The Lion and the Lamb

“It’s okay, love.” His hands stroked over her hair. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay.”

“It’s not, Leo.” She cried harder, clutched his shirt, and wished things could be different.

“Baby.” He lifted her head with a finger under her chin. “You did what you had to do to survive. Peaches would have killed you.” His face hardened, and his eyes flashed. Right then, he looked like the animal he housed inside. “If I could take this away from you, I would in a heartbeat. I don’t want you feeling anything but happiness.” He pulled her head to his chest again.

The sound of his heart beating, steady and strong, had her wishing everything could be fine.

“I’m going to make sure that every day from now on puts a smile on your face.” And she believed him, because if Leo was anything, he was good on his word. “It’ll be hard, I won’t lie, but you have to know you did what you had to, baby. You fought and survived.”

Tatum knew he spoke the truth, but it didn’t make the pain less real. They lay together until her eyes grew heavy and the only thing she was aware of was Leo Castill—his smell, his warmth, and his very presence. They had each other now, and she hoped it was enough to get them through everything else.EpilogueThirteen months later“I’m fat.” Tatum looked at herself in the mirror and grimaced. She wore a sports bra, the only thing that held up her huge breasts lately. Her big, round belly, with the skin stretched tight, looked ready to burst. Kiki chuckled behind her.

“Girl, you are positively glowing.” Kiki placed both hands on her shoulders, and the large engagement ring caught the light, nearly blinding Tatum.

In the past year, things had slowed down considerably. Kiki and Beau had worked out their problems, which had really just been Kiki being paranoid. Turns out Beau had been so secretive, because he planned on proposing to her.

When she grilled him that night she came home from the club, he had come clean. It hadn’t been the romantic proposal he had been diligently trying to surprise Kiki with, but it had been one that made her best friend happy nonetheless. For weeks, she had to hear the same story over and over again, but watching the way Kiki lit up every time she retold it was worth it in the end.

“I don’t think I can last much longer.” Tatum ran her hand over her belly. “It looks like my skin is going to tear right open.” Her skin that covered the large mound was shiny from the tautness of it. “Not to mention this.” Tatum turned to the side. Her ass had been big before, but the damn thing had inflated to ridiculous proportions.

“Girl, you look hot with your J-Lo booty.” Kiki swatted her ass, and Tatum pushed her away.

“You can say that, because you don’t have these.” She cupped her breasts, the weight substantial in her hands. “Or this.” She stuck her ass out again.

“What does Leo think?”

Tatum snorted and walked over to her bed. She picked up her shirt, pulled it over her head, and smoothed the stretched material over her stomach. “He’s a man, Kiki. He thinks the more, the better.” The stretchy pants she wore were the only thing her big stomach and ass could fit in anymore.

“You only have a few weeks left and little Charlie will be here.”

At the mention of her and Leo’s son’s name, Tatum couldn’t help but smile and place a hand on her belly.

“Listen, I gotta run, big wedding planning and all.” Kiki threw over her shoulder as she headed out. Tatum stood there in front of the mirror, just staring at her reflection.

After the fiasco with Slade and Peaches, it had taken Tatum a long time to come to grips with her life. She realized that what she had done had saved her life and Leo’s in the end, but the road had been bumpy for her to understand that. She had still killed someone, and that would always stay with her.

Leo had refused to let her continue to work at the club and instead helped her complete her degree. Now, she did the accounting for the club from home. Maybe she should have put up a bit more of a fight in regards to Leo acting all he-man and refusing to let her work at the club, but in reality, she preferred being at home, especially when little Charlie was born.

They moved in together three months later, got engaged, and she became pregnant a month after that. Their life had moved quickly, but it was going exactly how she wanted it to go. The diamond on her finger had her smiling.

Leo had wanted to get married as soon as she healed from the gunshot wound but settled until they had been together longer. Then she found out she was pregnant, and she wanted to wait until the baby was born so she didn’t have a shotgun wedding. Tatum wanted to plan her wedding, instead of just throwing something together before she showed and couldn’t fit into her wedding dress.