Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (106 page)

“Maybe, but the hospital had a responsibility to protect our child and they didn’t do it.  Anyone could have walked out of there with Shae.  We’re lucky it was someone who meant us no harm.”

“I still want to kick his ass.”

“Gabe is confused.  He feels like his wife has never loved him.  He wants someone to love him Nick.  Can you blame him?   Everyone wants that.”

“Ami, it’s not like he hasn’t played women the same way they’ve played him.  None of it was right.  Are you sure he’s gone for good this time?   I don’t think I can take the thought of him coming to steal you and Shae away from us in the middle of the night.  Charlie loves me, but he needs you.  Every child needs their mother.”

Ami squeezed his hand.  “I love you.  I don’t think we’ll have to worry about seeing Gabe ever again.  He seems to be in love with some woman named Stella.”

“There’s a real estate agent back in Brunton named Stella.  She took me around when I was thinking of setting up a shop there.  She’s kinda big but she’s beautiful.  I wonder if that’s the Stella he’s talking about.  Did you have a conversation about love with that psycho?”

Ami gave him a half smile.  “Yes.”

Nick shook his head.  “Of all the things to talk about with the guy that kidnapped our daughter.”

“Mmm.  Yeah.” 

Ami laid her head on his shoulder.  She was half asleep when the cop came out to take them back to his office.

He asked her a lot of questions.  She tried to give him as little information as possible without lying outright.  Nick let her do all of the talking, and she had hope that he’d be able to forgive her for letting Gabe get away.  Right then she thought that she was so tired she could hardly see straight and that what she felt for Gabe was nothing more than a lot of remorse.

She filled out a report.  The officer told her that he’d be in contact.  He shook both of their hands and then led them back out of the police station.  Nick sat Shae’s car seat on the hood of his car and took her into his arms. 

“Why don’t you go home and go to bed babe?   I’ll take Shae back to the doctor for a quick checkup.  Then I’ll go and get Charlie and try to explain all of this crap to my parents.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.  You look like you’re ready to drop honey.”  Nick kissed her forehead.  “We’ll be okay.  There’s still some of that breast milk that you pumped in the cooler right?”

Ami nodded.  “Yes.  Thank you.  I’ll see you at home.”

Nick turned, but she couldn’t stand the thought of letting him walk away.  She had to know that he could forgive her.  “Nick?”

He turned back to her.  “Yes?”

“Can you forgive me for wanting to let Gabe go?   I know what he did was wrong, but two wrongs don’t make a right.  I’m just glad that it’s over.  And it is over.  For good now.”

“I hope so babe.  I may not agree with what you’re doing exactly, but I kind of understand.  And that’s enough for now.  I love you Ami.  I’ll see you in a bit.”

“I love you Nick.”

She leaned against her car and watched him strap Shae into the backseat of his car.  She waited until he’d pulled out of the lot before she got into her car.  She leaned over and popped open her glove box.  She had half a pack of cigarettes in there.  She knew that it wasn’t good to smoke when she was nursing, but she needed that familiar surge of nicotine flowing through her veins.

She shook a cigarette out of the pack and lit it.  She took a deep drag and then pulled out of the parking lot.  She liked the feeling it gave her, but the cigarette tasted like shit and it was reason to believe that it was the last cigarette she’d ever smoke.  She drove home, making only one stop on the way.  She stopped in the downtown area and pulled over and gave the rest of the cigarettes and a $5 bill to a man that was holding a sign that read ‘Hungry.  Really need a cigarette.  Anything helps.  God bless.’

The man gave her a huge grin and she smiled back, feeling a little lighter.  She reached home and realized that home had never looked quite so good.  She unlocked the door and entered her house which was too silent.  It was never that silent even when Charlie was in bed.  She paused for a minute, because it almost didn’t feel empty and she was afraid that Gabe had changed his mind and came back for her.  But there was nothing. 

She shook her head at herself and went upstairs to her bedroom, wondering if she was too tired to wash her hair.  It felt greasy.  She decided she was too tired and undressed, putting on a pair of loose pajamas.  She crawled into bed and was asleep within minutes.

She had no idea how much time had passed when she awoke.  She could hear Nick talking downstairs with Charlie.  Shae was crying.  Nick called up the stairs “Hey Mommy, are you awake?   Shae is hungry and she already drank all of the milk you pumped for me.”

Ami sat up, yawned and stretched.  “I’m awake Nick.  I’ll be down in a minute.  How is our big brother?”

“I’m okay Mom.  Shae is so small.”

Ami laughed.  “I know she is baby.  I love you Charlie.”

“Love you too Mom.”

Ami used the restroom and then headed downstairs.  Charlie was sitting on the couch, already involved in watching a program on the educational channel that Nick had managed to get him to enjoy watching. 

Nick kissed her.  “Have a seat babe.  I don’t think she’s going to quiet down until she gets what she wants.”

Ami sat down in the rocker.  Nick handed Shae to her.  She lifted her shirt and brought Shae to her breast.  Shae latched immediately and began greedily sucking.  “Much better, huh baby girl?”

Nick smiled.  “You’re so beautiful.  Did I ever tell you that?”

Ami laughed.  “You can never say it too much.”  She winked at him.  “I might forget.”

Charlie rolled his eyes.  “Parents are weird.”

“It’s okay Charlie.”  Nick reached out and ruffled his hair.  “Kids are pretty weird too.”

The conversation was light and easy until after they’d had dinner and put Charlie to bed.  Shae was nestled in her bassinet on the side of their bed and Ami was lying in bed with Nick when he said “Babe?”

Ami turned to him.  “Yes Nick?”

“You never would have really have left me for Gabe, would you have?”

Ami laughed.  “Are you kidding me?”

“No.  He’s good looking, he’s rich.  He could give you everything you wanted.”

Ami shook her head at him.  “That doesn’t matter.  Things don’t matter.  Love matters.  People matter.  I love you.  I’d love you even if we didn’t have a dime to our names.  I would live with you in a broken down shack in the middle of nowhere and spend the rest of my life growing all of our food and sewing all of our clothes if it meant that I would always have you, Charlie and Shae beside me.  I was so worried that you were going to hate me because I wanted to let Gabe go after he stole Shae from the hospital, when you’re worrying about me leaving you for him.  You’re the one for me.  I meant every word I said when I said our wedding vows.”  Ami squeezed his hand.

Nick kissed her.  “Mmm.  I love you too baby.  Is it wrong to get turned on when I watch you nurse the baby?”

Ami wrinkled her nose at him.  “It is a little weird.  It’s supposed to make you feel all warm and fuzzy about me, not make you horny.”

“You look so beautiful.  How many more kids do you want?”

Ami laughed.  “It must be nice not to be the one that just gave birth.  Do you think that a mother wants to think about having more kids right after she’s given birth?”

“No, I guess not.  I can’t wait until we can have sex again.”

“It’s nice to know that watching me have the baby didn’t make you want to never have sex with me again.”

“It was kinda gross here and there, but overall it was really beautiful.  I guess we’d better go to sleep huh?”  Nick sighed.

“Yes.  Shae will be awake and hungry before we know it.  Do you think that Gabe will be okay?”

“You are so soft hearted Ami.  He stole our child.”

Ami stroked her hand down his bare chest.  “I feel bad for him.  He wanted so badly for me to love him.  I almost wish I could have.”

“Hey, none of that.  You signed on the dotted line to be mine until death do us part remember?”

“Yes.  I never thought I’d find a man like you Nick.  I used to think that you were all like Corin.”

“I’m very proud to have proved you wrong darlin’.”  He gave her a lingering kiss.  “Goodnight Ami.  I love you.”

“I love you too Nick.  I say three more sounds good.  Maybe four.”  She winked at him.

“How about we start with one in another year or two?”

Ami laughed.  “Deal.  Goodnight Nick.”

He reached over and turned out the light.  She snuggled back into his arms and was soon asleep.

The police didn’t contact her again.  The hospital sent them a note of apology and offered to cover their hospital bill for the birth if Ami and Nick agreed not to disclose the situation.  Since somehow no members of the press had found out, Ami and Nick agreed that it was for the best if they took the hospital’s offer and tried to put the incident behind them.

Two weeks later Ali told her that a local Brunton real estate agent named Stella had disappeared into the night with her daughter.  Her husband Ethan, who owned the real estate agency, had been proven to be the father of a seventeen year old girl’s child and was facing statutory rape charges.

Two weeks after that, she received a package in the mail.  Nick was at work and Charlie was at school when she opened it.  It contained the deed to Gabe’s Place, some other legal documents, a set of car keys and a letter in a flowing feminine hand.

‘Ami’ it read.  ‘I hope this letter finds you well.  Gabriel told me about the stupid stunt that he pulled with your child.  I apologize sweetie.  Gabe has always been impulsive and so damned stubborn.  He’s a romantic fool.  He never realized how much I loved him, but then again we always knocked heads.  We weren’t compatible and it took us way too many years to figure it out.  But what can I say?   We got three beautiful children out of the deal.  Do what you want with the bar.  Sell it, run it, burn it to the ground.  I don’t need it.  One piece of advice though, if you do decide to keep it, please put someone else in charge.  Eric is going to run that place into the ground soon.  I grew weary of dealing with drunks long ago or I would offer to take over until you were able to find a suitable replacement.  The keys are for a very nice minivan.  I don’t know how he managed to trade out the SUV, but Gabe has always been resourceful.  In case you’re interested, Gabe and I are in the middle of divorce proceedings.  He is quite happy with Stella and her daughter Lena.  The silly man has finally found the love that he searched so damned hard for.  They are safely stowed away in some undisclosed location and we will work out custody somehow.  Don’t feel like you pushed Gabe over the edge darling.  He was always one step away from the edge of a cliff.  Don’t try to forget him because he has left an imprint in the souls of many a woman.  I hope that someday he takes responsibility in some shape or form for all the children that he has fathered over the years, but then again maybe it’s better if he doesn’t.  Take care Ami.

Sincerely,

Leslie Atkins

At the bottom of the note was the address of the storage lot where the van was housed.

Ami refolded the letter and set it aside to show to Nick when he arrived home.  They had a lengthy discussion after they put Charlie and Shae to bed and decided to keep the bar.  They talked Carson and Ali into running it for them and offered them a salary that all thought was fair.  The name would remain Gabe’s Place, because he had indeed left an imprint in the hearts of many.

Misty Reigenborn

Revision Copyright 2013

By Misty Reigenborn

Chapter 1

Tory took one last look at the picture she’d taken of her cheating ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend kissing in the woods that surrounded the boarding school and ripped it into shreds.  She dumped the pieces in the toilet and spit on them.  “Asshole,” she told the pieces of Jude’s face that were floating around.  “Stupid slut,” she told his girlfriend Molli.  “If you hadn’t been so eager to put out for him, he’d still be mine.”

She laughed then, thinking of how she'd lost her virginity the same night she'd learned of Jude's betrayal.  She’d given it to Tony, a sexy twenty-one year old that lived a few miles from the school.  It had been something that she hadn't been willing to give to Jude.  She'd wanted her first time to be special.

She thought it was funny that she'd given in to Tony's advances in his messy bedroom while there was a party going on in the other room after he'd gotten her thoroughly drunk and high.  She figured that Tony was better in bed than Jude.  He seemed to have a never ending supply of pot and cigarettes, habits that she'd taken up after spending time with him.

She flushed the toilet and watched the pieces of Jude and Molli float away.  Sometimes she wished she really could get rid of Molli that easily she thought.  But it was time to pay Tony a visit.  She wanted to get high, she needed a cigarette, and she was rather in the mood to screw.  Tony was good for all of the above.

Slipping off the school's grounds unnoticed was easy.  There were few girls that lived there that hadn't snuck out one time or another, and they rarely got caught.  Tory thought that it was pretty ironic that their parents were paying all that money to keep them away from the "dangers" of public school when girls there were never short of male attention.  The woods around the school provided a perfect place for a quick or not so quick make-out session.  Girls at Crestview Academy, the pricey private school she attended; were still getting drunk, stoned and pregnant just like girls in public schools.  Those things were kept quiet though.  The school still held a good reputation; the graduating classes seemed to be larger every year.

She walked quickly down the side of the road, wishing she had a car, or that she'd called Tony before she left so he could have picked her up in the old junk heap on wheels that he drove.  She
knew that he had enough money for a new one, considering the fact that he supplied drugs to seemingly all the teenagers (and many adults too) in the area who wanted them.  She figured maybe he didn't want to call attention to himself when practically everyone who took the time to notice him knew that he didn't have a job; at least not a real one.

She didn't bother to knock when she got to his house, knowing that his door wouldn’t be locked.  She knew with the time of day it was that he would probably be in his bedroom in the back of the house getting high.

"Hey Carl." She nodded to Tony's cousin who was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, playing a video game.  "Tony in his room?"

"Yep." With the way he was slurring his words she could tell he was drunk, though he was barely sixteen, a year and a half younger than Tory.

Ah what the hell she thought, who I am to judge?

"He was askin' about you earlier.  Wondering when you were gonna come by.  I think he wants to get laid."

"Damn good thing that I do too." Carl laughed; turning to give her what she figured was supposed to be a provocative wink before he turned back to his game, going back to blowing people's heads off.  "Kids these days," she muttered sarcastically as she knocked lightly on the door of Tony's bedroom.

"Yeah.”

"It's me Tony."

"Get in here Tory.” He opened the door and pulled her into his room which was in its usual state of disorder; clothes scattered all over the floor.  "Where have you been?  I thought you were coming by earlier."

She could see that he was already high.  His pupils were dilated.  He was sweating though he was dressed only in a pair of jeans that had seen better days.  The air conditioner in the window was pumping out cold air though it was October and hardly hot outside.

"I was busy."

"Busy sneaking around spying on people like usual huh?  You little voyeur, you."

He'd teased her since he'd been digging in her purse one day and found pictures that she'd taken of girls from her school, most in rather compromising positions with guys from town and even one with another girl from the school.  The woods were a hot bed of passionate encounters.  It was easy for her to blend in.  She'd always had a knack for being quiet.  Though she was pretty with long blonde hair, green eyes and a figure that seemed to stay trim no matter what she ate, it had always been easy for her to go virtually unnoticed.

When she'd gotten out of the shower that day wanting to wash the combined smells of pot, cigarette smoke, and sex off of her body, she'd been so pissed off at Tony that she'd wanted to hit him.  But he'd gotten a kick out of it, telling her that she should go into the porno business.  She'd glared at him then, telling him to stay out of her purse.  He'd given her an innocent grin telling her he'd only been looking for a lighter since his had died.

She hadn't gone back to his house for almost two weeks then but the cravings got the best of her.  She'd been coming back without fail ever since.

"Screw you Tony.  Do you have any weed?"

He shook his head, digging a cigarette out of a rumpled pack that was sitting on the cluttered top of his dresser.  "Nah, I just sold my last bag.  I gotta pick some up in the morning.  I got coke, though."

She snorted.  "You know I don't want anything to do with that shit."

"Come on baby, it'll make you feel good.  The sex would be even better than usual."

She rolled her eyes at him.  "Gimme a cigarette.”

“So demanding.  “ He handed her a cigarette.

She lit it, blowing the smoke at the ceiling as she sat down on the bed to take off her shoes.  "You're lucky I'm in the mood to screw or I'd have left already."

"You're always in the mood Tory.  I turned you from a virgin to a sex addict in no time at all and still you doubt my sexual prowess."

"How'd you know I was a virgin?"

He snorted.  "It's not like yours was the first cherry that I popped Tory.  There are several telltale signs of virginity.  A very tight.  .  ." She threw a dirty shirt at him before he could finish.

"I think I get the picture Tony."

He laughed.  "What would you do if I told you that I was out of rubbers, too?"

"I'd tell you to drive that piece of shit car of yours to the store and get some."

He shrugged.  "Ah, so you called my bluff.  It's never hurts to try does it?"

"The last thing this world needs is a little Tony running around.  While my mom and current stepdad might not give a shit what I do, my real dad just might come after you with a shotgun if you got his still minor little girl pregnant."

"You should get birth control.  Condoms really are a drag."

"You know that if I went to the doctor for birth control they might still inform my parents?  Then if they didn't have to inform my mother, Langston would throw a shit fit if he found out I used my insurance for birth control.  They still live in the middle ages, Tony.  My mom probably thinks that if she doesn't get me birth control I won't have sex."

He snorted.  "Enough with the talking.” He stepped out of his jeans and kicked them towards the pile of dirty laundry heaped on the floor.

She lay back on the bad, watching him with hooded eyes as he tore open the foil condom packet with his teeth.  The bed springs gave out a tired groan as he joined her on the bed, reaching down and spreading her legs.

He entered her swiftly, pushing himself fully into her then drawing back slightly, teasing her.  She responded by wrapping her legs around his, bringing them together right below his butt.  He gave her a cocky grin, leaning down to kiss her.

The bed creaked and groaned as he moved above her, the headboard banging lightly against the wall.  She was just starting to feel the familiar tingle of an oncoming orgasm when there was a banging at the door.

"What?" Tony didn’t miss a beat in his thrusts.

"There's somebody here for you Tone."

"Shit Carl."  Tory had to bite back a moan as he moved faster, as if the very act itself would make Carl go away.  "I'm fuckin' busy, or busy.  .  ."

Tory leaned up, and sunk her teeth into the exposed side of his neck, cutting him off.  He glared at her but resumed his thrusts, turning his head towards the door.

"It's just those coke heads that were here earlier right?  Tell them to come back in.  .  .  .  “  He paused.  Tory couldn't hold back her cry then as her drove himself into her fully once again, sending her over the edge and into orgasm.

He licked his lips, grinning down at her as her legs went slack, loosening their hold on him.  "Fifteen minutes."  With a final thrust he came.

"Whatever man," Carl said. 

He moved off of her.  Though she could see that he tossed the condom in the direction of the trash can, it fell short, landing on the floor on top of a discarded pizza box.

"You are such a disgusting slob Tony." She wrinkled her nose as she reached for a cigarette.

He looked at his neck, the teeth marks still noticeable against his lightly tanned skin.  "You need to quit biting me Tory or I'm gonna have to teach you a little lesson."

She snorted.  "I don't know what more you think you can teach me."

He kissed her, reaching down to take the cigarette from her hand, as it was the last one in the pack.  "There's plenty I can teach you, believe me."  He gave her a sly grin.  "It turned you on that he was standing right there at the door, listening to us didn't it?"

She rolled her eyes at him.  "Your bed squeaks so loud that the whole neighborhood can probably hear.  You need a new bed, a new car, and a better house while you're at it."

"Since when did you get so picky?  Last I knew Jude lived in a trailer."

"You keep your mouth shut about Jude."

"Touchy, touchy." He slid a hand up to lightly cup her breast.  "Oh, that's right I forgot.”  He rolled his eyes.  "You've professed your undying love for the guy."

She slapped his hand away.  "Fuck you Tony.  As if you of all people would know anything about love."

"I know plenty about love.  Or sex.  Same difference right?"

She could still hear him chuckling as she slammed the bathroom door behind her.  His bathroom was just as disgusting as his bedroom she thought.  The toilet looked like it hadn't been scrubbed in months, the sink was stained with old toothpaste, and the shower curtain was barely hanging on.

Still, it was better than taking a shower back at the school she thought.

Reaching for the shampoo, she noticed the bottle was almost empty.  Geese she thought, did she have to do everything for him?  Once every couple of weeks or so, she had been driving his piece of shit car to the grocery store, picking up everything from toilet paper to soap, shampoo and laundry detergent.

She didn't know why he didn't do it himself, since with his line of "work" he always had cash on hand.  But then she figured that men would never change.  Some of them would be so totally lost without women in their lives that they might as well live at home with their mothers to take care of them forever.  She stepped out of the shower and dried herself on a towel that smelled like it hadn't been washed in weeks.

With a sigh, she dropped the towel into the already over flowing hamper in the corner of the bathroom.  She stepped into the bedroom, and was rummaging in the oversized shoulder bag that served as her purse for the spare set of clothes she'd brought with her when Tony came back into the room wearing the same worn pair of jeans that he'd been wearing before.

"Crack heads." He sighed, dropping down onto the bed.  "Are so predictable."

"As if you mind." She put on the clean pair of panties that she'd dug out.  "You'd be out a job if not for the drug addicted masses."

He leaned over to the bedside table to snort the line of coke that he had arranged while she was in the shower.  "That I would be."

She shook her head at him and finished dressing.

"You wanna go out for pizza?  I need cigarettes, too."

"I should get back to school."

"You’re the one that says nobody notices when you're gone.  It'll only take a few minutes.  We can pick up one of those hot n ready pizzas.  There's a convenience store right there too, where I can get smokes."

"Fine, then you can drop me off somewhere halfway close to school."

"You're not gonna eat with me?"

"I can grab a piece in the car while you drive.  Let's go."

He grabbed his car keys and pulled her out the door with him, somehow managing to avoid the various obstructions in the way.  There were dirty magazines, empty CD and DVD cases, an over turned bean bag chair and more dirty clothes scattered across the living room.

Carl was still planted in front of the TV, though it looked like he was playing a different game now, since he was now trying to escape from zombies; blowing their heads off instead of the fellow soldiers he'd been blowing away in the last game.