“It’s Delilah’s husband, you have to let her answer or he will know something is up,” I murmur shakily, still reeling from what DeShawn just disclosed as his plan.

  DeShawn goes over and rips the duct tape from Delilah’s mouth, making her scream. He then takes her phone, hits answer, and puts it to her ear while also putting the gun to her head.

  “Hey, Nico,” she answers. She uses Nick’s name from Club M, something she never does.

  I wonder if Calvin called him and asked him where she is? If they figured out that she is still here with me, then she’s smart to give him some kind of warning. I watch raptly as she listens for a second before answering.

  “Oh nothing, I’m just tied up with Charlotte at the moment, I should be home soon,” she says calmly.

  I fight off a smile. She’s a genius. Nick will know that she’s serious when she says she’s tied up, even though it sounds like she was just using an expression.

  “I’m sure he’s pissed, she told him to go shoot himself then he stomped off.” She snorts. “True…yes…no…uh huh…okay, Boss, see you soon, I love you, too…bye.”

  DeShawn pulls the phone away, hanging it up. “So?”

  “We’re good, he has no idea,” Delilah says. She looks at me and there is no need for her to do or say anything. Help is on the way. Those yes or no questions were probably Nick getting confirmation that she is in trouble.

  DeShawn replaces the duct tape on Delilah’s mouth before coming over to me. I shrink back against the door, wishing I could be invisible. He grabs me and forces me into the kitchen.

  Calvin

  “Are you actually tied up?” Nick asks.

  “True,” Delilah answers.

  Nick and I exchange glances as he holds his phone between us; he has it on speaker so that I can hear what she’s saying. As soon as I left Charlotte’s apartment, I drove like a bat out of hell to Nick’s office, which is minutes from her place.

  “Do we know this person?”

  “Yes,” she replies.

  “Has he hurt you?”

  “No.”

  “And he has a gun?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Alright, Doll, we’ll get you guys out of this as soon as possible, I love you,” Nick says, his voice strained.

  “Okay, Boss, see you soon, I love you, too,” she murmurs softly.

  “Bye,” Nick whispers.

  “Bye,” she replies then the phone goes dead.

  Nick rubs the back of his neck as he sets the phone down on his desk. “Jesus fucking Christ, what do we do?”

  I lace my fingers together on top of my head as I start to pace. “If we call the police, they are going to take too long to get organized. We need to do something now.”

  “The guy has a gun, Calvin. We are no match for that. What if we burst in there and he shoots one of us, or worse, Delilah or Charlie?” Nick says, logical as always.

  Just then, Parker bursts through the door, his blonde hair a mess. He looks frantic and terrified. I explained to him what was going on over the phone and he insisted on rushing right over.

  “What’s going on? What are we doing?” he asks quickly.

  “The guy is holding them at gun point, Delilah is tied up, and that’s all we know,” Nick says.

  “Motherfucker!” Parker bites out and shoves his hands into his hair. “We have to get over there!”

  “And do what?” Nick snaps. “Look, we are all freaking out right now but we can’t go over there and kick in the door with an armed man inside! We are risking too much!”

  “Well, arguing about it is wasting time! Time that our girls don’t have!” I yell. “I don’t know about you, but I’m going over there and saving my family!”

  I start for the door. Parker immediately follows.

  “I’m coming with you,” he says.

  “Dammit!” Nick grinds out, banging his fist on his desk.

  I hear him shove out of his chair and trot to catch up with us. “If Delilah gets shot, I’m blaming you,” he mutters.

  “That’s fine,” I reply.

  Nobody is getting shot. We all pile into my truck and race back to Charlotte’s apartment. We climb the steps to her floor and gather outside of her door. Quietly putting my ear to the door, I can hear a muffled sobbing and it sounds like it’s coming from two different sources, so I’m assuming that both women are crying.

  We tried to devise a plan on the ride over. All we could come up with is kicking in the door and bum rushing the guy. Only problem is that we don’t know where in the apartment he is. The possibility of getting shot is high. I don’t really care, though; I will die to save Charlotte and my babies from whoever is in her apartment.

  I back up and get ready to kick in the door. I glance at Nick, who gives me a nod. Then I look to Parker, who is ready also. I count on my fingers…one…two…three…

  BOOM!

  My boot hits the door perfectly, sending it crashing open. The first thing I see is Delilah, lying on the floor, her hands duct taped behind her back and her ankles duct taped to the coffee table leg. Duct tape also covers her mouth. It looks as though she is trying to fight her way toward the kitchen. I also notice that the gun is sitting on the coffee table.

  Nick pushes past me and grabs the gun. He swings around and points it toward the kitchen. “Don’t fucking move!” he shouts.

  I slowly turn my head and look to where he is pointing. I blink a few times, not sure if I’m seeing things correctly. Charlotte is lying face-up, on the island counter, duct tape wrapping completely around her chest and legs, strapping her to the counter. Her shirt is lifted, revealing her rounded belly. Standing beside the counter with a carving knife in his hand is that same black man from my club – face covered in tattoos - getting ready to slice open my girlfriend’s stomach. Motherfucker!

  A red veil drops over my vision. I roar as I rush the man about to cut into my beautiful Charlotte. I tackle him to the floor where the struggle ensues. I know he still has the knife in his hand, but my main focus is to kill this man. I continuously bash my fist into his face. A sharp pain shoots through my thigh, but I ignore it, nothing is going to stop me from tearing this guy apart. I pummel him unconscious. Once I’m satisfied that he’s pretty much in a coma, I stumble to my feet. The world tilts as I look around. I lean a hand on a nearby bar stool and take in the scene. Nick is cutting Delilah free with a pair of scissors and Parker is taking care of Charlotte. I suddenly feel lightheaded and have to lean heavy on the stool. Damn, what’s happening?

  As soon as Nick gets Delilah free, he rushes to me. “Calvin, my man, you need to sit down.”

  “Fuck that,” I say breathlessly.

  Nick grabs me as I start to drop to my knees. He gently helps me down to the floor. He sits behind me, with me between his knees, my back resting against his chest. He wraps his arms around my chest and I drop my head back against his shoulder.

  “I don’t feel so good,” I pant.

  “Yeah, well, you have a big ass knife sticking out of your thigh.” He huffs. “I wouldn’t feel good either if I were you.”

  “I what?” I squawk and look down at my leg.

  Sure enough, that fucking carving knife is hilt deep in the top of my thigh with the point sticking out of the back. My jeans are soaked in blood and I can feel it running down my calf and into my boot. A wave of nausea hits me and I drop my head back to Nick’s shoulder.

  “Oh god,” I swallow hard and squeeze my eyes shut as the pain starts to kick in.

  “Calvin!” Charlotte cries.

  I hear her feet hit the floor as she hops off the counter. She drops to her knees next to me and grabs my bloody hand. “Oh my god! Are you okay?”

  I have to laugh. “Pinky, I got a knife in my thigh, so… no, I’m not okay.”

  “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” she cries.

  “Charlotte, baby, are you okay? Did he hurt you? How are my babies?” I ask, cutting her off.

  I feel like I’m going to pass out, but I need to know if she’s okay before I let that happen. I can hear Parker in the background on the phone with the police. So no doubt, there will be an ambulance here soon.

  “No, no, I’m okay, we’re okay” she answers in a trembling voice.

  “Good…good…” I breathe before the blackness envelops me.

  Charlotte

  Calvin’s eyes flutter closed and his body goes slack against Nick. He’s losing a lot of blood. I rush to the closet in the hallway for a towel. I return and carefully wrap the towel tightly around the knife to try to stem some of the blood.

  Parker hangs up the phone and squats down next to me. “What can I do?”

  “Hold this here and put pressure on it,” I murmur and have him take over holding the towel on Calvin’s thigh.

  Delilah is sitting on the couch with her head in her hands, her whole body trembling. I start toward her. I pass DeShawn and his bloody face as I go. I just get past him when his hand clamps down on my ankle. I screech in surprise and yank my leg away.

  “You bitch!” he rasps, rolling over and pushing up to his hands and knees. “You think you can stop me? I will continue to come after you for as long as I’m breathing!”

  Fury flashes fast and hot. No way will this man continue to ruin my life and the life of my unborn children. I spot the gun on the coffee table. Nick must have put it back down when Calvin tackled DeShawn. I snatch it up and with shaky hands, point it at DeShawn.

  He slowly gets to his feet and starts toward me, a menacing look in his eyes. “You won’t do it. You won’t shoot me.”

  Nick and Parker yell for me to see if I need help. I tell Parker to keep pressure on Calvin’s leg, and for Nick to stay with my best friend. I am going to take care of this once and for all.

  “Yes, I will,” I say, my tone hard.

  “No, you won’t, you don’t have the balls,” he taunts, still stalking toward me.

  I don’t realize I’m backing up until my back hits the wall next to the broken door. He keeps coming.

  “Don’t come any closer!” I scream at him.

  “That baby is mine and I will take it!” he barks.

  DeShawn lunges for me. I hear multiple screams, but don’t have time to think about that as I pull the trigger. DeShawn stumbles back but remains standing. He frowns and looks down at the neat little hole in the center of his chest. Blood blooms from the hole, making a large dark circle on his gray T-shirt. I watch in utter shock as he leadenly drops to his knees then falls face first onto the floor at my feet, a pool of blood spreading quickly from beneath his body.

  I rip my gaze away from him to look at my friends. They are all gaping at me. Parker is still with an unconscious Calvin, and Nick and Delilah are now standing by the couch, looking like they are both ready to pounce. I can hear the sirens in the distance and am thankful that the police will be here soon. Delilah rushes over to me, gently extracting the gun from my hands, and places it on the floor. Then she pulls me into her arms.

  “You were so brave,” she whispers in my ear.

  “I killed him,” I breathe.

  “Yes, and you will never have to worry about him again.”

  I nod and hug her tighter. She leads me over to the couch where we both sit, holding onto each other for dear life.

  A minute later, police fill the apartment. Paramedics take care of Calvin, and Nick switches into lawyer mode as he explains to the police what happened. Paramedics come over to check out Delilah and me, also. They decide that I need to go to the hospital, too, just to make sure that everything is okay with the babies. I tell them that the only way I will go is if I can ride with Calvin. They reluctantly agree and let me go in the same ambulance.

  I sit on the bench next to the gurney that he is lying on and take his hand. The paramedic hooks him up to an IV and stabilizes the knife with medical tape until we get to the hospital where they will remove it. The paramedic also keeps an eye on my vital signs to make sure that I don’t go into shock or anything.

  Calvin’s hand tightens on mine, making me look up at his face. His eyes are cracked open and he is looking at me. “Did the police get him?” he asks, his voice gravelly.

  I shook my head. “No, baby, he came after me again and I shot him,” I whisper.

  Calvin squeezes his eyes shut. “Shit.”

  “I killed him.”

  Calvin’s eyes fly open and his tormented eyes meet mine. His mouth works but he can’t seem to find the words.

  Finally, he asks, “Who was he?”

  “DeShawn, the man who raped me,” I say with disgust.

  Calvin’s eyes harden and his top lip curls up. “Good girl.”

  More Charlotte...

  I am stuck in the hospital bed with bands around my belly that are monitoring the babies’ heartbeats, and a cuff on my arm that is monitoring my blood pressure. Delilah stays with me the entire time I get checked out. Nick and Parker go with Calvin, who has to have surgery to remove the knife from his leg. The doctor is giving me a full work up, while the nurse continues to check my vitals. The doctor diagnoses me as healthy, but refuses to discharge me. The babies are perfectly fine and he tells me to try to relax because they are going to keep me for a couple of days to be safe, since my body went through so much trauma. Personally, I think they want to make sure that I don’t have a nervous breakdown after all that went down. They also want to send someone down from psych to check on me as well. Something about shooting and killing a person can cause PTSD. Not when you kill to protect your babies. That’s called maternal instinct. I don’t have PTSD.

  I am so frustrated and decide that I am not staying here. I am fine and my babies are fine. That’s all that I came here to find out. Plus, I haven’t even gotten the chance to see Calvin yet. And I have to pee. All I can think about is how I am going to get myself unstrapped and untangled from this bed so that I can go seek out Calvin - after I pee first – that I am not really paying much attention to Delilah’s ramblings. Something about Calvin’s dad speaking to the prosecutor, along with Nick, regarding not charging me with anything because DeShawn was in violation of the restraining order and me acting in self-defense. Yeah, yeah, whatever.

  A lifetime later, I convince Delilah to help me escape this prison cell – no pun intended - and help me find my man. She calls Nick, and he tells her that Calvin is already out of surgery and in a recovery room. Apparently, he has been asking for me and about me, but nobody will give him any information since he is not “family.” The term belligerent is being tossed around by the nurses and hospital staff. I can only imagine how pissed off he is. Nick finally gives LaLa the room number and operation sneak past the nurses and not get caught commences.

  The door is open when we reach the room, so we walk in. Calvin is lying on the bed, IV in his hand, blood oxygen thingy on his finger, covers pulled up to his waist. He’s awake and talking with Nick and Parker. Relief crashes down on me, threatening to bring me to my knees. Calvin turns his head, his caramel eyes landing on me. A small, tired smile curls his beautiful lips.

  “Baby girl,” he rasps, holding out a hand for me.

  I rush over to him and wrap my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He hugs me back, tucking his face in the crook of my neck.

  “I’m so sorry, for everything, I’m sorry,” I whisper, “I should have told you about DeShawn.”

  “I’m sorry, too. I should never have said what I said to you, I was completely out of line. Your past doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is you and our babies,” he says quietly into my neck.

  “We’ll give you guys a minute,” Nick says.

  After the door shuts and we are alone, I pull back from our embrace so I can kiss the shit out of him. His big hands cup my face as we kiss. God, I missed him! The kiss turns frantic and needy. His hands drop to my hips where his fingers tease my skin at the waistband of my pants. I slip a hand down his chest and stomach, snaking under the blanket where I find his rock hard cock ready to go.

  “Climb on,” he breathes.

  “I don’t want to hurt your leg,” I protest. The thought of where we are doesn’t even cross my mind. My only concern is not hurting him any more than he already is.

  He shakes his head. “You won’t. It’s closer to my knee, on the outside part of my thigh, it’ll be fine, I need you right now,” he says, his eyes pleading with me.

  I need him, too. I glance at the door before I drop my pants and climb onto the bed. He pulls the blanket back so I can climb onto his lap. He then covers my bare ass and legs with it. We grin at each other before I lean in and kiss him again. He uses his hand to hold himself up so that I can lower myself down onto him. I go ever so slowly, just to torture him a bit. Calvin groans, his hands gripping my hips tightly.

  Once I’m fully seated, I wrap my arms around his neck and start to rock my hips. My baby bump is smashed up against his granite abs but I don’t care, I need to be as close to him as possible. His lips brush mine as I move and he keeps his eyes locked on mine. This has to be the most emotionally charged sex that we’ve ever had. And damn, is it good! I clutch the back of Calvin’s head as I continue to roll my hips.

  Calvin snakes his arms completely around me, one hand on my ass to help me grind against him. Our breathing becomes more labored the closer we get to coming. Calvin growls low and bares his teeth. The raw masculinity of it sends me over the edge. I gasp as my body spasms around him. My nails dig into his scalp as I press our foreheads together. Calvin follows, his mouth slamming down on mine as he moans. I can feel him pulsing inside of me. So hot!

  Just then, the door opens and Nick walks in. We both whip our heads around to stare at him, wide eyed.

  “Hey, we’re gonna go grab something to…” he starts, but then snaps his mouth shut as he takes in the scene. He glances down at my pants on the floor then rolls his lips in, takes a deep breath, and nods. Looking up to the ceiling for guidance, he chides, “First your tit, now your ass? Jesus, Charlie, what’s next? You two are…ah…yeah…I’m just gonna go…”