Blackmailed by the Beast by Sam Crescent

confirm identity
of her attacker.
    “What kind of animal
would hit a woman?” Richard growled in disgust, and Wayne couldn’t
agree more. If he found the guy before the police, he wouldn’t
leave him alive.
    “She’s pregnant. They
reckon she’s over two months pregnant, give or take.” The doctor
had given him the news. What was he supposed to do? Laugh? Cry?
    “We’re here if you need
us,” Tony consoled, placing a hand on his shoulder.
    Wayne nodded but was
grateful when they left him alone. He sat at her side and took her
slight hand in his.
    “Hey, baby, it’s me.
Your shithead of a husband.” He spoke and caressed her lifeless
hand. Wayne wanted to shake her, do anything to wake her up.
    The tears gathered in
his eyes, and for the first time, the Beast felt fear and
loneliness.
    “I’d do anything for
you to pull your hand away right now. To show me the woman you’ve
become.” He loosened his grip and waited to see if she’d pull away,
but her hand remained still.
    One tear fell from his
eye and the ice around his heart smashed to smithereens. With Lily
in his life, he had some semblance of control over his emotions.
The thought of losing her and never seeing her smile, or to even
hear her sing, was breaking him more than any gold digger could his
bank balance.
    A sob escaped, and he
kissed her hand. Not caring about protocol, he lay down on the bed
and gathered her in his arms.
    “I know I’m a shit but
don’t leave me. I love you, Lily Jones. I’ve loved you from the
first moment I saw you, even when you didn’t see me. I’ll love you
till the day I die and then keep on loving you.” The tears ran down
his face. He didn’t wipe them away. They were a beautiful thing.
“Please, wake up. I want that family, and I’ve never been ashamed
of you. I love you. I love you.” He kissed the top of her head and
held her tight. Any thoughts of keeping everything in his heart and
remaining the bastard he’d become were gone. Lily could still be
lost to him, but he’d keep telling her how much he loved her.
     
    ****
    Tony and Richard came
back with cups of coffee and saw their friend broken and sobbing in
the neck of his wife.
    “Wow, I never thought
I’d see the Beast lose control like that,” Richard said.
    They moved out of the
room and glanced through the slats in the window.
    “He’s in love, and it
looks like the stupid asshole just realized what he could’ve lost
by not telling her, too.”
    Richard frowned at his
friend. “What do you know about love?”
    Tony sighed and moved
away from the heart-breaking scene. “The usual. I’m a bastard and
let the girl get away...that kind of crap.”
    “Sounds a little cliché
to me,” Richard joked.
    Both men had
experienced love themselves, but neither was willing to talk about
it. Watching Wayne almost lose his wife made them open their eyes
to the bitterness within their own worlds. Maybe it was time for
them to start finding love for themselves before ending up alone
and bitter.
     
     

Chapter
Eighteen
     
    Someone was stroking
her hair and whispering words of love in her ear. The sound kept
fading, and she didn’t know if she was imagining the sound.
    “Come on, baby. Wake
up. I love you.” She knew that voice, but the fogginess in her mind
couldn’t place the soothing sound, or at least, she didn’t accept
what that particular voice was saying to her.
    Her whole body ached
and the pain in her chest the worst.
    “Please, baby, come
back to me.”
    No, I don’t want to
come with someone who doesn’t love me.
    Lily couldn’t pretend
any more. She opened her eyes and was immediately pulled to Wayne.
Shaking, she allowed him to kiss and touch her but her heart wasn’t
there, but completely empty inside.
    “They said you’d wake
up eventually.” He kissed her on the head, lips.
    “Please stop,” she
asked, her voice hard.
    Instantly, he withdrew
from her. He lay on the bed wrapped around her. The heat radiated
off him.