“Ashley Jo,” Shelby said, unable to remain quiet a second longer. “We know what Dominic forced you to do, sugar. You don’t need to—”
“Every truth,” she whispered in reply, cutting her Mama off. “I need to speak them all.”
Understanding flashed in Shelby’s eyes. “Okay, baby,” she said. “You speak every last one.”
“When he found me, the first thing he told me was that I was beautiful. Then he bought me some food and gave me his jacket. After sitting with me for a bit, he offered to take me home with him. Said I could sleep in his spare room, the one his baby sister stayed in when she came to visit.” Shame washed over her features, gutting me. “I went without hesitation, but I found out real quick that he was nothing but a liar. He didn’t have a sister, and the only room he intended for me to sleep in was his.”
By then, she’d been trapped.
“A week later, he took me on my first call. When I refused to do what he and the client demanded, he took me back to the trap house where he, I, and the rest of his girls lived. The first thing he did when we stepped inside was pull Jade aside.” More tears. “He made me watch as he...”
“Just breathe, Sweetness,” I said, pressing my nose to the crown of her head. “We have you.”
Digging her nails into my wrist, she nodded and then continued. “He made me watch as he raped her. Over and over. She cried for it to stop, begged for me to help her, but I couldn’t...” Her shaking grew more intense. “After that, I tried not to anger him again.”
My heart was ripping in half.
Tearing right down the middle.
And that feeling, the one that I could’ve sworn would be the death of me, only intensified when my girl fisted her hand because I knew—I fucking knew—exactly what was coming.
“But I failed when I got pregnant.” Shelby’s entire body stilled as Moretti blew out an audible breath. “Dominic was so pissed. He couldn’t take me in for an abortion because people would ask too many questions, so he beat me. Repeatedly. But I never miscarried. How that happened, I still don’t know. But months later, on the filthy bathroom floor of that same trap house, I gave birth.”
Shelby slammed her hands over her mouth, silencing the scream I knew was seconds away from escaping. But Ashley, my brave girl, didn’t hesitate as she continued to speak, banishing one demon at a time. “She was beautiful. Most beautiful baby I’d ever seen.”
My face found her hair again.
I breathed her in, my heart in tatters.
“As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t keep her. Dominic had sworn to kill her the moment she was born, and I knew if I didn’t get her out of that house before he returned from the drug run he’d left on, she was dead. Me too, because I wouldn’t let him take her from me without a fight.”
Of that, I had no doubt.
My girl faltered when it came to some things, but there was no doubt in my mind that she would’ve fought to the death to protect her baby...
To protect Addie.
“So I did the only thing I could. I bundled her up in one of his shirts, nursed her for the first and last time, and then left.”
A tear slid down Moretti’s cheek.
“Ashley, baby,” Shelby cried, barely hanging on to her sanity. “Where did you go?”
My girl sat straight, her tear-filled eyes meeting her mother’s. “Carmen and Jade went with me to surrender her. I walked her into Toluca Memorial Hospital and handed her over to an ER nurse.” The first sob hit. “Just like Gracie’s birth mom d-did.”
Shelby jumped up, her chair skittering backward, but Ashley still didn’t stop.
“I’d had Jade write a letter to social services asking them to keep the name I’d given her, but I don’t know if they did. I don’t know where she is or if she ever got adopted. All I know is that she will always be my Addie.”
“What did you tell, Dominic, Principessa?” Moretti asked, his face marred with tear tracks.
Just like mine.
“Carmen told him that she died,” she replied, finally breaking down. “She told him that she died and so she buried her in a vacant lot over on Maple Street. He never questioned her, never checked. The only thing he cared about was that my baby, my beautiful little girl, was gone.”
With that, Shelby broke.
Rounding the table, she pulled Ashley up from the seat where she sat, buried in my side, and wrapped her arms around her. Sob after sob jerked her body as she held onto her oldest daughter and cried every bit of pain she felt out.
“Please don’t hate me,” Ashley said, her tears still falling. “I wanted to keep her, but he’d kill her... or sell her, and I couldn’t—”
“Hate you?” Shelby asked between sobs, jerking back so she could look my Sweetness in the face. “What you did was the most selfless thing a mother could ever do, Ashley Jo Moretti. And don’t you ever forget it.”
Ashley swayed, her legs nearly buckling.
Jumping up, I wrapped my arms around her from behind as Moretti did the same to Shelby and Ashley both. “Anything else you need to say, Principessa?” he asked, holding two of his girls tight. “If you’ve got anything left, say it. Let’s finish this.”
“The p-phone,” she stuttered, breaking apart. “It’s my last s-secret.”
Moretti furrowed his brow as she glanced over at the older iPhone that sat in the center of the table, its screen black. Slowly reaching over, he picked it up and powered it on.
Ashley cried harder at the sight and buried her face in Shelby’s neck, hiding from whatever it was that Moretti was about to find. “Principessa, what is—”
His words died as his eyes flared.
Left in the dark, I had no idea what he was looking at as his thumb moved across the screen, over and over, but the enraged expression he wore, one which served as a warning of the hell about to be unleashed, was unmistakable.
“Moretti,” I said, face twisting. “What the fuck—”
Face red as hell, he stepped back and pulled a bawling Ashley from Shelby and I’s arms. Then, he dragged her close, hugging her so tight I doubted she could even breathe. “My beautiful, brave Principessa,” he said. “I’m going to fix this. Don’t care what I have to do, I’m going to handle it.”
She nodded against him. “Promise?”
Dropping his arms, he cupped her cheeks, forcing her to look at him. “I swear on my life that you will get justice this time. One way or another.”
His eyes met Shelby’s as he pressed a kiss to my girl’s forehead. “I’ll be back,” he said, sliding the phone into the front pocket of his dress shirt. “Don’t wait up.”
He looked at me. “Take care of our girl, yeah?”
Our girl.
Hearing him say that did funny shit to my heart.
I nodded. “I have her. Always.”
Without giving me another glance, he headed into the living room where he retrieved his service gun and badge. Attaching both to his belt, he pulled on a jacket and moved toward the front door.
Confused, Shelby hollered out, “Tony! Where are you going?”
Turning his head, he peered at us over his shoulder. “To burn the corrupt town of Toluca, Georgia to the goddamn ground,” he replied, his voice colder than I had ever heard it before. “Starting from the fucking top.”
Before Shelby could form a reply, he opened the door and slipped outside, disappearing from sight, leaving us to sweep up the broken pieces that remained after each of Ashley’s bombshell confessions.
So that’s what we did.
We picked up every jagged piece.
Then, we glued them back together.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ashley
I went home with Chase that night.
Though free of the weight my buried secrets had placed on my soul, I still hurt. Whether the agony came from reliving the torment that each painful memory brought forth or the fact that I'd spent so much time plagued with unnecessary fear, I didn't know.
/> The only thing I could be sure of was that I wanted to fall asleep in Chase's arms, enveloped in his secure embrace.
We'd lost so many moments.
I didn't want to lose one more.
And it was because of that, that I found myself sitting next to him on the end of his bed, one of my legs crossed over the other. "You're awfully quiet," I whispered, taking one of his hands in mine. "Anything you want to talk about?"
He ran his strong hand over his clean-shaven jaw. "I was just thinking about your two friends."
A pin pricked my heart at the mention of Carmen and Jade. I hadn't told him about them back at my parents' house because it was a story they'd already heard. So I waited and then told him every morbid detail during the hour-long road trip back to Atlanta, where he lived.
I'd also told him the truth about his father, one which about killed me to reveal. Not because I gave a crap about Clyde—I didn't—but because I knew it would upset Chase.
And boy did it upset him.
The moment he found out that his father had not only raped Jade—repeatedly—but also disposed of her and Carmen's bodies after Dominic murdered them, I thought he would stick his fist through the windshield.
Needless to say, he was pissed.
Extremely so.
"If Clyde were still alive, I'd kill him myself. As for Dominic," he spat. "I should pay another inmate to murder that sorry fuck. I'm sure someone would be more than happy to shank him."
It was a ledge I talked him down from.
I mean, as much comfort as Dominic's death would bring me, I figured spending the next two decades behind bars was just as good.
After all, I doubted he'd ever walk out a free man.
As I said before, my Dad kept tabs on him, including every infraction he’d received. And those infractions? They were vast. I doubted it would be long before he killed someone and was sentenced to life. Or that somebody killed him.
Which would be just fine with me.
"I know you said there won't be anything left of their bodies"—I cringed, his words a gut-punch—"but what if we still had some type of memorial put in place for them? I don't know, Sweetness. I just think they need to be remembered. By more people than just us."
My chin trembled at his words.
"They would have loved that."
"Yeah?" he asked, smiling.
I nodded. "Yeah." Dropping my gaze from his face, I picked at the hem of the dress I'd changed into before leaving home. "Both of my girls would've loved you." I knew they both would have. Carmen probably would've threatened to cut his balls off if he hurt me though. "Jade, especially."
His smile grew. "How about you? Do you love me?"
I closed one eye and lifted two fingers. "Just a little bit."
A surprised squeal escaped my lips when he quickly twisted at the waist, placed his hands on my hips, and lifted me onto his lap, forcing me to straddle him. "Just a little bit, huh? Guess I need to work on changing that."
When his lips trailed down the sensitive juncture of my neck and shoulder, I moaned and dropped my head back. "What—"
"What I'm doing," he interrupted, hearing my words before I spoke them. "Is you." He ghosted a hand up my back before sinking it into my hair, where he fisted my locks, tugging them tight. "Can I touch you?" His teeth nipped my neck as I gasped in shock. The move was rougher than any he'd made before. "Remember, it's always about what you want, beautiful girl. So tell me, if I can have you or not. Because if not, I need to stop—"
My hands went to his shoulders, where I dug my acrylics into the slab of muscle that laid beneath. "Don't stop." Readjusting, I pressed my center down on his hard cock, loving the way his rigid length felt against my aching flesh.
Any fear that I'd once felt at being touched by him was long gone, nothing but a distant memory. "Take what's always been yours," I continued, goading him. "Chase, please—"
In one swift move, I was flat on my back and a hairbreadth later, he fisted the front of my dress in his left fist and jerked up, ripping the airy fabric from my body. A tearing sound filled the room, followed by the jingle of his belt as he yanked it free of his pants.
"You make me fucking crazy," he said, pulling off his shirt, followed by my panties and bra. "So goddamn crazy."
Laying down atop me, nothing but the pressed fabric of his slacks and briefs separating us, he took my mouth with his. Possessing it completely, he swirled his tongue around mine and groaned, the taste of me seemingly driving him wild.
Fingers sinking into my hair, I twined my legs around his hips as he shifted them, grinding his erection against my folds. "Jock," I said, ripping my mouth from his. "Please, I can't..." Head spinning, I searched for the words, my ability to speak nearly vanishing. "I ache."
My words were his undoing.
"To hell with this shit," he mumbled, sitting back on his calves. "I'll take my time and do this right later, but right now, I just want to fuck you."
Right or wrong, his dirty mouth turned me on, something I never would have expected.
But this was Chase.
My Chase.
Everything with him was different.
After popping open the button of his slacks, he tugged the zipper down, freeing his erection from behind his briefs. Harder than I'd ever seen it, the head was purple, the crown glistening with drops of pre-come. Teeth sunk into my bottom lip, I touched my finger to the slickness and brought it to my mouth, relishing the taste of him on my tongue.
Neck tendons corded, he lifted my legs, resting my smooth calves on his shoulders. "You're trying to kill me," he mumbled, fisting his rigid length in his hand.
Gripping it tightly, he pumped his palm up and down it as his free hand went to my pussy. His thumb found my clit as he sank two fingers deep inside my sheath.
My back arched at the feel of his touch.
His name fell from my parched lips.
"That's right," he said, sliding his digits in and out of me as his thumb circled my sensitive nub, sending bolts of pleasure careening through my lower belly. "You say my name. Mine."
"Chase," I moaned, doing precisely as he said. "I want you inside of me." I rolled my hips, forcing his fingers impossibly deep. "I need—"
My words dissipated as he pulled free of my body and lined his throbbing cock up with my entrance. "Sweetness," he said, chest heaving from the force of his pants. "I don't have a condom. I never bought any after you. There was no point."
I burned hotter at his confession.
Chase being with another girl had never even crossed my mind. Why would it? Even at my worst, I was all he ever wanted, even if I couldn't see that truth.
"No condom," I replied, rolling my hips once more. "I have an IUD. We're good."
It was one I'd had put in the minute Shelby took me for a checkup after she’d adopted me. At the time, I had no plans to have sex, but I refused to take a chance on getting pregnant if something else—something bad—happened again.
Chase looked at me funny, an expression I couldn't read appearing. "Want to know a secret, Sweetness?"
Knowing that whatever he was about to say was important to him, I nodded. "Tell me."
"After you ended stuff between us, I prayed you were pregnant from that one time we didn't wrap up in the back of Heidi's car. It's selfish as hell, but I thought if we had a kid, you wouldn't push me away." He smirked. "See, beautiful girl? You're not the only crazy one in this relationship."
I playfully smacked his arm. "I am not crazy. That title goes to Grandmama."
He cringed. "Baby, I am less than a second away from sinking my cock into your tight pussy. Now isn't the time to be bringing up the Crazy Old Biddy."
"I—" My reply morphed into a shocked moan as Chase slammed home, giving me every inch of him in one hard thrust. "Oh God!"
Blanketing my body with his, he held my nape with one hand and cupped my bottom with the other. "Put your hands on the headboard," he barked, the tendons in his neck cording ag
ain. "And keep them there, else I'm going to fuck you through the wall."
The moment my palms touched the wooden headboard, he withdrew and slammed into me once more. Panting for breath, he erased what remained of the space between us, pressing his broad chest to my soft one.
Pinning me to the bed, he supported himself with his elbows as his hard pecs scraped across my nipples, making my back bow with each thrust of his hips.
"More, I groaned, turning my head to the side. "Please, Chase, I want more."
It was a demand he obliged.
My heels dug into his butt as he drove into me, stabbing me with his cock over and over again. Gasps, followed by grunts and pants, fell from my lips as the slapping of his skin against mine echoed through the room.
Tugging on my hair, he held me tight as his fingers dug into my skin, the pace of his frantic thrusts increasing with each twist of his adept hips.
Sweat dripped from his brow as the hand gripping my behind lifted me the slightest bit. I screamed as he hit a deeper spot, the small change in angle giving him better access to parts of me he'd never reached.
"So"—thrust—"good!" he yelled.
Screaming his name in return, I scraped my nails down his back, marking his tanned skin for the whole world to see. I didn't give two craps that his entire team would likely see the claw marks the next time he changed in the locker room.
I wanted them to see each one.
Because he. Was. Mine.
"Ashley, goddammit," he cursed, jaw clenched tight. "Baby, I'm not gonna last..."
Knowing exactly what I needed, I pulled his hand from my hair and slipped it between us, silently telling him what I wanted.
"Fuck yes," he said, drilling into me so hard his balls bounced off my ass with each full thrust.
Fingers finding my clit once more, he rolled my nub between them, giving me exactly what my body craved.
Orgasm building, I cupped his face with my shaking hands. Our eyes locked. "Don't look away," I demanded, my core tightening around his swollen cock. "Not ever."
Foreheads touching, he stared down at me, our exhaled breaths mingling before we both pulled them back into our lungs. "I will never"—thrust—"look away."
Every Kiss You Steal: A Redeeming Love Novel (Book 7) Page 31
