Chapter 19

Chapter

Nineteen

FRANKIE

I'm unsure how we got back to the clubhouse. And I don't even recall much of the next couple hours when Arlo's doctor friend, Vincent Charmden, came and checked me over. I'm pretty sure, the instant I laid eyes on Arlo and Ace, my brain recognized safety and shut all the way down. Now, I'm just floating in the security of his arms. Conversations are happening around me, and I'm just not actively dialing into them.

"Cuteness, are you listening to Doc Charm?" Arlo's voice is the only thing tethering me to the moment.

"I, um, no?" My cheeks must be cherry red.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I'm sure Arlo, here, was paying attention." Vincent Charmden is a flirt. A totally respectful one, but yeah.

Arlo growls, actually growls, and steps between the doctor and the bed where I'm tipped back into a pile of pillows.

"Watch it, Doc. You're here to check her out. Not check her out." Arlo bites through each word like a dog claiming a tasty bone, and I don't hate it. His claiming me the way he does lets me know how serious he is about keeping me safe.

"Relax, Romeo. I'm not hitting on your girlfriend." Vince chuckles, his hands held in the air in a faked innocence gesture.

"Not girlfriend. Wife," Arlo dictates.

"Wait! Excuse me, what?" My brain belatedly engages to pick now as the moment to jump into the conversation.

"Fine. Not wife. Yet. But before the baby gets here, she damn sure will be." Though he's responding to my sputtered question, he's still glaring at Vince.

"I think I get a say." I'm not sure why I'm arguing. I think I've been falling in love with the man this whole time.

"You do get a say. You get to say ‘I do.' Now, pay attention to the doc, so he can tell us what we need to know and then he can fuck off. Respectfully." That last bit is tacked on, but by now, I've learned Arlo's tells and see the humor in his glower.

Vince explains what lightning crotch is, and while it sounds absolutely horrible, it's really no big deal. He says the baby's not in any danger. Neither am I, which is a relief as well. It sucks I'm still getting occasional bolts of white hot pain through my lower abdomen. I can tolerate it, though, so long as it doesn't mean there's a real problem.

Dr. Charmden even tells us I don't need bedrest or to curtail any normal activities. Maybe, it's not the time to pick up a skydiving habit, but let's be real. I wasn't contemplating that, anyway. And I don't share this with the good doctor, but the look on Arlo's face when he hears that normal activities, including intimate ones, are fine? Seriously, that look is giving me all the adrenaline rush I could need.

Once Arlo's satisfied he understands how to take care of me and what to be on the alert for, the doctor leaves. We're alone together in his room, and all I can think about is how lucky I am he got stuck sharing a cell with my brother. As unlikely as it was for two good, decent men to be locked up at the same time, much less paired in the same cell, I have no doubt it's the reason I'm safe right now.

"Today has been scary and horrible. Will you make it better, Arlo? Please?" I know what I'm asking, and maybe, it's not fair. He hasn't told me the whole story about why he's so hesitant to be intimate with me, but it's obvious there's history there.

Just this morning, he touched me for the first time. Kissed and licked me until the orgasm I couldn't get to on my own ignited into a cyclone that left me obliterated by pleasure when he was done. That's how I rationalize that it's okay to ask for more than he's ready to give. After the terrifying moments when I thought I'd be kidnapped by Mark and Lughan, I need to feel safe and alive. Powerful even. Nothing feels as powerful as the way Arlo makes me the center of his universe.

"Whatever you need, Francesa. Always. Anything."

He means it, and maybe, it makes me a weak woman, but I'm helpless to resist him. I've been obeying him since the morning I first met him. It's only now I realize his every command has been designed to caretake me. Benefit me. I hold my hand out to him, and he takes it without hesitation, climbing onto the bed to lie on his side next to me.

"You really gonna marry me? Even though you don't have to? You know that, right? We don't have to get married to protect me from Mark or Dr. Lughan."

"Cuteness, probably shouldn't tell you this, but fuck it, it's your life, too. After today, neither of those two fucks will be a danger to anyone. They won't be breathing." His fingers play with the ends of my hair, a small smile of satisfaction on his face as he watches my dark curls slip around his thick digits.

He speaks of being involved with the deaths of two men just as easily as he informs me about the goings on at one of his job sites. As though, swinging hammers and ending lives are part and parcel with the daily grind. If I should feel some sort of remorse or guilt about that, I don't. Not just because of what they would have done to me, but because I've met Blu, Gray, and Abbi now. Even Amaliya has been victimized by these assholes.

"Do you think I'm a monster?" His vulnerability is impossible to miss as he watches me for any sign of disgust. He won't find any.

"If you're a monster, you're my monster."

"Yours." He leans over and brushes his lips against mine. Once. Twice. Blurring gently back and forth until my lips tingle. I roll toward him, belly getting in the way, but I don't let it stop me. I need him. I want him. I'm pretty sure I love him.