43. 43

43

Ember

T hings had changed after that visit from my dads, and the way Ethan was with me started to evolve. He wasn’t being quite so dictatorial, and even seemed to be sweet to me, as the evening turned to night, and we returned to that bed after a dinner he cooked for us.

Something had definitely settled between us, and I knew that no matter what my dads said tomorrow, we were never going to be parted.

“Should we run?” I asked Ethan as we snuggled in bed together, naked of course, because easy access was apparently a thing. He sighed, stroking my hair back from my face. He was touching my hair a lot, and I knew the conditioner he’d used after he bleached it had made my hair silky soft, but I also knew the new colour had somehow made him see me differently.

It wasn’t even bothering me as much when he called me Ember now, so maybe it had changed something in me too. I’d hidden from being Ember for so long, hidden behind the mask of makeup, and tattoos, and the dark hair, and now I felt oddly free. Maybe he’d done this to try and break my spirit a little, but I think it had done the opposite instead.

“Ethan?”

“Probably. I don’t know. I like this place, even though so much bad stuff happened here. It feels like the place I was reborn, or something weird like that. What do you want to do? I mean, your choices are limited, just to be clear. Stay here with me, go somewhere else, also with me, or die with me. There’s no option where you get to be away from me.”

It shouldn’t have sounded comforting to me, not at all, but he felt like home to me. He’d been my teacher, and he’d nurtured me through those angry desperate days when I thought I’d never achieve anything. He’d become my rock, and my support, and of course I’d fallen for him, who wouldn’t? He was all that, and sexy as hell.

He’d tried to do the right thing, hadn’t he? I just hadn’t let him get away with it. I pushed him until he cracked, and the result was the man now holding me in bed. Our bed. All I had to do was keep my dads away so they wouldn’t kill him.

“I don’t want to be away from you. You’ve been a total asshole, but somehow I still love you, Ethan.” He tutted at me, kissing my head, an act so at odds with the sound he’d made.

“You’re a fool for feeling that way, but it makes no odds. Even if you hated me, you’d still be mine and staying with me. And you’re still going to be pregnant as soon as possible. Our baby will be a new start, a chance for some normalcy and goodness to come out of this unholy fucking coupling. Besides,” he said, hugging me tighter, “I’m really enjoying all the fucking, so why stop, right?”

Fucking. If you’d told me six months ago, I’d be comfortable being touched, held, kissed, and would be having so much sex, I’d have said over my dead body . And okay, it could have almost come to that, but now I realised it was what I was made for. He was. My Ethan. My teacher, my supporter, my kidnapper, my rapist, and my lover. The father of my future baby. We just had to convince my family now, didn’t we?

“I say we talk to them first, give them a chance to accept this, and if that doesn’t go well, we’ll disappear,” Ethan said, like it’d be that simple. Like they wouldn’t attack first, and dance in his blood after. Wow, that was how I saw my dads? Who knew.

“Maybe you should set something on fire, so at least dad Gray will be distracted, and feeling good. That’ll halve the threat, and if Blaze is there too, you’ll have both of them entranced.”

Ethan chuckled, stroking his fingers down my arm.

“They’re really that fire-obsessed?” Well duh .

“Obviously.”

“Perfect. I can work with that. What’s Dory’s weakness?” That wasn’t so easy. I didn’t think there was an easy out with my other dad, but he’d have to try and keep dad Gray in check when there were flames, because even though he’d been burned so badly years ago, he was still likely to stand too close, and ‘feel the burn’ as he liked to say.

“When you said your dad and Blaze are fire-obsessed, do you mean they literally set fires to satisfy those urges?” Ethan asked, clearly still thinking about flames, just like my dad and brother would be. Did I have a fire-obsessed boyfriend too?

“Yeah, they’re arsonists, Ethan. It’s literally their favourite father-son bonding experience.”

“I see, so those bad burns on Gray’s arm are from an arson attack gone wrong? Kind of like a karmic thing?” I sat up, pulling free of Ethan’s hold, so I could turn to look at him in the soft lamplight.

“What are you planning to do? I won’t let you hurt my dads, Ethan, and it’d be suicide to even try.”

He grinned, that lopsided smile that used to appear so often before I messed up his life. Did this mean my old Ethan was still in there too? I was really starting to fall for the messed up version, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t love the old him too.

“I was just wondering, I mean, I guess you don’t get to spend a life setting other people’s property on fire without taking a hit yourself. I only saw it briefly once, but it looked bad. He suffers pain with it too, right?”

His words were really starting to worry me.

“Ethan, if you think his arm is a weakness to be exploited, you’re putting too much hope on that, because it’s just a bit weaker than the other. He could still beat you to a pulp, and he wouldn’t hesitate to. He’s right handed.”

Ethan grinned wickedly at me.

“Don’t worry, little saboteur, I have a plan. It’ll all be okay, or we’ll all die in a fiery blaze. Either way, it’ll be fun finding out.”

He dragged me back down into his arms, and stretched over to turn off the lamp.

“Get some sleep before I decide to fuck you again. I might even fuck you in the night, who knows.” Charming .

Ethan

THE NEXT MORNING, I prepared things, while Ember rang her dads at the allotted time, and just as I expected, when she rang them, they were just parking up outside, and Blaze was with them. Overprotective assholes. Still, I was looking forward to our little showdown.

“They’re at the door, Ethan. Are we disabling the trap?” I pouted at her as I approached it.

“Aw baby, this was some of my best work though. What if I just pretend to do it, and we tell them it’s safe?” Her eyes widened, and she yelled out for them to not touch the door. Spoilsport.

I rolled my eyes and started disabling the batteries rigged up to the door. While Ember paced, I glanced around us at the things I’d set up, ready to take on the challenge of murderous dads, and a twisted big brother.

When the door was safe, I reattached the batteries to the new trap I’d set up, and grabbed Ember’s hand, pulling her back behind the kitchen counter, before I armed it.

“It’s safe to come in,” I yelled, grinning at her as she looked around at the wires surrounding us, and turned to me with wide eyes.

“What the fuck is this?”

I grinned widely. “Precautions, and the only type I’ll be using with you, baby. You guys can come in, but don’t approach us, or shit will get ugly.”

The door opened, because they had the code, hence why I’d been forced to set the trap before. They may not have checked the back door to the property, but I’d glued that fucker closed too. I was smart enough to realise one door needed to be working, if needed for an emergency, even though I was more than prepared for the two of us to die in here.

“Listen, asshole-”

“Gray! Let me handle this,” Dory interrupted, lifting a hand and catching Gray’s shoulder as he advanced on us. Blaze was trailing his eyes over the wires, and leaned around the counter to eye the nearest battery. I could practically see his brain ticking over, and as he met my eyes, he winked. Fucker figured out my bluff already, but for some reason he’s not throwing me under the bus. Interesting.

“Dad, don’t touch those wires, they’re rigged up to give us a shock if we do.”

Gray cursed, pointing a finger right at my face.

“If you think this means you win, you’re so fucking far out of your league, you have no idea. I’ll burn you to death a fucking inch at a time, and make a soundtrack out of your screams.”

“ Kinky . Whatever floats your boat though. So here’s how things are going to be, because I have all the power here right now, and we all know it.” I flicked my eyes at Blaze, wondering how long he was going to keep my secret, and let this play out. Probably until he got bored.

“We’re listening, Former Teach, can’t say we’re going to agree, but we’re listening,” Gray said, glaring at me with a savage intensity. Dory, however, was looking at my girl.

“Are you okay, sweetheart? Has he been hurting you? If you want away from him, you just have to say.” Does she? Is she about to shove me away, and let them at me? The wires are a ruse, and if she tries to get away and touches them, she’ll realise that. They’re here to keep her trapped, as much as they are to keep her dads away.

“I told you I’m staying with him. I don’t know why this is so hard for you all to understand. You’ve known for a while that I’m in love with Ethan, and now I’m with him, I know that’s where I want to stay. Just like mum with the two of you, and Anneka with you, Blaze. Love is love, right?” That’s my girl. Playing them at their own game, and you could literally see their realisation of that as they stared back at her.

“This is really what you want? This?” Gray pointed at me as he said ‘this’ the second time, and the look on his face was one of amusement, like I was the worst possible choice, and we all know he’s not wrong.

“She enjoys my cock, what can I say?” Comments like that really seem to rile these guys up, and I love doing it. At some point, I’ll have to be around them without traps and other things to protect me, but I guess I can figure that out as we go.

“You were about to lay down your rules,” Blaze prompted me, folding his arms as he leaned against the wall by the front door. For some reason, he really seemed to be backing us, and I wasn’t sure what it was, or why, but I’d figure it out one day.

“Yeah, ground rules. Check this out, and tell me you agree, and nobody has to die today.”