Haunted(62)

“Beth, we are finally safe.” I grabbed her face and made her look at me. “He is dead. All three of them are dead. We’re safe.”

She looked at me. “You killed him when you took him outside, didn’t you?”

Should I lie? No, we promised we wouldn’t lie to each other, but would she think of me as a monster? I looked down and couldn’t meet her eyes.

“Yes.”

She paused before saying, “It’s okay, baby.” She ran her fingers through my hair. “It’s okay. I wanted to do the same thing. Why do you think I hit Andrew so hard with the Maglite? I wanted to take him out to protect you and Joey. I failed. That’s the only difference.”

I kissed her and buried my fingers in her hair. I took her hand and led her into the bathroom. I lifted her onto the bathroom counter and carefully helped her take out the red hair extensions. Then I cleaned off the smeared makeup. I helped her down and led her into the bedroom, turning on a lamp.

“Roman?”

I went to her and slowly undressed her. After her shirt came off, I took off my shirt. After I removed her pants, I removed mine. I wanted to leave on her corset because it was smokin’. I lifted her and carried her to the bed.

“I am going to make love to you nice and slow.”

She looked at me while her fingers caressed my face.

“I need you to feel how much I love you.” I kissed her as though I had never kissed her before. In that kiss, I wanted her to know she was the only one and would forever be the only one. I needed her to know how much I needed her and to what lengths I would go to protect her. I wanted to show her that she was mine and I was forever hers, to assure her that she would never be taken from me again.





Epilogue


Roman



“I now pronounce you man and wife.”

Beth and I looked at each other. No one else existed. I noticed her hand made a tiny move toward me. No one else would have noticed, but I did because my hand was reaching too.

“Now you may kiss the bride.”

The crowd clapped and Berg and Eve kissed. My beautiful wife stood for Eve, and I stood for Berg. The way it should have been. Berg turned to me and gave me a hug, and I was happy to hug him back. We both had come so far.

Eve and Berg walked down the aisle, heading for the place where they would take their wedding photos. Four years ago, Beth and I were married at this same chapel. Berg and Eve said it must be good luck because of how happy Beth and I had been. Beth and I had never been happier. I was as much in love with my wife today as I was the day I married her, maybe even more if that was possible.

We walked behind Berg and Eve, hand in hand. I looked down at our hands and smiled. I looked at Beth’s wrists. We’d had the scars removed three years ago after Beth had fallen off of one of her horses and sprained her wrist. We thought since she would be out of commission for a while, it was a good time to have the surgery done. That was one part of our past I didn’t miss.

The photographer took pictures of the couple and a few of us. I knew Beth would want a copy for our mantel. Berg and Beth had bonded even more during the years, and we were a family, which was fine with me.

We heard the music start as we entered the reception hall. We walked to our table, which included Phoebe, Dennis, Joey, and Laura. Laura spotted her mommy and reached for her while babbling Mama, Mama. Beth took her from Joey and held our daughter. Laura was eight months old and absolutely beautiful.

“Roman, can you get me her Cheerios?”

I grabbed the baby bag and found the cereal and Laura’s bottle. Beth set up her snack as Phoebe reached over and took Laura from Beth.

“I got this. You and Roman go dance.”

Laura sat in Phoebe’s lap and ate her Cheerios without a care in the world. She wouldn’t even miss Mama and Daddy.

I walked Beth out to the dance floor and grabbed her in my arms. “May I have this dance?”


We danced through one song, and then “Beth” started playing by Kiss. I looked and saw Jensen was manning the music. He winked at me and I winked back. Jensen and I had become good friends throughout the years, and we still shared success with Phantom. Our other bandmates, Tommy and Paul, still lived in LA, but they flew to Nashville when we worked in the studio. Jensen moved to Nashville, but I suspected that he had a little crush on Beth ever since she told him to get the hell out of her house. Jensen always liked a challenge. Asshole. I wasn’t nearly as jealous as I used to be, but I made sure I never took Beth for granted either.

As we danced, I sang the song to Beth in her ear. She shivered all over, and I could tell it was doing things to her. I couldn’t say I minded it a bit. So I nibbled at her ear and her fingers dug into my shorter hair.

“Roman Reed, you keep that up and you can expect for me to ravage you when we get home.”

“Oh, Mrs. Reed, do you promise?” I looked at her and prayed she was being sincere.

“If you can get our daughter to sleep within an hour, I absolutely promise.”

Hot damn, I had this. After having a baby, I needed to get it while the getting was good.

Our song ended, and I took Beth’s hand and led her to our table.

“Hey guys, we’re going to head home. It’s getting late,” I told them.

Everyone stood. Phoebe handed me Laura, and I held her in my arms. I sniffed her little baby head and she smelled like baby lotion. We hugged Phoebe and Dennis goodbye. I caught Berg’s eye. He and Eve walked over and hugged us.