Need Us (14 page)

Paisley’s hand comes down to lay over mine. I look up at her and see her grinning at me. “Ashley will love that. And I’ve always liked the name. So Ashley Margret Southerland finally has a name.”

I raise an eyebrow. “So she gets my last name?”

She laughs and the baby kicks me again. “Well duh. She’s your daughter and just because we aren’t married doesn’t mean she should have my last name.”

I rise up a bit and smack a kiss on her lips. “That makes me incredibly happy.”

Later, after she’s fallen back to sleep, I gently get off the bed and walk into the living room. I find my pants along the way and pull out my cell phone. I almost start dialing a number but then I realize I’m naked. You really shouldn’t call your sister while you’re naked. I put my pants on then I call her.

“Oh, who is this? I seem to have forgotten just who Channing is. Damien do you know?” is how my sister answers the phone. I hear Damien’s muffled laughter in the background.

I roll my eyes. Ever since she got with him, she’s been a completely different person. One I like a whole hell of a lot more than who she was pretending to be with Victor. “You’re really funny there. I was calling to tell you some good news but since you want to be an asshole about it.”

“Wait! Now you’ve peaked my interest. Spill it all out to your sissy Ashley.” I hear her laugh but it’s followed by something Damien says.

I take a deep breath all while smiling. “Well, Paisley and I have finally put the past behind us. And she told me we’re having a girl.”

“Squee! It’s about time we get some more girls around here. What with Rach having another boy. That poor girl. I can’t imagine having to live with Courtney and then two mini little Courtney’s. Their house must be the most brooding place ever!” She giggles at herself and I find myself snorting.

“It’s actually not all that bad. But I have another little piece of info you need to hear.” She stops laughing long enough for me to tell her the rest of it. “We picked out a name. Are you ready for this?”

“Yes! Just fucking tell me already!”

I roll my eyes and spill the beans. “Ashley Margret Southerland. And you get to be the godmother.”

She screeches in my ear and I take the phone away from my face and make sure I’m not bleeding. “Jesus. Was the screeching all that necessary?”

“Yes you big idiot! This is the best news ever. There’s going to be a kid named after me. That makes me righteous!”

“You’ve always been righteous. It just took the rest of us a long time to see it. Plus, I wanted to thank you for always trying to do what’s best for me. I know I haven’t always been the best brother in the world, but I’m so happy you’ve let me make up for that.”

I hear her sniffle. Then she says, “I’m not crying unhappy tears! These are happy tears stop threatening Channing. He’s made me more happy than you today.”

I sigh as the two of them start bickering on the phone. Paisley comes out of our bedroom with a pink shirt that states, “My kid has a hot Daddy, so she already looks better than you,” and some yoga pants.

“That’s an interesting shirt,” I tell her and she smiles.

“What’s an interesting shirt?”

“Nothing Ashley. Paisley just got up so I’m gonna go. I love you and I’ll see you later.”

She sniffles again. “Love you too lil bro!” Then we disconnect.

“I take it she was happy about the name?” Paisley asks as she sits down next to me with a huge glass of milk.

I nod and place my hands on her stomach and turn her to lay against me. “She started crying and all that shit. And Damien probably threatened to kill me, so she told him I made her happier than him today. I don’t want to even imagine what in the world she meant by that.”

“She probably meant sex.” I lean in and bite her neck for that remark. “Ouch. You bastard.”

“Don’t talk about my sister’s sex life. That’s more than I need to hear, ever.” I shudder just having one thought in my head.

Paisley giggles after taking a sip of her milk. “Can I ask you a question?”

“You can ask me anything,” I whisper into her ear.

She takes a deep breath and moves out of my arms. Then she looks at me with serious eyes. “I know I have made some serious mistakes in my life when it comes to you. But I should have seen that they were mistakes and I could have handled it all better. I should have just told you I didn’t want to get married instead of taking off and pretending I didn’t exist for an entire year.”

I lift my arms to cup her cheeks. “Baby, we need to put all that behind us. The past is the past and right now we’re so fucking happy. I want to stay that way for as long as possible.”

She smiles and moves in to put her forehead on mine. “I know, I just want us to be happier. So I was thinking we could go to the courthouse today and get married. No big fuss or anything. We’ll have to bring everybody of course because they’ll all get pissed if we do it without them.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want? I mean, I’ve wanted to marry you for like the past seven years but you have all these horrible thoughts in your head about marriage, I don’t want you to make a mistake.” I really don’t want her to hurt me again. And the only way that would happen is if she got scared and she only seems to be scared of marriage. Go figure.

She nods against me. “You want it. And I want to make up for the shit I’ve put us both through. I swear this time I’ll be standing there with you. I won’t run. And I couldn’t get very far anyway because it’s very difficult to run with this baby belly.”

I pretend to think about it for a few seconds but then I grin. “As long as you hold my hand the whole time. That way if you need to run, I can run with you.”

“Deal.”

Rachel

Don’t ask me how I ended up riding to the courthouse with Channing. I guess it’s because he was at the house getting ready since most of his clothes are still there. He was ready and I was ready so I rode with him. Court took his lunch break to go, so he came straight from the school. I’m happy I did though. I never would have made it through the day without Channing. I swear he’s my guardian angel or something. Heaven knows I need one.

We were late, probably because Channing had to stop at a gas station so I could go pee. This baby seems to want to lay on my bladder and I literally have to go every five minutes. It’s gotten incredibly inconvenient.

So I’m trying to get my fat ass out of Channing’s jag. The damn thing is so low to the ground and I’m having trouble lifting myself out. Plus, I’m wearing a dress so I can’t just throw my legs out without showing off all the goods.

Channing races around the car and I finally get out of the car by using him as a lever. I give Channing brownie points considering he didn’t make a noise while he lifted me out. No grunts or groans. Hell he didn’t even take a big breath the athletic fucker.

When we start going up the stairs is when my problems come to a head. Luckily I’m nine months pregnant and full of rage hormones, or this day could have ended a whole lot worse.

I’m looking down at the steps because I can’t see my feet and I don’t want to trip. That would be very bad. I want to get this kid out of me but not before he’s ready. And yes, I’m having ANOTHER boy. Since I plan to have only two kids, I guess I don’t get my dream of a little Rachel running around. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.

Channing stops me about halfway up the stairs. “Rachel, get behind me,” he says, his voice the most serious I’ve heard in a very long time.

I look up to see what’s made him this way and look straight into the green eyes of Donovan Pierce. He looks so much like my Court, or maybe it’s the other way around considering he’s the older Pierce brother. It doesn’t really matter. I see one brother when my eyes are open and the other when my eyes are closed. Only one of those is a good thing. Nightmares come with pregnancy and I’m having horrible ones thanks to the trauma this asshole inflicted on me.

“Donovan, just let us pass,” Channing says calmly, like I’m not right beside him freaking the fuck out. I want to walk right up to that asshole and punch him in the nuts, but I also want to run in the opposite direction as fast as my swollen feet can carry me.

“I’m glad to see you and Courtney worked things out,” Donovan states while we have this strange stare down. I feel my lip curl up in complete disgust. He should be glad I worked it out with Court or I’d kill him dead right here.

Channing stiffens next to me, and it’s surprising because I didn’t think he could get stiffer. It’s like the boy hasn’t taken a shit in a week. Now he’s inching in front of me like Donovan is going to pull out a gun and shoot us. The guy might be an asshole but I doubt he’s going to shoot us. I didn’t go to the cops with what he did, mainly because I know emotionally he wasn’t in his right mind. All that hate and revenge festered in his soul for five long ass years. That kind of anger can make you do unspeakable things. Donovan was a good man before Annabella walked into his life. I think both the Pierce men were amazing before that bitch became a part of them. She did things to them emotionally I just can’t understand.

Donovan’s green eyes aren’t filled with hate anymore. No, they look downright regretful and sorry. What happened was awful but it could have been so much worse. “You can say you’re sorry for what happened, Donovan. And know I forgive you but I’ll never forget and I’ll never heal from the wounds you inflicted upon me. I didn’t deserve to get pulled into your revenge. I wasn’t even around when the shit with Annabella happened.”

Donovan sighs and then he takes a step closer towards us. Channing stops inching and actually jumps in front of me. “Calm down Channing. I’m not going to do anything. I think I’ve caused enough pain for one lifetime.”

“I don’t really care. You took the trust of a great person and you used it against them. You know I can hear her whimpering and moaning in her sleep through the walls at our house. I hear what you did to her every night while she relives it.” He reaches down and grabs my hand. Maybe he can feel me shaking from the adrenaline or maybe he just needs my hand to stop his own fears. “You stay over there and we’ll stay over here. Someone will come out here eventually considering I’m supposed to be getting married right now.” And like fate is shining down on us, both our phones start ringing. Neither of us check them. If we don’t answer, our family will come out here. Either to make more phone calls or to come looking for us.

I sense it in Donovan that he just wants me to understand. I never will though. Maybe if I had been through what he did, maybe. But I didn’t and I never will. Court was a different person when he was around Annabella. She sucked all the good out of him and turned him into an awful person. The second she was out of his life, everyone started seeing the good in him. Especially me, since I’d had my eye on his gorgeous self for quite some time. I’ll never admit that aloud though, that I had fantasies about my husband before we were even together. Court’s head is already big enough.

“You think she’s actually here, Channing? What if she leaves you at the altar again? Will it finally turn you into a monster?” Donovan’s words bite but I know he just wants Channing to leave so he can say what he needs to, to me.

I put my hand on Channing’s shoulder and lift up a little bit. God he’s tall and you don’t notice that until you’re standing right behind him. “Donovan just say what you need to say. Leave Channing out of this.”

His green eyes finally look back at me and I know he truly feels bad for what he did. “I don’t know what came over me, Rachel. I just couldn’t live with it anymore. I had to do something to get it out of me. I know I handled it wrong.”

I nod. “You should probably think about talking out your problems with the person who caused them. You and Court are brothers; it shouldn’t have been like this. He loves you and he will never understand this. I’m his fucking wife. I’m not that crazy bitch slut Annabella. And thank God for that.”

Donovan lifts up his hands and runs his fingers through his hair. “I loved her, you know? I don’t know why. Maybe all the bad in me liked all the bad in her. She always had this spell over me and I couldn’t ever see what was truly in front of me. Then Courtney got a happy life and Annabella did too.” He looks up at me with tears in his eyes. “Where’s my happy ending?”

And just like that I feel bad for my attacker. Pain, grief, anger, take your pick. They all cause us to do things we wouldn’t normally do. I’m not condoning his actions, believe me I would never do that. But I understand his actions. It would be hard to look at the happy people around you when you’re so lonely and sad. I get that. It’s the thing that made me run to Court in the first place the night I got pregnant with Asher.

“You should have been out looking for it, not dwelling on the past and present. Yeah everyone is happy. You could have been too if you weren’t out looking for revenge. I hate it for you, I really do. But only you can fix it, not me. All I can do is forgive you. And I do, I promise that I do. But I, along with everyone else, will never let you be a part of this family. You could have been happy with all of us, but now you get left out in the cold. Because I promise you that no one else will ever forgive you.” I feel a tear slip out of my eye because I do feel bad for him. We can blame it on pregnancy but that simply isn’t true. This man had his future ripped from him by the two people he loved the most. That would make anyone crazy, but where others would be strong and move on the right way, Donovan didn’t.

I move around Channing. He looks down at me and nods. I move up the stairs slowly, headed straight for Donovan. He looks surprised yet scared. I don’t really blame him. He should be scared of me. I have a lot of anger inside of me because of this man.

“I spent a month away from my husband because of you. I pride myself on knowing if someone is a bad person or a good person. I always thought you were a good person. I couldn’t comprehend that I was wrong. I thought I brought that on myself, but in reality I didn’t do anything wrong.” I clench my fists by my sides and hold back the tears I want to cry because of all this. It’s frustrating that Paisley finally made it to the “altar” and Channing hasn’t. This is his big day finally and Donovan stops it because he’s a selfish fucking bastard. “You took something from me that day and I’ll never get it back. I’ll be less trusting of people and I won’t ever drink at a bar again. You did that to me.”

He opens his mouth to say something but I can’t hold it back anymore. I throw my arm out and sock him right in the eye. He falls back and lands on his ass while he covers his eye. Then I start kicking him while he’s down. I’m happy to report that his balls got a seriously hard kick. Channing comes up behind me and pulls me away from him about the time my husband and my brother come running out of the courthouse. It’s about time too. Only they got to miss the best part.

Court stares down at his brother with surprise on his face. Then he looks up at me and smiles. “I always knew you were badass.” Then he literally walks over Donovan to get to me. His lips meet mine and I smile. “God, I fucking love you.”

“I fucking love you too,” I say against his mouth while he tries to stick his tongue down my throat. Horny boy. I push him away from me and look up at his face. “Paisley and Channing are finally at the right place at the right time. Let’s let them get married, please. We can worry about Donovan later.”

Except there’s a police officer walking over towards us. He looks both awed and angry. “Ma’am I’m not quite sure what’s going on over here, but I saw you assault this man. I can’t just walk away from that.”

Royal moves down the steps until he’s close to the officer. “This is my twin sister. The man on the ground fell. Rachel just couldn’t get out of the way so she kicked him a few times trying to move.”

The officer raises both his eyebrows and looks down at Donovan. “Is this true sir?” Donovan doesn’t speak he just nods his head while he cups his junk and groans.

“Alright then, y’all have a wonderful day.” Then he grins and walks away. Funny how he was here to watch me beat up Donovan yet he didn’t see Channing standing in front of me in a protective stance. You’d think that would raise a few red flags.

Once he’s out of sight, Royal reaches down and helps Donovan up. This has me surprised until he cold clocks him in the head. Donovan goes down like a ton of bricks. Then Royal spits on him. “You ever fucking come near my sister again I’ll fucking kill you.”

“He’s out cold, Royal. I don’t think he can hear you,” Channing states while Court looks from Donovan to Royal and back again.

“That was my job!” he exclaims very loudly.

Royal looks a little sheepish. “Sorry. I thought once she got married and had kids I wouldn’t feel this overwhelming need to protect her. I guess I won’t ever get over it.”

I just shake my head. Then I look up to see Paisley waddle out of the courthouse followed by a very slimmed up Wesley. It’s seriously not fair that she got pregnant after me yet she’s already giving birth. But then again thankfully I’m not having twins. I really don’t want a little pair of twins running around like Royal and me.

Wesley moves in by Royal and looks down at her cousin. “Jesus, how long have y’all been out here beating him up? He looks like he got hit by a fucking car!”

And she gets some brownie points when she kicks him in the gut.

Channing moves around all of us to get to Paisley. He puts his forehead on hers and I grin real big. I never thought I’d see him do that again. It’s a silly little thing but I have a romantic in my heart and she loves to see things like this. It’s like they block out the rest of the would and have their own little private place. They would need to, considering who they hang out with. “I’m sorry I’m late.”

She nods and wraps her arms around his shoulders. “I was a little scared you were going to leave me here, but when Rachel wouldn’t answer her phone, I knew something was wrong.”

“I promised I wouldn’t leave you today. And I seriously plan on keeping that promise.” Then he’s kissing her and I look away because that’s just creepy to be sitting here watching them make out.

“What do we need to do with him?” Royal nods down at Donovan while he wraps an arm around Wesley’s shoulders.

Court sighs and rubs a hand down his face. “Is Ma still inside?”

Before anyone can answer we hear Ashley call out behind us. That’s when I move in front of Donovan like that will hide him. I know I’m big but I’m not that big. Maybe if I could get Paisley over here then maybe it would work.

One thing I don’t want to happen today is for Damien, Ashley’s husband, to take Donovan off somewhere and kill him. There’s a slim chance that will happen. But then again you never know. He’s fond of me but he’s got the biggest soft spot for Wesley. If it had been her, Donovan would have been dead a long ass time ago.

Ashley’s black hair shines in the sun and her smoky blue eyes glitter with a little mischief and a lot of happiness. “I see we aren’t-“ Then she gasps and covers her mouth.

Damien walks up behind her. Let’s just say Damien is MEGA hawt. Like, he should be on the cover of every magazine that exists. His blonde hair is cut close to his head but I’ve seen it longer. He’s built like a brick house and you just want to run your hands over all the muscles. Plus he’s got “Ashley” and “Glossy” tattooed on his neck. Glossy being his nickname for Ashley.