The UN Series Complete Box Set (164 page)

EPILOGUE

TATE

I look at my ring finger as my hand grips the steering wheel. Missy’s name written in black ink covers the skin. I have marked my body since I turned eighteen, trying to cover up memories of my childhood. Trying to hide from the world what still lingers in my mind. But this one…I wanted something on me that represented good in my life—love!

Although we’re not married yet our wedding is only weeks away. The girls have been busy for the last two months getting all the details worked out for our special day. I once told her that I wanted her to share her pain with me. After we got back from Alaska I told her I wanted to get a tattoo. I got the same one that she has scripted down her side for our baby, on my chest. She cried when they did it, and she cried even harder when I told them to tattoo her name on my finger. She’s it for me and it took her almost dying for me to realize that. 

I look over at her sitting in the passenger seat as she slowly rubs her flat belly. We found out yesterday that we are expecting a baby. We didn’t even think it was possible. Her fibroids have been under control with her hormones but the doctor said it would be impossible for her to get pregnant. Well, turns out it’s possible. And it scares the hell out of me. I’m not ready to be a dad. Not the kind of dad our child deserves anyway. But Missy feels differently. She has always believed in me.

I slowly come to a stop and she opens the passenger door before she grabs the flowers that sit on the center console. I get out as well and follow her through the soft grass. Markings are placed all over the ten acre lot that show memory of loved ones, and I feel my heart break for my wife for the hundredth time. I can never repay her for not being here when she needed me the most. But I vowed to her, in front of God and our friends and family, that I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for that time.

Missy comes to a stop as she stands in front of a small angel tombstone. I come up beside her and place my arm around her, pulling her into my side. I look down at the angel made of stone and there is the same script that is now inked into my chest along with her side.

Even though you’re no longer here with me. My love for you will always be.

I turn to her. “I never asked you why you chose purple,” I say softly. That is the only ink I have that’s not black. I had it shaded purple to match hers.

She slowly turns and looks up at me. “Because purple is a color for a girl or a boy.” She bites her bottom lip and I see the tears start to fill her eyes. “What would you have wanted, a boy or a girl?”

I smile down at her as I reach and wipe the tear away. “It wouldn’t have mattered,” I say truthfully. “Any piece of you would have been beautiful and special.”

She leans into me and takes in a deep breath. “I dream about it. I dream of you and our little boy in the backyard playing with a football. Then I dream that you’re in our daughter’s pink room having a tea party,” she says quietly. Her voice wavers, and I know she’s feeling her heartbreak all over again.

She pulls away from me and leans down, placing the flowers on the ground in front of the angel. “Mommy and Daddy love you,” she whispers. “And we will never forget you. Our little Angel in heaven.”

I never really believed in God. When I was a young boy huddled up in the corner, I begged for him to save me and my mother from the monster that called himself Daddy. But now—now I know he exists. He gave me this beautiful woman in front of me who was able to see through what I couldn’t. All my life I’ve fought myself from what I had no control over. She taught me to fight for something. For us as a couple. For her. And most importantly, myself. She made me realize that I had something worth giving. And after all that fighting, God rewarded me. And my reward was her. Forever and always.

I thought she was my weakness, but it turns out she was my strength. The strength that keeps me looking forward everyday instead of what lies behind us. And for that I will always tell her how much she means to me and just how much I love her. 

THE END

UNCHANGEABLE

adjective: unchangeable

not liable to variation or able to be altered.

CHAPTER ONE

SLADE

I squint my eyes and lean forward as I try to read the small black writing on my computer screen. For some stupid reason, my vision is a little fuzzy today.

Parker, one of my best friends and business partner, tries to get my attention from across my desk. “Slade?” He puts another handful of sunflower seeds in his mouth. The sound of him slurping and chewing is enough to drive any man to drinking. Even at this early hour.

“Hmm?” I ask, keeping my eyes on the screen. I squint more, but it doesn’t help me with the fine print. “How do you turn the brightness down?” I mumble more to myself than him.
I hate this computer!
Angel got it for my thirty-second birthday a few months back. Said it was state of the art. The creme de la creme. What-the fuck-ever. It sucks.

I look away from the screen and over to Parker as he spits some sunflower seed shells into a white Styrofoam cup. “Can you go do that somewhere else?” My voice is clipped; I’m in no mood for him today.

A few pieces fall onto his black fitted shirt that looks like he bought in the kid’s department at the mall. He feels the smaller he buys them, the bigger he looks to the women. I think it makes him look like an idiot. Doesn’t matter what the guy wears, women still flock to him. This is the reason he is the only one not settled down out of all of our friends.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asks as he dusts off his shirt, pushing his leftovers onto the floor for the cleaning lady to pick up later.

I ignore his question as I sit behind my desk. What’s wrong with me? I have a few answers to that question. It could be the fact that I think I’m going blind. Maybe I do need contacts like Angel has been saying. Could be because I got no sleep last night. It could be ‘cause of a little foot that kicked me in the balls three times. Could be because a little hand slapped me in the face twice.

See, Angel is letting Sadey sleep with us. At first, I didn’t mind. But that was back when she was a tiny little baby who didn’t move much. She had a little white wedge that kept her in one spot and protected her, so we didn’t roll over onto her. Now she’s fifteen months old and is just like her mommy—constantly rolling around in bed. No bed would be big enough for all three of us. Oh and you can’t forget Peaches. That damn dog loves to lay across my legs. The other morning I got up for work and almost fell flat on my face due to the numbness. That dog needs its very own room.

“Don’t you have something you need to be doing?” I question him while I still look over my screen.

“Nope.” His chipper voice is quite annoying as well.

I look up to see my office door open as Tate, my other best friend and brother-in-law, walks in. He plops down in one of the black high-rise chairs next to Parker. “Please tell me I can beat the shit out of someone today?” He fists one hand into the palm of another.

“The day is young.” We have a party that we are working tonight. Some big rig who works in the oil industry is having a party for his closest three hundred friends. They hired us to be security. 

The security company we have isn’t exactly ‘traditional.’ I know when others think of a security team, they think a bald headed man with a beer belly standing in the center of a mall. That’s what I think, anyway. But that’s not what we do. We do mainly private parties. Very upscale private parties. Parker’s father is the mayor of St. Louis and has kept us busy. I guess some would think that we’re not qualified for this type of job considering none of us went to school for this, but I would disagree.

Parker has plenty of skills that he brings to the table since he is a cop. Tate is just Tate. He can just look at you and it would scare you shitless. He’s the first to throw a punch and the last to go down. He towers over most, and the tattoos that run up and down his arms would make you think twice about fucking with him.

And myself, I have lots of connections from being a defense attorney. People talk about how ruthless I was in the courtroom and how many cases I won. Now that I’ve jumped the fence and want to help those who aren’t always guilty, they want me. It’s a win-win.

“Man, you two need to get laid,” Parker chimes in leaning back in his seat talking to Tate.

“Speaking of laid…” Tate quips, looking over to him. “That bitch you had over last night…?

He gives a chuckle before he responds. “That bitch would be Sarah. She was fun.”

“I’d say. I could hear her in my room. Can’t you go sleep with them at their house?” Tate growls. Tate invited Parker to move in with him about two years ago. Back then, they were both single. But now that Tate is engaged, I think things have changed.

“Wow. You both are very pissy this morning. What’s the problem?”

“You will be the one with a problem if you don’t quit bringing all these girls home. I have to hear about it twenty-four seven from Missy.”

“Why does she have a problem with it?” Parker asks all defensively.

“You’re joking, right?”

Parker shakes his head. “What?”

Tate sighs. “Nothing. Just be careful with who you bring home. That’s all.”

Parker nods his head in some sort of understanding. “Noted.”

The door to my office swings open once again and in walks our assistant. Angel and I both took off when she had Sadey. And I had left Tate and Parker to hold down the fort for a week. That was a mistake. I came back to having an assistant. I was going to fire her, but Angel talked me out of it. She thought it was a good idea and thought I should at least give her a chance. Turns out, she was right. Who knew?

“Hey guys,” she says as she walks up to my desk. I smile up at her. Tate mumbles his hello, and Parker all but whistles as she walks past him. I catch him staring at her ass through the clear view of her black pants. I clear my throat in warning. If something were to happen between them, I would have to fire one of them. Guess which one I would keep?

“Glad someone is happy today,” Parker says as he leans back in his chair with a smile on his face. His eyes run up and down the back of her, taking in her small curves and curly blond hair. If I had to be honest, I would say I have grown quite fond of Krystal. Do I think she is pretty? Sure. Do I find myself attracted to her? No. I have come to look at her almost like a sister. Parker, however, wants to fuck her. After her first week here, I had to give her a dress code. She wasn’t dressing bad or anything, but I just felt like I needed to lay some ground rules. After all, a girl covered in a trash bag could turn on Parker.

Krystal frowns. “Is there something wrong?” She looks down to me. “Is Samantha and Sadey okay?” Over the last year, she has become real close with Samantha. They do regular girl shit together. Like spa days and the gym. She even watched Sadey for a few hours while I took Angel out on our anniversary.

“No, they’re fine. I’m just tired.” I wave her off. Now that Parker has set down the sunflower seeds, I’m better. “What do you have for me?” I ask looking down to the papers that she holds in her hands.

“Yes, Krystal,” Parker smirks. “What do you have for me?” He wiggles his eyebrows and it makes me nauseous.

Tate reaches over and slaps him on the arm. He just chuckles as Krystal giggles. The poor girl. If she only knew how serious he was. He would eat her alive and spit her out. Good thing she is engaged. And if you didn’t know her as we do, all you’d have to do is look at the huge-ass rock on her left hand. Her dad is in financing, and she’s marrying his best friend’s son. They all have money. She actually quit working for her father to work for us. Said she needed some different scenery—whatever she meant by that. I’m thankful.

“This is your schedule for the week. I have printed off copies for all of you. Tate and Parker, yours are on your desk waiting for you.”

“You’re too good to me,” Parker jokes, and Tate rolls his eyes.

“Thank you,” I say taking them from her and placing them on my desk.

She nods her head and turns around, shutting the door behind her as she leaves.

“Are you trying to get us sued?” Tate asks Parker.

“I’m just playing with her.” He laughs. “I wouldn’t really fuck that. She’s engaged, and I’m sure, out of the two of us, Slade would fire me.”

“I would,” I say with a smile of my own.

“Slade?”  I look up as the door opens again. Krystal pokes her head in. “Sam is on line two.”

I nod my thanks and pick up my office phone. “Hey, beautiful.” Parker makes a choking sound that I ignore.

“Did you get my emails?” she asks sounding like she’s out of breath. My dick starts to get hard at that thought. Our sex life isn’t as exciting as it once was. It used to be romantic, and we would take our time with foreplay. Now, when we do it, we usually have to hide in the closet from our daughter. Or the other day, we did it in the back seat of her SUV while it was parked in the garage. And it’s usually a quickie. Real exciting, I know. But as both parents and running a company, there’s just not much time for us to hang out as a family, let alone have sex as much I want it.

“Why do you sound so out of breath?” I ask.

She gives a half laugh. “I’m out of breath because I just helped Courtney bring in two hundred pounds of sugar. Those bags are heavy. But enough about sugar. Did you get my emails?”

“Yes.” I sigh. “But I haven’t had a chance to look at them.”

“Slade.” She takes a deep breath. “I need to know which fabric you want. I have to place the order by five tonight.”

“Order for what?” I hate to admit it, but I sometimes forget what she tells me.

I can feel her aggravation with me grow over the phone. “The curtains. I sent you emails of different fabrics that I think will look nice with the new furniture.”

Ah, the new furniture that she just had to have last week. If I didn’t know her better, I would think she is going through a nesting stage. She went through a big one right after she had Sadey. But I think that only happens when a woman is expecting. I’m not a hundred percent sure. “I will look at them and give you an answer by lunch,” I say already pulling up her email.

“Thanks. I gotta go. Love you.”

Click.

I hang up the phone and start to read the email. “Holy shit!” I say in surprise.

“What?” Parker demands.

“She sent me over fifty different links to choose from.” I was thinking like maybe three. My wife is very picky and when she finds something she wants, she gets it. I’m surprised she can’t narrow it down.

“Just pick one,” Parker says with a wave of his hand, and I arch an eyebrow in question. He sighs. “Do you think she really wants to know what you like best? She’s gonna choose what she likes best. So, just pick one.”

I hate to admit that he has a point. I slide the mouse over the selections and pick one.

My cell phone starts to ring. I reply to her email with the number that I chose and pick up my phone. “Hello?”

“Slade,” comes my dad’s voice. “I need a favor, son.”