The Way Home (Lights of Peril Book 2) (29 page)

Once Shame and Gunner have rounded the back I
let out a deep sigh, still uncertain what’s happening inside. If my girl has been hit, I need to keep my shit together so I can get April and Cherry out safely.

I knock on the door twice
with heavy anticipation. Let the games begin.

Fuck, they could be twins.
This has to be Grey’s younger brother, fuckin’ Ty Meyer. I had heard Warren mention him the night he was attempting to murder my ass, but I hadn’t given another thought to him since.

“There
you are, motherfucker. The guest of ‘Honor.’ Did you catch that little joke?” He’s pointing the gun at me and he thinks he’s fuckin hilarious, making jokes at my boy in the van, who is near death. It’s taking everything in me not to react right here on the front porch, but I need to wait for Shame and Gunner to get their aim.

Just as he motions me I catch sight of a
much bloodied body on the floor. I can’t make out who it is since there is so much blood, so as I glance to the couch I quickly assess who it could be. Immediately, I see Sadey carefully protecting her girls the best she can, but she’s visibly hurt. I see April and Cherry on either side of Sade, holding her up. This leaves fuckin’ Sylvie, the bimbo Ty mentioned. She’s dead, with that much blood and her not moving. She’s gotta be dead.

With no time to mourn
, I take another glance at the girls on the couch. My eyes immediately draw back to my girl. She’s biting her lip, staring into my eyes, willing me to hear what she’s wanting to say. I can’t. I can’t focus on her without losing my focus to kill this son of a bitch, so I turn again into Ty.

“Sit, Hem
, in that chair. I’ve got a deal to finish.”

I say nothing as I enter
the living room. I worry that any one of those girls will lose it if they know what I’m about to put into play. They don’t know of the small cavalry behind them, in the window, about to take down this monster.

I see Shame
’s head underneath the windowsill. Not a time for humor, I get that, but damn if that giant has any camouflage ability. Now I really need to step up the game to ensure this fucker doesn’t look behind my girls, see Shame’s head, and start shooting.

I notice Cherry sitting up
. She sees Gunner in the window. I give her a hard look as the lunatic draws toward me. She needs to stay quiet and not get lost in her relief to see the men behind her.

“You wanna kill me
, fucker? Do it. That’s why I’m here.”

“Hem, no!
Shut up.” Sadey is frantic and that’s the last thing I need. This is exactly what I feared from her.

“Will do.
If your girl doesn’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to waste her first and let you watch.”

I give Sadey a look to calm her
. She’s not budging. He interrupts our wordless conversation, “Not so big and tough now, are you? I waited your ass out. I knew you’d fuck up, leave your woman alone, and come here running with your tail between your legs in surrender to save her, again.”

I’m about to goad him, keep him talking to give Gunner time to position
himself. I see his head in full view as this cluster-fuck in front of me keeps his aim on me. “Took you long enough. You leave your love letter at my door, then you wait? Sounds like someone got nervous. Been waiting to meet ya for over a month.”

“
Actually, I wanted to kill your girl first. Glad she’s here to watch you die though. There’s a certain satisfaction for me in that. Happy I got to play with her a little before then, too.”

Finally I’m hearing sirens.
So does Ty. He takes the gun and points it directly at my forehead. I feel the barrel pressing into me. I close my eyes and picture Sadey coming down the aisle to me on our wedding day. My only solace is knowing if I die right now, my girl’s going to live long and happy. May be too late for me, but Shame will let nothing harm her when he’s this close to stop it.

She cries out and
, although I can’t see it, I feel the gun’s barrel adjust on my forehead and I know he’s turned around to hear what she’s screaming at. My reflexes quickly register and I grab his arm and stand. I’m bigger, stronger, and more skilled than he is, so I move his arm up, pointing to the ceiling and at the same time I hear the gun go off. I yell to Sadey to get the girls the fuck down.

Shame shows up at the window
. I see him break it with the butt of his pistol. Now he’s trying to aim without hitting me and I move my body into an awkward position so that I can push this fucker off me, even if he still has the gun in his hand.

Shame doesn’t hesitate.
Shooting through the window, one shot, the lunatic is down. He’s dropped the gun, but he’s alive with only a shot in the back. Cherry gets off the couch and runs to the rear of the house in terror. April runs towards the front door, opening, then exiting quickly. She’s of a mind to see Honor.

“Sadey, get the fuck up and get out.”
She’s still. She’s not listening to me. Staring at me without any emotion tied to her face, she remains sitting on the couch. Her eyes are swollen from tears and her temple is bleeding so much blood that it’s dripping to her shirt.

Once she registers I may have this under control, she stands up on shaky legs and walks toward me.
“Sadey, I said get out. Now go!”

“Patrick, give me the gun.”

“Fuck no. Get the fuck outta here. Sirens are here. Tell them they are good to enter.”

“Give me the gun, Patrick.”

She only calls me Patrick when she’s pissed, upset, or about to do something incredibly stupid.

Shame enters through the window, careful not to get cut in the process.
He grabs Sadey by her shoulders and pulls her back. She’s not lost eye contact with me for a single second. She looks about as crazy as the fucker who’s lying on the floor moaning in pain.

He starts to sit up and with that Shame pushes Sadey aside, roughly
moving her behind him. He then takes aim at Ty’s chest and shoots. With that, bingo, he’s dead. Guess he won the little game he was playing.

Shame doesn’t show many emotions, but once again I see that look that I remember from years ago.
We had walked in on his father beating his mother to death, literally. Shame lifted his gun, took aim, and shot his father dead as his mother lay lifeless on the kitchenette floor.

As I look at Shame,
disturbed at the place I know he is in, I’m alarmed seeing him hold that gun the way he’s holding it. Psycho is dead, he’s not coming back, but Shame’s memories are. Sadey, my brave girl, doesn’t hesitate as she walks to Shame and grabs the gun from his grasp, pointing it to the ground.

The fuckin’
cavalry have the house surrounded, even though Gunner’s protest that it’s good, that we’re good. Shame says nothing as he makes his way to the front door, opening it, and, even though he’s met with a the local fuckin’ firing squad who have their guns drawn on him, he casually puts his gun back behind him in his jeans and walks towards them.

I grab my girl, who stands staring at me speechless
, take her outside, and sit her down next to the second ambulance that has just arrived. Gunner is making his statement and Shame is standing beside Honor as they work to stabilize him before packing him up onto the ambulance.

Sadey cuts loose of my hand and runs to Shame
. She wraps her arms around him firmly and pulls at his neck to bring him to her eye level. He’s still yet to show any type emotion after killing this son of a bitch, but he grabs my girl with both his arms and brings her to him, lifting her feet off the ground to his own level. She says something in his ear and he cracks a small smile. She walks towards me and, as she’s walking, he calls for her.

“Sadey.”
He is grinning ever so slightly. Her eyes leave mine and she turns to look back at Shame. “I love your face, too, baby.” Then I hear Shame’s phone ring and when he looks to the ID on the screen, his face changes from Shame’s past life the one he’s livin’ in now. That has to be my sister calling. He answers, he smiles, and then he laughs. She must be giving him some fit for not checkin’ in.

Eyes full of tears Sadey turns back to me from witnessing Shame’s
litany of quick changes and carries herself directly into my waiting, open arms. “Can we ever just have some peace around us, Hem? Maybe, if only a week?”

“Told ya
, baby, I’m not all rainbows and horseshoes, but I can promise to try.” I squeeze her tight in my arms and her face is in my neck, letting out a heavy cry, finally.

Gunner is finished with
the police. “We’re taking off, going to follow the ambulance. Fucker missed his carotid artery by a cent. Lost a lot of blood, but the hospital’s on standby, waitin’ at Memorial.”

“Sadey, go with Gunner.
I need you to stay with April and Cherry. All of you are to get checked out. I’m going to hang back with Shame, help sort this, then meet you there.”

“Hem, I love you.
I’m so sorry for this.” I pull her off me to look at her.

“What are you sorry for?
You didn’t do this. Hell, I’m the cause, not you.”

“No, I’m sorry for this.”
She puts her hand on my heart. “I’m sorry for breaking it. I get it now. I get why you would do what you did with Warren. I offered the same to Ty, to keep you safe. I would do it again.” She’s being sincere, heartfelt, and damn, could I love my woman any more than I already do?

“I know, sugar.
We will talk later, okay?”

She stands on her tip toes, pulling my head down to her so she can reach
, similar to how she did with Shame just minutes ago. She’s offering her beauty and kindness, body and soul, to us in thanks for being there as we were.

She kisses my temple, then my nose, then my cheek
, and finally, she reaches my lips. She holds nothing back. Sadey has never been one for a public display, but fuck if she doesn’t give a rat’s ass right now.

In front of the police, medics, and our friends, my girl
gives it to me hard and rough. I don’t even know what to do with it. Once she stops she beams at me through the continuous tears that are falling down her face.

I don’t
crack a smile as I see Gunner standing behind her rollin’ his eyes at her display. He’s embarrassed and most definitely not used to this sort of act coming from Sadey. Gunner can’t help but stop her. “Woman, can you do this later? My best friend is headed into surgery, Mace is chewing Shame’s ass, and seriously, I do not need to be driving you all around while you’re all cryin’ and shit after watching you toss your tongue down Pres.’s throat. Can you guys please, for fuck sakes, do this shit later?”

"And you'll always love me won't you?
Yes! And, the rain won't make any difference? No"

-Ernest Hemingway

Three weeks
later…

-Sadey-

Three weeks it’s been since the drama ended at my house. Ty is dead. The police filed this away as self-defense on Shame’s behalf after countless interviews from all of us. Shame didn’t make anything easier by telling the police that they were delinquents, taking their time getting to us because they despise Peril.

Honor survived
, but is still recovering. He lost a lot of blood and has a lot to come back from, but he’s biding his time during the hospital stay and using it to try to convince April that life is short and to marry him. She won’t say yes. Mace and I have talked to her several times about it, but she won’t budge. She has no interest in marriage or kids or anything resembling domesticity.

Cherry is back to using.
After everything that happened that day she has openly admitted she went back into her dark habit, but tells us she has ‘control over it.’ We are currently in the process to stage an intervention.

Ace heard of
Sylvie’s death through Shame. Those two don’t see eye to eye and in effort to keep as much emotion out of the news as possible, Shame said he wanted to talk to Ace. Surprisingly, Ace was upset, but told Shame it wasn’t anyone’s fault but her own since she came over to my house to start more shit.

Gunner is no different.
He’s single, brotherly protective, and spends his time at the hospital when he’s not working at the club, pushing Honor to get better faster.

Hem and I are together
again, officially. The plans are to have another wedding. His plan, not mine. I never considered him anything other than my husband; however, he can’t let go of the idea that Ace and I were ‘messing around’ while he was away and he wants to piss on what is his again, marking his property, as soon as possible. When I told him all about Ace and I and our involvement while he was in California, he wasn’t surprised, but still very pissed off. So he is requesting, no scratch that, he’s requiring a vow renewal. Jesus, men.

Today
, Hem and I spent the day shopping with the boys. Mace asked Hem, no, she told Hem that she owed Shame for his heroics the day of the Ty drama. She requested that Hem and I take the boys for a few days so she and Shame could relax together, no distractions. Right, relax my ass. Shame does not relax, ever, when Mace is within grabbing distance.

Two young boys at one time
have proven to be the most effective form of birth control known to a woman. I don’t want to think about how hard twins would be. With the constant feeding, changing, entertaining, and every other whim that needs taken care of with these two, I’ve lost my will to have sex for the time being.

As Hem and I pull up to Mace’s I hear Hem sigh in relief.
Since tonight we are going to Peril for the weekly party and my parents are taking both Ryder and Patrick, he is excited to have me to himself again, even though it’s only been a few days. That idea warms my heart, not to mention other parts of my anatomy.

Shame’s truck and Mace’s car are in the driveway
. Just a few more steps and we are child free. Hem opens the door with Patrick’s car seat and I follow him in with Ryder’s. As Hem enters the house in front of me, I hear an instant blood curdling scream coming from Mace and with the events that have taken place in the last month, I’m nervous to see what’s inside. I push Hem forward so I can see what’s happening, but he’s pushing me back and he’s speechless.

Before
I can register what’s in front of us, which is a very hot, clearly
aroused
, smiling, naked Shame, Hem has pulled my back to his front and he’s covering my eyes with his hand, cussing out loud like a damn sailor.

Hem is livid.
“Jesus Christ! Are you two kidding me?” Mace is screeching for a blanket and Shame is laughing. “C’mon man. Cover your ass up for all that is decent. Tell me we have not watched your spoiled ass child the last three days and three very long nights so you could have at my sister over the damn kitchen table the whole entire fuckin’ time.”

Shame laughs
. Although I can’t see him through Hem’s hands over my eyes, I know he’s not moved from his seriously hot, naked and aroused state as he stands in front of Mace, covering her from Hem’s view.

The right thing to do would be to leave, turn around
, and walk out the door, but I don’t want to suggest that because this is the most fun I’ve had with my friends in months. I’m loving that it’s at the expense of both my overbearing and moody husband and his brat of a sister, but also my best friend, Mace.

“Shame, cover your shit. Gimme a fuckin’ break here, man.”
Hem is pleading with him to avoid me seeing a show that I would pay good money to see.

Shame
is still laughing as I hear him moving and can assume he’s throwing Mace a blanket from the chair. Then he starts pulling on his jeans. I can safely assume this as I hear a zipper and Shame’s voice modulate with his movements. “Why you so worked up, man? You’ve seen all my shit before. We used to fuck girls together. I have no indignity in what I got.”

Hearing that, Mace and I both, at the same time screech
in harmony, “
What?”

Hem loosens his hold on my face, telling me Shame’s
ass is finally covered. “Thanks a lot, you fucker. Not so sure they knew about us and our partaking in sexual experiences together.”

Mace is sitting at the kitchen table, the same one she was just bent over, with a blanket draped
around her. She’s pissed about the threesome comment. She’s well aware of Shame’s past and how he used sex as a coping mechanism, but now, throwing her brother into the fact, has pissed her off. “Sadey, dammit, I knew we should have taken that jock, oh what was his name, Trevor, up on his offer to fuck him toge…”

She can’t finish her sentence because
, at the exact same time, both Hem and Shame bellow out their own duet, “
Shut up, Mace
.” She smiles wide at me and I return it. Gotcha bitches, take that.

Shame is
hurt by her attempts to get him rattled. “Would think my future wife would already know how I used to be, but it wouldn’t be a matter because I’m all hers now. Fuck, I was hers
during
those sexual experiences, but she just didn’t know it yet.”

I look to Hem and he to me.
Did he just refer to her as ‘future wife?’

“What did you just call me?”
Mace caught it too. Interesting.

Shame looks at her like she’s lost a nut.
“What the fuck you asking me, woman? Future wife, yeah, what of it?”

“Shame
, you’ve never proposed.” She’s acting as if he wouldn’t remember asking.

He rolls his eyes in response and answers,
“It’s implied.”

Oh shit.
No, Shame. Retract! Retract that statement.

“Implied?
Your marriage proposal to me is ‘Implied?’ That’s how you’re asking me to marry you?”

Hem laughs behind me
. I’m trying to control my own, but damn, this is tough. It’s also A-W-E-S-O-M-E. Mace has herself all worked up. Even though she and Shame aren’t the lovey and romantic types, the love they have for each other matches what Hem and I have, bit for bit.

“Woman, do you need me to spell
this shit out to you?”

“I don’t know
, Shame, do I? ’cause I thought that asking someone to marry you should be more than just an implication, you asshole.”

Shame is annoyed at her inability to understand his meaning
. He loves her and just assumed they would live forever, together, happily ever after. He stalks toward her, grabbing her face, not caring the least if Hem and I are witness to any of this.

“Woman, you have my bed.
You have my child. You’re going to have the rest of my children sooner than later. You sure
as fuck
think you can lead me around by my cock, when you’re not suckin’ on it or ridin’ it. So yeah, it is implied that one day you’re going to be my wife. You sure as shit won’t be anyone else’s for as long as I fuckin’ live on this earth. So yes, recognize it for what it is, damn it.
Implied
.”

She’s only looking at Shame.
He’s only looking at her. The world has fallen away from them both and this moment is something to mentally note for each of them.

“I don’t know what do to with this, Shame.”
She looks away from him to her feet.

“Say yes.
That’s what you can do with it.” The air has left the room, the anticipation smothering us. This is his proposal. He’s doing it right now, so that it’s no longer implied.

God, I love my friends.

“You don’t even have a ring, Shame. You can’t be serious.”

Her voice is quiet and I know my best friend.
I can hear a lace of disappointment in her reception to his so called proposal. She wanted more. She wanted the flowers and chocolate.

This is Shame
, though. He’s one of the most beautiful people I know in the world. He loves her fiercely, and he wouldn’t let her down if there were anyway at all to avoid it. I know this moment. I
had
this moment and my eyes are filling with tears of happiness for her.

“
Babe, you kidding me with this?” He walks past her as he mutters quiet curses under his breath, to the closet off the kitchen as Hem and I stand literally frozen to our spots.

Shame is wearing nothing more than a pair of jeans that remain unbuttoned.
She’s in a long blanket that’s still draped around her. All eyes in the room follow Shame as he rounds the table back from the closet, stands in front of her to catch hold of her eyes with his, and gets on one knee and grabs her left hand in his right.

“You make things a fuck of a lot harder than they need to be
, sweetheart. You make me fuckin’ crazier than even I’ve thought possible. Saying that, you’re still mine. Now, woman, I’m going to ask you to marry me, you’re going to say yes, you’re going to give me two more boys, and we are going to live happy and free, for-fucking-ever.”

She’s staring at him in complete shock.
He bought a ring, he’s asking her to marry him, and he’s just described what his happily-ever-after looks like with her in it. She has yet to answer him, though.

“Shame, if I don’t say
‘yes’ to this, what will you do?” Her mind is working a plan. She knows where she’s leading him. She’s done it all her life,
the little manipulator
, I think as I smile to myself.

Shame looks up
at her in concern and stops in motion of slipping the ring around her finger. “What the fuck are you saying now? This really wasn’t a debate, was it?”

“I mean, if I don’t give you the answer how you want it, what happens?
Will you tell me what my answer is going to be?” She uses her right hand to move his hair that has fallen to his forehead. She’s using it as a distraction so she doesn’t laugh.

“Fuckin’ Mace Cash,
Jesus-God-All Mighty, I wasn’t kiddin’ when I said you make shit harder than what it should be. I sure as fuck wasn’t kiddin’ when I said you won’t be marrying anyone else. So you want a husband and family, sweetheart? I am your only option. I don’t need you to answer, it’s happening. It’s fucking forgone.”

“Honey, you misunderstand.”

Now he finally gets it, slow learner that he apparently is. “Mace, I swear to Christ I will beat your ass and I don’t mind others watchin’.”

“
I love you, Shame. You’re a good man for me, still a good man, despite being
so
much older. All that said, it doesn’t mean I don’t need some persuading.”

He’s on her.
Shoving the ring on her finger, grabbing her face, sucking at her lips veraciously, as she lets out a small giggle once he releases her. “Yes, baby. I’ve always been yours, so marrying you isn’t something I hadn’t seen coming.”

“Fuck, I love you.”

I turn my body into Hem for no other reason than to hold him closely. He’s giving her the flowers and chocolate, his way.