Under The Magnolia Read online

  would never have gotten involved with this psycho piece of nothing if I had

  realized any sooner what the hell she wanted. I swear to you, she told me

  she just wanted to talk to you and try and tell you off of dating Alex. I

  would never hurt a woman.”

  I turn my head, not wanting to talk anymore. All the adrenaline seems to

  be wearing off, and my body is slowly starting to hurt more and more, so I

  just curl in a ball and hope that the cops get here before anyone else decides

  my life isn’t worthwhile.

  Theo

  This whole night has been too much. Amelia had been so stubborn about

  that alert necklace when I gave it to her, but I’m relieved as fuck that she

  was able to use it. We were still combing through footage of traffic cameras

  when the alert went off, the call coming through that they had a location on

  her.

  Now I’m speeding towards her, unsure what I’m going to find when I get

  there. I stumble out of the car, looking around and freezing when I see one

  of my co-workers on site. I wasn’t close with the guy, so that didn’t stop me

  from storming up to him and punching him in the face. Someone holds me

  back before I can go in for another round, all sound and voices around me

  dimming as I focus on the fact that this asshole was responsible for taking

  my girl.

  “Cool it, Theo or you’re going to be waiting for everyone else to do your

  job for you. I can’t sit here and let you attack him. He’ll be dealt with. Find

  Amelia.”

  As soon as her name is said, there’s scuffling in the shed a few feet

  behind where John is sitting on top of Sophie, and as much as I want to

  ‘accidentally’ stomp on her face with my boots as I pass her, I spit instead,

  making sure it gets right in her ugly fucking eyeball. I make sure the cops

  are getting them both before I can let myself look behind the door.

  I have no idea what to expect, and I’m terrified to find out. But I hear a

  broken sob and some vomiting, sending me flying in to whatever I’ll find. I

  dive down to my knees, looking her over for injuries. My first instinct is to

  scoop her up, but if she has any sort of neck or back injuries, I’ll only hurt

  her worse.

  “Sweetheart, talk to me. What hurts? Oh God, Amelia, I’m so sorry.”

  I see the zip tied handcuffs on her and pull out a knife to cut through

  them, rubbing her wrists as she pulls herself to me.

  “My head. They hit me with…I think they said a crowbar? And I cut my

  arm.”

  “Can I move you? Nothing else hurts?”

  EMTs arrive anyway with a stretcher, stabilizing her neck to be safe as I

  follow next to her, eyes blurry and locked onto hers. Seeing her on there is

  too reminiscent of the night I found her in the fire, seeing her body

  crumpled and bleeding. At least this time she’s conscious and knows me

  and isn’t trying to die on me.

  I breathe even easier when she’s hooked up and I can see that her vitals

  are all stable, clinging on to her like I’m the one that needs comforting.

  “I swear to God Amelia, we’re not ever letting you out of our sight again.

  This is just getting ridiculous. I know I signed up to be your guy, but the

  prince can only rescue the princess so many times before it starts looking

  like a setup.”

  She cracks a smile at my lame attempt at levity, her gorgeous eyes letting

  a few tears out. I wipe them off, scooting behind her so her head is almost

  cradled in my lap while she’s on the stretcher. I text the other guys to just

  meet us at the hospital as the doors close and we go flying down the road. I

  send up a grateful prayer that I got to her again before anything worse

  happened.

  I kiss her forehead, trying to imagine life without her; I have no idea how

  the other guys survived as long as they did without her in their life, she’s

  the kind of girl that sinks into your bloodstream. You can try and bleed it all

  out, but you’ll never be completely cured.

  “Tell me something good, sweetheart.”

  She blinks up at me, eyes roaming around to try and see me better. I lean

  in, get nice and close, let her see the devotion I hope is coming through

  every pore of my face.

  “Sophie is going to jail, and I kind of just realized that I’m getting

  married?”

  I bark out a laugh, wishing I could kiss the ring on her hand but they’ve

  got an IV in that arm so it’s pretty sedentary.

  “I mean, I feel like you kind of knew that.”

  “Did I? Their parents- everyone was supportive. I wasn’t sure how that

  was all going to play out.”

  “Well, good parents support their kid when they’re happy, regardless of

  what that happiness looks like. I’m glad they’ve got that, that you’ve got

  that.”

  It doesn’t take long before we get to the hospital, nice thing about living

  in a small town. Everything you really need is nearby. The guys are all

  waiting by the ER entrance when they start wheeling her in, and the EMTs

  pause for a second since she’s stable for them to touch her and see for

  themselves she’s okay.

  “Only the fiancé can come back with her, the rest of you need to wait in

  the waiting area.”

  They all still follow and the EMT glares.

  “We’re all the fiancé.”

  Wow, that face was priceless. Let’s stir shit up. He recovers his

  professional face quickly and shakes his head, like he needs to physically

  dispel all the questions that just surfaced before he says something stupid.

  “Fine. One of you can come through, the rest wait out here.”

  I see Alex falling apart, clearly thinking it was his fault she got taken

  since she was waiting for him to take her home when he ran inside. He

  looks broke, his face red and puffy with a plethora of fluids running down it

  as he tries not to shake too hard where he stands.

  “Alex? All yours man. She’ll be okay, promise.”

  He looks like a deer in headlights for a minute, like he’s not sure he

  deserves to go see her, but Cameron claps him on the back and urges him

  forward, making him stumble a bit before he regains his footing and hugs

  me. I was still kind of getting used to the fact that we were all family now,

  and it was hard breaking into a tight-knit group like theirs, but they hadn’t

  even tried to cut me out of her life and had been extremely gracious about

  letting me in on the ring and the non-proposal. I had been ready to throw

  down and demand a spot with them, but they must have seen how deep

  Amelia was inside my soul because they all unanimously included me

  without much thought.

  I hug him back, allowing some of the tension of the night to escape with

  it. We stand there for a minute, letting the fragile bond between us that men

  aren’t supposed to nurture so deep strengthen and heal us a little, before he

  pulls away, giving me a look that says more than words ever could. He

  follows after Amelia, leaving us to collapse into the sticky vinyl chairs that

  haven’t been updated in this decade.

  I fill Cameron and Constantine in on what had happened, and they fist

 
bump each other at the news that Sophie is done. Eventually I wander off to

  get some crappy vending machine coffee for all of us, and we all wait for

  the doctor to come out and tell us that she’s definitely concussed and

  needed some stitches on her arm.

  It was too high a price to pay, but I’m still thankful that the world finally

  got to see the true person Sophie was. I have to admit, sometimes I’d listen

  to stories about her from Amelia and wonder how that much evil could be

  hidden behind such a normal looking package, but she was unhinged

  tonight, her façade broken, and it all came pouring out.

  Now we could all return home with our girl, doctor her up and kiss all

  her boo-boos, and plan the wedding as fast as possible so we could begin

  our lives together.

  Cameron

  “Those are great, mom. Honestly. She loves pretty much any type of

  flower that is grown wild around here, and you know we appreciate all the

  help.”

  My mom freezes, her shoulders curling in for a minute as she tries to hide

  her face, but I can tell she’s crying. Again.

  I grew taller than her in high school, and there’s something about being

  taller than your mother, that makes you feel all grown up and manly when

  you can hug her and let her find comfort in you as her child, instead of the

  other way around.

  She calms down and pulls away from me, wiping her eyes.

  “I love that girl, Cameron. I don’t think there’s anyone else in the world

  that could suit you better.”

  “That’s why I’m marrying her, momma.”

  “I know, and I’m so proud of you. Some of the ladies at church have been

  whispering, talking about how unnatural this arrangement is, but all I can

  see is the beauty of it, because of how much you all love her.”

  “You know we don’t care about what people say. They’re not the ones in

  the marriage.”

  “I don’t know how you became so strong, or when that happened, but

  I’m so happy for you. That girl is one of mine, too, and I am just so relieved

  that she’s got all of you back in her corner to support her. The way she

  smiles at all of you…it’s beautiful, Cameron. Your family is beautiful.

  Thank you for letting me be a part of the ceremony, helping to plan it.”

  She kisses me on the cheek and wanders out to her car, backing out of

  our driveway and disappearing in a cloud of dust. I look down at the mess

  on the table where we’d spent the day planning everything, wanting it to be

  perfect for Amelia.

  She’s pretty much been in bed for the past week recovering, but she’s

  finally gotten the all-clear to return to normal activities. I’m obviously

  referring to sex.

  There have been times in the past week where I wondered if we were

  doing the right thing, planning out the whole wedding ceremony without

  really including her, but we technically didn’t ask her permission to marry

  her so why give in now?

  Constantine comes walking down the hall stretching and rubbing his

  eyes. He had been in there reading to her last I knew, but it looks like he

  might have napped with her as well. The thought of her all deliciously

  warm and wrapped in blankets is too hard to ignore, so I pass the mess off

  to him to tidy up, walking past him on a mission to get to my girl.

  “Hey baby.”

  I crawl in next to her, peeling back the blankets and wrapping myself

  around her. Her curves fit against me perfectly, her hair up in this crazy bun

  that is poking out everywhere but exposing the line of her neck to me. She

  shudders under my kisses, sticking her perfect ass against my groin and

  wiggling it. When did girls learn this move? I swear, they try to act like they

  have no idea what they’re doing with it, but you know they’re just telling

  you they want you.

  “How you feeling?”

  “Same as I said yesterday and the day before. I’m good, Cam. Honestly.

  My head is great.”

  I let my hands trail across her stomach, letting the feel of her thighs light

  up my fingertips as I drag them across her. I find her ass where it’s trying to

  nest inside my hips and take my time tracing over every part of it, mapping

  it out.

  It’s hard to forget your first time being with a woman, but my first time

  with her felt so corrupted. It was perfect of course, but what came after kind

  of ruined the afterglow. The way her cheeks pinched with happiness as I

  climbed out her window haunted me for years, the feel of her body and the

  smell that became a flesh memory.

  But here, when we’re both grown up a bit and finally in a safe place that

  we own, well there’s nothing stopping me from making that first memory

  happen again.

  “I don’t know what’s going through your head right now, Cameron, but

  the answer is yes.”

  I laugh, dipping my hand under the men’s t-shirt she’s wearing and

  provoking goosebumps all over her soft flesh.

  “I was thinking, that the last time we got to be in bed alone together, and

  this past week of nursing you back to health doesn’t count because you

  were off-limits, you forever tied us together by letting me in.”

  I take a palmful of breast, kneading it with my roughened palm hand and

  brushing against her nipple, pinching it and rolling it and learning

  everything there is to know about her breasts as I move back and forth

  between the two of them.

  “You’re driving me crazy right now, Cam.”

  “You drive me crazy every day, so it’s fair turnabout.”

  I don’t pick up my pace, just continue to draw patterns on her skin and let

  her move against me like she’s going out of her mind with want. It’s just as

  torturous for me, because my dick knows he’s going to be touched soon and

  is trying to jump-start the act. This has to be about Amelia, though.

  Alex comes in and freezes in the doorway, taking in Amelia’s fast

  breathing pattern and the way my hand snakes under her clothing. He closes

  his eyes and takes a cleansing breath before going carefully to the corner

  where there’s an armchair set up. To be honest, we put it there for this exact

  purpose.

  I peel the shirt off of her, which leaves her laying there in just some

  cotton panties, her torso completely exposed for Alex’s viewing pleasure.

  I’m not sure if she’s ignoring the fact that we have an audience or if she’s

  too far gone already to be able to notice him. Either way, he’s not going to

  interrupt what I have planned.

  I continue to play and caress her breasts as I kiss a line down her spine,

  staying her hips by throwing a leg over hers and holding her against me.

  “You have too many clothes on, Cameron.”

  “You let me worry about that.”

  I use my tongue to taste her skin, running up the top of her back and to

  her neck, making her shiver and let out some sexy sounds that go straight to

  my dick. I press it against her, letting her know how turned on I am right

  now, getting a little power drunk on the way it makes her start almost

  panicking to get more of it.

  “Calm down, Amelia girl. You know you�
�re going to get it, I just need to

  touch all of you first.”

  I grab her perfect cheeks with both palms and squeeze, lift and separate,

  running a finger down her and brushing across the one spot I’m dying to

  claim. She tries to act all freaked out about it, but as I let my other hand

  wander to her front and start to stroke her pussy, she relaxes, then starts to

  seemingly enjoy it.

  Constantine appears again like he’s been conjured, peeling her panties off

  completely. She comes to just long enough for her to realize he’s there,

  kissing him long and hard and deep. Every time I see her tongue escape her

  lips and slide against his I fight off the need to just buck against her. She’s

  beautiful always, but especially when she’s getting drugged with sex and is

  getting to kiss one of her men for the sheer enjoyment of it.

  Did we send out some sort of sex signal I’m unaware of? Theo is

  suddenly behind me, digging through the drawer and producing lube for

  me, opening the bottle and helpfully dosing some out onto my waiting

  fingers. I rub them together to warm it up before resuming my training. I

  get in just the tip of my finger and she freezes, snapping her head back to

  look at me with an incredibly startled expression, like she just remembered

  I was still here.

  Constantine must be pro at kissing to make her completely forget that I

  was playing with her ass. I kiss her lower back and start pushing in and out

  of her, grabbing more lube as I go and sinking just a little deeper each time.

  “Cameron, I love you, but I’m not sure if-”

  “Amelia, I love you, but stop talking and let the man finger you.”

  Her jaw drops like Constantine just said something appalling, which

  makes me laugh, but then I remember I’m knuckle deep in her ass and that

  my dick is about to explode. She’s squeezing me so tight that I’m worried

  about circulation in my finger.

  Constantine is still kissing her, trying to keep her distracted, but it’s not

  until Theo whips his shirt off and throws his hair up in a man bun and slides

  onto the bed beneath her that we make any real progress. He throws one of

  her legs over his shoulder and eats her like a boss, making her body become

  wilted and willing in my hands.

  Luckily I’m still wearing pants, or else his head would be a bit too close