Ashlyn

Looking into the fire in front of me, I watch the flames dance in the fireplace, feeling the warmth seep into the skin on my face. It feels like it takes forever for me to get warm. No matter what I do, it feels like a constant chill has burrowed its way through my skin, muscle, and bone, straight to the marrow inside. Making me wonder If I will ever be warm again.

Studying the flames, I think about my phone call with Agent Torres this morning. He said they finally got the confession they had been hoping for from Trent.

He told me Trent cried when he explained to them how it all started, how he found out his fiancée was on the website Dominate Me looking for kinky sex while in a relationship with him. He said he came across my profile after her death and was planning on scaring me off the site. But then saw me with Dillon and thought I was just like her, so he tried to kill me then by running me over. Agent Torres said it was that moment that sent him over the edge completely, the moment he started using the site as a way to hunt for victims. The really sad part is, Trent’s fiancée’s mother told the police when she went missing that she suspected him of killing her daughter, but they never had any evidence to prove he was responsible for her disappearance, let alone her murder. So they were forced to let him go, even after believing he was guilty themselves.

Rubbing my wrists, I close my eyes. I still have no idea why he didn’t kill me when he had the chance. The what ifs are enough to make me crazy. I know how close I came to death, and I know that if Kelly hadn’t found the strength to untie me before she died, I wouldn’t be here today. She saved my life; whatever she had done before that did not matter. Her last moments were spent helping someone she didn’t know, and I will forever be grateful to her for saving me.

“Baby.”

Jumping, I turn my head on the pillow and watch Dillon walk toward me.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay. What’s up?” I ask, pulling my feet back to make room for him on the couch, but instead of taking a seat, he holds out his hand for me to take.

“I got something for you.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, come on.” He pulls me up, then leads me by the hand out of the library toward the front door then outside. As soon as we’re down the steps, he leads me over to the fountain.

“You didn’t.” I smile, and his face softens.

“You said you wanted to put fish in it, so I had your dad and brother help me put in the filtration system, and Jax just dropped off the fish a few minutes ago.”

“I was joking.” I grin, leaning over the side, watching the goldfish swim around, and then see a wooden stick on the ledge. Picking it up, I notice a line tied to the end. Pulling it out of the water, I gasp when I see my rings.

“You…” My eyes fill with tears as he unties the rings from the line and takes my hand in his. Feeling my hands shake, I watch him slide both rings back onto my finger. The day the police came to the hospital to tell me they got Trent, Dillon asked them if he had my wedding rings on him. It wasn’t until that moment I noticed they were missing and realized that at some point he had taken them from me. “How?” I swallow, studying the rings that represent more than just me being his wife.

“I had this one sent from the chapel we got married at in Vegas. It’s not the same ring. And this one is from the jeweler I purchased your other one from,” he says, moving his fingers from one ring to the other.

“Thank you.” I lean into him, pressing my face into his chest. “I love you,” I breathe, feeling his breath at the top of my head then his lips there.

“Thank you for coming back to me,” he whispers, and I squeeze my eyes tight.

“I will always find my way back to you,” I promise.

*

Walking out of the bathroom, rubbing lotion into my hands, I climb into bed, and then watch Dillon walk out of the closet a minute later, wearing nothing but a pair of dark blue boxers that are molded to his thighs like a second skin.

“I’m not going to my appointment tomorrow,” I inform him and he frowns.

“Pardon?” He gets into bed next to me then pulls the covers up over us.

“My appointment for my birth control. I’m not going.”

“Baby,” he whispers, sounding conflicted. I climb onto him, straddling his waist, placing my hand against his solid chest.

“I want to start a family with you.”

“I thought you wanted to wait,” he murmurs, resting his hands on my hips, and I shake my head.

“I don’t want to wait anymore.” I run my hands up his chest to rest on the underside of his jaw and his eyes harden.

“He is not going to change the course of your life anymore than he already has,” he growls. I know he’s talking about Trent, and that he believes this is because of what happened, but it isn’t.

“He’s not. You did. You make me want more,” I say, and the hardness seeps out of his eyes as his face softens. “I want to be a mom. I want to fill this monster of a house with screaming kids, and I want to see you tucking our babies into bed at night. I can still have a career, but that isn’t what I know will make me happy anymore.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Down to my bones, I know it is,” I mutter, then squeak as he flips me to my back and looms over me.

“Maybe we should start practicing, just so we know we’re good at it before it’s time to start trying.” He grins, and I laugh, tugging him down to me.