Beyond Repair (33 page)

Something was wrong.

I stopped walking and noticed he was looking at something behind me. Turning around, I saw the reason why Chris was so angry.

Pierce was also heading toward me from the opposite direction.

Fuck.
I should have known the meeting was too easy, but I was still going to stand my ground. I turned around, staring at Pierce as he came closer. Chris stopped next to me. “Is that him?”

“Yes.” I couldn’t stop looking at Pierce, who’d slowed down drastically now that Chris was beside me with his arm tightly around my shoulder in a possessive gesture.

Pierce stopped a few feet from us. “We need to talk.”

I could hear Chris’s heavy breathing next to me. His body shifted, and he said quietly in my ear, “Get in the car. Now.” The anger in his words seeped all the way into my bones.

“No,” I whispered.

“Brooke, this is going to get ugly. Get in the car.”

“I want to hear what he has to say.”

“You already talked to him, and he came out after you. Get in the damn—”

I didn’t give him a chance to finish. Instead, I raised my voice so Pierce could hear me. “What?”

His eyes darted to Chris but landed back on me. “I know I signed, but now that my dad isn’t around, I don’t have to worry about him interfering. I want to meet her.”

I laughed, though nothing about this was funny. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“I’m serious.” I could tell Pierce was trying to look tough, but it wasn’t working. “I have the right to meet my daughter.”

Chris’s fingers dug into my shoulder. “Heard enough?”

“No.” I moved out of Chris’s hold and walked closer to Pierce, getting as close as I could without touching him. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and hate radiated from me as I stared into his eyes.

“I don’t give a fuck what the law says, just like you didn’t when you raped me. You have no fucking rights to her. You will never meet her—”

“I’ll get whatever I want. I always do.” He smiled smugly at me. “I got away with what happened to you, didn’t I? Imagine what will happen when I have a legal right.”

I let out the breath of air I didn’t realize I was holding. “Chris, hit him.”

Chris’s hand smashed into Pierce’s face, the cracking noise ringing in my ears. Pierce stumbled backward, falling on his ass. Chris dragged him back up by his shirt and raised his arm to punch him again. Pierce glared at him. “Big mistake. You fucking hit me again and I’ll have you in jail for battery and assault.” The blood flowed from his nose and into his mouth, turning his teeth pink.

The rational part of my mind knew there was truth in what Pierce said. Chris was twice the size of him, and there was really no logical reason in the eyes of the law that he should be hitting him. “Chris, he’s right,” I said as put my hand on his fist. “You broke his nose; that’s good enough.”

“Like fuck it is,” Chris growled, glaring at Pierce. “This shit …” He stopped talking and looked at me. “Want to hit him?”

Oh my God, I did so bad. I nodded, glancing in the direction of the building. It was out of sight, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t walk by, or that there weren’t security cameras somewhere. Our time was limited.

“What the
fuck
,” Pierce gasped, as Chris whipped him around so he was facing me.

Pierce was tight in Chris’s hold, his eyes spewing venom as he looked at me. I cracked my knuckles. I was probably only going to get a few hits in, and I needed to make them good.

My hand squeezed into a fist, I reached back, and …

CRACK.
My fist connected to his right eye.

“You
bitch
!”

Fuck that was good. I had to get another one in.

CRACK.
His head flew back as I punched his jaw.

A hand was on my shoulder, and I jumped, turning to face the security guard I had met earlier.

“Frank stopped us from calling the cops, but he’s on his way,” he said. “You have one more. Make it count.”

I brought my knee up. Hard, fast, and right in his crotch.

Pierce screamed, and Chris released his grip. He sank to the ground, turning on his side as his hands reached down to grab himself.

I squatted down next to him. “If I ever see you again, that’ll be nothing.” Rising to my feet, I brought back my foot to kick him in the stomach, but Chris put his hand on my arm. “You got him. That’s good.”

Frank pounded down the path, gasping as he stared at his son.

As soon as Pierce saw his father, his demeanor changed. “Dad, call the cops,” he mumbled.

Frank shook his head. “No. They’ll want to know her motive. And we don’t want to have her name connected to yours.”

I smiled down at him. “Yeah, Pierce. You don’t want news getting out about our little disagreement. Wouldn’t be good for your image.”

He leered at me. “You’re a fucking cunt.”

I shrugged. “I think that’s held in a higher regard than a rapist.”

A stifled laugh caused me to turn. My favorite security guard was standing with four other guards. I hadn’t even realized we had an audience.

Frank glared at them. “I want the footage erased. And Brooke,” he said, looking back at me. “It’s time for you to go. You have what you wanted.” He nodded at the folder I was clutching in my left hand. “There is no reason for you to come back here, and we will not be contacting you.”

“For once, I agree with you.”

Chris and I turned and walked toward the car. After getting in, the adrenaline started to leave my body, and I was suddenly exhausted. “Let’s get the hell out of here. Far, far away.”

“Sounds good to me.” Chris squeezed my leg, then put an envelope on my lap and took off driving.

The envelope looked familiar. I opened the flap and pulled out the pictures that Frank had dangled in front of me earlier. “Oh, my God. How did you get this?”

“That security guard handed it to me after I let go of that douchebag. He told me to hide it until I could give it to you.” He glanced at me. “What was in it?”

“Pictures. I’ll explain in a few minutes.” I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes, wishing I could send a telepathic thank you to the security guard. Now that I had these pictures, there was no way Frank could deny that he didn’t know about Mia if I went public. It was perfect.

“You okay?”

“I’m better than okay.” I couldn’t help grinning as I turned toward him. “I loved punching him. Thank you so much.”

He laughed. “I figured if you weren’t going to let me do it …” He frowned as his gaze shifted down. “How’s your hand?”

“Fine,” I said, holding it up as I opened and closed my fingers. “Kyle taught me how to punch.”

“Did he teach you how to kick someone in the nuts, too?”

“Nope, that was purely instinct.”

Chris was silent for a moment. “Do you want to talk about what happened inside?”

With all of the excitement on the way to the car, I had completely forgotten that Chris didn’t know how the meeting went. “I’ll tell you all about it in a minute. Right now, I just want to get as much distance between this place and us as possible.”

“You got it.” He pulled onto the highway and we headed north, far away from Pierce, Frank, and bad memories.

But now there was more than bad memories. I had a memory of grabbing everything bad that happened by the throat and choking the life out of it.

And it felt pretty damn great.

I glanced over at Chris and grinned at him. There was no one on Earth who understood what I needed more than he did. He’d held up Pierce for me to punch so I could feel the satisfaction of revenge. He didn’t want me to meet with Pierce by myself, but he let me because it was what I needed to do to move on. And while most people would be pumping me for information at that moment, he drove in silence because he knew I needed a few minutes to process everything before I told him.

And after those few minutes, I was ready and told him what happened. He was angry we had all been followed, especially Mia, Ryder, and me. But he was absolutely livid that Frank knew Mia was carrying the cancer gene and did not tell me.

“What the fuck is
wrong
with him?”

“That’s what I said.”

Chris shook his head. “Why am I even surprised, after what he did to you?”

I leaned back into my seat and closed my eyes. “Let’s not think about them anymore. I’ve wasted so much time on them these past five years. I’m so done with the angry feelings and being scared.” I opened them up and focused on Chris. “I have so many better things to focus on.”

Chapter Thirty-One

C
HRIS AND I PLANNED TO
stop midway home and stay in a hotel. I had originally wanted to go straight home for Mia, but Zoey once again proved to be the smart sister, rolling her eyes and telling me that Mia would be asleep long before we got her. I couldn’t argue. She was fully recovered and looking forward to spending time with her cousins.

“Do you want to go out for dinner or should we get room service?” Chris asked.

I didn’t hesitate. “Room service.”

“Good call. Let’s just go straight to the hotel then.”

We checked in and made our way to our room. Chris opened the door and tossed the key card on the dresser as we walked into the room. “Nice.”

It was nice, but I really didn’t care. It didn’t matter where we were, as long as we were together. He turned toward me, his mouth open to say something else. But he closed it as I reached out, grasping his strong arms. His eyes locked on mine, so intense and beautiful at the same time it almost hurt to look at them. But I did because I loved him so much, and I knew from the way he was looking back at me that he felt the same way.

His expression softened as he leaned down, keeping his eyes on mine through his slow journey until they finally closed when our lips met. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and reached up so I could run my fingers through his hair. His tongue caressed mine as his lips moved, and he cradled either side of my face with his hands. After a moment, his strong arms slid around my back, pulling me tight against him. I savored the contact, my body shaking because he needed to know everything I felt, and I couldn’t do that just by kissing and words. I separated from him only because I needed to take a breath, and my heart swelled as he let out a small sigh.

The light blue in his eyes was gone. They were getting much darker and clouding over with passion. His hair stuck up in the most adorable way from me running my fingers through it. His lips were slightly open, letting out shallow and uneven breaths, as if what we were doing was so powerful the need for breathing was secondary. I took a deep breath and moved my hands down his body to the hem of his t-shirt. He inhaled and let go of me so I could pull his shirt off, before letting it fall to the floor.

Chris was mine, all mine, and I’d seen him with his shirt off so many times I’d lost count. But it didn’t matter how many times, because whenever I touched his skin to mine, or let my fingers travel over the contours of his body, it was heaven. I took my time, letting my hands roam all over his chest, arms, and stomach, ultimately stopping at the waistband of his jeans.

I kept my eyes focused on his as I undid the button and slid the zipper down. They dropped around his ankles, and he stepped out of them as my gaze shifted to the bulge straining against his black boxer briefs. When I looked up at him again, desire filled his face as he started at the top of my shirt, unbuttoning the tiny buttons. I unbuttoned from the bottom, and when our hands met, he reached down for my pants, undoing the button and pulling down my zipper. They fell to the ground, and I stepped out of the puddle of fabric.

We stood facing each other, and Chris took a step backward, his eyes traveling down my body as I slipped off the shirt and let it float to the floor.

He swallowed. “You got them.”

I was wearing the light blue and black lace bra and undies he had circled in the catalog the night we went through our mail together. Nodding, I stepped toward him, my heart pounding as I took in the way he was looking at me. There was a possessiveness radiating from his eyes that he’d never exposed to me before. It made sense that he had it now. He allowed me to slay my nightmare on my own today, and I knew how hard that was for him. But the fact that he knew what to let me do on my own, and when I needed my man to back me up, meant so much more to me than any macho act. He was strong for me but knew I needed to be strong on my own sometimes, too. And he’d always protect me either way.

But this primal look on his face … that was hot, too. I took another step closer.

And then I was in his arms, being carried over to the bed so quickly that I expected him to throw me onto it. But he laid me down gently and hovered over me, supporting his weight on his arms, staring at me.

“I want to memorize this,” he said. “You look like a damn goddess and you’re mine. I know you were before but now … I finally have
everything
I’d given up dreaming about.” His mouth pressed against mine, raw and honest with passion.

His kiss was fierce, controlling, and devouring my senses. I kissed him back with just as much hunger. I was his, he was mine, and this moment and the future were
ours.
There was nothing holding back our family anymore.

As his lips assaulted mine, his fingers hooked around my undies. My hips rose on instinct as he slid them down my legs, painfully slow. He broke the kiss to finish taking them off, but then I had the pleasure of watching him pull off his own underwear. His dick jutted out hard, thick, and ready to sink inside of me.

He wasted no time coming back to me and trailed down to kiss my neck, my shoulder, and work his way to my breasts. Already throbbing between my thighs, slick and ready for him, I wrapped my legs around his waist. With my body craving his, I pushed my wetness against his erection.

“Oh God,” he growled, ripping my bra open. He dropped his head and started lavishing my hard nipples, licking, sucking, and pulling with his teeth. I arched into him as I moaned. Every little touch he gave me always made my body turn to fire, and I never lit up for anyone in my life as I did for him.