Chapter 7

The house was finished. It was an incredible feeling to walk through the house and not see bits and pieces of things lying about. All the wheels of wires were gone. There weren't any more lunch boxes, half drank cups of coffee or tea. She loved that the sounds were normal again, only the outdoors coming in and no more loud screeching noises that drove her nearly batty each time she was here.

Grace knew that it was the main reason that they'd decided to eat out, far from the house every evening. It wasn't just the noise. It was everything about having the house fixed up. She didn't know how Jenson and Jade did it. Their house was being built from the ground up. And it seemed to her that they really weren't ever going to finish. There was always something needing to be changed or looked into. Just as she was coming down the stairs, having looked at the upper floors to be sure that the construction crew wouldn't be returning, her cell phone rang.

"I have a favor to ask of you." There was pounding at the front door when Jade started speaking. "What's going on there? You under attack?"

"I don't know. I'm going to look before I go opening the door." The security system had been finished as well, and it was a breeze to bring up on her computer. "It's that crazy woman again. Carol something. Loren. She's alone this time, but she's got an ax using it on my brand-new door."

"I'm calling the police right now. I want you to hide someplace in the house." She told her that she wasn't going to cower away like a fraidy cat. "I'd rather you be labeled a fraidy cat than dead, Grace. Get away from the doors, and the police will be there before she can get in. I've seen that front door of yours and it will take a bomb going off before she'd be able to breach it. Christ, hide."

She wasn't stupid enough to think that she was immortal. As much as she'd like it to be true right now, she knew that it was never going to happen. Running up the stairs, she was to the large landing when the first splinter of wood skidded across the floor and into the beautiful woodwork of the baluster.

There were plenty of places that she could hide on the upper floors. But she decided that if she were chasing someone, anyone really, that would be the first place that she would look. Going back down the stairs, Grace hid in the pantry, a large room that held all the serving ware. When they got it, that was what would feed the masses when they had company over. Closing the door behind her, she heard the door split open more. Then there was the voice.

"Where are you? You think that you can hide in my own house? Get real. I know every…what have you done to my home? Holy Christ. Look at this mess. Where are all the antiques that my family…you all are going to pay for this. Mark my words, you're going to pay for this with your fucking lives." The voice of Carol was getting closer to her. "Come out and face me like a man."

Carol thought that Maverick was in the house. That might not bode well for either of them but she thought that she could hide better being a smaller person than Maverick would have been able to do. Crouching down and pressing her body into the bottom of the shelves that were in the small room, Grace closed her eyes. Whatever happened, she knew that she had to— She remembered that she had her cell phone. Pulling it out of her pocket, she muted the sound first and foremost. Then she messaged the link to the entire family. She wanted as much support as she could get.

"Carol Loren is in the house. Broke down the front door with an ax. I'm in the pantry." The replies came fast and short. Are you hurt? Do you have a gun? Did you call the police? All these things that she couldn't answer because it sounded to her like Carol was right outside of her hiding place.

The next message told her that the police were in the driveway and that they were coming in quietly. She was never so happy to get that text from Jade than she was anything else in the world. Hearing the police coming in, they were talking to Carol about putting down her weapon.

"Ms. Loren, put down your weapon, or we're going to have to shoot you." She asked them if they were in their right mind, shooting someone in their own home. "You've been told several times now that this house no longer belongs to you nor your family. Put the ax down, and we'll not have to kill you."

"You mother fuckers, that man stole my house out from under me. Did you see what a mess he's made of the place? Where does he get off changing things around in my own home? No, he doesn't. I'm going to find that mother fucker, and I'm going to chop him into tiny pieces and put him in the well out there with the rest of the dead weight around here." Joey, she could hear who it was now, asked her if she'd killed her brothers. "Yes. They were dead weight. Forever asking me stupid questions like I had all the answers. I do, mark my words on that, but they were a pain in my ass. My mother she made me promise her, on her dying bed, no less that I would watch over them until they died. Or I did. Since I had no intentions of dying, I just told her I would. Christ, have you met them? No, of course not. But I want you to let me kill this man here. He's been a pain in my ass as well, and I'm not going to take it anymore. I want my house back."

Joey told her once again to put the ax down. Hearing her slam something against the door she was hiding behind, Gracie closed her eyes when it sounded like about a thousand guns went off at the same time.

She didn't move when everything stopped. Hearing her own heart beating loudly and quickly in her ears, she was never so happy to be alive as she was in that moment. Looking at the door, glancing downward as she looked at the bullet holes, she saw a pool of blood start to run toward her as she sat there. Standing up, she reached for the door when she had a thought. They had no idea she was in here, and she just might get her ass killed if she just popped out.

"It's Grace Strong, officers. I'm going to come—"

"Don't. Don't come out here right now, Gracie. I'm glad that you told us, but just, for the love of god, just stay there until we get things situated out here. I don't…there's a great deal of blood, and I don't want you to…please, honey, just stay in there while we all get our hearts beating better." She couldn't help it, she laughed. Then, as she stood there, backing away from the larger pool of blood on her end, Grace laughed all the harder. "Honey, you all right?"

"I am. Yes, thank you. I don't suppose you guys have contacted my husband, have you?" it was the first time she'd ever called Maverick that and it felt good. Thinking about that, she missed what Joey told her. "I'm sorry. Can you repeat that? My head is a little fuzzy right now."

"I said that his brothers have tackled him down to the ground so that he doesn't come in here and mess up our crime scene. If you could call him, I'm sure… Make the call to his daddy. He'll have his phone out where he can get to it. I think they got poor Maverick all hog-tied right now."

She pressed the button to contact Barkley. As soon as he answered, she asked to speak to Maverick. As soon as she heard his voice asking her if she was all right, she started crying. Unmindful of everything else that was going on around her, she told Maverick that she was so happy that they were together, but she did not want to have lunatics coming into their homes ever again.

"Neither do I. I don't even want the one that is in there either." She told him that she thought that he was dead and he started crying too. "I love you so much, Grace. So much. I thought that…I didn't know what to think, but I'm so glad to hear your voice. They won't let me come in there. Can you come out here so that I can hold you?"

"I can't just yet. This is a crime scene." She pulled the phone away from her ear and decided to figure out how to do a face-to-face call. Hanging up on him, she was able to call him back quickly and saw that he was still on the ground, his face covered in dirt and grass. She thought him the most handsome man she'd ever seen.

Touching the screen with her fingers, she was so happy to see that he was all right as well. Each of them spoke over the other, telling each other how much they loved one another and that they were glad that they were all right.

"Just as soon as you can get out of there, I'm going to whisk you away to the closest place and make love to you." His brothers, more than likely still waiting for him to leap up and go to her, made fun of him. "I don't care what they say. You're all mine, and I'm going to show you just how much."

She heard a voice and it sounded like his dad. But then Lisa was on the call, and she smiled at her. Lisa asked her if she was going to be all right.

"I am. I am now. I was terrified, I'll not lie to you about that, but it's done now, and I'm safe. Nothing at all wrong with me other than missing being able to stand out there with the lot of you." Lisa told her that she'd be out soon enough. "She was set to kill Maverick. She killed her brothers as well. Dead weight, she called them. I'm going to have me the largest family with Maverick. I want my kids to know what it's like to have brothers and sisters around to keep them safe as Mavericks did."

"They're good boys, all of them. I know that they're men, but they'll always be my boys. I don't care how old they get. And I'm glad that you want a large family, honey. They'll help you with everything as you grow older." She asked her if she was talking about herself. "Yes. My sons have been there for me for everything, and I don't think I'd take a billion dollars for any one of them."

Joey opened the door, and she looked down at the bloodied sheet that was in front of the door. Telling her just to look at him, she was picked up in his arms, and he carried her to the front of the house.

"I can walk, you know?" Joey told her that he had orders not to allow you to get hurt now that it was all over. "Maverick, I'm assuming."

"No, this was from Lisa. She said that she'd never bake me another apple pie so long as she lived. She does make the best apple pie you might ever want to eat." She told him as the door was opened on the other side that she didn't care for apple pie. "You're joking me, right? Who doesn't like apple—it's the American thing, apple pie."

"I don't like it. Sorry." They were both laughing when she was handed over to Maverick. "You can put me down, you know. I'm not going to run off or anything."

"I know that, but you've not been hurt so far, and I'm not going to take any chances of you being hurt now. I'm tired of visiting you in the hospital, love." He did put her down on the stone fence that went around their home. It had been repaired while the house was being worked on. Each place that it had fallen was now all put back together. "What do you think of the house now? Can you still live there?"

"What do you mean?" He explained how Carol had bloodied up their floors and that it would be a stain on the floor for the rest of their lives, even if they were to switch out the wood there. "No, I want to live there with you. It will be a reminder that the house saved me. That without that floor and the door, I'd more than likely be dead now." He hugged her tightly and she was glad for it.

"I would, however, like for someone to try and get as much of the blood out as they can. I don't want that much of a reminder." He laughed as he kissed her all over her face. When they heard sirens going off, the two of them watched as the coroner pulled in and the ambulance backed up to the front door.

Neither of them said anything. The medical examiner came out of the house a few minutes after a gurney was taken inside. While they watched, one of the officers spoke to him about something that had the man shaking his head. When he spotted them, the coroner came toward them.

"You'll be all right to stay there tonight so long as you stay away from the taped-off area. It's my understanding that you just got the house finished up." Gracie told the older man that they had just today. "Won't take much to clean things up. If your crew needs a helping hand, you give me a call. I have some chemicals that will work on most of the stains. You did well, young lady. Did the police tell you if you had been standing when those shots—"

"No. Please. I don't want to know that." He nodded and told her that he was sorry. "I thank you for the information but I'm very happy that I'm sitting here and not another stain on our new floors."

"That's a good way to think about it, young lady. Best way if you ask me." He shook hands with Maverick, but before letting him go, he looked right into his face. "I've known you since you were a young tyke, Maverick. If you want some information on how to make this all go away, you take this pretty little wife of yours out to dinner and then find yourself a lovely hotel to whoop it up in. You hear me?"

"Yes, loud and clear. And I think that's the best news I've heard in a very long time. I'll do just that." When the man left them, she still hadn't caught his name. Maverick made them reservations at a restaurant in Columbus and then found them a nice hotel. "It's about time the two of us had a honeymoon. Don't you agree?"

"I do, as a matter of fact." Standing up, her legs beginning to cramp up a bit, she walked around while he made arrangements to have the floors redone. The contractor from the house said he'd heard about the shooting and was surely happy to have Carol and her brothers out of their hair. Gracie thought it couldn't have been easy having the three of them coming around all the time when there was work to be done.

When they were given the okay to go into the house but not to cross the tape, she and Maverick quickly packed themselves a couple of days' worth of clothing and set out. Just as they were about to get into their car, Barkley senior came and gave them both a big, tight hug. He never said a word. But his emotions came through all the same in his face and arms tightly around them.

~*~

Dinner was…well, Maverick didn't know that he could put words to the dinner. The food, he supposed, was all right, but it was being able to flirt with his wife, hold her hand and kiss her without censure while they were together that had made everything else just not important to them. Their waiter seemed to understand that they were only going to have eyes for each other, and he, for the most part, left them to their fun. When the plates were cleared away and they were having a hot cup of tea, a bottle of champagne was brought to them, on the house and they enjoyed it with the dark rich chocolate pie they were given as well.

They walked around the streets surrounding the beer district that they were in. Neither of them drank, but it was fun for them to be out and about, seemingly without any worries at all. They never spoke about the shooting and didn't mention the blood-stained floor. It was just the two of them holding hands and being in love.

The night couldn't have been more romantic. Sure, it was cold, but they had dressed for it. There was a call for snow that night and Maverick was excited for that. He told his Grace that he loved the holidays.

"I do as well. It's been a very long time since I've wanted to celebrate them but I'm very much looking forward to being able to enjoy them with family all around us. And hopefully, next year, we'll have one of our own to celebrate with, too." Maverick stopped her on the sidewalk and pulled her into his arms. Showing her how much he was looking forward to spending the rest of his life with her, he was glad that they were going to be able to have as many children as Grace wanted.

Entering the hotel, they were given an envelope that was there waiting for them. Not opening it right then, they were escorted up to their suite, and there in the room waiting for them was not just another bottle of champagne but also a large basket of fruit and chocolate but also a charcuterie tray of meats and cheeses as well. He ate one of the small sausages while he read the note from his dad.

"Everyone here is so happy the way things turned out that we've paid for you to have a couple of more nights out on the town. The front desk will have a list of the places that we've gotten for you, and also, we'll have things cleaned up before you return. We all love you so much, Maverick and Grace, that we couldn't be happier that you're both well." Then he signed it, Dad .

While Grace read the note, he nibbled at the back of her neck. She kept skipping over the words, sometimes just stopping altogether until she turned around and took his mouth with her own.

Walking backward toward the bed, he started by unbuttoning her blouse. Once it was undone, he started to reach behind her to unhook her bra, but she pulled her mouth away just enough to tell him front. His befuddled mind took a few seconds to realize what she meant, and he pulled the little eye hooks free, one at a time, enjoying the way that her breasts slowly slipped from their confinement.

Lifting up one of the soft beauties, he suckled at the tip, enjoying the taste and the way that they puckered up tightly in his mouth. Moving to the other equally beautiful breast, he feasted on her as he pulled his own shirt down over his arms and let it fall to the floor.

Pulling away, he had to in order to catch his breath. He yanked at his clothing as it fell to the floor, leaving a trail of their garments towards the bed. When she stood before him in just her panties, he started to go down on his knees when she told him no.

"It's my turn." Backing away from her slightly, he felt the end of the bed behind him and leaned into it. Grace got down on her knees and then looked up at him. "You have the most beautiful cock, Maverick. I want you to come down my throat and then fuck me."

There was no time for him to answer her. Almost as soon as she stopped speaking, she wrapped her mouth around his crown and sucked hard. Maverick felt as if his head was coming off, then when her tongue swirled around the tip of him, then playing deeply with his tip, he had to grip the footboard hard enough that he was sure for as long as this set was in this hotel it was going to bare the marks of his nails being a desperate man.

Sweat rolled down his spine as she took control of their lovemaking. His balls ached with the need to empty, being so full that he was sure that he could fill a jug with his cum. Maverick found himself fucking her mouth, the deep recess of her dark hot mouth, until he slid into her throat and felt the tightness of her swallow.

"Mother Christ." He couldn't move beyond where he was now. But when she bobbed her head over him, pulling him deeper into her throat, Maverick held her head tightly in his hand as he fucked her throat like it was her pussy. Coming hard, unable to control his primal instincts, he roared his release, and he came with such force that he felt himself falling backward onto the bed as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

When he opened his eyes, not having been out for but a few seconds, Grace was tearing at her only clothing and getting up on his lap. Helping her to line up to straddle him, he nearly came again when she took his cock so deep into her pussy that he knew that he was never going to be all right again.

"Fuck me." He couldn't keep up with her, couldn't make her slow enough to where he could catch up to where she was. Pressing his thumb into her clit, giving it a couple of short hard strokes, he had to hold onto her when she bowed backward, screaming loudly as she let her climax take them both.

Rolling her over, not feeling the least bit ready to slow, Maverick fucked her again and again until she wrapped her ankles around his hips and held onto him. Even as his balls filled again, Maverick felt himself empty deep inside of her, letting not just his release come, but it felt as if he was giving her all that he had, his love, his respect, and even, he hoped, a child that they created.

Once again, he felt himself lose consciousness. This time, instead of falling back, he dropped atop of Grace. Her arms, now laying out beside her body, her eyes closed, he kissed her gently, and then with the little bit of strength that he had left, he rolled to his side, taking her with him, thankful that they'd gotten a room with an extra wide king size bed.

When he woke again, he was alone in the big bed. Spread out like he did when he'd been younger, he was surprised to find Grace curled up on the couch. His heart hurt because he knew that he was the reason that she was there. That, again, like his childhood, had pushed her out of his bed so that he could selfishly have it all.

"Grace?" She popped up so quickly that he nearly screamed. "I'm sorry honey, I didn't mean to kick you out of the bed."

"You didn't. I got up to go to the bathroom and that's the way I found you. You are a very big man, aren't you?" He told her to come back to bed. "No sex. If you want to have sex…well, you're going to have to do it all on your own. I'm so sore that I doubt very much that I could walk very much further than the bed. All right?"

Telling her that he felt the same way, he nodded. Once she was in the bed with him, he moved to curl his body around hers and realized that she was right. There wasn't a place in his body that didn't hurt. Moaning, realizing that he had to go to the bathroom himself, he made his way there, walking on his tip toes because even the bottoms of his feet were too sore to walk on fully.

Brushing his teeth after going to the bathroom, he decided that they probably wouldn't be making love for the rest of the day, but it was Saturday, and there had to be something on the television that they could pig out in front of.

"Look at all this cool stuff." He laughed when he caught Grace going through the basket of fruit while sitting on the bed. "Someone even thought of a knife as well as some bottled water. And I turned the game on. Sheesh, Maverick, did you know that it was nearly two in the afternoon?"

She jabbered on for several more minutes until he put his hand over her mouth. Grace looked at him like she was going to cry, and he asked her what was wrong. Laying her head on his shoulder, she told him she hoped that he didn't mind what she'd done to him last night.

"You're joking, right? Christ woman, I passed out twice from what you were doing to me. A man just does not admit that to just anyone and live to tell about it. I'm so drained right now that—well, I was going to say that if you were naked right now that I'd not be able to jump you, but for you, I'd do that. No matter the cost to my manhood. I believe with all my heart that I have never in all my life have I ever come that hard before. I don't know that I'd want to either. That was draining. Wonderful, don't get me wrong, but it was also draining. I think I know what a vampire victim feels like when a vampire sucks them dry. Yes, I think I could say that without feeling like I was exaggerating at all."

"I love you, you goofball." He told her that he loved her as well. As they finished off most of the meats and cheese on the tray and ate about all the grapes and apples, he called the front desk to ask for some food to be sent up. Not only did the man help them with deciding what they might be able to eat, but he also said that he'd make sure that the trays would be out in the hall for them so that no one would disturb them.

"Also, sir, since this is an away game for our team, the floor that you're on is nearly all empty. The only other person on that floor is at the other end of the hallway. I'm only telling you this because I didn't want you to feel embarrassed if you're in your robe when you come out to get your food."

Maverick had a feeling that he was telling him much more than that but thanked him all the same. As soon as the food was delivered, ringing the doorbell so that they'd know it was there, he and Grace had a good laugh at themselves.

The game was fun to watch with Grace. He was surprised and thrilled that she knew so much about football that they even had a few words to say over a couple of calls. He didn't envy the person who had to clean up their room. At some point during the fourth quarter, they'd both tossed popcorn at the screen when the game got to be down to three seconds and time was called by the opposing team.

After taking another shower and feeling much better than they did when they woke up, the two of them went to the dining room and had a wonderful dinner of steak and baked potato. Even the bread, crunchy and tasty, was something that they savored. Neither of them could be tempted by dessert but they did thank the staff for giving them such a wonderful evening.

Maverick was never shy about leaving a good tip when service was good. But he felt like they'd been singled out for having the utmost best and most discreet service he'd ever experienced. As they were leaving the restaurant, he felt a sense of pride when Grace put her arm through his. Having a beautiful woman on his arm and the most special person that he truly loved too, Maverick felt on top of the world.