Autumn and I tell our story in bits and pieces. Autumn does a lot more talking than I do. She tells the police how she’d been assaulted a few years ago and has carried a gun for protection ever since. She explains that a man had grabbed her that night and she’d tried to fight him. She talks about how he punched me when I tried to rescue her, and then about how she’d been sure she was going to die when his hands were closing around her neck. I back her up, say I’d seen the same things, just as sure he was going to kill her. I talk about Jeff walking in after I grabbed the gun, about how he is my ex-boyfriend and how he’s been stalking and harassing me, making threats and demanding money.
The police take our story down, asking questions and making notes. Anthony reaches over and laces our fingers together, squeezing my hand as I tell the police everything. I feel stronger with him beside me, more like I can handle all of this. The police say that they have to check into a few things, verify Autumn’s weapons permit, and look into the man who’d attacked her, but that it sounds like a pretty clear case of self-defense. They tell us we’re all free to go home, and that they’ll be in touch. I sag into Anthony in relief, dizzy at the idea that it’s all over.
Autumn and I hug tightly when they leave, and then she whispers that she wants to know everything that’s going on with me and Anthony later. She goes home, and I turn to Anthony, physically and emotionally exhausted.
“Come home with me,” he says. “You shouldn’t be alone.”
“Thank you,” I say, “for everything.”
He kisses me softly, hugs me tightly, and takes me home.
Chapter Sixteen - Anthony
Waking up in my own bed with Brooke beside me feels like everything is the way it should be. Even with how fucking terrible yesterday had been, this feels right. Looking down at Brooke, all I can think is how beautiful she is and how glad I am she’s back in my life. I hate that she was going through so much and that I couldn’t protect her from it. I hate that she ever had to feel that afraid. I hate that someone as clearly reprehensible as her ex, Jeff, had ever been part of her life. I want to keep her safe now, safe and happy.
Last night, after we’d come in, I’d filled my mom in on the barest details while Brooke took a long shower. I’d made dinner, and we’d sat on the couch under a blanket with David, watching a kids’ movie until he fell asleep. In bed, she’d pulled herself in close to me and told me even more than she’d told the police: all the details and all the pain that had come with them. I’d held her tight all night, not wanting to ever let her go.
Now, with the morning sun breaking through the windows, I run my fingers through her hair and smile. I’m in love with her, I realize. Maybe part of me always was. Maybe I never stopped from when we were kids. I know I am now. I’m fully and completely in love with her.
Brooke stirs, rolling into me more before opening her eyes and smiling a soft smile at me.
“Good morning,” I say, tilting my head to kiss her.
“Good morning,” she says back, right against my mouth.
“How did you sleep?” I ask, sliding a hand to the back of her neck.
“Better than I have in months,” Brooke says. “I can’t even begin to thank you enough for yesterday.”
“So don’t,” I say, “because all that matters is that you’re safe now.”
“I’m just really glad you came back,” Brooke says, kissing me again, harder this time, with more force and feeling behind it. She slides closer to me, and I can feel her warm skin through the fabric of the t-shirt I lent her to sleep in. I slide my hand up and into her hair, and she gasps into my mouth.
“So am I,” I say truthfully. She deepens the kiss and fists a hand into the fabric of my shirt, pulling and tugging like she’s suddenly desperate for me to touch her. Every one of her touches is electric on my skin, and I feel myself grow hard when her tongue licks over my lips. I’m desperate, too, desperate to touch her, to make her feel so good that she forgets every bad thing that’s happened to her. To take her so high she forgets everything.
I slide my hand up the t-shirt, to her stomach, tracing my fingers over the warm skin I find there, up her ribs to her breasts.
“Please, Anthony,” she says, gasping. “Don’t stop.”
I think I would do anything she asked. I would touch her forever if she wanted. I don’t stop. I slide the shirt over her head and take her apart, making her come with my hands and then my mouth before I slide inside her, fucking her slow and steady, making it last. She squirms and writhes under me, biting out my name and cursing, the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. She comes again, and feeling her come around me takes me over the edge, too.
I hold her for several long minutes after, feeling her shake as she comes down. She laces her fingers with mine, and I breathe her in.
When we’re ready to move again, I make breakfast. Unlike yesterday, I’ve got a whole kitchen stocked with food at my disposal. So I make omelets for Brooke and David. We spent the morning in David’s room with Brooke reading to him. He asks her to read just one book at first, but when he hears her read it, using character voices and making dramatic pauses in all the right places, he wants her to read every book on his shelves. He climbs up on her lap, asking for the story after story, and she reads them all. I think I could watch them together all day. Brooke is so good with David.
I haven’t let any of the women I’ve been with around David since Michelle died. Most of them were only around for the night, but I’d kept even the ones I’d seen more of from him. Seeing how well he gets along with Brooke makes me sure that was the right choice, that I was doing it for a reason. I didn’t want too many fleeting people around him. I feel like Brooke is going to be a permanent part of our lives.
My phone rings right before lunch. It’s the Market about our wedding catering. I tell them I’ll call them back later and look over at Brooke, who is still reading to David, thinking. After the story is over, I ask her if she can come help me in the kitchen, telling David we’ll be right back.
“So, that was the Market. Our wedding caterers,” I say. She frowns slightly.
“Our wedding,” she says, like maybe in the stress of the last day she’s forgotten.
“You know, when we first started talking about it, I thought we were joking. I just didn’t want to be the one to end the joke,” I say. Nothing about our relationship feels like a joke anymore, and it seems like we should talk about it.
“I did too,” Brooke says, smiling. “I didn’t want to end it either.”
“All these plans are actually in place, though,” I say. With every day I’ve spent with Brooke, I’ve felt more like I could actually marry her like I should. Like maybe I was always meant to.
“Do you think . . . ?” Brooke says, then pauses like she’s choosing her words. “Now that so much is happening between us, do you think we should call all that off? I want to do this right – do us right. I’d like to take it slow and make a real go at this.”
“I really think this could work,” I say. I want it to work so much. I feel certain it will. I don’t see how it couldn’t.
“Me too,” Brooke says, smiling, “So, we should call off those wedding plans and take it slow.”
“We can do that,” I say, pulling her in for a quick kiss. She kisses me back, smiling.
I want Brooke all day, every day, for the rest of my life. I think I always have.
Chapter Seventeen - Brooke
I can’t get over how different my life is now. Over the past few months, I’ve been spending nearly every day with Anthony. I’m practically living at his house how, and I wake up beside him almost every morning. It’s honestly been wonderful. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy. Everything has almost completely turned around, and I can’t help but think it’s because of Anthony. That it's all because I have Anthony back in my life.
He’d helped me prep for my application and interview at work. Two weeks ago, I got the news that the position is mine. It’s not
much more money, but the work is so much more interesting. I’ve been training for the past week. There is so much to take in and remember. My days have been so much busier. It’s a huge challenge, and it’s more than a little scary, but Anthony makes me feel like I can handle it. More than handle it, he makes me feel like I can excel at it. I’m proud of myself and excited for my future in a way I haven’t been in a long time.
The police are still investigating Autumn’s case, and she’s been in for questioning several times. It turns out the guy she shot was a repeat sex offender, which backs up Autumn’s story and makes it unlikely she’ll face any charges. We still have to wait for them to conclude the investigation. The detectives have told her she may face consequences for waiting so long to tell them what happened that night, but we’re all feeling hopeful about it. Autumn’s been leaving the house more and making tentative plans for the future, even looking at going back to school the way she’s always wanted.
Jeff’s been sent to the state prison. He’s facing a huge list of charges, and the detective I spoke to said that even without my testimony, he’s facing years in prison. I’m planning to testify against him, though. I’ve been talking it over with Anthony, and I think that it will make me feel a lot better if I do. I can’t erase the fact that I dated him. I can’t take any of that back, but I can keep him behind bars longer. I can keep him from hurting other people the way he hurt me.
I feel like Anthony, David, and I are becoming a family. David is such a great kid, and I really like spending time with him. Last month, Anthony went back to New York for work, and I watched David all weekend. We’d had a wonderful time, and it had felt like something I could do – keep doing – forever. It amazes me that Anthony raised David by himself. He was all alone in New York with a baby depending on him. He’s done a great job. David is smart and curious and clearly well loved. They’re so sweet together, a perfect little family unit, and I feel grateful and thrilled to be part of it.
David keeps asking me all these questions with wide and serious eyes. He wants to know all about how his dad and I met and about when we were kids. The weekend I watched him, I brought a whole photo album filled with pictures of Anthony and I. David had laughed, seeing his dad as a child and a teenager. He had wanted to hear stories about all the other people in the pictures as well. He’s even met Autumn several times, and she keeps jokingly referring to him as her nephew.
Everything lately has been giving me that hopeful, light, and happy sort of feeling. Most of all, Anthony has. I’m so in love with him. I’ve always loved him. Now, it’s like every single day I learn even more about him and find new reasons to fall in love with him. There are so many things about him that are the same – that are all the reasons I’ve always wanted him in my life. Yet, there are so many new things that have changed, including the ways he’s grown over the years.
I’m so glad to have him back. To be breathing easily again. To feel like, for the first time in far too long, my life is headed in the right direction.
Chapter Eighteen - Anthony
I haven’t slept all night. I’ve just been lying awake, my brain racing with thoughts of Brooke. The past four months have been some of the best of my life. I knew moving back to my hometown was the right choice, and that it would bring changes, but I had no way of knowing what I’d find in Brooke. What we’d find in each other. It’s still early, but the morning sun is breaking through the window. I decide to wake her up. There is something I have to confess.
“Good morning,” I say, reaching out and running a hand across her arm. She stirs and smiles up at me, extra breathtaking this morning.
“Hi,” she says, kissing me softly.
“Do you know what today is?” I ask, smiling.
“The date we set when we were joking about getting married?” Brooke asks, laughing gently. I tuck her hair behind her ears and grin.
“I have to tell you something,” I say. I almost feel nervous, like I had that first night I’d taken her to the Purple Hog.
“About our wedding?” she asks, clearly teasing. I shake my head.
“I have a confession,” I say, sitting up. She tilts her head at me curiously.
“Tell me,” Brooke says, sitting up too.
“I never canceled any of it,” I say. I get up and go to the front of the bed, kneeling in front of her. She gasps.
“Anthony,” she says in a whisper, like she can’t quite believe what she’s seeing. I take her hands in mine and kiss them before continuing.
“I knew you were one the one for me. I love you, so I didn’t cancel a single thing. I want you in my life forever. I want you and me and David to be a family. Will you marry me? Right now? Today?” I ask, pulling a ring out of the pocket of my pajamas. I’d picked it out with Autumn a month ago. She’s been helping out with everything. She says it’s felt good to keep a positive secret.
“Yes,” Brooke says, grabbing the sides of my face and kissing me. She’s crying, hot tears streaming down her face that I can feel on my cheeks as she kisses me. “Yes,” she says again, against my lips.
“I love you,” I say again, “and I can’t imagine being married to anyone but you.”
“I love you,” she says, pulling back a little. She puts her hand out to me, and I slip the ring on it. I’m so thrilled she’s said yes. I’m so happy in this moment that it almost doesn’t feel real – almost doesn’t feel like it should be possible.
“I love that you didn’t cancel the arrangements,” Brooke continues. “I love that you had so much faith in us working and in me.”
“I think part of me knew you were the one for me even when we were teenagers,” I confess. “That contract was my idea, after all.”
“I loved you then, too,” Brooke admits, laughing a little. “Anthony, this ring is beautiful.”
“Autumn helped,” I say, and Brooke’s eyes get watery again.
“It’s amazing,” she repeats. She looks so happy, and I think this is what I want: to make her happy forever. To always find ways to make her smile.
“I have another surprise,” I say. I stand up and open my closet, going to the back and pulling out a garment bag. It holds the dress I’ve had custom-made for her. A designer friend of mine in New York spend weeks on it, perfecting every detail. I don’t know much about fashion, but I know something beautiful when I see it, and this dress is amazing. It’s actually worthy of Brooke, unlike her other one, and I’m sure she’ll be stunning in it.
“What is that?” Brooke asks, standing up. Her voice is shaking a little.
“Open it,” I say. Brooke pulls on the zipper of the bag and gasps again as the dress is revealed.
“Oh my God, Anthony,” Brooke says, running her fingers over the silk in awe. “It’s gorgeous.”
“It’s one of a kind. I had it custom made for you,” I say. Brooke throws her arms around me, kissing me again, and I can feel how fast her heart is speeding under me.
“It’s wonderful. You’re wonderful,” Brooke says. She pulls back and looks at the dress again, then her ring, then at me, like she can’t quite believe it.
“You didn’t really think I’d let you get married in that other dress, did you?” I ask, grinning. Brooke laughs but then kisses me fiercely.
“I’d marry you in rags,” she says. I kiss her back, holding her close to me for a long moment.
“I’d better go wake my best man up,” I say, kissing her forehead as I pull back.
I wake David up and tell him the good news. He bounces around, helping me get ready while Brooke gets changed. He was in on the plan, and he keeps telling me that he knew when we met her at the playground that I was going to marry Brooke. He’s a ball of energy, running around the house and singing mixed-up words to love songs as we get ready to leave.
We’re going to drive to the wedding together, both already dressed. It breaks tradition. I’ll see her in her dress before we get to the aisle, but I don’t care. We’ve been breaking tradition our whole lives.
We’ve been through so much that I’m not worried about bad luck. I just want to marry Brooke today. I want to start our life together.
When she walks down the stairs in her dress, my breath catches. I’ve never seen her, or anyone, look so beautiful. I’ve never seen a better sight in my life. We drive to the hotel, clutching each other’s hands the whole time. I can almost feel the nervous and excited feelings radiating from her through her hand, like we’re conducting energy where our hands are joined.
The chapel bursts into applause when we get there. Every row is filled with our friends and family. Autumn is standing at the end of the aisle, waiting, and David scampers up the aisle to join her. She gives him a high-five and he flashes me a thumbs-up. I think they’re the perfect maid of honor and best man. If the sounds of awing and cooing and cameras flashing all around the chapel are any indication, all our guests agree.
Brooke squeezes my arm and takes a huge breath.
“Ready?” I ask. She nods rapidly.
“Absolutely,” Brooke says.
“Then I’ll meet you up there,” I say, kissing her forehead and then heading up the aisle where Autumn and David are waiting.
The music swells up a few minutes later, and I turn to watch Brooke walking down the aisle to me, still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Looking at her, I almost forget how to breathe entirely. I can’t quite believe we really made it here, to our wedding day, that after all these years, Brooke is walking toward me in a gorgeous gown, about to become my wife.
“I love you,” Brooke mouths when she gets to me. She’s crying again, a few silent tears as she faces me.
“I love you,” I mouth back. I can’t stop smiling, can’t stop the happiness that keeps rising in me.
A few hours later, after the ceremony and at our reception, I still haven’t stopped smiling. Every moment of this day has been perfect, even better than I had hoped. Autumn has given a long speech about how she thinks Brooke and I are soulmates. She called us both brave and wonderful and said we deserved every moment of happiness she knew we were going to have. David gave a speech too, telling everyone what a good storyteller Brooke is and about how much she makes his dad smile.
Shattered Daddy: A Billionaire Suspense Romance Page 7
