Ache With Me

I woke up to the feeling of a hand gently smoothing over my bump. I cracked one eye open to find Max looking at me.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you love.” He said, smiling at me.

“It’s all right.” I stretched until I felt my spine pop. “Must have been weird for you, the last time you saw me I was so much smaller.”

“I honestly didn’t think you’d get so big.” Just as he passed his hand over my belly again, there was a responding kick. “Was that-?”

“Yep. The little one kicks me like crazy these days.” He pushed himself up on his elbow, surveying me and the massive belly between us.

“You do glow, you know that?”

“Oh fuck off, that’s just something people tell pregnant women to make them feel better.”

“No really, you look beautiful.” He chucked me under the chin gently. “If I didn’t know how much you hated being pregnant I’d ask if we could have one of our own.” My breathing hitched.

“Really?”

“It’s no secret that I love you Lily. If we had one of our own I would be ecstatic.” He rolled over to dig into the nightstand for something. Whatever it was, it was small enough to hide in his fist. “Open your hand, love.”

I turned my palm up to face him and he dropped a ring with a little opal in the center into my hand. For a moment I just stared at it and then I lifted my head to look at him.

“I know it’s not quite an engagement ring. Think of it as a placeholder until I get a proper one for you.”

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely bloody serious.” He waited expectantly as I slid it onto my finger. It was a bit of a tight fit because of the pregnancy swelling, but I had a feeling it would fit perfectly otherwise.

“It’s beautiful.” I leaned over and kissed him on the mouth, the first time since he’d picked me up last night. He seemed surprised for a moment before he kissed me back fiercely.

“It belonged to my mother. She gave it to me when I went home in December.” He said when we finally broke apart.

“And you’ve had it all this time?”

“Well I was planning on sorting this shit out and then showing up with the ring to explain everything and beg your forgiveness, but it kind of didn’t work out that way.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that. It felt so good to just lie next to him. In a few minutes we’d have to get up so I could go to work for a half day. I was sure there were going to be some awkward questions when Max showed up with me instead of Hunter. Everyone had kind of assumed that Max and I had broken up when they didn’t see him for months at a time.

Eventually we did get out of bed and I got dressed in comfy clothes. There was no point in me getting all gussied up for a half day at work before I went on maternity leave. I was sitting on the bed trying to lace up my boots when I noticed Max had finally taken his shirt off. He had a lot of random tattoos scattered around his body and I knew each one as well as I knew my own face, so I knew immediately that there was a new one.

“Max, what’s that on your chest?” I asked, finally managing to get the laces pulled through.

“Oh, this?” He turned to let me see it better. Tattooed over his heart were a small cluster of flowers. I’d looked at the painting he’d given me enough times to know immediately that they were lilies of the valley. As touched as I was and absolutely in love with him, I couldn’t help but shake my head.

“We were broken up for months. How could you have done that, not knowing if we’d get back together or not?”

“I guess I’m just arrogant enough to think you’d take me back.” He knelt in front of me, taking both of my hands in his. “I love you more than anything in this world and I was never going to stop trying to make you forgive me.”

“It’ll take time, but I will.” I kissed his forehead gently. “Come on love, we gotta go.”

As I’d suspected, Max got some odd looks when he came into work with me, but everyone seemed to want to pretend they didn’t think anything was strange. He lounged in a chair next to my desk, looking perfectly at ease, but I knew him well enough to spot that façade he put up when he was uncomfortable. I nudged his boot with my own, getting his attention.

“It’s all right lovey, don’t worry.” I murmured. He flashed me a smile.

“It will be.” For most of the morning we just hung out by my desk while people came up to talk to me. There were muffins and doughnuts and a fruit salad that someone had brought, but I was feeling queasy and didn’t partake.

Max kept checking his phone every few minutes until it finally rang and he bolted from the room. I just stared at his retreating back as he left.

“Who lit a fire under his ass?” Zack asked, dropping into Max’s vacated chair.

“I don’t know, he’s been dealing with some business shit lately.” “Business shit” made it sound so innocuous, like someone was being a dick about his paintings, not that someone had beat him bloody twice and tried to break into my loft.

“Well we’re going to miss you.” He stretched out a hand to touch my bump but drew it back at the last moment. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Very few people had actually asked before touching me; one woman with an army of children had come over and started rubbing it like I was a magic lamp. I’d nearly broken her nose shoving her off me. “It’s gonna be weird not coming to work for a month.”

“You need the rest, you look exhausted.” It had taken me a long time to fall asleep last night, between the baby kicking me and the events of the day. Someone was actively trying to hurt me and the people I loved, and I was supposed to just go to sleep? Max had been pretending to sleep but I could tell he was still awake.

Max came back a few minutes later and Zack went back to his desk. Some of the tension seemed to have gone out of his shoulders finally.

“What was that about?” I asked, taking a sip of the tea that had gone cold on my desk.

“Hunter called.” He leaned closer to me so he could lower his voice. “We have to go to the police station after this.”

“Why?”

“Because they need to put a lineup in front of you.” Zina appeared before I could wring more information out of him, but the sense of tranquility I’d managed to manufacture was completely gone. Had they caught the guy who’d followed me home already? How was that possible?

But then I remembered the whispered conversation Hunter and Max had had while I was checking on Cheshire and Sylvester. I’d had a feeling they were talking about the mess we were in and I’d heard snatches of it, but not enough to understand anything. If nothing else this was the perfect time to make a move, while Eden and I were at work and Max was here with me.

The rest of my going away party seemed to drag on endlessly until Max was leading me out of the building and into the parking structure. I waited until we were safely in the car to speak.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked as he backed out of the space.

“I’m absolutely bloody certain someone has been watching the house and knows I’ve been staying there with Hunter, and after yesterday I knew they’d come to the house to either rattle us or kill us all.”

“Well that’s fucking cheerful.”

“Cheerful, no, but practical. Alex’s boyfriend was hanging around in the backyard when some big fuckers and the asshole who started this whole mess came in through the front door. He called for backup, went in, and arrested the lot of them. Hunter’s a bit messed up but he’s all right, they want us to come down to the station and have you pick out the guy who followed you home.”

“Jesus Christ.” I let out a long breath. “So it’s over?”

“It’s over.” He reached over and took my hand in his, bringing it to his lips to kiss the ring he’d given me this morning. “You can go home.”

“Not just me.” I said it so softly I wasn’t sure he’d heard it.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to move back in with you yet.”

“Of course I want you with me, love. Someone has to rub my feet.”

He laughed and I realized just how much I’d missed that sound. “Of course, Lily. I’ll start getting my things together once we leave the station.”

“Good. The loft needs you.”

“Lily….” He trailed off, his mouth scrunching into a tight line.

“What?”

“You’re due in February, right?”

“Yeah, the 16th.”

“Do you…do you want me to be in the delivery room with you?”

“I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have there with me than you.”

He smiled, the furrows in his face smoothing out. “Glad to hear it.” He snickered. “I’ll get to meet my niece or nephew before your sister does, that’ll put a kink in her tail.”

“Definitely.” I couldn’t help but giggle, although the joy died when we pulled into the parking lot of the police station. The last thing I wanted was to look into that man’s eyes again. There was such a lack of…humanity? Empathy? I was eight months pregnant and he would have raped me, mutilated me, and left me to die in front of Max. I would feel a lot better once he was locked up. I just wished I didn’t have to be the one to pick him out.

Officer Rodriguez met us at the front of the station, her long brown hair swinging behind her in a neat ponytail. I hadn’t noticed how pretty she was yesterday, probably something to do with how absolutely terrified I was. She had a lovely smile and soft hazel eyes. I felt a little better seeing her there, especially with the gun on her hip. Between her and Max, I was fairly sure I was safe. I still kept one arm wrapped around my stomach protectively.

The lineup they’d put together was full of guys who kind of looked like the description I’d given them, and at the end of the line was the man who’d followed me home. It was the eyes that gave him away. The shaved head and the muscled stature could have been any of the other men, but they couldn’t replicate the eyes.

“That’s him. 204.” I dropped my eyes, unwilling to look at him any longer.

“You’re sure?” Rodriguez asked.

“I’m positive. You don’t forget something like that.” She led me out of the room and then brought in Max, who must have picked him out as the guy who kicked the shit out of him. After that they led me to a waiting area while Max looked at more lineups, I guess to pick out the other guy who beat him. Apparently the dealer he’d sold his paintings to had already been booked and put in a cell to wait for arraignment.

When I got to the waiting area, I found Hunter slumped in one of the chairs, a bag of frozen peas held to his face.

“Shit, let me see.” I hurried over to him the best I could and pulled the bag away from his eye. It had swollen shut completely and was turning a magnificent shade of purple-green. “Oh honey.”

“It looks worse than it feels, don’t worry little sister.” He gave me a painful grin. “Sit down, we’re gonna be here a while.”

“I’ll be so glad when this is all over.” I shook my head. “You boys have been living with this for months. I would have gone crazy already.”

“Leave it to Max to find the one art dealer in the entire fucking state that’s crooked. I swear that man has some kind of special ability to attract assholes.”

“And yet here the two of us sit.”

“That is very true. We are two of the finest people in existence, I would say.” His imaginary hair flip made him wince. “Ow, fuck.”

“How bad did they get you?”

“They had a paramedic look me over, I’ve got a couple cracked ribs and a bunch of bruises, but I’ll live.” He somehow managed to look mischievous. “I’ll just make Eden nurse me back to health.”

“That’s my best friend you’re talking about, you scoundrel.”

“Scoundrel sounds better than disloyal bastard. I rather like it.” We were still laughing about that when Officer Rodriguez came in, carrying a small pillow.

“I thought you might want this, for your back.” She said, handing it over to me.

“Thank you.” I was genuinely touched by her thoughtfulness. My back was starting to hurt in this chair.

We were there for maybe three more hours while they took our official statements. Eden came down when she got off work and joined the party. She was understandably concerned about Hunter and insisted that he spend the next few days in her townhouse. I don’t think he minded that thought at all. I, on the other hand, was trying to come up with a story for Avery and my family that wouldn’t make them completely lose their minds. In the end, I decided the best thing I could do would be to tell them the truth. I’d have to explain why Max had been gone from my life for so long and now he was back and had given me a ring.

I blew out a long breath. I just wanted to go home and curl up with Max and the cats and relax. I felt a succession of kicks up against my stomach; apparently I wasn’t the only one who was overtired. Thankfully the police told us we were free to go and we piled into our respective cars to head home. We stopped by Hunter’s house to get the cats and let Max pack clothes for tomorrow before going across town to my loft.

The loft finally seemed right again with Max and the cats in it. I’d missed them both more than I could really express. He seemed to get it without me having to say anything. When we crawled into bed that night, he spooned me, one arm wrapped around my belly. I’d had such a hard time sleeping without him, and now that he was back I was sure that problem would go away.

“Once I give birth everything will be back to normal.” I commented, running my hand up and down his arm.

“It’ll be nice to be able to carry you around again.” He chuckled and I smacked his arm lightly. “Hey! I’m just being honest.”

“Calling me fat.” I muttered.

“Oh, you know I’m joking. I love you no matter what you look like or if you’re carrying a baby.” I rolled over in his arms to face him. The moonlight coming through the window illuminated his face perfectly, giving me a view of his messy blond hair and the silver ring in his nose and those pretty blue eyes and his devastating cheekbones.

“I love you.” My voice cracked just a little, the whirlwind of emotions I was feeling showing through in those three words.

“I love you too.” He kissed me once, twice, three times in quick succession. Then I buried my hand in his hair and kissed him hard. We continued like that for a moment before he untangled himself from me gently.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, seeing the look on his face.

“If we keep going I’m going to ravish you and I feel like we have an audience.” His eyes flicked down to my stomach.

“Yeah that does put a damper on things.” Something horrible occurred to me and he noticed the change of expression.

“Hey, why do you look like I just kicked Cheshire?”

“Were you with anyone while we were broken up?”

“No! Of course not.” He looked offended that I’d even ask that question and he told me as much.

“I’m sorry, I…I just needed to know.”

“Since I met you in that coffeeshop, I haven’t had eyes for anyone else. There’s no one else but you, my lily of the valley.” He took my hand and put it over his heart, the edges of the flowers tattooed there just peeking out from under my fingers. “No one else.”

“There isn’t anyone else for me either.” I smiled, tucking my head against his chest. “Good night Max.”

“Good night Lily.”