by Harper Sloan
I grin up at Thorn, lick my lips, and go back to press one more quick peck against his soft mouth. Then I see my sweet Jim perched on his shoulder.
"Uh, how did he get way up there?"
Thorn, not even fazed by the friend on his shoulder, shrugs. "Climbed."
"Climbed? As in, he climbed you, and you didn't take him from me and put him there?" I don't let him answer, pulling his shirt up and searching for claw marks on his skin. I run my hand over his stomach and chest, bending and twisting my head to check the spots camouflaged by his tattoos.
"Used my shirt, Ari, but even if his claws had got me, I wouldn't have felt that shit. Not when you're finally back in my arms."
"Honey." I sigh. "You make it sound like it's been years."
"To me, it sure felt like it."
And, that's what a full body swoon feels like.
"You know, for a man who's never had a girlfriend before, you sure do know how to give good woo."
He cocks a brow. "I don't have a fucking clue what a woo is, but if the truth gives it to you, guess that's no hardship."
"Yeah, Thorn, it's definitely no hardship."
He opens his mouth to say something but closes it with a shocked glance toward my back seat when Dwight gives a particularly powerful sign of his impatient anger.
"How about you hang on to the one that's content, and I'll get the beast?"
He reaches up, lifts Jim gingerly, and hands him to me. "Go on inside and let me deal with my Dwight. Jim at least knows how to share."
For Pete's sake. If he wants to deal with the demon, I'm surely not going to argue. It should bother me that Dwight tucks that evil in when Thorn's around, but it's seriously the most adorable thing I've ever seen. Well, tied now with the vision of Jim sitting like a proud little thing on his shoulder that is.
Dwight stops his nonsense the second Thorn opens the door and holds his hand to the carrier door. I don't stick around to watch Dwight's pitiful act of sanity return just from sniffing Thorn. I walk around to the other side, grab my bag and purse, and head inside. The heavenly scent of food lures me to the kitchen. I see a covered saucepan on the stove and the oven ticking down with twenty minutes remaining.
"They need to eat?" Thorn asks, coming into the kitchen behind me.
"Yeah," I answer, walking to the corner that Thorn had set up as the cat's, grabbing what I need from the cabinet closest to prepare their dinner. Neither cat wastes a second digging in when I place both dishes down next to the obviously fresh water. I love that he thought to do that.
"Dinner smells good," I observe, leaning against the island and taking the wine that Thorn had poured for me while I fed the cats.
"Stuffed peppers. You mentioned wanting them early last week, but things got busy. Figured it wasn't a long shot that you'd still enjoy them."
"You weren't wrong."
He takes a drink of his beer, places it on the counter, and then pulls the glass he just gave me from my hand after I take a sip. His hands land on the island, close enough for me to feel their warmth on my side. He bends close, and his eyes search mine silently. The intensity in his gaze making me shift on my heels.
"You woke something up inside me that had been unconscious for a long time, Ari. I'm not even sure there was a time it wasn't just beating through life, completely worthless aside from the job it did to keep me breathing. God, baby." He exhales, licks his lips, and gives a little shake of his head.
My heart pounds wild and fierce. Everything in my mind goes blank except this man before me. I lift my hands, palms to his cheeks, and ... hold on.
"Knew you were different, baby. Even when I didn't realize why I could know that with the certainty I felt deep. Felt that from the jump. Then you, all the beauty that is you, just kept giving me more proof that I wasn't wrong."
"Thorn, honey," I whisper, his words affecting me profoundly.
"Love you, too, Ari. More than you could ever fucking know."
My chin wobbles, drawing his attention.
Which is precisely the moment I burst into tears.
His strong arms pull me in, and I cry against his chest, feeling that heart beating against my cheek. Each thump against my skin doing what it always does, calling out to mine until their rhythm is matched, beat for beat. There's no doubt in my mind that his wasn't the only heart beating away, unconscious and incapable of doing anything more than giving life to the body it resided in.
"The time I'm willing to wait for you to be settled here, where you belong, just got cut short," Thorn tells me, his voice deeper with my ear pressed against him. "A lot fucking shorter. As in, it's gone."
"Honey."
He leans away, and I'm forced to move before I fall on my face. His finger presses lightly under my chin, pulling my eyes to his. "You aren't there yet; a month is as generous as I feel like I can be. Spent over forty years living without feeling in my own life. Each year, I felt like I wouldn't ever find more than what I had fought to have. I don't feel like waiting anymore now."
"It's so soon."
"It's not soon enough. I wanted you here two months ago, Ari."
"You really want me here? Me and my cats?"
"I really want you here. You and the damn cats."
"I woke you up?"
"Wide-awake, baby."
"You gave me back my life," I confess, clearing my throat and trying really hard to push through the emotions burning up my throat. "You weren't the only one asleep, Thorn. You love me?"
"Woke my heart up, Ari. Beats for only you now."
"I love you." A sob makes my whole body jerk. His face gets soft, and he puts me right back where I want to be--pressed tightly against him. "I'm going to fill up your closet."
He moves us, maneuvering our bodies, and lifts me to sit on the island, stepping between my legs.
"Then I'll buy a bigger house. You finally moving in with me?"
I nod, tears still pouring down, and smile so big and wide it makes my cheeks burn.
Two hours later, dinner was also burnt.
There's nothing I wouldn't do
Ari's phone chimes, and she groans. The painful sound reminding me of what happened last night. Well, what happened much later last night, that is. I wish I could take her pain away, but I know she needs to get it out.
Last night, after I showed her how I felt about her giving me all that she had, we tossed the burnt dinner in the trash and ordered Chinese. She hadn't even finished hers before she was running out of the kitchen with her hand over her mouth. She was on her knees heaving into the toilet when I got to her. I've never felt so helpless--not once in my life--and fuck knows there were plenty of times I should have. I held her hair, wiped her neck with a cool washcloth, and then carried her to bed after she'd emptied her stomach and didn't have anything left to come up.
She slept hard.
I didn't sleep at all.
And that goddamn phone was too far for me to reach and silence.
The big cat shifts against my back, the same place he's been since I pulled Ari into my arms last night. I can't see the clock on the other side of the bed, but judging by the light filling the room, it's still early.
The reminder of the text sounds, and Ari grumbles.
"Leave it, baby," I tell her, not wanting her to get sick again.
"Piper's week off starts today. I told her before I left yesterday that there was no sense in her waiting until Monday when the other girls can handle it over the weekend. I can't ignore it in case it's one of my openers, though."
I lift my arm and let her move out of the bed, kicking my ass for moving it in here and plugging it in last night after I had cleaned the kitchen. She goes to the bathroom and not the table across the room where our phones are charging.
I throw back the covers and follow her. Even though I can hear she isn't getting sick, I don't want to be a room away if she starts again.
She's brushing her teeth when I walk into the room, looking tired but fucking beautiful. Sh
e finishes while I'm walking back to the sink after using the restroom. I kiss her temple and wash my hands before brushing my own. She moves slowly but goes to the toilet, shutting the door behind her--something I find fucking cute as hell that she gets shy about. Almost as cute as her blushing when she comes back to wash her hands before leaving the room. I just keep brushing and shake my head.
It happened when I lifted a handful of water to my mouth to rinse.
A sharp gasp burst from her.
I heard it over the sound of water running.
Fear.
I'm at her side a second later, ripping the phone from her hand.
"The fuck?" I roar when I see the text on the screen.
London: You need to watch your back.
"What does that mean?" Ari cries, falling into my arms and clinging to me. "Oh, God!" She pulls back and looks at me with wide eyes. "With everything that happened last night, getting here and ... well, everything, I didn't even think. I meant to, I did. Then you told me you loved me, and nothing else mattered. Even if it means feeling this way right now, it was worth the ugly not sticking to the memories of what we shared last night. I need you to know I didn't mean to forget, honey. I really did mean to tell you!"
She's frantic and not making any sense. I feel the truth of what I can understand in her tone, but it's the desperation and her tight grip on me that makes me feel like I'm not going to like whatever it is she forgot to mention last night.
"Just tell me, Ari."
"T-Tommy," she cries with a strangled breath.
Rage consumes me. That fucking fuck.
"I didn't mean to keep it from you! You have to believe me."
It takes a lot of effort to push down the beast roaring inside me, knowing she needs me to be her man before I can be her protector. After I give her what she needs to hear, then I can be both.
"Stop, Ari. I was right there with you last night. There was only one thing either of us could focus on. You're telling me now. That's all that matters."
"I wouldn't keep this from you. I wouldn't."
"Enough," I stress firmly. She jumps, sucking in a choppy breath. "Whatever you're thinking, just stop. I understand, baby. I know you didn't mean to. Now tell me what the fuck happened."
Her chin trembles, and her eyes fill with tears, but none spill over.
"I love you remember," I remind her, pulling her tight. "I'm right here, Ari. Let me shoulder this shit for you, and stop thinking about anything else."
"He stopped by Trend," she says so soft and meekly, I have to strain to hear her. "It was weird seeing him, but I think he really thought he was there for some sort of well check. He saw us. I'm not sure when, but he saw us together at some point. He knew what he was seeing, but for whatever reason, felt he needed to check. He said he needed to hear from me, after seeing my life on pause for so many years, that I was happy and moving on. It was awkward, more for him because he looked miserable with his own life, but not for me. Even knowing he had to have seen me often to know how long I was on pause. I didn't spare him the enormity of just how happy I am now and just who you are to me, but in the end, I made sure he knew just how happy you made me. He said some things that make me think he harbors a lot of sadness and regret, but he wasn't there long. He didn't even get close to me. Just sat across from my desk. Before he left, though, God ... before he left, I told him to get control of London and make sure she stops her crap. He must have told her."
I stare at that text with her trembling in my arms and silently vow to do everything I possibly can to ensure she never feels this again. It looks like I had my investigator looking into the wrong fucking person.
"London do something to need you to have him stop her?"
She shakes her head, lines appearing between her brows. "No, I mean, I don't think so. There've been a few hang-ups at Trend, but nothing that would make me assume it was anything other than a wrong number. We've gotten them regularly enough over the years that I don't think it was her. She always came up on the caller ID. I said it to him because history indicated she wouldn't stop, no matter how long of a break she gave me between her bouts of crap. She would always come back and spew her venom."
"And the text?"
"I have no idea, Thorn. What does she mean by that? He must have made it sound like it was something it wasn't. Otherwise, it makes no sense."
"No clue. But I'm about to find out."
I lift her phone, jam my finger against the top of the text screen, and pull up the contact for her fucking sister. It's against my ear and ringing before Ari can stop me. Her wide eyes don't look away, her tits heaving under the shirt she pulled from my closet last night.
The line connects.
I know it's her sister. She had just enough time to get a syllable of Ari's full name out, and that was a second too long.
"You have some fucking nerve," I growl, my throat red hot with the rage I feel. She starts to speak, but I cut her off. "Shut the fuck up. You speak, it's when I've asked you a goddamn question, and I better not hear a peep otherwise. You sent that shit, but you better take fucking notes. You get near Ari, I'll destroy you. Do you hear me?"
"Yes," the sister replies. Instantly. Weakly. Fucking coward hiding behind her phone.
"You forget her number. Forget she even exists. Never again will you pick up that phone and so much as think about her with it in your hand. Do you understand that?"
"I-yes."
"You fucked up. Not her. You fucked up and then continued to fuck up. Either of you fucking contact Ari again, I'll have my team dig up everything they fucking can and bury both of you. I don't know you. You mean shit to me, but she means the world, and I promise you this, I get even an inkling that you're so much as thinking about Ari, I'll find you. No hole will be deep enough to hide in. No shadow dark enough to conceal you. No distance I won't travel to make sure you understand what the fuck I'm willing to do to protect my whole goddamn world. Do you get that?" My ears ring, my throat aches, and my heart pounds. I'm bloodthirsty to make this bitch pay for every second of the seven years Ari felt pain from the destruction her sister's actions set in motion.
"Y-yes."
This time, she sounds like she understands exactly what will happen if she so much as looks the wrong way while crossing the street. She seemed like she wanted to say more, but she wisely didn't. I know what I sound like when that kind of anger takes over. I hang up and toss Ari's phone down on the table, wishing I had shattered it against the wall instead. I hope that bitch takes heed of what I said. That's the only warning I'll ever give her.
I meant every fucking word. There's nothing I wouldn't do for Ari. If it came down to it, I'd step in front of any harm meant for her. Nothing, not one thing, I wouldn't do to ensure she's breathing that easy life I promised her months ago. Nothing.
"From now on, she doesn't exist for you either, baby. She and that motherfucker she's saddled with. I mean what I said; I'll put someone on both of them, and they won't ever recover when I'm done if they even think about continuing this shit with you. They don't get a part of our future. Not a single day. Not a minute. Not even thirty fucking seconds."
Ari wipes her eyes and nods.
"You need to talk about that shit?"
She shakes her head.
"You sure?"
"No. You're right. They don't get this. They took enough; they can't have this." She sucks in her breath, straightens her shoulders, and forces a smile. "Thank you."
"Told you, beats only for you, baby. I'll protect that until the day I die. Now, you want to try to eat something or get back in bed and start this day the right way?"
"A redo sounds good, honey. Then maybe breakfast."
"Anything, Ari. Anything for you."
You're something else
It's been five days since the morning Thorn unleashed a wrath unlike I've ever seen on London. It was a brilliant display of power that I'll never forget. Seeing him like that, knowing it came from his love for me--wanting
to protect me from what London's always done--made it easy for me to do just what he said before he took me back to bed. London and Thomas won't get a single piece of our future. Not when they've taken enough as it is. I've had my time to grieve the loss of London and, if I'm honest with myself, that happened before she stole the man I almost married. Heck, I should be sending her a fruit basket and thanking her for ensuring I was ready to receive the gift of Thorn when fate brought him to me.
It didn't hurt that I had a session with Dr. Hart two days after that call.
I've suffered enough. I've buried myself for too long under that pain. I'm done allowing them control over my happiness. They had that for seven long years, but I'm in control now.
I'll never stop missing my parents. I'll never stop grieving the loss of them. But I'll take each day I have left on this earth and live my life with Thorn's love knowing, if they were watching over me, they would be so beyond pleased with where my pain brought me in the end.
The only thing weighing on my mind now is Piper.
Well, the only thing on my mind now is Piper. I had a few days to process them, but that's it. Now it's all her.
The weekend I was supposed to spend alone with Thorn didn't go as planned. Friday and into Monday was spent with the stomach bug that's been breeding its nastiness for the past two months between Barcode and The Alibi. The same one that kept us apart for days in the first place. I went in to Trend Tuesday, but since then, I've only worked a few hours a day, not wanting to overdo it. I have competent and well trained employees, and I know they can handle it anytime I'm not there. There are still things that only Piper or me can do, which is the only reason I've felt a little guilty for not being able to be there longer.
I did find it terribly funny that, while I had spent a few days closing up the painful memories of my past, I had also been vomiting randomly the whole time. It seemed like a fitting time. Purging them from my life, literally.
Then there's Piper.
Through my days with the bug, I kept trying to contact my best friend.
Every single day since Saturday, I've called her, and it's so unlike her not to answer my calls. We've never spent more than a day without talking or, at the very least, texting. We didn't talk much after Thomas left either. I was in a rush to get to Thorn at the time, so it was even more out of place that she wouldn't at least pick up when I called.
