My to be wife,
Wear these to match your shining eyes and your bright smile.
Your soon to be husband
I open the first box to find a stunning diamond necklace. The next one held matching earrings, and the last had a beautiful matching bracelet. I shake my head. “He thought of everything. I hadn’t even planned on wearing any jewelry.” “Don’t cry, you’ll ruin your makeup.” I nod as I bite back the tears. Adrionna helps me put the jewelry on as Gavin speaks. “We’re ready to head out when you are. Preston is already there. Feisty, are you ready now? They could use your help with some last minute details down there. Adeline, I’ll take you down in a bit.” Adrionna nods at him at the same time I do. She leaves and Asher comes in. “Well, baby girl. Are you ready for this?” “More than ready.” “That’s my girl.” “Hey, Addy. What’s the deal with your friend? Single?” “Oh God. No, she is not one of your sexcapades Gavin. She’s my best friend.” “Did I say that? I was just askin.” I shake my head at him. Adrionna would totally be down. But I feel like that saying don’t piss where you eat, kind of applies here. I am going to be Gavin’s family after all. “Gavin, please? She’s closed off and guarded when it comes to that stuff, but you have a face that’s hard to say no to.” “How do you know?” “I’m marrying your brother after being together like three months. It runs in the family; I just know it.” To this he laughs and kisses my forehead. “Are you ready to be my sister for real?” “I honestly can’t wait. Can we go now please?” “Yep, let’s do it.” I exited the room and see Sandra wiping tears from her eyes. “Sandra, you’re gonna make me ruin my makeup!” “Sorry, you’re just so beautiful, inside and out.” Yep, going to cry for sure. “I can’t wait to marry your son.” I see Grant join the group with three other guys. Ok, three Bennett men, Preston’s mom, and three other guys. That’s a bit much. “Someone was on Adrionna right?” “Yea, she’s already there.” When you think Vegas wedding I know everyone thinks of Elvis. That is not what we’re doing here. Preston had arranged for the hotel banquet center which is absolutely gorgeous. It was way more money than I ever could’ve expected to pay for my wedding, but he insisted. Who was I to say no? I don’t know how he had the contacts to do all of this in three days’ time, but he definitely pulled it off. We turn the corner and there are flowers everywhere. Elegant, just like my A-line, one shoulder dress. A subtle ivory that was tight in all the right places. Adrionna shoves flowers in my hand and kisses me good luck, as she turns and walks down the aisle. I look up to Asher as I see Sandra and Grant finishing their walk in front of Adrionna. “Thank you for doing this.” “Anything for you. You know that. I truly am honored to do it.” I give him a nod as he pulls my veil over my face. The music starts as we make our way down the aisle. I see more people than I would’ve thought filling the seats. Then I see Coach. We finish our walk down the aisle and he lifts my veil and gives me a kiss on the cheek. Just as if they rehearsed it Gavin, Grant, Asher, and Willy all flank my sides. I look around probably with a quizzical look on my face. The Pastor asks who gives this woman to marry this man and every single one of them said “We all do.” I look around at all of them and realize that they all love me as much as I love them. That is when the waterworks started. They all give me a look that says I should’ve seen this coming, but they all kiss my cheek and go back to their places as Preston takes my hands. We go through our vows and before I know it the pastor is pronouncing us husband and wife. Preston pulls me in for a possessive kiss that repeats everything we just said in our vows. “We’re married. We really did it.” “Yea, we did baby. You’re all mine now.” I let out a little laugh as I kiss him again and he pulls me up into a cradle hold as if I weigh nothing. We walk passed everyone giving their congratulations and Preston stops for the camera once. He lays another big kiss on my lips and I see the camera flash. Then he stops for no one. He passes everyone as he takes me right up to the penthouse suite. Our honeymoon begins tomorrow and I can’t wait to get to Hawaii. For now, this is the best moment of my life. Mrs. Preston Bennett. It’s perfect. I look over at him and see the ring on his finger. “What is it baby?” “Will you wear this?” “Except during training and fighting I will never take it off.” I start to kiss down his body because for some reason him wearing that saying he is all mine turns me on like no other. It was that moment that I got down to loving on my husband properly. Thanking him for being everything that he is. I am the luckiest girl in the world and this baby of ours is so lucky to have him.
Chapter Fifteen
Preston
There is a pounding in my head and I can’t figure out why. Wait, that’s not in my head. Is that the door? I roll over to see my beautiful wife sleeping peacefully next to me. I see my phone lit up with multiple messages. Shit. I run to the door and open it in just my boxers. I see Gavin standing there like he is out of his mind mad. “Man, what’s going on?” “I’m really sorry to disturb you, but Adrionna is missing.” “What do you mean she’s missing?” “She was helping clean up after the ceremony. We all went to celebrate you and Addy getting married and she went to the bathroom, I had two men on her. They were both knocked out when we found them and she was gone. Someone took her out through the kitchen. It was one man we have him on video. No face shot, but I would put money on it that it’s him.” “Shit. Adeline is going to freak out. We need to find her.” “I’m on it, but I needed you to know what was going on.” I give him a nod. “I need to tell Addy, she’s sleeping.” “I’m up. What’s wrong?” I pull her into me and look down into the big puppy dog trusting eyes as I tell her “Adrionna has been taken.” “No.” Instinct has her hand at her belly and I pull her into me so that my brother doesn’t see that. “We’re going to find her.” “You’re leaving?” “I need to help.” “I’m coming with you.” I shake my head. “I can’t focus on that and worry about you out there somewhere Adeline. I need you to stay here and be ready for when we bring her back.” “Man, I gotta go. I have to find her.” This was Gavin and the urgency in his voice was sincere. I give him a nod and I ask Adeline “Please for me? Stay here?” She nods her agreement, but I can see she doesn’t like the thought of sitting here. I go and throw on some clothes and grab my phone and keys. “Adeline, don’t leave here without someone at your back. He’s doing this to draw you out.” She gives us another nod and I kiss her hard. “I promise we’re going to find her.” With that I turn and leave. I guess I should’ve gotten the words from her. Sometimes Adeline thinks if she doesn’t say it out loud she’s not lying. She wouldn’t endanger herself and the baby at this point though so I need to trust her.
Adeline
Like I’m going to sit in the damn hotel room while my best friend is being held against her will God knows where. I’ll wait for them to get where they need to be and then I’ll go find James myself. James. Son of a bitch, I’ll call him. I pick up my phone and dial his cell. His voicemail picks up so I leave a message. “James, it’s me that you want. Why don’t you just leave Adrionna out of this?” I jump at the voice I hear behind me, “Because, she was the only way I could get you alone and get him to leave this room.” I swing around and see that James is standing in the freaking suite with me. How did he get in here? I make a break for the elevator knocking down a stand with a vase on it in the process. I almost made it in until James hopped in behind me. He pulls me into him and I look down thanking the good lord I had time to throw on some clothes. “James, why are you doing all of this?” “That bastard. Two years I worked at trying to get in there and in two months he has you living with him, and married.” I shake my head and think, yea and having his baby. But it’s best to keep that to myself for now. I will do anything I can to make sure that I protect this baby. “Look at me Adeline. I could’ve made you happy. You didn’t even give me a chance.” “Don’t you get it? Preston and I are meant to be. He’s it for me. If it were you for me James we would be together. It’s not though and I know you have to see that.” Just then the elevator opens on the bo
ttom floor. Where the hell is Preston? This is when I realized I wasn’t making a scene and I really needed to be. James didn’t present and weapons to me so it appeared that he was unarmed. That is when I throw my arms out to the side distancing myself from him. “Get away from me!” I scream hoping to draw as much attention as I can. Out of the corner of my eye I see people looking at me. “Adeline get over here” “No! You can’t take me. I’m happily married, and nothing can stop my happily ever after. James. Where. Is. Adrionna?” He reaches for me again, but I manage to stay out of his arms. “Where is she?” This came from beside me as I see Grant tackling James to the floor and putting him into handcuffs. I look to my side and see Preston and Gavin. Gavin looks like he’s going crazy. “I asked you a question.” Gavin bellows this and now everyone is looking at us. Preston pulls me at arms-length and starts running his hands all over me to make sure I’m not hurt. “He didn’t touch me Pres. I’m good. He was in the suite with us though so I’m creeped way the hell out. How did he get in there?” “I don’t know, but you better believe that the hotel is going to answer questions about this.” I give him a nod as I see James spilling his guts to a spitting mad Gavin. The situation is not a good one, but seeing Gavin so protective of Adrionna makes me extremely happy. Gavin gives us a nod and we follow. “Did he tell you where she is?” “Yea, let’s go get her.” He drives us to an abandoned warehouse. The guys go in first telling me to stay in the car. I of course don’t listen and get out of the car just as I see them bringing Adrionna out of the building. To say she is pissed is the understatement of the century. “That fucking bastard! If he weren’t on his way to jail, I’d kill him for making me stay in that disgusting place for so fucking long.” Both the guys are shaking their heads. I run to her and pull her into a hug. I look her up and down and I can see marks at her wrists and her ankles. I also see her mouth is red as if he had her gagged with something. She also has an ugly looking shiner under her left eye. Gavin has his arm around her in a protective way and tells her that the ambulance is on their way. What I didn’t know was that she was hit in the head and knocked out. “I don’t need an ambulance. That bastard is lucky he knocked me out or I would’ve kicked his ass myself. Dirty, rotten asshole. I told you I never liked him.” I shake my head because she has told me that. Repeatedly. “You need to see a paramedic, Feisty. There is no other option for you here.” She snaps her head at Gavin and I can see her glaring at him. “I’m fine. Can we please just get out of here?” “The ambulance is right there. I will drag you there if you make me, but they’re checking your head.” I see another glare before she takes her bridesmaid dressed self over to the ambulance. Stomping I might add. Yes, my best friend was throwing a temper tantrum. “She has a lot of…spirit.” “Yea, she does.” “She had her ankles free and was working on her wrists when we got in there. She’s a tough cookie.” Pride swells my voice. “Yea, she is.” “He hit her pretty good. She’s gonna have a black eye and the chafing on her face will get worse from the gag. Her wrists and ankles will both be bruised. Other than that she should be ok. They’ll check her for a concussion and we will make sure she’s good mentally. Gavin said he is going to keep an eye on her.” “Yea, that’s what I was afraid of.” “What do you mean?” “I told Gavin this morning she is not another one of his sexcapades. I’ve seen the girls he’s brought around the last couple of months. Grant says he made you look like a monk.” “He wouldn’t ever do anything to jeopardize his relationship with you. I promise.” I give him a nod as we head over to the ambulance to a spitting mad Adrionna. “I don’t have a concussion. I feel fine.” “Ma’am. You clearly have a concussion. We don’t have to take you to the hospital, but you need to make sure you stay awake for at least twelve to sixteen hours.” Uh oh. “I have just been kidnapped. Beaten. And almost violated. I want to go home and take a bubble bath.” To this I hear Preston and Gavin both growl. James almost… “What do you mean almost violated?” She snaps her head to him and I see the look on her face. It says it all. James almost raped her. Oh. My. God. This is all my fault. I start to shake and I know Preston can feel my body shaking. I push through and move Gavin out of the way. “Can you excuse us a second?” I pull the doors closed and we are sitting in the back of the ambulance. Alone. “Adrionna. What did he do?” “He didn’t get to do anything. He had his hands here.” She picks up her dress and I see bruises forming where his hands were dug into her upper thighs. “I kneed him in the nuts and apparently he needed to be somewhere because he left right after he was able to stand. I’m guessing that’s when he came to you. I know I talk tough and all, but Addy, I was scared shitless.” I pull her into a hug and I fight back the tears. “This is all my fault.” “Did you send James after me?” “No.” “Then stop, this is not your fault. At all.” She squeezes me back. “You’re sure he didn’t do anything else?” “I’m sure, but I really just want to shower and try and get his stench off of me. Please.” I nod and open the ambulance doors again. I pull Adrionna out and speak to the paramedic. “She will not sleep for sixteen hours. We will make sure of it. I really appreciate your time.” “With the new information do we need to do a test kit?” I look to him and shake my head and the paramedic releases a breath. He must get what I’m saying. I pull Adrionna with me and we sit in the back seat of the car. I just hold her as she leans her head on my shoulder. No one says anything as we pull away. We get to the hotel and the guys follow me to her room. I get her all setup in the shower and she tells me I don’t have to sit in there that she will be good. I hug her one last time and head back out into the main space of the room. The guys are standing there waiting for some sort of explanation. “He hit her in the head. Carried her out of the restaurant. He had her tied up in that warehouse before she woke up. She has hand print bruises on her upper thighs, but she says he didn’t get that far because she was able to get her knee up and she kneed him in the nuts. That’s when he punched her in the face. He must’ve realized what time it was though because as soon as he could walk he got up and left. She swore to me that nothing else happened. I saw the bruises though. They are not pretty.” I start to shake again all over as Preston pulls me into his arms. That’s when I hear Gavin. “This is all my fault. I should’ve been on her. He wouldn’t have gotten her if I would’ve just known she was going to the bathroom.” “This is not on you brother. We have her back, she’s safe. That’s all that matters right now. Everything else will work its way out.” He gives a short nod, but keeps looking at the bathroom door waiting for her to come out. It takes a while, but she does finally emerge from the bathroom like she is ready to go somewhere. “Where are you going?” “Don’t you have a fight to be getting ready for? I’m ready for this.” We all look at her like she is crazy. Preston nods and pulls me with him as we leave. I look back and see that Gavin isn’t leaving. Lovely. This is not going to end well. I just know it. “What is your brother doing?” “He’s not going to leave her side. I need to talk to you about the call I just got. James got away. Grant handed him over to the Las Vegas PD and he got away. I don’t know what my play here should be. I don’t know if we should tell Adrionna or not.” “She needs to know.” “That’s what Gavin thought too. He will tell her. I swear to Christ baby we’re going to make you safe. I promise.” “I just don’t know where all of this hostility is coming from. I never gave him a reason to think that we were ever going to be anything more than just friends. I swear.” “I know that, but he has this whole thing cooked up in his mind that you are more than that. Sometimes that’s just the way these things are.” “But, it’s like he just snapped. I don’t get it.” “Try not to think about it. How about thinking about how we just got married. We are newlyweds and after I beat this guy tonight we are going to be living it up in Hawaii on a resort for the next week doing whatever you want to do.” To this I give him a little smile. He squeezes me as he puts the key card into the elevator. We head up to our suite and I see the vase is still broken on the floor. “I tried to get away.” “It’s
ok. We’ll get this all cleaned up baby. When I turned the corner and saw you throw yourself away from him I was terrified that he had a gun.” “I figured if he did he would’ve presented it to me here in the room. He didn’t pose a threat; he was a moron.” “I just don’t ever want to feel that helpless ever again. If he had taken you first, I don’t know what I would’ve done. If something happens to you I don’t know what I’ll do.” “Nothing is going to happen to me. We’ve made it through all of this so far. We’ll get through this no problem.” He gives me a squeeze. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but it might be safer if you stay here tonight. Where we can control security better.” “And I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I’m coming. I’m not going to let him run my life. I will not live in fear. We will be sitting in the VIP section. Guards everywhere. Plus, you’ll be there and I’ll be fine.” He shakes his head at me. “I can’t believe you’re fighting to see me fight.” “Believe it. Because I’m not missing your first fight as my husband.” “I love when you call me that.” “Good, because I love calling you that.” He beams his smile at me as we finish cleaning up the glass. He pulls me onto the bed and holds me until I fall back to sleep. I wake up to the smell of food. I throw my hand over my mouth and make a run for the bathroom. I don’t really have anything in my stomach so it’s just dry heaving. I hear Preston at the door, but I really don’t want him to see me like this. I have been throwing up way too much. I feel a cold cloth on the back of my neck as I even out my breathing and calm my stomach. “Sorry, I thought you might be hungry.” “It’s not your fault. I should be hungry.” I feel him bend down and pull my hair out of the way and replace the cold cloth. “Thank you.” “Anything else I can do?” “No, I think I’m good now.” He gently helps me up to my feet and he pulls me back into the room. “I think I might be able to eat something.” I’m lying. I can see the helpless look on his face and I don’t want him to feel that way. I just want him to be ready for tonight. Everything else that is going on can wait. He gives me a smile as he pulls me to the cart. “I didn’t know what you would want so I got a bit of everything.” “Thanks Preston. I think I’ll eat some of this fruit and start there.” He nods as he makes a plate for himself. I tag my phone and call Adrionna. “Hey girl. How’s it going?” “Good, I just woke up from a nap, so I was thinking that since Preston has to be there soon we could go together.” “Ok, I’ll check with Gavin and make sure that it is ok with his plan.” I snap my eyes to Preston as I say “So, Gavin is still there?” “Yea mom. He is.” I roll my eyes. I’m just looking out for her. Is that a crime? I see Preston shake his head. “I want you there when I leave so you can be in the dressing room with me. Then you can go out to your seat before I head out.” I nod my agreement. “Did you hear that? I think we should all stick together.” “Yea, Gavin agrees.” “We will meet you in the lobby in thirty minutes.” “Sounds good.” We hang up and I finish my fruit. My hair is still in an up-do so I rinse off in the shower and put on my “Property of the Preacher” shirt that Preston has sitting out for me. I smile at that. Even though it is extremely caveman like I love wearing his shirts. Then I look down to my left hand. The band that perfectly engulfs my engagement ring. It sparkles so much and I can’t keep my eyes off of it. “Do you like it?” “It’s beautiful. It really all has been perfect. Ya know except the whole James thing.” “Yea, but we will get that all figured out and then we can continue on this perfect journey of us.” I smile at him. “I wouldn’t be so nervous if I was just thinking about myself ya know?” “I know, but if there is anyone up for the job of taking care of our baby for the next seven months, it’s you.” I sigh. I hope he’s right, because if something happened I would be devastated. “I love you in my T. I look so good on you.” “I think you may have mentioned that before.” “It’s worth repeating.” I shake my head as he tags the back of my head and kisses me. “Ready for this baby?” “I was born ready.” Of course he was. We walk hand in hand to the elevator and head to the lobby to meet Adrionna and Gavin. Oh Lord, Adrionna and Gavin. It looks like we’re interrupting something. “What’s going on?” “No offense Preston, but your brother is insane.” To this Gavin snorts and says “No offense Addy, but your best friend is…” “Ok, enough. What is going on?” They both start speaking at the same time and all I hear is “He, she, said. Crazy if you think, and if she thinks that this is.” My mouth pops open as Preston throws his hands up and says, “Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. One at a time children.” I bite back a laugh. These two were going to kill each other. “Grant called. He wants to send someone to get photos of the marks on her so they have a solid case on James for when they catch him. She said no. So, being the nice guy I am, I said I would just take the pictures if she would let me. She of course says no one will be taking any pictures of her looking like this.” Oh I see the problem. “Adrionna. If they don’t have the proof they can let him go. If they have it he will be put away for a long time.” “Yea, but there will always be those pictures to show how weak I was. Please Addy. Don’t make me.” “I can’t make you. But, I need to talk to you in private before you make a final decision.” I look to Preston hoping he understands what I need to tell Adrionna in order to get her to go forward with this. He gets close. “Do it babe. She needs to understand the severity of this. Make sure she knows it’s not out there though.” I give him a nod and kiss his cheek. We walk into a conference room and a confused Gavin stands there completely puzzled as to why he can’t come in with us. “Adrionna, I need you to understand why this is so important to me. If you file this report with the pictures they can get more people after him. This will mean less danger for me. And my baby.” “Do you always refer to Preston as that? That’s just weird.” “Not Preston. My baby.” I reach down and hover over my lower stomach as her jaw drops. “No.” “Yes.” “You’re pregnant?” “Yes.” “Oh. My. God.” Yes. She screamed a little. I let out a little laugh as she jumps up and down. “Oh my God I gave you a mimosa this morning. I am so sorry. Is that why you’ve been so sick?” “Yea. But listen. You’re the only person who knows outside of Preston and me.” “No one knows?” “No one knows. I need you to do this to help keep us all safe.” “Will you take them?” I sigh in relief, “Yea. I have my phone I can email them to Grant. Here pull down you pants and I’ll make sure you can’t see anything other than the bruises.” I take pictures of all of the markings on her including her face and send them all to Grant. We walk out of the room and Adrionna goes straight to Preston. I shake my head as she reaches up and gives him a huge hug. I can see that she is saying something to him, but we can’t hear. Gavin grabs my hand and I look up to him. “I got the pictures. I emailed them to Grant.” “Thank you.” “No problem.” He lets me go and I walk to Preston who puts a possessive arm around me. Leaving me feeling right at home. Cue contented sigh. “You did good baby.” “Thank you for letting me do that.” “Anything to keep you safe. You know that.” We walk right over to the stadium where his fight is happening, and they escort us down to his “dressing room.”
Caged Page 11
