Always and Forever

by Harper Bentley

  “Give it to her now,” Brody says and my head jerks to him and my mouth hangs open.

  “I can’t let you do that,” I protest.

  “Babe.”

  Why do these men think that’s an answer?

  “Brody, no.”

  He looks at Kade. “We’re gettin’ it now.”

  Kade grins at both of us then walks over to the refrigerator and looks at the tag on it. He pulls a small flippy notebook out of his pocket along with a pencil and writes the serial number from the tag on it.

  “Brody, you already spent so much to go to the resort this weekend paying, what, six-hundred a night on top of a plane ticket? I can’t let you do this.”

  “Seven hundred.”

  I look at him. “What?”

  “The room was seven hundred a night.”

  “Holy crap! Well, see? No! I’m not letting you do this for me.”

  Kade walks toward the back heading to the stock room and ignoring us.

  “It’s not a matter of ‘let.’ I’m doing it.”

  “God! You have to be the most stubborn man I’ve ever met!”

  He grins at me and takes my hand pulling me to go with him to the back where his brother is. “If it makes you feel any better, it’ll be my fridge too since we’ll be together anyway.” I’m stomping along beside him, just a teeny bit frustrated with his bossiness. “C’mon, babe. Don’t get your panties in a wad.”

  I cut him a sharp look. “You leave my panties out of it.”

  “Try to. Every time.”

  God!

  ~~~

  Straddling Brody, my knees in the bed to either side of him, I let out a cry as his fingers dig into my hips and he slams me down hard on him making me feel him so deep inside.

  “So fucking good,” he leans in and mumbles at my throat moving his hands up my back to curl over my shoulders. When I slide up on him, going up on my knees so far that I almost lose him inside, his hands on my shoulders pull me down roughly onto his hard cock and I’m done, my core clutching at him desperately as I scream his name.

  He falls to his back and rolls us where he’s on top and starts moving in a slow, pumping rhythm that drives me crazy.

  I’d already driven him to the same place right after we’d come back to my house. To show him my deepest gratitude for buying the refrigerator, I’d disrobed him, pushed him to lie back on my bed then proceeded to taste every inch of his body. When I’d taken his hard shaft into my mouth, moving my hands up and down to follow the motion of my lips on him, I’d tortured him by bringing him to the edge then backing off, doing this several times over until he’d had enough.

  And now he’s torturing me.

  “Buy you shit every day if this is my reward,” he mumbles, plunging in deep and making me gasp.

  “Baby, I’d reward you anyway you keep making me feel like this,” I reply breathily.

  And that does it for him as his hips begin their surge and retreat, driving hard, pounding inside until he finds his release and he comes with a curse.

  “I love you,” I whisper as my heavy lids close and I hear him mumble, “Always and forever,” just as I drift off.

  ~~~

  I wake to Brody talking.

  “Seriously? That’s great. Six? Yeah, we’ll be there. Thanks.” He walks into my bedroom fully dressed. “Hey, sleepyhead. You gonna nap all day?”

  I smile and stretch. “Maybe. I don’t know why I’m so tired.”

  I see him waggle his eyebrows at me. “Could be all the extracurricular activity we’ve got going on.”

  “Mmm. Maybe.”

  He sits on the bed. “Put me in, Coach,” he says and leans down to kiss me as I laugh.

  “That was the cheesiest line ever.”

  “Worse than ‘Are you my appendix because I have a funny feeling in my stomach that makes me wanna take you out’?”

  I groan and roll to where my face is pressed against his thigh. “So bad.”

  He smacks my ass through the sheet. “Get up. That was Kade. He said they have some information on where Hannah is. We’re having dinner at Mom and Dad’s at six.”

  I sit up putting my hand on his thigh. “That’s awesome. Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end.”

  “Get showered and dressed so we can stop by my place and I can change. Also, pack a bag ‘cause you’re staying with me tonight.”

  I do as ordered finding myself a little anxious about seeing his mom and dad. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t talked to them over the past year but I have avoided them somewhat. But they welcomed Amelia back into their fold after she’d left Kade at the altar then disappeared for five years, so I’m hoping they’ll do the same for me.

  I’m ready by a quarter to six and we leave, making the stop at Brody’s trailer where he changes and I leave my bag then we head out to his parents’ ranch. When we pull up, we see Kade’s truck and Jeremy’s SUV but there’s also an Escalade parked outside that neither of us has a clue whose it is.

  “Piper!” Carolina, Brody’s mom, says as soon as we step in the door as if she’d been waiting for us. She pulls me in for a hug. “I’ve missed you…” her voice hitches which makes me tear up as I squeeze her back. She pulls back putting her hands on my shoulders. “As beautiful as ever. I’m glad my son finally got his head out of his ass.”

  I choke out a laugh as I wipe the tears from under my eyes. I’ve always loved Carolina especially the fact that she’s always been like a second mom to me. She’s in her mid-fifties and is half a foot taller than I am. Her long, dark hair is pulled into a low ponytail, the way she usually wears it, and her sharp gray eyes never miss a thing. She’s very pretty and is one of the strongest women I know. She’s dressed in her usual rancher attire of jeans and boots but the purple sweater she’s wearing compliments her coloring so well that she’s practically beaming.

  “I love that color on you, Carolina. It’s perfect!” I tell her.

  “Thank you. Had Ryan do my ‘colors’ a few months ago. Seems I’m a cool winter and purple’s one of my signature colors.” She pops a hip out all sassy and I laugh.

  “Well, Ryan called it because you look stunning.”

  “Aw, thank you, sweetheart. Adorable as always.” She now looks up at Brody. “And here’s my handsome second born. Give your mother a hug.”

  “Hey, Mom,” Brody says then bends down and wraps his arms around her picking her up and spinning her making her shriek.

  When he sets her down, she smacks him on the arm. “Brody Matthew Kelly, don’t think it’s beyond me to ground you.”

  He laughs. “Yeah, ‘cause it worked so well when you actually thought you could.”

  “Oh, you. Get in there.” She smacks him on the butt now then follows us into the living room.

  Lucas, Brody’s dad, gets out of his recliner and comes over to me. “So glad you’re here, Piper.” He pulls me in for a hug and kisses the top of my head. He leans back to look at me. “Lovely as ever.” He’s also in his mid-fifties and except for the slight paunch to his stomach, he’s built exactly like his sons. His hair is russet colored but I notice a few gray hairs at his temples and his eyes are Brody’s, hazel that change with his moods. “Come in, come in and have a seat, you two.” He claps Brody on the shoulder pulling him in for a manly half-hug then lets him go and we make our way across their huge living room to the loveseat.

  Cassie and Jeremy are sitting on the fireplace ledge and Kade and Amelia are on one of the sofas and they all say hi as we walk by. There’s a tough looking gray-haired man sitting in the wingback chair to the right of Lucas’s recliner and after Lucas sits down he introduces the man as Carolina hands Brody and me a beer then she leaves the living room.

  “Brody, Piper, this is Colt Grant. He’s the private investigator Amelia hired to find this Hannah woman.” Lucas winks at Amelia. “Colt? If you’d like to go ahead and fill
everyone in then after we can eat.”

  Carolina has come back in and after handing Lucas and Colt a fresh beer, she sits on the sofa next to Amelia and at Lucas’s mention of her, Carolina pats Mill’s knee and gives her a smile.

  “Thanks, Lucas. Well, as he said, I’m a P.I. Ms. Chapman hired me a couple months ago to find Hannah White, age thirty-one.”

  I feel my body get tight at the mention of her name but Brody puts his arm around me and pulls me into him which makes me relax a little.

  “I’ve found her. Peyton Stalls, or Capps, whichever name she goes by, has not made this easy for me, but by going through her mail, legally, of course…” Did I detect some sarcasm there? Hm. “I found Hannah’s last name and was able to locate her. She’s in Atlanta living with an African-American man named Terrell Phillips.”

  Wow. This guy’s found out a lot. Amelia must’ve paid quite a bit for his help.

  Colt opens the folder that’s been resting in his lap. “I’ve got some pictures here of them with the baby that I’ll show you in a minute.” He pulls out a piece of paper and looks at it. “I’ve checked into Ms. White’s background to find that she’s of European descent. Both parents are Caucasian as are their parents. Ms. White does have a recent felony on her record for shoplifting, which in Georgia if it’s over three-hundred dollars it’s no longer just a misdemeanor. She has several other misdemeanors for theft, public intoxication, possession of marijuana and prostitution, along with various traffic offenses. I’ve also found that she has three other children all of which the State of Georgia has taken from her because of her lifestyle choices. As far as I can tell, she’s made no attempts to get them back.”

  Wow again.

  “Mr. Phillips, too, has a criminal record such as marijuana possession and a couple misdemeanors from when he was younger, but from what I found for him most recently, he seems to be living clean at the moment. He’s got a job at a privately-owned car dealership as a mechanic and appears to be taking care of his family. But I’m not sure I’m buying it. I did a search on Terrell Phillips and found a missing person’s report, so I alerted the authorities but don’t know if he’s one and the same.” He pauses and looks at Brody. “Now, you’ve been paying monthly child support of five-hundred dollars. Is that correct?”

  My mouth falls open and I turn to look at Brody and I know he’s embarrassed. He has one of those faces where his cheeks do that splotchy thing if he’s disconcerted. It also happens if he’s been working out or when he’s having sex, which I’ve always thought was just completely hot and cute. I take his hand and he looks down at me.

  “You’ve been paying child support?” I ask.

  I see his jaw muscles jump a couple times before he nods.

  “You amaze me,” I tell him, totally in awe of the man sitting next to me as I stare up at him.

  He frowns when I say that because I’m sure he thought I was going to chastise him or go off on some jealous rage. But, no, I admire him for stepping up and being a man.

  “That is amazing, son. You’re a good man,” Lucas agrees.

  Brody’s face is really splotchy now and I put a hand to his cheek, my fingers behind his ear and pull him down to me for a kiss. “I love you and I’m so proud of you.”

  I look back at Colt waiting for him to continue when Brody tightens his arm around me pulling me closer then leans down to whisper in my ear. “Thank you. I love you. You’re the amazing one, baby.”

  I give him a smile and put my hand up to hold his fingers that are hanging off my shoulder and give them a squeeze.

  “Also, the paternity test that you took?” Colt shakes his head. “Totally invalid and totally inadmissible in court.” He takes another paper from his file. “Your name isn’t on the birth certificate so you have no legal obligations to Ms. White or her son.”

  “So what happens now?” Carolina asks looking from Brody to Colt.

  He half shrugs. “I’d say he stops the child support payments for now until a legal paternity test can be administered.”

  Amelia speaks up. “The Capps woman has played a huge role in all of this. If she knew the baby wasn’t Brody’s, what can happen to her?”

  Colt looks from Amelia to Brody. “If she knew the baby wasn’t yours yet she was obtaining money from you, and, yes, I believe she was taking a cut, that’s extortion. She could go to prison.”

  Holy shit. Holy shit!

  I glance up at Brody and he looks just as in shock as I am.

  “Okay, here are the pictures I’ve got. I snapped some of Ms. White and Mr. Phillips but the child’s are from Ms. White’s Facebook page.” Colt pulls some eight by ten photos from the folder then stands and walks over handing them to Brody.

  I find I’m a bit nervous to look. If the baby looks like Brody, well, there you go. It’s not that I wouldn’t want to help raise him. It’s just that I’m not really looking forward to dealing with the child’s mother for the next eighteen years.

  I look anyway and see that Hannah is actually a pretty and petite blond woman. But there’s no way to hide the fact that she’s had a hard life. I can see it in her eyes. Her hair is long and a bit stringy looking and I know Ryan would have a cow if she saw the dark roots that show. Her boyfriend is a little scary. He looks “hard” which is the only word I can think to describe him.

  Brody goes through the first four pictures which are of Hannah and the boyfriend but the next one is of the baby. It’s a recent picture because he appears to be around five-months old and he’s a beautiful baby with big eyes set above adorable chubby cheeks. But it’s fairly obvious from the mess of curly black hair on his head that he’s mixed and is probably Hannah’s boyfriend’s child. We look at the rest of the pictures and I think it’s confirmed that he’s not Brody’s.

  I look up at him and give him a sad smile. It’s sad because the baby is a precious little boy and I hope he’s being well taken care of and that Hannah has taken a break from her criminal activities. The look Brody gives me back is full of relief but there’s sadness in it too which I know is from the hell he’s been put through the last year.

  He gets up and hands the pictures to Kade then sits back down by me taking my hand and putting it on his thigh and covering it with his.

  “Any questions?” Colt asks.

  Brody shakes his head. “I’m not sure how to feel.”

  “I understand. To clear some things up. When Ms. Chapman contacted me, she’d said Ms. White had fled because her boyfriend, who was a known gang member, had beaten her up when he found out the baby wasn’t his. I’ve had no confirmation that she ever left Georgia. The apartment where she lives with Mr. Phillips has been in both their names for the past two years. I think it was a fabrication to keep you from looking for her and finding that the child isn’t yours.”

  Carolina gets up and I can tell she’s upset. She glances around the room at Cassie, Amelia and me and says, “Girls, I need help in the kitchen, please,” then walks out of the living room.

  I stand to follow her but Brody grabs my hand and pulls me down to where I have to put a hand on his thigh to keep my balance. He brings his hands up to hold my face. “Thank you.” His eyes say it all and I smile just before he pulls me forward a bit and touches his lips to mine.

  Chapter 18

  When I get to the kitchen, I see Cassie and Amelia are trying to keep from laughing at Carolina’s ranting as she pulls a roast from the oven.

  “I oughta call Jerry and Yvonne and tell them what a, what a bitch their daughter is!”

  Now I know why the girls want to laugh because I don’t think I’ve ever heard Carolina cussing before.

  “Do it,” Cassie goads. “I’d love to see Peyton get knocked down a peg or two. Her being sent to jail would be the icing on the cake.”

  “Amelia, can you get the plates out, please?” Carolina asks.

  “I don’t understand how Peyton ended up being frien
ds with this Hannah in the first place,” Amelia remarks as she pulls plates out of the cabinet.

  “Maybe they worked the streets together at some point,” Cassie suggests and we all laugh.

  “Cassie!” her mother scolds but I can see she’s amused. “Okay, Cassie, put the green beans in the pot on the stovetop. The steamer and water are already in there. Piper, honey, can you get the utensils and help Amelia set the table, please?”

  “Of course,” I say and go to the drawer where I know the flatware has always been kept.

  In the dining room, Amelia sets the plates around the table. “I’ve loathed that woman since high school. I don’t get how anyone can be that devious.”

  I shake my head as I follow behind her and place the cutlery on the sides of each plate. “I don’t know either. She must be really bored to have so much time to mess with other people’s lives.”

  “If she knew that this child wasn’t Brody’s, she’s got to pay for it.”

  “Yeah, but her dad being a lawyer and all. He’s probably got friends who can get her off.”

  “But her reputation, although stellar as it already is,” she snorts at this, “will definitely be ruined.”

  I nod. “I’m just glad Brody’s off the hook.”

  “Yes, but Kade and I talked. He’s going to have to talk to Larry and explain everything, especially about the being drugged part. At least he’s got Colt to back him up on the other things now. With Hannah’s background it’ll be more believable at least.”

  Larry Fox is the fire chief and I can’t imagine he’d hold Brody responsible for any of it.

  ~~~

  The next two weeks go off without a hitch. Things have gotten back to normal as far as my life is concerned. Brody and I split our nights between each other’s places. He’s talked to his chief about everything and Larry understood telling Brody he had nothing to worry about, so that worked out great. He didn’t hand his child support payment to Peyton at the first of the month and surprisingly, she hasn’t come to collect. Yet.

  My new refrigerator was delivered and I love it because it’s completely awesome. I made sure to thank Brody properly again (and yet again) for his generosity.