The Wild Wolf Pup (Zoe's Rescue Zoo #9)(96)

And me?

I was put on this earth to love her.

To heal her as she’s healed me.

To protect her and chase away her demons.

“Reina, I can’t promise you we won’t face times that are ugly. I can’t promise that club business won’t fall into our laps, at our doorstep or even at special times like the one we’re about to share but I can promise you I protect what is mine. I can give you my word, I always fight for what is mine, and you, you’re mine, this forever is mine, it’s Property of Parrish.” I smile at her. “And you know how serious I take my property.”

“That scares me, Jack, because I know you’ll lay down and die before you let anything ever touch me, this baby, Lacey. You’ll always choose us over you. Don’t you get it? I choose you. I choose your life.”

“We all gotta die sometime. When our time is up, it’s up, but I’m not dying anytime soon, Reina. I’m going to live to a ripe old age. I promise you that,” I say with conviction.

I believed it or I wouldn’t swear it. God didn’t want me, Satan didn’t either, the only way my existence will end is when this body of mine grows old and tired, worn like the boots she wouldn’t let me wear today.

I feel her turn around in my arms, her hands on my face, inching up to my eyes.

“Open your eyes,” she whispers softly.

“You sure?” I ask, respecting her beliefs, even if I thought they were nuttier than a fucking fruitcake.

“Open your eyes,” she demands.

On command my dark eyes bore into hers

“Tell me what do see,” she says.

“I see a beautiful woman who is far stronger than any I have ever known. I see beauty. I see light. I see promise. I see her. I see me. I see a full life full of love. If I look closer, I see the answer to every question I have ever asked myself. I see relief from the darkness that has consumed me for most of my life. I see Sunshine. I see Mrs. Parrish,” I say huskily.

She grabs my face, rises onto her tiptoes and covers my mouth with hers. A kiss to seal the moment. I knew the moment I laid eyes on her, she would ruin me, wreck me, heal me and fix me. She would force me to feel. She would love me, accept me and honor me all the days of my life.

“Whose property are you?” She asks softly against my mouth.

It was a familiar question, one she asked me that same night she gave me her scars.

“Whose property are you then?” She asked, her eyes flickering with something I couldn’t name.

“No one’s,” I answered, taking her hands and pulling her toward the bathroom.

“Whose property are you, Parrish?” She repeats.

I pull back an inch, cup her face in my palms as I lean my forehead against hers and stare into her eyes, into her soul.

“Yours.”

Always yours, Sunshine.

Forever yours.





Chapter Thirty-Seven




Alone.

Darkness, my only friend.

My mind, my only companion.

I am confined to four walls, never to see the light of day again. The only time my body will touch the Earth’s soil is when it is buried beneath it.

Seconds feel like hours, hours feel like weeks, and days feel like years. I have no idea what day it is or how long I’ve been trapped here. By the scent of me I’m guessing it’s been a damn long time. I’m filthy, my throat is parched, and my stomach is empty. My already failing lungs are collapsing, disintegrating from the cancer and I feel as though I am suffocating. I have no strength left, not even to stand and walk to the toilet and I faintly feel the warmth flood my pants.

The pride I hung onto with all my might is gone.

I have nothing left.

I pray for God to take me but He continues to make me suffer and pay for my sins.

I close my eyes, tears fill them and leak out of the corners onto my dirty face, still caked with the G-Man’s dried blood.

They locked me away in this dungeon and threw away the key. Once a day a guard slides the square opening in the center of the door, peers inside my dark cell with one eye and checks if I’m alive. He closes it as quickly as he opens it, leaving me to die.

It’s not a peaceful death.

It’s a nightmare.

I’m haunted by those I love; those I miss. The beautiful faces I’ll never see again. The memories are so real it’s hard not to believe Grace and the girls are here with me but while my mind may not know the difference, my heart does. My heart knows they are too pure, too good and far too beautiful to be in the depths of Hell with me.

Still, I close my eyes and ignore my heart, pretending my girls are here. My senses shut down, the foul scent of urine, body odor and feces disappears. The darkness turns to light and I see my Gracie.



“Gracie?” I called, shrugging out of my tuxedo jacket, carefully hanging it over the back of the lone chair in the corner of the hotel room. I glanced around the room, spotting the candles I requested the hotel have on hand and began to light the wicks.

The soft bask of candle light sets the perfect ambiance for our wedding night. I averted my eyes back to the bathroom door that was still closed and moved to the silver ice bucket in the middle of the room. Popping the cork, the champagne pours over the neck of the bottle as the door creaked opened and the most beautiful women shyly crept out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but yards of white lace and silk.