Rebound: Passion Book 2(35)

“Babe I want you to listen to me and listen to me very carefully. I know what society says; they say that if your man tells you what to wear, who to hang out with and where to go that he’s being an abusive asshole. That’s not me, I’m never gonna be that guy but I am going to tell you not to do things that I think will cause you harm. It has nothing to do with your past, that’s just the way I am, I would’ve been this way with you no matter your background.

I don’t want anything to happen to you, try to understand this. You’re my life and only a fool wouldn’t do everything possible to take care of his life. If anything happens to you it would kill me plain and simple and I’m not about to let that happen. One thing that I absolutely do not like is other guys in your life. I don’t give a shit what anyone else says I don’t trust the fucks. I’m not saying you have to run and hide if some guy says hello to you on the street, but no going to their house, no meeting them anywhere for any reason. Let’s put it this way, when I start going to other women, which by the way will never happen, then you have a free pass; until then that door’s closed, and if anyone tells you that that’s no good fuck ‘em.

I don’t expect you to live like a nun, you don’t have to hide away behind walls for the rest of your life but whatever I need to do to protect you I will. The next four years away at school I’m probably going to be a nutcase, that’s only because I love you and I can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you.”

“Nothing’s going to happen Matthew. You’re the one who told me to stop living under a shadow remember? Now you’re acting as though you want me to go back to being afraid. I like not having that fear all the time, like waking up with happiness instead of dread.”

“And I’m happier than you’ll ever know that you feel that way. I’m not trying to get you to go back to fear, quite the opposite, I want you to enjoy your freedom. I just need you to understand that while you’re doing that that I’ll always be in the shadows watching over you. At times that may seem intrusive I’m just letting you know from now that it’s going to be a part of your life. I think that every man has that right, to look out for his woman and his family when that day comes. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, I know it’s my job as the man to take care of you and that’s what I’m going to do. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

“Yes I think so; you’re saying that you want me to run free while you do all the worrying, that doesn’t sound very fair to me Matthew. How can you be happy if you spend every minute watching out for me? What kind of life will you have? I can’t do that Matthew, that’s exactly what I didn’t want for you.”

“No babe that’s not it, I have no intention of living in a bubble or giving up my peace of mind to worry. I guess what I’m trying to say is that there might be times when I do things to ensure your safety that might not be the most conventional. I’m just letting you know in advance so you won’t be surprised when it does happen and to let you know basically that there’s nothing that you or anyone else can say to stop me from doing those things. When it comes to your safety I won’t take any chances. So that means no meeting the brother of the guy who tried to rape you even if you think it’s safe. I don’t think it is, and if I’m trying to protect you and you keep putting yourself in danger that’s going to cause problems. To eliminate those problems before they start I’m laying it out for you now. You need to write this down somewhere or some shit Kitten? because I’m dead serious about this.” Dammit, she rolled her eyes at me and then shook her head; way too much time with the Steele women.

“Do you understand or not?” I shook her slightly on my lap and she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“I understand that you’re a worry wart; seriously Matthew you don’t have to worry, I won’t put myself in any danger. Even though I wake up smiling these days I never forget what my life was like. I’m grateful to you though for helping me get over some if not all of my fear. I don’t think I could’ve done it without you. I never in a million years thought this could be me and now it is and I love it. Anyway Carrie and Nessa and your mom already warned me what I had to look forward to. And watching Josh with Carrie I think I can handle your brand of nutty. Just don’t expect to always get your way okay?”

“Babe I don’t get my way now, you’ve become a royal pain in the ass in case you haven’t noticed, ever since you started hanging with the girls.”

“I have not.” She smacked me one in the chest and next thing I know we were kissing. “Wait a minute baby.”

I reached into my pocket for the forgotten ring and opened the box. “I was going to give you this this weekend but I don’t want to wait any longer.” Her eyes widened and she looked at me before reaching out her finger to touch the stone.

“Matt.” Her voice was a soft whisper as her eyes filled with tears.

“Give me your hand baby.” She was shaking like a leaf as she lifted her hand for me to place my ring on her finger.

“I take you Kadyn Daniels to be mine now and forever.” I slid the ring onto her finger; it was a perfect fit. I wonder if she noticed that it wasn’t so much a proposal as it was a claiming.

I didn’t make love to her then even though I wanted to, I had too much on my mind. So after a heavy make out session we headed downstairs so she could show off her ring. I had the fleeting thought that I should’ve kept a journal of my life in the last few months because this shit was stranger than fiction. Most days I didn’t even remember Patricia or the time we had together. It was as if my heart was too full of us, Kadyn and I, and there was no room for anything else. Now with my ring on her finger I was hoping for only the best for the future. “I promise to never let you down Kitten.” I hope like fuck I can keep that promise.





Chapter 27




Things got hectic after that; after the family had given us their blessings and the women went off with their wedding planning it was time to get back to the other matter. By now it was evening and Bruno should be home if he hadn’t already been taken into custody. I called James after all to send him there on a separate matter, sort of killing two birds with one stone. I decided to wait and see how things unfolded before giving her the new phone to call her mom. I know she was a little sad that she couldn’t share the news of our engagement with her as we had with her dad but I wanted everything to be perfect for her.

She kept saying she couldn’t wait for her mom to meet me; I had a few reservations. I’m sure any woman who’d been through what she had with her daughter wouldn’t be too trusting of any man that came into her life, but I was hoping to win her over with my charm. I’d have to keep her away from Josh and dad though until after the wedding at least. One look at those two Neanderthals and the jig was up.

While she was occupied Josh and I locked ourselves away in one of the rooms on the top floor and set up shop so to speak. We had the monitor up and running and I‘d decided to tape it just in case I wanted to show her at some point. I still wasn’t sure how much I wanted her to know but I do know it would be good for her to see his demise; it may bring her some sort of peace.

“Sit down bro you’re making me nervous.” I paced back and forth as I waited for something, anything to happen on the screen. Now that things were moving I wanted it all over and done with so we could get on with our lives. It was very important to me to give her a fresh start free of all this and I wanted it to begin this weekend. Starting college was a new phase in our lives, one that I wanted to mark a new beginning in more ways than one; the dream without the taint of the nightmare.

“I hate this waiting bullshit, how long does it take them to get their shit together anyway? Those kids could be in danger right now and they haven’t made a move yet.”

“That’s the way it works bro, I guess they have to verify shit first before they do anything, I don’t know. I think they have to process everything from beginning to end, they have to think about the court case and shit like that if it comes to that so they have to gather evidence the right way so it doesn’t come back to bite them in the ass later. From the looks of him he doesn’t suspect anything, which is good just chill.”

“That’s bullshit, they should’ve been at his house in ten fucking minutes flat. Who’s to say those kids aren’t in danger at this very minute? What the fuck kinda system we have here anyway? Those are babies for crying out loud. Maybe I should just let James off the fuck while he’s there.”

“Nah, thought of that but that’s too easy and besides we don’t know the whole story. If we off him and he has kids tied up somewhere we may never find them. Let the feds do their thing, if they don’t move by tonight we’ll go with your next plan and send them to the networks. You’ve already made up a little press kit to send them right?”

“Yeah, I’m thinking of sending it out anyway whether he’s arrested or not, I don’t want there to be anyway that he can slip through this noose this time. With the public on their ass they might be forced to actually do something this time. I thought of a way to let him know that this was for Kadyn, that it’s because of her that’s he’s going down.”