Page 84 of Axton

Goodnight, my best friend, my protector, my greatest love, the keeper of my dreams, and now my undertaker.

Love,

Natalie Renee

Axton

Present day…

I watched as Belle raised her shaking fingers to her mouth. She blinked and a tear fell.

“I was selfish, Belle. I wanted to do as she asked, but I went to see Will’s father.” I swallowed hard. “I went to his car dealership and there was an ambulance there, but they loaded the gurney into the ambulance, and it was empty. Then a coroner pulled into the lot, and I learned the man was dead. I had just left the police station after hours of talking with them. So, I protected Will. Belle, he killed his father, and I knew he did. I confirmedit later when I sneaked into Will’s house and found a letter from Natalie in his bedroom. She told him everything about his father. She also told him that she forgave him for being angry. That she loved me and couldn’t live with what she thought she had to do to the baby, then ever look at me again. That I was supposed to marry her and rescue her from that mountainside. Obviously, Natalie had lost her mind after everything that was happening to her. She hid it all so well for a year. I never would have guessed all that happened to her. I went to fold the letter back and that was when I saw the photos of her, the bad ones. They were in a file, so I think Will went looking for answers in his dad’s office and found them. Will wasn’t that stupid, stupid enough to leave what could have been evidence in his bedroom, but his dad’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging. I confronted Will with the letters and photos, and he broke down. He told me he used a gun to get his dad on that chair, then put the rope around his neck, and Will kicked the chair away. He was struggling with all of it, and he was ready to go to the police station and turn himself in for murdering his own father. I was able to talk him down and convince him not to go to the cops. Belle, I couldn’t go back on my word when I claimed that child as mine. I couldn’t show anyone that letter in your hand because they may have looked closer into Will’s dad’s death. I did my best to protect him. He was a mess, and I tried to help him. He said his dad was abusive, but he never suspected he was as evil as the man Natalie described in her letter until he found those photos. He was in love with Natalie, but angry because he had big plans for his future, but after thinking about it for a few days he didn’t think he could go through with an adoption. He was having struggles of his own because of the baby. Never for a moment did he question that she was his daughter.”

“Michael.” She wiped her tears away then cupped my face, but I wasn’t done.

“I knew I couldn’t leave Kayla for the Army with those crazy pricks next door. I also knew there couldn’t be more bloodshed on that mountainside. Will and I came up with a plan. He had a lot of money saved up. He also sold a few things he had, and we raised enough to track down as much meth as we could find. We planted it in Natalie’s brother’s car, then followed them one day to that warehouse and they sat in that car like they were going to meet someone. It was the perfect opportunity to make an anonymous call to the police and report a drug deal. The cops came, found heroin and the meth we planted and the brother’s got ten years in prison. Enough time for Kayla to graduate and take off for college.” I swallowed hard. “Nine years later, Will was drinking and driving when he drove off the side of the mountain. He lives in a vegetative state in a nursing home. He never forgave himself for treating her so bad when he learned she was pregnant. Will was an asshole to kids like me in high school, then I think he overheard those boys talk about Natalie and the night at the warehouse and that did something to him. One day he was an immature prick, and the next he had an actual heart. I told Creed about this yesterday.” I swallowed hard. “Not because I needed to share this with him out of some sort of inner turmoil, but because he found some information out that I tried to keep from him. Natalie’s family learned I’ve done well for myself. They have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against me.”

She gasped.

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay. They did this on their own with no attorney. Probably because the statute of limitations is like a year or something. No attorney would have touched it, but her parents have managed to get her file opened back up and theSheriff is looking into her death. Her parents think that baby was mine and I killed her because she was ruining my life. Problem is, the Sheriff is looking into Will’s dad to see if he was involved in her death. I have absolutely no idea what sparked that, but it does make me nervous.”

She studied my eyes, and I hated seeing tears in hers. “She put you in an impossible situation.”

I nodded. “They’re running the baby’s DNA, and it won’t be long before they learn she wasn’t mine. I don’t know if it matters now. They won’t arrest Will for murder, he’s not able to stand trial. I protected Will and Natalie’s memory as long as I can and it’s time the truth comes out. Her brothers and all those people in that warehouse could have hurt a lot of people by now. I should have done it sooner, but I never turned Will in, maybe it was for his mom’s sake, I don’t know but I never wanted to face any of this, but I guess not all secrets can stay buried.”

She let one hand leave my face and wiped some tears away, then placed it back on my cheek. “You are a good man, Michael. Everything you tried to do for her…” She sniffled. “What she took from you that night in your bed. Do you think since she wasn’t showing as much that maybe she was going to try and pass the baby off as yours? You did sleep with her.”

What I was about to say almost made me sick. “She was at least five or six months pregnant that night and I didn’t even notice. The way she did things…it all happened so fast. One minute I was sleeping and the next that happened. I swear, Belle, if she was showing it was just barely. How is that possible?”

“We had a woman in my community that didn’t really show until she was six months. Her midwife said it was likely the position of the baby in her uterus. Another midwife said that it can happen when a woman is really tall too. It’s hard to say, but if yousaw what you described you really can’t question it. Everyone is different, and I presume that’s with pregnancy as well.”

I was fighting my emotions and doing a damn good job at it until I added one more thing. “You want to be my closest best friend that I’ve ever had? Does that mean you want me to tell you what I did not tell Creed?”

“Yes.” She nodded as she still had my face cupped and another tear fell from her eye when she blinked.

I took a deep breath. “Natalie smothered that baby after she slit her own wrists. When I found them, she was laying on her side with her baby in her arms.” I had to pause because I felt tears building. “She didn’t want that baby. She wouldn’t even call it a baby, but when I found her, the way she was laying, she was kissing her little forehead when she died.” I lost it then. I had never told anyone that part. It was too hurtful to say out loud. “Her baby was perfect with strawberry blond hair, the perfect little nose, and the tiniest hands with all her little fingers and toes. I don’t know if I can ever forgive her for killing that precious baby.” I broke down. “She took the time to clean her baby up before she took her life.”

Belle pressed her lips against mine then moved her hand so she could press her cheek against mine and hold me. Our tears mixed as we both cried, and she didn’t say a word. Just let me cry, and it was the first time in thirty-one years, someone chose to take care of me. That in itself made me even more emotional. My sister hugged me when I was living through absolute hell and she knew I was having a harder day, because every day for months was different in that grief journey. One day I was angry, the next I shut myself away from the world to cry, and the next I was back to denial. It was like a roller coaster, but mom and Kayla did what everyone always did, they relied on me. I had todo what I always did, work my ass off and take care of everyone but myself.

“The funeral director let me in to see her before she was cremated.” I sniffled. “She was nude with a sheet over her from the neck down, but she was in a cardboard box, Belle. A fucking cardboard box. Her baby was lying beside her, and I saw them both. I gave Natalie the last goodnight kiss she would ever get, and kissed the baby’s forehead. I told that baby I loved her just because she was like me, her parent killed her just like my dad almost killed me, and nobody ever told her they loved her.”

Her lips trailed over to mine, and she pecked them before she rested her forehead against mine. “Every part of you is worth loving. I love the way I feel when you’re near me, I love how your touch not only calms me, but gives me the most exciting moments of my life. I love those dimples, that bright smile, your laugh warms me from head to toe, when you hold me I feel safer than I have ever felt, when I’m holding you I feel like I found my purpose. Like this is where you always should have been. Your father couldn’t take your life away because you had a purpose in life. You fought hard, helped as many people as you could, sacrificed what you knew you needed most, and now this is your reward. You finally get to have peace knowing that I am here for you, Creed is here for you, Josh, Scott, Ryan, Morgan, Kayla, and even your mother is here for you. It’s time you lay Natalie to rest and give her the peace she deserves by burying those fucking brothers.”

I gasped in shock. “What did you just say? Did you just say fuckers?” I chuckled.

“It’s new vocabulary and I promise to use it wisely.” She whispered against my lips.

I laughed through my tears. “It’s so shocking it may just be a superpower to stun your enemies. Just please use it for good and not evil.”

Her lips brushed against my cheek then she whispered in my ear. “One of these days, Michael Axton, I’m going to convince you to marry me for real. Then you’re going to fuck me deep and hard then come deep inside me. It’ll be raw, and you will be bare inside me. There will never be anything between your cock and my inner walls when you fuck your wife.”

Instant hard on, even with fresh tears. “My little girl has a dirty mouth. What should we do about that?”

“I have never wanted to be a good little girl in your bed. Not in my dreams or my fantasies.” She kissed my neck.

I knew she had no idea the definition of a dirty girl, but I liked the dirty mouth. I wanted to laugh but controlled it. Only Belle could take me from an emotional breakdown to laughing in a matter of moments. “Maybe you can show me exactly how dirty that mouth can get.”

I thought nothing could have topped the first blow job she gave me the night before, but the things she did with her mouth in that movie room blew me away. It took me fifteen minutes just to recover enough to feel my limbs again. Finally, I picked her up, took her upstairs and we fell asleep in each other’s arms. I didn’t think I had ever slept so good in my life. Talking to Belle about Natalie took a weight off me then the blow job did me in, and I knew without a doubt my search was over. It wasn’t the perfect sexual experience I needed, it was Belle all along.

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