Hold On - Part Three (The Hold On Series Book 3) (6 page)

I need to fetch my things before we leave Ethan’s shack and take him to the hospital. I imagine the police will have a lot of questions.

I walk back inside the darkened room. It’s a mess of knocked over furniture, holes in the walls and dust and debris on the ground. If it was bad before, it’s nothing compared to how it looks now.

My bag is next to the bed and I start in that direction but remember my phone. I glance over to where I left it. It’s lying on the ground. I had forgotten all about it, it must have been knocked there some time tonight, but I couldn’t pinpoint when that might be. Who knows? A lot of stuff happened.

I pick it up and I’m surprised that it’s still on. “Hello?” I say into the receiver.

“I always miss the fun,” says Lauren’s voice.

“Lauren? You’ve been on the phone all this time?” I blink into the darkness.

“Are you fucking kidding me? I was so worried! I’m pulling my hair out here.”

I sit down on the bed, the mattress squeaks underneath me. “Why are you still on the phone?”

“We were talking, remember?”

“Yes.” I was asking her to pick me up when Lili arrived. I mustn’t have hung up. I can’t remember now.

“As soon as I heard that bitch’s voice, I called the cops from the landline.”

So Lauren called the police. She knew the address because she’d dropped me here earlier. I’m stunned. Maybe I’m still in shock. I’m definitely still in shock.

“Then I recorded the rest of the conversation. Jezzus fucking Christ, Sarah! You were right, she’s one evil piece of shit. You should have let Ethan crush her throat.”

“You recorded the conversation?”

“Yep. I’m a journo, remember? I know a good story when I hear one. I’m so going to kill it with this scoop.”

“You got her confession about killing Winona?”

I can almost hear her bursting through the phone. “I can’t guarantee the quality of the audio; I haven’t played it back yet. But yes, I would have got it.”

I stand up like I’m in a dream and walk out of the shack. The phone is still in my hand as I walk over to Alex and stand in front of him.

“Where are your things?” asks Alex. I look over his shoulder to see Ethan in the front seat of a police car. “We need to get moving.”

“Lauren recorded the whole thing,” I say. “She got Lili confessing to the crime.”

His eyes widen but his expression doesn’t change. “That’s very good news. But we have to get Ethan to hospital right now.”

“Yes, yes of course.”

I hurry to the car and hop in the back seat. Alex gets into the driver’s side and backs out of the dirt driveway, flinging up dust as the tires slide down the straight.

I glance down to see that my phone is still on and lift it to my ear. “I have to go, Lauren,” I say. “But you’ve saved us. Calling the police and recording the conversation, it saved us.”

She laughs. “You’ve done plenty of saving tonight. You were magnificent, I heard everything.”

“I was so scared.” I was. My hand is still shaking with a slight tremor.

“I also heard Ethan,” says Lauren. “I heard him say how much he loves you.”

“You did?” I look at the back of his head and the way his dark hair curls over his neck.

“Maybe he isn’t so bad for you, after all,” she says. “I’m going to give him a second chance. But if he tries to break your heart, I’m going to break his balls.”

I smile. Lauren always knows what to say to cheer me up.

Apartment available to sublet: Two bedroom, views of the beach, must be neat, tidy, quiet and have references.

“You should add that they can’t be assholes.”

“I can’t write that,” I say.

My boyfriend, Ethan, grins and looks away from the computer screen. We’ve set up a desk against the wall of our newly built bedroom, under a wide window with views of a secluded part of the beach.

“Is the porch going to be finished today?” I ask. I can’t wait to sit on that back porch and stare out at the ocean on warm evenings. Watching the ocean makes me calm. Calm is safe.

We’ve been renovating Ethan’s old shack for the past six months, although it doesn’t look like a shack any more, with its new rooms and fixed up walls. We also have electricity, hot water, and the biggest kitchen I’ve ever seen. Ethan does most of the cooking while I work on my latest project - a blog. I’m now officially a full time blogger since I left my job a month ago.

We aren’t making much money from my writing yet, but we don’t need to. Ethan surprised me by having a nice healthy bank balance stashed away. He never ceases to surprise me.

Six months ago Lili was sentenced to life imprisonment. It was Lauren’s recording of the confession from my phone that allowed Detective Alexander Full to build a strong case against her. The judge only deliberated for ten minutes before she was found guilty.

My best friend Lauren never did write the scoop article she was going to, but it worked out for her. She’s working at a television station as an entertainment reporter now. Next month she’s travelling around with a famous rock star to cover his tour. She’s excited but nervous because he’s hot and she doesn’t think she’ll be able to keep her hands off him. She won’t. If I know her, she’ll cave as soon as he flashes his dick in her direction.

“Take a break,” Ethan says. “You’ve been on that thing all morning.” He looks suspiciously at the screen.

I close the laptop and turn to face him. “I thought you were going to work today.” I stand up, leaning my hand back on the table for support. He rushes over to help me. “I don’t need any help,” I say. “I can look after myself.”

He glides his hand over my swelling stomach. “You shouldn’t try and do so much,” he says. He runs his hand down my arm and I shiver from his touch. “Take it easy, okay?”

“And I suppose you have some ideas on how I should do that? Hmm?” I’m only teasing him. Ever since we saw the two blue lines on the test, he’s treating me like I’m a queen. He can’t do enough for me. He also can’t get enough of me and my growing body. Not that I mind, as my body changes, it’s making me feel extra sexy. The doctor said it’s something to do with all those extra hormones racing through my blood.

“As a matter of fact,” he says. “I do have something I want to run by you.”

I lift an eyebrow while I wait for him to blurt out the latest position he wants to try.

“Yes,” he says. “You stand, and I’ll bend down here.”

“Last time you tried to pleasure me while I stood up, my knees buckled and I fell on my ass.” I begin to lift up my skirt. “I can’t fall down now.”

He smiles coyly and bends down in front of me, on one knee.

“Ethan?”

“Sarah Bennett, will you do the honor of making me an honest man and become my wife?” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a very shiny and sparkly diamond.

Oh my god. I fall to my knees, staring between the ring and Ethan’s face to make sure this is real. I wasn’t expecting Ethan to propose to me, it didn’t seem like something he’d ever do.

“Well?” He tips his head to one side. “What’s your answer?”

“Yes. Yes! Of course I will.”

He throws his head back and breathes out a loud sigh. “Shit, you scared me for a minute there.”

“But I thought you didn’t want this? You told me that you didn’t want titles to define us. You said that you liked just being us and that we didn’t need a piece of paper telling us what we mean to each other.”

“A piece of paper is never going to define how I feel about you Sarah, but I want to make you happy and I want to be with you forever. So it makes sense.”

My heart is beating so fast it’s almost singing. I take the ring from him and place it on my finger. “It fits perfectly.”

“Yep, I got it sized from one of your other rings.”

I lift my hand up in the air, watching how the light reflects off the stone at different angles. “It’s beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful,” he says. “I’m so lucky that I get to spend the rest of my life with you.” He leans forward and crushes his mouth onto mine. I can feel the urgency in his lips and I return it with passion.

As he pulls away, I glide my left hand down his arm and over the scar that Lili’s knife made. It’s fading into a silvery line that makes him look even sexier than before.

“Are you sure we can afford this?” I ask.

He leans forward and rests his forehead against mine. I can feel his breath on my cheek. “We are good,” he says.

“Yes, we are.”

I brush my lips against his. “Do you want to celebrate our engagement?”

He lifts a brow and curls his lips up in a smile. “What did you have in mind?”

I look over at the bed that he built for us. “There’s still one more thing I’d like to try before the baby comes.” I bite my bottom lip and then glide my tongue along it. “Although you’ll need to be gentle with me, I’ve never done it before.”

His lips part slowly and his eyes widen. “Hell, fucking yes.”

He picks me up in his arms and carries me over to the bed and lies me back against the soft bedding. “Are you sure about this?”

I smile and nod. “I’m sure. I’m sure about everything now that we are together. I love you, Ethan Collier.”

“And I fucking love you, Sarah.”

~ THE END ~

I know your reading list is long, so thank you for taking the time to read part three of Hold On. I hope you enjoyed reading it, as much as I did writing it.

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NOVELS
:

Trance (
standalone novel
)

Feathered Series
:
The Feathered Lover (Feathered #1),
Feathered Bliss (Feathered #2),
A Feathered Child (Feathered #3)

NOVELLAS:

Hold On Series

Hold On #1

Hold On #2

Hold On #3

The Bad Boys Series
:
The Brute
The Beast
The Biker

In His Sails (
standalone novella
)

STORY COLLECTION
:

Desperately Delicious Box Set containing seven erotic romance short stories.