The Scarred One Read online

  He cupped her cheeks. “I love you, too, baby.” He pressed his lips to hers, stroking his tongue inside her mouth.

  Melting against him, she accepted his kiss. She made sure not to look at the evidence of the dead bodies.

  Pulling away from the kiss, she kept her eyes closed against his chest.

  “I’m going to get her out of here.”

  “Yeah, please, I don’t want your lovey-dovey attitude to rub off,” Elijah said.

  “I’m sorry for treating you like shit,” Caleb said.

  She opened her eyes to see Henry’s friend standing close. “It’s okay. I know you were only taking care of him.”

  Running her hand over Henry’s chest, she looked up at him smiling.

  “What about me?” Arnold asked, groaning.

  Henry kept her head locked to his chest.

  “Go, we’ll deal with him.” This came from Caleb once again.

  Henry held her as they made their way outside toward his car. Climbing inside the car, Henry took his seat beside her.

  “Are you angry at me?” she asked as he drove toward their apartment.

  “Why would I be angry at you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Henry grabbed her hand. “I’m not angry at you. You didn’t know they were there. I got you out of there because I don’t want you to remember shit like that. I love you, baby. I promised to take care of you, and I failed.”

  “You didn’t fail. How could you have known I was going to bring you lunch?” she asked, resting her head against the chair. Should she be freaking out over the fact she just witnessed three men get killed? When she thought about Bill lying dead, she was happy about it. “What did Richard do?” she asked. She’d been surprised to see the barman taking pills and cash from Leon. None of it made sense, and she told Henry what she’d seen.

  He gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “He was using the club to find girls he could rape.”

  She gasped. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. We just found out when we were talking with Elijah.”

  Lydia was pleased Richard was dead. They were three monsters.

  Looking outside, she wondered if she would have been one of the women if it hadn’t been for Henry.

  Frowning, she turned back to him. “You love me?”

  “You’re only just hearing that now?” he asked, glancing at her.

  “You said it though. You love me?”

  “I do love you, baby.” He squeezed her hand, bringing it up to his lips and laying a kiss on it.

  Henry pulled up outside of the apartment. He removed his jacket and rounded the car toward her. Before she could protest he placed the jacket over her, covering her up.

  Together they made their way up to his apartment. No one stopped them on their way. She snuggled against him, happy. He was in love with her, and she couldn’t find fault with the world.

  Once inside their apartment, he led the way down to the shower. Without saying a word, Henry removed his clothing then hers before tugging her into the small stall.

  He wrapped his arm around her, holding her close.

  “I’m completely in love with you, Lydia, and I’m not going to let anything else happen to you.” He sank his fingers into her hair, making her breath catch. She didn’t know how he did it, only that she never wanted him to stop.

  “I love you, too.” She ran her hands up his chest going on her toes. He gave her what she wanted. Moaning, she kissed him back.

  The shower took over an hour as Henry showed her with his body rather than words how much he loved her. She’d never been fucked in the shower before, but Henry let her know what she was missing.

  Afterward, he carried her to bed where she demanded he get an update on how Arnold was doing. She lay naked while he finished up the call. Running her hands over his back, she listened to him talk.

  “Okay.” Henry hung up the phone.

  “Well, is everything okay?” she asked, concerned.

  “Arnold is fine. He had to go to surgery to repair the damage the bullet made. In a couple of days he can go home. Caleb and Elijah dealt with the other three. It turns out Elijah’s got some contacts that can dispose of dead bodies without a trace.” He cupped her cheek. “Are you sure you can handle this?”

  “I want you, Henry, all part of you.” She kissed his hand. “I want to be your wife and give you children.”

  “Good, because there’s no other woman I want more than you.”

  Epilogue

  Six months later

  “I’m getting a little creepy vibe here, Henry,” Lydia said. He had a mask over her eyes as he escorted her into their apartment. They’d just been shopping with Donna and Caleb for their baby that was due in three months time.

  She touched her large stomach lovingly as Henry eased her into their apartment.

  “You’re going to love it. It has taken me long enough to get it done.”

  In the last six months they’d gotten married in a very simple wedding with only Donna, Caleb, and Elijah, along with his fifteen year old daughter, Casey and her nanny present. Lydia had loved it and would never forget how much she loved it.

  “You’re confusing me, Henry.”

  “Everything will be clear in a moment. Stop your fussing, woman.”

  He spent more and more time in his studio, which he rarely invited her inside. There was a time when she got jealous of the room as he seemed to be inside there more than with her.

  Her eyes were still covered, and she heard the door close.

  Caleb told her how much Henry had loved painting before he got the scars and stopped. All jealousy had evaporated, and she even started leaving food for him on a cart for him to eat. She took up cooking and knitting. For some reason knitting always soothed her especially when their son was kicking.

  “Can I remove this blindfold yet? I’m freaking out a little.”

  “In a minute.” He took her hands leading her further into the room. Blowing out a breath, she wondered what was going to happen when he stopped and removed the blindfold. Blinking, she stared into her husband’s eyes. “Let me know if you hate it.”

  He stopped out of the way, and there was the painting he’d been working on. She was lying on the bed, staring at him with a smile on her face. Instead of looking frumpy and cellulite riddled, she looked sexy.

  Pressing a hand to her mouth, she was taken aback by how he made her look.

  “This is why I love you. You never fail to surprise me.”

  He wrapped his arms around her.

  “This is what you’ve been working on?” she asked.

  “Yes. I wanted to get it just right. I think I got it right, don’t you?”

  She spun around, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I love you so much.”

  “Baby, you’ve got no idea how much I love you, but I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you and our children how much I do.”

  He claimed her lips, and Lydia was lost to everything else.

  The End

  www.samcrescent.wordpress.com

  Other Books by Sam Crescent:

  www.evernightpublishing.com/sam-crescent

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  Evernight Publishing

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