Denying The Bad Boy (Tattooed and Pierced #2) (25 page)

“Mary.” His voice sounded distant, like she was in a
tunnel. He called her name again, and the worry on his face had her blinking
away the fog that had claimed her. “Mary, baby, please answer me.” She looked
at his lips, saw a smattering of blood, but didn’t feel anything but relief
that Alex was there. She burst into tears, unable to control the torrent of
emotion that suddenly took over her. “He didn’t…” Alex didn’t finish that sentence,
but then again he didn’t have to, because she knew what he was trying to say.
Shaking her head because she didn’t trust her voice, she fell into his arms and
let him comfort her.

“Oh my God.”
First it was her mother’s voice, then Margo’s, and then her father was right in
front of her, asking her the same question Alex had. Everything seemed to pass
in a blur of sounds and movement. Her mother, father, and Margo came up to make
sure she was okay, and after she was able to convince them that she was, they
gave her enough room to breathe. Once the ambulance took Lance, and the police
questioned them, she stared at the perfectly manicured lawn again. She hadn’t
moved from her spot, but Alex had placed a blanket over her shoulders. The
shock had since worn off, and all she felt now was exhaustion and was so very
cold. Crawling into bed under a mountain of blankets, locking the world away
until she had slept so long and hard all of this vanished, sounded heavenly.

“Baby, are you okay?” Alex sat beside her and
wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her close to him. She nodded. She would
be. “I am so sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”

She pushed the blanket off her shoulders and turned
so she could look right in his eyes.

“This isn’t anyone’s fault but Lance’s.” She heard
the police saying something about a broken jaw and nose, but after that she had
tuned everything else out. Alex nodded once and helped her stand. He immediately
embraced her.

“God, Mary, I love you so much.” She gripped his
shirt in her hands and rested her head on his chest. Closing her eyes and
inhaling his scent deep within her lungs, she felt everything else fade away.

“I love you, too.”

They had cleared everyone out while the police and
ambulance had shown up, but then Margo had surprised the shit out of her by
telling everyone that the reception was over. Now, here she was, with Alex’s
big arms wrapped around her, his soft, gruff words of affection whispering in
her ear, and her family watching the whole thing. She turned slightly in his
arms, and couldn’t help but smile when he refused to let her go. Her parents,
Margo, and Joe stood right inside the ballroom. Her mother was still crying; her
father looked as crazy mad as Alex did, and Joe was comforting his frantic wife.

“I think I just want to go to bed.” They all stopped
talking to each other and looked over at her.

“Honey, are you sure you don’t want to go to the
hospital?” Her mother sniffed, and her dad gave her a tissue. Her throat was
raw and tender, and when she lifted her hand and rubbed her neck her mom cried
harder. Mary knew Lance had left a nasty handprint-sized bruise on her flesh.

“I’m fine, really.” Charges had been pressed, Lance
was at the hospital, but would be facing jail time for assault and attempted
rape, and she had Alex and her family beside her to give her support. “I really
do just want to go to sleep.”

Alex led her out of the reception hall and to his
truck. After they left the country club and went back to the hotel room, Mary
sat on the edge of the bed. Alex dropped to his knees before her and rested his
head in her lap. She speared her fingers through his hair, and was transfixed
by the way the dark strands felt like silk. In this position he looked like a
defeated man.

“I can’t even tell you the rage I felt when I saw
you on the ground with him right behind you.” She didn’t answer, just kept
running her fingers through his hair. “I wanted to kill him, Mary.” His voice
was soft, but deadly. “I would have killed him, too.” He lifted his head, and
the anguish on his face was tangible. “I also felt hopeless.”

“Alex.” She didn’t know what to say. The situation
was fucked up. Lance
gone,
and she wanted to move
forward. She didn’t want him running her life any more than he had, and she
didn’t want him getting between her and Alex. He swallowed loudly.

They didn’t need to sit down and talk about their
relationship. She wanted him. He wanted her. Nothing else mattered. He stood
and wrapped his arms around her and pushed her gently down to the bed. She knew
he meant to comfort her with his presence, but she wanted him to help her erase
Lance’s touch.

“Help me forget, Alex.” He lifted his head and
stared down at her. He was going to deny her, because she knew any decent man
would think they were taking advantage of the situation, but she needed him to
touch her, needed his smell

all over
her, and wanted his voice filling her ears. “I need you, only you. Please, help
me get rid of the way he made me feel.”

“Baby.”
He didn’t
move for a few seconds, but then lowered his face to hers and kissed her
softly. The rest, as they say, fell right into place.

Epilogue

Two years later

“Baby, where do you want me to put this one?” Alex
stopped in the entryway of their new home, a big box in his arms, and sweat and
dirt covering his face and bared arms. He had taken off his shirt an hour ago,
and the way his muscles glistened from how hard he was working, and the fact
his biceps looked like mountains of muscles, had every part of her warming.
Never would she get tired of the sight of him. In fact, she felt the same
butterflies in her belly around him as she had when she first saw him all those
years ago. She was just as sweaty and dirty as he was, but had decided to take
a small break on the sofa and stare out the bay window. The sight wasn’t all
that gorgeous, just a row of small houses across the street and a few trees,
but it was theirs. Saying that never got old.

“You mean the one that says ‘Kitchen’? I’m going to
take a wild guess and say in the kitchen.” She smirked when he glowered. “I
mean, I wrote where I wanted the boxes to go when I packed them up.” She
started laughing at the blank look he gave her.

“You’re a smartass, and not funny might I add. I
thought these were just old ass boxes with random writing on them. Shit.” He finally
lost the sour look and grinned. He turned and disappeared, presumably into the
kitchen. She rested her head back on the couch and watched as a squirrel ran
across the telephone wires across the street. Their small, two bedroom house
wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was perfect for them. After the whole
situation with Lance, Alex had become so protective Mary had to sit down and
talk with him, and explain that he couldn’t be there at all times, and that
yes, she would be all right. It had taken a long time to convince him of that, and
even that was only after he made her promise to take self-defense classes, and
then proceeded to watch her do said classes. How could she be upset over the
fact he just wanted to make sure she was okay? She had graduated last year with
her Bachelor’s degree, but decided to go back for her Master’s. After Alex
passed his Human Sexuality course, and thus passed his mid-terms two years ago,
he finished out the football seasons and graduated with a degree in sports
medicine. Now he worked in a rehab facility as a therapist for sports related
injuries. She was so damn proud of him, and so proud of herself for rising
above everything and moving forward with her life.

After the incident with Lance, it had opened her
parents’ eyes. They had changed so much over the past couple of years, and she
never thought it would happen, but they actually stated acting like human
beings. They realized everything didn’t have to revolve around status and
money. Margo was still Margo, but her sister called more often to just talk.
Mary thought it had to do with her sister’s eyes being opened to the fact not
everyone was who they seemed, and life really was too short to worry about the
petty stuff. She hadn’t talked to Lance since the incident, but she had heard
he served some jail time, which caused him a lot of problems with the
university he attended, and this was a problem his father just couldn’t make go
away like she was sure he had done for Lance in the past. Aside from that she
hadn’t heard anything else about him, and didn’t care.

Alex came back into the living room and sat beside
her on the couch. She wrinkled her nose. “You stink.” He nudged her shoulder
with his.

“You think you smell like roses, buttercup?” He
rested his head on the back of the couch and turned to look at her, grinning.
“But I’d still do you, all day long.” He let his eyes dip to her breasts, ones
that were barely restrained by her tank. He had scowled when she first put it
on, but it was damn hot, and hell no was she going to move into their home
covered from neck to ankle in clothes, which is probably what he would have
preferred. “Did I tell you how hot you look?” She smacked him on the chest but
grinned. “You do, even all sweaty. I have a major hard-on right now.”

“You’re such a pig.” He chuckled and leaned in, but
she moved out of the way before he could touch her. “No way, you stink.”

“
Aww
, come here, baby. We
can stink together.” He made a move to grab her, but she jumped off the couch
and ran to the other side of it. “We’re both sweaty, so let’s get dirty
together, Mary.” She squealed when he hopped over the back of the couch in one
move and had her in his arms before she could make a getaway.
“Gotcha.”
He started kissing her throat, and she laughed
harder.
“
Mmm
, salty, yet strangely
still sweet.”
She turned so she faced him, wrapped her arms around his
neck, and kissed him.

“I love you.” She felt him grin against her mouth.

“I know.” She broke the kiss and smacked him in the
chest again. “I’m just teasing.” He kissed her forehead, on the tip of the
nose, and finally reached her mouth. “I love you, too, Mary.” He lifted her off
her feet and started carrying her through the house.
“Time to
christen the bedro
om.”
He walked into their room
and shut the door behind him, and that was exactly what they did, over and over
again.

The
End

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Other Books by
Jenika
Snow:

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