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  I move stealthily trying not to make a sound. When I step into the kitchen, I skid to a stop. Vern is standing in the middle of the room looking like a confused slob. He runs a hand over his bald head.

  “I shouldn’t be here,” he mutters.

  “Then, why are you?” I snap. “Speak up, Vern, before I put a bullet in you.”

  I’m so damn pissed, I get ready to squeeze the trigger to teach his ass a lesson. I catch movement out the side of my eye, but it’s too late. I feel the blow to the back of my head just before I blackout.

  30

  Parker

  I still can’t even believe I’m entertaining this harebrained idea Ryder has. Strip clubs. Male strip clubs. He and our crazy ass friends want to go out and shake their dicks at women, they can. They can count me and my money out. I can’t even bring myself to say it in front of Lakia.

  Shots.

  I shake my head. Totally some Ryder shit. I think of Myles. He would have talked me into doing it. Hell, before Lakia, I might have. Now, I just don’t think I want to get involved in that kind of thing.

  My phone rings, causing my brows to knit when I see the name. Lakia gave me her friend Dean’s number to pass to Ryder for wedding stuff. I don’t know why she’d be calling this late.

  “Hello,” I answer feeling uneasy.

  “Parker, Kia said she heard someone in the house. She told us to call you if we heard something off, there was a gunshot,” she rushes out.

  My blood runs cold. I step on the gas, without thinking any further. I have to get home.

  “Thanks,” I cut the call.

  I’m already making the next call, as I race towards the house. I’m too far away. Two blocks would be too far I’m about five miles away.

  “Did you change your mind that fast,” Ryder answers.

  “A gun went off at the house,” I say without any emotion.

  The soldier within has taken over. I have one mission and that’s getting to my woman and getting her safe. I stay as calm as I would in the desert. I have to because there’s no way I’m forgetting a damn thing right now.

  Ryder doesn’t even reply. The line goes dead. I already know he’s on it. Before this night is over there will be one dead cop.

  31

  Lakia

  I groan, but it seems to echo. It takes a third groan before I realize I’m not the only one groaning. I lift my lids and look around. I’m tied to a chair in the middle of my living room.

  The groaning is coming from Vern, he’s on the couch, bleeding all over my furniture. I knit my brows, confused. My head is throbbing.

  “You shot me, Kia. The fuck,” Vern groans when he sees my lids open.

  I guess I did get that shot off. I smirk, glad I hit his ass. I know he’s not here to talk tulips and roses. I feel no remorse.

  “Shut the fuck up,” I hear Toni hiss and turn to find him pacing.

  He has on a bulletproof vest, his hair looks wild and his eyes are crazy. In this moment, I don’t know what I ever saw in him. I lick my lips. I have to get out if this chair. I wiggle my wrists and wince when the cable ties dig into my flesh.

  “Your job was to distract her and get the fucking gun. How the fuck do you get your ass shot,” Toni spits. “This is all going to shit.”

  “You said it would be easy. Make it look like a break in and murder. You’d get the cash and the kid. You said she was a shit shot. She aimed right at my fucking leg and shot me,” Vern groans.

  “Quit your fucking whining. The boys have surrounded the place. I need to think, we need a way out of this,” Toni panics.

  “I didn’t need this shit man. My wife is going to leave me. All I needed was some quick cash,” Vern moans.

  “I said shut the fuck up,” Toni bellows, lifting his gun and putting a bullet in between Vern’s eyes.

  I jump. He’s lost his mind. He was partners with Vern for years. Since he was a rookie. Vern was like a big brother to him. I close my eyes and say a prayer. I need to get out of this chair. I’m not the one dying here tonight. I need to get to my son.

  32

  Parker

  Another shot goes off and I try to fly into the house. I fight against the officers, trying to hold me back. It takes Ryder, Doc, and Uncle Wayne to hold me back.

  “Calm down, son. You flying in there isn’t going to help anything,” Uncle Wayne tries to sooth.

  “Standing out here isn’t doing shit either. What if he just shot her?” I say brokenly. “They’ve been sitting out here with their thumbs up their asses because he’s one of their own.”

  “He’s right, I’m tired of this shit. We need in there,” Ryder growls.

  Uncle Wayne nods. He inhales a deep breath. “You three get in there. I’ll keep them busy out here,” he lowers his voice, looking each of us in the eyes. “I have equipment in the back of the truck. Drive it around the block.”

  I’m in motion without a thanks. We’ve been waiting too long. Once they identified Toni and his partner as the suspects that entered the house, things seemed to start moving in slow motion. It’s total bullshit and they know it.

  We jump in Uncle Wayne’s truck and suit up. Doc drives us around the block. I changed my routine to jogging in the neighborhood. I know which house backs up to my garage apartment.

  We move swiftly, with me in the lead. I move on instinct, it all comes back to me, flooding my system. I feel like Myles is with me. He won’t let me fail this mission. It’s what I came here for, to keep Lakia safe. Myles always knew something was up with this lunatic.

  I stop to get a look into the house. I can see straight through from the back door. Toni is just out of range, but I can see Lakia dead center, sitting in a chair she’s been tied to. I tamp down my rage. We need to get her out.

  I signal to Ryder and Doc, we need a shot. We could probably get one on the front side of the house through the window, but we need to stay out of sight. I curse under my breath.

  If we enter, we’ll have to engage him. I’m not comfortable with that. Lakia is too vulnerable. My head starts hurting through my frustration. I grind my teeth.

  “I might be able to get a clean shot from the garage apartment,” Doc’s voice enters my earpiece.

  “We need the bastard to move,” Ryder growls.

  Just then, as if feeling me willing her to, Lakia lifts her head in my direction. Her eyes meet mine and I see the trust there. She knows I’m here to get her out.

  33

  Lakia

  I want to burst into tears when I see him. At first, I thought I was seeing things, but I know that man anywhere. I can read the look of frustration on his face. Immediately, I understand the problem.

  After shooting Vern, Toni has been standing out of firing range of the windows and doors. It makes sense, as a cop he knows their next actions. Still, I need him where someone can take his ass out.

  I would pick Myles’ brain for scenario after scenario for my books. I mentally download all that information and look around the room. I know what I need to do. My hands and feet are useless, but my mouth still works.

  “Did you even think about our son?” I say, drawing Toni’s crazed eyes to me.

  “Did you think about our son?” he snarls. “You fucked the piece of shit like a little whore, while my son was under the same roof!”

  I swallow. I need to be careful. I need him to move, not fly off the handle and just shoot me in the head. I take a deep breath and try something new.

  “Where did we go wrong, Toni? Why are we hurting each other?” I coo.

  His eyes soften, he looks down at the floor as if he’s lost. I see so many emotions cross his face. I think he’s not going to answer at first.

  “My father loved you. He said so from the first time I brought you to the house. I didn’t think he would, but you wrapped him around your finger. He didn’t care that you were Black. You were a good woman, he said.

  “The more we dated the harder it became to please him. He wanted me to pull
favors on the Force for his guys. I risked everything and did shit I thought I would never do. He still wasn’t happy. When I got you pregnant, I thought he’d be happy. Instead, he pressured me the entire time to marry you. I knew you weren’t ready. I needed to work you more.

  “But he pushed, and I did it anyway. I proposed and you flat out told me, no,” he lifts his eyes to glare at me. “My old man died a week later.”

  I groan internally, this is not helping. He hasn’t moved and he only seems to be getting more pissed off. I did tell him no. He’d become more possessive and controlling. I refused to marry someone like that.

  “We were going through so much. The pregnancy was so hard on me. I was tired,” I say gently.

  “I wanted to be there for you. I just didn’t know how. My father treated me like shit when no one else was around. You thought he was such a good man. I never wanted to fuck Isaac up the way my father did me.

  “You’ve always been too good for me, Baby. I just thought if I gave you space you would see how good things were between us, when they were good. I was giving you time to miss me,” his eyes light up and his face becomes animated.

  “I bought a house in the mountains. It’s perfect, the dream kitchen you talked about. I built a jungle gym in the backyard for Isaac. It’s been ready for a year now. I figured I’d show it to you after the new book. Then that fucker showed up,” his face darkens again.

  “He doesn’t matter,” I soothe. “Tell me about the house.”

  “Don’t fucking lie to me,” he bellows. “I saw you fuck him in the window for everyone to see. I heard you tell him you love him.”

  Fear ices over my veins. I know I’ve just found the final trigger. Toni sounds so lost and broken. I swallow hard, not knowing if I can get him back on the hinge. Just when I think all hope is lost, Toni drops to his knees and crawls to me.

  He moves to position himself between my legs, wrapping his arms around my waist. He starts to sob like a broken child. Burying his face in my midsection. I don’t move, I’m frozen as he falls apart.

  A few moments pass, before I lift my eyes to see Parker and another shadow have entered the house during the distraction I provided, but they still need a clear shot. I need to get Toni away from me. I can feel the cool metal of his gun, and the one he took from me after knocking me out, pressed against my back. I lock eyes with Parker, instantly I feel like he sends me his strength.

  “I did it all to make you jealous, Toni. I wanted you to give me and Isaac more of your attention. Remember how turned on I would get when you would get all jealous over me?” I purr.

  It’s true. When I was young and dumb I thought the way he would fly off the handle was sexy. Now I know better, the signs were surely there.

  “Yeah, Baby,” he nods, kissing my belly.

  My skin feels like it’s crawling, but I push through. “I see now that you weren’t ignoring us. I’m so sorry. I should have been patient. You always told me I was so impatient,” I keep talking.

  “You are,” he drops one gun and starts to caress my thigh. “I don’t know if we can fix this, Kia. I fucked up. We’ll have to run. We’ll come back for Isaac.”

  “Okay,” I whisper.

  “Okay?” he lifts his head to look up into my eyes. His grey eyes shine with hope.

  I feel so sorry for him in that moment. The man I used to know has shattered into pieces. This isn’t even the confident guy I met in that college campus parking lot.

  “Yes, okay,” I nod.

  “I knew you were the one. From that night I pulled you over. Do you remember that. It was raining, you and your friend were soaked through, but you were still beautiful. I followed you for weeks, before I let the air out of your tire in that parking lot,” he smiles like a lunatic.

  My brows furrow, my mind racing back all those years. Toni was a gorgeous cop, an older one at that. I’d been so flattered when he came to my rescue on campus, then asked me out to dinner.

  I gasp when I remember the night he pulled me over. I’d been with Myles’ ex-girlfriend. We went out to a party and she’d had too much to drink. I ended up driving us home in her car. Neither of us realized she had a broken tail light.

  The officer was so polite and let us off with a warning. I was too nervous to look at him or take in any details. I was a young black girl, driving in a drunken white girl’s Benz. I just wanted to get home.

  Now, those eyes. I knew I’d seen them before when he pulled up in that parking lot. I was so young and stupid.

  “I told you we’d be together. There was never any doubt that I’d hold on to you. If I can’t have you no one—”

  He doesn’t get to finish. Parker puts a bullet through the side of his skull. Toni was too focused on me to see Parker and Ryder move into the room and find the right angle.

  I just stare down at the body slumped in my lap. It’s over, it’s finally over. I’ve always known it would come to something like this. It was never my overactive imagination. I knew.

  Ryder kicks Toni’s body from my lap, as Parker cuts my hands free. Ryder cuts my feet loose just in time for Parker to lift me from the chair into his arms. He buries his face into my hair and holds me so tight, I think I might break.

  “It’s over,” I whisper. “I’m free.”

  34

  Parker

  I haven’t wanted to let Lakia out of my sight. I know that motherfucker is long gone. I made sure of that, but the thought of how close I came to losing her. I just can’t do it.

  “I’m okay,” Lakia says for the millionth time.

  I grunt my acknowledgement, but I don’t loosen my hold on her or unwrap my leg from around her. Ryder let us crash at his place, while he went to Miami with Doc for a few days.

  Shots.

  I still can’t believe they’re going through with that shit. Most of all, I can’t believe I handed over a check for it. After they helped me get my woman out of that house, it was the least I could do.

  “You can be a broody old bear. You know that,” she giggles.

  I look down at her. Those eyes sparkling up at me. I’ve never loved anyone more in my life. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I lost her.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Jake. If you hadn’t come when you did, I was about to break out my Kung Fu style,” she teases.

  I growl at her and take her lips. I kiss her as if it’s our last. When I pull away, her eyes are glazed over and she looks content with the world.

  “I’m glad you can joke about it. I’m still too pissed,” I gruff.

  “He doesn’t deserve another second of my life. He manipulated me for years. The best thing I got out of it all was Isaac.”

  “How do you want to handle this with him,” I ask cautiously.

  “It’s Isaac, in time he will tell us what he thinks. I don’t want to bring it up until I have to. Let him be a baby. He’s happy, that’s what matters,” she shrugs.

  “We can push the wedding back,” I offer, knowing I don’t want to wait.

  “Like hell, we can. I’m not changing a thing. You get those rowdy friends of yours together and report for duty or it’s going to be a fight,” she sasses.

  I burst into laughter. Rowdy, I guess that could be a word for my crew. I shake my head, tugging her warmth closer.

  “We’ll be there,” I chuckle.

  “Sooo,” she drags out. “You ever plan on telling me what kind of business makes you blush every time it comes up?”

  I groan, throwing an arm over my face. I knew this was going to come up sooner or later. I feel my cheeks heat just thinking about it.

  “Ryder decided to open a chain of strip clubs and hire a bunch of vets,” I peek under my arm at her.

  “Aw, a bunch of super nerdy Veterinarians, that’s hot. Are they going to have puppies too?” I roll my eyes at her, as hers light up with mischief.

  “You know damn well what kind of Vets I’m talking about,” I grumble at her, causing laughter to spill from her lips.
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  “Still, the puppies would be a nice touch,” she giggles.

  “I’ll let Ryder know,” I twist my lips at her.

  Lakia nudges my leg off of her, moving to straddle my lap. I watch her cautiously. I know she’s up to something. That pretty face always gives her away.

  “Well, do I get a free show or two?” she purrs.

  “Your ass will absolutely not be stepping foot in one of those clubs. You just forget we even own them,” I huff.

  “We own them?” A soft smile lights her face. “I’m going to be your wife, Parker. I’ll always have the best view in the house. You don’t have to worry. I was asking for a show from the sexiest of the owners.”

  “In that case,” I lift and flip her onto her back. “Hands above your head. We have a no touching the merchandise policy around here.”

  She chuckles, but lifts her hands up, lacing her fingers together. I stare down at her naked body. I miss the extra pounds that have been melting away with her workouts, but if I have it my way, she’ll be growing with my baby in her belly soon enough.

  “Jake,” she gasps, when I dip my head to suck her chocolate nipple into my mouth. “Please.”

  “Taking my time,” I warn, chuckling when she huffs her frustration.

  I kiss my way down her stomach, licking and tasting along the way. When I finally settle in front of her fat mound, I can see it dripping with her delicious honey. I take a moment to appreciate it all. Her thick thighs, her round ass, and the prize I’m about to devour.

  She wiggles her hips, drawing my eyes back up her body. I love the little saucy smile I find. I give her ass a little slap, pulling a moan from her lips. She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, her eyes glazing over with lust.

  Sitting back, I flip her onto all fours. Running my hands up her back, I admire all that’s mine. I massage her back for a few beats, building the anticipation. When I see her honey drip from her folds, my restraint breaks. I need a taste and I need it now.