stepped out of everything else, shedding it like skin.
“I got clothes for you, Darlin’. Mind changing for me?” Hunter’s voice dripped with sugary sweetness as I gaped at him.
Completely nude on the side of the road, he was so damn gorgeous. Forgive me, he still had his cute cowboy boots on. I liked them. Made a point to tell him. All that was mine? Like, forever? Forever, ever? Swoon, indeed.
“You are legit the hottest man I have ever seen. I mentioned that before, right?” Just like that, the past days of being apart, seemed to vanish.
“Perhaps. Reckon you can mention that whenever you want to, Darlin’. You are the most beautiful creature I ever laid eyes on. Told you that too, right?” Hunter gave me that smile with the dimple and dropped over me, kissing me soft and sweet.
We dressed by the side of the road, two cars passing with honks and a few whistles. Not only had he packed my bag, with the pages of my graphic novel Seth had torn from my hands back in Chicago, but he’d packed a few bags. After slipping on a sundress and some sandals, I climbed back into the passenger seat.
Hunter joined me moments later, in cargo shorts and a wife beater, making my pulse pound. Reaching across the console, he took my left hand. Bringing it up, he pressed his lips to it, watching me with those soft eyes. The softest ones.
“I love you, Lola. We headed east or west?” He posed the question once again. Now the space between us was hot, smelled of sex, but it was soft again and I smiled.
“West, baby. I love you, Hunter. So much.” I let my head thunk back against the headrest behind me.
“In that case…got a little something in mind for the trip home, Darlin’. Up for it?” I quirked a brow and lifted a shoulder.
“Don’t know exactly what ‘it’ is, but why not? I walked away from my family. The shadows. Back into the brightness that is Hunter Byrne. I’m up for anything with you, love.” I winked and he smiled.
“That’s what I want to hear. Let’s go home, Darlin’.”
Except, we didn’t go home. Not right away, at least. Those bags? Part of an extended road trip he had planned. Honeymoon part two, he said. The SUV had been chosen for a reason. A place to sleep if needed, fuck when he wanted, and truck us through some mountains and whatever weather the slowly changing spring brought.
We spent one night at a hotel on the border of Maine and Vermont. Made calls to Deacon Cooper; something about the fire, I guess. Then the rest of the crew. Our first call went to Finn and Gigi, who happened to be having Cage and Charli over for dinner. Four birds with one stone. Then Levi, where I heard Gerdie being mouthy in the background.
The next morning, we set out. Stopped at all the tourist traps on the eastern seaboard. The Salem witch house. The Smithsonian—my choice—the monuments in DC, a Hatfield and McCoy museum, The liberty bell. If there was a tour, we took it. We stopped everywhere and took our time at each stop.
We were making memories. Ones for me to hold on to, look back at, and talk about later. We took photos and picked up silly souvenirs and got the T-shirt. Ate the food and rode the rides and stopped to look at it all. Make it part of us.
Hunter also talked. About the fire and the evidence that would likely send Seth away. Because powerful Daddy or not, it sounded like Deacon had him dead to rights for setting the fire that could have killed me. If not for my sexy, sooty hero, of course.
He told me about all the dirt Diggs and he had on my father. On Boyd. My mother, and even Poppy. The scheme my little sister had run on his parents was not her first rodeo. Poppy had been using Lawton Holdings, my father’s hedge fund firm, to rob people all over the country. Take their money, promise a return, then pocket said return, if there was any. Which also meant she was embezzling.
I told him about the filth Poppy and Seth had admitted to about their relationship with Bart. That my wedding night was going to be the first time he proposed such a thing. With my own sister. Who, by the way, was about nineteen at the time. It still ate me up a little that I had abandoned her.
“You were a kid too, Darlin’. Fighting your way out of the shadows they tried to keep you in. Your father is the puppeteer of that monster she became. Fucking prick. Besides outing him, I don’t know how to take him down the way we will Seth.” I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a part of my father being taken down, as it were, but I can’t say I didn’t think he deserved it.
While we talked about regrets, Hunter told me about Holly. About their exchange at the airport that rid him of the last pieces of baggage she’d left him with. Both had said their piece. I was glad for that. I didn’t wish to have the same touching moment with Seth, however; I could never forgive all he had taken from me.
Really though, he had given me something too. Taking all those pieces of me, it forced me to find new ones. Ones that fit me right. Walking away had been the first time I’d made a choice for myself. Though he had not made that easy, he had chased me all the way to Hunter. Which had ended nicely. Maybe I should thank him.
Hunter sang to me, no matter what station was on, no matter who sang it. I rode shotgun beside him, my knees brought up to my chest as I listened and enjoyed the trip for what it was. The two of us starting again. Not just us. But ourselves. Who we thought we were, who we wanted to be, and who we no longer wanted to be.
I wanted to leave Violet Lawton in the past. In the shadows. Lola Von, too. Because she had only been part of who I wanted to be. Lola Byrne? She was who I aspired to be. A wife who loved her husband, loved her friends, her job, her cute little condo. Who wrote her stories in bright colors and inappropriate language. That was who I was.
Hunter? I think he was a man who thought he needed to be a hero once. To his town, his family, to his high school sweetheart. To the men at his station and the lives he saved. Even to me. Now, he just was a man who loved his wife, her stupid mouthy bird, and our friends. Sounded like a man good man to me.
“Where are we now, baby?” I wondered as I peered at the open atlas on my lap. Over a week on the road and I just wanted to see more.
I had added my own destinations in bright colors. Places we had kissed in the moonlight. Fucked in the sunlight. And moonlight. Told scary stories by a fire he lit before I could blink. Bright and colorful, these earmarks marred the eastern side of the US map.
By my accounts, we were nearing Mississippi. We’d passed through Jackson and were due for a break. The SUV, now dusty and overflowing with mementos of the trip so far, needed gas and a wash and so did I. I was starving and a bit tired. But never happier in my entire life.
“Almost home, baby.” Was Hunter’s smirking response.
My shoulder bounced once before I went back to reading about New Orleans. I certainly wanted to stop there. My kind of city. Creepy and kinky? Fuck yeah. My stomach growled and Hunter chuckled. The laugh made me twist to face him. Hear the words he had just said.
“Almost home? What? Hunter Byrne. Are you taking me home to your family?” Horror rose my voice w
ith every word.
I was not prepared. Not for any of it. I wanted to meet them, of course. He loved his parents and his sister. But, I had basically walked out on their golden boy about two weeks ago. Broken his heart. It didn’t matter that I’d foolishly done it to protect not just him, but them as well. I’d done it.
“I am, Darlin’.” I shot up in my seat, ripping down the visor to glare at my appearance in the tiny mirror.
My bruises had faded, my lip healed. However, I was too pink from the sun. I had taken my extensions out and bottle dyed my hair the first night at the hotel. Strawberry and blueberry Kool-Aid provided the stripes of colors. My linen strapless dress, with its huge flower on the left breast, and ballet flats with tiny dinosaurs on the tips were not family-meeting appropriate. Also, I needed a shower. Stat.
Hunter laughed as I rattled this all off, smoothing my hair behind my ears. I yanked my sunglasses back over my eyes and pouted at him. Before I could threaten to withhold sex—which would be a bold-faced lie—or something as menacing, he turned off the exit.
“No. No, no no! I am not prepared. I have never…never had to meet the parents. I don’t have the right dress or…shoes. Hunter!” I began to panic, unable to breathe, tears blurring my vision.
“Oh, baby, calm down.” He angled the SUV off to the side of the road, his heavy hand smoothing slow circles at my back.
“I don’t want to fuck it up. Please. I’m not ready.” Hunter slid his fingers into the hair at my nape, tugging me back up.
“Yes, you are. I love you. The will love you by association. You look fucking stunning as always. Besides, my Daddy loves dinosaurs.” He tipped his head toward the bright red shoes, and I groaned.
“You could have warned me. I smell like stale Cheetos and root beer.” I whined, kicking my foot against the dash board.
“Baby. Hush. I promised you I’d take you home to meet them. I also promised Mama I’d swing by on the way home. They want to meet you. It’s non-negotiable, mmkay? Love you, sweetheart.” Hunter pressed a chaste kiss to my nose and pulled back out.
I pouted the entire distance from that exit to his parents’ place. Until I laid eyes on their place.
It was positively perfect. I twisted in my seat, sticking my head on my folded arms to gaze at the sprawling farm as we took the dusty road leading to it. It had a wide porch that wrapped seemingly all the way around the front. The clapboard siding was bright yellow and there were gray shutters on the cute windows.
An aging gray barn sat off in in a corner, and a paddock with horses rested beside it. Horses. Cows. I even saw some chickens. I smirked as I thought about my Hunter as a boy, chasing chickens and tipping cows. They did shit like that in the country, right?
As we took the gravel road leading toward the house, I frowned. I expected the beat-up work truck. Even the little older model explorer next to it. What I did not expect? The entire driveway, which wound around a lovely flower bed out front, to be full of cars. Familiar cars.
“Hunter. Byrne. What have you done?” I twisted back to see him soft. So fucking soft, my chest fluttered and my nose twitched with tears.
“Getting it right, Darlin’. Just trying to get it right.” We parked behind the massive black truck I knew all too well and climbed out.
On the porch, several people sat. Colorful lights were strung from the porch. Little mason jar lanterns lit the stone pathway up to the house. As we approached, the tears came. Of course, they did. Gigi. Charli. Cage and Finn. Even Levi. They were here. So was Brynn. Deacon and even Gwen. They sat on benches, on rocking chairs, even on the wide steps.
My entire fucking life was here. Waiting for us.
“Hunter…” I twisted to ask just what he had done.
When I spun back, Hunter was gone. Only, he was there, really; just down on one knee. A bright blue box in his hand. I expected a ring. Instead, inside was a little sharpie. Bright purple. I covered my mouth with a trembling hand as he held it out to me. Peering up at me, he went even softer.
“Lola…will you marry me? Again? Let us get it right this time, with the important people there.” I nodded before he finished the last word and his smile was watery.
Hunter took the marker out and drew a ring around my finger. This time it had a big purple diamond on it. I never wanted a real ring. Just that thick band we’d tattooed. And this one I’d have tattooed when we got back home.
They were bright, colorful. Permanent. Just like us.
19
Throwing together a wedding while in the midst of the honeymoon had been something else. Technically, it was the second for both. Our first wedding at the court house had never felt right to me. The week we spent fucking our brains out didn’t exactly scream honeymoon either. Then again, that’s what you do on your honeymoon, right?
I’d made one call the night we’d spent in the hotel. Gwen Cooper. I had plotted most the road trip by then as my way to woo my wife, if needed. Turned out she didn’t need much wooing past Vermont. But, I digress. Gwen lived to throw a party and had all the right connections to make it happen fast.
After promising to keep Lola on the road long enough to let her work her magic, I’d given her free reign. My only requests were to make it bright and loose. And to get my fucking family there. Meaning the Coopers, their girls, and Levi. Gerdie too. Even got in contact with Lola’s bestie, Brynn. Everyone who mattered was here.
“Let us get it right this time.” I didn’t think it was exactly wrong the first time around. Nothing with wrong with being double sure.
I wanted to get it all right this time. Every part of us. To do that, I had to start it right. The way I had married Holly had been about her. All the people, the pomp. None of that was me. Lola’s first wedding had been seedier and ended in tragedy. My lady deserved a do-over.
Lola’s admittance that she can’t have kids hurt. Not because it changed how I felt for her. Nothing could ever change that. But because, I know it hurts her, makes her feel like she’s cheating me out of something. Truth is, I’d take just Lola for the rest of my life. No regrets.
My Mama struggled to have children as well, so I know the heartache. They wanted more kids, but myself and my sister were all they managed. We were happy. They were fulfilled. I knew if they’d had one, or none, they’d have been just as happy. Because my parents’ love for each other, that’s what fulfilled them.
That’s what would fulfill us too.
“Missed you, sweetheart.” My Mama bellows as the crowd gathered on the porch heads for us.
Guilt tugs at the edges of my happiness. I should have brought Lola here ages ago. Let the world know I intended to put a ring on it. Or that, I’d tattooed a ring on it, rather. We’re here to do it right now, and that’s what matters.
“Missed you too, Mama. Daddy.” I take turns hugging them both, then Honor, lifting her off her feet.
“Look at you,” Mama cooed, holding her arms out towards Lola, “Aren’t you just a lovely little thing. Come on in, sugar, we are an affectionate bunch. Best get used to it now.” Lola giggled and ducked into Mama’s arms, snuggling in.
Pressure pinched at my nose as I watched my family welcome her. Taking turns embracing her, Daddy kissing the top of her head. All of them squeezing her long and tight. Honor rocked her back and forth, both of them giggling. Fuck, I was a lucky man. Maybe I didn’t deserve it, but I was taking it.
“Hey, bro,” Finn was there, clapping me on the back, “Good to see you not on the nightly news.” We did that one-armed hug dudes do before I punched him once.
“Murder was plan B, dick. Thanks for coming.” We share a moment, and then I move on to Cage.
“Proud of you, man. For doing things right. For not giving up. You deserve this, Hunter. Don’t think you don’t. That will fuck it up.” Cage was a good man, and I owed a lot to his family. Especially now.
Deacon and I stepped aside as he pretended to congratulate me too. Really, he was telling me they were filing charges Monday mornin
g on Seth Fairchild for arson and attempted murder. Then he said almost the same words Cage had. That I was getting it right and I deserved it. Not to fuck it up.
“Oh hush, sweetheart. Come here, boy.” Gwen stepped up, actually shoving between us, clasping my jaw in her hands.
“Thank you, Gwen. For…for everything,” My eyes darted to the barn where I knew she had set up the perfect wedding for us, “I could not have done this without you.” Gwen shook her head, smiling in that way that wise mothers do.
“You did this, sweetheart. You and that sweet girl. I just threw the party for it. I watched the other one,” We both knew she meant my first marriage, and I started to look away but she didn’t let me, “Watched you give and her take and you take when you should have been giving. This time, be sure to take, but honey, don’t stop giving because the last one didn’t give back. This one will.” I nodded, my eyes blurry as I let her bring me in for a hug.
I made the rounds with the other girls, watching Gigi and Charli beam at Lola with love in their eyes. She deserved them. Girls who would love her, be there with her after the shadows cleared. I met Brynn and something about her felt familiar. Maybe because she knew Lola like no one else. Except, maybe, me.
After all the hellos and hugs and kisses, we followed Mama and Daddy inside. Though our family had been small, my mother, like Gwen, never knew a stranger. I could see them in the kitchen now, like old friends, tending to their flock.
The dining room filled up with all of us, with a little room to spare. Mama, Honor, and Gwen began serving a meal as we all got settled. The girls, my wife included, leapt to their feet and went to help. There was a moment where the men at the table exchanged knowing looks.
We’d gotten some of the good ones.
“Tell me if I look like a fucking dick.” I demanded as I look back at myself in the mirror.
“Of course, you look like a dick.” Levi laughed from his perch on the log frame bed behind me.
