This is a short bonus story that takes place after Nothing Above and has major spoilers for the story. I strongly recommend reading Nothing Above beforehand. You can read it on Amazon, Free in KindleUnlimited *HERE* or buy signed paperback copies either from my Etsy shop or Tiktok shop. And, of course, there’s a coordinating Spotify playlist.
Reece
I dip into the first spot I find along the main street and park my sleek R8. Thanks to getting stuck behind a fleet of snow plows on the highway, I’m already running late.
Getting out, I take in the short two-lane road, both sides lined with small shops, all of them lit up for the holidays. Thick fog creeps down the tree-packed peak looming in the distance. I pull in the longest inhale I’ve taken in a while, overwhelming my nose with pure mountain air combined with a hint of spice from a cart nearby roasting cinnamon-sugar almonds, melted sugar billowing out from under the canopy of a caramel corn stand, and some kind of charred meat from the barbeque joint a few businesses down.
Fuck. I love it out here. I haven’t been back in the mountains since Lex and I spent that weekend here a three years ago.
Snowflakes swirl all around me, taking me back to the night I kissed her over Aleksander’s old grave. His new one… Well, that motherfucker—what was left of him—got scattered into the Hudson River, washed out to the Atlantic, finally leaving the Obuchowski women in peace.
Inspired by the serene blanket of silence only broken up by shoppers’ chatter, I decide to leave my Glock in the glove compartment. I haven’t had to use my piece since I’ve been out, but I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I shouldn’t need it tonight though. Not in the fucking Catskills.
Instead, I grab the bunch of Lavender I brought from Gwen’s.
Up on the sidewalk, I impatiently let an elderly couple pass by me before hustling my ass into the restaurant Lex should already be in, warmth quickly replacing the harsh bite of the cold.
“Carol of the Bells” by Ashnikko plays overhead as I shuck my coat off my shoulders, scanning the dining area, and…not finding Lex anywhere. I beat her here?
Phone in hand, I’m just about to look down and check her location when a flash of white and black catches my eye.
One of three men in wrinkled uniforms gathered around a single table shifts slightly, revealing that pop of Moonflower-white hair I’d know anywhere. Motherfuckers. They’re hovering around my woman like hummingbirds in a garden of Zinnias.
Not even bothering to stomp the snow off my boots first, I stroll right up to the table, effortlessly bulldozing my way through two of the waitstaff, toss my coat at the other, then lean down to take Lex’s face in my hands, the Lavender pressing into her cheek. Her lips part on a gasp at the feel of my chilled fingertips, and I use the opportunity to slide my tongue between them, kissing her nice and deep, so there’s no confusion who the fuck she belongs to.
“Rookie,” Lex greets after I decide my point’s been made and pull back.
“Which hands touched you?” I ask, only getting a smile in response. No matter how freely she gives them now, I’m still not used to her smiles.
“Lex?” I prompt when she doesn’t answer, my eyes drilling into her greyish-blue ones.
She gives them one of her signature rolls. “You think I’d let anyone else touch me?”
I glance at her hair, tied in a bun at the back of her head, and relax a fraction knowing she has a blade hidden in there somewhere. Would she use it on a touchy waiter?
Probably not. Because she has patience.
But I don’t.
“Move!” I bark, and all three assholes scatter, suddenly concerned with tasks they didn’t give two shits about thirty seconds ago when they thought they had a chance with Lex.
“Subtle as always,” Lex tsks, and I smirk as I present her with the small bundle of Lavender before taking the other seat.
I don’t give a fuck. As long as they don’t spit in my food.
They better not spit in my food.
“What does this one mean?” she asks, smelling the dainty bluish-purple flowers.
“Love, devotion…”
“And?”
And fertility, but I’m not telling her that. Despite not using a condom any of the four thousand times we’ve fucked since I’ve been out, Lex still isn’t pregnant. I don’t know if it’s her or me or just…anything, I guess, but I don’t want to put any stress on her about it. Whenever it’s supposed to happen, her belly will be stretched full with another one of my kids.
So instead, I say, “Calm. It promotes peace.”
“A bit ironic considering your grand entrance.”
“That was peaceful.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I didn’t break a single bone.”
She shakes her head at me, the chandelier above our table creating a bit of a halo effect on her white hair despite her not being angelic in the slightest.
Thank fucking God.
“We should watch Peaky Blinders sometime. They hid blades, too.”
Over the past seven months I’ve slowly been introducing Lex to different movies and shows. While she does seem to enjoy most of them, I can tell she prefers to read smut. Or have me read it to her. Which is my preference.
“Hid them where?”
“In their newsboy caps.”
“Let me guess…all men?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“Mm,” she says unimpressed, then picks up the menu to study it.
She’s not gonna watch it. Lex believes, and continues to prove, that women are the real masterminds of the world.
Without her paying attention, I give Lex a thorough once-over. She’s wearing a black shimmery long sleeve top with a deep V. Her boobs aren’t big enough to show any cleavage but her breastbone’s on full display, making me suddenly ravenous.
“Stop eye-fucking me.”
I wait until she lowers the menu, meeting my gaze, to tell her, “Too late.”
A smirk teases her lips, but just as quickly it vanishes. Now that I can flirt with her anywhere I want, any way I want, in front of anyone I want, I do.
Shit, I did even when I couldn’t.
“Thanks again, Lex,” I hear a male voice say from somewhere behind me and rotate in my seat automatically. Who the fuck—
Luckily, I find a couple making their way past, heading for the front entrance. The guy has golden hair and matching eyes and looks vaguely familiar. But I know I’ve never seen the woman pulling him along. I would’ve remembered. She’s Lex’s polar opposite. Dark hair, dark eyes, oversized—men’s?—clothes. At least the pants are men’s. They’re green utility pants that not only sag but also have a crotch down to her knees. The bottoms stop at her calves that black combat boots are half-laced up to. She’s got on a black long sleeve shirt with thumb holes that leans feminine, but it’s big on her too, like she’s purposely hiding her…everything. Except her boxer briefs sticking out the top of her pants. Those are on full display.
“My pleasure, Mr. Andrews-Smith. We’ll talk again soon,” Lex says.
She’s wearing a soft, genuine smile when I look back at her. Her whole life’s been performative. Now she gets to be her. And she’s so fucking beautiful.
I hate when it’s directed at others but…
I hate it.
After the door chime rings out, she turns an unamused expression on me.
Now that I love. Lex wields her femininity like a weapon. It’s a sight to fucking behold, but on God, is it lethal.
“Your jealousy—”
“Hasn’t killed me yet.” I can’t say it hasn’t come close to killing others, but me? Still standing. “Anyway, a client of yours?” I ask innocently.
“Hopefully.”
“Andrews-Smith?” That sounds familiar, too. “Have I met him?”
“Not through me but you might’ve heard of him. Roz Andrews-Smith. He’s a professional snowboarder.”
“Is or was?” I do remember hearing about him, but that had to have been years ago. Nothing recently.
Not that I followed up on rich people sports while I was incarcerated.
“Both.”
“How can he be both?”
“Apparently he was, then he retired. He went back to it for a few years. But now…” She cocks her head. “He’s looking for somewhere in this area to settle down for good. I showed him and his wife a couple listings I thought would fit what they’re looking for.”
Lex has real estate agents for that kind of shit. And this isn’t the area she specializes in. Fox Hollow is. Roz Andrews-Smith must’ve sought her out specifically.
“What are they looking for?”
“A home surrounded by lots and lots of land where they can put in a skate bowl and miniature snowboarding park complete with a rope tow.”
Skate bowl? “That was his wife with him?”
“Yes. Gia.”
“She skates?”
“Sounded like they both do, but her more than him.”
“Don’t let Breck meet her.” Gia’s exactly Breckyn’s type.
“Why? Does home-wrecking run in the Souza genes?”
“No.” I shake my head with a frown, then grin to joke, “That comes from my mom’s side.”
As far as I know I’m the only homewrecker, but Lex’s home was wrecked long before I broke into it.
“I doubt Roz has anything to worry about. He and Gia have a…unique relationship.”
“Unique how?”
Lex’s face takes on a thoughtful expression.
“I’m not sure if I can explain it. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s just…magnetizing. They’re magnetizing.”
I wonder how we come across to people. Scarred, tatted, and still not completely comfortable in public, I probably look like a car thief. Perfectly poised, dressed, and behaved, Lex looks like the wife of the guy whose car I just lifted. Except I never gave a shit about Kordin’s car. My eyes were only ever set on his wife. And now…she’s mine.
She will be my wife. I’ve let that shit be known but I’m waiting to formally propose to her next week on Christmas Day. It’ll be our first one together, as a couple and as a family, with everyone we love around us.
“How was today’s search?” I ask after we put in our orders. Lex has been all over Upstate lately, scouting possibilities for where to expand Apex Realty to. I never go more than a couple hours without checking her location, so I caught on to where she was today before she had the chance to tell me herself. Luckily, she did tell me, right before suggesting I meet her for dinner. I was at Gwen’s, picking up some Christmas-themed bouquets for the victims staying at the DV shelters we run, so my mom offered to watch Primrose. To surprise Lex with a much-needed overnight away from…everyone, I took it one step further and booked us a cabin, too. I love our life and how close our families have become, but I still need space every now and then.
Knowing Lex didn’t prepare to leave Yetta completely on her own, I asked my mom to babysit at our house tonight. With Cyrus’s old enemies still a threat, it’s the safest place for Prim anyway.
“Promising,” she answers.
“Yeah?”
Throughout our meal, Lex tells me about the potential this area holds. Considering she’s the one responsible for overhauling pretty much all of Fox Hollow, she would know. I’m just wondering one thing though…
“You thinking about another home renovation?”
Lex’s fork freezes halfway to her mouth. “What do you mean?”
“Fox Hollow’s is almost complete. Are you looking to save another town?”
She tries to act like it wasn’t all her but it was all her. At the very least, it was mostly her. If it wasn’t for her taking out Cyrus, Fox Hollow would’ve never even had a shot at becoming what it is today.
“Is this where you want to live?” she asks me.
I think about arriving here and how good it felt, how much easier it was to breathe.
“I want to live wherever you and Prim are.”
Lex doesn’t go back to eating right away, the crease between her eyebrows deepening, so I tell her, “Fox Hollow is our home.” Technically, we don’t live in Fox Hollow but close enough. And I understand why we need to. Our families are there. Lex has built an empire there. We’re needed there.
“Fox Hollow is our home,” I repeat for her sake. And mine.
She sets her fork down before leaning forward. “You know…I invited you down here to celebrate.”
Now my eyebrows are the ones inching closer together. “Celebrate?”
“Three years ago, this is where you pulled off your biggest heist of all.”
“When I stole you.”
Her head shakes as she taps that mouthwatering spot between her tits where I can just make out the top of her sun tattoo.
I glance from her fingers back up to her eyes.
“My heart.”
After a rough swallow, I practically choke out, “It’s about damn time.”
“For me to admit it? I’ve told you I love—”
“For my sweetness to rub off on you.”
Her chest rumbles with a laugh that slips past her lips before she can stop it. “I’m not sweet, rook.”
“You always taste sweet to me.” My cock starts to swell in my pants. “Are you off your period yet?”
I tried eating her out two nights ago but she wasn’t up for it. I don’t know why she draws the line at pussy blood. I’ve consumed so much of her blood I’m surprised I haven’t sprouted fucking fangs yet.
“Ye—”
“Check!” I shout with a hand in the air, catching the attention of our waiter and beckoning him over.
“What? Reece, we’re not even done eating yet.”
“We’ll box it up and finish it at the cabin.” I’m already on my feet, glancing around. “Where’s your coat?”
Lex just relaxes in her seat, her arms crossed over her chest, one eyebrow arched.
“Surprise. I got us a cabin for tonight.” Fuck. My cock is straining now. I want her so bad.
“We need boxes,” I tell the waiter while handing him my credit card.
When I look down at Lex, her eyebrow still hasn’t smoothed back out.
“Come on, Lex, get up or I’m gonna drag you into the bathroom. I don’t give a fuck.” I start consolidating dishes. “I already arranged a sitter for Prim for the night so we’re good—”
“I know.”
That gets me to stop.
“How?” I ask even though I don’t need to.
“Because your mom told me when I was trying to arrange a sitter for Prim.”
Fucking women. They are both the reason and bane of my existence. It’s like they have their own language, code, everything, and I can’t get anything past any of them anymore.
“A sitter for what?”
Finally, her expression softens. “A movie.”
“At the same movie theater?”
She half rolls her eyes, uncrossing her arms to sit forward and take her plate back. “The only one in town.”
I sit back down. “We better get a booth again.”
“We had one last time and you didn’t take advantage.”
The only woman in history to complain about not getting fingered at the movies.
“That was your first movie. I wanted it to be memorable.”
“It was.” Lex gives me a grin before focusing on her dinner and promising, “Tonight will be, too.”
***
Lex and I manage to snag the same booth as before, except this time I keep my hand between her thighs, teasing her pussy lips throughout the trailers. I’m still aching for her from the restaurant, so as soon as the opening credits hit and I feel Lex palm my cock through my pants, I have to stop myself from groaning.
Up, down, up, down, her hand strokes me over the material, my breath getting shallower and shallower as I imagine burying myself in her hot wet pussy. Shit. I’m dying to feel her choke my cock.
“Keep that up and I’m gonna make a fucking mess,” I warn quietly.
All at once Lex’s hand and the stimulation disappears.
“I have to get something from my purse,” she tells me seriously.
Her purse beside her, she bends over my lap, and unzips my pants.
This must be the memorable part she was referring to. I’ve never gotten head at the movies.
I slide my ass forward, closer to the table, giving Lex more coverage, and put both arms out to my sides, along the shoulder-height seatback, sending quick glances out in all directions. Everyone’s seated and riveted…except for some asshole who’s been talking at full volume since he walked in. A few people shush him but he either doesn’t notice or care because nothing’s stopping him. Not even his need for oxygen. Jesus Christ, take a breath.
My rigid cock gripped in her fist, Lex lowers her head toward my tip, and just before her mouth makes contact, I whisper, “No teeth.” It’s already gonna be hard enough keeping my shit together in a theater full of people. I don’t need to have an out-of-body experience while I’m at it. She can use teeth when we get to the cabin.
Warm lips suction onto my head; Lex’s wet tongue swirling my tip like a lollipop. Automatically, my head falls back, my eyes on the ceiling before fluttering closed as I swallow a moan. Fuck, that feels good. Swallowing me fucking whole, Lex starts bobbing up and down on my cock, the rhythm slow and steady at first, then quicker and crazier, like an all-out frenzy. Unable to resist, I drop a hand to her head and lift my hips in time with her, just a couple inches, nothing much, but enough to fuck her mouth, each time hitting the back of her throat like I would her cervix. The imagery, the heat, the risk of anyone walking by at any moment and seeing Lex sucking me off, it all collides until I explode, coming quick but hard into her mouth. Quickly lowering my hand, I make sure to help push my cum down Lex’s throat because being snowballed is one part of that weekend we won’t be recreating, at least not in a crowd.
The moment she’s upright, Lex twists in her seat, and glares at the loud talker. Following her gaze, I see the guy in question lit up by the screen. He’s got a frizzy ponytail, a hook of a nose, and somehow he got himself a date with a woman that looks several years younger than him. Her lips are mashed together in a tight line as she presses herself into her seat, shrinking lower and lower as she glances around nervously. She’s not being talked with, she’s being talked to, and from the sound of it, maybe even talked at.
I tuck myself back into my pants, listening. I don’t even have to strain, that’s how loud he is. He’s talking about…airline policies? During a holiday romantic dramedy. What the fuck?
Lex’s shoulders jostle from her loud scoff. When that doesn’t do the trick, she stands, her flowy wide pants swishing around her legs as she places a knee on the bench.
The loud talker looks directly at Lex but keeps yammering without missing a single fucking beat.
“For all his talking, he better know how to work that tongue,” Lex says to the woman currently being verbally waterboarded.
A smirk curves the corners of my lips.
“Excuse me?” the guy says incredulously, completely oblivious to the fact that he’s the problem here.
“He didn’t,” his date stumbles to explain. “I mean, we’re not… Well, we haven’t…yet.”
“We’re trying to watch a movie!” someone else yells. “Can everyone just be quiet already?”
Now I’m frowning.
“Shut the fuck up!” I call out, only because their “everyone” included Lex. Where was that courage to speak up when it was just the man being loud?
Ignoring the outbursts, Lex leans over the back of the booth to tell the date, “If he’s as inconsiderate in the bedroom as he is in public… You’re better off leaving now. I doubt he’d even notice.”
“Oh my God. I’m getting security,” someone near the back says before leaving the theater.
That has me chuckling to myself. This place definitely can’t afford security.
“You know what?” the loud talker says before shoving to his feet.
Just as quickly I’m on mine, jumping over the back of the booth to land in front of him.
His head rears back and he stumbles.
“Shouldn’t have left your fucking seat,” I tell him quietly, my fists at my sides ready. Sometimes I run errands for the DV shelters, like I did today, but most of the time I just handle the returns. I return the same treatment that landed the victims in our facilities in the first place, on to the men that doled it out. Kind of like the eye for an eye concept, except bloodier because I don’t stop at a fucking eye, and I won’t on this motherfucker either if he takes another step in Lex’s direction.
“But I’m trying to talk—”
“She would’ve heard you from your seat. Everyone in here can fucking hear you from your seat. We’ve been fucking hearing you from your seat.”
Bright light fills the theater suddenly, making everybody hiss.
“Well, excuse me for—”
“Is there a problem here?” the manager asks on his anger-filled waddle over to us.
I point at Loud Talker, my finger only a few inches from his face. “There won’t be as long as he sits down and keeps his fucking mouth shut.”
“Your wife is the one who—”
“My. Wife…” I bite out, cutting him off. “…saves women in danger every day, and she was trying to save another.” I look past him to his date. “If you want to leave now, I’ll make sure he can’t go after you.”
“Ummm.” Only after a moment’s hesitation, she starts gathering her belongings.
“She’s not in danger!” Loud Talker shrieks and reaches for his date now getting up.
Before his hand can even graze her parka, I hit him with a right hook, sending him back into his seat.
“That’s it.” The manager steps in front of him protectively, saying to me, “You either leave now or I‘m calling the police.”
I turn and face Lex. What’s it gonna be?
The date skirts by me with a squeaky, “Thanks.”
Lex waits until she leaves the theater, then putting her hands up in surrender, says, “We’ll leave,” before grabbing her purse. Heading for the emergency exit next to the screen, she activates the alarm when she opens the door to the outside.
Taking a more leisurely pace, I stroll out after her, the night air returning to silence once the door seals shut behind me.
Checking both ends of the back alley, Lex gestures for us to go right. “This way.”
“You’re gonna get me sent back to jail,” I tease her when I drape an arm over her shoulders and tug her close. She knows I’ll do anything to protect her, including go Upstate again.
Snuggling into my side, she says, “You can’t go anywhere.”
“I’m not,” I reassure her.
“No. I mean you literally can’t. Remember what I told you?”
“Just that if I get you—”
My feet grow a thousand times heavier, forcing me to stop in my tracks.
Lex peers up at me with a grin, and whispers, “I’m pregnant.”
“You just had a period.”
Her head shakes. “I lied.”
“Lex.”
“I wanted to surprise you. I wanted to make it memorable.”
“In a back fucking alley?”
Her chameleon eyes take in our surroundings. “We’re outdoors. There’s no one around. It’s snowing. We’re under the moon.”
“Lunatic,” I murmur, making her lips twitch.
The full weight of her gaze settles on me before she tells me in the exact same way I said it earlier, “Surprise. We’re having a baby.”
It’s perfect. She’s fucking perfect.
I take her face in my hands and drag her to me, steam from our breaths mingling between us. “You’re pregnant?”
All she does is nod.
“We’re having a baby?”
Again, she nods, and I snatch her lips up, devouring her mouth while snow quietly falls around us and on us.
We’re having a baby. Another one. And this time I get to be there every day, every single step of the—
Something cold presses into my temple and I know without looking it’s the barrel of a gun.
My eyes pop open to see Lex’s already on mine and narrowed. Did she pick up on them coming? She could’ve fucking warned me.
Just as I wrap my right hand into a fist, a voice taunts, “Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” like he has any fucking say in what happens here. A gun doesn’t mean shit if you’re not prepared to use it.
He swings the gun toward Lex and that’s when I see red.
Sending my elbow out, I strike the middle of his masked face, his gun lifting skyward from the impact.
Before I can take the gun, three more people catch me from behind, one of them kicking the backs of my knees, making me fall to the freezing asphalt.
I send my arms out wildly, hitting anything I can. Everyone’s in masks but they do nothing to hide the pained eyes each time I land a blow.
Lex’s hand immediately flies to her hair.
“Lex! Don’t!” I shout with so much urgency she actually listens.
Even though I know what she’s capable of, with or without a blade, we’re outnumbered right now. The baby might get hurt. Lex might get hurt. Bad.
Forcing my body to stop fighting, I rotate my wrists, palms up. “You can take anything you want.” I start listing off what I have on me.
“A couple thousand bucks? You can do better than that.”
I tell them about my car, describing where it’s parked and what pocket my keys are in. I don’t care what they take. As long as they leave Lex and our baby alone.
There’s a pause where fear starts to seep into my bloodstream. What are they waiting on?
All at once my wrists get captured and zip-tied together behind my back.
Emerging from the shadows, someone—someone other than the guy I elbowed—grabs Lex’s forearms, wrenching them out to one side, forcing her to face him.
“Get the fuck off her!”
They weren’t waiting for something. They were waiting for someone.
“What about you, huh?” he says to Lex mockingly, ignoring me altogether. “What do you, Lexi Andeno, have to offer us?”
This isn’t a random back alley mugging; this is a calculated ambush. They know who Lex is. Who she was.
Cyrus’s enemies.
His mask keeps me from placing him, but I swear that’s something familiar about him, too. He could’ve been under our fucking noses all this time.
“Release me and I’ll show you exactly what I have for you,” she tells him with a sugary sweet tone.
“Lex…” I grit between clenched teeth. What the fuck is she thinking? She can’t fight right now. She fucking can’t.
“What you have on you…”
He takes a small step back to give her body an appraising inspection I threaten to kill him for.
He ignores that, too.
“…I’m afraid won’t be enough.”
“But you haven’t even seen my best asset.”
“Lex!” I bark at her. Stop fucking around, damn it. “Just give them whatever they want.”
Her green eyes meet mine, but to him, she asks, “What do you want?”
“Your daddy—”
Lex struggles in his hold.
“—took everything from me.”
“Take it up with him.”
“I can’t, now can I?”
“I saw a psychic down the road. Maybe she can help you communicate with the dead.”
“I’d rather take my chances with you.”
“I don’t talk to people once their dead.” Returning her focus to him, she leans in his direction to add, “Usually only moments before…if I’m feeling generous.”
She never talks like this, like she’s proud to have killed people. Maybe she’s as scared as I am and doing whatever she can not to show it.
“Are you feeling generous right now?”
“Had you come to my office and asked nicely, maybe. But like this?” She shrugs. “No, not particularly.”
“How about now?” Finally acknowledging my presence, he jerks his chin to one of the assholes behind me, then my vision goes black as a bag is lowered over my head and tightened at the neck.
“Fuck!” I start thrashing side to side, my shoulders meeting stomachs with enough force to cause “oofs,” just not enough to throw anyone off balance.
A gun cocks, and unsure who it’s pointed at, I still my sweat-slicked body to pant out, “Lex?”
“How much do you want?” I hear her ask, her voice high-pitched.
“Hmm. See, I’m not so sure now. I’m suddenly not feeling very generous either.”
“How. Much?”
“Five hundred thousand.”
“I don’t have that much on me. I can get it but I need some—”
“Call us when you do. In the meantime, we’ll keep him as collateral.”
I’m hauled up to my feet and dragged away.
No, no, no, no. Fuck. Fuck!
“Reece!”
“Lex, I’ll make it back to you.”
“Reece!” Lex’s scream wraps itself around my heart squeezing so tight it robs my breath.
“I’ll fucking make it back to you!” I manage to roar without it.
My ass gets shoved into some kind of vehicle, my back hitting unforgiving metal just before a door slides closed. Van. Probably white, non-descript.
I’ve been kidnapped and put into a fucking pedo van.
How the fuck did tonight go so goddamn sideways? I just found out I’m going to be a father again and now…
Now I don’t know if I’ll ever get to meet my baby. Lex will get the cash. She has it. She just isn’t anywhere near it out here. And I don’t know how impatient these fuckers are to get their money.
I kick out violently, one foot hitting metal, the other a person.
“Shit! Get his feet!”
Two sets of hands capture my ankles, the bodies attached to them sitting on each of my legs.
Below us, tires peel out, then we’re in motion, speeding away from Lex, my sun, my everything.
I’ll find her. No matter how dark this gets, how long it takes, I’ll fucking find her.
“I’m gonna murder every single one of you,” I seethe before remembering what Lex told me about being kidnapped. Pay attention to every detail.
Slowing my heart enough to clear its drumming from my ears, I listen to everything happening inside the van.
Bodies rustle around me as my feet get tied together, then attached to something else, keeping me from going after the driver.
It sounds like a lot of people in here but there’s still only two sets of hands touching me. So, two in the back and at least one up front. Three or four against me…that’s best case scenario.
Best case scenario? There is no best case scenario here. I’m fucking tied up and in a van with three or four other people with guns, going…where? Where the fuck are they taking me?
I know where I’d take me. Out to the middle of the woods where no one could hear me.
After several minutes of envisioning the route in my mind based off stops and turns, the van’s tires crunch over what sounds like gravel before coming to a full stop. The side door is slid open, then closed again, the interior a hell of a lot quieter than it was a second ago.
Did somebody get out?
The same thing happens with the driver’s door, and I sit and wait, straining to hear if that person left, too. The passenger door remains closed.
Someone shifts into Drive, then we’re moving again. Suddenly, the whole van careens to the right as the driver does donuts. Fucking donuts. Why the fuck are they—
They’re throwing me off. They don’t want me to know where I’m going. They don’t want me to be able to escape and make it back to Lex.
Lex. Fuck. What if…
What if I don’t get to see her again because I can’t? Because I’m dead? I’d rather be dead than anything happen to her.
The van straightens back out, but with zero idea which way we’re going now, I zone out, picturing Lex instead. The pure joy on her face when she told me she was pregnant, the defiance even when we were being held captive, her eyes and the way they changed—
They changed color. Lex’s eyes were green during the altercation. Her eyes are green when she’s lying, but every word out of her mouth was the truth. What was she lying about then?
Using my core, I jerk myself up to sitting, and rest my elbows on my knees as I breathe into my fist.
Nobody says a word to me. Nobody touches me. Nothing. For the rest of the ride, I just sit in silence, replaying the entire day.
Sometime later, twenty, thirty minutes, I’m not sure, the van stops again.
“Where are we…Lex?”
Something lands next to my foot, causing a harsh metallic clang. The driver’s door opens and closes in the next second.
I slowly reach down, feeling around for what’s at my feet. Snips.
After cutting the ties at my hands, I pull the drawstring bag off my head to find myself alone in the van. Out the windshield is nothing but endless night. I free my feet with the snips, then rip open the sliding door.
A cabin, all lit up inside and out, greets me…along with Lex, in an entirely different clothes than the ones from earlier. In an outfit much more suited for a winter night in the mountains, she’s standing on the porch with her arms crossed over her chest like she’s been waiting on me.
“What gave me away?”
“Your eyes.”
“I didn’t—”
“They were green.”
“Mm.” She actually looks upset with herself.
Fucking lunatic.
Rubbing at one wrist, I approach the front steps and gesture up at the house. “What is this?”
“Yours.”
“I didn’t—”
“I bought it. For you.”
I drop my arms to my sides.
“What? Like a bribe or something?” What the fuck is going on?
“No, as a present. A Christmas present.”
She bought me a fucking house for Christmas?
Headlights slash across Lex’s face, but she doesn’t so much as flinch.
Turning around, I watch as her G-Wagon powers down the tree-lined driveway followed by my Audi, crawling along at a much slower pace.
I reach into my front pocket, and shake my damn head when I find fucking nothing. She pick-pocketed me somewhere along the line. I would say it happened when I was being fucking abducted but I know better. It was my woman. My equal.
Both black cars parked side by side, Cat and Pearl get out.
“So everybody was fucking in on this?”
With only a matching pair of giggles as my answer, they practically ignore me as they climb into the van, calling out to Lex, “Enjoy your night off,” before peeling out and leaving the way they came in.
I face Lex again, confused beyond fuck.
“And the kidnapping? That was…”
“Payback.” Lex spins on her heel.
Is she fucking kidding me?
I take the stairs two a time. “Payback? From what? Three years ago?”
Strutting through the entryway, she replies simply, “Yes.”
“Lex, you can’t— Holy shit.”
The exterior of the cabin itself isn’t that luxurious, but the interior is…insane. The back of the house—the entire wall, even large parts of the ceiling—is made up of windows. Without a single blind or curtain in sight, the backyard is on full display. Nothing but moonlight-dusted treetops as far as the eye can see.
A massive stacked stone fireplace with a barnwood mantle is the focal point of one side of the living room, while the other is floor-to-ceiling bookshelves jam-packed with books.
The smell of pine and cedar just as strong as the roaring fire have me glancing up.
I point at the garlands running from corner to corner. “Those are real?”
“Of course. Your mom made them.”
Everyone knew but me.
As I’m spinning in a slow circle in the middle of the warm space, taking it all in, Lex whispers, “So…you like it?”
“Like it? I fucking love it. But…”
I give her my full attention so she can see how pissed-off I am.
“I thought you were in danger. I thought… Fuck, Lex. I thought the baby was in danger.”
Her head shakes. “We weren’t.”
“So you are pregnant? That wasn’t a lie?”
“I told you, I still do bad things, including lie. I just do them for good reason now.”
I hold my arms out. “This is a good reason?”
“Yes!” she yells with a laugh that’s half-frustrated, half-amused before jabbing a finger my way. “It’s your fault.”
“My fault?”
“You’re the one that taught me how to be happy. Now that’s all I want to do—make you happy.” She closes the distance between us until she’s just under me and I have to look down my nose at her. “You’re my favorite person, Reece. I love you more than the moon loves the night sky.”
“More than the moon itself?”
“I love you more than anything…and anyone.”
She’s just as obsessed with me as I am her.
“I’d do anything for you, rook, even—”
“Kidnap me?”
Her lips spread as she nods. “Three years ago, you stole me and my heart. I thought it was only fair I do the same.”
Finally, I wrap my arms around her. I will never stay mad at her. I love her too much, which she knows. Or at least, I thought she did.
“You’ve had my heart, Snow. You didn’t have to do all this.”
My eyes skim the house again.
“How did you do all this?” This place has Lex’s touch all over it, right down to the shelves of smut, but I track her ass enough that I would’ve noticed any repeated visits to the same place.
“It was a group effort,” is all she says.
Now I’m the one giving my eyes a spin. On God, the women in my life are thicker than motherfucking thieves. I’d know because I was one and I was never that thick with anybody, especially not another thief.
“Does this mean you’re kicking me out?” She said it was my house.
Thankfully, Lex shakes her head. “I was thinking we could stay here during holidays, maybe some weekends, but mostly…it’s for you. The house is yours. I bought it so you could get away whenever you want to. Whenever you need a break from—”
“I’m not coming out here without you.” Just the thought of it makes me unhappy. Very, very unhappy.
“I don’t know. Things are pretty busy at the office right now.”
I scoff. Things are always busy at Apex Realty. Even if they weren’t, Lex has her hands in so many pots from Home Base to the shelters. I talk a lot of shit but I’m grateful for the army of women I’m constantly surrounded by. We’d never be able to help so many others without them.
“I’ll just have to kidnap you then,” I tell her, not the way other people would, like they’re joking. I mean it literally.
Lex’s devious smile matching mine tells me we just found our own annual tradition—kidnapping each other.
She pulls my head to hers and our lips press together softly.
I pull back just a fraction, to breathe out, “Be my wife.”
“I thought I already was,” she teases, probably referring to what I said at the movie theater.
It felt good to call her that out loud. It’ll feel even better when she actually is my wife.
Gazing into eyes as silver as Dusty Miller leaves, I rasp, “Marry me.” Christmas is five days away. Close enough. And patience is for people that don’t know what it’s like to have everything you love taken away.
“I’ll marry you…”
Hands full of ass, I lift her off the floor and walk us over to the couch facing the back of the house.
“When I’m not pregnant.”
I stop. “That’s gonna be a problem.”
“You can’t wait that long?” She nips at my bottom lip, making my cock stiffen.
“That long? It’ll be fucking forever before we get married.”
“Nine months isn’t forever, rookie.”
“This nine months isn’t.”
Her eyebrows draw together.
“But what about the nine months after that?”
Before she can even speak, I add, “And the nine months after that? Because I plan on keeping you pregnant forever.”
That chest-deep chuckle of hers makes me feral as I sit down with her straddling me. I don’t know if I can get her pregnant that easily or frequently, but I’m going to enjoy the fuck out of each and every attempt.
Lex leans to the side, and I latch on to her hips.
“Where are you going?”
“To take off my leggings.”
Shaking my head, I return her to the top of my lap. “Stand up right here. I’ll take care of them.”
We get her shoes off before I help her to standing. A couple small tugs later, her black leggings have a gaping hole at the crotch. Another tug and her underwear are ripped, then removed from her body and tucked into my pocket to add to my collection. I’m not fucking waiting to undress her. She just granted all my Christmas wishes. I need access to her pussy now.
Lex tangles her hands in my hair and scolds, “God, Reece, can you ever just pull my pants down like normal?”
“Never.”
“You ruin every pair of pants I wear.”
“So stop wearing them.”
“And my underwear? At this point, you have more pairs of my underwear than I do.”
“Stop bothering with those, too,” I murmur before leaning forward and giving her pussy lips a real kiss. Nice girls get gentle kisses. Naughty girls get punished. Lex has been very fucking naughty—exactly the way I prefer her.
With the waning crescent above us, painting us in dim light, I eat her out, groaning my appreciation for how sweet my dessert is. Massaging her ass to help her fuck my face, I feel when her weight shifts as her knees begin to give out, and move my hands under each cheek to support her. I’m not fucking finished and neither has she. I don’t care if I have to hold her to my mouth like a slice of watermelon, she’s coating my face in her pussy milk.
Flattening my tongue, I lap at her clit until her thighs shake. I spread her ass cheeks apart and rotate her hips up just enough to send her spiraling over the edge as she comes.
“Reece,” she gasps, her body turning boneless.
“Hold on.”
I get my pants down enough for my cock to spring free, then help guide Lex down to her knees again.
One hand holding her hip, the other just under my cock’s head, I line the tip up with Lex’s drenched pussy. Taking my face in her hands, she kisses me, tasting herself on my lips and tongue and probably even my teeth because I was that fucking hungry for her. I’m always that hungry for her.
Not as patient as she likes to pretend, she lowers herself all at once until she’s fully seated, her ass cradled by my thighs.
“Fuuuck,” I break the kiss to say.
We stay impossibly close to each other, our noses bumping with every rotation.
“Tell me you’re mine.”
“I’ve only ever been yours. I’ll only ever be yours.”
“Tell me you’ll be my wife soon.”
“I’ll be your wife soon. I’ll be your wife until my last breath.”
“After. After your last breath. I’ll find you in the afterlife.” I’ll always fucking find her.
Lex lets out a long moan as she drops her head back, her throat exposed to me.
“Tell me you love me,” I say against it, my teeth scraping her delicate skin.
“I love you, Reece Souza.” Her fingernails dig into my scalp and she pulls my head away to look at me. “Now make me come again.”
Her pussy clenches my shaft like a vise, causing me to wheeze. Fighting off my own orgasm, I grab her hips and bring her down as I thrust up into her sopping wet pussy, her swollen clit kissing my lower abdomen noisily.
“Right. There. Don’t. Stop.”
I do exactly as she says, hitting the same spot repeatedly until I can’t hold back anymore and come, emptying my balls into her as she screams out her own release.
Breathless, sweaty, and happier than I’ve ever been, I say, “Tell me something else.”
“What?”
“The name of the guy that put his hands on you.”
“He works for me and I paid him to do that. Just enough for you to believe it. I was never in pain.”
“But I was…”
“It had to be—”
“The second his body touched yours.”
With an eye roll and a smirk, she slumps against me, mumbling into my neck, “Sweet.”
Kissing her white strands and hugging her tightly, I say, “Only for you.”
“Merry Christmas, rook.”
“Merry Christmas, Snow.”
A few more orgasms and I’ll get that name out of her.
©A. Marie 2023
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