“I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It isn’t your fault. There was no way you could have heard me.”
It doesn’t feel that way. I should have gone with her to the van. She had no business being out there alone.
“I went on stage to make an announcement before you and Lawrence arrived. Martin was in the crowd and saw me.”
Fuck. His connection to me brought him back into her life.
“He told me all the shit you would imagine someone like him might say. He misses me. Told me to come back. And marry him.”
“Marry him?” I’m not in a place where marrying Adelyn is on my mind; we just started dating. But fuck if I want to hear that another man is telling her to marry him.
“He said we’d start over. It would be like our old life never happened. He’d give me everything my heart desired. Including babies.”
“Marriage and babies.” What the fuck?
“Something in me snapped. I couldn’t not tell him he’d already given me one baby and then beat it out of me before it ever had a chance to live.”
“I didn’t realize you hadn’t told him about the baby.” But that makes sense. She said she didn’t know about the pregnancy until after she miscarried. I’m sure the only conversations they had following her recovery were the ones involving blackmail negotiations.
“I couldn’t stand the thought of him taking pleasure in knowing he had the ability to father a child. I kept it to myself as my own way of indirectly hurting him.”
“Why tell him tonight?”
“I wanted a new way to hurt him. And I did. Martin had desperately longed for a child. It was an obsession. He’s in his forties now so I’m sure it’s only grown since we were together. Learning he had killed the only one he’d ever been able to conceive wrecked him. And I enjoyed his pain.” Adelyn rolls on her side so she’s facing me. “Do you think that makes me a monster?”
“Fuck, no. He’s the monster.”
“As much as I enjoyed seeing him in pain, I’m afraid it may have been a mistake to tell him. He immediately started talking about how he was going to . . . God, I don’t even want to say the words.”
“I have to know, Max. It will make me crazy if I don’t know everything that happened.”
She hesitates a moment before picking up where she left off. “He said he was going to put another baby inside me.”
My head feels like it may blow off of my shoulders. “Fuck no, he’s not. He’s never, never, never touching you again.”
“He told me I was going home with him where I belonged. That’s when he picked me up and tried to take me to his car.” And where I entered the picture. I don’t even want to think about what might have happened if he’d been successful in getting her to his car.
Fuck. Hearing that he said he was going to put a baby inside her—my girl—stirs something inside me I can’t ever recall feeling.
I sit up and turn to put my feet on the floor. “I’m going to that fucker’s house. He may not go to jail but he’ll damn sure wish he had when I’m finished with him. And he’s gonna know to not come near you ever again.” There will be no confusion about that.
“Don’t, Thorn.”
“You’re afraid I’ll provoke him?”
“No. I’m afraid he’ll provoke you. And you’ll lose control again.” Adelyn’s not wrong. I lost my shit with him earlier. I saw what he was doing to her, and then there was only one thing in my line of vision. Red. I put my arm around his neck and all I wanted him to see was black. That may be what it takes for him to get the picture.
“He needs to understand.”
“Understand what?”
“You’re mine and he’ll never have you again. And I’ll do what it takes to keep you safe from him.”
“I think he got the message when you nearly choked him to death.”
It doesn’t feel like enough. “I’m not done with him.”
“Can you at least be done with him tonight? For me?”
For her? Yes, anything for her. Her calm is almost chilling, but I understand her need to stop recalling his attack.
“I can do lots of things for you.” I hope it is enough.
She rolls so she’s facing away from me and slides close. Her hand pulls my arm so it’s wrapped around her waist. “Is it okay if we lie this way? At least until I fall asleep?”
“I will lie this way all night with you.”
She lifts my closed hand to her lips and kisses my knuckles. “Thank you, Oliver.” Her words come out so quietly. How can she thank me when that fucker managed to get his hands on her in the first place?
I’m still amazed she hasn’t shed a tear. Is that normal?
“Sorry I wasn’t there sooner, Adelyn.”
“You were there when I needed you.”
She twists so she can kiss me. “Good night.”
“Good night, beautiful girl.”
* * *
Adelyn is asleep on my arm and the damn thing is numb. I hate like hell to wake her but I’ve gotta have some circulation. “Max, lift your head.”
She barely stirs. “Hmm?”
“Lift your head for me, babe.”
“Sorry.” She rolls to her back and tosses her leg over mine. Very touchy-feely for someone who’s slept alone the last four years.
I rotate my arm at the shoulder and flex my hand to help improve circulation but I think time, and blood, is the only thing that’s going to fix this.
She reaches out in the dark and places her hand on my bicep, massaging it. “Is it gettin’ better?”
“A little. It just needs another minute or two and it’ll be back to normal.”
She lifts her head and strains to see the clock over my body. “What time
is it?”
“Almost five.” Feels like I just shut my eyes.
“Mmm . . . two or three more hours to sleep.”
“We’re not churchin’ it after we told your parents we would?”
She cackles. “No. And if Michael and Rachel call for a report, I’m lying.”
“You have my full support.”
Adelyn stretches. If I didn’t know by the movement of the bed, I’d recognize her I-sound-like-a-porn-star-but-I-am-really-stretching moan. Catches my dick’s attention. “I wish you hadn’t woken me. I was dreaming of you. Of us.”
She has my full attention now. “You were?”
“Yeah. It was a good dream. An awesome one so I’m sad it’s over.”
“That is a shame.”
“I think you should make it up to me.”
I believe I know what she’s saying but I need to hear her confirm it. “How would you propose I do that?”
“You robbed me of the orgasm I was about to have. I think you owe me one in its place.”
“Tell me how I was giving you an orgasm in your dream.”
“I’m not sure you want to know. You might not be up for it.”
I need to experience the things Adelyn likes if I’m to know whether I’m capable of satisfying her. “Don’t say the words. Show me instead.”
“I’m afraid you can’t handle it.” I don’t like hearing her say that. Makes me sound weak. I already know that isn’t what she likes or wants.
And I very much want to be what she likes and wants.
She thinks I can’t handle it? Challenge accepted.
“Take off your clothes and show me how I made you come.” My voice is stern to let her know I’m the one in control. “Now, Max.”
The mattress dips with her movement and there’s no further argument. She’s getting naked.
“You need to be naked too.”
I start shedding my clothes. “On it.”
She gets on her knees between my parted legs after she’s finished stripping. “Come down in the bed a little.”
“You give a lot of orders for someone who likes to be controlled during sex.”
She laughs as she leans forward and grasps the headboard. “This is just the first part of my dream. You’ll get to exert power and control over me in a minute. And when you do, I’ll come like a firecracker.” She moves her knees to the mattress on each side of my head.