“You okay?” I ask him, taking a sip of my black coffee.
We’re at a small café on the outskirts of town. I’ve come here a few times with Adrienne. She likes the scones, I like the fact that they serve me plain coffee without trying to put vanilla and foam and cinnamon in it. I know I’m been slinking around in the pits of the universe for a while, but come on, how hard is it to make a decent cup of joe these days?
“I’m fine,” he says, and I guess I have to believe that.
I don’t pry. We don’t really have a lot to talk about with Sage, even after being stuck together for years on end. Even after he made sure that I got away with Adrienne, that I had a chance of a real life. Even after he got me a new identity and a new lease on life.
But I guess sometimes, you don’t need to say much.
“Thanks, poesy,” I tell him, standing up and scooping up the documents.
I reach my hand to him over the table and he stands up as well, taking it. We shake on it and I leave.
I think he’s the only real friend I’ve ever had.
“Sugar, you here?” I call, walking into our apartment.
“In the kitchen!” Adrienne chirps back.
I deposit the paperwork on the countertop close to the front door and kick my boots off, stalking into the kitchen to find my gorgeous woman cooking something up. The kitchen smells amazing. I walk up behind her and slip my arms around her, pulling her body against mine. She conforms beautifully against my hard lines with her soft curves.
“I missed you,” I whisper into her ear, and Adrienne grins.
She looks radiant. With every passing day, she looks more and more like the woman I caught glimpses of the first time I saw her. Life’s coming back to her. We’ve gone through so much and it’s taken a while to get over. Hell, I know we’ll never get ‘over’ all of it. There’s only so much trauma a person can suffer through before they’re marked permanently by it.
But we’re getting there. She’s not pale anymore, and her smile is honest. She doesn’t get nightmares and I don’t constantly look over my shoulder. We’re almost done with getting her father’s estate settled now, having everything Wilson stole from Adrienne and Valerie returned to her. It’s not a lot but it’s enough to live on while we get our own thing going.
“Did you see Sage? Is he okay?” she asks, stirring the pasta.
“Yeah. He seemed fine. And he got me more than I asked for,” I reply, kissing a line down her neck.
“That’s great!”
“You know what else is great? The way you taste.”
My hands run down her tight, curvy body and I catch the way she bites her lower lip. She giggles and I adore the sound of it.
Christ, this woman drives me out of my mind every damn time I’m near her and I can’t help myself for wanting more of her all the time. I kept expecting that feeling to fade over time but it hasn’t. It won’t. I think the shit we’ve been through has made this bond unbreakable. She’s both the frailest and the strongest person I know and I love that about her. I love everything about her.
That’s sort of like me, though. To expect things to get worse constantly. I guess I’m not used to being this happy and I keep wondering where the next Wilson Cobb is hiding away, ready to fuck up what we have here.
If there is one out there though, you can bet that I’ll fucking kill him before he ever gets close enough. I’m done giving my life up to psychotic bastards, and I won’t let anything harm Adrienne.
“Oh?” she asks, twisting around in my arms to face me.
“Yeah,” I murmur.
I catch her lips in a kiss and she pushes her body against mine like the first time that we kissed. But this time we’re not afraid for our lives, hiding from the demons in the darkness. Or being one of those demons.
She murmurs into my mouth and it makes me lose my fucking mind. My sugary sweet Adrienne, my little fighter. The love of my life and the woman that gave me my life back. I was alive before but I wasn’t living it. Now I am and I won’t stop facing every day, trying to make it the best one yet for the both of us.
My arms wrap around her waist and I pull her back with me, until I spin her to sit her up on the edge of the small table we have in our apartment. It’s not much but it’s ours.
Her legs go around my hips and she grinds against me as I slip my hand behind her neck and kiss her deeply. I’ll never get tired of this.
I’ve found my angel and I’ll never let go.
Epilogue
Adrienne
Nine months later…
I’m drenched in cold sweat as they place the first baby into my arms.
Memphis squeezes my shoulder and I grin at him, unable to believe my eyes.
A second baby follows, placed right on my chest on the opposite side.
My husband leans down, kissing the top of my head gently, his lips marking me as his as they’ve done so many times before. There are tears in his eyes. It’s the first time I’ve seen him cry.
“Congratulations on your healthy baby girls,” the doctor tells us with a smile, bowing her head as she excuses herself from the room.
The nurses shuffle with something in the back, giving us some privacy.
I’m exhausted. And ecstatic. I grin wide.
“Adrienne…”
Memphis takes in the sight before him as I smile up at him, his wife holding two healthy baby girls in her arms, all of them exhausted but happy and full of life. Ready for our next adventure.
“Thank you.”
He kneels down next to me, and his kiss is so passionate it almost bruises my lips.
“Thank you for giving me a family,” Memphis tells me, smoothing down the baby hairs on one of the girls.
“Thank you for giving me a future,” I counter.
They look so alike – well, of course they would, given that they are identical twins. I coo at them as they move their tiny feet and hands, their eyes still firmly closed. A feeling of intense happiness emanates from my center, and I’ve never felt as fulfilled as I do in that moment. Never in my life have I been happier.
Never have I felt so complete.
My head lolls to the side tiredly, and Memphis pulls up a chair to sit next to me. He strokes my hair as I hold our girls, and I think back to all of the things we’ve been through this past year.
Getting a new identity was taxing enough.
Finding out I was pregnant, and with a high risk of miscarriage, threatened to send me in a horrible bout of depression. But I stayed strong throughout it, kept my head high and my babies safe. Even when my water broke too early, when we were sure we would lose them, I stayed calm, and I delivered my girls just like I knew I had to.
My mom and dad would’ve been so proud of me had they seen me with my husband and children today. I miss her and dad every day. I wish they could have been there during our small impromptu wedding after we found out I was pregnant. I wish they could be here to see the baby girls.
I’ve learned from my mistakes. I’ve finally realized I wouldn’t be able to count on others my whole life. I had to count of myself to make this life perfect.
To make it better.
To make it count.
And as I look at the babies in my arms, and my loving husband at my side, I know I did the right thing.
A day later, we’re still in the hospital with the girls safely in their beds next to mine. We paid a little extra to get a private room, and I’ve appreciated the time we’ve had alone immensely. It seems as if Memphis and I have connected even more over the fact that we are now parents to two beautiful, dark haired little girls.
There’s a soft knock on the door, and I look up to find Sage standing awkwardly in the doorway.
“Come in,” I tell him, smiling.
He does as he’s told, awkwardly lingering by my bed with a bouquet of slightly wilted flowers. He must have been waiting for a while.
“Peonies,” I smile at him. “My favorite.”
He nods, smiling back before placing the flowers on my bedside table.
“I’m so glad you came,” I tell him warmly, and it’s no lie.
Sage has become a part of the family now, and I love the way his eyes light up when he sees my baby girls. I look to the corner of the room where Hannah is soundly sleeping, snoring lightly with her mouth parted. I giggle at the sight.
“I’m sure Hannah will be happy to see you too, once she wakes up.”
Sage grins at me. One of these days, we’ll really have to find him someone as well. He’s a very handsome man. And he can be sweet, deep, deep… deep down inside.
“Where’s Memphis?” he asks in his brusque tone, and I motion to the door leading into the room.
“He just went to get me a drink,” I explain, and Sage nods as he sits down next to the babies.
“What’re their names?” he wonders out loud.
“This one is Hannah,” I tell him with a smile, motioning to the bastinet on the right of me. “And this little girl is Valerie,” I say, pointing at the other bastinet.
His eyes go quickly to mine, checking for signs of pain or defeat. But instead of turning into a blubbering mess at the mention of my mother’s name, I smile at him proudly, and he returns the motion.
“Good,” he says softly, letting Valerie grab ahold of his pinky. “Good.”
Memphis walks in a moment later with a bottle of water, grinning when he sees his friend by my bed.
“Man, you finally made it,” he says with a smile. “I thought you were gonna miss it.”
“Not for the world,” Sage replies. “I wouldn’t want to miss it for the world.”
“Don’t get sappy on me, hyacinth,” Memphis snorts, jabbing at Sage playfully.
I love the banter between those two. I’m smiling myself as Hannah comes to, blushing lightly as she snores herself back to life.
“Would you guys wait outside? We’ll go for a drink in the bar later,” Memphis suggests to them both, and Hannah and Sage are quick to nod as they leave the room.
Hannah hugs me for a long moment, and I swear I see a trace of tears in Sage’s eyes as he goes out into the hallway. The two quickly start to chatter about something or other.
Memphis comes over to me, his figure tall and strong as he approaches. He’s as handsome as ever, and just like every single time before, my heart skips a beat when he comes closer.
“Hey, babies,” he says to the girls. “Hey, wifey.”
He leans down, leaving a soft kiss on my lips. But it’s not enough for me, and I pull on his shirt, making him come closer, kiss me deeper.
“Fuck, I need more of that,” he groans against my mouth.
“Language,” I tease him playfully, wrapping my fingers in his hair.
It’s gotten longer since we’ve moved, longer and messier. It suits him.
“I’m going to make you mine tonight, Missis Flowers,” he tells me with a growl.
“I’m already yours,” I giggle.
“In ways you can’t even imagine…”
He kisses a line down my neck, and I moan. We’re interrupted by baby Hannah bursting into tears, and he sighs as he pulls away from me, taking her into his arms and cradling her close to his body.
“You won’t get away that easily,” he grins at me.
I smile at my little family and close my eyes, letting bliss take over.
“I don’t want to,” I tell Memphis softly. “I don’t ever want to get away.”
THE END
About the authors
Isabella Starling
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Marci Fawn
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Savage: A Bad Boy Fighter Romance Page 16
