Ethan (Tucker’s Pride #3)

Chapter 4

Shawn was taken back to Rita’s cell. She’d brought pictures of the children in the event that she needed to use them against her. But it was hurting her heart to see the woman now that she was in jail.

Rita had lost a great deal of weight. She was clean, thanks to the mandatory shower that she’d had. But she was a mess all the same. Her hair wasn’t combed, or if it were, it was now a mess from her lying on a pillow. As she rocked back and forth, it took her several minutes to figure out what she was saying. Repeating each child’s name and that of her husband before starting again. Shawn said her name, and the other woman looked right at her.

“They weren’t my children. None of them.” Before she could ask her about them, Rita continued on like she had been waiting to say something for a while. “Trent had numerous affairs while we were married. Resulting in him bringing home a child when one was born to him. They weren’t a one of them of my body. I wish they were, but they were of one of his numerous women that I believe he killed off after the child was born.”

“What did he say when he brought them home to you?” Shawn had whispered the question in much the same way that Rita had spoken to her. “Did he have a reason for what he did?”

“The children were his, from other women. But since I knew from about my teenage years that I couldn’t have children—and I had told him about it before we were wed—he would bring one of them home, or the twins home, and told me that I was to raise them as my own or he’d kill them off. It made me so that I couldn’t love them. I wanted to but about the time that I was nearly liking them, he’d bring home another one. The last straw was when Tisha was brought to me.” Rita took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Because I couldn’t work, or wasn’t allowed to, I wasn’t able to help with the bills or anything else. We lost everything, and he told me that we were going to be moving into another part of the state so that he could start fresh like with fresh women. He told me that. That he needed fresh women so that he could have as many children as he wished. Since I couldn’t have a life outside of raising his offspring, I resented them and him for a long time before we lost our home.”

“Did he work?” She only shook her head, and it saddened her to think what sort of life Rita had endured through no fault of her own. “How did you have food for them all? Pay the bills that went with the house?”

“He took every penny that my parents left me. I didn’t know that at the time. I thought that when he was out during the day, he was working. It was the only time that I had for myself when the older ones went to school. Then he brought home the baby and—I know that I’m not saying this in any kind of order. But I need to speak, or I’ll die. I might just anyway. I can’t wait to be in prison where there will be no one to talk to about my family.” Shawn asked, mostly to herself, how much money there had been. “Millions of dollars from the insurance policies that my family left me. It was in a secure account. But he’d been able to get into it somehow. I didn’t ever find out, and he used it to woo. That’s what he told me to use the money to woo the woman that would get with his child. I don’t even know why he wanted children. He never paid them any mind when he was around. Not once asked after them or to see if they had enough to eat. As you can imagine, I hated them as well. The children that I couldn’t have were draining me dry, and I resented having them around me. Much less calling me mom like I had really given birth to them.”

“Tell me how you were able to kill him and try and kill the children.” Rita said that she regretted trying to kill off the kids. She said that it wasn’t fair for her to punish them for being born. “They think that you’re a monster.”

“So do I.” She sat there, rocking back and forth as she waited. Shawn didn’t want to rush her or to see what was in her mind. She had a feeling that the inside of her mind was dark and scary, just like someone who had lived their entire life in terror. “I don’t want the children to know that they’re not mine. In fact, I would just as soon that they did not know anything about me other than I killed their father and tried to kill them. I did know that Samuel was going to save everyone that night. I’m so proud of him for that.”

“Why did you kill your husband? For that matter, why were you married to him at all.” She told her that she’d not wanted to marry him at all, but he’d drugged her, and she ended up in his home. “So you don’t even know if you were legally married to him at all.”

“No. Not that it would matter all that much to anyone. But I didn’t have any means of looking it up.” She laughed a little, more like a snort, she supposed. “You’re probably thinking that since I had money, I should have been able to get myself free. But it never worked like that. I was never free from him. When he was gone, I was chained up. When he was home, he’d fuck me until I bled, then he’d be gone again. I hated everything about Trent. Including…he wasn’t as good a man as the kids think. Or they might know. I don’t care anymore.” She rocked a bit more.

When Ethan reached out to her, she told him what Rita was telling her. “That’s what I was getting in touch with you about. She wasn’t married to him. Nor did he seem to have held down a job, not anywhere in the last several years. He didn’t even have a driver’s license after he’d gotten it renewed about twenty years ago.” She told him about Rita’s money. “Brook found that. She’s right. There is nothing left of it. There was just over three million dollars. She’d not invested any of it because it looks as if Trent got into it just after her parents died. That’s more than likely the reason that he targeted her. And the other women. She might not get much jail time if any at all. She was abused about as bad as I’ve ever heard a woman being.”

“I don’t believe she wants to live. She told me about the kids and them not being hers. Please tell me that’s true. I don’t want to believe her for trying to murder them, but—wait, she’s speaking to me again.”

“When you leave here, I wish that you’d send me an attorney. I heard that you’re keeping an eye on my children and I’d very much be willing to sign them over to you. So that you can adopt them, I mean. There is no one else on my side, and I know that Trent had a sister at some point. I have no idea where you can find out about her. I never met her.” She asked Rita if she thought that she’d want to raise them. “Doubtful. The few times that he would talk about her, he said that she didn’t believe in his lifestyle and had cut all ties with him. I mean, she might well want them, but I’m thinking no.”

“Do you have anything about her? We’ll have to make sure to contact her before we can do anything with adopting the kids.” She told her the name that Trent had called her. “Daphne Agilent should be easy enough to track down.”

After giving the information to Ethan, she begged him to take her out that evening. She didn’t even care if they were to just drive around. She needed some fresh air so that she could feel like today had been washed off her. He told her that they’d do that, and then in the morning, the children would come home to them. She didn’t tell him that the kids would more than likely not be theirs as this sister, whomever she was, would want them for no other reason than that they did. When Rita spoke again, her heart broke for the other woman.

“I don’t have a will. I don’t have anything left for anyone to want. But I’ll make one out as soon as I can find someone to come here for it if you can arrange it for me.” She said she’d do her best. “Thank you. I…I don’t want to live any longer. I’ve lived several lifetimes in my thirty-one years, and right now, all I can think about is closing my eyes and never opening them again. I’m done with life. But I’ll wait to get things settled for you and your husband.”

Rita laid back down on the cot and told her that she could go, that she was talked out. She started to ask her why she’d killed Trent, but Shawn thought that she had the answer. As she was walking away, carrying the chair with her, she sobbed quietly in her tissue until she got to her car. Then she let it go like a storm rolling over her body.

The loud knocking at her window had her nearly screaming. It was her son and he was demanding her to allow him back in the house. Having had too much going on in the last few hours, she put her car in gear and drove off. Sure, it was going to piss him off, but right now, she thought that was better than killing him. Which she might well end up doing anyway if he didn’t stop with the way he was treating her.

Ethan was home when she got there. He didn’t say anything but picked her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs. Once there, he stripped her down, removing each piece without a word until she stood before him naked. Picking her up once again, he gently laid her in the tub, which had been filled with hot, soapy water. It was the perfect balm for her battered heart and soul.

After he washed her hair twice and rubbed the large sponge over her body over and over, she was ready to speak. But before she could get a word out, he took his own clothing off. It was soaked anyway, and he got into the tub with her, spooning her from behind. She could feel all his muscles and his cock digging slightly into her back.

“Today was a marathon of a shitty day for us both.” She asked him what had happened to him. “I had a huge fight with Finn. Christ, he is one of five of the most stubborn people I know, and that’s saying a great deal. My older brother is like that.”

“I noticed, but for now, I don’t want to know what…okay, yes I do. Tell me what you got into a fight with him about.” He started off by telling her that he had laid in waiting for someone to come to the gate, and then it progressed from there. “I’m assuming that you didn’t allow him in.”

“Nah. He did tell me that he was going to have to have something done about me but I don’t think he has the balls to stand up to me. For any reason. Anyway, I called up to the house, and since you’d already had his things packed up, I had them bring them down to him in that moving van. That was smart thinking on your part to have it there until he came around. You’re a very brilliant, beautiful woman.” When he kissed her on the neck, she shivered. “Don’t distract me just yet. I have more to tell you.”

“Then you should keep your lips to yourself. Tell me what he said or you said and then we’re going to bed. This might be our last chance before we have a houseful of children starting tomorrow.” She shivered again, thinking about having four children in their home when it had been so long since Shamus had been born. “Also, the furniture arrived before I left this morning.”

“I had my brothers help me put it together. Let’s see. Shamus was waiting for me at the gate. I don’t think that he was waiting for me but for you, but that’s the feeling that I got. Anyway, I hadn’t been there but for a second, but I have a feeling that the guard knew that he was waiting for me. Anyway, once I got out of the car, he started in on me, how I was taking advantage of you, and so on.” She leaned back against his chest, exposing her neck for him to do what he wanted. “You’re very tempting, did you know that?”

“What I know is, is that you’re dragging out this story too long. Tell me what happened.” Ethan laughed. “Get to the end so that we can get to bed. I’m horney.”

The burst of laughter had her smiling, too. “I knocked the shit out of him, told him not to come back, then had him arrested for trespassing. I’m assuming that they’ve freed him since you had an encounter with him as well.” Ethan stood up, and she could see his cock in its full glory. “Come on. I have plans for that lovely body of yours.”

~*~

Ethan so wanted to take his time with Shawn but he was just too greedy right now to even care if she came or not. That wasn’t true. He’d give his life in wanting to give her as much pleasure as he could. And he was going to do so even if it killed him. And with the way that she was looking at him, he had a feeling that his days were numbered.

“I’d very much like to touch you all over your body.” He nodded, the knot in his throat too tight to allow him to speak. “Then, when I’m finished touching every part of you, I’m going to take your cock into my mouth and suck you dry.”

“Christ, woman.” He watched as she did as she’d said. Her touch was gentle, her breath after each kiss she gave his body hot against his skin. When she took his nipple into her mouth, he held her there, holding her tightly against his chest until she pulled back. “I love you.”

“And I love you. So very much.” As she continued touching him with her fingers and mouth. It was nearly too much but not enough as well. Picking her up, she pouted prettily at him, and he told her that it was too much.

Taking her to the bed, he laid her in the middle and nearly fell atop her. When his cock was near her entrance, trying to be gentle, he slammed forward, his cock going to the root even as he moved to her mouth. His tongue fucked her mouth as he did her pussy, and she met him stroke for stroke. Christ, his own release was running down his spine, and when she ached up under him, digging her nails into his shoulder, Ethan bit hard into her shoulder until he tasted blood as he came with her.

He drank her blood greedily. He’d never been one for biting during sex, but he felt that if he didn’t take his fill of her, he’d die. Lifting his head, still moving in and out of her hard, Ethan said her name. It was like honey to his mouth. Her name meant it all to him. Just as her heart did to him. It was like he’d never been in love until this very moment.

“I want you to bite me.” She shook her head. “You can do it. Bit me in the throat. Draw blood and drink from me. I want you to mark me as well. My lion wants to have a bit of you. He’s in love with you as much as I am.”

“I can’t hurt you. I won’t do it. I love you too much to want to cause you any pain.” Ethan growled that his cat demanded that she mark him. Shawn wrapped her legs around his hips, bringing her pussy hard against his body. “Please. I need to come again. I need it so bad that I’m hurting for it.”

Ethan moved her mouth to his throat. He could feel her teeth as she scrapped them over his skin and knew a new kind of pleasure when she suckled his flesh into her mouth. When he pounded her again, taking her as hard as he could without hurting her, she screamed out her release and sank her teeth into him.

The world seemed to tip and roll. His body, ready to fill her again, seemed to rocket out his cum. Ethan was dizzy with it, knowing too that it was going to be epic when he came again. If it didn’t kill him. He bit into her flesh, anywhere he could find it, and tasted her blood as she screamed again around his throat.

Ethan held her to him, his cock still taking her even as his balls emptied completely. When she dropped away from him, her arms falling at her side, Ethan held her, fucking her gently now as he watched her eyes close.

He didn’t stop until his own body was spent and too satisfied other than to drop atop her. Ethan, using the last of his strength, rolled to his back, taking her with him, and wrapped her into his arms. Closing his eyes, he realized two things almost at once. He had a mate and he was in love with her just that fast.

When he woke, he was alone in the bed. Just as he was getting up to go and see where Shawn had gone, he saw her coming from the bathroom. Once she was in bed, he had to warm her up a bit before she stopped shivering. Even moving his arms and hands over her body made him realize just how sore he was after making love to his mate.

“Don’t think that you’re going to get lucky again tonight. I’m about as sore as I’ve ever been.” He laughed, and she punched him gently in the belly. She lay there for several moments, and he felt himself drifting off. “I love you, Ethan. I don’t think that there are enough words in the world, in any language, that could tell you just how much you mean to me.”

“I love you so very much, too, Shawn. Will you be my wife?” She nodded and then yawned. “How about we sleep in tomorrow, then make love all afternoon until we can’t stand up?”

She didn’t answer him. He moved just enough, realizing once again how sore he was to see that she’d fallen asleep. It was a wonderful feeling, he realized to have someone feel so safe and secure that they could fall asleep with you holding them. He didn’t know that he’d ever had that feeling before.

Waking again sometime in the early morning, he noticed that she was gone once again. The side of the bed was chilled, so he knew that she’d been up for some time. Reaching out to her, figuring that she’d taken a shower without him, he asked her if she was all right.

“I have to go and see my son. I’m ashamed to say that he’s been a pain in my ass for far too long, and it’s time that I put him in his place. I honestly don’t know how he was able to get by with the things that he has been saying to me.” He asked her if she needed him to come and stand by her. “No. Thank you for that, but I think I’m about as pissed off at him as I can be, and this will be good for me. Probably not him, but for sure me. I’m finished with his ass.”

Getting up when she turned him down, he was more than just a little happy that she wasn’t here to see how bad of shape he was in. Even the bottom of his feet felt like he’d been beaten. As soon as he was able to get the water hot enough, he let it run over him for a few minutes before he started to scrub himself up. Even that made him moan a couple of times.

Getting dressed helped once he was out of the shower. Going down the stairs seemed a little daunting, but he made it. After having a huge breakfast—thankful for having a cook in the house, he made his way to the office. He had a great many things to catch up on today and he wasn’t going sit around his bedroom waiting for his wife to return. First things first? He reached out to his brothers and told them where Shawn was in the event that he couldn’t get to her fast enough to help her.

He was nearly knee-deep, something that his grandda said a great deal in working, when he felt a surge of power roll over him. Dizzy with it, he sat very still and only noticed how tense he was when he broke the pencil that he’d been holding. It didn’t harm him, and he knew that whatever it had been, Shawn was safe, just angry. Asking her if she was all right, she laughed, though a little manically. She told him that she’d just had an idea on how to put her son in his place, and she was sure that he was going to need to go to the hospital when she was finished with his ass.

“And I find that I don’t really care one bit if he likes it or not. I’ve had enough.” She paused. “No, that’s not true. I do care but he brought this all onto himself. I’m finished with him as the moment that I leave the jail. Where he is currently causing trouble as well. I have to do some things in town afterwards, then I’ll be home soon.”

“I’m here if you need me.” She told him that she knew that more than he might have known. “Just don’t kill him. Remember what you told me about being immortal and having to spend all that time in jail. Not to mention, we won’t have that mind-blowing sex again, either. Though now that I think on it, I might live a bit of a better life if we hold off on that for a little while.”

He wanted to go to her but decided that she’d ask him for help if she needed it. Ethan couldn’t help but think that she was a much stronger woman than he’d first thought. She was a woman that you didn’t fuck with.