Lethal Temptations (Tempted #5) (50 page)

“I love you,” she whispered. “I love you so much, Dominic Petra.”

“I love you too, with everything I am and everything I’m capable of being now.”      

“I’m so glad you’re home,” she exclaimed as she laid her head back on my chest and wrapped her arms around me tightly.

Thank you for giving me the best fucking homecoming ever.

But you’re home now too.

This is your home girl.

Me.

You.

Home.

The End

Epilogue

I pulled the car into the driveway, turned it off and left the keys in the ignition. I reached over and grabbed the two bouquets of flowers, tucking them under my arm before reaching for the iced coffee and the bag I picked up from the drugstore. I got out of the car and walked over to my bike, placed one of the bouquets in my saddlebag before I climbed the steps to my house and opened the front door.

“Lace,” I called as I kicked the door shut and started for the kitchen. I glanced around the aqua blue kitchen, dropped the flowers and coffee onto the counter and teared open the tiny white bag. I pulled out Lacey’s prescription bottle and replaced it with the empty bottle next to the coffee pot.

I’m so proud of my girl.

There aren’t too many people who get diagnosed with a debilitating illness and find the strength to conquer it. Day after day, Lacey wakes up, turns on the coffeepot and takes her meds and starts her day. She had lived thirteen years in silence, afraid of the judgements and what would happen if she admitted she was sick.

She’s not silent anymore.

But her maker was.

That’s not saying there aren’t days when she needs a little extra reassurance, when I tell her I love her more than usual. It’s those days I hold her close and talk about the future with her. I give her the good, make her dream, and promise to make them come true and then I’ll dance with her. The few times her mind tried to torment her, she’d look at me with those sad eyes and I’d know she was struggling. I’d ask her to dance with me and be reminded of the first time we danced. I didn’t know it then, but she was battling her maker that day too.

I try my best, but in the end it’s Lacey who defeats that bitch of a maker. Girl’s stronger than she knows, stronger than all of us put together. She makes broken look beautiful and strong look invincible.

I heard her hurry down the stairs and braced my hands on the counter, waiting for her burst into the room like a tornado. She was always late…and usually it’s my fault but, today that shit was all on her.

“I’m so late,” she groaned, skidding to a halt when she spotted the coffee and flowers on the counter and lifted her eyes to me. “What’s this?”

I laughed, stepping around the counter to stand in front of her. “I knew you wouldn’t have time to stop,” I said, tipping my chin to the coffee.

“And the flowers?” She smiled, reached for the bouquet and brought the flowers to her nose.

“I wanted to,” I replied, closing my hand over hers and dragged the flowers down so I could bend my head and take her mouth.

I wrapped one arm around her waist and pressed against the small of her back until her body was flush against mine and she moaned.

“You’re going to make me even later aren’t you,” she murmured against my lips.

Normally, I’d sway her, throw her over my shoulder or onto the counter and make her forget all about being late but not today.

She had to go to work.

I had to take care of business and start writing the next chapter of our story.

“No,” I said, pulling back and pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose. “We’ll pick this up later tonight, when I don’t have to rush and can give you everything you want and you can give me that scream you make— “

Her hand covered my mouth but didn’t hide the humor reflected in her eyes. I wrapped my hand around her wrist and kissed it before bringing it back to her side.

“I’ve got to go to the clubhouse but after your meeting I’ll meet you and we’ll go for dinner,” I told her, pushing her hair over her shoulder. “And then we’ll come home and you can scream all you want,” I promised, winking at her.

“Sounds like a great night,” she grinned, taking another kiss for the road before she turned around and grabbed her coffee. “Love you,” she called over her shoulder.

“Love you too, girl,” I replied and followed her out the door. She got into her car as I straddled my bike, both engines came to life and we went our separate ways.

Lacey went to work saving souls, and I went to visit one.

I pulled into the cemetery, grabbed the flowers from my saddlebag and headed up the hill to the grave I visited weekly because I was a man of my word and promised Christine I’d keep bringing her flowers as long as I kept breathing.

I don’t bring two bouquets anymore, and I don’t ask for extra baby’s breath either. I removed the old flowers and replaced them with the new bunch. Her name was visible, and that’s okay because it allows the world to know Christine Petra was a part of it, that she was here just for a short time but enough time to leave a mark.

She left a mark on me and will always have a spot in my heart.

“Hey babe,” I started, crouching down in front of the headstone and traced my thumb over her name. “So it’s not Saturday, but I thought we’d switch it up a bit,” I explained. “I’ve got something kind of big going down tonight and I couldn’t help but think about the first time I did what I’m about to do.”

I grinned, recalling the memory I used to hate revisiting.

“I was so goddamn nervous with you,” I confessed. “Maybe because we were so young and I had no fucking idea what I was doing, what I was asking of you and what I was promising to be myself. I had no clue what it took to make it work or how hard it sometimes could be, I thought it was the next step for us and so it seemed right. I’m glad I did. I’m glad you said yes and let me put that ring on your finger. It was good, Chris, we were good for a while and when I think of you, I think of the good. No more bad memories, not anymore. Now, when I think of you I don’t think about the last time I saw you but of all the times before, when you were full of life…the times when you smiled. Your smile was the mark you left on this world and that’s how you should be remembered. So, that’s what I’m going to remember…your smile.”

I stood tall, pressed my finger tips to my lips and touched the top of her stone.

“Check in from time to time, stay with me, I’ll make you proud and maybe I’ll even make you smile from time to time.”

I dropped my hand and shoved both of them into my pockets as I stared down at her name one final time.

“Rest easy, girl.” I whispered before turning around and heading back to my bike.

One more stop.

And then it was game time.

Time to go all in and throw out the wild card.

I made my way to the Dog Pound and spotted Jack leaning against his Harley smoking a cigarette. I pulled up next to him and killed my engine before I turned and met his stare.

“You’re late,” he grunted.

“No, I’m not,” I argued, throwing my leg over my bike.

“Well, what the hell is the big emergency?” He growled, flicking his cigarette into the street.

“And here I thought you’d be happy to see my face,” I quipped.

I reached into my pocket, pulled out a box and dropped it from one hand into another, repeating the move over and over as I tried to figure out what the fuck to say to the man who was my brother.

I’m not going to lie and tell you things aren’t different between me and Jack. I’m no long his friend, his vice president and his partner. I’m the man he trusts with his daughter, not just her safety, not just her life, but her heart.

It took some getting used to.

There were lines drawn in the sand.

But in the end, Jack knew I loved Lacey more than anything.

He respected that.

And he took a step back.

Now it was my turn to show him the respect.

“Whatcha got there, Black?” He questioned, blowing out a deep breath as he stared at the tiny box in my hand.

I lifted my eyes to his as I extended my hand and offered him the box.

“Shit,” he muttered, taking the box from my hands and lifted his eyes back to mine. “Is this what I think it is?”

I nodded as I crossed my arms against my chest.

“Open it,” I urged.

He glanced down at the box in his hands and hesitated a moment before he snapped it open and drew in a deep breath.

“I love her, Jack but you already know that. I want to marry her. I want to give her my name but I won’t do that without your blessing.”

I watched as he closed the box and looked back at me.

“There isn’t a goddamn thing on this earth I wouldn’t do for her. I’ll take good care of her. I’ll give her whatever she wants and I’ll make sure she— “

“Shut up,” he interrupted, handing me back the box. “You don’t have to plead your case to me, Black.”

He ran his hand over his head.

“At least you’ll make an honest woman out of her,” he grunted, reminding me how much it burned his ass that Lacey moved in with me as soon as I got released from prison.

He sighed, reached out and grabbed my shoulder.

“Real happy for you, Black. It took me a while to get over that it’s Lacey that makes you happy,” he admitted. “You’ll understand one day, when you have kids of your own. They get under you man, they make your heart so big and so full you don’t know how you ever lived without them.” He swallowed, took a second and then continued.

“You got my blessing.”

“I was going to do it with or without it,” I joked.

“I hope you have ten daughters,” he spat.

“I hope so too,” I said, grinning as I pocketed the ring and stared back at him.

“See you on the other side,
brother
,” he rasped, leaning back against his bike. “Go on, go get your girl.”

I nodded as I straddled my bike and gripped the handlebars.

Time to draw that final card.

Time to start writing the next chapter.

Girl, I’m coming for you.

Bonus Epilogue

I graduated college one year to the date with a degree in social work. When I first started college I was like every other ordinary freshman, having no idea what I wanted to do and no major. College was just one big party and the thing you did to make your parents proud.

Then life happened.

Blackie happened.

Someone who had been in my life for so many years became my life. Our perfectly imperfect love started with two people chasing away the demons that dragged the other down.

For me it was my mind.

For him it was his addictions and his grief.

I was just a girl with a crush who fell in love with the bad boy and waited for him to open his eyes and see me standing before him.

He was just a man who had given up on himself, a man who resolved never to smile and enjoy life, a man who didn’t think he was worthy.

He opened his eyes and looked right through me, down to the depths of my soul. I don’t know who realized first, if it was him or me, that discovered we each held the other half of one another’s soul.

We’re not perfect.

Far from it.

And our struggles didn’t just disappear because we fell in love. I’ll always be bi-polar and he’ll always be a recovering addict. Our battles are different yet the same both result in extreme highs and desperate lows but we’re stronger than the things that try to bring us down.

Together, my maker and his addictions don’t stand a chance.

I see him smile and I can face the world, my mind is just another hurdle I can conquer and the best part of that is knowing I do the same for him. That smile is all the inspiration I need to be a survivor of mental illness and mine is all he needs to be a survivor of substance abuse.

I glanced around the room of people and smiled at them, hoping they found the smile in the world that saved them.