I leave one hand on her back and move the other to her head and hold her against me. “You deserve to be spoiled,” I say, because no one else will except for me. No one’s ever made her feel special, given her birthday presents, taken her to places, and I’m pretty sure neither her mother nor father have told her they love her. That became my job the moment I got her to climb over the fence.
“Feeling better?” I ask her, kissing the top of her head.
“I am,” she says, her hands sliding up my shoulders and hitching around the back of my neck. “But Micha?”
I try to remain calm, but it’s difficult when she’s touching me like this. “Yeah.”
“If you ever kiss me on the lips again without permission,” she says, “I’ll kick you in the balls.”
I snort a laugh. “Okay, sounds fair.”
She pinches the back of my neck and another laugh escapes me. “I’m being serious.”
“I know you are.” And I’m sure she’s telling the truth but I’m just relieved she’s letting it go.
She doesn’t say anything else and I hold on to her until the song finishes. The next song turns on and we keep dancing, not stopping until five more songs have played through. I pull back only when I feel her weight lean heavy against me, like she’s falling asleep. When I look down at her, her eyes are shut and her grip on me is loosening.
“We should probably get you home,” I say, brushing her hair back from her forehead.
She shakes her head with her eyes shut. “I don’t want to go home.”
“Then where do you want to go?” I ask. “Back to my house?”
She yawns. “Can’t we just stay here?”
I stand there while she starts to drift off to sleep in my arms. Finally, I lean her back, slip my arms underneath her legs, and pick her up. She’s too tired to argue with me and instead nestles against me as I carry her back to the car. Then I maneuver the door open and lower us both into the driver’s seat.
“Do you want to get in the backseat?” I ask, sitting her up so I can get my legs in and then shut the door.
She shakes her head. “I just want to sleep right here.”
There’s limited space, but in the end it doesn’t matter how much room there is because she’s in my arms and she wants to be there. So holding onto her, I recline the chair back and lie down. She shifts her weight, so she’s to the side of me, our legs entangled as she rests her head on my chest. As the music continues to play, we drift off to sleep together.
Chapter 18
Present day…
Ella
When I open my eyes to daylight, Micha’s already awake, with my mom’s journal on his lap with the photo of her beside his leg. He’s leaning against the headboard with his boxers on and he’s shirtless so I can see his lean muscles and wisps of his hair dangling across his forehead. There’s an intense look on his face as he reads the pages but when I move to sit up, my head and cheek pulsating in protest, he closes the journal, the intensity shifting to ease.
“Anything good in there?” I ask, clutching the blanket over my bare chest.
He shrugs, but by his frown I can tell he hasn’t found anything that’s happy. He tucks the photo into the journal, marking the page before he puts it aside, and then reaches over to stroke my puffy, tender cheekbone. “We should have put some ice on that last night,” he says. “Seriously, Ella, it looks like it hurts like hell.”
I place my hand over his. “It does hurt like hell.”
“Do you want to tell me how it really happened?” he asks, and when I tense he adds, “I know when you’re lying, Ella May, so don’t try to tell me some girl hit you because I could tell last night that you were full of shit.”
“Then why didn’t you call me out on it?”
“Because I was thinking with my dick and nothing else.”
I smile, thinking about how he pushed me up against the wall and slammed into me so hard I could feel it through my entire body. “My legs actually hurt a little from last night,” I divulge as I move the blankets off me and massage my thighs.
He looks down at my legs with intensity in his eyes. “I could say I feel bad, but I don’t.”
I cover myself back up with the blanket and lie down on the bed. He lies down with me and props his elbow on the pillow and rests his head against his hand.
“I’ll tell you,” I say as his finger strokes my cheek, “but you have to promise me that you won’t do anything about it. No going looking for a fight.”
He stops moving his fingers. “I won’t promise that.”
“Then I won’t tell you.”
“Ella May—”
I cover his mouth with my hand and cut him off. “Don’t ‘Ella May’ me. The last thing I need is a husband who either gets charges pressed against him or ends up seriously injured.”
He pauses and then his lips curve upward beneath my hand. “Say it again.”
“Only if you promise.”
“Fine.” He sighs and my hand leaves his mouth. “I won’t go looking for a fight as long as you’ll tell me what happened and call me your husband again.” He gets this goofy grin on his face that makes me smile.
“All right, husband,” I say, making his smile expand. I take a deep breath and tell him about Mikey. I can see for the entire time that he’s working really hard to control his reaction, his hands balling into fists as he listens.
When I’m finished, he’s quiet for a while, and then he finally says, “Can I at least have Ethan kick his ass?”
I shake my head. “No. Lila doesn’t need him hurt either. Or in jail.”
His jaw is set tight and his eyes linger on my cheek before he blows out a breath. “I really want to beat the shit out of him, Ella May. I swear to God…” He clenches his fists, the muscles in his lean arms tightening.
“I know you do,” I say. “But I don’t want you to.”
“You’re killing me,” he says, aggravated.
“I know, but it’s for the best,” I explain. “Besides, I got a good kick and hit in.”
“He should have never hit a girl… I swear to God…” He blows out a frustrated breath, shaking his head. “Can’t I at least f**k up his car or something?”
“He’ll probably think it was you,” I say. “Or me.”
“Please, you have to give me something.”
I sigh. “Fine, we can sneak over to his house and slash his tires one night before we go home.”
“That’s it?” He pouts, frowning. “Can’t I, like, smash in his windows and then hit him a few times?”
“Just the tires,” I say. “And no hitting. I don’t want this turning into a huge problem.”
His frown deepens. “Fine, but only for you.”
“Thank you.” I give him a kiss and he still seems irritated, but he responds, sliding his tongue into my mouth. We keep kissing as he flips us over, rolling me onto my back and lying over me. He gazes down at me all lovey dovey, stroking my cheek with a thoughtful look on his face, and when he opens his mouth, I have no idea what he’s going to say.
“Lila says you got me a Christmas present,” he says, surprising me.
I shake my head. “Only because she made me get you one, so don’t think you have to get me anything. I know we don’t do the whole Christmas stuff.”
“What if I want to get you something, though?”
“Then you can,” I say. “But just so you know, what I got you isn’t anything great.” Which is true. While we were out shopping for wedding decorations, I saw these friendship bracelets that looked exactly like the ones Micha and I had for a while before we were kids, after we made this promise to be best friends forever. Eventually they got all worn out and we threw them away or lost them, and when I told Lila this, she said I should get them and give them to Micha as a present. I’m not one for sappiness, but I still found myself buying them.
“I’m already getting you,” he says. “Which is the best present ever.”
I shake my head, but can’t help but smile. “You’re so cheesy sometimes.”
“And you secretly love it.”
I don’t respond because he’s right and then he grins as he nudges my legs open with his knee, shifting his h*ps between them, ready to slip back inside me.
But a knock on the door interrupts us.
“Ella,” Lila calls out from the other side.
“Just ignore her,” Micha whispers, nibbling on my earlobe as he grazes his thumb across my nipple.
I groan, squeezing my legs against his h*ps as the tip of him presses into me.
“Ella, I know you’re in there and I need you to come out.” She pauses. “Dean and Caroline are here.”
I work to keep my voice level as Micha thrusts inside me. “I’ll be out in just a second.” My voice comes out breathless and Micha laughs, his mouth hovering over mine.
He pauses, arching his brow. “A second. Really?”
I reach around and pinch his ass, causing him to laugh. “You better make it a second, otherwise you’re going to get blue balls for the rest of the day.”
Shaking his head, he smiles. “Fine, you win.” Then his slips all the way inside me and again I lose myself in him.
* * *
About fifteen minutes later, we’re fully dressed and we head out to the kitchen, exhausted but content. Lila’s at the kitchen table, dressed in her pajamas with little cherries on the fabric. The table and counters are still covered in ribbon and candles, along with a few boxes of cereal and dirty dishes. Ethan’s in the chair beside her, in a T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms, eating a bowl of cereal.
A knowing grin rises on Lila’s face when she sees us. “Took you two long enough,” she jokes as she adds a spoonful of sugar to her coffee.
Ethan glances over his shoulder, his eyes bloodshot, probably because he’s hungover. He stares at my cheek, which I tried to cover up with makeup but shiners on the face are pretty much a lost cause so all I can do is wear it proudly.
“Who the hell beat you up?” Ethan asks, stirring his cereal with a spoon.
I touch the spot with my fingers as Micha releases my hand and goes over to the coffeepot beside the sink. “Mikey,” I tell him.
Ethan lets out a gradual exhale. “Shit, was it because…”
He trails off as Micha hands me a cup of coffee. “Because you two jackasses threw a shake in his car?” he says. “Yep.”
Ethan frowns as he rakes his fingers through his hair, making it stick up on the top. “Hey, it wasn’t my idea.”
“Yeah, it was mine,” I say to Micha, inhaling the aroma of the coffee. “Don’t give him credit for my awesomeness.”
“I’m too hungover for you two to start arguing.” Micha grimaces and then stretches his arms above his head, the bottom of his shirt riding up, flaunting his muscles.