But really, as much as I’d love to blame him, this is all on me. “It's my fault. If you are looking for absolution, you have it. You might have brought Dawn into our lives, but it was my own reckless stupidity that caused all this. Go. I don’t blame you, but I don’t have time to deal with anything else beyond my wife right now.”
“Asher, this isn’t your fault either—”
I cut him off, climbing to my feet and rounding on him. “I set this in motion. All I saw was the resort I so greedily wanted. I was desperate, and Dawn seemed like the ideal candidate— shallow and money-hungry. When I found out about Linda, I dropped the idea with Dawn, but she wasn’t as happy to let go. When she crossed me, I bankrupted her. I got her fired and blackballed her so nobody in this city would work with her again or fall for her charms and find themselves a new ex-wife.”
I look over at Linda’s unmoving form, her skin an array of yellow and green bruises.
“I just didn’t realize Linda would be the one to pay the ultimate price.” I swallow hard, fighting to keep my emotions in check. “I can’t lose her, Dad. I can’t—” I choke, and for the first time since I was a boy, I find myself wrapped up in my father's arms as I cry into his shoulder.
We stand there, father and son, and all the anger and resentment built up over the years just disappear.
“She is going to pull through. She has a lot to come back to,” he tells me, pulling back and looking me dead in the eye.
Before I can answer, the sound of a throat clearing has us both turning to face the door. Peterson stands in the doorway looking haggard, as if he has aged ten years in the last two weeks.
“I came to see my daughter,” he informs us solemnly.
With a squeeze to my shoulder, my dad indicates with his head that he’ll be outside. I wait for him to close the door behind him before speaking.
“I’m not leaving her, so don’t ask,” I tell him, happy my voice sounds stronger than I feel.
“She’ll kick my ass when she wakes up if I do that,” he remarks.
My lips twitch into a semblance of a smile at that. “She will, won’t she?” I walk over and take my spot in the chair next to the bed and indicate for Peterson to do the same on the opposite side.
“I have so much I need to say to her,” he says quietly.
I don’t speak, I just lift Linda’s hand gently and link my fingers through hers.
“Do you think she knows how much I love her?” he asks. His words score a path across my skin, opening a wound that has barely scabbed over.
It’s a question I’ve asked myself daily. Does she know how much she means to me? Did I tell her enough, or show her in a thousand tiny ways that my day started and ended with her?
She’s the air in my lungs, and as she hovers between life and death, I feel I’m slowly suffocating, drowning in guilt and what ifs. If she dies, it will be the end of me too, because I can’t breathe without her.
“She knows.” It’s what he needs to hear.
“I lost so much time with her because of my own stubbornness. I’ll never forgive myself if—”
I cut him off before he can continue. “Don’t finish that sentence. You don’t get to give up on her while she is fighting tooth and nail to hold on. I don’t give a fuck if you agree with me or not. There’s the door, show yourself out.”
He doesn’t leave, but he doesn’t argue with me, so I let it go.
“When was the last time you went home?” he asks me quietly a moment later.
“I’ll leave when she does.”
“Asher.” He sighs.
I turn to look at him. “I leave when she does.”
He studies me, regarding the futility of whatever he was going to say next, and eventually just nods.
For the next hour, Peterson sits silently as I read to Linda, one of the books she had started on her kindle before her accident. Looking at the scene that’s next, I chuckle.
“If you don’t wake up, Skittle, I’m going to keep reading, and I’m not sure your father is going to want to hear about the upcoming sex scene. He might think his little girl is some kind of deviant,” I tease.
“Don’t you dare,” a voice rasps.
Whipping my head up at the sound of the croaky voice, I find myself staring into big blue eyes. I feel my throat get tight as I fight back the overwhelming sense of relief.
“Jesus, fuck.” I drop the Kindle on the bed and stand, leaning down over Linda, pressing my lips to her forehead.
Tears run down over her cheeks faster than I can wipe them away.
“Took you long enough,” I scold her, making her laugh softly.
“I’m sorry. I-I got lost. But then I heard your voice and I followed it home.”
“Don’t you ever leave me again,” I order, swallowing down the lump in my throat.
“Never. I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
“Linda?”
I pull back slightly so she can see her father, but I don’t let go. I’ll never let her go again.
“Oh, baby,” he sobs, his shoulders bowing as he cries against the hand he’s still holding.
She doesn’t say anything as she watches him, giving him a moment to collect himself. The love she has for him shines from her eyes, and when he looks up at her a moment later, his love for her is reflected back.
“Mom says, ‘hey.’ She wants you to know she loves you, but she told me to remind you of something,” Linda says quietly, making Peterson freeze. “She died, not you. So live. Live for you, for her, and for your future grandchildren.”
I don’t say anything to interrupt the poignant moment between them.
He wipes his eyes and stands, pressing his own kiss to Linda’s brow before stepping back with a look of peace on his face.
“Thank you. I’ll give you both some time alone, but I’ll be back, I promise. I love you, Linda, and I’m so sorry if I ever made you question that.”
“I love you too, Dad,” she replies, and we watch as he leaves the room before closing the door quietly behind him.
Turning back to face her, I find her watching me with a soft smile on her beautiful face.
“Hey, hubby.”
“Wife,” I choke out before I bend over, press my head against her stomach, and lose my shit while she strokes my hair, anchoring me in place.
“You didn’t let me go,” she whispers, making me turn to look at her.
“Never. Not today and not tomorrow. You’re mine until I have no more days left in this body, and then I’ll wait for you on the other side.”
And I would.
Nothing will keep me from Linda ever again.
Epilogue
Asher
“You ready for this?” Graham asks from beside me as I fix my tie.
I turn to look at him and glare.
“Right, just asking. Not many people marry their wives,” he points out.
“Stop teasing him.” Soraya chuckles, handing him their four-month-old son, Lorenzo.
“Where’s Chloe?” he questions, tucking his sleeping son against his chest.
“With Tig and Delia. I’m heading back out there now. You have five minutes, boys.” She lifts up on her tiptoes and kisses my cheek. “You look very handsome, Asher. Linda is a lucky woman.”
“Hey, those lips are mine,” Graham grumbles at her, careful not to wake the baby.
“You know, sometimes, I agree with Linda,” she says with a smile as she pulls open the door.
“What's that supposed to mean?” he questions with a frown. He and my wife might have a truce of sorts, but he is still not her favorite person. I fill that role.
“That you’re lucky you have a big dick,” Soraya says with a laugh, pulling the door closed behind her.
“I regret the day I ever let those two meet,” he tells me, making me laugh. “You ready?” he asks again when I turn to look in the mirror at the dark gray suit and rainbow-colored tie.
I smile, looking down at my ring finge
r that stings a little and smile at my new tattoo. Oh fuck, yes, I’m ready.
Linda
“Come in,” I call out when I hear a knock on the door, but I don't take my eyes off my reflection.
“Fuck.”
I lift my eyes, startled when I hear my dad swear.
“Jesus, you look just like your mother,” he chokes out, and he’s right.
This was the dress she married him in, after all. A white floor-length silk gown that pinches in at the waist and flares out the rest of the way down.
The bodice is a corset style with satin ribbons that lace up the back and tiny pearls hand-sewn into the front, making it twinkle when the light catches it just right. Over the top, thanks to the rapidly cooling temperatures, I’m wearing a white velvet fur-lined cloak that ties with a ribbon at the neck and offers me a little warmth. It covers all my tattoos, so my hair is now the most colorful thing on show. Delia did an awesome job styling the victory curls and pinning them in place, giving my look a pinup vibe, especially teamed with my vampy red lips.
I turn to face him and smile. “So, I look okay?”
“You look like an angel,” he whispers hoarsely. “I know we have to go, but I need to say something first. I have never loved anyone like I loved your mother, and I never will again. She was my soul mate. There is no getting over that. The only person I love more is you.”
I feel tears spring to my eyes, and he grabs both my hands in his large ones.
“I was so scared of losing you after Ella was gone that I saw everything as a potential threat for a while. I rationalized that if she hadn't been such an amazing artist, she would never have attracted a stalker. I refused to let that shit happen twice, so I pushed you into jobs you hated and made you miserable, justifying my actions but telling myself you were safe from harm that way. Then I nearly lost you anyway. I truly am sorry, Linda. Know that standing here looking at you right now, I’m the proudest father in the world.”
I throw myself in his arms and hold him tight as he squeezes me.
“Let's go get you married. Again,” he tells me with a laugh, pulling away and sliding his thumb across my cheek to wipe a stray tear.
“I love you, Dad.”
“And I love you. If you ever need me, I’ll be there in a heartbeat, and if Asher ever hurts you, I’ll kill him and bury the body.”
I laugh, letting his love fill me up.
“You should talk to Delia. Apparently, she has a shovel and a large trunk.”
Asher
I nearly swallow my tongue as she makes her way down the aisle toward me on the arm of her father.
“Close your mouth,” Graham says from behind me, making my mouth snap shut.
I don't know why I decided to make this fucker my best man other than without his dickishness, I might never have met Linda to begin with. I just won't let him know that. His head is big enough as it is.
“Hi,” she whispers up at me shyly.
“Hi,” I whisper back. “You look beautiful, Skittle, although not as colorful as usual today,” I tease.
“Don’t speak too soon.” She laughs before lifting the hem of her dress to reveal rainbow-colored Converse pumps. I can’t help it. I throw my head back and laugh.
“We are gathered here today to celebrate as Linda and Asher renew their vows to each other.”
I tune the minister out, happy to just stand there and drink in the vision before me. She might already be my wife, but I wanted a do-over. I don’t want to miss a second of her agreeing to be mine, plus this way, her father gets to walk her down the aisle. I also plan on surprising my wife with the honeymoon we never got to have the first time around.
“Would you like to exchange rings?” the minister asks.
Rings were something else I messed up with before too. Thinking back to the gumball ring I carelessly dismissed at the hotel makes me grimace. If ever there was a neon sign I missed, it was that one. I’m the first to admit it took a while for me to pull my head out of my ass, but the day I slid my rings on her finger with the intent of keeping her forever, something changed inside me, a knowing if you like, that Skittle was destined to be more than my other half, she would become my everything. Finding them that fateful day on the bed we made love in hours before nearly destroyed me.
Now I hold out the same band as before, the circle of different colored stones representing the rainbow that defines Skittle to me. As I move to slide it back on her finger where it belongs, I freeze before slowly turning to seek out Tig, who is beaming at me from one of the center pews.
“You’re welcome,” he shouts out, making people laugh, me and Linda included.
I run my finger gently over my name inked around the base of her finger and slide the ring on top of it.
She inked my name on her skin. The possessive bastard that I am approves.
When Linda lifts her hand to slide the simple platinum band she chose for me, she gasps at the sight of her name tattooed around my own finger.
“Looks like Tig was busy last night,” I tell her dryly.
Last night was the only night we spent apart since the night of the gallery opening. The night I almost lost her.
“By the power invested in me, you may now kiss your bride, again.”
I don’t need telling twice. Sliding a hand into her hair, I kiss her hard, not giving a single thought to the cheering audience.
By the time I pull away, we are both a little breathless.
“I love you, Mr. Sloan.” She smiles wide.
“Love you too, Mrs. Sloan.”
I stare down into her eyes as I move inside her, my fingers entwined with hers as I push them into the mattress above her head. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
And she is looking up at me like I hung the fucking moon.
She wraps her legs around my hips, pulling me in tighter to her. “Yes,” she whispers, arching up into me. “Harder, Asher,” she gasps.
I slow my pace, swiveling my hips, making her mewl.
“Asher,” she groans. “Please, baby, harder.”
“I love it when you beg me,” I murmur, leaning down over her and taking her lips in a brutal kiss before pulling away. “Tell me what you want, Skittle,” I order.
“I want you to fuck me so hard that every time I sit down tomorrow, I’ll still feel you inside me.”
That's when I lose it, hammering into her hard and fast just like she wants. I drop my head and suck a nipple into my mouth before biting down.
She screams out and clamps down around my cock as she comes, forcing me to explode right along with her.
“I vote we stay here in bed for the whole two weeks,” I gasp out when I catch my breath, placing a soft kiss on her lips as she smiles.
The look of happiness on her face brings me a certain kind of clarity. A clarity that I will do anything and everything to see her smile. I’ll never forget the haunted look on her face back when she thought I had used her. I wake up at night sometimes in a cold sweat, not able to settle again until I pull her into my arms and reassure myself she’s really here.
I’ll never take this for granted because I’m smart enough to know I’m the luckiest bastard on the planet to have been given a second chance with her.
“Hmm…as amazing as that sounds, if we do that, I won't get to see what you and asshat have done to this place,” she tells me, making me laugh.
Graham and I might have finally gotten our hands on the resort, largely in part I’m sure to me now being Peterson’s son-in-law, but Graham and I insisted on paying what we originally agreed to. I didn’t want any favors and I refused to ever use my wife as a pawn again.
“Well, that's assuming Graham will let Soraya up for air, of course. This is the first time they've been away from the kids in as long as I can remember.”
“True, but a woman cannot live on sex alone,” she informs me.
“How disappointing,” I mumble, pulling my softening cock free.
“How about we get showere
d, you can feed me, take me for a tour, then we can come back here for round two?” she suggests.
I pretend to think about it as I climb off her and stand at the foot of the bed. The problem with that is now I have a fucking fantastic view of my cum leaking out of her. My soft cock immediately wakes up and pays attention once more.
“How about I fuck you again now, then once more in the shower. Then we’ll get food, and I’ll give you a tour before I fuck you over my desk in my office, and then we’ll come back here for the night.”
I don't give her a chance to agree or disagree, I just crawl back on the bed between her legs and dip my finger inside her before swirling it around her clit.
“Lord, he’s trying to kill me,” she mutters to herself, but I crawl back up her body and cut off her sassy remarks by slamming my mouth back down on hers and doing to her exactly what I told her I would.
Lying back in bed later that night, both of us exhausted but content, I wrap my arms tightly around her and whisper against her hair. “Thank you.”
“For what? The comic strip? The orgasms?” she sasses.
I tickle her, making her squeal.
As a wedding gift, Skittle presented me with a hand-drawn comic strip depicting our relationship together. I’ll admit, I got a little choked up. I can’t wait to get it framed for my office so I can look at it every day.
“I’m thankful for my gift, yes,” I agree with a smile. “But I also want to say thank you for giving me another chance, for loving me, and for believing in me.”
“For giving you a baby?” she asks, making me freeze.
“You’re pregnant?”
She looks up at me, tears shining in her eyes. “We’re pregnant,” she confirms in a whisper.
I grip her hair and kiss her hard, pouring every last ounce of feeling into it before pulling back and placing my forehead against hers.
“We went from hoax to fairytale,” she murmurs sleepily. “What happens next?”
“We live happily ever after.”
And we would, I’d make sure of it.
Hoax Husband: A Hero Club Novel Page 19
