Be My Hero(72)

"What took you so long to get here?" I said.

He shook his head, looking dazed. "A social worker showed up at the garage to talk to me."

Oh, shit. And here, I'd barely scratched through the surface of the numb  shock of what had happened in the office. This shoved another cold wash  of dread through me. "Julian?" I whispered, clutching his arm.

Thank God he was with Reese. No officials would know where he was; they  wouldn't be able to steal him away. Maybe Pick and I could sneak over to  Mason's place and run off together with the babies, somewhere no social  worker would ever find us.

Pick nodded, but he didn't look worried. "Before she died, Tristy wrote  on a napkin that she wanted to give me guardianship of him. The state is  taking that into account as well as a statement from one of the police  officers who saw me taking care of him. They're going to put it under  review, but she thinks I have an honest-to-God chance of being able to  adopt him."

"Oh my God," I screeched and flung myself at him for another hug. "That's so amazing."

"I know." He began to pet my hair. "Hamilton's text came in while she  was talking to me. I didn't read it until after she'd left. And then . .  . fuck, Tink. I have never been so scared in my life." Clutching my  face in his hands, he stared at me hard before growling, "How could you  be so stupid?"

I blinked, not expecting that question. "What?"

"You want to know why I didn't tell you about him buying this place?  Because I knew you'd try to pull this. Well, no. No fucking way. If you  left, I would've come after you and I would've kept looking until I  found you. You made me a promise. You said you'd never leave. And I  swear to God, you're going to keep that promise."

I nodded, and my lips trembled. "Okay."

He frowned at my easy acceptance. "Okay?"

"Okay, I will keep my promise. I'll stay with you forever."

His shoulders relaxed. "Yes, you will," he murmured before kissing me  hard and pressing his forehead to mine. "God, I love you so much."

Crap, I thought I was done with my tears for a while, but more crept down my cheeks. "I love you more,"

"Not even possible." He shuddered and just held me. When I heard a sniff, I lifted my face to find how red his eyes were.

"Oh, baby. It's okay." I smoothed my fingers over his face and kissed his cheeks. "It's all over now."

He just shook his head and squeezed his eyes closed. "I don't like almost losing you."

"Well, you don't ever have to worry about him trying to take me away again."

Pick blew out a breath before glancing around. "Where is the bastard anyway? Have they already taken him into custody?"         

     



 

"Um . . . " I had no idea how to even start to tell him what had happened.

"Who owns this place?" One of the detectives asked, breaking into my thoughts.

"Oh!" I pointed to Pick. Yeah, I had a lot more to tell him than I'd initially thought. "Right here."

Pick glanced at me. "What?"

"There's a deed with your name on it in the office."

He shook his head, still confused. "I'm not following."

Yeah, there was plenty left to tell him. And there were a whole new  batch of problems for me to work through. But at least this time around,  I knew I had people who loved me and were willing to help me heal. To  me, that meant I had everything.





Pick's Epilogue


PICK


Three Months Later

Some days I was grateful to Eva for the deal she'd made with her dad. As  the new owner of Forbidden, I only had one job instead of two. Cleaning  up all the mess after the shooting had taken up so much time, I'd had  to quit my position at the garage, which was fine because now that  things were beginning to settle back into place, I could be with my  family more.

Other things were better as well. Tink and I had found a bigger  apartment in a better neighborhood, closer to Reese and Mason. And not  just a bigger apartment, but a three-bedroom apartment so Julian and  Skylar each had their own space and their own cribs, away from our room.  We could be as loud as we wanted to be.

Though I think the kiddos missed sleeping together because sometimes  Tink and I still couldn't get them to settle down at night until they  were snuggled up next to each other.

We'd also hired a lawyer to help us adopt Julian. The state had allowed  us to keep him as foster parents after we'd gone through a couple  classes. But he still wasn't ours for good.

But most of the time I was grinding my teeth in frustration for all the  hassle Eva had put me through by making that deal with her dad. I had so  much more responsibility now; it was crazy. Sitting in my office-which  had been completely redesigned and moved to another room in the past few  months after the murder-suicide-I was trying to figure out schedules  and fix an incorrect order plus fill out all these freaking legal forms I  didn't even know existed until I became a club owner when a knock on my  door had me lifting my head.

It was a Thursday, so I had to hurry because I still didn't have a new  bartender to replace me to help on ladies' night. I'd already lost the  two I had hired, because neither of those had worked out. So, I was  stuck working the floor every Thursday.

The guy I found lingering in my doorway looked youngish with waves of dark hair and bright grass-green eyes.

"I'm looking for . . . Pick?" he said as if he were sure he had my name wrong.

I nodded. "That's me. How can I help you?"

Shifting his weight from foot to foot and appearing nervous, he held out his hand when I stood up and approached him.

"Sir, I'm Asher Hart. And I-"

"Have we met before?" I frowned as I moved closer. He looked so damn familiar.

He faltered, even more antsy as he blinked. "No. I don't think so."

"Hmm." I studied him harder as he went on.

"Anyway, my buddies and I just started this band. We're kind of heavy  metal with a folksy twist and call ourselves Non-Castrato. I think we'd  really fit in with the Forbidden crowd."

I arched an eyebrow, making my brow ring pull a little. "Oh, you would, would you?"

We'd never had a live band before, didn't even have a deejay or an area  appropriated for music. But the seed he planted was already making my  head spin with a sudden flurry of ideas.

"Yeah," he went on, looking excited. "You guys have been getting really  popular lately. Just imagine what holding a few gigs for local groups  would do for you." Then he added, "We could play for free."

I grinned and shook my head. This kid was quite the salesman. But still .  . . "I'm sorry, Hart, but I haven't even considered bringing bands in  here. I'm still trying to find another bartender right now."

"I could bartend," he said helpfully, his eyes full of hope. Then he  shrugged, and his lips lit with a rueful grin. "I mean, if we're not  going to be paid to play, I'd have to make money somehow. On the nights  we're not singing, I can mix drinks."

His enthusiasm warmed me, but I only sat back down in my big-ass boss  chair and folded my hands together under my chin as I studied him. "You  must not have a woman."

The question seemed to catch him off guard. "Uh, no. Why?"

"You just promised all your nights to me. That's not going to leave a lot of time for anything else."

A slow grin spread across his face. "Are you saying I'm hired?"

"Of course you're hired," a new voice answered from the doorway. Eva  swept into the room, looking so amazing she damn near glowed. Going to  Hart, she took both his hands and beamed up at him. "I think the idea is  wonderful. We could do so much if we put up a stage and sound system.  And with your enthusiasm, I already know exactly who to put in charge of  that. Welcome to Forbidden."         

     



 

When she went to hug him, I bristled and pushed to my feet. I wasn't  upset because she was barging in here, making decisions. Aside from  watching our kids, she doubled as my partner in running the business. In  fact, she usually took care of filling out all the legal forms I hated,  though I was still trying to learn how to deal with them, anyway.

No, I was upset because Asher Hart seemed a little bit too enthusiastic  about hugging her back. His eyes looked glazed when she pulled away and  grinned at him.

Taking her hand, I pulled her to my side and wrapped a propriety hand around her waist. "She's taken, by the way."

Hart glanced between the two of us. "I kind of figured that out when I spotted your name tattooed on her."

"What?" Startled by his declaration, I twisted back to Tink and caught  her chin before turning her face until I could see behind her ear. When  fresh, black ink stared back, spelling out my name, I sucked in a  breath. "Shit, you really did it."

She winked up at me. "I didn't want any of your glimpses not to come true."

I grinned and kissed her hard and long.