Page 2 of Road to Absolution

From under her two-hundred-pound husband, I tried to shrug but failed. “I missed him. Only phone calls? You guys have been MIA for like a week—”

At the time, I didn’t realize I had just been part of a conversation reroute when Tuck pushed off my back—after smacking the back of my head for getting him in trouble. He quickly got back to his feet and announced, “Mad love for your daisy, babe.”

Viola was a spirited vixen that I became tight with right after I moved to this small town in Georgia. It was the summer before our senior year of high school when our twisted senses of humor joined forces. It was also when we both figured out secrets about each other; she was in love with Tucker Ward, and Delilah Ward was the only girl for me.

Now, over six years later, we had both managed to marry our soulmates. Not that this fact stopped Viola from being her normal self. With an abundance of Vixen attitude, she lifted a finger. “Maverick, have you grown a daisy recently?” She gestured to my groin area, where, last time I checked, still possessed a dick.

From the kitchen, Delilah coughed, choking on a piece of fruit on which she was snacking. “Please tell her no, baby. I am quite fond of your—”

“No!” her brother squealed, his shoulders bunching as much as his wincing face. “Please, Light. Spare your brother’s ears.”

Tuck’s wife may have been an untrainable and uncontainable kind of woman, which he preferred, but his little sister? The light that guided his soul he believed was once dark. Delilah was placed on a pedestal so tall not even a nun could compete.

Hence all my teasing. As her husband, I was the lucky bastard who got to see a side of Lilah that made me drool, always wanting more.

After getting up from the couch, I faced my wife and flexed my arms to appear as manly as possible, all while promising her, “No daisies here, Mrs. Hutton.”

Calling her by her newly acquired legal name won me a tender smile that made my heart thump like the teenager I was when I first began chasing her heart. Her long golden-brown hair fell forward as she went all bashful, appearing even more beautiful than a mere second earlier.

I grabbed my chest. “Damn, babe, you fucking gorgeous woman—”

“Oh God,” grumbled Tuck as he turned away. “Here we go again.”

“Hey!” warned his wife. “Just because my bestie is one big ol’ puss, it don’t mean it’s not hot.”

Tucker licked his teeth as his expression turned predator-like. “Babe, you know not to say that word because it makes visions of your daisy dance in my fucking head.”

A wicked smile crept across Viola’s face. “Pu-ssy.” Then she ran around the couch as Tuck chased.

Delilah and I loved each other madly. It was just more on the gentler side versus how insanely and mischievously V and Tuck loved each other. Like I said, these women were polar opposites, which made for an epic friendship.

As Viola ran to me, trying to use me as a shield, I stared over her head and told Lilah, “You own me like a—” Just then, I heard a horn beep from outside. “Yes!” I celebrated. “The bed!”

Score!

Before I could manage one step, Tuck abandoned his hunt and took off for the front door. “I’m gonna tell them they’re at the wrong house!”

Screeching like V just had, I chased after him. “Noooo!”

Running out the door, I heard my wife complain, “Hey, husband! Finish what you were about to say—”

Vixen interrupted her. “Pretty D, you have cankles, yet the man still wants to fuck you. Take the win and get off those damn swollen feet…”

I winked and mouthed thank you to Vixen right before shutting the door. Then I faced my front yard, so excited for my life and wife.

My house was at the end of what appeared to be a shorter dirt road that no one else lived on, but it was truly all my land. Four acres may not sound like much to some, but it made me feel like a king. I loved the privacy and woods surrounding this gorgeous piece of property.

In the paved driveway, I raced past my two-car garage to my left, then skidded to a stop when seeing Delilah’s dad, John Ward,getting out of his silver dually truck that read Ward Construction.

Pretending to not be disappointed that no bed was being delivered yet, since that was a tell-sign I wanted to bang his daughter in the home he just built us, I quickly said, “Hello, Mr. Ward.”

He suspiciously eyed me. “Why you kissin’ my ass, daughter-stealer?”

I opened my mouth to do some fine schmoozing, but Tuck decided this was a great opportunity for some revenge and threw my ass right under the Tucker-Is-A-Fucker bus. “Guilt. He was hoping you were the delivery truck with his ‘bed’.” Then he shrugged, feigning innocence as if he would never dream of having sex with his own wife.

Backpedal, Mav! “No, no—”

Dark eyes squinted at me as big shoulders rounded. “Knocking up my baby isn’t enough trouble for you?”