When I'm With You

  Our sisters are sitting behind me on the bench by the window, but they've been silent since they arrived.

  Meanwhile, I wait.

  It isn't for another hour that I know it's time. My parents had stepped out to get me some food since I refused to leave, and Dani had left to call her husband and check on her kids.

  I waited for the nurse to check her and give us a small nod. I heard her tell me that she still had stable vitals and was just sleeping. I stayed put with my eyes on her until the doctor came in to say that as long as everything was clear on her scans later, she would be released in the morning.

  Then I made my move.

  I stood, silently, and bent to kiss her slack lips. Without a word or a glance to the people around me, I started to stalk down the hallway. I had one thing on my mind, and I wasn't going to rest until I had retribution for every scrape and bump on her body.

  I knew from the background check I had run on him after the fire that the sorry fuck only spent time in three places--the station, the gym, or his house--and seeing that it was three in the goddamn morning, I was going with the last option.

  Lucky for me, his house butted up to a road so I parked my truck on the shoulder and moved through the woods separating me from my prey. I tagged his SUV in the driveway first. Walking around the side, I felt nothing but hatred as I moved to the back of his house. His back door was older, and with a solid kick at the knob, it gave and crashed open.

  I hunted inside. My eyes searched through the darkness as I moved. When I rounded the corner, entering what looked like his living room, I found him jacking off. The porn was turned up so loud that it's no wonder the motherfucker didn't hear me enter.

  "Get up!" I thunder and watch him jump.

  The lube he had been about to squirt on his small ass dick came out with a rush when his startled movements made his fist tighten.

  He moves to stand, getting hung up on the pants around his ankles, and I wait for him to stand completely, pulling his pants up roughly as he goes.

  "I'm going to kill you," I fume through clenched teeth. When he doesn't move, I feel my rage spike even higher. "Can't hold your own against a man?"

  "What the fuck are you doing in my house?" he screams, but I see the fear in his eyes, and I let it fuel me.

  "I'm here to show you what it feels like when you mess with the wrong man's woman. I'm here to make sure that you feel the pain she did, but the difference is, I'm going to fucking kill you."

  I stomp toward him, and he finally gets with the program and tries to rush me. But I have the power of a man set to avenge his love right now because as I crack my fist against his nose, he tries to fight back, but I keep pounding into him with an inhuman speed. Each blow to his body makes him stumble until I have him flat against the wall, holding him up for me as I use him as a punching bag for every second of panic, fear, and pain that Ember felt.

  "Stop."

  At the voice behind me, I halt and let this sorry fuck slide to the ground.

  "Why are you here?" I ask, my chest heaving with exertion.

  He ignores me. "You do my daughter no good if you end up in prison for murder. Get the fuck out of here, clean yourself up, and get back to her."

  When I hesitate, he moves forward, and with a meaty hand to my neck, he shoves me toward the back of the house.

  "You got what you needed; now, get the fuck back to your girl before she wakes up needing the one person not there!"

  With one last look at the passed out man on the floor, I give Maddox a nod and walk out of the house.

  My first stop is my house. I let Bam out quickly before I rush to wipe the sweat and fear from my skin with a damp washcloth. I run to my closet and move some shit around before I grab what I need. I change my clothes quickly before rushing to the laundry room and throwing the ones I had on in the washer. After making sure Bam is back inside with a full bowl of water, I'm on my way out of the house with a squeal of my tires as I head back to the hospital.

  No one says a word when I walk back into Ember's hospital room two hours after I had left. Not one mention of my new clothes or the fact that two knuckles are now split with dry blood. And not one damn word is said when I stop on the opposite side of the bed from my chair to take her hand in mine, slipping the diamond ring on her finger before placing a kiss on her hand and laying it gently back down.

  Not one word.

  I sit back in the chair I had left earlier, and with my eyes back on her sleeping face, I take my first deep breath of the night.

  Nothing will ever take her from me.

  Not one damn thing.

  "I'M OKAY," I TELL MY fussing mother as she pulls the covers up to my chin.

  "Yes. You're okay, sweetheart." Her voice wobbles, and I just sigh, letting her fret if that's what she needs to assure herself that I'm okay.

  "Emmy, leave her alone." I look over her bent head and smile at my dad.

  "I'm not going to leave her alone. She's been through something traumatic and then had to sit there while the police questioned her as if she had done something wrong. She is not okay!"

  I whine when her voice gets louder; the slight headache that I've felt since I woke up this morning had followed me all the way to where I am now in Nate's bed.

  Dad walks over to the side of the bed, and I follow his movements. I lose his eyes when he bends to place a soft kiss on the top of my head.

  "It's time to go, Emmy. Let Nate take over. He's what she needs now."

  My heart flips at his words and the bigger meaning behind them, and I feel my chin quiver with emotion.

  He's letting me go. Completely letting me go to give me to another man.

  And ... he's happy about it.

  I watch in awe as he pulls my mom away and walks to where Nate is leaning against the doorframe with his arms over his chest. He pulls him in for a quick hug before letting go and looking into his eyes. The flipping in my heart starts to turn into summersaults as I watch something heavy move between them.

  They leave with one last look over their shoulder, and I watch as Nate moves over to sit at my side.

  "Are you going to cry?"

  I blink a few times but don't answer. I'm sure, without a doubt, that if I were to open my mouth to speak, I would cry.

  "Are you really okay?"

  I clear my throat. "I am now. Thanks to you."

  He looks down, holding my hand in his. "I've never felt the kind of fear that I did when I thought I was too late, Ember. Just the thought of spending one second without you is more pain than I care to ever feel."

  "Nate, baby, I'm here. I'm okay."

  "I can't, Ember. Not one second or any day. I can't be without you."

  I can't see his face with his hair hanging like a curtain shielding him from me, but I don't miss the tear that falls down from his eyes to his lap.

  "Get up, Nate."

  I shift to the side and wait for him to stand. He doesn't argue with me; instead, he climbs to his feet and looks down at me. My heart clenches when I see the expression on his face. Eyes wet with unshed tears and full of fear as they look down at me. His strong chest is moving with the force of his harsh breathing. I see his hands shake before he clenches them into a tight, white-knuckled fist.

  "Come."

  I make sure my tone is hard and unbending, giving him no doubts that I mean what I'm telling him.

  His fists release, and with shaky movements, he pulls his pants off and his shirt over his head. With just his black boxers on, he lifts the corner of the sheet and folds his tall body down next to me. I move to my side, facing him, and with the hand that is against the bed, I slide it up until I'm holding one of his. My other hand moves up his arm until I can curl it around his neck and focus on his face.

  I stare into his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere."

  His breath hitches.

  "You saved me, Nate. You saved me long before last night when you showed me just how much your love completed me. I won't lie to you and
brush last night under the rug. I was scared out of my mind, but I'm going to look at it as the last battle in our beautiful war. It's fought, now over, and we won. It's up to us how we move on and turn that beautiful war won into a beautiful love."

  "God, Ember. I mean it, baby. Not one more day can I spend without you."

  I smile, feeling the ring on my left finger move when my hand shifts against the mattress, and I know in an instant what it will take to get him to realize that no matter how horrible last night was, I'm still here and never leaving.

  "So here's what we do. I apparently gained a fiance last night, so he's going to sit with me as I plan a wedding. I'll have my dad put my house on the market and you make sure all my stuff stuck in storage is filling this house. I'm going to take over your man cave and you're going to turn Dirty into the biggest club the South has ever seen. Then, the way I see it, we spend the next ten years making babies or practicing to make babies. I'll let you know when I decide how we're going to spend the next fifty plus years after that. Is that enough to convince you that you won't have to spend another day without me?"

  His eyes change and he looks at me with wonderment instead of sad trepidation.

  "Is that all?" His voice is thick with emotion.

  I shrug. "All for now."

  "I think that's a great start, baby."

  He pulls me into his arms, and with a deep breath from us both, we fall asleep knowing that as long as we're together, in each other's arms, we will feel the beauty of our beautiful war won.

  I woke up the next morning feeling a lot better than I had the day before. My headache was gone and my back no longer hurt. The scrapes I had were small and the slight redness was the only thing left. My neck looked bad, the bruising something that I would have to face for days before it faded away, but at least I could move without pain.

  True to my word, when we woke up this morning, I had my dad contact a realtor. He didn't question my decision, and I had a feeling that he was proud of the choice I had made.

  I look down at the huge diamond on my hand and smile. Leave it to Nate to not even ask, but to slide the ring on and not mention it. He's crazy, but I love him for it.

  "Hey, Nate," I call over to him. He turns, looking at me from the kitchen as I stay sitting on the couch, curled in the softest blanket I've ever felt. "Just in case our kids ask one day, I said yes."

  He tips his head to the side and looks at me as if I'm the crazy one. I hold my hand up and enjoy the hell out of seeing his face get soft when he looks at the engagement ring on my hand.

  "But just out of curiosity, were you even going to ask me?"

  He pauses in his dinner preparations and leans both hands down on the island. "There was no doubt in my mind, Ember, so I figured asking was just a formality. I'm sure I could have thought of something romantic, spent an hour after trying to dry your tears when you were overcome with happiness, and then taken you home and fucked you until you passed out with nothing but bliss in your eyes. But I didn't want to see you cry any kind of tears, so I went with my gut and just took what's mine."

  I laugh, the sound making him smile. "I love you, you crazy man."

  "I know; I'm easy to love."

  "I wouldn't have cried for an hour," I add a few minutes later.

  He looks up from his chopping with a face that tells me he knows I'm lying through my teeth, his eyes sparkling with mirth. "You're right, baby. It would have probably been more like two."

  I open my mouth to respond but stop when the doorbell sounds, waving him off and standing from the couch.

  My parents come in and greet me with a hug, followed by Nate's.

  "How are you, honey?" Izzy asks after we move to sit around the kitchen table.

  "I really am okay. It happened and it sucked, but I have to move on."

  Nate gives me a hard look

  "Have the police found that man yet?" I look over at my mom and shrug.

  "They won't be bringing him in."

  Everyone looks over at Axel after his comment, and I feel a little spark of worry.

  "And why the hell not?" His wife gasps.

  I look over at Nate, terrified for what this might mean, and wait for him to take the lead, but he isn't looking at me.

  "He died last night. Lost control of his car and hit a tree head-on," Axel answers.

  "Good riddance," my mom mumbles.

  "I hope he suffered," Izzy adds, nodding at her.

  "Oh, I'm sure he did since his engine caught fire. From what the ME says, he didn't die until after that." Axel finishes talking, and I can see from his face that he's happy that Levi didn't die instantly.

  I move my attention to Nate. He's stopped his hands completely, hovering over the cutting board. I would have missed it had I not been looking at him, but he struggles slightly to keep his face blank before lifting one brow slowly. I follow his eyes and see my father looking at him with the same intensity. And then, to my utter confusion, he winks, causing Nate to let out a rushed breath. I snap my eyes back and see him nod with a small grin on his lips.

  "Accidents happen," my dad grumbles under his breath, still looking at Nate. He turns his head and looks over at me. "He can rot six feet under now instead of in prison. Ember's safe from him, and that's all that matters."

  What the hell was that? I look back at Nate, but he's not looking up. He's also not moving, just focusing on the vegetables he had been chopping with his chest moving with harsh deep breaths.

  "Ember?"

  Nate looks up when my mom calls my name, carefully masking his expression before giving me a look of pure adoration. Whatever just passed between him and my father is gone, and all I see now is that love he has for me shining brightly.

  I shake off whatever I just witnessed. If he wants me to know, he'll tell me, but all I care about in this instant is that we really can move on from this moment and put it behind us. Move on and spend the rest of our lives with this being a tiny little black dot in our past.

  "You know what? I'm starved." I stand from the table and walk over to him. He lifts one arm and I curl into his side. "What can I do to help, Nate?"

  "I've got it," he answers in a deep rumble, looking down at me with a smile.

  "I love you."

  He swallows thickly. "Right back at you, baby."

  "DID MY DAD SAY ANYTHING to you about my call this morning?" I ask, thinking about the fleeting comment my dad made about needing to get my stuff moved over from storage since I had finally decided where I wanted to be. A weird comment from him, but one Nate took with a huge smile.

  He pauses, his fingers stopping the soothing brushing of them through my hair. "Not exactly."

  I turn my head in his lap, looking away from the episode of Chopped we had been watching, and smirk at him. "Oh, really? What does that mean?"

  His eyes dance. "He just pointed out a few things."

  He grunts when I shift and my head brushes against the bulge in his sweats, and he moves his arm away when I lift my body off the couch. I have to pause to pull the shirt I had changed into after our parents left down as it starts to ride up. His eyes follow my hands, and I just roll mine when he lets out a sound of complaint when my panties are covered up.

  When I turn and climb into his lap, this time with my legs straddling his thick thighs, his muffled complaint turns into a noise of pleasure the second my lap settles against his.

  "Let's try that again," I start, placing my hands on his shoulders as his hooded eyes darken. "What did my dad say to you about my call to him this morning?"

  He shifts, his erection rubbing against me, and I have to fight back a moan.

  "Nate?" I question when his attention strays to my now exposed again lace panties.

  "Uh." He clears his throat. "He might have said something about a ring not making an honest woman out of you."

  My jaw drops. "Focus, honey."

  He snaps his eyes up and his full lips tip up slightly. "I might have said something about not giving a
shit because you were where you belonged, honest woman or not, and that I would make sure to rectify that before I put babies in you."

  "You didn't!" I tease.

  "Like I said, that might have happened."

  "You are a crazy man," I joke.

  "Not a surprise, Ember." His lighthearted expression is full of unmasked happiness.

  "I am surprised, however, that you didn't get your ass kicked for talking about putting babies in me."

  He shrugs. "In all seriousness, he knows you're happy and that I will do everything in my power to make sure you stay that way. He's a smart man, baby, and he knows where you belong."

  "I guess I expected more of a show from him. He didn't even blink an eye when I called to tell him to get my house on the market because I was officially moving in."

  Nate's shoulders shake. "Oh, trust me, the show happened. It just happened long before I put my ring on your finger."

  "Want to explain that?"

  "Not really. We had a few man-to-man chats. He's known where this was headed for a while now. Hell, I'm pretty sure he knew well before we did."

  I study his face and think about his words. My dad has always been ten feet ahead of everything, so that's not far off the mark.

  "Ember," Nate says, breaking through my thoughts, and I concentrate back on him. "He really is okay with it. All joking aside, he understands that it's time to let you go. You've been on your own since you graduated and have accomplished more success at your age than some people ever will. He knows that you have one hell of a good head on your shoulders and nothing you do will ever be without the knowledge that it's the right move for you."

  "Don't make me cry," I warn, sniffing a few times.

  "It's true. I've given him everything he needs to witness with his own eyes and hear with his own ears. He knows that we're ready to start living our lives together."

  I drop my head, our foreheads touching, and breathe deeply through my nose.

  "I'm still not going to waste any time making an honest woman out of you. Even with his acceptance of us--blessing given or not--I'm not going to risk him cutting off my dick for dragging my feet a second longer. We lost years, Ember, a fact I don't have to remind you of, and now, this is our time."