Ruthless Renovator : A Hero Club Novel

by Paisleigh Aumack

  The demo and unveiling of the renovated Venice Skate Park was in a few weeks. It’d been a while since I had been on a board to do the types of tricks that were required at the demo, so I needed to get to the park with my kids and get back into boarding shape. I missed them that first weekend because of everything that happened with Mac and me. But they were going to love watching me practice and ultimately eat shit. Overall though, it was a great teaching tool.

  I’d been out on the deck enjoying a glass of wine in my sleep shorts and tank, thinking about all of this when the man in question came out the sliding glass door.

  “There you are.” Mac looked like he was trying to keep his control in check. His face was pinched tight and I could tell his body was tense. I sat up in the lounger and searched his face for any clues as to what the hell happened.

  “What’s wrong? Why do you look like that?” I questioned, not sure I could handle any more drama.

  “Spoke to Davien. He got word Bruno Haynes was found dead in a motel room in Vegas. According to D, he’d sat a poker game in some back room after-hours. He tried to scam the head guy out of the winnings. This guy was a really bad dude, with connections to some really shady underground happenings. Poker guy wasn’t willing to put up with anyone, especially a newcomer, taking his money or not paying up what he owed. So this guy followed Bruno back to his motel room and slit his throat. He’d been dead a few days when the motel manager noticed Bruno hadn’t been seen and hadn’t checked out.” Mac was honest, but I knew it was hard for him to not try to shield me from all that information.

  “Holy shit!” I placed my wine down and stood up. Mac grabbed me by the hips and pulled me into his body. As soon as Mac’s arms were around me, I felt his body relax and loosen. I logically knew Bruno was not a good man but I’d never wanted him dead. Locked up for life, sure. Dead, never.

  Mac said my heart was too pure to ever cause harm because I’d refused to kill a spider last week. Mostly, I thought it was just being decent human. It wasn’t up to me to deal out Bruno’s punishment. That was why we had a justice system, as shitty as it could be sometimes.

  “I debated on whether to tell you everything or not. It’s always my first instinct to protect you from anything that may fuck with you. But I knew you’d be pissed and I’d rather not go there again. Are you okay?” he asked me quietly, as he brushed my hair away from my face. Whenever Mac was concerned about my reactions, he touched me in a way that made every inch of me melt into him. He was my safe place.

  “I’m fine. I mean it is crazy as hell that Bruno was murdered, and I’d have preferred if he sat in a jail cell for the rest of his life, but really, what can I do? He made his choices and they weren’t good. I’ll sleep just fine,” I answered on a smile to reassure him I was fine.

  “You are one of the most resilient people I know.” Mac kissed my forehead and sat down on the lounger I had just occupied and pulled me onto his lap. We sat there in the most comfortable silence. News that may have rocked someone else’s world just kind of shook mine. It wasn’t like that Tilt-A-Whirl type of thing to me so I processed it quickly and moved on.

  “I’ve been thinking about the radio show. Ryanne wants me to go to the office tomorrow so we can talk about things. I think I’ve made a decision.” Mac squeezed me around my middle to indicate he was listening.

  “Well, whatever it is you decide, baby, I will be behind you. You know that,” Mac told me supportively.

  “I know. Thank you, honey.” Every time I called him honey, his gorgeous eyes softened and got this hungry look in them.

  Mac kissed me, picked me up, and took me inside.

  He was hungry.

  Starved, actually.

  So he feasted on me and made me forget anything that might have fucked with me.

  And being the considerate girlfriend I was, I returned the favor.

  Repeatedly throughout the night.

  _______________

  The next morning, I texted Ryanne and asked her to meet me at a small café by the beach. She’d agreed and it went better than I had expected. There were things she was understanding of and some she wasn’t. It wasn’t that I hadn’t prepared for the conversation, I had. It was just a hard one to have. At the end of the day, I needed to do what was best for me, and the future I wanted for myself.

  After the meeting, I went back to the house, grabbed my board, hopped into my car, and went to spend time with my kids at the park. When I arrived, I was greeted with hugs and high fives. Some of the little shitheads even told me they missed me. Sam was eyeing me curiously though and I wanted to ask her what was up. Instead, I shook my head at her, smiled, and dropped in on my board. I skated free and full of determination. My tricks would need to be practiced on the ramp once I had access after Mac’s team set it up for the demo. Skating here was more for the kids than for me, but it still was a good workout.

  After I’d put in an hour or so on the board and was a sweaty gross mess relaxing on the sidelines, the kids still skating came over and those who weren’t crowded in on me. They were actually worse than Arden and Soraya with asking questions about where I was, who I’d stayed with, and why I left. The answers were not meant for their ears so I just said I needed to think about stuff and did that while I visited friends in New York. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Just a revised PG version of the truth. Sam had a small smile on her face, and I had a feeling she was way more observant and clued in than the other kids.

  I had wanted to surprise my kids with tickets to the reopening of the skate park but apparently Mac told them already. He’d had to get their parents to give them permission to be there. Something about them wanting to be up on the deck cheering me on when I skated the demo and insurance required the parents to sign a waiver. It was what it was and if Mac needed to cover all his bases, so be it. He knew what he was doing so I left him to it.

  I arrived back home around dinnertime. When I left the park, I wanted to do some grocery shopping so I could cook for Mac and me that night. Since moving in, the kitchen, my kitchen, has gotten its use. I wasn’t a great cook by any means but it had been fun trying out new recipes and experimenting with improving on old ones. Really, life has been pretty “normal” for us and it was a welcome change. Cooking, cleaning, and laundry were not anything new to me but it was new as a couple. Mac helped when he could and wasn’t working. Mostly he did the laundry and I was okay with that. Cleaning this amazing house of ours gave me a sense of accomplishment. Cooking made me feel like I was taking care of Mac. We’d settled into the domesticated roles quickly and easily. I’d started dinner and was cooking when I heard the door open and Mac yelled out for me like he did every night.

  “Baby?”

  “In the kitchen!” I yelled back.

  “Of course you’re in the kitchen,” he mumbled, as he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my middle.

  “Whatcha making?”

  “Stir fry. I was in the mood to experiment. Hope that’s cool.”

  “Baby, you could cook me pasta with jar sauce every night and I’d be cool,” he stated seriously, as he kissed that spot where my neck met my shoulder. Tingles raced through my body just like they did every time he touched me.

  I turned in his arms and wrapped mine around his neck.

  Staring into his eyes I asked him, “Mac, are you happy with how things are with us?”

  Mac’s eyes layered into mine. He seemed confused by the question but he answered.

  “Yes and no. Why?”

  “Yes and no? Why aren’t you happy?” I asked him, fear starting to take over my entire body. I knew he felt me tense but he wrapped his arms tighter around me.

  “Relax, baby. It isn’t what you think.”

  “Then what is it?”

  I waited for him to answer me. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Then unashamed, he gave me the best answer.

  “I’ve never been happier in my life, Josselyn. You are every damn thing that motivates me. I don�
�t think you really understand how in love I am with you. You’ve shown me so much about myself in such a short time and it has helped solidify what I want. And the simplest answer is, you. I want you Josselyn. Not just now, or in a way that is temporary. I want you forever. The only reason I’m not happy is because you aren’t my wife. I know it’s quick and things have just leveled out with us but that’s what would make me change that no to a yes.”

  “So what would make you completely happy is if I married you. Are you asking me?”

  “Would you say yes if I did?” he shot back as a response.

  “I guess you’ll just have to take a chance and find out, won’t you?”

  Mac burst out laughing and kissed me. The kiss lasted longer than we’d intended and led to other activities that left our dinner burned, but both of us content in a way that was hard to put into words.

  Life threw some crazy shit our way but we found each other. Ultimately, I ended up getting exactly what I had always wanted.

  Mac.

  He was making life interesting and changing my views on so many things.

  Oh. And in case you were wondering, Mac did ask me to be his wife. He just did it before giving me an orgasm. He wouldn’t let me come unless I said yes.

  Little did he know; the answer was always going to be yes. I let him think he was using sexual manipulation to get what he wanted.

  After all, he had to keep the ruthlessness about him, right?

  EPILOGUE

  Joss

  Three Months Later

  SO MANY THINGS had changed. For starters, I was Mac’s wife. After I had agreed to marry him, his mission was getting us to the justice of the peace and making it legal. He told me we could have a ‘big-ass party or whatever the fuck you want’ after the Venice event and things had settled down a bit. It wasn’t my style to have a big event for my wedding so I was content with how we had handled everything.

  The Venice event was everything Mac had hoped for and more. It made so much more sense to me now why the kids had to get parental consent to be there. Unbeknownst to me, when I had flown out to New York after the incident at the radio show, Mac had stopped by the skate park and asked the kids to skate too. They did a fantastic job and I was so damn proud of them, I cried the entire time they skated. Mac had said it was the least he could do and he knew it would mean the world to them. And to me. He wasn’t wrong. It was all they could talk about for weeks afterward. As for me, Mac was shown how much I appreciated his kindness to those kids that night.

  Ryanne kept in touch after we met at the café and I told her I was done. My contract had just been negotiated but she wasn’t going to put up a fight to let me out of it. It was a good time to cut ties and move into the next chapter of my life and focus on giving back to the sport that gave so much to me. Mac kept his word and supported my decision. In fact, he supported it so much; he’d gone and done something so incredible, I still found it hard to believe this was my life.

  Mac and I had talked about what we wanted after I left the show. He’d told me he had always planned to do what he had done because he saw how important it was to me. We’d also talked about a family. He wanted babies and I had never been sure if that was something I wanted.

  Until him.

  If he wanted babies, I’d give him them as long as my body let me.

  Speaking of babies...

  Arden finally figured out what was wrong with her. She was pregnant with Wes’s baby. It was a really messy situation because he wanted more from her and she hadn’t planned on feeling everything she had. Or getting knocked up right when he was reassigned to a new case states away. Ardie was hanging in there but she was always sad. She tried to play it off as hormones, but I knew it was because Wes wasn’t here. They were in love with each other; they just hadn’t figured it out yet.

  But that really wasn’t my story to tell.

  Arden came to work for me at my skateboard school. Yes! I was a business owner and all thanks to my wonderful husband. His incredible gift to me was an indoor skate park inside this warehouse he had been working on for months. When I told him I decided to leave my show, the next day he took me to the site and told me this was now all mine. He had planned for it to be what it was because he said kids who had the talent needed a place that was safe to showcase their abilities. The only thing left for me to do with the space was name it.

  I’d chosen This Way Up Skate School as the name. It was a play on my take of going up a ramp, combined with how I wanted anyone who was in my school to feel they could accomplish anything. Kind of like this way up to the top of any dream they had. It sounded silly whenever I had to explain it out loud but it made sense to me.

  Whenever I thought back over the past six or so months, it still seemed surreal that my life was so different. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

  Well, except…

  Mac

  I’d arrived home earlier than normal to see my wife in her usual spot at the kitchen counter, chopping away at the vegetables she was obviously using for our meal this evening. I’d immediately gone to her and turned her into me. She looked shocked and I understood why. Usually I call out for her to alert her I was home. In that moment, I wanted to surprise her. I never wanted us to fall into a pattern that was too predictable.

  I should have known better, that would never happen in a life with Joss.

  “Hey. Jesus. You scared the shit out of me, honey,” she said, holding her hand over her heart.

  “Sorry, baby. Didn’t mean to scare you. Just wanted to surprise you.” I nibbled at her neck.

  “Well, I was definitely surprised.” She let out a giggle and I smiled against her skin.

  “Why don’t you grab a beer and have a seat? I am just about finished here.”

  “Hmmm. I’d rather practice putting a baby in you,” I said boldly because I wanted Josselyn pregnant with our baby. I wanted to watch her body change and grow along with the child we created.

  “Well, actually, let’s talk about that,” she suggested, as she grabbed my hand and pulled me to a chair at the table. She snuggled into my lap and I looked down at her.

  “Are you having second thoughts?” I asked her; scared she was going to say yes.

  “Not at all. Why would you think that?” she asked me.

  “I know it wasn’t something you really ever put much thought into or wanted.”

  “Mac, I am not having second thoughts. I want to give you everything you want, especially a family. Sometimes it takes the right person to uncover what you really want, you know?”

  “All right, baby. What’s on that beautiful mind of yours then?” My question to her granted me a smile. I’d never get tired of that smile being aimed in my direction.

  “Well, I was just curious, if we have a daughter can we name her Everly? Or if it’s a boy can we name him Archibald, Archie for short?”

  “Wait…if it’s a boy? Are you saying what I think you are saying?” I searched her eyes for the answer and in that moment she nodded shyly and started to cry. I grabbed her face and kissed her roughly. Every dream I’d ever had was coming true and I had my amazing wife to thank for all of it.

  “This is just…I can’t even describe how I am feeling right now. Happy. Scared. Lucky. All of it all wrapped up in one.” I kissed her again, softer now.

  “Baby, you have given me a purpose in life I didn’t even know I needed. I am so damn happy. Most men say this when they get everything they have ever wanted, but I am the luckiest bastard in the world. Thank you for loving me and giving me our family.”

  “You had a hand in it, you know that, right?” She laughed at herself and I felt the vibrations from it consume my body.

  “Yea, I know.” We kissed and groped at each other like teenagers for a while. Then I pulled back and asked her, “Are you happy, baby?”

  Her answer shouldn’t have surprised me but it did.

  “Yes and no.”

  “Tell me how I can make that
a resounding yes.”

  “Don’t ever let me name our child Archibald. I mean it’s a perfectly good name just not one that is used in this decade.”

  “Deal,” I laughed.

  I was going to be a daddy. Nothing in this entire universe could stop the smile that took over my face.

  To show my wife my excitement about such a life-changing event, I brought her to the bedroom.

  Sometimes taking off early from work was worth every hour lost. Especially when I got to spend it making love to my beautiful wife.

  Our life together was everything that mattered to me. And now, with a baby on the way, I was going to do all I could to make sure both of the most precious things to me never wanted for a thing.

  Love wasn’t the only thing that got me to this point in my life.

  It was also having great friends like Graham and Soraya Morgan. Without them, we may not have gotten through that incident months ago and ended up where we were.

  To them, I would be forever grateful.

  To my wife, I would never stop encouraging her to chase her dreams, no matter what or how they change over the years.

  THE END

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