“You save my life and then give me a child. Princess you’ve turned what should have been the worst day into the best of my life. I can’t believe your mine.” I bring his head back down and kiss him again.
“I was meant to be yours Connor. The Universe commanded it. I would have been a fool not to listen.” I feel a tear roll from his face to mine before he kisses me and he doesn’t stop this time.
Later that night my dreams wake me up and I immediately reach across the bed for Connor. I cry out when I feel him warm and alive next to me and throw myself on him waking him up. “Nina! What’s wrong baby?” He says and wraps his arms around my back and strokes gently.
“I dreamt that I was too late!” I say through my tears into his shoulder. “I lost you and I never got to tell you about the baby! Connor, I couldn’t breathe! It was so horrible.” I sob harder into his chest and the door to the bedroom bursts open.
“What the hell Nick!” I hear Connor shout and I look up to see Nick primed at the doorway gun in hand. The sight of him like that makes me giggle and I wipe my tears from my eyes.
“You’re a little late Nick.” I say to him and sit up in bed.
“I heard yelling and crying. I thought something was wrong?” Nick says dropping the pistol and fingering the safety.
“As always my friend, your timing is impeccable.” Connor says wryly and Nick frowns.
“What the fuck happened to your head Con? Why do I always come home to one of you injured?” Nick says approaching the bed.
“Well if you quit running off to Toni’s maybe you wouldn’t be gone when all the action happens.”
“What do you mean? Nina told me she was coming home and that you were going to be here? My phone died but I didn’t have any voicemails and when I got home your cars were both here so I assumed everything was good.” He looks so confused and it makes me laugh harder. “Will you please stop laughing and tell me what I missed?” Nick says frustrated.
“Oh nothing much.” Connor says and I swat him.
“I came home and Connor was missing but his car was still here." I begin and Nicks face turns hard. “There was blood on the porch but no one would answer their phones. I had remembered seeing the girl who hit on Connor on New Year’s getting into the same SUV that Lucas drove and that she had given him an address. I got a hold of Lo and Drake and we all went out there thinking that if that’s where they had tried to lure him once, then that was where they would take him. We pretty much went in guns blazing and saved the day.” I say smugly and Connor laughs.
Nick looks at Connor disbelieving. “You’re fucking kidding me! What the fuck!”
“It’s all true. Lucas came up behind me when I was walking back inside and knocked me out. I woke up in an old barn house to Nina shaking me and Lucas on the ground with a bullet in his leg, Drake standing over him with a pistol and Lo at his side with a shotgun.”
Nicks eyes widen and he looks at me for a second, then smiles slightly. “So it’s all over? Lucas is going to give up Holden right?” Nick says setting his pistol on our nightstand.
“Maybe. If not we’re pretty sure the info from his cell phone and the woman from the bar will be enough to find him.”
“Wow.” Nick says then looks at me. “You’re something else, Nina Ryan. How the hell did you put all that together?” He asks.
I smile at him. “I had some help.” I say thinking of Lo and Drake and my old friend the Universe. “I didn’t do much I just knew that I couldn’t do nothing.”
“You did everything. You saved him.” Nick’s shy smile turns into a frown. “I guess I was never really needed here after all. Every time you guys needed me I was MIA.” He looks down at me and Connor in each other’s arms. “I can probably head back to New York now.” His face looks defeated and I smile widely.
“You could, but if you decide to stay longer you’re going to have to get a hotel or a rental.” I say and he looks at me curiously.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because we won’t have room for you once the baby comes. Congratulations Nick! You’re going to be an Uncle!” I squeal. Uncle Nick’s eyes widen and he drops on to the edge of the bed.
“Holy Shit!” He says and Connor and I burst out laughing.
Back to Top
CHAPTER 18
A few days later I wake up to the beautiful smell of apple cider. I lay in bed with my eyes still closed and let the spices wake up my senses. Last night was Connor and I’s first night in the house since Nick had gotten his own rental. He decided to stay after all so that he could be here when the baby was born and until they found Holden, but I had a feeling there was more to it than that.
I stretch my limbs feeling decadent from a night in Connor’s arms and waking to my favorite smell. I peel my eyes open and smile to myself when I see a white mug sitting on my bedside table. I start to sit up and reach for the cup and see a trail of white on the floor of the bedroom that leads out the door. I rub my eyes to clear the fog of sleep and when I open them the trail is still there. I set down my mug and stand next to the bed and look down at the white mugs filled with cider sitting in a row on my floor. Connor. What is he up to?
I follow the trail of mugs out the bedroom door and into the hallway and the trail continues. When I reach the living room, I see that it extends across the entire main area to the front door. Curious, I follow it to the front door and pull the knob. Oh no he didn’t! Parked in my front yard is a white city bus just like the one Connor and I met on. The trail of mugs continues to the bus and up the steps. I run from the house to the bus knocking over a few of the mugs on the way. When I reach the doors, I take the steps slowly. I get to the top and see that Connor is sitting in the back in the same seat I was in the day he turned my world upside down.
“It’s about time Princess. You sure know how to keep a man waiting. I’ve been out here since seven o’clock.” He smiles at me and I feel like my heart will burst out of my chest. “I hope you didn’t try to drink any of that cider. It’s definitely not hot anymore.” He says and I run down the aisle giggling and plop down on his lap. Connor curls his arms around me and smiles. “If only you would have reacted this way the last time we were on this bus.” I kiss him all over his beautiful face because I just can’t help it.
“This is a sweet surprise baby. What’s the occasion?”
“Well you’re having my baby and we’re getting married, so I figured it was appropriate.”
I freeze at his words. “But you haven’t asked me to marry you.”
Connor laughs at me and shakes his head. “Mornings really aren’t your thing are they Princess. That’s kind of what I’m doing now.” He picks a black velvet box up from the seat next to him and hands it to me. “You can’t say no because I won’t accept that, so I’m not really asking.” He lifts the top of the box for me, because my hands won’t stop shaking long enough to do it myself.
A large round sapphire blinks up at me from its place in the little black box. Its set in white gold and the band looks like two strings of diamonds woven together in graceful loops and crosses. The sapphire is the exact color of Connor’s eyes and just as mesmerizing. Marriage. I love Connor more than anything, but I can’t help but think of my parents. What if getting married ruins what we have? What if he’s only doing this because of the baby? What if he ends up like my father? My mind is whirling and I’m still staring at the ring like it holds the secrets to the Universe. I must have been staring at it for a while because Connor shifts a little in the seat.
“Nina? Can you say something please? You’re making me nervous.” I look up at him and in his eyes is my answer. Unconditional love. Connor would never betray me and I’m not my mother. I don’t need any grand gestures although, I sort of like the one he just gave me. I just need to be able to look into his eyes and see that love. The same love we will one day share for our child. In his eyes I see my whole world. A beautiful Sapphire Universe. I start to tear up and I take the ring out of the
box and slip it on to my hand where it belongs.
“You’re stuck with me now Connor Sebastian Wright.” I say in a choked voice and he crushes his mouth to mine. He shoves his hand into my hair and shows me how happy he is, how much he loves me, how much he wants me. All with a single kiss. When he finally pulls away, we are both breathless.
“Thank God! You had me sweating for a minute there. Do you like it? I figured it was fitting and it felt like I would be giving you a piece of me.”
“I love it Connor, it’s the most perfect ring ever.”
“Good. I’m glad we agree because I kind of saved you the trouble of getting me one. He holds his left hand up and I notice that on his finger is a thick silver band and on the top is a rectangular emerald embedded in the metal. “I saw it and knew that I had to have it. I don’t want to wait until the wedding to wear it. I feel like I’m just as engaged to you as you are to me, so I should wear one too. I want everyone to know I’m taken. That I’m yours, just as much as you are mine and Princess, you are mine. Married or not I’m not letting you go.”
I sigh at his romantic speech. I love how unconventional he is. He always proves to me just when I need him to that he is the exception. There is no other man like him on this planet and he will never leave me. “Good because I’m not going anywhere.”
“Damn straight you’re not. Especially now that I finally have you where I’ve wanted you from the moment I met you on this bus.” He pulls on the hem of my tank top and lifts it up above my bare breasts and takes one into his mouth. It’s so sudden that I flinch.
“Help me out here baby.” He says referring to my clothing being in his way. I strip the tank off the rest of the way and go to work on his shirt.
“God you’re so sexy. I never stood a chance.” I say and start to trace the muscles in his chest and stomach with my tongue.
Connor’s hands have trailed down my spine to the back of my pants. He sticks his hand under the waistband of my yoga pants and peels them and my underwear down my thighs. Once he bares me from the waist down I unbutton his pants and take him into my hand and stroke him. He moans and lifts me up to straddle him again and kisses me. I position him at my entrance and start to slowly slide down gasping at the feeling of him stretching me. When he’s seated as deeply as he can go, he reaches up and cups my face with both hands.
“This. This is what I wanted the first day I saw you on this bus. To be as deep inside you as I could get while looking into your emerald eyes.” He returns to my lips and puts his hands on my hips to guide me. I rock my hips as I rise and fall and he bites my lip then sooths the sting with his tongue. I start to feel the familiar tightening and as it builds I lose my rhythm. Connor takes my hips in his hands and starts to thrusts up into me. The pleasure hits me instantly sending liquid warmth through my body and I shout his name. “Fuck!” Connor yells and stills as he spills into me.
I lay my head on his shoulder when the piece of me that shot through the roof joins my body once more and start giggling. “What’s so funny? You really shouldn’t laugh at a guy after sex Princess. We men have fragile egos.” Connor mumbles into my hair. I laugh at that and lift my head.
“Only you would rent a bus so that you could act out a freaky fantasy. That and you just had bus sex with your pants on.” I say and look down at where we are connected once again half clothed.
“Don’t knock it babe. That was some awesome bus sex.”
That day we got a phone call from detective Wheeler. It was all over. Lucas eventually spilled the beans and gave up both Max and Jennifer. Jennifer is the name of the girl who tried to lure Connor out of the bar and is a model who owes Max a lot of money he fronted her to get her career up and running. Max was hiding out in New York surprisingly. Apparently, he was so sure that Connor would retract his statement and everything would blow over that he didn’t even think about fleeing to another state.
Lucas confessed that Max had killed the man Connor saw go into his office that day. Lucas wasn’t there but Max had told him as much when he instructed him to go find out if Connor was in Wyoming with his father. Max was currently in custody but wouldn’t speak without his lawyer. Wheeler is sure he’s going to plead not guilty, because he thinks his expensive lawyer will get him out of it, but with Connor’s and Lucas’ statement and all the other evidence they had gathered he was going to go to prison for a long time.
We called Connor’s father first to tell him all of the good news and I swear he was crying. He would never admit to it though. “I told you she was a good one didn’t I? Not afraid of a damn thing just like your mother. You guys better have a gir,l because we want to keep that trait in the family.” He says to Connor. I ask him if he would be willing to give me away at the wedding and his voice is slightly shaky when he says that he would be honored. “I just wish Trish was here to see you walk down the aisle. She would have loved you.” His statement reminds me of my mother and the fact that she won’t be there to see me walk down the aisle and I’ll never get to dance with my father. I look over at Connor when we hang up the phone with his father and grab his hand.
“I need you to go somewhere with me.” Connor frowns at my tone and tightens his fingers around mine.
“When?” Is the only thing he asks and it makes me smile.
“Now.” I say simply and he leads me over to the coat closet. I shrug on my coat and we walk silently to the car.
“Where are we going Princess?” He asks when he get to the end of the driveway. I look out the window and take a deep fortifying breath.
“To go see my parents.” He looks over at me and his eyes are shining when he reaches for my hand. “Turn right.” Connor doesn’t speak as we drive. I know he’s giving me some peace and quiet on purpose. I went to the funeral when they died, but I haven’t been back to see them since. I know that it makes me a horrible daughter but it just hurt too much. Keeping the pain inside always felt safer. I didn’t want it to seep out into my life and ruin the carefully built control I had put in place to protect me. Today is different. I don’t need to keep everything inside any longer. With Connor here I can face them. I don’t know what kind of reaction I will have, or whether I will break down or not, but what I do know is that either way it will be okay. I can fall apart and Connor will help me pick up the pieces or I can stand strong and he will stand beside me.
When we get to the cemetery I lead Connor by the hand to the grave stones marked with Cameron and Brook Ryan’s names. I lay the flowers I bought in between them and kneel down in the grass. I take one last deep breath and speak to my parents for the first time since I was sixteen.
“Hi Momma. Hi Daddy. I’m sorry I haven’t come to visit you in a while.” My voice sounds firm and I know it’s because of Connor that I’m able to be so strong. “I didn’t take you two leaving me very well, I just loved you so much. I want you to know that I forgive you. Both of you. I know that you didn’t want to leave me and that you loved me.” I trace my mother’s name in the stone as I say that last part knowing it’s what she would want to hear the most. “I’m getting married soon. Three months. We’re having a baby Daddy! I wish she could have known you.” I say and run my hand across the grass that covers the place where they lie in the ground. I feel as if I can feel their love for me come from the earth and a single tear rolls down my cheek at finally laying all the uncertainty to rest. “I hope you’re happy wherever you are. I’ll come see you again soon. I love you.” I stand up and look down at their graves and the tear falls to the ground in between them. My heart feels whole but lighter than air and although I will miss them for the rest of my life, I know that they have never really left me. Connor walks up behind me and whispers in my ear.
“I’m proud of you Princess and I know they are too. Let’s go home.” I walk away from my parents hand in hand with my entire Universe and for the first time in ten years I welcome whatever life has to throw at me. I’m ready for all of it and this time I’m not alone.
I stop by L
o’s house the next day. I know she is going to freak out that I didn’t tell her right away but I want to see the look on her face. I knock on the door and try to keep calm when all I want to do is jump up and down and scream. She opens the door wearing sweats and a large t shirt her eyes are red and swollen.
“Lo! What’s wrong? I step into her apartment and she closes the door behind me.
“What are you talking about?” She tries to play dumb. Really, she should know better.
“Lola, don’t even try to pretend like your fine. Tell me what happened. Is everything okay with Drake?” I say taking a guess and by the look on her face when I say his name it’s a good one. Lo starts crying again and my heart breaks. I have seen Lo cry a total of three times in our entire friendship and it was never over a boy. Two of them were for me and the third was for her brother.
Her face crumples but she relents. “He said that we can’t be together anymore. No explanation, nothing! It was after we had…you know. We were lying together in bed and he just looked at me with this frown on his face. Then he got out of bed without saying anything and left. This morning he slipped this stupid note into my mailbox telling me how he couldn’t be with me.” She said her voice taking on a mixture of anger and despair.
“I thought you said that you weren’t together. That it was just a physical thing.”
“It was, that’s why I’m so confused. I never pushed him for anything more than what he gave me and I never asked him to commit to me.”
“Then why are you crying Lo. You never cry. If you didn’t want to be with him then why are you so upset?” I ask although I know better, I just want her to admit it. She sits down on the couch and grabs a tissue from the coffee table.
“Because I’m an idiot, that’s why. I didn’t know until he stopped talking to me. I miss him Nins. God help me I think I’m in love with him.” She closes her eyes and more tears start to roll down her face. I scoot closer to her and try to wipe them from her cheeks and that’s when she sees my ring.
Sapphire Universe (The Universe Series) Page 23
