by K. Webster
He shrugs his shoulders. “I want things to go back to the way they were before you and stepdaddy Donovan over there and your nosy ass girlfriend started prying into my life. I want my family safe and my fuck toy primed and always ready. That’s what I want.”
Nadia’s gaze meets mine and she implores me with her eyes. I’ll distract him, she mouths. I nod slightly my understanding, pointing my focus on remaining alert.
“Junior over there isn’t related to you but little Kass is your niece. Kasey has a thing for naming her kids after the ones she loves,” Logan says with a smile and winks at my sister. If I didn’t think I’d get her killed the instant I moved, I’d have already launched myself at him. “But Junior is named after me. Logan Baldwin, Jr. And that boy is a product of Nadia and me. What does that make him to you, Donovan? Your step grandson?”
Donovan’s gaze is on Nadia. Hardened.
“He’s not his grandson,” Nadia says with a cold bite to her voice as her eyes flicker to me and then back to the child on the couch. “What’s your name, baby? What do Mamma and Aunt Kase call you?”
The boy looks up at my sister and she nods. “It’s okay, sweetie.”
“Van.”
Logan snarls. “Excuse the fuck out of me?”
A harsh laugh pierces the air and Nadia looks up at him with venom in her eyes. “That’s right. He’s a junior, but not yours, you psycho prick. He’s Donovan Allen Jayne, II. We call him Van for short. I was pregnant when you dragged me down into that basement. Pregnant with his,” she points at a shocked Donovan, “child.” She glances at me once more and blinks purposefully at me. Yes.
All hell breaks loose in the next instant.
Nadia grabs the middle of the shot gun and drives it upwards. I’ve already drawn my gun when the blast rings out. Ignoring the fact that his weapon was just pointed at my sister, I focus on taking down the perp. He’s no longer Logan, my boss. He’s a psychotic, unhinged, kidnapping rapist. Nadia jerks Taylor into her arms as I tackle Logan. I drive the barrel against his throat as I wrench the shotgun from him.
There is screeching from behind me but I focus on this fucker. I’m going to paint the ceiling with his brain matter. I’ve made the decision to do so when someone tugs at me from behind.
“Please don’t kill him, please Bubba.”
Bubba.
I halt at my sister’s request.
“Why the fuck not? After all he’s done to you and Nadia?” I hiss.
She hugs my middle and I choke back tears.
“He’s my children’s father. Don’t let them see that.”
Logan’s smug stare makes me want to do it anyway. But the image of those three kids having to witness such a horror stops me dead in my tracks. I’m an officer of the law. A good fucking cop. This ends now. And the right fucking way.
Jerking from him, with my gun still trained on him, I start barking out orders. “Donovan, get to my car and call for backup. Kasey, get the girls and the kids out of here.”
She releases me and I wrestle Logan into the floor. I yank my cuffs from my belt and hook them around his wrists tight enough to make him grunt.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”
He doesn’t answer after I Mirandize him but I don’t give a fuck.
His life is over.
And he’s going to spend the rest of it staring at the grey walls of a ten by ten cell.
Good fucking riddance.
“Thank fuck they finally got that pipe shut off,” a federal agent grunts as he splashes past me. “The whole house is damn near flooded.”
The Feds are crawling all over the crime scene. Normally, I’d have my panties in a wad over the whole ordeal, but after what Stokes told me, I hardly trust anyone. Well, aside from Jason Rhodes.
“I think they can wrap it up from here. You’ve all given your statements. It’s probably best if you take my sister-in-law and get the hell out of here before she falls asleep standing up,” Rhodes says with a grunt.
He was the first person I called. It was him who called the Feds rather than bringing in our own people. The case is too close to home and I wasn’t willing to risk any evidence disappearing in case Logan had any other minions on his payroll.
“Thanks, man. And have them check this out.” I hand him the key to the storage unit and tell him the number. He nods before heading back over to the lead investigator.
I step outside to search for my family. Two ambulances are parked in the driveway. The EMT is checking over everyone, but so far, nobody seems hurt too badly. Thank fucking God. Amethyst has her arm wrapped around my sister’s shoulder and is whispering things to her. The sight is one I’d like to see more of. It cracks through my black, hardened heart and kick starts it to life. All of the hate I’d armored it with flicks away like weathered paint, until it all blows away.
When I look over at the other ambulance, Donovan has the boy—his boy—sitting on his hip as he regards Nadia with an intense gaze. I guess Ames knew what she was talking about after all. The love. I see it one hundred fucking percent right now. With a sigh, I stride over to Nadia.
“Thank you.”
She lifts her gaze to mine and she smiles. “You’re welcome. I had it handled.”
I scratch at my jaw and raise an eyebrow at her. “You did. I’m sorry I…” I trail off as I try to regain my composure. My chest aches with sorrow. The things I tried to do to her. To hurt her. Hell, I even tried to fuck her all to get even. It’s goddamned sickening to think about.
She shakes her head with tears in her eyes and throws her arms around me. “Shhh, we’ll talk about this later. Okay? Get them all home and take care of them until then. I promise we can discuss this at another time.”
I squeeze her once more before I release her. Bending over, I place a soft kiss on her forehead. I’ll right this wrong one day. It might take weeks or month or years, but I’ll make it up to sweet Nadia Jayne for paying such a huge sacrifice for my sister. That, I can bet money on.
When I step away from her, I regard Donovan. His smug, all-business exterior is gone. The wind tousles his messy hair and dark bags are forming beneath his eyes. I feel sorry for the guy—to learn he’s a father the same day we barely rescue the love of his life from Logan’s dark clutches.
“He looks just like you,” I say with a smile and attempt to joke to lighten the mood. “Poor guy. Only thing we can hope for is he has your taste in music.”
He presses a kiss to the boy’s head and his eyes are rimmed in red. I’ve never seen him so vulnerable. Right now, he reminds me so much of his brother, Taylor. My best friend who took his life all too soon.
“Thanks, kid,” he mutters and juts his hand out to me.
I shake it brusquely before leaving them to get back to my sister.
“Come here,” I say with a grunt and tug her into my arms.
She hugs me tight. Her body is tense and I rub at her back to relax her. After a few moments, she breaks down. Sobs wrack through her as she lets go of a decade’s worth of pain.
“I’m so sorry, little bit. So fucking sorry.”
When I emerge from the shower, a towel wrapped around my body, I find Donovan asleep with Van in his arms on the couch. Those two took to each other rather quickly. I think it helped that ever since he was born on a rug in a basement, delivered by Logan and Kasey, I would whisper tales of his heroic daddy named Donovan Jayne. Van knew from the get-go he was to be polite to Logan but that he wasn’t his father. So when I introduced Donovan as his real daddy, he was thrilled to finally meet him.
And Donovan, once the shock wore off, has only focused on making up for lost time. For two days now, he’s stayed glued to our boy’s side. I told him if he caters to our two-year-old’s every whim, he was go
ing to spoil him rotten. Donovan just laughed me off and said he didn’t care.
I sit on the coffee table and watch them. Both of them look so peaceful. Kasey kept her promise to me and I kept my promise to her. I’d had to do the unthinkable. Renounce my child for Logan. To convince him I wanted more than to be trapped in a basement with a kid stuck to my hip. I told him I couldn’t stand being down there. Kasey and I came up with the plan to tell him it was postpartum depression. As soon as Van was born, we planned and plotted. It was during one faked suicide attempt, that Logan finally took me to a doctor outside of Aspen. She’d taken one look at us and asked him to step outside—that it was her practice to see her patients without an audience. I didn’t expose him—that would be a threat to Kasey, Taylor, and my son’s life. Instead, I had her implant me with a birth control device and begged her for a low-dose medication for my supposed depression.
Then, I worked my magic on Logan.
While he was at work, I played the parts for the cameras in the basement showing how depressed I was but would hold my baby at night and whisper sweet nothings to him. I told him stories of his real father and promised I’d get him out of there one day.
One day, several months ago, Logan took me upstairs much to both Kasey and my surprise. He was drunk and horny. Kasey always had a way about making him feel bad about doing anything sexual around the kids. It was my opportunity and we pounced on it.
That day, I begged, pleaded, and pretty much forced him into keeping me upstairs. I cleaned and cooked. I sucked his cock like I was starved for it. I played a role just for him. Eventually, he liked me up there. Late at night, he’d question why I didn’t love our child or why I hated Kasey. I’d simply shown him how much more I loved him instead.
He thought I was crazy.
Crazy for him.
But every time he’d bring a tray of food downstairs to have a meal with his family, I’d slip notes to Kasey underneath the rubber mat on the tray written inside a folded napkin.
I’m getting him to fall for me.
We made progress.
I met your brother. He’s perceptive. I can work with this.
Your brother knows something’s up. Thank God!
He keeps kissing me. I hate leading him on but it’s necessary.
Donovan knows I’m here. I nearly died having to send him away. I’m broken.
Logan made love to me in the shower. The fucking fool is falling for it!!
Kiss my son and tell him I love him. God, I love him.
Kasper’s girlfriend saw Logan hurting me. Almost there, Kase…
The plan moved slowly forward. Piece by piece, we were able to position ourselves. With enough people taking notice, and Kasper’s keen detective skills on our side, eventually it would all come to a head. And it did.
We made it to the other side. Alive. And with our children in tow.
“We’re going house hunting this weekend. I hate having to make him sleep in that portable crib. He’s too big for it. It doesn’t even look comfortable,” Donovan murmurs, dragging me from my thoughts.
I smile and scoop my sleeping baby into my arms. His mop of dark, thick hair is one of my favorite things about him. But when he opens his eyes and peers at me with those silvery blue orbs like his daddy’s, I simply melt for him. “He’ll be okay until then. I promise.”
Kissing my son’s forehead, I make my way over to his bed. Once I’ve tucked him in, I find Donovan standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. A smoldering look on his face has my entire body igniting with need. It’s been two days since we were rescued from that animal, and I think Donovan has been afraid to touch me. Meanwhile, I’m desperate to connect with my love. To erase the past with Logan once and for all.
“It makes me crazy fucking insane to try and wrap my head around all of this, baby,” he says with disgust in his voice. “To think, this whole time I could have…I should have…”
Shaking my head, I make my way over to him and slide my palms up his chest, stopping him from saying any more. He’s wearing a simple white T-shirt and it fits him well. I’ve been dying to tear it off of him all night. “Listen to me right now, Donovan Jayne. I love you. And not once have I ever felt disappointed by you. It was you,” I murmur and stand on my toes to kiss his soft lips, “that kept me going. Your memories. Our love. Tu, mí amor.”
His eyes close and he looks up at the ceiling. I run my fingertips along his Adam’s apple as he swallows. He’s having a hard time keeping it together emotionally. I’ve caught him on several occasions with tears in his eyes.
“Donovan,” I say as I kiss his throat. “You can’t punish yourself any longer for this. Neither of us can. It’s our turn now, remember? It’s time to let this go.”
He tilts his head down to me and a million emotions flicker in his eyes. Regret. Sadness. Fury. Longing. Desperation. Sexual hunger. Love. “He nearly broke you. If he would have killed you…”
I press my thumb to his lips to keep him from finishing that thought. “Make love to me. I want to replace the pain within me with you.”
His fingers tangle into my wet hair and he groans before his lips meet mine. Hungrily, he devours me. Our tongues duel each other but his is winning. Owning. Claiming. Marking. I let him take the control he so desperately needs. When I let out a moan, he tugs away from me. His glare confuses me for a minute.
“What?”
He runs his fingers through his hair and gives me a pained look. “I’m afraid I can’t be careful with you. What if I do something you don’t like? That reminds you of him?” He says the last part with a vicious hiss.
I yank at the towel and toss it to the ground. Then, I grab his hand and guide him into our bedroom. Under the bright light, I let him see. His furious, heartbroken eyes take in each and every scar Logan Baldwin put on me. “These bruises will fade. The cuts will heal. And the emotional damage will be dealt with over time. But you can’t hurt me, stupid man. You’re the only one who can help me. If I haven’t broken already, I’m not ever going to break.”
His hand reaches out and his touch flutters over a bruise on my breast. Then, he leans forward and kisses it. I let out a happy sigh when his tongue flicks out. He runs the tip of his tongue over the sore bruise and then teases my nipple. I’m craving him desperately.
But I know, just like me, he’ll have his own demons to sort out. I’ll give him what he needs so that we may move forward and leave the past behind us. At last. I thread my fingers in his hair when he moves over to my other nipple. His teeth gently graze the flesh causing me to suck in a harsh breath of air.
“Did I hurt you?” he murmurs against my flesh, his hot breath tickling me.
I laugh. “Quite the opposite. You’re driving me wild, handsome. Te necesito.” I need you.
He rises back up to his full height, regarding me with narrowed eyes. I love being under his scrutiny. Like I’m some never-before-seen creature that needs understanding. That I’m a hypnotic drug. Rare. Precious even. I want to be the only one who he’ll ever look at this way with a beautiful mixture of lust, love, and undeniable attraction.
His fingers find the bottom of his T-shirt and he peels it effortlessly from his body revealing a nicely sculpted chest for a forty-five year old man. Donovan has aged well and doesn’t look a day over thirty-five to me. He’s every bit as sexy as the day he stormed into our lives. After he tosses his shirt and begins working at his belt, I can’t help but think about Mamá. She’d found Donovan for me. Played a masterful game of deception that could have backfired drastically for me. Because of her desire for me to be happy and successful, she plotted for me. When she gets back from her cruise, I’m going to have a long sit down with her. I’ll explain to her everything that’s happened. There’ll be tears but then I will present her grandson to her. A product of her unconventional matchmaking. A child created in love.
“You’re smiling. What’re you thinking about?” he questions, his voice husky and deep.
I chew o
n my lip and let my eyes scan over his perfect body—strong and filled out in all the right places. His cock hangs thick and alert. Eager to be inside of me. A shiver of delight runs through me. “Just thinking about Mamá. How she’s going to freak out once she realizes she has a grandson.”
He chuckles and raises an eyebrow at me. “We’ll never get to see him again. She’ll fatten up our boy with her choripan con chimichurri and keep him all to herself.”
When we stop laughing, our eyes meet, both hungry for the other. I don’t get a word out before he pounces. His hands grip my ass and he lifts me, carrying me straight for the bed. We fall together, my head bouncing once before his mouth is back on mine.
I’ve missed this.
So fucking badly.
“I thought about you every second of every single day,” he growls against my lips before nipping the flesh of the bottom one. “Always you, baby.”
His dick slides against my bare pussy causing me to whimper and mewl like a little kitten. I need him inside of me like yesterday.
“Donovan…”
“I’m going to fuck you and suck you and devour every goddamned inch of your body. Once I take you, there’s no going back. You’re mine forever,” he tells me, his voice deep, dark, and delicious.
“Forever,” I agree, my words a breathless promise.
His cock pushes against my slick opening and then he drives all the way into me. I start to cry out but he silences me with a kiss deep enough to steal my soul. With Donovan, he can have it. It belongs to him anyway.
“So beautiful. So fucking beautiful,” he coos as he thrusts into me, brutally and uneven. No rhyme or reason to his lovemaking. Just desire and need and love guiding his body.
I melt at his touch and his tender words. With every pound into me, I soak up his love. I can feel him in my nerve endings. My every thought. My heart.
His teeth nip at my lip again causing me to cry out. I want him nipping at me everywhere. My neck and ears and tits. Everywhere all at once. He’s too much and not enough. It drives me insane with need.
“Donovan…”
