Soul of Freeman. 3rd Book of the Freeman Series.

Chapter 9

Allie still had her phone on her hand when Chris wrapped his large hand around her neck. Her heart beat faster as she whined. She glanced at her phone and swung her hand up behind her head, poking the crazy man in his eye with it.He roared and weakened his grip, but he still managed to hang on to her. So she smashed his shin with the heel of her shoe and she was free from his arms.

She pushed through the stall and out of the bathroom screaming. Her neck was marked with a red hand print.

"Mrs. Freeman!" Lolek came to her aid.

The bystanders soon formed a crowd around them.

"There was a man inside. He attacked me," Allie pointed at the restroom.

Bolek lifted the side of his fishing shirt, unholstered his handgun, and barged into the women's bathroom. By the time he kicked the stall open, Chris was already gone.

***

Dean passed two police officers as he hurried down the grocery store. He yanked off his smothering tie and threw it on the floor. He saw Allie speaking to another person, but he didn't care. He pushed through her bodyguards and jumped on his wife.

 "Sweetheart," he closed her eyes and smelled her hair.

 Allie had her arms up in surprise. Her eyes scanned the crowd. No one had hugged her or comforted her or worried about her the way her husband had. Even after the police arrived she never felt as safe as she did when she saw him.

 She brought her arms together between their bodies and he squeezed her tightly. As she rested on his chest, they felt flashes of light. A reporter was taking pictures of them.

 "Ugh, they found us," Dean whispered.

 "Dean," she looked up at him.

 "Yes, Sweetheart?" He almost touched her lips.

 "About that date tonight, the answer's yes."

 He brushed her hair back, wanting to kiss her, but he smiled instead.

***

"You boys gonna be okay?" Allie placed her hand on her stomach.

 Daniel gave her a quick 'yes' while he and Egg rolled all over the apartment's living room.

 "Let's teach Egg how to fight now," Andrew ignored his mother. In his defense, Allie had been asking the same question for the last hour.

 Kathy sat at the table shaking her head with a smile. She watched her daughter-in-law tuck in her stomach and snap on a necklace then pull it off her neck.

 "You look stunning," she stood up and held Allie's hands.

 "Gosh, do I look nervous?" Allie looked down at her sleeveless red dress. "I think this dress is too short."

 "You'll be just fine. It's cute seeing you like this though."

 "I hope Dean doesn't think I'm being weird. Today, at the grocery store I told myself, 'are you kidding?' 'He gave you a kidney,' 'how can you stay mad at him for a second?'"

 "That's lovely. Does that mean you wanna get back together?"

 "It means I want to rebuild."

 "Dad's here." Andrew opened the door to a flower bouquet of sunflowers.

 Egg made a friendly bark and placed his paws on Dean's hip.

 "Don't get too excited," Dean spoke to the dog while checking for scratches on his new jeans. "These aren't for you. These are for the lady."

 He observed the details of Allie's dress in awe. The fabric fell around her mid-thigh gracefully and immediately made his heart beat faster.

 "For the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life," he corrected himself.

 Allie received the sunflowers with rosy cheeks.

 The boys hid their necks under their shoulders, wanting to start ooing and aweing, but their grandmother shook her head and winked at them.

***

"Thank you for opening the car door for me," Allie walked through the Rudy's entrance as Dean held the door opened for her.

 "I hope this place is okay for our first date. I know you don't like it if it's too fancy," he replied.

 "It's great." Allie observed the rough details in the wooden columns of the country style ambiance. She smiled at the children who sat at a long table and at the couple that held hands while they fed each other banana pudding.

 Then, by a lone empty table a bald man stood, glaring at her.

 "Dean," she whispered at her husband.

 Dean glanced at her then at the table but the man was gone.

 "Chris was right there."

 "I know, I saw him, too. Do you wanna leave?"

 "No, I want to let him know that I'm not intimidated by him. If Grayson sent him, I don't want to show fear."

 "Good," Dean placed his hand on her lower back and guided her to the cashier counter.

***

Allie held the food in her mouth as she tried not to laugh harder.

 "Do you know how many times Gloria entered the office calling me Mrs. Freeman?" Dean cackled beside her.

 "Why haven't you said anything to her?" Allie coughed while she tapped on her chest.

 "It's hilarious. Watch, I'm gonna buy a brown wig with curly hair and wear it to work on Friday."

 "I bet you she's praying that I go back to work on Monday." She bit on her brisket sandwich and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin.

 Dean stared at his food and kept a half smile on his face.

 "Why so quiet all of a sudden?" She frowned.

 "This song," he pointed up at the ceiling.

 "Uh, it's kind of loud." She attempted to listen through the loud noises of the dining crowd. It was a country song. "The tune sounds familiar."

 Dean smiled again and sang along with it.

"You were the first one to make me feel this way,

The other girls were just a game,

But not you, baby.

'Cause now I know, now I know,

Making love is not the same as a night of heated passion."

Allie straightened her spine. She turned her back to her husband and ran out of the restaurant.

Dean stood still for a moment, wondering what he had done this time. The meat wasn't spoiled. If she needed to throw up she would've gone to the bathroom.

"Fuck." He'd done something that made her angry.

***

Allie was sitting on the hood of Dean's car wiping her cheeks on her wrists. The distant restaurant lights illuminated the parking lot. She was glad Dean had parked way at the back, so that she could avoid most human beings.

Not a minute passed and Dean was already jogging between cars toward her.

"Okay, before I ask what I did, I'm really sorry. I didn't realize I was being an asshole. Was I being an asshole?"

The girl laughed with tears still in her eyes.

"Uh," he frowned. "Now I don't know if you're sad or happy."

Allie jumped off the hood and buried her face on his chest.

"I didn't want to look stupid crying in front of other people. Dean, I haven't heard that song in such a long time, I didn't know how much it meant to me. In those three months before the doctors told me you died..." She shut her eyelids tightly and hugged him. She sobbed for a moment and continued as he kissed her forehead. "You taught me about real love. You treated me like a princess even though I didn't think I deserved that. The night we listened to that song, you undressed me and touched me as if it was the first time. Then you proved to me that making love was not the same as having s*x. I want to be that happy again."

Dean lifted her jaw and kissed her tears down her cheek until he got to the corner of her mouth, where he breathed warm breath into her and brushed her lower lip lightly. He parted his lips and she received them in desperation. Melting in his arms felt natural as if they never should've been apart.

She lifted one leg and positioned it around his hip. His hand automatically went for her buttocks and introduced his fingers under her panties.

"Sweetheart," he said between kisses, "it's so hard to be a gentleman when I know you're so wet."

"Make love to me, babe."

"Let's rent a hotel," Dean pulled her waist toward the car.

Allie opened the back seat door and went inside. "Make me come, right here."

"Agh, fuck." His hand held onto the imminent hard on that grew inside his pants. He watched the parking lot area for other people and dived into the car.

"I love you," he sucked on her upper lip and gathered the fabric of her dress.

"I love you, too." She pulled her sleeveless top down, uncovering her breasts. Her hands reached for his belt, then the zipper of his pants.

In one movement, he snatched off her panties and spread her knees apart. The pink swollen area between her legs excreted inviting juices. He didn't even ask as he lowered his head and began to suck on her bud.

"You're so good at this," she moaned and dropped her head back as she played with her dress.

He savored her womanhood more than he had the brisket. She was his dessert. His rod stiffened as he smelled her erotic scent.

Allie kept her eyes wide opened as the tip of his tongue caressed her petals then drew circles around her entrance.

"Oh yes," she moaned at the smooching sound of her fluids sticking and rubbing against his tastebuds.

Dean pulled his pants down to his knees and raised his head. He guided his tower on top of her when he glanced outside.

Chris lifted a bat with both hands and smashed it against the glass.

Allie's moan turned into a scream. Dean shielded her face from the broken glass although the window had mostly cracked. He pulled up his pants and jumped into the driver's seat.

"Mother fucker, where is she?" Chris bashed the driver's window and pulled on the door handle.