Page 19

Chapter nineteen

Declan

A tingling sensation in my arm wakes me up, and I look over to see that Noel’s head is resting on my bicep. Her wild hair is all over the place, including wrapped around the arm I need to slide her off of before I lose all feeling in it. Moving her slowly, I manage to free myself and get out of bed without waking her.

After I clean up from last night, I check my phone. A text from an unknown number is waiting for me.

It seems you think you’ve found a loophole to our original agreement. I’d like to invite both of you to dinner at my home on Tuesday evening at 6:00 to discuss my daughter’s options.

Can’t fucking wait .

I also have a missed call from Leah’s burner. After starting a pot of coffee, I step outside to call Zander. We have too much to discuss over text, and I’d rather she not overhear most of it. He answers just before it goes to voicemail and sounds like I woke him up.

“Late night?” I ask. Zander is usually leaving the gym by now.

“Had to get under one to get over one,” he groans.

“There better not be a whore in a fucking cage in my warehouse, Zander.”

“Wha-? Oh. No, the receptionist,” he stammers out.

“Good.”

Zander gives me a rundown on why Leah called me. I tell him about my dinner invitation just as Noel emerges from the house with messy hair and a dirty smile.

“Gotta go, man,” I say and hang up.

“Good morning, beautiful,” I say, inviting her to sit in my lap.

She stumbles over to me, and I help her sit down gently on my thigh. Laying her head on my shoulder, she kisses my neck.

“I think you broke me,” she says, her voice hoarse.

“That’s the idea,” I smirk.

“Hey!” She says, playfully.

“If you think there’s a life for you after me, you’re wrong, Noel. I want you to feel me deep inside of you every fucking day, and I know you’re strong enough to take it,” I tell her, just in case she was confused.

She pops up with her eyes wide in surprise. When she sees that I’m completely serious, she turns on her usual sunshine to lighten the mood.

“So, no girl trips ever?” Trying to keep a straight face, she bites her lip.

Brat. “I tell you what. We will get a dildo made of me for you to take on girl trips.”

Her face lights up with a smile. I guess I’m going to have to make her a fucking Declan dildo for every room in the house now.

“A vibrating dildo,” she adds.

“Fuck,” I say with a chuckle, standing her up. “You’re insatiable.”

“I didn’t even know what that word truly meant until now,” she says, looking up at me with bright green eyes.

Scooping her up, I take her straight to the bedroom to fill her up again.

“Will we even be able to see anything?” Noel asks. We pull over to the side of the road in front of the property. She has a point—it’s heavily wooded.

The realtor pulls in behind us, and we get out of the truck to meet him. After introductions and talking about the overview of the property, he tells us about a side entrance that is cleared some. He points to the side-by-side on his open trailer.

We unload it and ride with him to the clearing. He takes us through as much of it that’s driveable. Then, he stops to let us walk some while he hangs back.

“What do you think?” I ask her.

“Is it big enough for a side business?” She asks, digging the toe of her shoe in the dirt.

“Side business?” I walk over to her, so she will look at me when she asks this time.

“Velocity Marketing, maybe?” Her eyes are guarded, but she stares up at me without blinking.

“No, baby,” I shake my head, and she looks away. “Sunshine Art Studio or Gallery, Noel’s Whatever The Fuck She Decides Today, but whatever you call it, it’s yours, not Velocity’s, not anyone else’s. And not a compromise like marketing.”

She jumps on me, arms and legs wrapping around me. She covers my face in kisses before she lands one on my mouth, and I don’t let her go. When we break away, I turn to walk back to the realtor.

“Sold,” I tell him.

“That’s great!” He exclaims, driving us back to our vehicles .

I spend the next few hours in his tiny office finishing the paperwork, while Noel checks out an art studio close by. When the wire transfer shows complete, he hands over the stack of documents, and I’m out the door.

Noel is already back, waiting for me outside. When I look at her, I know something is wrong.

“Can we fly back tonight?” She asks.

“What the fuck happened?”

“Jaclyn text me. She said she has proof that Nate was murdered and needs me to go with her to the police station.”

“She’s fucking lying to you, Noel,” I grab her hand and help her into the Tahoe.

“I need to see it for myself,” she says, and I know she isn’t going to let this go.

We grab our things from the house and get to the airport just in time to catch the last flight to Birmingham.

Thank fuck it’s almost midnight before we make it out of the airport, so I don’t have to talk her out of dealing with this bullshit tonight. She hasn’t said much all afternoon, but I’m trying not to push her.

When we’re finally in my truck on the way to my house, she starts talking.

“Did anything on that USB drive point to something like this?”

Fuck . I don’t mind hiding shit from her or even redirecting her when she gets close, but I don’t want to lie to her. Not for her fucking Dad.

“There was proof of a motive.”

“What motive?” I can feel her glaring at me.

“The marriage contract between his dad and yours states you have to have a male child before you turn 30 or the entire estate will be donated,” I deliver the news like it means nothing, doing my best to soften the blow .

She gasps and takes a few minutes to catch her breath. “But how would that be motive? For who?”

I take a deep breath not wanting to tell her the rest, but I know she won’t let this go.

“He saved fertility charts. He was tracking your cycles and every time you had sex for years,” I stop to let it sink in before I add to the pile of bullshit I’m about to tell her.

“What?! He knew I was on birth control. That doesn’t make any sense!” She’s starting to panic, so I stay silent.

Several minutes pass before she’s calm enough to speak.

“What else, Declan?” Her voice is a whisper.

“Your pills were placebos. There were folders of charts like yours for other women, Noel. Instead of going to a doctor, he was using other women to see if he was the reason you hadn’t gotten pregnant.”

Stealing a glance, I see her leaning over with her head in her hands. Pulling the truck to the side of the road, I pick her up like a child and put her in my lap.

She buries her face into my chest and lets out a heart-wrenching cry. I hold her as she mourns the life she thought she had and I plan the desecration of his fucking grave.

When she finally settles, she looks up at me. “Fuck him. Fuck them both. Who does this? One trades me off for money, and the other tries to get me pregnant for it? All of it was based on lies. Fuck them.”

“That’s my girl,” I say and wipe her tears.

“Take me to the cemetery, Dec,” she says and climbs back over to her seat.

Here we fucking go.

Before the truck completely stops, she jumps out. I have to slam it in park and jog to catch up to her. But I don’t say a fucking word to stop her.

We jog and walk up and down a few hills down the main path before she veers left down a row of graves. Our only light is the small flashlight I had in my truck.

She stops abruptly, and I silently walk up beside her. She stares at the headstone for a moment then marches up to it. Ripping the flowers from the vase, she screams.

“Loving husband? What a fucking joke, Nate!” She yells at the sky.

“What the fuck were you thinking? You didn’t have enough money already? You never even asked me if I wanted a baby! What if you caught something? I guess it wouldn’t matter because I would’ve been stuck with you regardless, huh? What if I died in fucking childbirth?” She yells and cries out a long procession of questions to his grave, to his headstone, to the sky.

I stand perfectly still, holding the flashlight. She’s fucking magnificent. Her anger is pure and raw, and I’m tempted to find a way into hell just to get the answers for her myself.

When she runs out of things to say, she plops down in the center of the light and stares at the headstone silently.

“By the way, this is Declan. He fucks so much better than you. That’s a low blow I know, but you deserve it. And it’s true. I think I may marry him just so I can fuck him everyday,” she rambles.

I chuckle, unable to hold it back.

She stands up to face me .

“Fuck me, Dec,” she says, ripping her shirt off.

“Noel,” I warn.

“Show him how I like it,” she challenges, letting her pants fall to her ankles.

I close the distance between us, picking her up without hesitation. I set her on the headstone and kneel before her. She opens her legs wide for me.

I lean forward to suck her clit between my teeth, and her fingers tangle in my hair immediately.

“Yes,” she whispers.

I slide my tongue into her hole and close my mouth around her perfect little cunt. I love the way she wraps her hands around my face. I growl into her, burying my tongue as far as it will go.

When I feel her relax, I stand. She unbuttons my pants and shoves them down. I’m so fucking hard for her, I won’t last long.

I slam into her, and she screams out my name.

“Wake the fucking dead, sunshine. Tell them who you belong to now,” I growl and fuck her the way she likes it best.

It doesn’t take her long before she’s clenching down on my dick, coming for me on his fucking headstone.

“Dec, yes,” she moans.

I’m right behind her, filling her little body with as much of me as it will hold.

“All mine,” I say, my voice deep and raw.