Forever the One (Always and Forever 3)

“Like it? Baby, I love it. You have me so fucking proud, my damn chest is growing. I need to feel like the King in all things and not only did you build me a kingdom with our growing family, but you gave me a kingdom filled with gold, you and my son.” We take this temporary bliss and revel in it, ignoring the troubles that threaten me to focus on what centers us.

“I will give you an entire village of perfect little humans. I promise, Kingston.” I tilt my head, brining my lips to his forehead, while his stay on our son, the vision of a train of love. I don’t want to think of Joel right now, I especially don’t want to think about those pictures. When I first saw them, I nearly had a heart attack, seeing them now is something I know I can never, nor never want to do again. Now that I’ve convinced Kingston that everything will be fine, how will I convince myself?

The sun is finally setting, disappearing behind the tall high-rises when Lana closes her eyes. Her sleep taking her like the night takes the sun. Climbing out of bed with as much grace as my big ass can, I slip away without her waking. I search for my phone to call Greg.

“Detective Henson, it’s Kingston.”

“I know, Kingston and please call me Greg.” I smirk.

“Sorry, I’m just not used to us talking in this setting. But I have a question to ask you.”

“Sure, go ahead.” I leave the room, cracking the door just enough so I can hear Lana if she needs me. I whisper as I head out to the living room. I don’t want Lana waking up, her blood pressure was way too high and the doctor thinks she is suffering from exhaustion and dehydration. When we went there after work, I knew I needed to take the time off as did she, leaving Trey and Shayla in charge of holding down the businesses.

“Lana informed me today that she received miscellaneous things from Joel.”

“Can you send them to me, this could really be good to put on the case.” I shake my head when he says this. I’m still frustrated that she threw everything away.

“That’s the problem. She didn’t tell me about them and tossed them.”

“Why would she do that?” he huffs into the phone, a tad aggravated.

“She was scared, Greg,” I jump to her defense with a raspy bite, my voice harsh.

“I know, I understand. I just really want to keep that piece of shit locked up if we can. Sorry, that was unprofessional.”

“I’m with you, trust me. So what now?”

“Well, she can fill out a second report with the Seattle PD, explain what she received, the contents and so on and I will present them to his attorney. But, there are no guarantees that it will do anything.” I debate drilling my hand through the wall but refrain. A broken hand is the last thing we need added to our toppling plates.

“That’s it, no matter what I say or what she has been harassed with, that’s it?” I ask, growing hot.

“Kingston, I believe what you’re saying, but he’s behind bars. He probably has someone trying to creep her out—to spook her. That way when he gets out she’ll be scared enough, he will feel avenged.” He tells me this and I snap, wanting to reach through the phone and shake some fucking sense into this man.

“You expect me to believe he’s doing this for vengeance! Greg, he almost killed her that night, threatened her with his goons and fist so she wouldn’t leave him! He hurt her for two years!” I pound my fist on the counter, the pain shooting up my arm not affecting me in the slightest.

“Kingston, calm down. Okay?” Heat is rolling off my skin like waves rising and crashing spreading to the shores of every nerve ending. Him trying to calm me the fuck down isn’t working. I will hire someone else if I have to.

“No, I won’t calm down until this man is no longer a threat to my girlfriend and our family. Will you or will you not talk to him again? Tell him you are on to him and won’t hesitate to lock him up for longer? Get his fucking lawyer involved and show them you mean business?” I ask, giving him one last chance to help.

“Besides, I will stop at nothing to protect her and he may know people, but I know myself and the things I’m willing to do to protect her are the exact things that you, Detective, walk the streets to fucking stop,” I threaten, my voice low and disembodied, I’m no longer keeping myself quiet, I’ve lost any sense of sanity where Lana is concerned. Protecting Lana has become my life’s mission and I won’t let him or anyone else doubt me and let this fucker get away with it.

“Alright, watch it son. You’re putting me in a compromising position,” he warns followed by his heavy breath. “Fine, I’ll talk to him and see if I can find anything out and I will look into other sources. But, damn it, Kingston, stop destroying the evidence. Got it?”

“Yes,” I promise, sighing in relief. It isn’t the solution to stop him, but it’s a start. “Thank you.” I take myself down a few pegs.

“I’ll call you with updates, until then please don’t do anything stupid.” Ending on that note, I can’t promise I won’t do anything stupid. I can only hope I won’t fucking have to.

Walking back down the hall I strip off my shirt as I walk into the bedroom. Lana’s still asleep, her sweet chest rising and falling, her petite body curled in a ball, wrapped around my pillow. I crave to touch her. Some people use booze or drugs, even the gym to relieve their stress, me—however, I indulge in making love to Lana.

Her skin is soft, smoothing out my hard edges. Her smile big enough for the both of us. The twinkle in her eye when she’s happy, etching a stained image of it in my brain. And being inside her wields all those things together, fusing every inch of my love for her—together.

Tearing my wandering eyes from her sleeping form I finish stripping for my shower. It’s been a long ass day and I need a second to myself to make sense of it all.

I let the steam fill the bathroom enough to fog the mirror and glass door of the shower. When the water is hot enough, I climb in. Stepping under the heavy stream of scolding water, I let it wash away my day. I swear it feels like everything Lana and I have fought so hard to become is being threatened. We fought hard to overcome her fears and fall in love that it worked, faster than what I planned.

Maybe this is punishment for forcing Lana to love me sooner than she was ready to. It was only a matter of time before the other shoe would drop. Not only did we fall in love fast and it was fucking reckless and beautiful all at once, but we’re having a baby.

We’re finally happy. Maybe Lana isn’t in love with me the way I wanted her to be, maybe I forced her into it, maybe I’m as bad as Joel was? Is this my punishment? Great, now that fucker is in my head.