Justice for Hope

by Susan Stoker

  Hope’s words were cut off with a shriek as Calder easily picked her up. She threw her arms around Calder and said, “What are you doing?” as he headed for the stairs.

  “Taking you to bed. You’re way too wound up. Billy’s fine. Donna and Lincoln are still in jail, awaiting their trial. The Jacksons said they’d call if anything happened or if Billy got homesick. He’s fine.”

  Hope knew she was acting crazy, but she couldn’t help it. “But—”

  “No buts,” Calder said firmly. “We have this whole house to ourselves. I’m not on call. It’s Saturday, and you don’t have to be at Billy’s school to work until Monday. We have a day and a half to ourselves—and I’m taking every minute of it.”

  Hope forced herself to relax. She knew Calder was right. She just didn’t think being away from her son would be this hard. She loved her new job as an aide in a special-needs classroom at Billy’s school, but between that and Calder’s odd work hours, they hadn’t had a lot of time to spend together one-on-one.

  “You think you can take my mind off the fact that this is the first time since he was born that I’ve purposely been away from Billy?” Hope asked, running her fingers through the hair at the nape of Calder’s neck. She felt him shiver, but he didn’t slow down and never faltered as he headed up the stairs with her in his arms.

  “I don’t think it, I know it,” Calder answered a bit cockily.

  “Wanna make a bet?” Hope teased.

  Calder pushed open their bedroom door with his foot and strode inside, not bothering to close it behind him. There was no need. They were alone in the house. “Yes.”

  Hope smiled up at him as he stood over his bed and dropped her. She laughed as she bounced on the mattress. She propped herself up on her elbows and smiled coyly at him. “What are the stakes?”

  Calder began to unbutton his shirt, not taking his eyes from Hope as he disrobed. “If you can still think when I’m done with you, I’ll buy tickets to the game tonight and we can go and spy on Billy and make sure he’s having a good time.”

  Hope’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea!” she enthused, sitting up. “I’ll go get my computer and—”

  Calder put a hand in the middle of her chest and gently pushed her back down, crawling up the bed until he was straddling her. His chest was bare and Hope was momentarily distracted.

  “We’ll do that, only if you can’t stop thinking about Billy.”

  “And if I do?”

  Calder shifted until his knees were inside hers and he pushed outward until her legs were splayed open around him. She was still fully dressed, but she shivered at the carnality of the action.

  “Then you’ll agree to marry me.”

  Hope stared up at Calder. She knew her mouth was open, but she couldn’t help it. “What?”

  He smirked. “If I make you lose your mind, where you can’t think of anything other than me and what we’re doing here in our bed, you’ll agree to marry me. The sooner the better. I want to make Billy mine in all ways, but before I adopt him, I want you to marry me. Then I want to create some siblings for him.”

  “I thought I already did,” she said with a small smile.

  He returned her grin. “Then you’ll actually start planning our ceremony then.”

  Hope’s brain was reeling. She knew Calder loved her, and she loved him in return, and they’d even discussed getting married at some point, but even though she’d said yes, he hadn’t brought it up again…until now. Then there was the fact that he’d said he wanted to adopt Billy. Then that bit about siblings. She couldn’t stop smiling at him.

  “See? I’m already winning. You can’t think about anything other than me,” Calder said with a chuckle. Then he dropped his head and took her lips, plunging inside her mouth and kissing her as if he needed her to breathe.

  Hours later, Calder had no idea how much time had passed, just that it was now dark outside, he held Hope in his arms, and was stroking her hair lazily with his fingers. She was lying boneless against his side, naked as the day she was born. They’d gone downstairs at some point to get some snacks, her wearing his blue dress shirt and nothing else. He’d ended up eating her out on the kitchen counter before hauling her over his shoulder and bringing her back upstairs.

  “You win,” Hope whispered. “Although you don’t fight fair,” she complained. “How in the world I ever thought I could think of anything other than you and what you were doing to me when you refused to let me come, I don’t know.”

  Calder smiled in the dark room. A light was on in the bathroom, giving just enough light to see by. He turned until Hope was on her back. He propped himself over her with his elbows. His cock wasn’t hard; he was exhausted and there was no way he was getting it up anytime in the next hour or so. But he fitted his hips against hers, loving how hot and wet she still was after their last bout of lovemaking.

  He stared down into her eyes and asked, “Hope Drayden, will you marry me? Will you let me into your and Billy’s lives permanently? I promise to never raise my hand in anger against you or your son, and I won’t do anything to hurt either of you emotionally. When I look into your eyes, I see our future, which hopefully will include many children to love and nurture. I’ll live anywhere you want and I’ll bust my ass to make you happy. My job has consumed me for as long as I can remember, but for the first time in my life, when I go to sleep at night, I don’t think about tissue damage, blood spatter, or doing chemical analyses… The second I walk out of the autopsy room, my only thoughts are of you. Marry me, Hope. Please. I—”

  He stopped talking when Hope brought a finger up between them and placed it over his lips. She stared at him for the longest time, making Calder’s heart race and anxiety settle in his belly.

  “Of course I’ll marry you. I love you, Calder.”

  He breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

  She giggled. “Did you seriously think I would say no?”

  “I was confident hours ago, but the second the words left my mouth, I thought about all the ways I could fuck this up,” Calder admitted.

  Hope lifted her head and kissed him before falling back again. “I think I want two more.”

  “Two more what?”

  “Kids.”

  Calder knew he was smiling like a goof but couldn’t help it. “Six.”

  Her eyes got big. “Six? No way! Three, but that’s it.”

  “Five,” he returned.

  Now she narrowed her eyes at him in mock rebuke. “You’d better be kidding.”

  “There’s nothing I want more than to look into the eyes of our sons or daughters and see their mom in them. But I know no matter how many we have, even if we have to adopt, they’ll have the most awesome mother in the world. Protective, loving, and you’ll teach them to be resilient and to stand up for others.”

  Hope sighed. “Four. And that’s my absolute max.”

  “Done. Four it is.”

  Hope smiled, then asked, “You totally played me, didn’t you?”

  “Who, me?” Calder asked.

  “So…when are we going to get started on these four kids? I’m not getting any younger, you know.”

  Calder stilled over her. They’d been using condoms because they were still settling in after everything that had happened. But at the thought of taking her bare, of starting their family, he felt his previously exhausted dick swell with need.

  Hope obviously felt his reaction and spread her legs, lifting her hips a bit so she pushed up against him.

  “Are you sore?” Calder asked, trying to hold himself back.

  “No.” One of her hands brushed down his side and latched onto his butt cheek.

  “Fuck,” he swore and reached down to make sure she was ready to take him. She was. So Calder took hold of his cock and fit it to her opening.

  They both sighed as he eased inside her without any barrier between them for the first time. “I don’t care what kind of wedding you want,” Calder said as he slowly pumped i
n and out of her body. “Big, small, fancy, laid-back. But you need to start planning it as soon as possible.”

  Hope moaned as she wrapped her legs around his hips.

  “I’m sure Milena, Mack, and the others would be glad to help. But I plan on fucking you as often as humanly possible, so if you don’t want to be hugely pregnant when we say ‘I do,’ you’d better get on that sooner rather than later.”

  “I’ll call Mack tomorrow,” Hope promised. “How does two months from now sound?”

  At her words, Calder closed his eyes and huffed out an emotional breath of air. He pressed inside her as far as he could go, then opened his eyes. “Perfect,” he told her.

  “I’m paying for it with my winnings,” she informed him.

  Calder’s mellow mood fled. “No, you’re not. That’s your money. For you and Billy.”

  “It’s my money, so I’ll spend it how I want,” Hope insisted.

  “Absolutely not,” Calder said firmly.

  “We’ll see.”

  “Hope,” he warned.

  “Are you going to fuck me, make me scream in satisfaction, then impregnate me, or do you want to have this conversation instead?”

  “We aren’t done talking about this,” Calder told her.

  Hope smiled at him. “I didn’t think that for a second.”

  “I have a ring for you.”

  She arched a brow. “You do?”

  “Yeah. I got it weeks ago.”

  “Okay.”

  “I love you, Hope,” Calder said as he thrust in and out of her lazily.

  “Love you too. Now…can you please fuck me like you mean it?”

  Calder smiled and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

  An hour later, Hope sighed in contentment. Calder was sound asleep next to her. She was exhausted but couldn’t sleep. She was mentally planning their wedding, and making lists in her head of things she needed to do, when Calder’s phone vibrated. Reaching over his chest, she grabbed it off the bedside table, thinking it might be an emergency at work that he’d need to take. She knew he wasn’t on call and technically didn’t have to work until Monday, but she’d learned over the last month that things happened.

  She stared at the text for a second, then smiled. It was from Billy. She’d said she wasn’t going to get a phone for him until he was older, but after the almost-kidnapping, she’d caved. If he’d had a way of getting in touch with her, a lot of stress and worry could’ve been avoided.

  Apparently, Billy was returning a message Calder had sent earlier, the little sneak. He’d told her to leave the kid alone, that he was having a good time and if he needed her, he’d get in touch. But then he went and texted him.

  But Hope couldn’t be upset. Not when it meant he was as worried about Billy as she was. Her son’s text said,

  * * *

  Billy: Im fine. Game was awesome. I miss you too. Tell mom hi and not to worry.

  * * *

  She put the phone back down without replying and snuggled into Calder. Her movements must’ve woken him because his arm tightened around her. “You okay?” he mumbled sleepily.

  “Great. Go back to sleep.”

  “’Kay. Love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Within seconds, he was asleep once more.

  Hope couldn’t help but wonder how in the world she’d gotten so lucky. Most people would say that being abused, then homeless, wasn’t lucky at all, but she knew better. Everything that had happened in her life had led her to Calder.

  Epilogue

  “Buttery nipples for everyone!” Sophie shouted to be heard in the crowded bar.

  It was a small group, as a lot of the others were busy. Hope was on her honeymoon, Blythe was pregnant and feeling bloated so she’d cried off, and Beth hardly ever came out because of her agoraphobia. So, besides Sophie, Adeline was there (she’d left Coco, her service dog, at home this time), as well as Quinn, Penelope, and Mackenzie.

  They were supposed to be celebrating Hope’s pregnancy and recent nuptials, but it was simply an excuse. Sophie was worried about Quinn, and had shared her concerns with the others, and they’d all decided an intervention was in order.

  Many people had told Quinn that she was beautiful, but because of the port-wine birthmark on her face, and the abuse and teasing she’d grown up with, she couldn’t see it.

  John “Driftwood” Trettle was head over heels in love with Quinn, but she refused to do more than text him. Refused to give him a chance.

  Penelope had finally overheard Driftwood saying that he’d done his best, but if Quinn truly didn’t like him, he needed to move on. She’d called Sophie, who’d talked to the other women, and here they were. It was time to set Quinn straight.

  “Drink up, Quinn!” Sophie ordered.

  “I’m already plastered,” Quinn protested. “And I still don’t see how getting drunk to celebrate Hope getting knocked up makes sense when she isn’t even here to partcipatate.”

  “Participate,” Penelope corrected.

  “That’s what I said!” Quinn said with an eye roll.

  The others all laughed and they clinked glasses before throwing back the sweet shots.

  Mackenzie raised an eyebrow at Sophie.

  She nodded and leaned forward over the small table. “Here’s the deal, Quinn. While we’re here to celebrate our friends getting m-married and being pregnant, that’s not why we’re really here.”

  “It’s not?” Quinn asked.

  “Nope. We’re here because you’re an idiot.”

  Quinn blinked. “Well, shit, Soph. Don’t hold back, tell me what you really think.”

  Everyone giggled.

  “John likes you. I m-mean, really likes you. I’ve s-seen the texts he’s s-sent you. Why are you not giving him a chance?”

  “You know why,” Quinn fired back.

  “If you’re talking about your birthmark, I can guarantee Driftwood doesn’t even notice it,” Penelope said.

  “Riiiight,” Quinn drawled sarcastically. “Because it’s so easy to miss.”

  Penelope smacked her hand down on the table, the loud sound making everyone jump. “I get it. I do. You’ve gotten teased your entire life and you had that bad experience with a man. But Driftwood is nothing like those boys you used to know. I saw him literally jump Squirrel when he made a totally innocuous comment about your birthmark. Tried to beat his ass right there in the fire station.”

  “He did?” Quinn asked, much more subdued now.

  “Yes. He said you’re beautiful, and anyone who said something about your birthmark, to your face or behind your back, would regret it,” Penelope informed her.

  “Remember when you told m-me that you’d do anything to have a m-man who was protective and bossy? Well…there’s one who’s practically begging to be that for you, and you won’t let him,” Sophie added.

  Mack reached over and took Quinn’s hand in hers. “What’s really bothering you about John?”

  Quinn’s eyes filled with tears. “You guys wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try us,” Adeline said.

  Quinn took a deep breath. “Once, when I was little, we read the story of Beauty and the Beast at school. At recess, a group of girls surrounded me and told me that I was the Beast. That kids would be crazy to play with me. One of the boys I liked overheard and for the rest of the school year, he wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”

  “They were kids,” Mack said gently.

  “Right. I was also passed over for adoption time and time again because of the way I looked. Parents would grab hold of their children’s hands and pull them away, as if their kids could catch something if they were too near me. Don’t even get me started on my own mother and how she treated me. Those were all adults, Mackenzie.”

  “Assholes,” Sophie muttered.

  Quinn wanted to smile but couldn’t. “I liked this one guy in college, and we talked all the time. He seemed to really like me back. I got up the nerve to ask if he wanted to g
et something to eat sometime…and he looked at me like I was insane. Told me we were just friends, and that his fraternity brothers would make fun of him forever if he went out with ‘the chick with the thing on her face.’ It was so embarrassing, thinking I’d found someone who was into me, only to find out he just wanted to be friends.”

  “This isn’t like that,” Penelope protested.

  “I wasn’t done,” Quinn said, holding up a hand. “I finally decided I’d never lose my virginity if I continued to be picky enough to want a man who could overlook my birthmark. So I started going to bars. And it worked. A guy finally took me home. But in the morning, when he woke up and wasn’t drunk, he looked like he was going to puke when he got a look at my face. I’m lonely, I’ll admit it, but watching movies by myself and cooking for one is a hell of a lot better than having to figure out a man’s motives.”

  “Quinn—” Sophie started, but she was interrupted.

  “When I find a man who makes me forget that half my face is covered by this birthmark, maybe I’ll take a chance on him. But so far, that hasn’t happened. If it’s not the people around us staring, it’s the way the guy’s eyes continually go to my face and neck. As if he’s hoping it’ll somehow disappear.”

  “Driftwood can be that man for you, if you give him a chance,” Penelope said, not letting it go. “I won’t deny people are often assholes. But not all of them.”

  “I have to admit s-something,” Sophie said.

  Her voice was so contrite, Quinn immediately got suspicious. “What?”

  “The guys are coming in about,” she paused to look at her watch, “fifteen m-minutes.”

  “Seriously?” Quinn griped. “I thought this was a girls’ night out.”