“Do you want to get in the backseat?” I ask, sitting her up so I can get my legs in and then shut the door.

She shakes her head. “I just want to sleep right here.”

There’s limited space, but in the end it doesn’t matter how much room there is because she’s in my arms and she wants to be there. So holding onto her, I recline the chair back and lie down. She shifts her weight, so she’s to the side of me, our legs entangled as she rests her head on my chest. As the music continues to play, we drift off to sleep together.

Chapter 18

Present day…


Ella

When I open my eyes to daylight, Micha’s already awake, with my mom’s journal on his lap with the photo of her beside his leg. He’s leaning against the headboard with his boxers on and he’s shirtless so I can see his lean muscles and wisps of his hair dangling across his forehead. There’s an intense look on his face as he reads the pages but when I move to sit up, my head and cheek pulsating in protest, he closes the journal, the intensity shifting to ease.

“Anything good in there?” I ask, clutching the blanket over my bare chest.

He shrugs, but by his frown I can tell he hasn’t found anything that’s happy. He tucks the photo into the journal, marking the page before he puts it aside, and then reaches over to stroke my puffy, tender cheekbone. “We should have put some ice on that last night,” he says. “Seriously, Ella, it looks like it hurts like hell.”

I place my hand over his. “It does hurt like hell.”

“Do you want to tell me how it really happened?” he asks, and when I tense he adds, “I know when you’re lying, Ella May, so don’t try to tell me some girl hit you because I could tell last night that you were full of shit.”

“Then why didn’t you call me out on it?”

“Because I was thinking with my dick and nothing else.”

I smile, thinking about how he pushed me up against the wall and slammed into me so hard I could feel it through my entire body. “My legs actually hurt a little from last night,” I divulge as I move the blankets off me and massage my thighs.

He looks down at my legs with intensity in his eyes. “I could say I feel bad, but I don’t.”

I cover myself back up with the blanket and lie down on the bed. He lies down with me and props his elbow on the pillow and rests his head against his hand.

“I’ll tell you,” I say as his finger strokes my cheek, “but you have to promise me that you won’t do anything about it. No going looking for a fight.”

He stops moving his fingers. “I won’t promise that.”

“Then I won’t tell you.”

“Ella May—”

I cover his mouth with my hand and cut him off. “Don’t ‘Ella May’ me. The last thing I need is a husband who either gets charges pressed against him or ends up seriously injured.”

He pauses and then his lips curve upward beneath my hand. “Say it again.”

“Only if you promise.”

“Fine.” He sighs and my hand leaves his mouth. “I won’t go looking for a fight as long as you’ll tell me what happened and call me your husband again.” He gets this goofy grin on his face that makes me smile.

“All right, husband,” I say, making his smile expand. I take a deep breath and tell him about Mikey. I can see for the entire time that he’s working really hard to control his reaction, his hands balling into fists as he listens.

When I’m finished, he’s quiet for a while, and then he finally says, “Can I at least have Ethan kick his ass?”

I shake my head. “No. Lila doesn’t need him hurt either. Or in jail.”

His jaw is set tight and his eyes linger on my cheek before he blows out a breath. “I really want to beat the shit out of him, Ella May. I swear to God…” He clenches his fists, the muscles in his lean arms tightening.

“I know you do,” I say. “But I don’t want you to.”

“You’re killing me,” he says, aggravated.

“I know, but it’s for the best,” I explain. “Besides, I got a good kick and hit in.”

“He should have never hit a girl… I swear to God…” He blows out a frustrated breath, shaking his head. “Can’t I at least fuck up his car or something?”

“He’ll probably think it was you,” I say. “Or me.”

“Please, you have to give me something.”

I sigh. “Fine, we can sneak over to his house and slash his tires one night before we go home.”

“That’s it?” He pouts, frowning. “Can’t I, like, smash in his windows and then hit him a few times?”

“Just the tires,” I say. “And no hitting. I don’t want this turning into a huge problem.”

His frown deepens. “Fine, but only for you.”

“Thank you.” I give him a kiss and he still seems irritated, but he responds, sliding his tongue into my mouth. We keep kissing as he flips us over, rolling me onto my back and lying over me. He gazes down at me all lovey dovey, stroking my cheek with a thoughtful look on his face, and when he opens his mouth, I have no idea what he’s going to say.

“Lila says you got me a Christmas present,” he says, surprising me.

I shake my head. “Only because she made me get you one, so don’t think you have to get me anything. I know we don’t do the whole Christmas stuff.”

“What if I want to get you something, though?”

“Then you can,” I say. “But just so you know, what I got you isn’t anything great.” Which is true. While we were out shopping for wedding decorations, I saw these friendship bracelets that looked exactly like the ones Micha and I had for a while before we were kids, after we made this promise to be best friends forever. Eventually they got all worn out and we threw them away or lost them, and when I told Lila this, she said I should get them and give them to Micha as a present. I’m not one for sappiness, but I still found myself buying them.

“I’m already getting you,” he says. “Which is the best present ever.”

I shake my head, but can’t help but smile. “You’re so cheesy sometimes.”

“And you secretly love it.”

I don’t respond because he’s right and then he grins as he nudges my legs open with his knee, shifting his hips between them, ready to slip back inside me.

But a knock on the door interrupts us.

“Ella,” Lila calls out from the other side.

“Just ignore her,” Micha whispers, nibbling on my earlobe as he grazes his thumb across my nipple.

I groan, squeezing my legs against his hips as the tip of him presses into me.

“Ella, I know you’re in there and I need you to come out.” She pauses. “Dean and Caroline are here.”

I work to keep my voice level as Micha thrusts inside me. “I’ll be out in just a second.” My voice comes out breathless and Micha laughs, his mouth hovering over mine.

He pauses, arching his brow. “A second. Really?”

I reach around and pinch his ass, causing him to laugh. “You better make it a second, otherwise you’re going to get blue balls for the rest of the day.”

Shaking his head, he smiles. “Fine, you win.” Then his slips all the way inside me and again I lose myself in him.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, we’re fully dressed and we head out to the kitchen, exhausted but content. Lila’s at the kitchen table, dressed in her pajamas with little cherries on the fabric. The table and counters are still covered in ribbon and candles, along with a few boxes of cereal and dirty dishes. Ethan’s in the chair beside her, in a T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, eating a bowl of cereal.

A knowing grin rises on Lila’s face when she sees us. “Took you two long enough,” she jokes as she adds a spoonful of sugar to her coffee.

Ethan glances over his shoulder, his eyes bloodshot, probably because he’s hungover. He stares at my cheek, which I tried to cover up with makeup but shiners on the face are pretty much a lost cause so all I can do is wear it proudly.

“Who the hell beat you up?” Ethan asks, stirring his cereal with a spoon.

I touch the spot with my fingers as Micha releases my hand and goes over to the coffeepot beside the sink. “Mikey,” I tell him.

Ethan lets out a gradual exhale. “Shit, was it because…”

He trails off as Micha hands me a cup of coffee. “Because you two jackasses threw a shake in his car?” he says. “Yep.”

Ethan frowns as he rakes his fingers through his hair, making it stick up on the top. “Hey, it wasn’t my idea.”

“Yeah, it was mine,” I say to Micha, inhaling the aroma of the coffee. “Don’t give him credit for my awesomeness.”

“I’m too hungover for you two to start arguing.” Micha grimaces and then stretches his arms above his head, the bottom of his shirt riding up, flaunting his muscles.

Ethan and I exchange a challenging look, and then Ethan gives up and returns to eating his cereal as I take a soothing gulp of my coffee.

“You said Caroline and Dean were here?” I ask Lila as I sit down at the table.

Lila nods as she stirs her coffee. Her hair is pulled back in a short ponytail and she doesn’t have any makeup on. “They were, but I told them you were going to be a minute so they went over to your house and I told them I’d send you over when you came out.”

Out the window, I see there’s a large maroon SUV parked in the driveway beside my house, just behind the Firebird. “Is that their rental car?” I ask.

Lila shakes her head. “No, they drove here because Caroline didn’t want to fly. I think it’s their car.”

“I guess he got rid of the Porsche then,” I say, adding a drop of milk to my coffee.

“Probably because they’re about to have a baby and there’s no room for a car seat in a Porsche.” Lila smiles and then takes a gulp from her coffee mug. “Caroline’s belly is so cute.”