Holding His Forever

“You fucking whore!” he yells in my face before pushing me back, releasing his grip around my neck and sending me falling to the floor. “You were supposed to be mine. Mine!” His face turns red, and a look of pure evil crosses it.

“You had to do this the hard way, didn’t you?” He starts walking towards me, and I scramble backwards.

“You motherfucker.” Derek’s deep voice growls through the room, and it even sends a chill down my spine.

Sam turns, only to come into contact with Derek’s fist. A loud crunch sounds, before Sam hits the ground, knocked out from the single punch.

Derek goes for him again, but I whisper his name, making him look towards me.

“Please,” I tell him. I don’t want him to do something he can’t take back, because the way he is looking right now, he won’t stop until Sam isn’t breathing.

I reach my hand out to him, and he comes towards me and picks me up. I wrap myself around him. I can feel some of the tension leave his body, the sound of sirens in the distance.

“Are you sure you’re okay, angel?” Derek asks for the millionth time since the cops finally left, taking Sam with them. His face has a pained look on it. I can sense some of the adrenaline still running though his body. He’s wound up tight.

“I’m fine.” I try to wiggle a little, but Derek’s arms only hold me tighter. I’ve been in his lap since the cops got here. Well, after he made me put pants on. Then he put me in his lap and wouldn’t let me go. Even when I had to tell the story over and over again to the police. Luckily they didn’t make us go down to the station, but I think that was Derek’s doing.

“Sunshine, you’re eventually going to have to let her go,” Derek’s dad, Marshall, says, making my cheeks warm. He showed up shortly after the cops did. He’s been sitting in a chair beside us, watching us with a smile on his face.

“The fuck I do,” is all Derek says, proving his point and not letting me go. His dad laughs.

“How’d you know to come back?” I finally ask. Derek had gotten here before Sam could really do anything, and he didn’t look like he’d been to the bakery because he didn’t have anything with him.

“I got a call from a friend on the police force on my way to the bakery. He’s been working the investigation on the fire that burned your old building. Told him to keep me updated.” He lets out a long breath. “They went to question Sam, seeing as he owns the apartments.”

“What?” That was news to me.

“Yeah, angel, he owned the apartments above the laundromat, as well as the diner.”

How did I not know that? Then again, I only ever dealt with the apartment manager. I did find out about the diner needing a waitress because of the apartments. There was a sign hanging in the hallway one day. It was close, and I thought it would be perfect. I’d be able to walk to work. Why hadn’t Sam ever told me that?

“When they got to his place, the door was ajar, so they went in. He wasn’t there, but there was…” He stalls, looking like he doesn’t want to finish his sentence. “Some evidence. A sort of shrine with pictures and all kinds of shit of you.” He growls the last part, and I just stare at him.

“They don’t think you’re the first woman he’s done this to. Let’s just say, he’ll never be a free man again.”

I reach up and cup Derek’s face. “Always saving me,” I tease, trying to relieve some of the tension. I should be freaking out about what just happened, but just like the moment I laid eyes on him, I know I’ll forever be safe. He won’t let anything happen to me.

“God, angel.” He leans forward, pressing his forehead to mine, one hand going to the back of my neck, holding me in place. “If I’d lost you…” His voice cracks on the last word, and my heart squeezes.

“I’d never leave you. Ever,” I reassure him.

“You gonna marry me?” he whispers, but I know from the intake of breath from my left that his dad heard.

“Right now if you want.”

He leans back, looking into my eyes. “Dad, you should leave,” he says, never looking away from me.

“Fine, but you better not get hitched without me being there,” he says in a half growl, and I realize it sounds just like Derek’s.

“We won’t,” I say, never taking my eyes from Derek either. I hear the door click, and we’re finally alone.

14

Fia

I think for a second Derek is going to pick me up and take me to bed, but all he does is lower me to the floor right where we are.