Chapter 84: Sawyer

Fuck! God fucking dammit!

I want to scream up at the sky and release some of the rage in my chest so it doesn’t feel like my body is going to ripe apart. Except I deserve this pain. I’ve been so worried about leaving and what I thought was best for Bryn and didn’t think about what could happen once she found out. Of course, I was going to tell her about the contract, but I wanted everything set up and ready before so I could lay all my plans at her feet. So much for good intensions…

No. I don’t get to play the wounded victim here. I was a major asshole and a fucking idiot about all of this. This isn’t me.

Bryn is the best thing in my life and I would die for her in a second, so why did I do something I know would hurt her? She has done nothing but support me and I did something totally idiotic knowing what could happen, but hoping she would understand. Fuck! What if she doesn’t forgive me? I can’t leave with things like this. She is everything to me, and I’ve already made too many mistakes when it comes to her. This is a mess…

I pull out my phone and see a message from Maddox. When I open it, I see a picture of Bryn curled up in bed next to…Nolan? I snort at the sight of him looking at Maddox with wide eyes as Bryn sleeps with her arms wrapped around his waist.

Maddox: Look what you’ve done. Now get your ass back before he takes your place for good.

Unexpectedly, I’ve been okay with these guys coming into our family. As much as I hated any guy going near Bryn before, I realize that I don’t mind it so much. All I want is to see her smile and Maddox has been a contributor to some of the biggest smiles I’ve seen on her face. He’s a lot of things I’m not and Bryn needs. God, I love her, and I know she loves me just as bad and I know she worries about how I feel having these guys around. I haven’t told her the whole truth. I didn’t bring them in to just protect her. I brought them in because she needs them too. My wife is everything I could want, but I know alone I’ll never be good enough for her. An army would never be enough to show her how much she deserves to be cared for.

Fuck, the woman is going a whole human inside her tiny body. God, I don’t know how be she’s even sexier when she’s pregnant. She thinks her round tummy is a turnoff, but seeing it and feeling it makes me go all caveman. I did that. She’s carrying that baby because of me. It’s a raw primal pride I can’t explain.

My phone vibrates in my hand, and I look down to see another message from Maddox.

Maddox: Look, asshole. You screwed up and made our girl cry. So hurry the fuck home and make things right or I will hunt your ass down and kick you in your bad leg.

I snort at his horrible threat. He’s a good guy even when he wants to injury me for hurting his woman. Our woman…and Nolan’s? Shit, I’ll have to figure that out now. I feel sorry for him though if she decides my plan was the worst and kicks him to the curb. Although from the picture she seems happy to cuddle up to him all night, so maybe I didn’t screw up too bad. I need to go home.

The bed of my truck shifts under my weight as I jump down and close the back. Bryn might be pissed at me, but I’m not going to stay away for a whole night. She can yell and kick my ass in the morning. I climb into my truck and don’t bother with speed limits to get home. Not that Bryn is waiting on me, but like hell am I letting the new guy steal my spot. When I pull up to the apartment, the house is dark, so I don’t notice anything out of place until I am standing a few feet away from the door. There’s a box sitting on the mat with a red bow on it.

“What the fuck?” I say and move slowly toward it.

It looks like one of those trashy cheap boxes you can get at a dime store, and doesn’t have a note anywhere. I’ve seen far too much TV to know not to touch a suspicious package, so I skirt around it and unlock the front door. I close it and head directly into the bedroom where I know everyone is thanks to Maddox’s play-by-play photo reel. When I walk in, everyone is asleep. I don’t want to wake Bryn and make her worry, so I move over to where Maddox is behind her and nudge him. He grumbles a protest but doesn’t wake up. Bryn makes a little sound of protest and moves closer to Nolan, who has his head rest on top of hers.

The guy looks out of place in his professor clothes next to Bryn with her tiny sleep shorts and the loose tank top she wears to cover her belly, but makes her tits look huge.

Nope. Not the time.

I flick Maddox in the ear and he startles awake, whirling around with his fist. Thanks to the fact I’m used to guys throwing fists at me, I’m able to block it, but the momentum has him rolling off the bed and landing on his ass. I have to bite back a laugh when he lays flat on the floor like a starfish and groans.

Idiot.

“Get up.” I say, kicking his foot with mine. “I need to show you something.”

He grumbles something but follows me. I open the front door and step aside so he can see the box.

“What the fuck?” He says before kneeling down to look at it. “What is it?”

“How the fuck would I know? I’m not opening that thing. What if there’s a bomb?”

He tilts his head up to give me a look that clearly says he thinks I’m full of shit, but hey I’m not taking any chances. Unlike me, he doesn’t seem worried and grabs the box. Since it doesn’t immediately blow up, I let him come inside and I follow him to the kitchen. He sets the box down on the counter and we stand side by side looking at it.

“Who would send this?” He asks.

“Maybe some guy from one of her classes thinking he has a chance with her.” I say with a shrug.

“I wonder where he would get an idea like that? Maybe because a certain asshole keeps hooking his wife up with new boyfriends.” He raises a brow at me, but I ignore his blatant jab at me.

“Just open the damn thing.”

“You open it.” He says back.

“Fine.” I slide the box over to me and untie the ribbon wrapped around it.
When I pull the top off, I step back and drop the thing on the floor.

“Shit!” Maddox says, stepping back. “This isn’t good.”

“No shit sherlock.” I snap back at him.

“What is going on out here?” Both our heads snap up to see Nolan walk into the room.

“Some asshole left this at our door.” I say, pointing to the thing.

Nolan’s eyes widen when he gets closer and sees what’s inside. “Who would send something like that?”

“We don’t know. There's no note.”

All three of us stare at the box in confusion. The black roses are creepy as fuck, but even worse because there is a knife slipped in between the flowers. Who would send something like this?

“We need to call the police.” Nolan leaves and jogs up the stairs.

“We can’t let Bryn see this.” Maddy grabs the top from the ground and puts it back over the flowers.

“If the police come, we won’t be able to keep her in the dark. They’ll have questions.” I point out.

“I know. Do you think it’s that doctor?” Maddox asks.

“Do you think they would release him already? He assaulted Nolan.” I point out.

“If it’s his first offense, they might give him community service.”

Great. So much for serve and protect.

“The cops are on their way.” Nolan says as he jogs back into the kitchen.

Maddox and I nod. We’re all silent and looking down at the box when I hear soft footsteps.

“Guys? What’s going on?” We turn to see her looking out the window in the living room.

Blue and red lights are flickering, and a loud knock at our door makes her jump.

“It’s okay B.” I tell her and walk over to the door to let the cops in.