We drove home in silence. Beck gripped the steering wheel, jaw ticking, and I curled against the far door. I knew he wasn’t mad at me, but the whole situation sucked and I felt responsible for it. The car finally pulled into the driveway and he climbed out without a word. Beck didn’t speak at all during dinner other than to nod when someone talked to him, but I couldn’t really blame him. My mom just kept pushing and pushing until she made people crazy. Oh the irony in that one.

Beck was waiting for me to get out of the car and when I did, he got that look and backed me into the door, “I was a dick. I’m sorry, Doll.” He pressed against me, grinding into my hip and kissed down my neck.

“You gonna make it up to me?” I ran my hands up his chest and around his neck, “We only have a few more months of peace to make up for lost time,” I licked up his neck to the stubble on his cheek, “I wanna make the most of the time we have.”

Beck growled and bit my ear, “That’s the part I’m not thrilled about. Working around his schedule to fuck my wife will be rough. I like having you when I want you, but I have a feeling the little guy will be worth it.” He kissed me again, nipping at my lower lip. His dick digging into my hip and the dirty words made my panties pretty useless. Beck was going to make one hell of a DILF.

“I’m sure we’ll manage. We can get creative, or more creative,” My words came out breathless when he tugged my hair, “Unless you want the neighborhood to know your name, we need to take this inside.” Beck chuckled and untangled his fingers from my hair.

“You sure? Everyone else is home. You gotta keep it down,” I reached for his cock and he backed out of my reach, “Come on, Doll.” I chased after him to the walkway, grabbing him around the waist to grope him, and he chuckled. Hopefully my sex drive stayed once the baby came because I loved getting my man naked. I dug the keys from his front pocket, making a point to run my finger up the length of his cock, and he groaned.

A car door behind us made Beck look over his shoulder and the look on his face made me turn too. I got shoved behind him as Dennis charged toward us in the streetlight. His face was red, eyes bloodshot, and fists clenched at his side, “You fucked my wife?” Beck took a step back, taking me with him, “You fuck my wife, Layton?” Dennis screamed. I scrambled to dig my phone out of my pocket, shaking uncontrollably. What the hell is happening?

“Get in the house, Doll,” Beck pushed me toward the door, thrusting the keys at me while Dennis kept screaming, “Now Meredith!” Dennis made it to the walk and I dropped the keys, trying to call 911 with one hand and get the keys in the lock with the other, “Meredith!” Beck yelled at me over Dennis ranting and I flipped through the keys again. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking enough to see the key I needed. My heart lodged in my throat when I heard the slide of metal on metal and I froze.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you, Doll,” Dennis stopped screaming long enough to speak to me very calmly, “You open that door and I’ll fucking kill him.”

“Get in the fucking house, Meredith, don’t turn around, just walk in the house.” Beck’s tone bordered on panicked. I watched my hands shake, keys gripped with white knuckles. I hit dial on my phone with the other hand, making sure my body kept it out of Dennis’ sight.

“You go in and I’ll blow his fucking brains all over this pretty door,” Dennis growled. I didn’t move, “Now, did you fuck my wife? If you lie, I’ll know,” I closed my eyes, barely able to hear the operator trying to talk to me, “Did you touch my fucking wife?” Dennis screeched.

“I don’t know,” Beck said it quietly, “You need to let Meredith go in, Dennis. This is between us and she doesn’t need to see it,” Beck paused, “Go on in, Doll. It’s fine,” I didn’t move, I couldn’t. The hand holding my phone went to my stomach, “Think about Alex and go inside.” I was thinking about Alexander and how I couldn’t have him alone.

“I need you,” I whispered, “Dennis, please, I need him.” The tears started and the keys shook in my hand.

“I will fucking kill you, Layton!” Dennis screamed.

“Go in the fucking house, Meredith!” Beck yelled at me, but I couldn’t move, “You get yourself and our baby in the fucking house now!” I reached for the handle and sirens echoed in the distance.

“Don’t fucking move, Meredith! You fucked Cynthia, didn’t you? Beck Layton fucks who he wants, does what he wants, takes what he wants. World class asshole can get away with fucking murder, but not this time,” Dennis kept talking, varying between screaming and whispering. I snuck a glance over my shoulder to see Beck with his hands in the air and Dennis aiming a gun at his head, “You think you can just fuck my wife and move on to happily ever after? I’ll fucking kill you!” He shoved the gun at Beck hard enough to make his head move backward. Sirens got closer, Dennis kept yelling, Beck screamed for me to go in the house. My head started swimming. As the first police car pulled up to the curb, the front door opened and I got jerked inside. The screaming outside got louder, I dropped the keys and the phone, lunging against my captor for the door. Dennis would kill him.

“He’s gonna kill him! Let me go!” I fought Briggs, screaming, “Beck!” Other words came out, pleas for Dennis to leave him alone, Harriet and Faye shouting for me, my screams for them to let me go.

“Meredith! Stop!” Briggs yelled at me, dragging me away from the door, “I can’t let you go back out there!” I hit him, scratching his arms, scrambling to get back outside. My Beck was out there with a gun to his head. Briggs held me back, no matter how hard I fought, Briggs was bigger. Sirens, yelling, more sirens, and then a gunshot. Faye gasped, Harriet grabbed me, and everything stopped. The noise stopped, the shouting stopped, my heart stopped, my fight stopped. I sunk to the ground, unable to breathe. Briggs left me to run at the door, Harriet screamed at him, something about a baby and getting shot. A weird numbness spread through me. Faye was sobbing. Harriet held me, rocking me back and forth, but I didn’t cry, I just laid on the wooden floor against the couch, staring at the ring on my hand. My Beck was gone. My ears rang, replaying the gunshot, not letting any other sound in. Beck. Not my Beck.

I watched in slow motion when Dennis fell, his head hitting the concrete with a sickening crack. It was like he didn’t hear the sirens, or the police. I stumbled back into the door, hand over my mouth and groped for the handle. Meredith. It had to be Briggs who pulled her in, so she was safe, she didn’t see anything. I heard her fighting him. If Dennis was going to kill me, she didn’t need to see it and my brother picked up my slack. Police rushed me, asking me questions and an ambulance pulled up. I just stared at Dennis’ cold eyes. Briggs came behind me and shook my shoulder, making me look at him.

When I snapped away from Dennis’ lifeless form, my brother threw his arms around me in a very unmanly display of affection, “She’s fine. Don’t you scare me like that again, asshole.” I let out the breath I had been holding and finally looked at the police. Two officers were waiting for me to start talking.

I told them the story, and watched when they loaded Dennis onto the stretcher, zipping up the body bag, “I need to check on my wife,” The officer gestured me in, trailing after me into the house. Ma was on the sofa tears streaking her face. Her hands went to her mouth when she saw me and she stood up. Meredith was lying on the floor, head in Harriet’s lap, just staring blankly. I crouched in front of her, “Doll?” I pushed a strand of hair from her face and she blinked. Confusion crossed her face before she pushed up and jumped at me. I caught her, knocking us both back to the floor, “I got you, Doll.” I held her while the tears started.

“Oh my god,” Meredith backed out of my chest to grab my face and kiss me, “Beck,” I nodded and she kissed me again, “I thought…” She started crying again and I pulled us up from the floor. I sat us on the couch and Ma sat on her other side, reaching over to touch me. I went back to answering the officer’s questions. Briggs pulled Harriet from the floor and hugged her to his chest. She laid into him, yelling at him for running outside when he heard the gunshot.

Meredith answered questions, we were handed report papers, and the police cleared out well over an hour later. All five of us just sat in the silence for a few minutes, processing all the shit we just witnessed. Briggs ushered Harriet for the steps, but Meredith pulled her head off my shoulder, “When were you gonna tell us?” Briggs smirked and Harriet’s eyes went wide, “I’m not a stupid girl.” Meredith’s hand trembled when she wiped her face of stray tears.

“We were gonna wait a while, but…” Briggs rubbed the back of his neck, “Harriet’s pregnant.”

“What the fuck?” The words came out before I could stop them and Ma popped the back of my head, “You kept it from us? I have to almost get shot to find out I’m gonna be an uncle? What the fuck?” I stood up and charged my sister-in-law. Before Briggs could get all possessive, I put a hand on Harriet’s stomach, rubbed it, and backed up, “How long have you known?”

Meredith scooted under my arm and I kissed her head, “A few weeks. The first one,” Harriet bit her lip, “I had a miscarriage a couple of months ago, so we didn’t want to tell anyone for a while, it would be too hard.” Meredith hugged her, “I guess I let it slip.”

“Two babies?” Ma appeared next to us.

“Yeah, Ma. Sorry, we didn’t tell everyone,” Briggs hugged Ma, “So, it’s been a fun night,” Briggs locked on my eyes, “We’re square now.” He gave me his asshole smirk. It wasn’t long ago that I was jumping at an armed crazy woman to keep Harriet from getting shot. Briggs pulling Meredith in the house made us more than even. I owed Briggs my life more than once. Briggs clapped my shoulder and pulled Harriet upstairs, whispering into her hair, and not taking his hands off her. Uncle Beck.

Ma kissed my cheek and hugged Meredith before heading down her hallway to her room. Meredith wrapped her arms around my waist, “I thought he shot you. I thought I lost you, Beck.” She tangled her hands into my shirt and rubbed her face into my chest.

“I know, Doll,” I hugged her a little tighter. I nearly missed it all, “I’m here.” I almost wasn’t. I shudder ran through me at the thought of Meredith alone, raising our son without me, making her way through the rest of pregnancy, the rest of life without me.

“I couldn’t do this without you, Beck, and I almost lost you,” I led us toward the steps and up to our room, “They shot Dennis?”

I pushed the door open and Sadie hopped off the bed, curling into a ball on the floor, “Yeah, Doll,” I sat her on the bed and kneeled to pull her shoes off. Meredith nodded and I kicked my shoes off before getting in bed with her. We could worry about clothes later. I just needed to hold her. Once she fell asleep, I’d undress her and let her sleep while I got a shower, but for a few minutes, I needed her against me. I pulled her back to my front and inhaled her hair, sliding my hand to rest on my son. My whole world fit perfectly against my chest, “I love you, Doll.” Meredith rolled to her back and kissed my chin. I stroked her stomach with my thumb and promised her I’d never leave them, even if she pushed me away.