Willow
He was standing there waiting for me as I walked out of my hospital room. I didn't think he would be there this early. Hell, I'd hoped I could sneak out of the hospital myself, but I knew as soon as I saw the determined look on his face that I would have no such luck.
The man wanted to be there, and so he would be.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked.
I looked up and down the halls. An RN walking by shot him a dirty look. I wondered what the nurses thought. It was funny, the way he stormed in, the way he yelled, they probably thought he was abusive, but they were sorely mistaken. I'd been hiding things from him, I'd almost lied to him, and all he did was yell at me. Which I deserved.
And he'd listened to reason. He'd listened to my excuses.
Elijah would never have done that. He would've been quiet. Sweet. A total gentleman until we got out of the public sphere and into our own home. His own personal kingdom.
"I'm ready," I said as I looped my arm through his. He was mine. Mine.
And he was a good man. He might've been a bad boy, might've played around in the past. Hell, I knew he had a dark streak in him, but deep down, he was good.
And he was mine.
"Where are we going?" I asked as I looked up at him.
"My place. You think you were going to be living alone after this? Fuck, no. You are coming home with me, Willow."
"What?" I asked, my brain slow to process what he was saying.
"You've got an ex after you and you are carrying my baby. You are coming home with me. This isn't a discussion." He was so adamant about it that I almost dropped the issue, but that was not how this was going to go. I was going to have a say too, dammit.
It was my home and my life, and I was the one leaving Elijah in the first place. I was the one who wanted to claim my independence.
I could feel my anger level rising, my head starting to spin and I stopped dead in my tracks. He didn't, though. He pushed me forward until we were out of the hospital. He didn't yell, he didn't hurt, but it was pretty damn forceful.
"You aren't going to tell me what I can and can't do with my life, Zach." I said it with all the confidence I had, which wasn't much, but I still said it. "I've been down that road before. I don't want to go down it again." I broke free of him and stared him down. He might've been a stubborn asshole, but goddammit, I could be one too. I was going to assert myself, and I was going to show him exactly who I was. Exactly who I could be. I was going to make him see that this was one argument he just wouldn't win.
"Fine," he said as he ran his hand over his face. "Fine, you do what you need to do, Willow. But I won't let you walk away from us."
I crinkled my forehead and looked into his eyes. "Is that what you think I'm doing?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around him and looked up at him.
"You've been hiding this from me for weeks."
"Because I was scared. Because I didn't know if it was real. Because I didn't know if you were sticking around. I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid. Not because I don't want you. Because I do. I want you in the worst way, Zach." I meant what I was saying and I meant it in the most vulnerable way. He could turn around and walk away. He could abandon me here in this parking lot.
"I won't do that," he said as he pulled me into him. As he pulled me close. "And I won't make you move in with me. But I want you to. And I want you to do it now. Fuck, if I was honest, I want to fucking grab your shit and make you move in. I want to do that because I want to protect you, Willow. More than anything."
His breath was heavy and the scent of him drew me in. Fuck, how could I say no to that face? The fear mixed with anger made me hungry for him. Hungry to show him how much I wanted him. How much I wanted to ease his mind.
"I need time," I said. "I need time to make a decision."
"Fine, but you're coming home with me for tonight."
Now that I couldn't say no to.
Zach
So many thoughts were swirling in my head as I walked into the house. It was impossible, all of it. Seeing her again, getting her pregnant. Falling in love. And I hadn't even fucking told her. I didn't know if I had any intention of saying a word. She wanted her independence. She wanted to be her own person, and I had to respect that. Especially after what she'd been through.
But that didn't make it any easier. I had to convince her to fucking marry me. She would be my bride. I just wasn't sure how the fuck to go about doing it.
Fuck.
This combined with all the shit at work was enough to make my damn head explode. Fuck. I needed to punch something, and I needed to do it now.
I put her stuff in the hallway and looked at her. "I need some time upstairs in my gym. You want to make yourself comfortable?" I asked. I wasn't going to leave her here to find a warm body to lay into. No, my sandbag would have to do.
"Sure," she said as she stood there. I just nodded and walked up the stairs into my gym, grabbing a set of clothing on the way and changing.
As soon as I was in my gym, I headed right for the bag. Shiny and red, it was my sixth one this year. Considering the fact that I'd only been home a total of three months out of twelve, that was saying something. I killed them. Decimated them, and then I was hungry for more. Hungry for someone to fight. I never got into underground fighting, though; that was too much damn commitment. That was too fucking stupid. I wanted the real deal. I wanted to beat up some piece of shit who deserved it. I wanted to get beat by someone who happened to feel that I deserved it too. I didn't want to fight for money; I didn't want to fight for fucking street cred. I just wanted a good old-fashioned bar fight.
Was that so much to ask?
I laid into the bag one punch after another until I was in a rhythm. Until I wasn't thinking about it. Until sweat prickled at my skin and glistened off my body, forming a pool on my tank. I lost myself in each punch. Lost the pain of losing my mother. Lost the angry at whoever the fuck murdered fifteen innocent women. Lost the desire to lay into Willow's ex and leave him bloody and lifeless. Almost. I just wanted to leave him unconscious after I'd been pounding the bag for a while. It was my rhythm. My form of meditation, and there was nothing and no one there to stop me. One, two. One, two. Each punch came from the power of the hip. Harder and harder again. Faster and faster. Fuck.
I was done with that shit. Time for the salmon ladder. I grabbed the bar and hooked it into the ladder then pulled it out and forced it up. Over and over again, up the ladder, down the ladder. A simple movement that had to be timed perfectly, that required all of my focus and strength. Each moment that I spent focusing on it meant I didn't have to be thinking about Willow. About what her motives were. About our future together. Fuck. I almost missed a damn rung. I fit it in at the last second; the hard clink of metal had me huffing and heaving. Trying to catch my breath. Dammit.
I needed to stop letting her cloud my judgment. I needed to be able to do my damn job. To train.
Fucking hell.
I jumped down off of it and looked around. Willow was there, leaning against the door jam. Watching me.
"Do you always put on a show like this for the ladies?" she asked, her mouth in a wry smile. I just shrugged.
"I don't have women over to my place. Well, I didn't. Not until now."
"Oh really? Never?" she asked. She had a sweet smile on her face, and I wanted to grab her, pull her to me, and show her just how special she was. But at the moment, she was fragile, untouchable. I couldn't do with her what I wanted and if I tried, it could cost us the baby.
Still, my cock got hard in protest. She was so fucking beautiful.
"Never." I crossed the room and pulled her to me as gently as I could manage. I didn't care that I was dripping with sweat, and she didn't recoil. I'd known she was special from the moment I saw her in that bar. Hell, I'd known it since high school, I just didn't want to admit it to anyone.
The kiss was light and sweet as I held back all the passion I was feeling. Gentle. I needed to be gentle with her. At least for now. Sex might have caused the spotting, or it may have been normal, but it was at a moratorium, and I didn't want to rock the boat.
Still. I needed her. I needed some of her. There was nothing I could do to stop that.
"Marry me." I said the words without actually thinking. I said them without considering what she would do. They just came out of my mouth and into the tension-filled room as I looked down at her.