When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)(77)

I knew from the background check I had run on him after the fire that the sorry f*ck only spent time in three places—the station, the gym, or his house—and seeing that it was three in the goddamn morning, I was going with the last option.

Lucky for me, his house butted up to a road so I parked my truck on the shoulder and moved through the woods separating me from my prey. I tagged his SUV in the driveway first. Walking around the side, I felt nothing but hatred as I moved to the back of his house. His back door was older, and with a solid kick at the knob, it gave and crashed open.

I hunted inside. My eyes searched through the darkness as I moved. When I rounded the corner, entering what looked like his living room, I found him jacking off. The porn was turned up so loud that it’s no wonder the motherf*cker didn’t hear me enter.

“Get up!” I thunder and watch him jump.

The lube he had been about to squirt on his small ass dick came out with a rush when his startled movements made his fist tighten.

He moves to stand, getting hung up on the pants around his ankles, and I wait for him to stand completely, pulling his pants up roughly as he goes.

“I’m going to kill you,” I fume through clenched teeth. When he doesn’t move, I feel my rage spike even higher. “Can’t hold your own against a man?”

“What the f*ck are you doing in my house?” he screams, but I see the fear in his eyes, and I let it fuel me.

“I’m here to show you what it feels like when you mess with the wrong man’s woman. I’m here to make sure that you feel the pain she did, but the difference is, I’m going to f*cking kill you.”

I stomp toward him, and he finally gets with the program and tries to rush me. But I have the power of a man set to avenge his love right now because as I crack my fist against his nose, he tries to fight back, but I keep pounding into him with an inhuman speed. Each blow to his body makes him stumble until I have him flat against the wall, holding him up for me as I use him as a punching bag for every second of panic, fear, and pain that Ember felt.

“Stop.”

At the voice behind me, I halt and let this sorry f*ck slide to the ground.

“Why are you here?” I ask, my chest heaving with exertion.

He ignores me. “You do my daughter no good if you end up in prison for murder. Get the f*ck out of here, clean yourself up, and get back to her.”

When I hesitate, he moves forward, and with a meaty hand to my neck, he shoves me toward the back of the house.

“You got what you needed; now, get the f*ck back to your girl before she wakes up needing the one person not there!”

With one last look at the passed out man on the floor, I give Maddox a nod and walk out of the house.

My first stop is my house. I let Bam out quickly before I rush to wipe the sweat and fear from my skin with a damp washcloth. I run to my closet and move some shit around before I grab what I need. I change my clothes quickly before rushing to the laundry room and throwing the ones I had on in the washer. After making sure Bam is back inside with a full bowl of water, I’m on my way out of the house with a squeal of my tires as I head back to the hospital.

No one says a word when I walk back into Ember’s hospital room two hours after I had left. Not one mention of my new clothes or the fact that two knuckles are now split with dry blood. And not one damn word is said when I stop on the opposite side of the bed from my chair to take her hand in mine, slipping the diamond ring on her finger before placing a kiss on her hand and laying it gently back down.

Not one word.

I sit back in the chair I had left earlier, and with my eyes back on her sleeping face, I take my first deep breath of the night.

Nothing will ever take her from me.

Not one damn thing.





“I’M OKAY,” I TELL MY fussing mother as she pulls the covers up to my chin.

“Yes. You’re okay, sweetheart.” Her voice wobbles, and I just sigh, letting her fret if that’s what she needs to assure herself that I’m okay.

“Emmy, leave her alone.” I look over her bent head and smile at my dad.

“I’m not going to leave her alone. She’s been through something traumatic and then had to sit there while the police questioned her as if she had done something wrong. She is not okay!”

I whine when her voice gets louder; the slight headache that I’ve felt since I woke up this morning had followed me all the way to where I am now in Nate’s bed.

Dad walks over to the side of the bed, and I follow his movements. I lose his eyes when he bends to place a soft kiss on the top of my head.

“It’s time to go, Emmy. Let Nate take over. He’s what she needs now.”

My heart flips at his words and the bigger meaning behind them, and I feel my chin quiver with emotion.

He’s letting me go. Completely letting me go to give me to another man.

And … he’s happy about it.

I watch in awe as he pulls my mom away and walks to where Nate is leaning against the doorframe with his arms over his chest. He pulls him in for a quick hug before letting go and looking into his eyes. The flipping in my heart starts to turn into summersaults as I watch something heavy move between them.

They leave with one last look over their shoulder, and I watch as Nate moves over to sit at my side.

“Are you going to cry?”