The drive from Texas back to Webb Hollow takes a few days. When I drive up to my house, the one I shared with Justin and find it empty I’m surprised. He is probably at the clubhouse, and I can’t wait to surprise him. I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him, we are going to have the baby he’s always wanted. However, on the drive over I decide to stop in at my mother’s place and make sure he didn’t starve Cleo to death. Only when I pull up the last thing I expect to find when I look through the window is Cocky’s whore sister living in my mother’s fucking house. She’s sitting on the couch eating popcorn with her son like she owns the place. Anger burns through my veins. How dare he move her into my mother’s house. Who the fuck does he think he is? I bang on the door and she comes to see who it is. When she opens the door and sees me standing on the porch her eyes go wide.
“What the hell are you doing in my mother’s house?” I sneer.
“Stephanie?” She says my name but seems unable to offer me an explanation.
“Where’s Justin?” I rub my stomach and see her staring at my baby bump.
“You haven’t heard?” Her gaze moves to my face, softening.
“Heard what?”
“Stephanie...I am sure I am the last person you want to hear this from, but Justin is in the hospital.”
“What do you mean he’s in the hospital? Is he sick or something?”
“He was shot and there was some problems with one of his lungs…”
I cut her off. “What hospital?”
“Vanderbilt. In Nashville. Do you want to come in? Can I get you anything?” She moves like she might touch me, and I yank back.
“No. I’m going to the hospital you idiot. When I return I expect you and your little boy to be out of this house. I don't care what Justin told you or what he might have promised you, but I’m back now and we’re going to be a family just like we were always meant to be.”
I turn on my heels and run for the car. I have wasted enough time talking to that skank. When I get to the hospital it is past visiting hours, but I lie and tell them that I am his wife.
Justin has pneumonia. A complication from being shot and getting fluid in his lung. He’s knocked out on pain medication, but they expect him to recover fully. I pull a chair up next to his bed, taking his hand in mine as I sit down. I stroke my fingers over his knuckles growing tired myself from so much driving. I can’t wait until he wakes up and sees me here. Sees that we are having a baby and that life is giving us a second chance at our happily ever after.
If a whore like MaryAnn can have it all with an asshole like Cupid, why can’t Justin and I have it too? My eyelids grow heavy and a nurse come in to check his vitals.
“You can get in the bed with him, just be gentle and don’t tell anyone I gave you the idea, but it might be good for him to feel you with him.” She grabs an extra pillow and I maneuver myself against his side, placing his hand on my stomach, feeling like I am finally home now that I am with the man that I love. The man that I have always loved.
Chapter 19
—Melissa
“Thanks for everything, Shawn.” I smile at him as he loads the last of my stuff from the truck and moves to the stairs to carry the boxes to my new apartment.
Stephanie, Justin's ex-wife, blew into town a few days ago and threw me and Jimmy out of the house we had been staying in. Justin is still in the hospital battling pneumonia, but he is expected to be released any day now. Things were really scary there for a few days when I first learned he had been shot. He seemed to be doing okay but then he got around Jimmy and me and Jimmy had been battling a cold and I guess it was too much for his immune system. He scared the shit out of me. He stopped breathing when we were in bed together. The jackass wasn’t even supposed to be having sex with me yet, but I was an idiot and believed him when he said the doctor had cleared him.
Thanks to some extra shifts at strip club, I was able to find an apartment for rent within my budget. Shawn has been great to me these past few days, helping me get moved. Keeping me up to date on Justin, because Stephanie is being a bitch and acting as though they are still married and refuses to let me see him.
“How are you holding up?” He questions as he puts the boxes on the counter.
“I’m fine. Really I am.” I squeeze his arm and he pulls me in for a hug. His lips brush my forehead and I look up at him, feeling safe. “You know I love you, don’t you?”
Apparently, this is the wrong thing to say because his eyes light up and he brings his mouth down on mine with a bruising kiss. It catches me off guard and I am ashamed to admit for a few seconds I return the kiss, getting swept away in the moment. Swept away by the feelings of what if. Things between Justin and me are up in the air and I have no idea where I stand with him now that Stephanie is back claiming she is having his baby. I know how desperately he wanted a baby with her. He told me that it was a big reason they separated to start with. I can’t imagine how he must be feeling, having her back in his life, knowing she is giving him the one thing he has always wanted.
I pull back, breaking the kiss. My fingers move to my lips as confusion plagues me.
“Don't say anything and just hear me out, Lissa.”
I start to shake my head no, but the pleading look in his eyes has me giving into him. I always did have a hard time telling him no. “Okay,” I concede. “I’m listening.”
Taking me by the hands he leads me to the couch. I take a seat next to him as he gazes deeply and so damn intensely into my eyes. “I’ve been keeping my distance. Giving you time to settle into a new life here. Giving you time to explore your feelings for another man. One of my best friends even though it has killed me to do so, but I’ve always loved you. Always have wanted you. I would do anything to see you happy but watching you lately. I know you aren’t happy and, baby, you deserve to be happy. I want to be in your life. I want to be the man you turn to. I want to be your man. Give me a chance, Lissa. A real fucking chance to prove myself to you. I know I fucked up before. I know I told you to move on with your life, but I’m here now, and I am more determined than ever to win you back.”
My breath catches in my throat. I wasn’t expecting him to say these things...things that I waited years to hear. “I…” Tears burn in my eyes and a painful sob rips from my chest.
“Shh…” he pulls me to him, hugging my head into his neck. His familiar scent washing over me. His fingers rub circles on my back. “Don’t say anything right now. Don’t give me an answer today. Or hell even tomorrow. All I ask is that you will think about it. I’m not saying this to hurt you, but because it is the honest truth and you need to hear it from someone who cares about you. Uno and Stephanie have a long history. You weren’t here before to see the hold she had on him. There is no way he will walk away from her now. Not with her having his son. Something he has wanted for years.”