The UN Series Complete Box Set (117 page)

The guys have not said anything about the other guy who I know was there. I’m pretty sure they just acted like they were going to check it out but I don’t think they believed me. And Slade could have been right, I was out of it. And for that, I am thankful.

I lie in our bed watching reruns of
Supernatural
when Slade enters the room on his cell. “What the fuck do you mean you can’t come into work today?” he demands.

I place another piece of my Crunch bar in my mouth listening to him. Chocolate, the breakfast of champions.

“I’m where I need to be. At home with my fiancée,” he barks. “You need to get your ass to the office,” he shouts.

I’ve noticed over the last two weeks that his temper is getting worse and worse. His fuse has gone from short to non-existent.

“Well, are you sick?” he questions walking into the closet. He’s silent for a few seconds. “Braxton,” he growls. “I need you at the office. I can’t be there right now.”

I pop another piece of Crunch bar into my mouth as I turn down the TV to listen to his conversation. It’s much more entertaining than my show. “What in the fuck does that mean? A friend needs you?”

I frown. I don’t think Braxton has many friends.

“Fine,” Slade finally snaps. “But I’ll be emailing you shit to do and you better get it done.” He comes storming out of the closet and throws his phone onto the bed before he storms into the bathroom.

“Braxton’s sick?” I ask before breaking off another piece of my Crunch bar, trying to get the scoop.

“No.” I hear him turn the sink on. “He says he has to take care of a friend.”

“Well, that’s nice of him.”

He finishes up whatever he is doing in there and then walks out frowning. “No, it’s irresponsible.”

I frown. “You don’t have to stay home with me, Slade. You can go into work if they need you.”

He walks over to my side of the bed and sits down. “I’m not leaving you until you’re better.”

I sigh looking down at my wrists. The reminders are still there but they are healing. “You make it sound like I have a disease,” I whisper. He looks at me differently. He holds me, kisses my forehead, but he doesn’t touch me. Not with love and affection. It’s more like he is just doing it because he feels obligated, or maybe responsible.

He places his finger under my chin and lifts my head to where I have to look at him. “I’m not leaving you alone until I know you are okay. Angel, I worry about you. Even when I’m in the office, which is one room over. I worry you are going to fall asleep and wake up screaming.”

I know he’s tired of having to put up with me. That’s why I want him to go to work. Once I wake and realize I’m home, I’m okay. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to forget it.”

“What did I tell you about apologizing?” he warns, arching an eyebrow. “Stop doing it. I’m not going anywhere.”

I nod my head as he stands up. “I wanna get out of the house tonight,” I state.

He shakes his head.

“Please?” I pout. “Let’s go over to your parents,” I say.

“Why?” he asks, like that’s a terrible idea.

“Because I want to tell them about the baby.” I sigh.

He frowns. “I thought we decided to keep it a secret?”

“We did, at first. Everyone comes over and all they see is the bad that happened. I want to give them some good news.”

The corner of his lips turn up, and he nods. “Okay. We will go over there tonight and tell them the good news.” And with that he walks out of our bedroom. Seconds later I hear him in his office on a conference call with his brother. Even though he hasn’t gone to the office, he is still working.

*****

SLADE

I sit on my parent’s couch in the living room trying not to think about the event that took place two weeks ago. It’s always there, no matter what I do or where we go. I see Jax’s face, and I see Angel lying on that nasty mattress face down. I can’t shake it. I’m always angry and pissed off at the world.

Angel on the other hand is doing great. She wants to move on, start planning our future—I’m keeping us in the past. But she doesn’t know how bad it was. She doesn’t know how we found her; drugged and bound. She doesn’t know that I had to have her sedated because she continued to freak out in the hospital. That’s how much the drugs affected her. They took almost two days from her life. She doesn’t remember asking me if I was the one who hurt her. Or what Tate did to Jax. He had to seek medical treatment before they were able to book him, which is a pity. I was hoping Parker would have let the fucker bleed to death before he called it in.

I wish I could forget and move on as well. I’m going to try tonight. Jax is in jail. We are going to have a baby. So I’m going to smile and pretend that night doesn’t haunt my dreams like it does hers.

My mother clears her throat, and I look up at her sitting across from us. She lifts her glass of wine and looks at Angel. “Would you like a glass?”

“No,” I snap answering for her.

Angel looks over at me with a frown on her face. She reaches over and pats my leg. That was a mistake, my eyes land on the marks that still circle her wrists and my jaw clenches.

“No thank you,” she answer sweetly.

My mom nods her head. “I shouldn’t have asked. You must be on pain meds.”

I grind my teeth together, another fucking reminder.

“No, actually…” she trails off.

Actually she fucking refused them once she found out she was pregnant. Said she didn’t want them to affect the baby.

I look up at her when I notice the room is silent. Angel nods her head toward my parents and her eyebrows rise.

What?

Oh yeah, she wants to tell them the
good news
. I lift my drink my father gave me when I walked in; scotch. I give my parents a big fake smile. “We are expecting a baby,” I announce cheerfully.

I faintly hear my mother crying as she speaks about a grandbaby, and I feel Angel stand up from beside me as she speaks to my parents. I bring the drink to my lips once more.
A baby!
I take a big gulp.

“Slade?”

“Hmm?” I look up to see everyone staring down at me. “What did I miss?” I ask looking from Angel’s frown to my dad’s tight jaw.

“Will you excuse us for a second?” she asks my parents before she sits back down beside me. “What is wrong with you?” she questions.

I sigh. “I just have stuff going on,” I lie.

She looks down to her engagement ring and slowly turns it around on her finger. “Do you no longer want to be with me?”

“What?” My eyes look at hers. “How can you think that?”

She nibbles on her bottom lip nervously. “Then is it the baby?” she questions. “Do you not want it?” she whispers. “I can do it by myself.”

I place my drink on the end table and take her hands in mine. “Why would you ask me that?”

She pulls her hands from mine. “Because you act like it’s killing you to be happy about it. I can see your smiles are fake, and I also see how angry you’ve been.” She takes a deep breath. “You said we would work through ‘whatever happened’ together but I seem to be the only one trying to work through it.”

I sigh, trying to relax. I thought I’ve been there for her but I haven’t, not really. “I’m sorry, Angel. I am excited about our baby. I love you. Both of you.” I place a hand on her belly.

“I know it’s hard, Slade. But what did you tell me when Jax came back into our lives?”

That motherfucker!
I roll my shoulders. “What?” is all I can manage, voice tight.

“You said to not let him win. Look what we have ahead of us.” She pats my hand that rests on her flat belly. “Don’t let him win.”

I sigh. And she gives me a smile. This beautiful Angel is sitting beside me and no matter what life throws at us, we will have each other along with a baby.

“You’re right.” I smile. And it’s my first real smile in over two weeks.

My mom and dad reenter the room, and my mother instantly asks about the wedding.

“Have you guys picked a date yet?” she asks as she dabs the corners of her eyes.

“No.” Angel shakes her head.

“Well I’m thinking a winter wedding,” my mother says excitedly. “Wouldn’t it be beautiful to have a wedding while there is snow on the ground?”

“No.” I frown. “I don’t want to freeze my ass off. You know I’m not a winter kind of guy.”

Angel laughs.

“Well let me get a calendar then.”

I see Angel shift uncomfortable, and it makes me nervous. I watch as she looks down at her engagement ring once again. “Are you okay?” I lean over and whisper.

She continues to look down at her ring, and she gives me a small nod. I swallow getting nervous. “Do
you
not want to get married?” I ask slowly.

She looks up at me with big eyes. “No, I do,” she says sadly.

“Then what is it?” I push a piece of hair behind her ear.

She bites her bottom lip as she looks around the room... I follow her eyes and notice we are alone again

“I...” She pauses for a second and swallows. “It’s just I don’t have any family to invite. I won’t have my dad to walk me down the aisle.” She looks up at me as tears fill her eyes. “My mother…”

I feel a pain in my chest. I’ve let my anger consume me that I haven’t thought about not having someone walk her down the aisle. I have tried to be understanding to why Tate keeps his secrets but right now I want to tell her about her brother. The big brother who could walk her down the aisle, but there’s still that possibility that she will run from him. Throw him out of her life, and he will miss everything.

So, instead I take her hands in mine. “I’m sorry, baby. Would you like to elope? Just the two of us?” She deserves more than that but I don’t want her to feel obligated to anything that will make her feel uncomfortable.

She gives me a small smile as I reach up and wipe a single tear off of her cheek.

“I like that idea but your parents…”

“Can I say something?”

We both look up at my mom and dad standing in front of us once again. Angel nods to him.

He takes a deep breath as he sits down next to her, looking into her eyes. “I don’t want to overstep my boundaries,” he says gently. “But if you don’t mind, I would love to walk you down the aisle. Vivian and I already see you as our daughter. I would be proud to give you away.”

And just like that, all my anger is gone and replaced with love. I feel my throat close up as tears threaten my eyes.

“You would do that for me?” she whispers.

My father nods. “Of course I would. I know I can’t replace your father, but I would be honored to have that opportunity. We love you, Samantha.”

She releases my hands and wraps her arms around my dad’s neck as she hugs him. “Thank you, Mark.” I hear the crack in her voice, and it once again tears at my heart. I look up at my mom when I feel her hand on my shoulder. She has tears in her eyes as well.

“So.” She tries to smile down at me. “Let’s start planning this wedding.”

Angel pulls back from my dad wiping her eyes and smiling brightly. “Yes, let’s start planning our wedding.” She looks at me.

“I don’t want to wait,” she says looking to me. “I also don’t want to be fat.” She giggles rubbing her belly.

“How about in two weeks?” I offer. The sooner she is my wife, the better.

“Two weeks?” We both look up at my mom who stands there looking at us wide-eyed.

“I have faith in you, Vivian.” Angel laughs.

My mom smiles as her eyes get soft. “Two weeks,” she agrees.

I watch as Angel stands up and walks off with my mom as she rambles on about looking some stuff up on the internet. I turn and look at my dad as he watches them walk out of the room as well.

“Thanks Dad,” I say getting his attention.

He smiles. “No need to thank me. I was telling her the truth.” He reaches out and pulls me into a hug. “I love you son, and I’m very proud of you.”

I pull away somewhat stunned. “You can be the most powerful person in the world, but nothing compares to having a woman who loves you.” He pats my shoulder. “And that woman loves you.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

SAMANTHA

I walk into our house with a smile on my face feeling much better. Just letting Slade’s parents know about the baby has lifted my spirits to an all-time high. They are just as excited as we are. Or as I am.

I look over at Slade as we walk past the kitchen to head back to our bedroom. “I’m gonna grab a bottle of water. Would you like one?” he asks pulling his phone out of his back pocket as I hear it vibrate.

“Yes please,” I say with a smile hoping he returns it. He doesn’t.

He nods his head once as he looks down at his phone before turning around to walk off into the kitchen.

I make my way back to the bedroom and go to the closet to get undressed and ready for bed. Once I walk in I spot the handcuffs lying on the floor on his side of the closet and I smile. We haven’t had sex since before the accident. Come to think of it, he hasn’t touched me in any sexual way since then.

Bending down to pick them up, I walk back into the kitchen. With a big smile on my face, I hold them up and say, “Wanna play?”

He looks up to me and my smile drops off my face. His baby blue eyes are dark and his jaw is tight. His nose flares as he looks to the cuffs and then back to me.

He stalks over to me and yanks them out of my hand. “You want me to use these on you?” he asks in disbelief as he looks down at the marks that still cover my wrists.

“It’s been awhile.” I shrug, nervously answering his question. “I just thought…”

“We’re never using them again,” he snaps before he spins around and goes to throw them in the trash.

What happened? Why is he so mad? “What?” I ask confused. He starts to pace back and forth in the kitchen as he frantically mutters to himself. “Is everything okay?” I know it’s not but I need to know what’s going on.

I think he’s losing it.

He gives a laugh but it holds no humor. “No. Everything is not fucking okay,” he rants before tossing his phone onto the kitchen island.

“What’s wrong?” I ask getting more worried by the second. “Whatever, we can get through it together,” I try to reassure him with the same words he did to me in the hospital.

“I can’t get over something that I can’t fucking forget,” he snaps, and I take a step back shocked by his anger.

“I don’t understand…” I whisper. He was just fine not ten minutes ago.

“Of course you don’t understand because you can’t remember.” He points a finger at his chest. “I remember everything.” He spits out the words.

“Do you know I watched that bastard take you?” he asks catching me off guard.

Huh? “How…?”

“The surveillance camera showed all of it.” He waves a hand in the air.

I place my hand over my mouth and shake my head quickly. Oh, God. I forgot about the surveillance cameras.

He nods his head quickly wide-eyed. “Yeah. I saw him hit you. Drag you across the concrete. I spent three hours looking for you,” he bellows, “with my last memory of you lying unconscious in the passenger seat of your fucking car. With nothing else to go on.” His body shakes from his anger. “Not knowing where he was taking you.” He points at himself. “When I finally did find you, you were in a rundown house in the middle of nowhere. Your hands were tied behind your back along with your feet tied together,” he rants. “I held you in my arms as you appeared to be dead.” His voice cracks and tears start to well up in his eyes. “Then in the hospital,” he adds angrily, “I had to hold you down while you screamed that I was hurting you. Fuck, I probably was. Do you know what that did to me?” he demands.

I shake my head as tears run down my cheeks.

“You thought I gave you those marks,” he says in disbelief as he points to my wrists. “You honestly thought I did that.”

I shake my head. “I didn’t know…”

“You thought it was me,” he stresses, and I try to swallow the lump in my throat.

He takes a step back and runs a hand through his hair. “I had you sedated,” he says more to himself than to me as if he can’t believe he did it.

“What?” my voice cracks.

“I had no other choice,” he snaps defensively. “Do you know what
that
did to me? Knowing I could hurt you or the baby?” he asks, and his voice shakes with fear.

“We’re okay.” I place a hand over my stomach.

“He made me take that chance,” he yells once again referring to Jax. “It could have hurt our child. I would have had to live with that.” His face is starting to turn red from shouting so much.

I try to imagine the fear he must have felt. For me. For our child.

I look down to his cell phone lighting up as it vibrates. He looks down at it and presses ignore.

“I lie awake at night waiting for you to wake up.” He lets out a shaky breath and quickly wipes his face clean with his hands. “Even when you don’t wake up, you talk in your sleep. You mention Jax, and you beg him to stop.” He shakes his head and then his watery eyes meet mine. “You have no idea how much that breaks my heart. I don’t know what’s happening to you, and I can’t save you.”

His phone rings once again, and he presses ignore before muttering a curse.

“Why are you so mad at me?” I ask trying to understand the reason of his outburst.

“Because you want me to fucking restrain you and then fuck you,” he fumes as if it’s an absurd idea. “What if halfway through you start to panic? Have flashbacks?”

I shake my head. “That wouldn’t happen…”

“You don’t know that,” he yells before he slams his hands down on the kitchen island.

“Quit yelling at me,” I demand fisting my hands down to my side. “I remember things too, Slade,” I spit out tired of this shit. “I remember him saying you’ve been keeping secrets from me.” His body stiffens, and he sucks in a breath. “Wanna tell me what he meant?” I inquire, placing my arms over my chest.

“He was on drugs,” he exclaims. “The motherfucker had no clue what he was talking about.”

“He seemed to have known something,” I retort angrily. Was Jax messed up? Yes. But do I feel Slade is keeping something from me? Yes.

“He was just trying to hurt you.” He rolls his eyes dramatically as if I’m the dumbest bitch he’s ever known. “He would have told you anything to be mad at me, and it pisses me off that you believed the son of a bitch,” he spits out.

“Oh, and I guess you think me remembering someone else there was my stupidity as well?” I snap.

“There was no one else there,” he yells.

There had to have been.
“I remember,” I cry as tears fill my eyes. “I remember his hands on the back of my neck holding my face down into a mattress. I couldn’t breathe,” I shout furious at remembering. “I heard voices.
Voices
, Slade,” I stress. “There was someone else there who helped him.”

He stares at me with hatred, and I stare back with narrowed eyes.

The house phone rings, and he storms over to where it sits on the kitchen counter. He picks up the phone and yanks it out of the wall before he throws it across the room and it hits the glass cabinets, shattering them.

The glass scatters into tiny little pieces on the tile floor. “I’m sorry,” I cry out, covering my mouth, and take a step back. “I’m trying to remember more. I know I would be of more help.”

“I don’t want you to remember,” he thunders, throwing his hands up in the air more pissed than ever. “I don’t want you to go through this.” His voice softens, and he shakes his head as he looks down to the glass.

His figure starts to blur as the tears well up in my eyes and I feel my phone vibrate in my back pocket. I blink a few times before I reach around and grab it.
Parker
lights up.

I go to press ignore when Slade comes over and snatches it from my hand and answers. “Stop fucking calling. I told you I will talk to you about it later,” he snaps. “No. It’s not possible.” He shakes his head quickly to himself. “You said this wasn’t a possibility.” He spins around giving me his back as he runs his hand through his hair. “I don’t care what you have to do. Make it happen,” he yells before he hangs up, and then I watch him shut my phone off before tossing it onto the island beside his.

He takes a few deep breaths trying to calm down his anger as he starts to pace once again.

Make it happen? A possibility?
I swallow nervously afraid that what I’m about to ask might have us going for round two in this screaming match. “What’s going on?”

He places his hands on the island and hangs his head. He takes in a deep breath before he speaks. “Jax is trying to get immunity.”

“What does that mean?”

He looks up to me and my heart breaks at the sight of him. Of what I put him through. “Means he wants to make a deal,” he grinds out. “He wants to rat out someone else in order to make a deal for himself.”

“The other guy I remember?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Dallas.”

Who the hell is Dallas? I remember hearing Tate and Slade mention that name at the hospital. “Can that happen? Will they release him?” I ask starting to panic.

He shakes his head quickly. “Over my dead body,” he growls through clenched teeth.

“Don’t say that,” I say walking over to him.

I come up next to him, and he looks down at me. His blue eyes still hard and jaw tight. He swallows and then pushes away from the kitchen island. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into him.

I inhale deeply letting his scent calm my nerves. He kisses my hair and speaks. “I promise you he won’t get out.”

I look up at him and give him a small smile. “I believe you.” I reach up and place my lips on his giving him a soft kiss, just out lips touching. He then goes to pull away, but I tighten my grip on him and try to deepen the kiss.

He grabs a hold of my shoulders and pushes me away. “Stop,” he growls.

“Why won’t you touch me?” I sigh.

“I told you why. You’re not ready for that. Your body is still trying to heal,” he snaps.

“I feel fine,” I argue. I’m a little tired but that could be due to the pregnancy.

His voice softens. “Quit saying you’re fine when your body proves otherwise.” He sighs running a hand through his hair. “If I were to take you right now it would be for my own selfish reasons, and I won’t be that guy.” He shakes his head to himself. He then grabs the keys out of his pocket and his cell phone off of the kitchen island. “I have to go and see Parker. Don’t wait up.”

He kisses my forehead before he walks out of the kitchen, leaving me standing there wondering how long it will take us to get past this. How long will Jax continue to affect us?

*****

SLADE

It’s been three days since I had my outburst in our kitchen. I couldn’t keep it in anymore. I understand she remembers things but for her to want me to cuff and fuck her—I just couldn’t do it. I told her she wasn’t ready but the truth is, I’m not ready. And that fact makes me sound like a fucking pussy but it’s the truth. We are both not ready, each for our own reasons.

Things are better between us. I came back home a few hours later that night and she was already asleep, only waking up twice with nightmares. Then the following morning to her making breakfast. She acted like our fight had never happened, and I’m okay with that.

After my three hour conversation with Parker about Jax wanting immunity, I could have used some good news. Her pretending our argument never happened and the fact that she wants to plan our wedding has helped.

Every day is getting better for both of us, and I know that all we need is time to get through all of it. I’m sitting on the couch with Parker and Micah at our house, as Angel and Holly are in the kitchen going over wedding stuff. That is all she has done since we figured out a date at my parents’ house. We had everyone over last night and announced the pregnancy. Well, everyone except Missy. She didn’t answer when Angel called her so she left her a message inviting her over.

She didn’t show or call her back.

My life has been replaced with wedding planning and baby stuff. When we are in bed her tablet is on while she looks for things. She will show me things and ask my opinion just like Micah said she would, but I find it refreshing. I love that she asks for my opinion.

“I need a new beer.” Parker stands pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Me too,” Micah says also standing.

I get up and follow them into the kitchen. Angel and Holly are going through a few magazines that Holly had brought over. My eyes instantly go to her wrists. The sight of them still makes me sick. The bruises on her face are pretty much gone. The only one that remains is the one on her forehead from Jax shoving her head into the dashboard. Last night when we told our friends about her pregnancy, there were tears shed. Everyone feels bad for what happened to her. I think we all blame ourselves in some way. I even caught Parker staring at her wrists several times last night. I think he’s taking it harder than he wants to let on.

After he arrested Jax, he called to tell me that her car was trashed. There was blood on the dash, and you could see that they had struggled in it. And he had found a baggie of drugs in her glove box. I told him I would pay to have it cleaned and then to fucking sell it. There was no need for her to see that car and have flashbacks.