Creed

Chapter Twenty-One Tomatoes, Toe-mah-toes

Present day, six days later…

Creed lay on his stomach, hand shoved under the pillows, leg cocked, face turned toward me, eyes closed.

He was still sleeping.

I was on my knees in the bed beside him, watching.

The covers were pulled up to his waist. I knew what lay under them was naked but as I looked that way, all I saw was our lake, our pier and my name in flowers painted on his back.

Lifting a hand, starting between his shoulder blades and trailing a fingertip lightly down his spine, when I got there, I traced my name backwards, starting with the “e”. I knew he came awake at my first touch but I took my time, studying the tat, my finger’s movements. As I finished the “S”, my finger slid across the top of his ass and down, taking the covers with me.

I felt my vagina spasm as I exposed his fine, sculpted behind and my eyes drifted back up his back, his tat to his eyes, seeing their startling blue on me. He hadn’t moved, just his eyes had shifted to me and the look in them made my gut pitch.

God, how could he make lying there on his stomach hot?

I didn’t know. He just did.

That was Creed.

“Hey,” I whispered.

“Hey,” he whispered back then moved, swiftly.

Knifing partly up, his arm snaked out fast, hand hooking me around the back of my neck. He pulled me down to him and kissed me, hard and wet.

I experienced another highly pleasant vagina spasm before he lessened the pressure of his hand on my neck, allowing me back three inches.

When he did, I declared, “I hope I never, ever get used to you sleeping next to me. I hope I never, ever get used to waking up next to you. And I hope I never, ever lose thinking how every kiss you give me is pure beauty.”

I watched his eyes, still slightly sleepy, flare before he murmured, “Jesus, Sylvie.”

I held his gaze and warned softly, “You should always be ready.”

I caught a nanosecond of his brows drawing together before I flew backwards. Breaking from his hold, my quickness and momentum making it so when I hit my back, I could curl my legs and hips over and do a backwards somersault. I landed on my feet by the side of the bed. Reaching down, I grabbed the two Nerf blasters and a bunch of ammo packs I had stored under the bed. I tossed one toy gun on the mattress with some reloads before I lifted my gun and took aim.

I half expected Creed to balk. He said he didn’t play at work.

This would be totally unfun.

Luckily, the minute I lifted my fake weapon, he went back on this declaration. I knew it because his arm shot out, he grabbed the gun and rolled, disappearing with a loud thump on the other side of the bed.

It should be noted, he did all this before I even got a fucking shot off!

Shit!

He was good. Even at Nerf!

Wearing my undies and cami, I darted out the door, plastered my front to the wall by the side of the jamb and peered around, me and my gun.

A Nerf dart shot by me, so close I could feel the whiz of air kiss my cheek.

Shit!

He was seriously good.

I pulled back, fired off two blind, heard heavy footfalls which meant Creed was on the move, so I dashed down the hall to find cover.

I hit the living room and threw myself behind the couch. I shoved one reload into my panties, kept the other in hand and when I heard Creed coming down the hall, I lifted up, aiming at the doorway.

He hit it wearing faded jeans only partly done up and I immediately unleashed a hail of dart fire. One glanced off Creed’s shoulder, another off his arm before he returned fire and disappeared behind an armchair.

I ducked behind the couch, reloaded and got up to a crouch, peeking over the back, not seeing Creed. I straightened further, backing away, gun pointed in his direction as I headed toward the entryway.

I heard a, “Meow,” and spared a glance down at Gun who was sitting in the entryway looking up at me.

Her “meow” was not a “what the fuck are you doing?” meow. She was used to my whacky behavior. Although, I’d never had a Nerf fight in the house, my whacky behavior had run the gamut so she wasn’t alarmed. Her “meow” was a “when the fuck are you gonna feed me?” meow.

I looked back Creed’s way, still backing up as I muttered, “In a second, Gunny.”

“Meow,” she replied, unimpressed by the fake gunplay or the fact that her kickass Momma and a huge badass alpha were engaged in a Nerf fight. All she cared about was she was hungry.

“Promise,” I told her and saw Creed shoot from behind the armchair, moving in a crouch, gun up and firing my way.

One hit me in the stomach and I got off three shots of my own before I disappeared in the dining room.

“Gut shot,” I heard Creed call and he was right. If there were rules, which luckily there weren’t, he just won.

But I was having too much fun.

“I’m still standing!” I shouted back.

I zoomed to the kitchen, took cover behind the bar and had my gun up, braced on the bar, eyes to the doorway when Creed entered. Another hail of gunfire, from him and me, before he took cover behind the dining room table.

At that point, all hell broke loose. Nerf darts hitting the dining room table making papers fly, Nerf darts striking the bar and flying over my head. They were everywhere.

It got to the point I had no reloads and I knew Creed didn’t either because he’d stopped firing. As I scrambled around the kitchen floor to grab darts to refill, I heard Creed moving through the dining room, his treads fast and thundering.

Shit, he was on the attack.

Nerf done, we were going hand to hand.

Awesome!

I threw the gun aside, braced in a crouch and as he rounded the bar, I sprung up and launched myself at him.

I hit him dead on. Snaking one arm around his neck, one around his back, holding on and, upon taking my weight, he fell back a step. I rounded his legs with a calf and slammed in behind his knees, succeeding in taking one out. His big body pitched to the side, his arms curled around me and we went down to the kitchen floor, Creed’s shoulder slamming heavily into it, me slamming heavily into Creed.

Even as I moved to gain an advantageous position, I asked, “You okay?”

His answer was to roll me to my back, his weight on me.

He was okay.

He didn’t get the chance settle before I managed to buck him off and thus commenced the tussle. Creed didn’t hold back, I didn’t either and we were grunting and breathing heavily before I, not entirely surprisingly but also annoyingly, wound up pinned to the kitchen floor on my belly.

Shit!

“Give?” Creed asked.

“No,” I answered on a heavy breath, arching my back and cocking a knee to try to get it under me in order to lift up and use my weight to throw him off.

“Baby, you’re beat,” he informed me.

“No, I’m not,” I informed him, straining against his weight.

His hips slid off then my panties were yanked down and I went completely still so my body could enjoy being rocked by a mammothly pleasant vagina spasm.

“Give?” Creed asked again.

“No.” This time it came out on a breathy breath.

His hand shot between my legs, finger honing in on my clit.

Fuck, that felt good.

My hips jerked.

“Give?” he asked, now his voice was all rough, no smooth, totally hot.

Oh yeah. I gave.

“Yeah,” I gasped.

“Please, God, tell me you’re off your period.”

I’d had my period the last few days, an unfun circumstance normally, a really unfun one when I wasn’t big on having sex during it, which meant I didn’t get to have sex with Creed. He got me off with his fingers, I got him off with my hand and mouth but it wasn’t the same.

Now I was back.

“Yep,” I gasped again, his finger moved back and plunged deep.

Nice.

I moaned into the floor.

I was ready for him, now. It had been four days. I needed him inside.

“Now, please, God, tell me you got a stash of condoms in the kitchen,” Creed went on.

Alas, I did not but after he fucked me, I was stashing them everywhere around the house. Under seat cushions. Taped to the bottoms of tables. There would not be an inch of space in my house where a condom would be out of reach.

“No,” I answered.

“Fuck,” he clipped and I felt his finger start to move out.

I whipped my head around and looked at him over my shoulder. “Don’t. I can’t wait, Creed. Fuck me now and pull out. It’ll be cool.”

His finger did lazy strokes as his face dipped close to mine and he replied, “Baby, pulling out does not work.”

“Our luck has changed. It’ll work for us.”

“Sylvie, you just finished your period but pulling out does not work. Even a day after your period, let’s not take chances.”

I saw his mouth moving but I wasn’t sure he was speaking and this was because I was focused on all I was feeling.

God, God, even lazy stroking, not having his cock but having his face that close to me, his finger inside me was doing a number on me.

I needed him. So much, I couldn’t focus on this shit.

I needed to move us on, immediately.

In order to do that, I announced, “Okay, so it doesn’t work and you get me pregnant. It isn’t like we both don’t want kids. It happens, I won’t be sorry.”

His finger stilled.

No!

“Creed,” I whispered and it came out sounding like what it was. A plea.

I started to lift up but his voice, a rough, low, vibrating growl I’d never heard before stopped me.

“You wanna get pregnant now?”

His words, the tone they were uttered in, performed a miracle. It took me out of what was happening to my body and into the conversation and I realized what I said.

When I did, I realized I meant every word.

“Absolutely.”

Creed stared into my eyes.

I stared back.

Then his finger disappeared and I whimpered. The feeling of loss was cut short when he yanked my panties back up, shifted, rolled me and then lifted me in his arms. When we were up, he started moving, carrying me like a groom carries his bride over a threshold, his strides long and swift, his destination clearly the bedroom.

I slid my arms around his shoulders and asked, “Creed, where are you going?”

“I’m taking you to your bed. We make a baby, Sylvie, we do it making love. Not fucking on the kitchen floor.”

Of its own accord, my hand slid up his neck into his hair, cupping the back of his head spasmodically as goosebumps rose on my skin.

When we made a baby, we did it making love.

Making love.

Making a baby.

What I wanted. What he wanted. What we’d planned.

Sixteen years late.

But, thank God, not too late.

I felt my lip start to tremble and I bit it so the feeling welling up inside me didn’t overwhelm me. I didn’t want to cry. I wanted Creed to plant our baby in me while he made love to me.

How a Nerf fight ended up like this, I didn’t know.

Just that, as with everything, as always, while experiencing something wonderful, only Creed could make it more wonderful.

He set me in the bed and immediately covered me with his body.

Creed’s hands started moving on me, mine on him and his head was descending so he could kiss me when Gun pranced in, stopped and stood by the bed.

“Meow.”

Creed’s lips were brushing mine when I whispered, “She wants breakfast.”

“She can have breakfast after we try to make a baby,” he replied, not whispering.

I grinned.

I was down with that.

Creed did not grin.

He slanted his head and kissed me.

Then he made love to me.

“What?” Charlene hissed.

We were sitting on her couch in her living room. Creed was outside mowing her lawn.

After Creed made love to me, we took a long shower where Creed paid more attention to me, giving me a slow, sweet orgasm and taking his time doing it. We then got dressed and went over to Charlene’s to help her with breakfast and, after, Creed went out to mow her lawn.

So he could concentrate and not run over anything precious with the lawnmower, like, say, children, the kids were inside with us, doing something in their rooms which was likely destructive (except Theo, he was taking a nap). Charlene was ignoring this because I was laying it out, starting with imparting on her the fact that Creed and I had decided not to delay in trying to start a family.

It was Saturday. I’d been home nearly a week after making my decision to move to Phoenix and I hadn’t yet told her I was moving to another state. I hated to admit it but this was because I was chicken.

It seemed clear Drake Nair was out of town and we found no rumblings that he was still scheming against Knight. We also had no indication whatsoever that Nick had anything to do with Nair’s plot or even held any ill-will against his brother.

Therefore, Knight released Creed.

This meant Creed needed to go home, see to his own business. We discussed it and although he could give me a week, he had to get home and work. I had to stay in Denver, put my house on the market, finish the jobs I was still working on and shut down my business.

This was going to suck, being away from him for the first time since I got him back.

Creed thought it sucked, too and he was somewhat vocal about that.

Regardless that we both thought it sucked, there was no way around it. We’d have to be separated, for weeks, maybe even a couple of months with quick visits the only thing breaking our separation.

See? Sucked.

I also had to tell Charlene I was abandoning her.

It was arguable but this might suck more. I’d get back to Creed. I was losing Charlene, Adam, Leslie and Theo and they were losing me.

I felt shit about this because I promised I’d be there for her. I also felt shit about this because she was doing my admin part-time, she needed the money and that would die away.

Creed, being Creed, solved this problem. He farmed his admin out to an agency. He had no emotional ties to them and it was also part-time. He said it didn’t matter who did it or where they did it which meant he could yank it from the agency and give it to Charlene.

But that didn’t solve the problem of her losing her lawn guy, her morning helpers or the moral support coming from next door.

In my heart, I knew she’d survive. She was that kind of person. It might take a while to get used to it but she would eventually find her way to the bright side of life. I also knew that she’d be happy for me, finding Creed, living my life with him, starting a family.

So it wasn’t about Charlene, as such.

It was about me.

I’d miss her.

Back in the day, when Creed disappeared and I found myself owned by Richard Scott, all my girlfriends abandoned me. I didn’t really blame them. Suddenly, without an explanation, I was what the town saw as the local pimp and drug dealer’s girlfriend. Although Jason Dixon had been telling people for ages he banged me, no one believed him and no one but no one, not even my girlfriends, knew about Creed.

Needless to say, being with Richard did not do wonders for my reputation.

People talked about me. People speculated. People said shit things behind my back, gave me ugly looks, sometimes even said things straight to my face. I’d learned to live with it and I’d learned to live without friends.

That didn’t mean having one again didn’t mean everything to me.

Fortunately, two days after Knight released Creed, Hawk Delgado called me. He had a job and not only was he interested in contracting with me, he also asked if Creed was still in town. Since Creed was and since Creed was good with hanging around longer and taking another job, Hawk hired both of us.

The job paid well and Hawk expected it to last a month so I had a reprieve. More time with Creed in Denver. More time to get my shit sorted. A couple more weekends with his kids before I moved in completely.

But I had to tell Charlene. She had to prepare.

And I had to prepare to lose her and the kids.

“Creed and I are trying for a baby,” I repeated what I’d said two seconds before.

Charlene blinked at me.

Then she turned her head to the window and stared blankly out of it.

I turned my head that way too and saw Creed’s tee drenched in sweat, the ends of his hair wet and curling around his neck. He had mirrored shades on and they looked really fucking good on him.

My mouth started watering.

“It’s been three weeks, honey.”

Charlene’s words came at me and I looked at her again.

“I know,” I replied.

She shook her head and reached out to curl her hand around my leg. “I get this. I get him. He’s a good guy. I get that. I get your history. I get it all, but, Sylvie, listen to me. A baby is a big deal.”

“I know that too, Charlene.”

“It changes your whole life. It changes the whole world.”

I put my hand on hers, leaned in and repeated, “I know, Charlene.”

Her hand turned and her fingers curled around mine. “I know you know but I also know you don’t. A baby changes your body. It changes your relationship. It changed the rhythm of your day. You have a child, you can’t drink as much as you do. You absolutely can’t smoke. He’s got two kids. They’ve met you once. They –”

I cut her off, “Creed loves them and they love him and they like me. They’ll be cool. He’ll take care of them. We both will.”

Her hand gave mine a squeeze. “You haven’t even settled into there being a you two again. Nine months, ten months, a year, most of that pregnant, you won’t be able to do that.”

She knew, I explained after we had our drama and got back together that Creed and me were, well, back together. Charlene was Charlene, she said little except she was happy for me.

But, right now, she didn’t get it so I explained, “There was never a time when we weren’t settled into the two of us being the two.”

Her head tipped to the side. “What?”

I leaned closer, lifting her hand and holding it to my chest. “This is Creed.”

“I know, but –”

I shook her hand before I pressed it to my chest. “Charlene, babe, this is Creed.”

She held my eyes as her lips parted.

She was getting me.

So I helped her get the rest of the way. “There’s no one but him. No one. I want our future, the one that was stolen from us. I want it for me and I need to give it to him. He was…” I hesitated, having shared a bit but not entirely and deciding not to, for Creed. “I can’t say. What I can say is that I explained it all came out and we worked it out. What you can guess is, we’re together so the reason he disappeared was understandable. So understandable, there’s not even anything to forgive.”

She sucked in breath.

Yeah, she was getting me.

I went on.

“It’s debatable who suffered worse,” I told her and she closed her eyes. She opened them when I continued, “And now that’s done. I want his baby growing inside me. I want a home. I want a family. I want to let Creed give that to me because Creed needs to give it to me. It’s what we’d planned. It’s what we’d dreamed. It’s what we went through hell for and it’s what we’re gonna have and we’re not going to wait. Not a month. Not a year. Now.”

“Your Dad did something to him,” she whispered her guess.

“My Dad did something to him,” I replied.

She licked her lips and turned her face back to the window but she held my hand tight. This time, I watched her face work instead of looking outside to watch my man work.

It took some time but finally she said quietly, “You should move to Phoenix. He should be close to his kids and your baby should be close to his or her brother and sister.”

See?

So totally told you that Charlene would want that for me.

“I am,” I said quietly back and her eyes came to me, they were stunned but they were also assessing. “It’s decided. Creed’s going to transfer his admin to you so you won’t feel that financial hit and –”

I stopped talking when her eyes filled with tears.

Then I started talking fast, holding her hand still to my chest, I leaned close and said gently, “I’ll come up. So will Creed. I mean, he can’t come up every two weeks to mow your yard but we’ll come up. Take the kids so you have time and –”

Charlene interrupted me.

“You’re happy.”

I blinked and asked, “What?”

“I didn’t see it or, I should say, I didn’t believe it.” She swallowed. “Now, I see it.”

“Charlene –”

She yanked her hand from mine but then grabbed me by the shoulders, pulled me close, wrapped her arms around me and gave me a hard hug.

I felt her body jerk with her sob as her voice broke with it when she said, “Always, I saw it, that hurt in the back of your eyes. Like you were lost in a way you couldn’t get found.” She gave me a squeeze. “Now it’s gone. You’re found and I’m so happy you’re happy, Sylvie.”

God, friends… freaking… rocked!

Suddenly she pulled back but her hands framed my face and she yanked mine close to hers. “I want you to make lots of babies. Lots and lots of them. You’re so cute and pretty. He’s so handsome. They’ll be beautiful. They’ll be brilliant. They’ll be loyal. They’ll be funny. They’ll be fabulous.”

Shit, I was so over this. Now Charlene was gonna make me cry.

“Charlene –” I started, my voice sounding hoarse but that was all I got out before she pulled my face even closer to hers, her wet, shining eyes were all I could see.

“Make him give you lots of babies. Make him, Sylvie.” It sounded like she was begging.

I didn’t think I would have a tough time convincing Creed to do this but still, I gave her what she wanted.

“I will, Charlene.”

She let my face go so she could throw her arms around me again and give me a deep, sweet, close hug.

I held her back just the same.

She did it sobbing quietly.

I did it breathing deeply.

We kept doing this until we heard shouting from outside, “Who the fuck are you? That’s my lawn, asshole.”

We both shot away from each other, our heads turning and I stared as I saw Douchebag Dan stalking toward Creed.

I reacted faster and moved quicker than Charlene, who was sitting frozen on the couch, staring outside, her mouth hanging open.

My eyes went back to the window to see Dan advancing on a Creed, who’d stepped away from the lawnmower and turned his not unscary attention on Dan. I grabbed Charlene and shook her firmly but gently.

“Kids,” I hissed and looked down at her to see her tear her eyes away from the scene in the yard to bring them to me. “Keep them in the back. Don’t let them hear their Dad.”

“But, Danny’s back. I should go out –”

“Kids, Charlene. Now.”

She held my eyes a second before seeing the wisdom of my instruction and nodding.

I took off.

I hit the front door just in time to see Dan, for some Douchebag Dan reason, rearing a fist back and aiming a punch on Creed.

A second later, I stifled a laugh but not my smile when Dan ended this maneuver on his belly in the turf with his arm yanked up his back and Creed’s knee in his spine.

“You can’t assault me on my lawn!” Dan yelled.

“I can defend myself when you try to assault me, moron, and if you don’t shut the fuck up and calm the fuck down, I’ll show you what assault actually is,” Creed returned.

This exchange went down as I was making my way to them and it ended when I stopped three feet away.

“What are you doing here, Dan?” I asked and Dan twisted his neck, yanking it back in a way that looked kind of painful since he hadn’t quit struggling so Creed hadn’t loosened the pressure.

He looked up at me.

“Who the fuck is this guy?” he snapped.

“Charlene’s new boyfriend,” I lied and Dan’s eyes widened to huge and his mouth dropped open.

“Sylvie,” Creed rumbled.

I grinned at him with him shaking his head, his lips twitching.

Then I looked back at Douchebag Dan to inform him, “She traded up.”

“Get him off me,” Douchbag Dan demanded, still struggling.

“Uh… just a reminder. He did tell you that if you shut the fuck up and calm the fuck down, he’d let you up.”

“He told me he’d assault me if I didn’t do that.”

I shrugged. “Tomatoes, toe-mah-toes.”

Dan scowled at me as best he could, seeing as his face was mostly in grass.

Then he said, “Okay. Whatever. I’ll calm down. Tell him to let me up.”

I looked back at Creed who was still fighting a smile. “Although you aren’t deaf, just in case you missed it, he says he’ll calm down. You can let him up.”

Creed’s grin broke through and he waited a full five seconds before he pushed off and straightened away from Douchebag Dan. This, incidentally, made me love him more and I already loved him a whole fuckuva lot.

Dan struggled to his feet, swiping at grass clippings on his clothes as he took a healthy, and wise, step back from Creed while glowering at him.

“Are you seriously seeing my wife?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Creed lied. “She’s hot,” Creed did not lie.

Dan looked to the house, muttering, “I don’t believe this shit.”

“I don’t know what’s not to believe, Dan,” I stated. “Life goes on. Bills need to get paid. Women need to get laid. Lawns need to get mowed. Bonus for the kids, Tucker here,” I indicated Creed with a swing of my hand, “actually likes them.”

I saw Dan blanch even as his eyes narrowed on me.

“That wasn’t cool, Sylvie,” he said quietly.

Oh shit. I was getting mad.

I knew Creed knew it because he took a step toward me but I didn’t tear my eyes from Douchebag Dan.

“Are you kidding me? That wasn’t cool? You left them,” I reminded him.

“Maybe my head was screwed up but she’s fuckin’ another guy!” he shot back. “I’ve only been gone two months, for fuck’s sake.”

I leaned toward him. “Two months and a week, Dan,” I clipped. “You won’t know this because you didn’t do fuck all while you were here, so let me educate you. That extra week is a lot when you got three kids to take care of, one a toddler, one special needs and you got a lawn to mow, storm windows to take out, faucets that leak, a mortgage that needs to get paid, a car that needs fixed and a second job to get so you can try to make ends meet. You didn’t even leave her the new TV so she could hock it and maybe buy groceries for a couple of days.”

“I wasn’t gone long and she had the savings,” Dan returned.

“She had half the savings, Dan, and no word from you. She had no idea you’d come back. Hell, you didn’t even give her a head’s up you were going.”

“Then she’s blind and deaf, Sylvie, and you’re her best friend so you fuckin’ know it,” Dan shot back.

I hated to admit it but he was right even though the action he took wasn’t.

“So that’s okay, your nonverbal, man communication shoots by her because she’s got three kids to take care of and a full-time job? She should have known something was wrong and fixed it? That lets you off since Charlene didn’t make the effort to drag it out of you?” I threw an arm out. “Jesus, Dan, if you’re serious about that crap you’re more of a douchebag than I thought and I thought you were the King of Douchebags.”

“You don’t get how it is,” he retorted.

Oh yeah. He was pissing me off.

“Clue in, Dan,” I ground out. “I’ve been over here nearly every morning since you took off. I only have forty-five minutes a morning of it but I still know how it is. I also know your wife does not complain. She loves those kids, that house, her family, her life and she used to love you. You fucked up, asshole, huge.”

“Sylvie, go inside. See to the kids. Get Charlene out here.”

This was Creed ordering me around and, in doing so, we’d discovered a time when I wasn’t real fond of him being bossy.

Therefore I replied, “No way.”

“I’m not moving and if I don’t like how it goes down between them, he’s gone and she’s inside. Yeah?” Creed returned.

I took in a big breath and countered, “How about if you figure I won’t like what goes down, he’s gone and she’s inside?”

“Sylvie, just go get Charlene,” Creed kept being bossy.

“Creed –”

“Woman, there is no way in fuck I’m gonna let this motherfucker who walked out on his wife and kids pull shit on her,” Creed declared before he stressed, “No fuckin’ way. You know that. You know me. You got nothin’ to worry about. Now, baby, go the fuck inside, get Charlene and see to the kids.”

“Baby?” Douchebag Dan asked at this juncture and I controlled my blood pressure by looking at him which didn’t exactly help.

“I forgot to mention, he’s my man, too. We do three-ways. They rock. See? You totally missed out. You hung around and acted like a decent guy, who knows what would have happened?”

After delivering that, verbally marking my score at the look of shock and hunger that cut through his features, I ignored Creed looking to the sky and shaking his head and stomped into the house.

I found Charlene, guided her away from the kids and held a low-voiced conversation with her in the living room.

“Right, you go out but Creed is not leaving and, Charlene, I love you, he loves me, he cares about you and those kids, so he’s not gonna leave you alone with Dan in order that he can be close to see to you. You listen to what Dan has to say but, warning, if Creed doesn’t like his bullshit, it’s done.”

“But he’s back and –” she started and God, God, God she needed to clue in!

I grabbed her by either side of her neck and gave her a gentle shake. “Trust me. Trust Creed. Dan says his head was screwed up and maybe he’s not lying. If that’s the case and he’s got his shit sorted, Creed will get that and roll with it. If it’s not, Creed will sniff it out and Dan will be on his way.”

She held my eyes.

I held hers back.

She said nothing.

I didn’t either until this lasted awhile so I whispered, “Babe, trust us.”

She licked her lips before she nodded.

I squeezed her neck and let her go.

She was walking away when I called her name and she turned back.

“Uh… FYI, Dan thinks Creed’s your new boyfriend, he’s mine too and we do three-ways.”

Her mouth dropped open as her eyes went huge.

I grinned at her then went to find the kids.

Adam, Theo and Leslie were strapped into their car seats in Creed’s truck and I was making goofy faces at them through the windows. Once I got big smiles, I stopped doing that, rounded the hood and went to Creed’s open window.

“You got them?” I asked quietly.

“I got them, you get her,” he answered quietly.

I nodded before saying, “Love you, babe.”

“Back at ‘cha,” Creed replied, I smiled at him, slapped the side of his truck with my hand and stepped away.

Creed pulled away.

I moved to Charlene’s house.

I found her in her bedroom, the drapes pulled, the room dark. She was face down on the bed and she’d already been through a half a box of Kleenex, the tissues rumpled and strewn all over the bed and the floor.

Suffice it to say, Douchebag Dan had not got his head screwed on straight. Even Charlene cottoned onto the fact that Dan was home because Dan had underestimated what it would cost to set up a new life without the ball and chain of home, spouse and family. He’d run out of money and had nowhere else to go. This being the case, Creed didn’t send him packing. Charlene did.

When I arrived in her room, I climbed right into bed with her, shifting until my front was flush with her back and I wrapped my arm tight around her waist, holding her close.

“We’ll get you through this,” I whispered.

“He’s a dick,” she whispered back, her voice trembling.

“Yep,” I agreed. “He’s also gone. You feel this for a while then you move on.”

Her body bucked against mine with her sobs but I just held on.

We lay together silently for long minutes before she asked softly, “What if he’s my Creed?”

Seriously?

I loved her but she had to clue in.

“He isn’t your Creed and I know this because the true Creeds of this world are out doing things like my Creed is doing, taking your kids for lunch and ice cream and to a park so you have time to get yourself sorted. They do not take off, shirk their responsibilities, come home after over two months and not even ask to see their kids. He isn’t your Creed, babe. Maybe there’s one out there for you. It just isn’t Dan.”

I heard her stuttering breath before her head moved on the pillow indicating she was nodding.

“I’ll stay until your shit’s –” I started but stopped when she turned in my arm and wrapped hers around me.

“You won’t. When you’re ready to go, you’ll go. I’ll be okay. You be happy.”

“Helping you out makes me happy,” I informed her.

“Not as much as being with Creed.”

That was the truth.

“Charlene, girl –”

She shook my body with her arm. “You aren’t going tomorrow, right?”

I grinned at her through the dark and confirmed, “Right.”

“When my eyes don’t feel puffy and my stomach doesn’t feel funny and my heart doesn’t hurt so damned much, we’ll talk. We’ll plan. We’ll figure it out. I’ll find my way and I know you’ll help me. It doesn’t feel fine now but it will be. It always is.”

“Yeah,” I agreed softly. “It always is.”

“I hope my fine doesn’t take sixteen years, though,” she told me and I grinned again.

“I hope so, too.”

She nodded and didn’t grin back. She dipped her chin and stared at my chest.

I lifted a hand and pulled her hair away from her face and neck. Then I wrapped my arm around her again and held tight.

Once I did that, I said quietly, “Love you to bits, Charlene.”

“I know, Sylvie,” she replied quietly back without looking at me. “Love you, too.”

I held her close and listened to her take another staggering breath.

And I held her close until she fell asleep in my arms.

And I held her close for a while after.

Then I got up, left her sleeping, closed her door and, as quietly as I could, I cleaned her house.

“Got a firm on retainer. I’ll call them. They have a divorce lawyer who’s a fuckin’ piranha. This asshole left her with three kids, one Down’s, that guy’ll nail his balls to the wall.”

I was sitting on Knight’s couch in Knight’s office with my cowboy booted feet up on his coffee table.

Knight was standing at his window, looking down at his heaving club.

It was late. Charlene’s kids were home, fed, pajama’d and put to bed. Creed was outside in his truck waiting for me to chat with Knight. I was upstairs doing that, having asked him if he could help Charlene out in some way and also telling him that I would soon be moving to Phoenix to be with Creed.

As suspected, Knight stepped up for Charlene. It wasn’t just hookers he looked after. He wasn’t big on any woman getting screwed over in any way that could happen.

I smiled at him. “You rock.”

Knight didn’t smile at me. I guessed this was because he really didn’t like it when women got screwed. He was pissed Charlene was going through this, even though he’d met her only a couple of times so he barely knew her at all.

When Knight didn’t say anything, I offered, “If I have free time from Hawk’s job, I’ll work for you the next month for free if you set that guy on Dan.”

“Did you miss the part about them being on retainer?” he asked.

“No,” I answered.

“It’s covered, Sylvie.”

Yeah. Knight totally rocked.

I smiled at him again but this time it was bigger.

Knight turned his head away and looked out the window.

Weird.

He could be intense…

No, strike that, he was pretty much always intense but he wasn’t broody. He spoke his mind and didn’t hesitate to do it when he had something to say. He wasn’t a man of few words. He had words and he used them.

So, as I noted, this was weird.

“I’ll take on Creed.”

This came from Knight, directed toward the window but meant for me.

“What?” I asked.

He turned to me. “I’ll take on Creed. Make it worth his while. If he’s got to take extra time to go down to Phoenix and see his kids, he’ll have it. I always need good men, men I can trust. He’s a man like that.”

I stared at him, my breath failing me.

He didn’t want me to leave.

He was trying to make it so I’d stay.

Holy shit!

I didn’t know what to do with this.

“I…” I started, swallowed, sucked in breath then told him quietly, “He doesn’t agree with what you do.”

Knight tipped his head to the side. “He doesn’t agree?”

I shook my head. “He believes you do what you do with integrity but he doesn’t agree with what it is you do. He won’t work for you and even if he would, it wouldn’t be fair to ask him to leave his kids. He loves them. For me, I believe he’d do that but it would tear him apart, so I won’t make him.”

Knight held my eyes a second then looked back out the window.

I took in another breath as I pulled my boots from his table, put them to the floor then leaned my elbows into my knees.

“I’ll come back, visit you and Anya and Kat,” I told him.

“Got a lot to be thankful for,” he told his window, his words confusing me. “A good woman, beautiful daughter, work I believe in, money, men around me I trust.” He turned back to me. “Still, you left, that hole will not be filled. Not ever.”

Holy fucking shit!

I felt my throat start to close and forced through it, “Knight,” but that was all I could think to say.

Knight held my eyes and I was so undone, I let him and I did it silently.

Finally, he spoke.

“We’ll visit you, too, but, warning Sylvie, we’re not comin’ down there in the summer. I’ve been down there in the summer. It’s torture. Maybe Thanksgiving. Anya gets off on holidays. She’ll like that.”

“Creed has a big table,” I said quietly.

“You cook?” he asked.

“When forced,” I answered and finally got a lip twitch from Knight.

“Creed cook?” he went on.

“Absolutely.”

“Then it’s a plan.”

I stood, and was going to move to him but I found my feet failing me. All I could do was stand there, staring at one of only two men in my entire life who really, truly loved me.

So I decided it was time to give that back.

“You know, I love you, Knight.”

“You could have been one of my girls.”

Again, that wasn’t the response I was expecting.

“Say again?” I asked.

“You came to Denver, after that shit went down with you, if that had broken you, you could have found me for another reason. You didn’t. You didn’t let that shit break you. You didn’t bow to it. You fought it. You didn’t become one of my girls. You became the woman who protected them. That says a lot about you, Sylvie. I respect that. I respect you. I respect that you’re professional, I can trust you but you still got a personality, a sense of humor. After that shit happened to you, you kept that, you kept you. I respect that. I respect that we had an attraction and, not like a lot of women, when we found we didn’t suit, you didn’t let that shit turn catty or destructive. You let it go, you kept us solid and it means somethin’ to me you shared your shit with me. You trusted me with it. You trusted that me knowin’ it wouldn’t alter our relationship. That was an honor, Sylvie. I know you haven’t given that to anyone but me and Charlene, and, babe, it was an honor you chose me.”

Told you Knight could talk.

And that was nice and all, really nice, but I was a little put out he didn’t say it straight. He always said it straight.

Then he said it straight.

“We been through a lot and you earned a piece of my heart, babe. It’s all yours and always will be.”

I pressed my lips together.

“You cry, I’m tellin’ the boys,” he warned.

I unpressed my lips and glared at him.

He smiled at me.

“Come here,” he ordered.

I went there and when I got close, Knight Sebring’s arms folded around me.

Mine folded right back.

We’d hugged only once in the time we’d known each other and that had been when we were drunk and I told him all about Creed.

It felt better not being drunk and after I got Creed back, even if that meant I was semi-losing Knight.

“I’ll miss you, Sylvie,” he whispered into the top of my hair.

“I’m not leaving tomorrow,” I told him.

“Then I’ll enjoy you bein’ a pain in the ass for as long as it lasts.”

I sighed but it was fake and both of us knew it.

Knight gave me a squeeze then he let go and I stepped back.

“Gotta get to my man,” I said.

“Go,” Knight replied.

I nodded, lifted a hand, squeezed his bicep then moved to the door.

I stopped at it and turned back. “You know, I agree.” I shook my head. “That’s not true. I don’t agree, exactly. I believe. I believe in what you do, Knight.”

“I know,” he told me.

“The Serenas though, before they begin –”

Knight cut me off. “Know that, too, Sylvie.”

I studied him and I knew. He felt what happened to Serena. He felt it deep. He knew she had no business in the business.

“We’re instituting better screens,” Knight explained and I knew what that meant. A girl came to him, she wouldn’t work unless she understood the life and could take it.

“Right,” I muttered before, “You got work to throw my way, I can take it on and do Hawk’s job, I’ll take it and be a pain in the ass while doing it.”

“Would expect nothing less,” Knight returned.

“You’d be right,” I replied.

He shook his head and jerked his chin to the door.

I shot him a grin and walked out of it.

I was down the steps, through the club and out the backdoor before I let it hit me and when it did, it nearly brought me to my knees.

I loved the life I had in Denver and the people I shared it with. I was only moving a state away but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like a mother knowing I had to let it go.

I saw Creed standing outside his truck, leaning back against it, having a smoke, probably doing this because he was worried about me.

He studied me as I walked through the streetlamps toward him and he flicked his cigarette into the alley when I was three feet away. He saw it on my face, I knew, and that was why he pulled me straight into his arms and held me tight.

“He’s gonna help Charlene,” I shared, snaking my arms around him.

“Not surprised.”

My arms tightened around him.

“That sucked,” I said into his chest.

“I bet.”

“I’m not gonna cry,” I stated.

“All right.”

I sucked in breath.

Creed whispered, “I love you, Sylvie. Thank you for doin’ this for me, baby. I know you know but I’ll say it clear, it means the world to me. Just like you. All I can promise is, a day won’t go by where you won’t know you got that from me.”

At that, I started crying silently.

I did this while Creed held me and I kept doing it for a good long while.

Through it, Creed never let me go.