Till Death Do Us Part: A Paranormal Why Choose Romance (Vows Duet Book 1)

Chapter 42

79 Years Ago

I clap my hand over Ellie’s mouth, barring the moan she just let out.

“That’s it, little Ellie,” I growl into her ear. “Take all of me.”

Her hips buck back as I fuck her from behind, her body bent over the bathroom sink, her hands clutching at the sides to hold herself in place. I snap my hips against her, thrusting deep into her wet pussy. The skirt of her maid uniform is pushed up, bunched under my hand as I grip at her waist.

She tightens around me just as her teeth sink into the flesh of my hand, a low scream vibrating through her as she comes. The combination of the feel of her around my cock, the pain of her bite, and the sounds of her pleasure send me over the edge.

I pour into her, grunting through my climax, gliding in and out of the slippery mess we’ve made of her. “Jesus Christ, Ellie,” I pant, smoothing my hand over her as I thrust into her with shallow, gentle movements. “How do you always feel so good?”

She lays her head down against the cool porcelain of the sink. “I don’t know,” she gasps. “How do you guys always make me feel so good?”

My grin is huge. “Because we take care of our girl,” I answer, watching the spot we’re connected as I pull my dick free.

Cum seeps out of her, shining on her pussy and inner thighs, giving me flashbacks to the first night two months ago, when Benny, Warren, and I all fucked her while my parents were out of town. Ellie had been absolutely covered in cum by the time the Cooper boys had to leave to make curfew. Ellie, having told her father she was staying at a girlfriend’s house, had stayed with me that night.

Hands down, my favorite memory of that night was running her a bath afterwards, taking care of her, and then dirtying her up again before we passed out in my bed, naked and satisfied.

Since the night that served as the turning point, Benny, Warren, and I have fucked Ellie at every possible opportunity. Which means secret trysts in the bathroom and steamy car sessions while parked out in the boonies around the city.

“Is that what I am? Your girl? All of yours?”

I glance up from where I’m using a washcloth to wipe her clean of the evidence of our lovemaking. Still bent over the sink, her head is turned like she’s trying to look at me, but I know she can’t see me with the way I’m kneeling behind her.

I say nothing, finishing my job. Once she’s clean, I pull her panties back up, caressing her ass once before pulling her skirt down. Ellie stands stiffly, smoothing down her dress, while I quickly wipe my dick off and tuck it away. She spins around, darting for the door, her eyes glued to the floor.

Snatching her hand before she can get away from me, I spin her back, like we’re dancing, until she crashes into my chest. “Eleanor August,” I say sternly, pressing my forehead to hers, her green eyes blazing into mine. “If you think you’ve ever been anything but our girl, you are gravely mistaken. I haven’t looked at another girl since I met you six months ago, and I know Benny and Warren haven’t either.”

Her eyes water. “But I’m just the—”

“If you finish that with anything like ‘just the maid’,” I growl, “you’ll be in trouble.”

Ellie stays silent.

“You’re ours, Ellie. No matter who we are, or what happens, I swear we will always belong to one another.”

My skin prickles in awareness of the sincerity of my pledge.

“I love you,” she breathes, tears slipping down her cheeks.

A warm, buzzing feeling fills me from head to toe. “I don’t think you can understand how loved you are by me, Warren, and Benny. Someday we might do enough to show you.”

“Don’t stop showing me.”

“Never,” I promise, and kiss her before we have to face the world again.

A whistle leaves my lips as I hop out of my car and stride for the front door of the Cooper house, flipping my keys in my hand. Two more weeks of being with Ellie, and I don’t know how I went this long without her—and I don’t plan on being without her again.

I have to talk to Benny and Warren. With graduation coming up next week, high school will be behind me and the rest of my life in front of me. Only one of us will ever be able to marry Ellie, and I know Pastor Cooper will never allow his sons to marry a woman who has been their maid. My parents will care too, but I don’t give a shit.

As normal, I enter the house without knocking, but my whistling stops. Unless it’s praise lifted to the Lord, there is no singing or music in the Cooper household. I go from room-to-room, seeking the girl I love or my friends. I see Ellie first, my face breaking into a grin, through the doorway as she stands in Pastor Cooper’s office.

Her jaw ticks as she locks eyes with me, and my brow furrows. I’m about to ask her what’s wrong when Pastor Cooper steps into my line of sight. I freeze, watching while Ellie stands just as still as I am.

“Such a sweet-looking thing, aren’t you, Miss August?” he says, quiet enough that I have to strain to hear him. “Have you remained pure and pious?”

“Yes, sir,” she whispers, and I cringe at the guilt I hear in her tone.

Pastor Cooper clicks his tongue. “Now, Eleanor. We know that isn’t true, don’t we?”

Pure panic overtakes me. How would he know? Where are Benny and Warren?

Ellie doesn’t answer him this time.

“Hmmm…” He moves, invading her space. She steps back, jerking when she runs into the mammoth desk in the center of the room that stops her retreat. I watch in confusion as he lifts his hand, stroking fingers across her cheek.

My feet feel cemented to the ground, the shock of his behavior rooting me in place.

Ellie flinches, turning her face away from him. “Don’t,” she gasps.

Chuckling, Pastor Cooper roughly grips her chin. “Don’t? Haven’t you been letting someone touch you? Now you’re afraid of being touched when it’s far too late?”

“Please, I want to leave,” she says, sounding on the verge of tears. “Please, Pastor Cooper.”

“You’ll do well to remember then, Miss August,” he responds, “that women who want to act like whores get treated like them.”

If the words hadn’t lit a fire under me—and they do—what he does next sends me into a rage. Groping at her breasts, Pastor Cooper ignores Ellie’s shrill cry of surprise while she tries to twist away from him.

But I’m already charging at him before then. A bellow erupts out of me as I tackle the man I never treated with anything but respect. We tumble to the floor, his own startled shout loud in my ear.

“Get off of me, boy!” he roars as I maneuver on top of him, pinning with my knees.

My arm draws back. “You sick son of a bitch! I saw what you were doing! What you were going to do!” My fist connects with his nose before he can reply, making blood spurt out both nostrils.

“Richard, stop this right now!” Pastor Cooper screams, flailing in an attempt to dislodge me.

“You touched her!” I snarl, seizing him by the collar of his shirt and shaking him. “How dare you touch her?”

“Why do you care about some whor—” His eyes go wide as his words cut off, and he laughs, spraying blood on my shirt. “You have allowed the Devil to tempt you, and this time he wears soft skin, green eyes, and a cunt. Haven’t you, boy? You’ve lain with Miss August.”

I ignore the question and implications, shaking him again. “Why is she even in here?” I demand.

Feeling a tug on my shirt, I turn my head, finding Ellie’s scared expression. “Richie, you have to let him go,” she stammers. “You’re going to be in trouble.”

I honestly don’t fucking care. But the interruption was enough to remind me of who he is and who I am. With one more shake, and then a shove so his head thunks against the floor. I rise, not caring that my toe of my shoe grinds into his fingers, and he screeches. I pull my girl into my arms, holding her tight while sobs break free.

“What is going on?”

I turn my glare on Benny, unable to reel it in. Warren stands next to him. “Your father was trying to hurt Ellie. I walked in on it and stopped it.”

Both boys’ eyes grow wide at my allegation, darting to Pastor Cooper, who is still prone on the floor and prodding at his broken nose. Despite the groans he is making, a chuckle slips out of him.

“This sinner, here, boys, is defending the honor of a whore,” he gurgles out.

The only thing that holds me back from giving him a black eye to go along with his broken nose is the fact I’m holding Ellie, who starts sobbing into my chest at his words.

Benny’s hands fist at his sides. “Don’t call her that.”

“She’s not a whore,” Warren snaps at the same time.

Pastor Cooper sits up, grimacing as he cups his nose. “Oh, but she is. She’s carrying a bastard conceived in sin. She is the definition of a whore.”

Time stops, his words echoing in my ears. A bastard. A baby.

Ellie is pregnant.

Holding Ellie at arm’s length is near impossible with the way she shoves herself against me harder, but I manage to create some distance. Still, she refuses to look at me.

“Ells,” Warren says, approaching her from the side. “Ells, baby. Talk to us.”

She cries harder, her broken sobs louder.

“Baby? Just how many boys did you spread your legs for?” Pastor Cooper spits at her.

“Funny, Pastor,” I thunder. “You seemed all too happy to take advantage of her before I stopped you, what with you groping at her and all.”

Benny, who had been silent in the doorway, snaps. He stomps toward his father with a mask of rage. My mouth drops open as he kicks, striking Pastor Cooper directly in the face. His already broken nose must be pulverized by now, the blood gushing freely.

“The only thing that is evil here is you!” he tells him through a scream of simmering rage. “‘Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.’ Consider this your destruction, father.”

I have never seen Benny speak in anything but a kind and gentle voice, so the way my jaw has slackened as I watch him finish berating Pastor Cooper and kick him once more—this time in the ribs—is genuine. Warren rushes forward and, for a moment, I think he’s going to stop his brother. Instead, delivers his own series of kicks.

A whimper brings me back to the girl I’m still holding in front of me. Tearing my eyes away from where the brothers continue to kick and spit Bible verses about pride and judgement, I find Ellie fixed on the scene before us, her expression terrified.

“Ellie,” I murmur, shutting out what Benny is saying and doing. When she doesn’t respond, I take her face in my hands gently, turning it toward me until I can look into her pretty eyes. “Tell me. Are you pregnant?”

“Yes,” she answers, her voice cracking. “I realized this morning. He overhead Mrs. Denis telling me how to help with the sickness. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean—”

I put a finger over her lips, hushing her. “No sorrys,” I tell her. “Marry me.”

Eyes wide, Ellie’s body goes slack, like she’s trying to collapse. Hooking my arms under hers, I drag her into my lap as I sit in one of the plush leather chairs Pastor Cooper has in his office.

“Marry me,” I repeat, cradling her.

Her eyes dart to Benny and Warren, a worry crease between her brows developing.

“I won’t take them away from you,” I promise. “You’ll be my wife on paper, but you’ll still be all of ours. Marrying me protects you”—I lay a tentative hand on her flat belly—“and our baby.”

“Okay,” she whispers, eyes searching mine. “Yes.”

The brawl happening next to us douses the feeling of joy I feel, but it still shines through the darkness of this entire situation. Ellie recoils as Pastor Cooper lets out a particularly loud grunt, and I stand with her, heading for the door.

Mrs. Denis appears before we get there, her mouth dropping open in surprise. “What in the world?” she screams. “Benny! Warren! Stop this now!”

The only person the boys would probably listen to is Mrs. Denis, and they do. I don’t stay though, pushing past Mrs. Denis with Ellie secure in my hold. But we can still hear the seething shout from Benny that follows us down the hall.

“‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness’. That girl is light! She is everything! She is nothing but good, and you should be ashamed to call yourself a shepherd! And I am ashamed to call you father.”

It’s seconds after I walk out the front door and set Ellie on the trunk of my car that Benny and Warren come spilling out the front door. As they pull her into a group hug between them, she holds them tight, but her eyes find mine.

“Everything is going to all right,” she murmurs. “We are all going to be all right.”

Yes, little Ellie, all five of us will be just fine.