by Ada Stone
“Cramping. Yes.” Belle ignored Michael’s tense expression and focused on the doctor.
“Okay, well, we will want to watch you. I’ve spoken with your OB/GYN, and they want you to go in to see them in a few days but agree that you should be on bedrest until then. No getting up except for the washroom. You can shower, no baths, but other than that, resting.”
Belle groaned. “You couldn’t tell me that without him here?” She tried to smile at the doctor, but he didn’t get the humor in her voice and gave Michael a worried look. How much trouble had he caused while she slept?
“She’ll rest. No worries there. She works as a dental hygienist. Should she stop?”
“Well, I’ll leave that call up to her OB/GYN.” The nervous doctor scribbled something in the chart.
“And she should stay away from caffeine, right?” He gave Belle a quick warning glance, then focused back on the doctor. Belle grunted.
“Well a little…no. I mean, right, no caffeine.” The doctor nodded while keeping his eyes on Michael.
“See?” Michael gave Belle a cocky grin, and she wished for the strength to get out of the bed to smack him.
“When can I go? My mother is somewhere in the hospital, and I want to go see her. She’s having surgery today, I think.”
“No, Belle. They moved the surgery up. She had it yesterday. We’ll go see her on the way out but only for a minute, then it’s home and to bed.”
Belle gave the doctor a pleading look. “I don’t have to actually stay in bed, right? I mean, I can sit on the couch, on the porch, something?”
“Well, the couch would be fine, so long as you aren’t walking around or doing any sort of lifting.”
“Not a finger. Do you hear me?” Michael kept his glare on her, now completely ignoring the doctor.
“Can I go now?”
“I’ll have the nurse come by with the discharge papers and a wheelchair.” The doctor nodded once, curtly, and left.
“You scared him,” Belle accused Michael and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
“Where are you going?” he demanded, picking her legs back up and pushing her back in place.
“I want to get dressed. It’s going to take them a minute to get the paperwork. By the time they get in here, I’ll be ready to go. So move.” She tried to shove his big hands away, but he wouldn’t have it.
“No. Just hold on.” He walked to the chair in the corner and brought back a folded item. “I had Candy go get this. It will be easier than dealing with all that underwear and pants.” He gave her smile that suggested he would have his way no matter what her complaints were and showed her the cotton sundress, one of his favorites.
“No underwear?”
“Nope.” He grinned and started to help her change into the dress.
An hour later, Michael wheeled Belle into her mother’s recovery room. The sound of Ghost’s voice made Belle put a hand out to stop Michael from going all the way in.
“I can’t believe…I mean, I guess I should but so many years wasted.” Her mother’s voice cracked.
“Don’t worry about that now, Sienna. Right now, we’re going to worry about you getting better so we have the rest of our lives to make up for lost time.”
“You really never left?”
“I tried to. I tried to forget you, but I couldn’t. You were my life, all these years, all this time. But, I’ve done horrible shit. Bad shit that I won’t tell you about. You were right to send me away.”
“I should have tried. It hurt when you left, and when you came back, I just couldn’t—” A sob broke her words, and Belle signaled for Michael to push her the rest of the way in.
When they rounded the curtain, she found her father sitting on her mother’s bed, holding her. The bandage around her head was securely in place, and he was gently cradling her. Ghost must have seen them, because he sat up and helped his wife lay back against the pillows, being sure to wipe his eyes before turning to them.
“Belle,” he said, standing from the bed.
“Hi.” She smiled weakly. She didn’t know this man, not really, but she knew one thing, he’d spent his whole life looking out for them from a distance. From what Michael told her, he bought her mother’s house years ago, so she wouldn’t have to worry about the mortgage. He made the bank send her a letter—spewing some bullshit about financial aid to single mothers—and a fake application, which was “granted,” eliminating her debt on the house. Belle understood then the lengths the men in her life would go to be sure they were safe, loved and cared for, even if they had to strong-arm a few people to get the job done.
“Honey.”
“Mom.” Belle pushed out of the chair, ignoring Michael’s growl and threw herself onto her mom’s bed, wrapping her arms around her. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. How are you feeling? You’re talking so good.”
“She’s still sort of weak, Belle. Be careful.” Ghost gently touched her shoulder.
Belle released her mom and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m doing pretty good, actually. I thought I’d be all out of it, but whatever those doctors did, my thoughts are clearer already. I’m just tired.” She wiped away tears from her eyes. “What about you? Your dad…I’m sorry I didn’t—”
“Enough of that now.” Ghost used the same stern voice Belle was coming to expect from Michael. “Both of you need rest. Belle, you get home and get to bed, and I’ll take care of your mom. They are going to release her tomorrow or the next day.”
“Belle’s going to be in bed for the next few days,” Michael told Ghost.
“I’ll be by tomorrow.” Belle promised her mother, ignoring the two bull-headed males in the room.
Her mom smiled at her. “You do what you have to do to keep that baby healthy. I’ll keep. Besides, your father is going to be taking care of me.” She gave Ghost a smile she hadn’t seen on her mother before, genuine and full of hope.
Belle let Michael get her back in the wheelchair and take her out of the room. He left her with a nurse, although it seemed to pain him to do so, to go get his truck. She was going home.
Her mother would mend; she had to believe that. Her father was back, and she had Michael. In only a short few months, she’d gone from having next to nothing in her life to a fully rounded family.
EPILOGUE
Michael had finally gotten his way. Belle tugged her arms but still couldn’t move. The ropes he’d bound around her wrists and secured to the bedposts kept her from escaping him, not that she would want to. She needed this as much as he did.
“So, again I’ll ask you, did you or did you not promise me that you would be home before midnight last night?” The dark voice behind coming from behind her should probably have terrified her.
After all, she was naked, lying face down on their bed and bound, spread open for him. And if the sound she’d heard was correct, he was holding a belt in his hand.
“I did.” She nodded and looked over her shoulder at him, giving him a wink. “But Candy wanted another drink, and I was the designated driver. You know, because I still can’t drink.” She didn’t even try to hide the pout about that. Breastfeeding their little girl meant she had to stay away from alcohol, and Michael was still convinced she couldn’t have caffeine, so that was out too.
“I’m not talking about Candy. I’m sure her ass is tender already. She’s not supposed to be out drinking like that, and you knew it, too. I’m not sure you two are good influences on each other.” She’d heard Sniper say the same thing a few times, and both Candy and she had a good laugh over it. They’d gotten quite close as the months passed. Now that Candy was married to Sniper and Belle had finally toted herself down the aisle with Michael, the two couples spent a lot of time together.
“Pfffst,” Belle scoffed.
He tapped the folded leather against her bare bottom. It wouldn’t be the first spanking she’d gotten, but it would be the first time she was bound and couldn’t scoot away. He wouldn’t hurt her, and she wasn
’t in any trouble, not really. This was play, his way of getting her hot and gooey before he sank into her. He’d get the fire burning out of control before he would put it out the way only he could.
“Nothing you want to say, bad girl?” he asked with that tone of his that sent shivers through her body.
“I should have called. I’m sorry. But you said Rayanna was sleeping when I called at eleven, so I didn’t want to wake her up.” Their baby girl had just started sleeping through the night. And she knew better than to wake a sleeping baby.
“Uh, huh.” She could hear the chuckle in his voice when she wiggled her butt.
The belt came down hard on her cheeks. A warmth spread through her just as the second strike hit, then the third. By the fourth, she was done with the leather and wanted the flesh.
He must have thought the same. The belt fell to the floor, and she heard him chucking his clothes off. She expected him to untie her, to flip her over to her back, but he apparently had other ideas.
He climbed on the bed, spreading her legs and pulling her hips up so she had her ass in the air for him. “Fuck, your pussy is so fucking wet. I can almost smell you.” He slid one finger through her folds, teasing her clit and making her moan.
“Such a little horny girl you’ve become, Belle.” He adjusted his positioning and used the head of his cock to toy with her. “Tell me you want me. Tell me you want this.”
“Fuck me, Michael. Fuck me hard.” She didn’t need to play a role for him. It’s exactly what she wanted from him at that moment.
“Anything for you.” He gripped her hips and drove into her with one quick motion. She cried out from the sudden fullness, but her mind was quickly filled with nothing but lust and pleasure as he continued to thrust into her.
While one hand gripped her hip, the other wrapped around her, playing, teasing, and pinching her clit. Quickly, she was at the edge, teetering on the cliff of heaven.
“Fuck. Michael.” She moaned into the pillow, pulling on her restraints. He plowed into her harder, the sound of their flesh slapping against each other filling the room.
“Now, Belle.” He gave her hip a slap, and within two more strokes, they both fell over the cliff together.
After their breathing normalized, and they started to relax, he untied her and took care to check her wrists and backside. “Maybe someday I’ll be able to give you a few more lashes before I have to dive into you.” He laughed as they settled on the bed, snuggling into one another.
“No, I think that was the right amount.” She feigned injury and rubbed her bottom.
“Uh, huh.” He sighed. “We should get up soon. Your mom will be here in an hour. And Rayanna isn’t going to nap forever.”
“No, she won’t.” Belle sighed. “Dad said he’s bringing lunch with them. He’s worried Mom’s been doing too much lately, so he’s swinging by to get some sandwiches on the way.”
Michael kissed her head and held her tighter. “The doctors seemed pretty hopeful last time you went with her, right?”
“Yeah. They said the tumor’s gone. Between the treatments and the surgery, it’s gone. He’s just over protective, like someone else I know.” She pinched his stomach and leapt up from the bed. “I need a shower.”
“Sniper is coming with Candy, too.” Michael rolled out of bed. They both heard the baby cry at the same time. “I’ll get her. You go shower.”
“When’s the vote?” Belle asked as she walked to the bathroom.
“Tomorrow.”
“You worried?”
“Nope. Sniper will make a great president, and your Dad getting patched-in won’t be an issue, not after he saved you and Candy.”
“He won’t tell me about what he did with the Devil’s Nest.”
“Good.” Michael pulled a t-shirt over his head. “It’s none of your business, and he shouldn’t have to relive that shit. That was a different life.” He yanked on his pants and opened the door, the crying getting louder as he did. “Get in the shower, and I’ll get Rayanna.”
She watched him leave, then heard him start talking to their daughter. With a soft voice, he soothed her, even made her laugh. He was right, all that happened before. This was a different life, and it was this one that mattered.
In this life, she had her father back, her mother was healing and on her way to a full recovery, her daughter was safe, and her husband would see to it that they always stayed that way.
She turned the shower on and stepped under the water. Who knew that getting a coffee in a hospital could lead to the treasure that she’d found? It didn’t matter. She would forget the past, just like Michael said. That was a different life.
And she had a whole new one, a better one, to live now.
THE END
Free Bonus Book: Chained to the Outlaw
She betrayed me.
But I'm back - I’m coming to deliver her punishment.
My ex-girlfriend did me dirty.
I got framed for a crime I didn’t commit, and what did she do?
Not a damn thing.
She left me to rot in that cell.
Now that I’m free,
I want answers.
I want explanations.
I want begging, tearful apologies.
But when I find her, who is she with?
None other than Sal Davis, my enemy and the man who put me behind bars in the first place.
I didn’t think it was possible to get any angrier.
But then I see the rock on her finger, and I realize…
…She’s engaged to the bastard.
A whole new plan emerges.
I’m going to make her mine again.
And then I’m going to break her.
Chapter One
Nick
They let me out with a pair of blue jeans, a clean white shirt, a pair of loafers, and twenty bucks. And maybe some of them meant it when they told me, “Keep your nose clean, kid. I don’t want to see you back here.” Except I wasn’t a kid and I wasn’t about to keep my nose clean. Maybe I would feel worse about my plans after getting out of the slammer if I hadn’t lost it all when I went in. It was a short stint, all things considered, but not short enough for me to let bygones be bygones.
After all, five years was a long time to a man who went in at twenty-three.
I didn’t know what I was expecting when I walked out of the gates that had been closed to me for years now, but certainly something more exciting than the same damn bus that had dropped me off here. “We’ll drop you off anywhere,” they told me, though anywhere was a relative term. What they meant was, “We’ll drop you off at your choice of the three closest major cities, all of which happen to be about fifty miles max.” Granted, I should have been grateful for even that.
No one was coming to pick me up.
So I got on the bus with my starched jeans and my clean shirt and the loafers that were uglier than shit. I sat down and didn’t make conversation, didn’t ask questions, or tell the driver or the three other guys sitting with me what I’d be doing when I got out. All I did was sit and kept my head down, because inside I was boiling.
Five years ago, I had it all planned out. I had my life set—maybe not by other people’s standards, but I was that strange breed of man who couldn’t walk the straight and narrow path—my girl picked out, and enough earned friends to make a life and a living all at once. And then I was hit. Like a ton of bricks on my head, my entire world came crashing down and when things went from bad to worse, and I found myself clinging desperately to what I had left, and I lost that, too.
Once upon a time, I led Heaven’s Wrath. Like demon riders from hell, we were a force to be reckoned with. There were only a few meager lines we didn’t cross—mostly prostitution and anything to do with kids below eighteen—but the rest was fair game.
Heaven’s Wrath was my baby, built up from the ground. It started with me and a motorcycle when I was just seventeen, and by the time I was twenty, I had a half dozen decent guys
. We were hellions and proud of it. Drugs, arms, boosting, didn’t matter what to us, we delved. At the time, I was under some sort of strange, youthful illusion that we were invincible. Like we couldn’t be touched. It fueled me and when we continued to grow, it was easier and easier to believe.
Then it happened. Five years wasted.
I clenched my hands against the stiff fabric of my jeans and focused on breathing, concentrated on how I was out, how I would make things right. No, not right. It couldn’t be made right again, not now, but I could get revenge. I could make things even.
And that started in a very particular place with a very particular person.
I sat back and forced myself to relax. I needed cool precision to make things work for me. If I was going to be a hothead, I’d lose track of myself and end up falling for the same tricks that screwed me over the first time.
