Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

“I’m fine, Kendric,” Marlowe said for what felt like the thousandth time that night.

What happened with Ian was horrific, but surprisingly, Marlowe really did feel as if she was doing okay. She’d gone to the medical clinic without protest. She had pretty nasty bruises on her neck that would only continue to darken, looking worse than they felt. Her throat was scratchy, as if she had a bad cold or something. But overall, she’d been tremendously lucky.

Kendric had hovered all afternoon, as had his friends . . . their friends. After everything that had already happened to Carlise and June, no one was happy with how things had played out with Ian.

Jack’s Lumber had been packed, and even though Marlowe was tired, she hadn’t wanted to leave. It felt as if half the residents of Newton had stopped by, wanting to make sure she was all right. She had no clue how anyone knew about what had gone down, but . . . small towns. She didn’t question it too hard.

Despite the office being closed for the party, April had been slammed with people inquiring about getting trees on their property pruned or removed. Everyone wanted to support them somehow, and it seemed one of the ways they felt they could do so was by hiring Jack’s Lumber.

Carlise, June, and April had been understandably shocked by Ian’s actions, even though Marlowe had tried to downplay them. Everything had happened so quickly, Marlowe wasn’t sure there should be this much fuss over an attempt on her life that was thwarted in less than sixty seconds.

JJ went out and got Granny’s Burgers, which he wasn’t charged for, and between bites, Marlowe found herself consoling her friends. She hated that everyone felt so awful. She was the one who’d put herself in a position for Ian to do what he did. She was the one who couldn’t let him get away with making money on Thailand’s heritage, who hadn’t been able to forgive him for putting her in prison. She’d knowingly put herself into a potentially dangerous situation.

Marlowe had even spoken with the mysterious Tex, who was a man of few words. He’d called to talk to Kendric, and had asked to speak with her as well. The conversation was short. She’d said hello, Tex had asked if she was all right, she said yes and thanked him for the earrings that had caught every second of what happened, ensuring Ian wouldn’t get away with any of his crimes. Tex had said he was glad she was safe, told her no thanks were necessary, then asked her to put Kendric back on. She’d done so with an amused chuckle.

The day had been long, and after just a few hours at Jack’s Lumber, Marlowe was exhausted. Kendric finally put his foot down and told everyone he was taking her home. Then he simply picked her up and carried her out of the office and to his truck, which seemed to be his new favorite thing.

Now they were home, and Kendric had already asked if he could get her anything three times and had practically buried her beneath a mound of blankets on the couch. He’d made sure she took some painkillers, and at the moment, he was currently in the kitchen doing God knows what.

“Kendric, come here,” she ordered gently.

He immediately put down whatever he was fiddling with and sat down next to her. But he didn’t pull her into his arms, which was where she desperately needed to be.

For a moment, a flash of uncertainty went through her. Had something changed between them? Was he reconsidering being with her? Had she been too reckless in insisting on meeting with Ian, then getting into his car?

“Why are you all the way over there?” she asked with a small frown. It wasn’t as if he’d sat down on the extreme opposite end of the couch, but he wasn’t touching her, and that freaked her out.

Kendric studied her for a long moment, then he sighed. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Marlowe shook her head. “Touching me won’t hurt me.” He still didn’t move, and her heart fell. “I mean, if you’re mad at me or something, please just tell me. If you’ve changed your mind about us because I screwed up today, I want to know.”

“Changed my mind?” he asked incredulously.

Before she could blink, she was sitting on his lap, blankets and all, and his arms were around her, holding her close.

Sighing in relief, Marlowe snuggled into him, wrapping an arm around his neck and holding on tight.

“You didn’t screw up today. I did.”

Marlowe shook her head, but he didn’t give her a chance to protest verbally.

“I did. I told you that I’d have your back, and yet I hesitated just long enough for that asshole to get his hands on you. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” she begged. “You saved me, Kendric. He was going to kill me. He’d somehow hidden who he really was from everyone, until the moment he tried to squeeze the life out of me. I saw it in his eyes. The greed, the hate, the disregard for anyone other than himself. If you weren’t there . . .” Her words faded.

“I know,” he said, his voice breaking. “I know. I can’t go through that again. Seriously. I know you needed to do all this to fix what happened to you in Thailand, but nothing about that situation felt right. I didn’t want you to think I was being a controlling husband, refusing to allow you to make your own decisions. But I think deep down, I suspected West was unstable. That he’d do anything to get his hands on the money he felt he was entitled to.

“I want you to be independent. I want you to be the strong, competent, and amazing woman you are. But I won’t let you put yourself in danger again. I just can’t.”

“Okay,” Marlowe said without hesitation. She wasn’t upset that Kendric wanted to protect her. Wasn’t that what she’d wanted all her life? Someone to lean on when the going got tough? To protect her and their children from anyone and anything that might hurt them?

Kendric nodded against her, and she felt him take a deep breath. He was just as affected by what had happened today as she was. Maybe even more so. He’d been the one to see Ian with his hands around her throat. She’d been unconscious when Kendric had opened the car door, but she’d heard from the others how he’d wrenched Ian off her with one hand. How he’d beaten the crap out of him before turning his attention to her. He’d had to see her in that back seat, lying motionless, and probably thought he was too late.

Yeah, his perspective on what happened today was probably worse than what she’d actually experienced.

“Take me to bed?” she asked. She needed to hold her husband. Reassure him that she was all right. He’d probably have nightmares tonight, which she hated because it had been quite a while since he’d had any. It killed her that she would be the reason for his relapse.

Kendric moved immediately, scooting to the edge of the couch before standing. He carried her to their bedroom and placed her on the mattress.

“Do you need anything? Use the restroom? Wash your face?”

“I’m good,” Marlowe told him. She’d changed into her pajamas earlier and had brushed her teeth when they’d gotten home.

He nodded and went to the dresser and pulled out a T-shirt. He stripped out of the clothes he’d been wearing all day and put on the clean shirt. He went into the bathroom, and Marlowe heard the water running as he brushed his teeth. The toilet flushed a moment later, then finally he was climbing under the covers with her.

He lay on his back and pulled her against his side. Marlowe rested her head on his chest and sighed with contentment. Kendric’s fingers brushed against the nape of her neck and tickled the hairs there.

“Kendric?”

She felt more than heard his chuckle. He’d admitted once that he loved how she always said his name, as if asking permission, before she asked a question or told him something. She hadn’t realized she was doing it, but now she couldn’t stop.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said with no hesitation whatsoever.

“I feel as if I owe you an apology.”

“You don’t,” he told her.

“I do,” she insisted. “I shouldn’t have met with Ian by myself. We both knew that he’d do anything in order to steal those coins. I mean, he had no problem getting me thrown in jail. There was no reason to think that he’d ever agree to give me one of them. I should’ve let you and your friends think of something else. Or let Customs and Border Control handle it. I got caught up in proving that he was a thief, in proving that he’d set me up. And proving that he hadn’t broken me. I ignored the very real threat he could pose.”

“Your bravery is what I love most about you. You don’t let anything get in your way. You just forge forward no matter what. You don’t owe me an apology. We both made mistakes, and thank goodness we’re both still here to learn from those mistakes and improve going forward.”

“Yes,” Marlowe breathed.

“I’ve made my own share of other mistakes. In fact, we’re so much alike it’s not even funny. I didn’t trust my best friends to understand why I needed to work with Willis. I lied to them, and didn’t even give them a chance to have my back. You, my love, acted in much the same way. Wanting to do all the work yourself to bring West down, despite having me and my friends here to help. I’m thinking we both learned that trusting others isn’t a bad thing.”

Marlowe shook her head against him. “It’s not. And you’re right.”

Kendric turned his head and kissed her temple. “Sleep, Punky. Tomorrow’s a new day.”

“Yeah.” She lifted her head and met his gaze. “I don’t want you to have any nightmares tonight,” she said firmly.

He chuckled. “I don’t either. But I’m not sure saying it makes it so.”

“I know,” she sighed, putting her head back on his chest. “But I feel guilty knowing that they might come back because of me.”

“If they do, they do,” he said nonchalantly. “You’ll be here to talk me down if I have one.”

“Damn straight,” Marlowe muttered.

“I used to dread going to sleep,” Kendric admitted. “Because I knew I’d dream and relive the worst moments of my captivity. But now? I’m not scared. You’ll be here when I wake up, and somehow the power of those dreams has lessened, knowing what I have now.”

That was . . . sweet.

“And learning that Chappy, Cal, and JJ have also struggled with nightmares makes me feel not as weak. I never really asked them if they were having trouble reacclimating to civilian life after we got out of the Army. I just figured it was only me, because they all seemed to be coping so well. Even Cal, who definitely had it worse than the rest of us. But they were hiding their pain, and the fact they were having issues adjusting too. Not that I like that they were suffering, but it makes everything seem not quite so . . . lonely.”

“I’m glad you have them,” Marlowe said. “This goes without saying, but I’m going to anyway. Anytime you need to talk, I’m here. I wasn’t with you on that mission, so I get that there are things you can only talk about with the others, but if you ever need an ear, I’m all yours.”

“I know you are, Marlowe, and I appreciate it more than I can say. And the same goes for you. You haven’t talked much about your experiences in that prison in Thailand, but I can imagine they weren’t great. I probably have a larger capacity than others to understand some of what you felt being locked away.”

“Thanks,” she whispered. He was right. She’d pushed her time in prison to the back of her mind because she’d had other things to worry about, like getting out of the country without being recaptured. Now that she was safe and happy, she knew memories might overwhelm her at times, and it would be nice to have someone to talk to about them.

“Sleep, Punky. If you wake up in the middle of the night in pain, I put some pills and water on your side of the bed.”

“I’ll be okay,” she said. All of a sudden, the events of the day caught up to her, and she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. “Love you,” she murmured.

“Love you too.”

Bob didn’t know what time it was. It was pitch dark outside, and he wasn’t sure what had woken him.

Then Marlowe jerked against him and muttered, “No!”

He was immediately awake. He hadn’t had a nightmare tonight, but it looked like his brave, stoic, and seemingly unflappable wife was.

“Kendric!” she suddenly screamed, scaring the shit out of Bob.

“Shhhhh,” he murmured, tightening his arms around her.

That seemed to make whatever she was seeing in her mind worse.

Bob rolled onto his back, taking her with him so she was on top. The last thing he wanted to do was remind her in any way of being helpless underneath someone bigger and stronger, as she’d experienced with West.

“No! Let go! Keeeeeendriiiiic!”

“I’m here,” he told her sternly. “I’m here, Punky. Open your eyes. Look at me.”

One second she was thrashing in his arms, and the next, her eyes popped open and she stared down at him.

Bob was more grateful than he could put into words that she seemed to recognize him immediately. Her pajama top was askew, and he could see the horrible marks on her neck against her pale skin, even though there weren’t any lights on in the room. The light from the moon shining through the window was enough for him to be able to see the awful results of the previous day.

“You’re okay,” he said gently. “I’ve got you. I’m here.”

She sighed, then lowered herself back onto his chest. Well . . . lowered wasn’t exactly the right word. Plopped was better. She simply went boneless and collapsed against him.

“Shoot,” she mumbled.

Bob couldn’t help but smile at that. It was such a Marlowe thing to say. He speared his hand in her hair and wrapped his other arm around her waist, anchoring her to him.

“I wasn’t the one who was supposed to have a nightmare,” she complained.

Bob’s smile grew. He couldn’t believe he found any humor in this situation, but she wasn’t wrong. It was a miracle he hadn’t had a nightmare. The sight of her in that car, unconscious, with that asshole’s hands around her throat was burned into his brain. He’d thought he’d lost her. He had no doubt at some point he’d dream about that moment, but apparently not tonight.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked.

She sighed, and Bob felt the warm exhale even through his shirt. “It was his eyes,” she said softly after a moment. “They were dead. I mean, I worked with Ian. Shared meals. We laughed together. I was the one who gave him a tour around the dig site when he first arrived.

“But when he was strangling me . . . I saw nothing but deadness in his eyes. He could’ve been peeling a carrot for all the emotion he had. I mean, I would’ve expected to see anger, hatred, something. His words sounded furious. But he was completely blank. I knew then that it didn’t matter what I said or how hard I fought, he was going to kill me. And that sucked because all I could think about was all the things I’d miss out on with you. Laughing, loving, our kids . . . all of it.”

“Punky,” Bob said in a strangled tone.

Marlowe lifted her head. “But I’m okay now. You’re here.”

“I am,” he agreed.

“And if I have any other dreams, you’ll wake me up and reassure me that he didn’t win.”

“Damn straight.”

She nodded, then lowered her head back to the crook of his neck. “You know, this is weird,” she said after a moment.

“What is?” Bob asked, running a soothing hand up and down her back.

“Lying on top of you without being naked and you inside me,” she said.

Bob snorted. “We slept like this a few times as we made our way across Thailand,” he reminded her.

“Yeah,” Marlowe agreed. “Kendric?”

“Yeah, Punky?”

“I’m thinking three.”

“Three what?”

“Kids. So we need at least a four-bedroom house. The kids can share when they’re young, but they’ll want their own space when they get older. And I want to find a house with a huge porch, and a big backyard. And not too far from Carlise and June, because I want our kids to play with theirs.”

The images her words put in Bob’s head were so visceral, so real, it almost hurt. “Okay, Punky.”

“I don’t know how we’ll pay for it, but we’ll figure something out.”

“We will,” Bob agreed. He’d do whatever it took to give his Punky everything she ever dreamed about.

“My brother’s going to come up soon with his family,” she went on.

It seemed as if his woman was wide awake now, and wanting to talk. Bob had no problem with that. “Good. I’m looking forward to getting to know them.”

“What did Tex tell you today?” she asked. “I mean, after he said like two words to me.” She chuckled.

Bob’s smile died. He didn’t really want to talk about this right now, but he knew Marlowe would need to know what was happening with Ian in order to move on with her life, and hopefully banish the nightmares for good. “He was updating me about West,” he said after a moment.

“And?”

“Are you sure you want to hear this now?”

“I’m wide awake,” she said with a shrug.

He nodded. “West is being charged with a whole slew of things. Kidnapping, attempted murder, money laundering, smuggling, and a bunch of other charges I forget right now. The maximum charge for the smuggling alone is twenty years in federal prison.”

Marlowe lifted her head. “Yeah, but he’ll only have to serve a portion of that before he’s eligible for parole, right?”

“True, but customs wants to charge him separately for each coin.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Marlowe said.

“They’re also going to dig into his past, check into the other sites he worked on, continue to scour the dark web, and see if they can find evidence of other artifacts he stole and sold . . . and charge him for those too. And since they believe his attempt to kill you was premeditated, they’re going to go for life in prison. It’s all on audio and video. His intent was to get you to an out-of-the-way place, kill you, collect on the money from the buyer of those coins, and go on with his life. He’s not going to get away with any of his crimes.”

“And the coins will go back to Thailand?” Marlowe asked.

Bob closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. He shouldn’t have been surprised that she was so concerned about the coins going back to the country that had imprisoned her, but he still was. “Eventually, yes.”

“Good.”

“And Tex is working with a lawyer over in Thailand to get the charges on you overthrown. They’re using the evidence that you got today as proof that you had no knowledge of the yaba pills found in your stuff, and that it was all West.”

Marlowe nodded against him, but didn’t comment for at least a minute. Then she lifted her head and stared at him in a way that Bob couldn’t read.

“What is it, Punky?” he asked.

“I love you.”

He smiled. “I love you too.”

“Since we’re both awake and all . . . I’m thinking we should find a way to pass the time. It’s way too early to get out of bed.” One of her hands trailed down his side and pushed under the waistband of his boxers.

He quickly caught her hand in his. “You were hurt yesterday,” he said.

“I was,” she agreed, holding his gaze. “But I’m okay now.”

“Are you in any pain?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I’m a little stiff and my throat is sore, but otherwise, I’m good.”

“I’m thinking we should give it another few days,” he started, but Marlowe shook her head and shifted until she was straddling his stomach. She stared down at him.

“I’m fine,” she insisted. “And I need you, Kendric. For a moment, I thought I’d never feel you inside me again. Would never watch you fly over the edge. Would never see the adorable little grimace you make when you come.” She grinned. “Please?”

Well, hell . . . how could he resist such a pretty plea? The truth was, he couldn’t. Bob had a feeling that didn’t bode well for him. Anything his wife wanted, he’d cave in a heartbeat when she looked at him like she was right now.

“I don’t grimace when I come,” he protested.

She giggled. “Uh-huh, sure you don’t. Prove it.”

“A challenge. I like it,” he said with a grin. “But then again, I’m tired. I think you should do all the work.”

Bob was surprised at how quickly his wife moved. She stripped off her pajamas and was sitting astride him naked as the day she was born before he could blink.

The next twenty minutes were the most erotic of his life. He made love to his wife, just as she made love to him. They reaffirmed their feelings with every touch, with every thrust of their hips. Being able to be with her like this again was a true gift, and Bob vowed never to take her for granted. Ever.

When he’d made her come twice, and had emptied what seemed like gallons of come deep within her, she was once more lying boneless on his chest, his half-hard cock still inside her, their juices dripping out of her body onto his balls. Bob had never felt so content.

“This is more like it,” Marlowe said sleepily.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“And you totally grimaced,” she said. Bob could feel her lips curl up in a grin against his chest.

He wasn’t surprised. Every orgasm with her felt as if he was being turned inside out. It hurt in the best way. “Whatever,” he fake grumbled.

Marlowe giggled, and the sound went straight to Bob’s heart. He’d do anything, give anything, to hear that small giggle every day for the rest of his life.

She yawned and sighed sleepily.

“I’ve got you, Punky. Sleep.”

“I don’t want to dream.”

“I know.” And he did. “But if you do, I’m here.”

“Yeah, you are.”

He felt her breaths get slower and deeper against him, and by the time his cock softened enough to slip out of her body, she was asleep once more. Bob shifted her so she was lying against his side, and he pulled up the covers that they’d kicked off in their lovemaking.

Usually when he lay in bed, his mind wouldn’t shut down. Visions of his past flickered through his brain like a movie. But tonight, it wasn’t his past that kept him awake . . . it was his future. The house Marlowe described. Their kids running around, shrieking like little hellions, laughing with Chappy and Cal’s children.

He fell asleep with a smile on his face. He had no idea what their future would actually hold, but whatever it was, he’d be with Marlowe. He had no doubt whatsoever about that.