I put my knee in the center of his back and reach for the lamp on the end table. I drag it onto the floor and it breaks into shards, but all I want is the cord. He grunts as I dig my knee into his back and bring his hands up behind him. I wrap the cord tightly around his wrists and ankles and bind him up into a crooked bow, his legs taut. He lost his shoe in the scuffle, so I pull his sock off and shove it into his mouth. Then I call out. “Susan!” I say.

She opens the bedroom door, and her eyes grow wide. They’re rimmed in red and I feel really bad for what I just made her listen to.

“Would you unlock the door?” I ask her. I jerk my thumb toward it. “The front door.”

Just as she opens it, the police rush into the room. They take me in, and stop. Pete rushes in right behind them. “What the fuck?” he asks.

But I’m calm. I smile up at him. “This is him, Pete,” I say.

“Who?” he asks. He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“The man who raped me,” I admit. And finally a sob rolls off my chest. “It’s him.” I point toward the lump on the floor.

Rage immediately takes over Pete’s face. He advances toward Ben, and I feel like I have to get between them, even though the police are now in charge. Pete shoves me to the side, and I can’t stop him by pulling on his arm so I throw myself onto his front and wrap my legs around his waist, clinging to him like a koala. He seethes with rage. But I can’t let him ruin his life. I can’t let him hurt that bastard, no matter how much I’d like to see it happen.

“What the fuck, Reagan?” he breathes, taking my face into his hands so he can look into my eyes.

I lay my head on his shoulder and hold him tightly, finally allowing the emotion to hit me. I sob into his Pete’s neck until he drops into a chair and just holds me straddling his lap. The police ask questions and he answers them. Edward and Susan stand arm in arm, and Susan tells them everything she heard.

I hear the words “DNA” and “evidence collection” and “this might be enough.”

I lift my head and look into Pete’s face as they usher Ben out into the hallway in handcuffs. “I did it,” I say. I sniffle, but a chuckle falls over my lips.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks.

“I didn’t want you to kill him,” I admit.

“You kicked his ass, princess,” he says, and he suddenly grins.

“Yeah, I kind of did, didn’t I?” I say, and I start to laugh. I can’t help it. I’m sure there are others, and I just made sure that the ra**st will pay, at least for my crime and possibly for others as well.

Pete gives Edward a wad of cash and tells him to take Susan and Gonzo to the arcade. They leave, still excited about what happened.

I lay on Pete’s lap until I think his legs will probably fall asleep. But he doesn’t move me. He just talks quietly into my ear about how amazing we are. How wonderful we are together. How proud he is of me. How scared he was when he saw the police coming through the door.

“He touched me, Pete,” I say.

He stands up, his hands clutching my bottom, and he carries me into our bathroom. He sets me down carefully, unwinding my legs from around his waist. He undresses me slowly and turns the water on.

He comes into the shower with me and soaps me gently and slowly, washing my hair with tender fingers. “He grabbed my hair,” I say.

Pete rinses me and washes my hair again. “I’ll wash it all away,” he says.

He uses a puffy sponge to clean my body, dragging it slowly over my br**sts and hips. Then he lifts one leg to the side of the tub and spreads me open, his hands slick and soapy. “I’m not dirty there,” I say.

“You were never dirty there,” he says. He looks up at me. “But I plan to lick it, so I want to clean it. Sue me.”

He spreads me open with his fingertips and I lean back against the shower wall, letting him take me with him into a world of pleasure. He’s my Pete, and he’s always known what I need. He parts my lower lips with his fingers, slides a digit inside me. Pete used to be afraid to love me, but now he plays my body like he owns it, because he does. If I don’t want what he wants, he’ll stop, and I know that. It took him a while to learn that, but he got it. He’s what I need in every way.

His lips find my cl*tand he latches onto it, suckling gently in time with sudden, fierce strokes inside me. My knees will barely hold me up, but I don’t want him to stop. I don’t want to go to the bed, because this is good. It’s so good. He sucks my cl*tand adds another finger inside me. His eyes are closed because the water from the shower is pounding over his head. I turn the nozzle to the left, and his eyes open. I can feel his smile against me, but he doesn’t let up.

Suddenly, an orgasm crashes over me and I can’t hold back my scream. I thread my fingers into his wet hair and hold him in place. “Don’t stop,” I say as I ride out the pleasure. My body quivers and shakes and I let him take me all the way, until his ministrations grow painful. I jerk his hair and he lets up, licking slowly until I stop coming on his face. My God. He can undo me.

He stands up and hitches my legs around his waist again, pushing me against the shower wall. He’s usually not this forceful. “I love you so f**king much,” he says, as he pushes into me.

I slide down his hard, long pole, slick and wet, and he doesn’t stop the impalement until I’ve taken all of him. I’m full and so damn happy to have him inside me that I don’t care what position we’re in. “I can’t last long,” he says.

“Don’t,” I urge. I look into his face, cupping his cheeks in my hands as he pushes into me and pulls out, lifting and lowering me on him. He strokes so slowly into me, trying to hold off, to wait for me. “Faster,” I say.

He’s holding all of my weight, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Suddenly, he grunts and spends himself inside me. I squeeze him to me, my arms around his neck. He props me against the wall and leans both of us so that we’re still standing, but just barely. “If you ever f**king do anything like that to me again, I’m going to paddle your ass.” He chuckles. But he shivers at the same time. “Do you have any idea how scared I was?” He lets my legs drop and we both wash off again and then get out. He wraps a towel around me and one around himself. I follow him from the bathroom. “How could you scare me like that?” he asks.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “But if I’d told you, or even told my dad, one you would have tried to kill him. This way was better.”

“You’re right,” he says. “Not about this way being better, but I would have killed him. Or made him wish he was dead.”

He drops his towel and starts to get dressed.

“You should call my dad and tell him what happened,” I suggest.

He scoffs. “Do I look stupid?” He points at me. “You did this. You tell him.” He comes and kisses me quickly. “I’m really proud of you,” he says against my lips.

Then he goes out into the kitchen and picks up his cell phone. I assume he’s calling his brothers. They’ll need to know, too. Just like my dad. I call my dad, and he tries to ream me a new one about putting myself in danger, but I can hear my mom cheering in the background, and she’s teary when I talk to her.

“So proud of you, Reagan,” Dad says.

“Thanks, Dad,” I say. Then we hang up and I go sit on the couch with Pete.

His brows are drawn together. “Just got a weird text from Logan,” he says.

“Oh,” I breathe. “What did he say?”

“He said he and Em are getting married in a few days at the court house.” He looks up. “Why would they do that?”

I grin.

He shoves my shoulder. “What do you know?”

I wince. “I’m not supposed to say anything.”

“Well, I’m not supposed to lick your pussy, but I do it every time you want.” He laughs.

“Emily was worried that she’s preggers,” I admit.

“What?” he gasps. He reaches for his phone.

“Wait!” I cry. I grab his phone. “It’s a secret. Don’t tell him you know.”

“I’m supposed to keep a secret like that?” he asks, astonished.

I nod. “Yep. You can’t even tell Sam.” I think he tells Sam everything. “I told her I wouldn’t tell.”

“Logan’s going to be a dad,” he says quietly. Reverently.

“Yeah,” I say and I lean my head on his shoulder.

“So, when do I get to knock you up?” he suddenly blurts out.

I stare at him. “You want to knock me up?”

“Well, yeah,” he says, like I just asked the dumbest question in the world. Pete has a good job now working with the boys at the prison, and he goes to school part time for criminal justice. I haven’t graduated yet, but soon, I will.

I smile, but we have to stop talking because the kids come back. They knock on the door and then let themselves in. Susan comes and hugs me. “You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she says. “Better than ever. But can you show me how to do that stuff you did?”

I’ve been working with her for a while, but nothing like the defense moves I used today.

“Of course.” I’ll teach her anything she wants to know.

Logan

We planned to be married at the county courthouse, but Emily’s mother wouldn’t hear of it. She lost her shit when Em told her, and Paul had to get busy and find someone who could marry us in an actual ceremony. I’m happy, though, because we’re doing it at Paul’s apartment. We pushed the furniture to the side and set up a couple of rows of chairs.

We thought it would just be family, but then we made the mistake of inviting Henry. Henry is the doorman at our apartment building, and he’s a sap when it comes to romance. His wife recently died and he loves a good love story, so we couldn’t exclude him. Since he was invited, his granddaughter, Faith, and her new husband, Daniel, came too. We met Daniel a few months ago. He lost his leg in Afghanistan but, when he found Faith, he found something to live for. He’s been in treatment for his PTSD, and he’s no longer jumping at every noise. He gets quiet sometimes, but doesn’t everyone?

Friday came and brought her dorm roommate, Lacey, and Lacey brought her boyfriend, Sean. I had to eat a whole jar of pickles just to get those two together, so I’m kind of glad to see them here.

Hayley is wearing a pretty dress, and Paul keeps picking her up and putting her on his knee. Someone motions for everyone to take a seat, and Paul stands up behind where Em is going to stand. I don’t want to miss a word, so he’s going to translate from behind her. He’s my best man, though, and he always will be. Emily’s mom walks out of my old bedroom, and she wipes tears from her eyes. She goes and sits down, and Em’s dad walks out of the bedroom with her on his arm and makes a big production of presenting her to me. Like he could get her back at this point. It’ll never happen.

She’s wearing a flirty, white dress that her mom picked out, and she has on her cowboy boots with it. She’s so damn cute that I want to jerk her to me and mess her all up. Last week, she put the blue streak back in her hair. I like it. I like it a lot.

Her parents don’t know yet about her being pregnant, and Paul is the only one of my brothers who knows. I suspect that Reagan told Pete, though, because he keeps grinning at me and rubbing his belly. He’s an idiot, but he’s one of my idiots, so I’ll have to keep him. Matt keeps looking at me funny when he sees Pete do it, but I still don’t want to tell anyone else yet.

Emily wants to wait until the three-month mark to start telling people about the baby, just in case something goes wrong. I’m fine with that.

The preacher starts to talk, and I look into Emily’s eyes. I don’t catch anything the preacher said, until she laughs and points behind me to Paul, who is waving like a lunatic. Pay attention, dumbass, he signs to me. I chuckle and start watching him. I’d much rather look into Emily’s eyes than watch his fingers. But I also don’t want to miss anything.

We go through the ceremony and get to the vows. We decided to write our own, and I know writing is hard for Em, so I’m worried about how this is going to go for her. I shouldn’t be. She’s so f**king capable. I wish everyone knew it.

I take out my notes and start to read to her. “I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. It happened at the same time as you decked me and broke my nose.” There’s a rumble of laughter. “That’s what I get for being grabby, but if I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I promise to love and cherish you. I promise to take care of you always, and I promise to treat you with care and respect in all things. But most of all, I promise never to choose anyone over you, or let anything come between us. I promise to care for our children the same way I care for you.”

Em’s eyes fill with tears at the last line and I swipe the trails from her cheeks with my thumbs. “You okay?” I ask.

She nods. “Fine.”

She pulls a folded piece of paper from her sleeve, and I wince. I know she struggled with this all week. She used colored paper, because the words are more legible to her that way, and she spaced the words really far apart.

She sniffs and starts to read. “Logan,” she says. “I… pro…mise…” She looks up at me a little frantic, and I want to save her. I want to help her.

Suddenly, she tosses the cards in the air and they fall to the floor like great big pieces of confetti. She smiles at me. “I don’t need cards to tell me how much I love you, Logan.” Another tear rolls down her cheek, and I can feel my eyes getting misty too. “It all started with a tattoo,” she says. “You took my idea of perfect and made it better. You added a key to my guitar. My guitar and my music were my life, and you thought the key would be a superficial addition, but it wasn’t. You were the key, Logan. You were the only thing I needed. If I couldn’t play another note again, I’d still be happy because I have you.” She takes a breath and smiles at me through her tears. “I promise to love you above all else, in the best way I know how. I promise to let you read to our children while I teach them about music, just because we can. I promise to trust you and to be trustworthy.” She bends down and picks up a piece of her vows. She reads it. “I love you, Logan,” she says. “The end.”