Once he got confirmation he put his radio back in place. It beeped again. “Five one five six please be advised that a report of children missing just came in for your location.”
He put the radio back up to his mouth. “Copy that.”
I held up my hands. “We didn’t kidnap anyone. Vessa’s right down the road.”
He drew his gun, but walked by me. “Stay here!” I watched him walk to the front door. “Police! Open up!”
The door opened and Gavin came walking out. “What seems to be the problem Officer Friendly?” He laughed at what he called the guy.
“What’s going on Gavin? We got a call for a noise disturbance. You fighting with your old lady again?” They were talking like they were friends. I didn’t like it.
His partner walked up behind him. “You mind if we come in and make sure everything is alright?”
“Yeah I mind! You got a warrant?”
“We don’t need one when we can smell marijuana coming out of your windows.” I stood there and watched them handcuff Gavin. It was going to take a lot more than pot to make sure he left us alone.
Another cop showed up and ran in the house. I sat on the curb and watched them put Gavin in the police car. A few minutes later and ambulance arrived. They went running into the house and came out with a female on a stretcher. I ran over to the girl. She was conscious, but had a busted lip and a wrapped up leg. “Is she going to be alright?”
“She might have a broken leg. He locked her in the closet and knocked her around. She’s crying about her baby, but there’s no kids in the house.”
The other officer came walking over toward us. “I need you call Vessa and tell her to bring the kids back. We’re going to need to interview them and get the baby to her grandparents.”
I walked over to the window and grabbed my cell phone from the ledge.
Ramsey? Please tell me you’re okay?
I’m fine. The cops need you to bring the kids back. Gavin’s in the back of the cop car, so he can’t hurt anyone.
I’ll be there in two minutes.
As soon as she pulled up, the police crowded around the truck. I think the other cop was shocked when he saw her pull up in my police vehicle. She pushed through the officers and ran into my arms. “I was getting worried.”
“I’m fine. They need to interview the kids.”
Another female came walking out in cuffs. She looked around as she was pushed in the back of the car. Vessa’s cop friend walked up to us. “We got him on possession and assault. I’m hoping his girlfriends family will convince her to testify.”
“Thanks, Tommy.” Vessa gave him a hug.
“I thought you told me, you’d never date a cop.”
She turned and looked at me. “I might marry one.”
Tommy’s eyes lit up. “Really? That was fast. I mean, you’ve only been gone for like a year.”
“She’s just trying to skip the dating part,” I teased.
“Well, congrats. You got a great girl there. Be good to her.” He started walking back to his patrol car.
She turned and wrapped her arms around me again. “Are the kids alright?”
“Yeah, they’re shaken up. I hate that I have to tell them more bad news. I mean, they just watched their father get arrested. How much more can they take in one day?” She was so stressed and we hadn’t even been to the hospital yet.
“The good news is that I recorded him admitting that he set me up and the police have enough on him to make sure that he won’t ever be able to take your kids away. I know it’s going to be an adjustment for the kids, but I’m not letting you out of my sight. I think we need to sit them down and give them the good and bad. Together, of course.” At first, I thought she was going to shoot down my idea. I could only push her so much before she felt smothered. She was depressed and I was ecstatic. I’d felt so damn guilty about putting herself in danger of losing her children.
“Together sounds like a plan. After all of this, I’m just so glad that you were here with me. Can you imagine how bad it could have gotten?”
I kissed her on the top of the head. “Get in the truck. I’ll give them all my information to get in touch with you, if they need it. We need to get these kids to the hospital before visiting hours are over.”
When I opened my door to get in, Logan climbed over the seat and hugged the back of my neck. “Thanks for rescuing us. You’re the best hero, ever!”
Chapter 22
Vessa
The kids didn’t say much on the way home. I could tell that they were completely freaked out. About halfway down the road, we stopped to eat. Asha needed to go the bathroom, so I took her while Ramsey and Logan ordered our food.
When we got into the ladies room she hugged me. “Please don’t make us go back there again.”
I held her close and then kneeled down to be on her level. “What happened honey?”
“Daddy got so mad. He kept yelling. Grandmom came to get us and he fought with her. She said she was going to call you and he told her that she would never see us again if she did. I just wanted to go home.”
“You’re safe now, baby.”
“Is Ramsey your boyfriend again?” I had to laugh at the way she asked.
“Yes, he is. Is it okay?”
She nodded and smiled. “Yes. I like it when you’re happy.”
“Oh, baby, I like being happy too. I’m so glad you’re okay with him being around. I didn’t want you hating me. I know you love your daddy. Ramsey would never try to take that from you. He just wants to be with us.”
“Aunt Sue said that he used to be sad all the time too.”
I wiped her face with a paper towel. “He was. One day he will tell you all about it. It’s his story to tell though, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
When we went out to join the boys they were playing with onion rings. “Look Mom, we have new glasses,” Ramsey said as they both had onion rings around their eyes.
“Do you know how greasy your faces are going to be?”
They laughed and started eating their onion spectacles. “Everything okay?” Ramsey asked.
I grabbed his knee under the table. “I think it’s going to be.”
He leaned over and kissed the side of my head in front of the kids. Logan started laughing and Asha’s eyes got huge. Logan tossed an onion ring at him. “You just kissed my mom.”
Ramsey tossed it back. “You’re right, buddy I did. You want to know why I did it?”
My stomach knotted up. This was not a calm confession.
“Why?”
He leaned in and looked at both of the kids, with onion rings around his eyes, of course. “Because I love her.”
Logan covered his mouth with his hands and his little eyes doubled in size. Even Asha was smiling.
When I looked over at Ramsey, he winked at me. “Guess we don’t need to finish that game.”
I popped a fry in my mouth. “Oh, we’re going to finish it, the stakes will just have to be raised.”
“Woman, I will play you any day.”
The kids giggled more as they finished their food. Ramsey got a kick of out of being around Logan and acting silly, so of course, Logan thought he was the coolest thing ever. I thought Asha was going to be a problem. If her father wouldn’t have dug his own hole, she probably would have been upset about me being another man.
Gavin had caused me so many problems. I still found it hard to believe that everything was going to work out perfectly, only because it never had for me before. I just wanted to be able to breathe. With the traumatic events of earlier in the day, I knew that telling the kids about my aunt was going to be devastating. The problem was that it couldn’t wait. She was running out of time.
I felt like my life was spinning out of control and at some point it was going to crash. Ramsey seemed sure of his intentions to be with me, but if he lost his job, I wasn’t sure how much of the blame would be on my shoulders.
Instead of
telling the kids that Aunt Sue was running out of time, I just told them that she’d gotten sick and we needed to visit her. I didn’t think about how scary it would be for them when they went into the room and saw her hooked up to so many machines. I could tell she was happy to see them, but it was sad to see her struggling. Plus, her one side was still sagging and Logan was scared to get close to her.
She seemed happy and the nurse told us that she wasn’t in any pain. Ramsey sat in the chair with Logan. They found something on the television that had them both occupied. Asha stood next to my aunt and held her hand. They’d really gotten close since we moved in. She was like a grandmother to them.
When the visiting hours were over, I knew I had to get the kids home. They had school in the morning and needed baths and a good night’s sleep. I also had to call their teachers and let them know what they’d been through. I had a feeling that it was going to cause problems for them. Children were resilient, but this was a little more than us rolling around in the backyard and the police showing up.
We all kissed my aunt and headed back to her house. Ramsey wanted me to just get clothes and come to his house, but the kids needed some kind of stability after going through so much in one day. I just didn’t see it going over well.
Ramsey dropped us off at home and left to go get clothes. In the meantime, I made sure the kids had their baths and a snack. By the time he returned, they were both ready for bed. He came in when I was tucking in Logan. “Everybody alright in here?”
“Mommy, can Ramsey sleep in my room?”
I laughed, but Ramsey walked over and plopped down on his twin size bed. “It’s all good. I think some buddy time is a great idea.”
Immediately, they started talking about something that was clearly a topic they had discussed before about some super hero. I stood in the hallway, listening to them getting to know each other. As much as I loved the idea of them bonding, I had this feeling in the pit of stomach that something terrible was going to happen. What if the kids actually fell in love with Ramsey and he realized that he couldn’t be in a family environment.
It could happen.
They would be heartbroken.
So would I.
Suddenly, even with everything else on my plate, my optimism went out the door. I didn’t know what to do. My children were always going to be my first priority. Since we’d moved here, Ramsey had slowly come into the picture. It wasn’t like he just showed up one day and we were together. The kids knew we were friends. They were the ones to tell their father about us. That was months ago and Ramsey was a different person.
Maybe that was what had me worried.
Clearly, he’d made progress with being able to live again. I was so proud of him, even aside from me being his so called reason for change. Still, that was going to wear off. I wasn’t always going to be the only woman that he noticed. I may have been the first one to push him to live again, but I was certain that I wasn’t going to be the only woman to come onto him.
He wasn’t even thirty and was already the sheriff of a small town. He was beyond good looking and his newfound sense of humor was more than sexy. Every woman would want him and for the first time in his adult life, he could be bachelor.
I’d lived in a marriage with broken promises. I wasn’t naïve. I knew that it was easy to tell someone one thing and want another. How was I supposed to be sure that I was making the right decision? This man had been a challenge and ended up stealing my heart. He’d taken my worries away from my failed marriage and occupied my curiosity enough to move on. I owed him just as much as he owed me.
Losing him wouldn’t just crush me. It would crush my kids and they were already losing everything they ever loved. Was I really going to be selfish and put my needs in front of them?
What if his undying love for his first wife started to get to me? How could I ever compete with a love like that?
By the time I climbed into bed, I was in tears. I laid there thinking about everything. I wondered if my leaving had turned Gavin into such a monster. He wasn’t ever violent like that with me. A baby wasn’t going to know it’s father now. The mother was going to have to do it all alone. I knew that their circumstance had nothing to do with me. The police would have eventually came back to that house. Gavin had made his bed and the wrong choices and so had his mother for not telling me what was going on. She knew that wasn’t an environment for them to be in and she left them there anyway.
Then there was my aunt. My poor aunt, who had lived the last few years of her life alone. I felt so guilty for that. My mother would have been so disappointed in me for not keeping in touch with her. I loved her so much and I owed her everything. She’d taken us in when we had nowhere else to go. She fed us and gave me a job. She started a new life for us. Now she was dying and somehow her last wish was for me and Ramsey to be together.
The stress of it all was making me queasy again. I ran to the bathroom and threw up my whole dinner.
I heard footsteps walking on the porcelain tile and then saw extra large feet beside me. The sink turned on and a cold rag wiped my head. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“You okay?” He sat on the edge of the tub, just like the last time.
“It’s just stress. I feel so sick to my stomach. All these thoughts keep clouding my mind. I’m worried about the kids and how all of this is going to affect them. I want them to be able to get through it, but they can’t handle it all at the same time. I don’t even know what’s going to happen with Gavin. I mean, how am I supposed to trust him to see them again?” I leaned back against the tile wall.
He reached over and grabbed my hand. “You’re not alone, you know.” He pulled me up and kissed the top of my head. “When you feel better, I’ll be in your bed.” He started walking out of the bathroom and turned around. “Oh, and don’t worry. I’ll go down to the couch before the kids wake up.”
I wanted to tell him about my worries, but I was so afraid he would get mad and leave. I just needed him so much.
Ramsey was under the covers when I came in from getting a quick shower. One of his arms was behind his head. His chest was bare and I like the way it looked to see him there. He cleared his throat when I came in. I loved how fast his facial hair grew, and since he hadn’t had time to shave, it almost looked like he was growing a beard. Plus it was a shade darker than the hair on top of his head.
Since the kids were in the house, I chose to put on a pair of pajamas. I could tell from the look on his face that he was disappointed. “You know I have to wear clothes. What if they walk in?”
He lifted the covers to show me that he had on pajama pants. “This isn’t my first rodeo, Vessa.”
I climbed in next to him, wearing a tank top and pajama pants. I tied my hair back in a ponytail that was on my nightstand and cuddled up against him. “I know.”
“Everything is going to be alright. This is just another bump in the road.”
“I know. It just hurts so much.” I was trying so hard not to start crying again.
“It does.” He rubbed my back and didn’t say anything else.
I sat up and looked him right in the eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you.” Ramsey took his finger and pulled down one of the straps to my top. “I don’t think you even understand how much.”
Hearing the words gave me chills. It was comforting and made me want to thank him. I slowly moved on top of him, straddling his body as I sat up. I slid down the other strap to my tank top and pushed it down over my breasts. Ramsey wasted no time pulling me down to his chest. His kissed me slowly and I matched his technique.
He kissed my nose. “You’re so beautiful.”
My body warmed up, hearing him say those words and look at me the way he was. I kissed his neck and ran my tongue up to his ear. After nibbling on his ear, he started moving his hands up the back of my tank. I started moving my body, taking my hand and reaching it down his pants. I whispered in his ear, “Make love to me,” and he oblige
d.
Ramsey rolled me over and ran his hand over my cheek as he placed gentle, soft kisses over my lips. He was technically on top of me, but keeping his weight off of my body. He ran one hand between my exposed breasts and sat up enough to watch himself doing it. The way he looked at me made me feel like I was being devoured, sexually and emotionally. I could sense his intentions in the way he paced himself, circling one of my nipples with his fingertips. “I love your breasts.” He leaned down and kissed my nipple. Then he sat back up and used the palm of his hand to get it as hard as possible. “I love how your body responds to my touch.”
I could feel myself catching fire between my legs. My sex was aching for his attention. “I want you so bad,” I cried.
He kissed me again, letting his tongue drag over my bottom lip. He slid his hand down my pajama pants. Even I could feel how ready I was for him. “Mmm, you don’t’ waste any time.” I could feel him sliding his fingers between my folds and feeling how ready I was for what was coming next.
Except, that wasn’t what was coming next. Ramsey pulled his hand out and sucked on his fingers. It was so erotic. “You taste so good.” With that, he slid down pulling my pants down with him. First he rubbed me, while watching both my face and what he was doing. He licked his lips a couple times while sliding a finger inside of me. Slowly, he moved it in and out, using his thumb to rub my throbbing bud. I ran my hand through his disheveled hair. He reached for my arm, sliding his other hand into mine. Our fingers locked around one another. It was such and intimate move.
He kissed my inner thigh, using his tongue as a guide, making his way to my sex. I felt his finger being removed. He adjusted his position and kissed the base of my pussy. I sat up, feeling the need to watch his every move. He kissed it again, keeping his eyes locked on mine. When I felt his tongue sliding in between my folds, I couldn’t help but close my eyes for a second. I forced myself to watch him pleasuring me. This wasn’t like the last time. He moved slowly, kissing me with every lick of his tongue, like he was savoring me.
Hustle Him (Bank Shot Romance #2) Page 19
