Page 65 of We The Depraved

“My word is everything,” I tell her. “You are finally mine. No fucking gang banger is going to take you away from me. He’s handled, Sage.”

Pulling her in close, she lets me do it to hold her. My mind is already making a mental note of everything I need to do. I’ll have Ivan figure out everything we need to do.

Sage lets out a contented sigh and I take pleasure in the sound.

Mine.

My wife.

Sleep takes me after a while and I dream of eating strawberries and whip cream from Sage’s naked body.

CHAPTER21

Sage

The rain eventually let up the next morning. Fog was thick as we got into the car and drove away from the motel. A smile remained on my face until it felt as though my lips were cramping.

The sign for Magnolia Beach appeared a few hours into the drive.

“What are we doing here?”

“Honeymooning,” Niki looked over shyly tapping his fingers along the steering wheel.

We don’t speak again until we pull onto Ocean Boulevard and the smell of the ocean is all around me. He parks in front of a beach house named Sage’s Pie. Once I’m out I stretch my legs and he joins me in looking up.

“There were closer beaches,” my eyes roam over the place.

I can’t lie, it’s a nice ass beach house. It’s been painted a stormy looking grey color and has definitely been renovated. My eyes look at the place to the right of it and it’s the same thing.

“Here,” Niki says and tosses me a key.

I catch it and frown.

“It’s yours,” he says. “Actually, ours. The three to the right, and the three to the left as well.”

My mouth drops open and I stare at him.

“What?”

“I wanted to start investing outside of Houston and thought why not start with some ocean front properties.”

He shrugs and his green eyes twinkle letting me know he’s surprised me yet again. My stomach is in a knot. This man has been generous but the idea of reading one of my books curled up while the ocean crashes into the shore. The unfamiliar feeling of happiness rises through me as we journey inside.

“I love it,” I say once we’re inside.

“Did you go to the beach a lot as a kid?”

Niki thinks before replying, “A few times. When my father wasn’t being completely cruel to my mother.”

I stop and think about how he doesn’t mention his parents much either. “Our fathers really fucked us up, huh?”

He frowns. “I’m nothing like that man.”

“You don’t think you have some of his traits. I have some of the Judge’s for sure. He was a piece of shit but that ability to turn off emotions came from him. My mother was warm…”

Niki nods and simply moves to the kitchen.

“I should go into town,” the door to the freezer and fridge is open after Niki surveyed that the emptiness. “I planned for us to stay for a few days.”