in the door, Emelie and Jenna are surrounding Hope in a hug and they’re talking all at once. Phoenix comes to my side to get the details. Though Emelie keeps looking at the door, waiting for her husband.
‘Axel will be here in a few minutes,” I tell Emelie. “Right now, they are helping the police load them into the cars and answering a few more questions. But they’re both completely unharmed and safe.’
Hearing my words, Emelie looks relieved and gives me a small hug before turning back to help.
‘It was her mom and the boyfriend that took her. Jana was there too. Unfortunately, she had been there for a few days.’ I tell Phoenix.
When he looks behind me like he’s waiting for her to walk in the door, I say, ‘Cole took her back to his place since she didn’t want to go to the hospital. He has medical training, and she needs some stitches, but otherwise she seems to be okay.’
‘Christ, what did they want?’
‘What else do drug addicts want? Money to buy more drugs. Both girls pressed charges without hesitation. They’re also wanted back in Georgia. Apparently, a robbery went wrong, and someone died. So they’re both on the hook for murder. Thankfully, they won’t be seeing the outside of a jail cell anytime soon.’
‘I’m glad Hope and Jana are okay. Did any of you guys get hurt?’ He asks, watching his wife.
‘No. Axel and Bennett might have a few scratches because the mother and boyfriend put up a fight when they were being apprehended. But otherwise everything went really smoothly. Though we have Cole to thank for the success of the raid because his training kicked in and he helped map out our strategy. I don’t know what he did in the military, but I’m glad he was on our side,’ I say.
Phoenix nods his head as Axel and Bennett come in the door. Of course, Axel heads right for his wife. Then they both look each other over, making sure the other one is unharmed before he pulls her in for a kiss, leaving them with smiles on their faces. After Emilie asks about Jana and what all happened, she turns to help Hope. Phoenix migrates over to his wife’s side and then stands beside me.
As I look around and watch everyone, it hits me full force how much they all mean to me. When my brother died, I thought he left me all alone on this mountain and all alone in this world with no family.
But I realize now that this is my family. These people dropped everything when I needed them and came to help me without hesitation, even when we had no idea what we’re walking into. How the women who supported these men now stand there gushing over my girl, making sure she’s okay.
When Hope looks up and our eyes lock, everyone else ceases to exist around me for a moment in time. It’s just us and I can see everything so clearly now.
‘Oh, I know that look. It’s time for us to go, boys.’ Emelie says as she moves toward her husband and starts pulling him to the door.
Jenna follows suit with Phoenix, and Bennett follows. They hug us, say their goodbyes and every one of them says if we need anything to call.
Finally, the door closes and I turn back to Hope. Then, taking her hand, I leading her to the bathroom. While the cops did have an ambulance there and the paramedics looked at the medication that was given to Jana and Hope to knock them out, I still need to know she’s all right. Yeah sure, it was nothing more than a sleeping medication, but neither of the girls wanted to go with them or be checked out.
Hope has sworn she has no injuries, and she feels fine, but I have to know and see for myself.
Once in the bathroom, I turn the water on for the shower so it can warm up before I turn back to Hope, who’s watching me. Taking her hand, I gently remove her shirt and bra.
Her wrists already have some nasty bruising showing where they tied her up. Also, there are a few small scratches on her arm, so I get out the first aid kit and clean every little scratch on her arms before taking care of the cut on her cheek.
Then I carefully remove her pants and check her legs. Since they took her barefoot, her feet are all cut up, so I clean up those before helping her into the shower. Leaning her head back, she lets the water soak her hair and looks up at me with the softest, most trusting expression on her face.
‘I knew you’d come for me,’ she whispers.
In that moment, I know she trusts me, really truly trusts me and sees me differently than the other guys in her life. Men like her mother’s boyfriend who kidnapped her.
Even if she knew better, it was always my worry that she saw me a bit like them. Her mother’s boyfriends had been all she was exposed to, and all she knew.
When she lets me wash her hair and body, it’s as if all the proof that tonight even happened starts to flow down the drain. I take special care of her, but don’t linger or try to turn it into something more than me simply taking care of her.
Once she’s clean, she takes my body wash and does the same to me, gently washing the night away. Every time she comes up on a scratch caused by my trek through the woods, she stops and places a gentle kiss on it. Like her lips can kiss away the mark on my skin. If anyone could, it would be her.
Then she drops to her knees to wash my legs and when she’s done, she looks up at me before reaching up to play with my cock. It’s already hard. There is no way it wouldn’t be with my girl naked in front of me. But I stop her.
‘Not tonight, my love. Let’s get dressed, eat dinner, and then lie in bed. All I want is to hold you. To know you’re okay, and that you’re safe here with me again.’
After getting out of the shower, she lets me dress her. Then I take her to the kitchen, get her some water and warm up the casserole Emelie left for us.
‘What about Jana and Cole? Can we check on her?’ she asks as she eats her dinner.
‘Right now, she’s safe with Cole. With his medical training, he’ll make sure that she’s okay. But you need to rest. I promise in a few days will go over and check on them ourselves. If he needs us, he knows where I’m at and I know where he lives. All right?’ I ask softly. I’m hoping she’ll understand and choose to rest. Thankfully, she nods and now that she’s cleaned, fed, and had something to drink, she starts to yawn. After everything that she’s been through today, her body has to be exhausted.
‘Come on, let’s go to bed. You lie down and let me hold you so you can get some rest.’
She stands, allowing me to lead her into the bedroom. Just this morning I loved how much her stuff was all mingled with mine, but standing here now it doesn’t seem like enough.
‘Having your belongings here isn’t enough,’ I tell her as I look around the room.
‘What?’ she asks looking at me like I’m not quite making sense.
Walking over to my dresser, I pull out the ring that I bought her the day that I found out she was right about the other accountant stealing money from my brother. Before I went to her house to apologize, I bought this ring because I knew then I wanted to make her my wife.
When I turn around and she sees the box, she gasps. I gently ease her so she’s sitting on the edge of the bed, and then drop to one knee in front of her.
‘I knew that first day in the grocery store that you were going to be someone special in my life. What I didn’t understand was exactly how important you would be.
As we spent more and more time together, I felt like I’d finally found the other part of my soul. You get me and this way of living up here in a way I never thought someone would. My brother died, and I made peace with the fact that I’d be up here alone on the mountain for the rest of my life. Until you walked into my life, I was okay with it. But I knew that there was no way I’d ever be settled unless you were here by my side. That was the day I bought this ring. I kept waiting for the right time to ask you to marry me, to spend your life with me up here on the mountain, raise our family with our friends…’
‘Yes, that’s all I want.’ She doesn’t even let me finish and I don’t care because she said yes! The most amazing girl I’ve ever met has just agreed to marry me.
When I slide the ring on her finger, she drops to her knees and pulls me in for a kiss. It’s not just any kiss, this is our souls connecting once again. This kiss is home, it’s safety.
This kiss is the start of our forever.
