Protection: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance (18 page)

Dahl straight up laughs at me.

“I don’t think so. You’re as bad a liar as my sweet Elly.”

I pause, then try another tack.

“What is it you want, Greg?”

“It’s Gregor. And what I want, you can’t give me.”

“Maybe I can, man. Who knows?”

“What I fucking want, Mister Bodygard Asshole, is for Elly to have stayed faithful to me. Like I was to her, for
years
.”

“You love her, though. You don’t want to hurt her, man.”

“
You don’t know what I want!!
” Dahl screeches at the top of his lungs. “Elly can never repay me, not after what she’s done.”

He looks down at her, almost sadly. He brings his fingers up to his lips, kisses them.

“No. No!” I shout. I draw my weapon and line up, but it’s too late.

Dahl plunges the knife down at Elly with a scream. My hands are shaking so badly that my shot goes wide, but Dahl takes two hits and goes down, hard.

When Dahl falls, I see Alejandro standing behind him, breathing hard. Already Alejandro is moving over to secure Dahl, his military training apparently perfectly intact.

“Fuck,” I say, running flat-out to get to Elly. “Call a fucking ambulance!”

I nearly vomit on myself as I run, every single cell in my body going into high fucking alert.

I just lost the only thing in my fucking life that’s ever really mattered, the only person who’s loved me for me. I never even told her how I feel about her.

Karen and I reach her at the same time.

“Elly? Elly, honey. Say something, baby.”

I’m shaking so hard that Karen has to untie Elly’s hands. I pick Elly up and lay her out flat on the ground. She’s bleeding from her upper torso, a dark blot of blood spreading out just below her right breast.

“Fuck, fuck.”

Elly’s eyes open and she looks up, but she can’t seem to focus on me.

“Elly? Stay with me, okay?” I plead with her.

“Ambulance is nearby, they say,” Alejandro reports. He kicks Dahl, who doesn’t respond. “This one’s dead.”

Good. I wish like hell I’d been the one to do it.

“Con?” Elly says, with a cough. She struggles to take a breath, which means she’s probably got a punctured lung.

“Take slow, shallow breaths honey,” I tell her, taking her hand in mine, brushing her hair back from her face. She’s got a nasty knot on her forehead, clearly she didn’t let Dahl take her without a struggle.

Good girl
. I’m proud of her, even though I’m scared shitless.

“Con, don’t leave me,” she whispers.

“Never. I’m right here, El. I swear.”

“The paramedics are coming up the stairs,” Karen says.

She runs over and helps with the stretcher, and soon they’re pushing me aside, talking in low voices. One of them checks Dahl over and radios for the cops and the coroner.

A breathing mask goes over her face, and she keeps trying to pull it off.

“Leave it, honey,” I tell her. I’m hovering like a mother hen, feeling more helpless than I ever have in my fucking life.

I watch as they pack her wound and cover it with a layer of plastic, then gently lift her onto the stretcher.

“Fucking be careful,” I snarl at one of them.

“Sir, please step back. We’re going to do everything we can.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Nope,” the paramedic says. “You’ll have to follow us to Mercy General. Now move back and let us get her to the ambulance.”

Elly rips at the plastic mask.

“I love you, Connor,” she wheezes.

Then the paramedics are carrying her off. I look around, unsure what to do.

“Here,” Alejandro says, tossing me the keys. “Karen and I will meet you when we can.”

I don’t have words for how grateful I am. I race after the paramedics, watching them load her in the van before I get into the SUV and tailgate them toward the hospital.

The whole time I follow after them, all I can do is pray.

That I haven’t lost her.

That I didn’t wait too long.

That my whole fucking life isn’t over before it really started.

I haven’t prayed maybe ever, but right now I’m fucking praying to God, Buddha, Allah, anyone who will listen to my desperate please.

Please, please don’t let Elly die.

I
open
my eyes and groan.

I
hurt
.

“Umf,” I mumble, pulling at the plastic mask covering my mouth and nose. I’m laying in a bed, surrounded by beeping machines, IVs hooked up to one of my arms.

And
man, am I in pain
.

“Sir? Your wife’s awake,” a pretty blonde lady in nurse’s scrubs says.

“Elly? El?”

Connor’s big face looms over mine, his eyes rimmed in red.

“You crying?” I ask. My tongue is heavy and dry. “I’m thirsty.”

“Here’s some water,” the nurse says, holding a straw up to my mouth. Once I drink, she smiles at me. “I’ll go get the doctor, okay?”

I reach up to Connor and then cringe.

“What happened?”

Connor flinches a little, taking my hand and holding it as he sits next to me on the bed.

“You’re in the hospital, honey. Greg Dahl attacked you. You’re okay, though. Totally fine. And he… well, he’s never going to bother you again. I promise.”

I scrunch up my face.

“I feel weird.”

“I know, El. They gave you some pain meds, but they’re probably starting to wear off.”

“It hurts, though,” I whine.

“I know,” he says again, squeezing my fingers. He starts to say more, but a middle-aged man breezes in and interrupts.

“Miss Parsons, so glad to see you awake! I’m Dr. Bryson. You had a tough night, from what I gather. Your husband here has been pretty worried!”

I glance at Connor, who just shrugs and smiles.

“Mmmhm,” I say, unwilling to contradict him.

“You’re going to be fine. We’ve got you on some very mild antibiotics and some acetaminophen for your pain.”

“It’s not working,” I tell him bluntly.

“Right. Um,” he says, flipping through my chart. “Unfortunately, we can’t give you anything stronger. Your baby has been through a lot today, what with mom getting her lung punctured and re-inflated.”

“Um.” I glance at Connor, who’s gone very still. “What?”

“Your… the fetus?” the doctor says, looking a little confused.

“I’m not…” I stop and stare at him. My brain is doing backflips trying to keep up. “Pregnant?”

Connor squeezes my hand again. I look at him; he’s not in shock, which means that he already knew.

“Miss Parsons… I’m sorry, did you want to speak to me alone?” the doctor asks, looking between me and Connor.

I bite my lip and shake my head. Whatever he’s about to tell me, it certainly concerns us both.

“No, I just… are you sure?” I ask him.

“I’m so sorry to have told you like this, I’m terribly embarrassed. It looks like…” the doctor pauses to check my chart again. “You’re about seven weeks along. Very early still. I assure you, the fetus is perfectly healthy.”

I can’t help my reaction. I press both my hands to my stomach and burst into tears.

I’m going to have Connor’s baby?

The idea is just too big for me to handle right now. I grasp at Connor, who moves so he can hold me a little closer.

“Be careful, now,” the doctor says. “Don’t rip the stitches, we don’t want any more surgery or anesthesia, you hear?”

“Of course, Doctor,” Connor says.

“I, uh, I suppose I’ll leave you two to it, then. Be back in an hour to check in.”

And then he leaves us like that. Connor looking somber bordering on afraid, me sobbing like a baby and hiccupping and wishing my ribs didn’t hurt so much.

“El, it’s okay,” he says, gently tucking back a strand of my hair and then rubbing my back.

“It… is… not… okay!” I wail.

“Honestly, honey, it is. We’ll figure it out. Whatever you want, I swear.”

I can hear the guarded tone in his voice, and it pains me to have to wonder if that means he wants me to keep the baby, or…

Or…

Wrenching sobs overtake me then, and Connor keeps trying to calm me, begging me not to rip the stitches.

“Elly, please! Talk to me. Please tell me you’re not this upset about… I swear, I wouldn’t have done this on purpose…”

“You’re making it worse,” I choke out.

“I swear I’m just trying to be supportive.”

I look up at him, at the misery in his expression.

“Support the girl you knocked up, the one you don’t even want?” I say, my voice rising until it hurts my injured lung. “
Fuck
you, Connor Gray.”

He freezes.

“Elly… no. That’s just fucking totally wrong.”

“Don’t lie to me, Connor.”

“Elly, I would fucking marry you right here and now if I thought you’d god damn let me,” he says, growing angry.

“Y— what—” I can’t quite formulate a response. “Am I high right now?”

Connor’s anger slides away, and he rolls his eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Did you just propose to me, in a really fucking unromantic way, or did I imagine that?”

Connor has the decency to flush at that, something I’ve never seen him do before.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s not what I had planned—”

“Ohhh.” I let out a gust of air. “You’re pity marrying me. Shotgun style. That’s fucking pathetic.” I look at him, dead serious. “I can do better than that, Connor.”

Connor releases my hand and rubs his eyes.

“You are the most infuriating woman I’ve ever met,” he sighs.

“I think you should leave. I’m going to tell them you’re not my husband, and they’ll make you leave.”

Connor takes my hand, gripping it forcefully when I try to resist.

“Elianna Parsons,” he starts.

“God, don’t.”

“Elly, shut up for a second, please.”

I clamp my mouth shut.

“Elianna Parsons, I love you.”

I narrow my gaze at him even as my heart skips a quick beat.

“I’m… listening,” I begrudge him.

“I’ve loved you for months. I love your smart fucking mouth. I love your ambition, and how much faith you have in people. I love your brain, and that you’re secretly smarter than most people.” He pauses, and I’m just fucking speechless. “Mostly I love fucking you, because you’re the hottest goddamned thing I’ve ever seen, and I know I will never feel this way about anyone else, period.”

He leans down, taking advantage of my stunned silence, and brushes his lips over mine. When he pulls back, he has that cocky smirk of his going, and I can’t decide if I want to slap him or pull him back down for another kiss.

“I’m sorry that it was a surprise, but I’m not sorry that you’re carrying my baby,” he says. For a moment, his smirk is gone and he pats my abdomen with a sort of bemused expression.

“You are such an ass,” I whisper tearfully, finally finding my voice.

“Elly. Elianna,” he says, taking my hand again. “Will you please end my fucking misery and tell me you’ll be my wife?”

And then of course I’m crying again.

“What about the press? People are going to find out.”

“Do you care?” he asks, and I can tell how serious he is about the question.

I shake my head.

“No.”

“Then fuck it. What’s the worst thing that happens, Elly? Can it be worse than not being together?”

I wipe a tear from my cheek and shake my head again.

“No, it can’t be worse.”

“So, will you do it? Will you marry me, Elly Parsons?”

“Y-yes,” I say, dissolving into ridiculous, sobbing tears.

“Thank fuck,” Connor says with a relieved chuckle.

“You thought I’d say no?”

“You
did
say no.”

“Well… I didn’t mean it.”

We both laugh, and then I cough.

“Ugh, no more laughing. It hurts.”

We’re quiet for a beat.

“Elly,” Connor says, giving me a gentle hug.

“Connor,” I say, raising a brow.

“Before I go call our parents, I need you to do something for me.”

I smile up at him.

“Anything.”

“I need you to tell me you love me, too.”

My mouth opens, and a strangled laugh comes out.

“Really?” I ask him. “Really, you don’t already know?”

He shrugs, his expression humble for the first time since I met him.

“It’d be nice to know for sure.”

“Connor, I love you
so
much. It hurts, sometimes, physically. That’s how much I love you.”

Connor grins, his familiar dimple making my heart skip a beat, and leans down to kiss me again, though he keeps it light. A disappointment, to be sure.

“All right. Get some sleep, El. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing in the world, okay? I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

And I know he’s right.

I close my eyes and let myself drift off, feeling more secure and loved than I ever have in my entire life.

My last thought as I fall asleep is:

This is only the beginning. There’s so, so much more to come.

I
hold
Elly’s hand as we step up to the podium together, Brad trailing behind us like a lost puppy. Elly’s dressed to the fucking nines in this sexy little cocktail dress and these crazy heels that I begged her not to wear.

She still doesn’t listen to me, that much at least has not changed. As for the rest of our life… well, that’s another story.

She’s still not showing at all, so we’re letting the baby news be a secret for a while longer. Hardly anyone knows, and we’ll do our best to keep it that way as long as possible.

“Hi,” Elly says, tapping the microphone.

I look out into the sea of expectant faces, a mixture of paparazzi, Elly’s fans, and impatient-looking reporters. Everyone is looking back and forth between us, noting the way we’re holding hands.

I need to get used to that.

“Hello,” Elly says, beaming. “Um, thanks for coming out, everyone. I am recovering really well, and I’ll be finishing the last few dates of my tour. Raven Media will have more details about that later.”

People applaud, and the fans seem excited.

“I called you all here because I want to announce that I’m married,” she says. “Well, getting married.”

She releases my hand and holds up hers to show off her rock, an heirloom Tiffany ring that was my mother’s. People whisper and applaud.

“This is my fiancé, Connor. He saved my life when he worked on my tour as my bodyguard. In a strange turn of fate, our parents were also recently married.” When everyone starts laughing and gossiping, Elly waves them down. “I know, I know. I swear, no one was more freaked out about that than we were. But we were already falling in love, and… well, it was all on the up and up. We met on October 18
^th
of last year, exactly six months ago today, not a minute before.”

She drops her hand, and I take it, squeezing it tightly. She smiles at me.

“We expect that people will have something to say,” Elly continues. “I mean, have y’all been on the internet? It is vicious.”

People laugh. Elly glances at me and shrugs. I step forward.

“Please be respectful and kind to my wife,” I intone. “She’s a wonderful person, and she deserves to be treated kindly.”

Elly grins and kisses my cheek, and cameras flash wildly.

“Elly, how are you feeling after your attack?” a reporter shouts.

“Very well, thanks. I’m nice and healed up. Ready to get back on the road, although I don’t know that I’ll do another tour like this,” she says with a wink. “It was killer, if you know what I mean.”

People crack up. Elly’s so goddamned charming, it’s irresistible.

“Elly, are you still doing another album next year?”

Elly wrinkles her nose and shrugs.

“I plan to do that, time allowing. I’ve been offered the role of Cleopatra in an upcoming feature film about Cleopatra and Marc Antony, so I’d like to do that first.”

“Connor, are you an actor too? Are you playing Marc Antony?”

I smirk. Since we moved to L.A. I’ve been offered a couple of small roles, but I’m not about to tell anyone that. Not before I know whether I’m any good at acting, anyway.

“No comment,” I say.

“Elly, are you two lovebirds planning to start a family?”

Elly giggles and gives me a secretive glance.

“There’s plenty of time for that, don’t you think?”

Brad elbows his way in, just as I’m starting to get uncomfortable in front of the audience.

“All right, everyone, let’s give Elly and Connor a round of applause. Any further questions can be directed to Raven Media, okay?”

We step off the stage to the sound of applause, an outcome that I genuinely didn’t foresee. I definitely imagined us getting booed off or pegged with rotten bananas or something.

Elly turns that mega-watt smile on me as we climb into the waiting car.

“See?” she says. “I told you it would all go well.”

“Mmm. Your confidence is unnatural,” I tell her.

She leans over and kisses my cheek, then nips my earlobe, teasing my ear with the tip of her tongue.

“Don’t start something you can’t finish,” I warn her.

“Oh, I can finish it. Pregnant Elly wants all the sex, all day long,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows.

I wrap my arm around her and pull her tight against my side, kissing her neck until she squirms.

“Just wait till I get you home, Miss Parsons.”

“That’s Mrs. Gray to you, sir. Or it will be, after the
top secret celeb wedding
this weekend.”

“We are still just getting married at the courthouse, right?” I ask her.

“Well yeah. You don’t want your baby to be a bastard, do you?”

I roll my eyes.

“The horror. I’m pretty sure you just want this shotgun wedding so you have a reason to honeymoon at the beach in Fiji. You’re just in it for the black sand beaches, I know it!”

She laughs, and I kiss her again.

“I think my mom cares more than anyone else,” she sighs.

“Well, you’re still getting your big poofy dress and fancy party. Just,” I wave my hand. “Later.”

“Yeah, when I can fit my tits in a dress again,” Elly sighs.

“I, for one, welcome pregnancy tits.”

“You’re awful.”

“Yeah, but I’m yours. Not sure how I got so fucking lucky, but...”

I wink at her.

She gives me this tender, serious look.

“You are mine, aren’t you? Forever, huh?”

I grin and press a kiss to her lips.

“
Forever
.”