“Corey’s mother is arriving,” Eric announced.
We all looked up toward the door, and entering behind Sean was a petite, chestnut-colored woman who had to be Corey’s mother. Other than the height, her son had inherited his looks from her. I couldn’t look in her red-rimmed eyes for too long. The worry and fear held there reminded me of the sorrow I’d seen in too many eyes before her.
“Ms. Stephens,” Captain greeted, and then proceeded to fill her in on Corey’s condition. Ms. Stephens remained quiet after the captain finished speaking for a while. She simply nodded her head and clutched her chest, taking in everything that’d been said. After a minute or two she finally spoke.
“I was afraid something like this would happen.” All eyes shifted in her direction. “From the very first day he told me he applied to the department, this has been my fear.” She lowered her head, shaking it before lifting it back up and looking at each of us - Captain Waverly, Sean, Eric, Don, and finally, me. “Whenever I got to worrying myself too much, my son would tell me, ‘Mama, you have nothing to worry about. Those guys in my squad are the best at what they do.’ Is that true?” she questioned, gaze bouncing between all of us again.
We all remained silent until the captain finally spoke.
“Yes, ma’am, it is.”
Ms. Stephens blinked, inhaled deeply, and then sighed. “Then he will be fine.” She nodded, assuredly. Then she lifted her chin and walked toward the waiting room, commanding without words for the rest of us to follow her. It was at that moment, I realized where Corey had gotten his strength from. The toughness that made him so great at his job. Great enough to hang with all the other guys in Rescue Four.
Having nothing else to do and needing to occupy my hands with something, I went down to the hospital’s cafeteria and bought coffee for everyone. It was late and everyone was weary but we weren’t going anywhere. We all needed to be there. I wanted desperately to pull out my phone and call Michelle, especially when Angela, Eric’s wife, showed up, comforting her husband. Eric didn’t say much, he never was a big talker, but I could tell by the expression on his face what having Angela there with him meant to him.
I pulled out my phone to dial Michelle’s number but then I remembered where we stood. The fact that we hadn’t even spoken in days and the last time we did speak, she’d told me we were over. Then I remembered the reason why she ended things and the anger I’d fought so hard to suppress began bubbling up again.
Just when I thought I couldn’t keep the lid on my anger anymore, the doctor, wearing his white lab coat and blue surgical scrubs, trailed by the same nurse from earlier, pushed through the double doors of the waiting room.
“Captain Waverly?” the doctor questioned, looking around.
“I’m the captain, but this is Corey Stephens’ mother.” Captain held out his hand toward Corey’s mother who stood next to him.
“How is my son?”
The doctor’s lips formed into a thin line and I knew it wasn’t the news we’d want to hear. That was never a good sign.
“Ms. Stephens, your son had some relatively minor injuries. A minor concussion, that could’ve been more serious if it weren’t for his helmet. He also has some bruising around his lungs due to a cracked rib. Thankfully, there was no internal bleeding.”
The doctor started with the good news. But the strained lines around his eyes told me he had more.
“Unfortunately,” the doctor’s voice lowered, grimly, “the wooden beam that fell on your son did massive damage to his right leg …” He paused and cleared his throat. “We weren’t able to save it. We had to amputate.”
I reached out for Ms. Stephens, on her right side, while Captain Waverly held her on the left side. Her knees buckled and a cry wrenched from her throat.
“I’m so sorry, Ms. Stephens,” the doctor continued.
The captain and I brought Ms. Stephens to a chair and sat her down. By then she was whimpering, wiping away at the tears as they fell. The doctor gave us a last few parting words, and then said a nurse would be back in to let us know when Corey was ready for visitors.
I sat there, handing Ms. Stephens tissues and listening to her tiny cries. Suddenly, a woman burst through the doors.
“Mama!” she called, and head straight for Corey’s mother.
This was Corey’s twin sister. I’d met her on a couple of occasions when she came down to the station house for one reason or another.
“Mama, what happened?” she asked, kneeling down in front of her mother.
I stood. “Sit here,” I instructed, allowing Jocelyn to take my vacated seat. Her mother told her what the doctor had just told us and then they both held onto one another.
I ran my fingers through my hair, pacing the waiting room, in front of the window. When I turned around again, Eric was standing right there.
“His career is over.”
Eric nodded, a morose look on his face. We all knew it. I’d felt it since I discovered him laying on that floor with a beam pinning Corey down.
“It could’ve been worse,” Eric finally stated.
I blinked my eyes closed. I hated that fucking saying. Yeah, it could’ve been worse. Corey could’ve died in that fucking fire. But this? This wasn’t much better. At least, not at the moment it wasn’t. Because in a way, Corey had died. His hopes of moving up the ranks in the fire department? His dreams of one day having a son that followed in his footsteps in the ranks of the Williamsport Fire Department? His main reason for getting out of bed in the morning … to save lives? That was all over. In the blink of an eye. It was done.
I ran my hand through my hair.
“I’ve got to get out of here.”
Eric’s eyes narrowed, a worried look overcoming him. “Where’re you going?”
I didn’t respond because I didn’t have an answer. All I knew was that I couldn’t be there, right then. I was too pissed. Too angry at the entire situation. Men like Corey didn’t deserve what he’d gotten but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to change any of it. I needed some air. I needed to breathe. So, without a word I turned and left the waiting room. Pushed through the door in a hurry to seek some type of relief.
~ Chapter Twenty-One ~
Michelle
I wasn’t alone.
That realization overcame me before I even opened my eyes. There was somebody in my bedroom with me. Slowly, I peeled one eye open and then the other, my heart beating wildly in my chest. I swore that whoever was in the room with me could hear it, would know I was awake from the thrumming sound alone.
I had to blink a few times to clear my vision and to make out his silhouette. I felt him before I could see him clearly. Perched on the side of my bed, elbows resting on his knees, as he stared out my bedroom window. He realized I was awake without me having to open my mouth or stir.
“You didn’t put the chain on the door.” His voice was heavy, thick with emotion. He turned his head to look at me and my breath was stolen by the dark look in his eyes. Even in the dimness of the room, I could see the strain around his eyes. The rigidity of his jaw.
“Carter,” I whispered.
“Diego’s not in his room.”
“Today’s my mother’s birthday. He begged to spend the night with her,” I explained.
That seemed to nullify his curiosity and he nodded.
“Carter, what’s wrong?” I could’ve asked how he go inside my apartment. I was sure I’d locked the door. I could’ve asked why he didn’t just knock. But what I really wanted to know was what was bothering him. What had put that grim look on his face.
“You left me.”
A lump formed in my throat and my heart tugged at the accusation in his tone.
“I–”
“I don’t care why.” He slowly turned fully to me. “I don’t give a shit about any of it. Your son’s father, my job, none of it. Because it won’t keep me away from you. Not anymore than it already has.”
My head was too jumbled to make sense
of what he was saying. And when I felt the blanket pulled from my body and his lips crash into mine, all I could do was open up to him. I felt like he needed me more than I needed him in that moment. Something heavy was weighing on him. I moaned and parted my mouth on a gasp when he bit my lower lip. He took the opportunity to dive in and explore every inch of my mouth. He tasted everywhere he could. Our tongues lapped up one another, suckling and rolling over one another’s. It was the sweetest thing I’d tasted in over a week. But the way Carter savored me wasn’t sweet at all. It was wanton and carnal.
“Nothing,” he growled as he pulled his shirt over his head and moved, pushing me onto my back. He lowered himself in between my legs, which wrapped around him, welcoming him.
My body had a mind of its own when it came to this man.
“No one will keep me from what’s mine. What’s ours!” he insisted, grasping my face and kissing me deeply yet again. I raised my hands to his shoulders, pulling him in to let him devour me even more.
“Carter,” I whispered his name again when he finally broke free of my mouth to kiss and bite his way down my neck. My body felt alive for the first time in over a week. My nipples hardened and pressed painfully against the cotton of the T-shirt I wore. I released a hiss when I felt Carter move down and let his teeth clamp down around one distended nipple through the T-shirt.
“Off,” he growled as he sat up.
I blinked, seeing him sitting up between my legs, looking down at me expectantly. His face was hard with arousal and tension. It took me a second to realize he was waiting for me to remove the shirt.
“Now.” He could barely contain himself. I could hear him fight to maintain his control in his voice.
I grabbed the sides of the T-shirt and pulled it over my head. Before I could even release it to let it fall to the floor, Carter hooked his arms underneath my knees and pulled me to him harshly.
He didn’t say anything but his intent gaze was trained on me, as he lowered his mouth to my core and began lapping me up as if he hadn’t eaten in days. His warm tongue rolled over my clitoris and I let out a scream that vibrated around the room. Carter was ferocious in his concentration, quickly bringing me to an orgasm that I yelled my way through. Once that first climax was out of the way, I expected him to lower my legs and move over top of me, but he remained right where he was. His mouth on me again, coaching me to another orgasm.
“Carter, no! I can’t!” I panted, shaking my head against the pillow.
“You will!” he growled, voice muffled since it was still buried in my pussy.
I attempted to push at his arms to free myself from the perfect torture he was giving me, but he wasn’t having it. His tongue glided over my clitoris again and again, twirling it around and around. My eyes rolled to the back of my head and my toes curled as the pressure in my center built. I felt my inner walls flutter but I did my best to not let the orgasm crest. It was too much. He was too much.
“Stop fighting it!” he insisted.
“No!” I yelled.
“Yes!” He pressed his tongue firmly against my clit and inserted a finger into my core, angling it to press again my G-spot.
I was done after that. I grunted and moaned, head thrashed against the pillow, thighs tightening around his head as wave after wave moved through my body. Only as the aftershocks of my second orgasm flowed through me, did he finally lower my legs and move between them. I watched with eyes halfway closed as he undid his belt and pants, lowering them to allow his massive erection to spring out. I moaned at the sight of the thick, veiny member that resided between his legs.
“The first time I saw you,” he began talking at the same time he started easing himself inside me, “in that car, scared and trapped, I knew you were mine to protect.”
He lowered his body to me and I raised my arms, wrapping them around his neck. I was weak from my orgasms and choked up by the earnestness in his words.
“Mine to watch over. And mine to love,” he continued as he began moving inside of me.
My back arched off the bed.
“No motherfucker alive is taking you from me.”
“Carter!” I squealed when he rotated his hips, hitting that bundle of nerves inside of me again, this time with his erection.
“Understand me?”
I inhaled. He couldn’t really expect me to answer, right? I was too clouded. My head was too foggy from what he was doing to my body, to me emotionally.
“Do you understand me?” he questioned more forcefully. “You’re mine, Michelle. And I don’t let anyone fuck with what’s mine. I don’t give a shit of what history you two have!” he yelled, surging back into me.
I felt his entire body reverberating with tension. He was now pounding me into the bed. His strokes were unending. I dug my fingernails into his upper back, needing to grasp onto him. My legs wrapped around his lower back. I finally looked up to stare him in the eye. His gaze felt as if it alone could penetrate me.
“I’m yours,” I whispered.
Again his mouth came crashing down on mine and his hand moved down my belly until his thumb found my swollen button. He rocked his hips into me, his thumb massaging me and his tongue again exploring my mouth. I pulled him in tighter as the fluttering in my inner walls began again. I had to break free of the kiss to throw my head back when my third and most powerful climax hit me. Through my own gasps of pleasure and grunting, I heard Carter’s groans. I felt him swell and eventually release inside of me. We came together.
****
Carter
“Tell me about him,” I insisted, as Michelle’s head laid on my chest, our bodies sweaty, breathing just barely returning to normal. I slowly stroked her hair, letting it glide over my fingers as I waited for her response.
She remained quiet for a moment. I was just about to sit up and demand she tell me when her head lifted and she looked up at me.
“Gabriel. You want to know about him?”
“He’s the son of a bitch that has you thinking you can leave me, right?”
She blinked before slowly nodding.
“Then yes.”
I watched as she bit the inside of her cheek, contemplating on how she was going to answer. Every instinct in me wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake the words out of her. But I wouldn’t do that. I forced myself to bite my tongue, reminding myself that she needed me to be persistent but patient with her right now.
“What do you want to know?” she finally asked.
“Everything.”
Her eyelids lowered. “Okay …” She sat up and leaned over the bed, picking up the shirt she’d worn earlier and pulling it over her exposed breasts. I wanted to tell her to leave the damn shirt right where it was, but I changed my mind when I saw that it read Williamsport Fire Department just above the left breast pocket. It was one of my old T-shirts. That was the only reason I let her keep it on.
“I met him when I was nineteen, working for a catering company and going to community college part time. He was a guest at one of the fancy events the company I was working for was catering. At first, I thought the extra attention he paid me was just a figment of my imagination. He was obviously somebody important to be invited to one of these exclusive events. I was just a caterer. We were most often ignored by those types. Anyway, he ended up cornering me as I was on one of my breaks and asked me for my phone number. I knew he was older, but I didn’t care. I gave him my number and, well …” She shrugged. “We got involved soon after that. He would come to my rundown apartment at the time and pick me up in stretch limos or town cars with a driver. He treated me to some of the most exclusive restaurants in the city. It was great, but what I enjoyed most of all was the attention, you know? He was really attentive despite his busy job. I thought I’d fallen in love and that he had, too. I just knew I’d marry him one day. It wasn’t until we were together going on three years that I found out he was married. I had started working for a temp agency by then but still catered part time. One night I
happened to be catering an event that he attended with his wife. I confronted him the next day and he told me that they were separated. Still, I was pissed. We’d been together for three years. He’d spent the night at my home. I’d been to his home, or so I thought. Turns out, it was a home he owned but rented out, that just happened to be vacant of tenants at the time. I told him we were done. But it was a little too late by then. I’d found out the week before that I was pregnant.” She stopped talking to gauge my reaction thus far.
“How’d he react to your pregnancy?” I questioned.
She pushed out a breath. “He insisted I have the baby. Told me abortion was against his religion.” She snorted. “Can you believe that? He’d cheated on his wife and gotten another woman pregnant but then tried to bring up his Catholic upbringing to guilt me into having his child. I never considered not having Diego. I just didn’t want any parts of his father. When I made it clear to Gabriel that I would not continue to be his mistress, that’s when he changed for the worse. I’d seen him be mean or disrespectful to others before, waitstaff or concierge, but I never thought he’d turn that same animosity on me. I was young and stupid,” she stated, shame filling her voice. “For months he would go hot and cold. Sometimes he’d try to flirt his way back into my heart, doting on Diego and trying to get me back into bed. But when he saw that wasn’t working he’d start with the threats. Telling me that Diego would be better off living with him and his wife anyway. Saying that my mother was a piss poor example of what a mother should be so how could I be one to Diego.”
My hands twisted into fists when I saw the hurt in her eyes.
“After a year and a half of this, he saw me out on a date with another man. That’s when he finally realized I was done with him. The next day I had a law clerk from his firm drop off custody papers to my door. I was floored. The lawsuit alleged that I was an unfit mother and he wanted full custody. I went to him begging him not to do this. I’d just started working at Save the Date and wasn’t making enough money to hire a decent enough lawyer to fight the case. Gabriel is one of the top attorneys at his law firm. He could easily convince any judge in the city that I was an unfit parent. I never thought he’d go that far. But apparently he didn’t even care about his wife finding out about his infidelity. When I showed up at his office, he told me that the only way he would drop the suit was if I stopped seeing the man he’d seen me out with. Told me in no uncertain terms that if I were to date anyone, he would take full custody of Diego without thinking twice about it. I knew he wasn’t bluffing, so I agreed. I hadn’t dated since then.”
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