by Jane Henry
“God, Tess,” he said, and it seemed he was trying to quell his anger. “You’re not psycho, honey. You’re hurting.”
And with that one sentence, spoken in his matter-of-fact voice, with his eyes so full of sympathy and understanding, she knew that she’d been wrong about what she’d seen at the fair. Reason flooded in to replace the doubt. They’d been in a public place, after all, with Paul and some other guy standing right there. She’d allowed her own self-doubt and fears to color what she’d seen with Tony and Val. Would Tony be here right now, holding her this way, if he didn’t care?
“I saw you with Val,” she admitted quietly. “I saw you kiss her, and I was so mad. But I was wrong.”
His voice was low when he spoke. “That’s what all this was about? And then you heard what your mom said and you were already upset with me?”
She nodded wordlessly. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “Yes. And then… I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was so… wound up, and hurt, and angry. For so long I’ve been afraid you’d see who I really was, and you’d hate me. You’d push me away. I’d be too weird for you, too fucked up, and I’d never measure up as the good, normal girl you want.”
He exhaled. She felt his hands on her chin, lifting her face up. His eyes were fierce and determined, when she looked at him. She’d never seen him so serious.
“You know that’s all wrong, don’t you?” he asked. His low voice was stern and his eyes uncompromising.
“I do,” she whispered.
“Tessa,” he whispered, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “We’re all a little crazy. I come from a line of crazy Italians, including a grandmother everyone said was a witch.” She giggled, as he continued. “But I love your crazy, just like you love mine. Because I love you.”
A lump rose in her throat, but thankfully there was no need to talk, as he bent his head down and kissed her. She tasted the salt of her tears, as his hand reached back to her neck and held her close, both hands grasping her as his mouth claimed hers. When he released her, his eyes were determined.
“You know you can trust me?” he asked quietly.
“Of course. I do, Tony. I’m so sorry.”
He nodded. “And you know I love you?”
“I do,” she whispered, her eyes closing briefly before opening again.
“And you still want me to do be your dom?”
Hope surged in her heart as she nodded wordlessly. He gave one determined nod as his eyes sobered and his brows furrowed. His voice dropped. “And you know I told you I would give you a real spanking if you ever harmed yourself.”
Her stomach dropped, and her mouth grew dry, but she nodded nonetheless.
“But Nora,” she whispered. “We’re ordering Chinese!”
Just then, the doorbell rang, and they heard Nora’s feet thumping down the hall in response.
“Fine,” Tony said. “Chinese for my baby girl. Then the spanking she so richly deserves.”
Though Tess’s heart beat faster, she nodded again.
And then from down the hall came a terrifying scream.
* * *
“No word on Nora yet,” Matteo said, sliding his finger across the screen of his phone to disconnect his call. “Slay is on the case and called in markers with a couple of his buddies. But it looks like your mom’s boyfriend was on Salazar’s payroll.”
“Roger? On Salazar’s payroll?” Tess repeated. “Who is Salazar? What does that even mean, Matt?”
Tess could feel Tony’s fingers squeezing hers tightly, and that was the only thing keeping her from screaming the words into Matteo’s grim face, even though she knew he was doing the best he could. In fact, Tony’s presence next to her on the sofa had been the only thing keeping her from exploding into a million tiny shards for the past three hours, ever since she and Tony had heard Nora scream and had run from their bedroom to the living room to find the front door wide open and Nora… gone.
Through their frantic call to the police, Tony’s terse call to Matteo, who had arrived within minutes, and Tess’s multiple unanswered calls to her mother, Tony had stayed by her side. When the police officer informed her that there was little he could do officially given the lack of a parent or guardian to confirm that Nora was missing, and the fact that Nora was old enough to have possibly run away, Tony had wrapped his arms around her, literally and metaphorically keeping her together.
Matteo blew out a breath and answered her question. “When Tony called me earlier, the names he gave me sounded familiar. I called Slay, who called a buddy of his, and they did a little digging. Turns out the man your mother has been seeing is Roger Collier. He’s mostly been a low-level lowlife up to now—one arrest for selling stolen electronics back in 2010, one in 2014 for drug possession with intent to distribute. Looks like he was selling a small amount to an undercover agent in a Burger Barn parking lot when he was arrested. Both charges dropped on technicalities.”
“That’s low-level?” Hillary asked angrily from Tess’s other side. “Selling drugs?”
Matteo shrugged. “On the grand scale of crime? With murder and rape and kidnapping at the top of the ladder? Yeah, baby,” he said softly, “that’s pretty low-level.”
Alice, who had arrived only fifteen minutes ago, straight from the fair, and had already taken charge by disposing of the cold, uneaten Chinese food and preparing everyone coffee, emerged from the kitchen with a tray of cookies and napkins. “But no prior history of violent crime?” she asked, setting the tray on the table next to the coffee.
She noticed everyone’s attention on her and blushed. “I took a criminal psychology class in college,” she explained shyly.
Matteo nodded in understanding, but then shook his head at her question. “Nah, nothing in his record that’s violent. But then in the past year or so, our low-life criminal got ambitious.”
“Ambitious?” Tony asked, his voice harsh with worry.
Matt nodded. “Hooked up with a guy named Gonzalo Salazar, nickname Chalo…”
“That’s the guy who wanted Nora to kiss her!” Tess exclaimed.
Matt and Tony exchanged looks. Tess felt Tony nod minutely, as if granting permission for something, and then Matt spoke again.
“That doesn’t surprise me, honey. Chalo Salazar is known for his fondness for underage girls.”
Tess felt her stomach clench violently.
“Oh, God, Tony! This is all my fault! I should never have taunted my mother with the police. I should have seen how this…”
“Stop!” Tony told her. He squeezed her hand painfully tight for just a moment, just long enough for her to control the panic that threatened to overtake her, and catch her breath.
“Tess, if this was Salazar’s doing, he probably had this plan in mind the first time he laid eyes on your sister. This isn’t on you,” Matt told her, his eyes on his phone screen once more. “There was nothing you could do to prevent it. And it’s a damn good thing you kept your head and called us right away. Slay’s going to find her. You need to believe it.”
Tess took a deep breath and nodded.
“Heidi and Dom are on their way over,” Hillary announced, looking up from the text message on her own phone. She placed her hand on Tess’s knee and gave her an affectionate squeeze. “And they’ll stay as long as you need them to.”
“They don’t have to,” Tess protested.
“Of course they do,” Tony said sternly. “Just like you would for them. Family.”
Tess leaned her head on Tony’s shoulder. “Okay,” she agreed.
Despite her worry for Nora, she sent up a prayer of thanksgiving that Tony was there lending her his strength.
Tense moments passed while the five of them sat staring at their black phone screens, willing them to light up with new information.
What felt like hours later, Matteo’s did.
“Yeah?” Matteo said excitedly into the phone. “Who? Yeah, okay. But… Slay? Shit. Right. Done.”
As he talked,
Matteo stood and walked to the intercom panel by the door, then hit the button to open the door downstairs.
He disconnected the call and turned to look at them with a relieved smile.
“They got her.”
“Oh thank God. Thank God,” Tess said, nearly sobbing with relief. Tony wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head, being her rock during her happy tears just as he had been when she was half-crazy with worry, and just as she was starting to believe he might always be.
Seconds later, Matteo had thrown open the door, and there was Nora—looking extremely pissed off—along with a tall, muscular Hispanic man in his early twenties.
Nora’s pissed off expression evaporated when she saw Tess, and she launched herself across the room into her sister’s arms.
“Diego,” Matt said, striding forward to shake the man’s hand. “Man, I owe you.”
“Nah, you don’t owe me shit. She was in a storage facility over in North Bay,” Diego said, his watchful eyes on Nora. “Collier took her without authorization. Trying to make sure the girl didn’t talk. Chalo was, let’s say, unappreciative, of the amount of shit about to rain down on his head. I wouldn’t be surprised if Collier left town,” he said meaningfully. “Immediate, permanent relocation.”
Hillary winced. But as Tess hugged her sister, her eyes met Diego’s deep chocolate gaze. “Thank you,” she whispered to him. He lifted his chin in response.
“Don’t you thank him,” Nora protested, breaking away from Tess to glare at Diego. “He’s one of them. One of Roger’s friends!”
Diego’s eyes shuttered.
“Deny it!” she accused him. “You’re no better than they are. And worse. At least Roger never killed anyone!”
“Nora!” Tess cried, shocked at her sister’s attitude. Then, turning to Diego, she added in a placating tone. “I’m sorry, she’s obviously very upset.”
Matt opened his mouth to say something but Diego shook his head once, as though in warning, and Matt remained silent.
“Nora, Diego just saved your life,” Tony reminded her, his voice gentle but stern. “How about some gratitude?”
Nora’s eyes locked on Diego’s and her mouth remained defiantly closed.
Diego’s lips twitched. “You’re welcome anyway, Norita,” he said softly.
Nora turned away.
“Well, I’m grateful,” Tess said, shaking her head at her sister in confusion. “I don’t know how we can repay you!”
Diego shrugged, as if her gratitude made him uncomfortable. “It’s my job,” he said shortly, exchanging another quick glance with Matteo.
Nora snorted.
Tony narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, as though he wanted to reprimand her, but Alice interrupted.
“Um, is Slay with you?”
Diego’s eyes met Matteo’s again, and Matteo seemed to receive an unwritten communication, because his eyes widened in shock, then squeezed shut for a moment.
Damn these men and their silent language.
“Alex Slater was… shot,” Diego finally admitted.
“What?” Hillary cried.
“Shit,” Tony breathed.
“No,” Alice said softly, insistently. “No. That’s not right. You take me to him.”
Diego looked at Matteo again, and this time the helplessness in his gaze was easy to read.
“Alice, honey,” Matteo said, moving forward to put his arm around her shoulders.
Alice stepped away from him. “No, Matt. You take me to him. Someone take me to him. Now!”
Tess and Hillary exchanged a look. Neither of them had ever seen Alice so fired up and insistent.
“All right, then,” Matt soothed. “That’s what we’ll do.” His eyes sought Hillary’s and he jerked his head toward the door. Hillary immediately rose to leave.
“Tell him I said thank you,” Nora told Matteo, who frowned but nodded.
And then they left, leaving Tess holding her sister, and Tony’s strong arms wrapped around both of them. A few hours ago, she’d thought she’d lost everything. But at this moment, she realized she had everything that really mattered.
* * *
Later on, once Nora had been tucked into bed and they’d heard from Matteo at the hospital to say Slay’s condition had stabilized, Tony led Tess back down the hall to their bedroom, and undressed her swiftly. The room was dark but for the light of the street lamps that filtered in through the drawn curtains.
“I love you,” he told her.
Tess smiled. She knew it. He’d proven it. Thank God Tony had been there to help carry her burdens, not because she wasn’t capable of carrying them herself, but because it helped so much to know that she didn’t have to.
“I love you, too,” she said, loving the way his answering smile flashed in the gloom.
“I know you’re tired, baby. I know this day has been a roller coaster for you. But do you remember where we were before all of this shit unfolded?”
She nodded. They’d had a disagreement, and she’d disobeyed him.
He pushed her hair off her face with one large hand, and led her over to the bed. He sat down, and pulled her to stand between his spread knees.
“Part of me wants to let you go to bed right now, and forget any of that ever happened. But the other part of me knows that we need to finish what we started. We need to make things right between us.”
Tess’s eyes sought his in the near-darkness. If she’d learned nothing else that day, it was that pushing things under the rug and refusing to deal with them didn’t make them go away, it only made them fester beneath the surface. She would face him now, and do whatever he told her. She would let him make it right.
She straddled his lap, telling him without words that she agreed.
But when she was seated, he didn’t immediately pull her over his lap to punish her. Instead, his eyes sought the superficial wound she’d given herself on her leg, thankfully no more than a scratch.
“Sit on the bed,” he instructed. He moved her off him and walked out of the room. He returned with a washcloth and a small first aid kit, kneeling in front of her. He lifted her leg and gently dabbed the warm, dampened edge of the wash cloth on her cut. It stung, but the warmth of it was soothing. He took the dry end and patted it dry, frowning as he concentrated on getting it just right. Her heart constricted at his tender touch, as he placed a tiny drop of antibiotic on her cut before affixing a Band-Aid. When he was done, he tossed the cloth into the hamper, and turning to her, lifted her leg to his lips, kissing the sore spot.
His eyes met hers and his voice was as serious as she’d ever heard when he spoke.
“You will never do that again.”
She couldn’t trust herself to speak, merely nodded. He released her and stood.
“Stand, please,” he said. She obeyed.
“Place your hands behind your head.” She obeyed. He sat on the bed, his hands on her hips as he spun her around to face him. Swiftly, he pulled down her shorts, leaving her bare, shaking, standing before him.
“Step out of them.” She did what he asked. His hands grasped her waist and he tugged her over his lap. Her belly hit his hard thighs so that she was angled, her face on the bed and her bottom perched precariously over his knee. He reached for her hand and pinned it to her lower back, as his fingers entwined with hers. The gesture was soothing, though the loss of control made her heart stutter.
“Why am I giving you a spanking, Tessa?” he asked in a low, stern voice.
“Because I cut myself,” she whispered, shutting her eyes.
“After I’ve spanked you, we will have a good, long talk about what we’re going to do to help you. Ways I can help you when I’m here and ways you can help yourself when I’m not. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” It felt nice to call him “sir,” a reminder that she obeyed him and he loved her enough to take care of her in the ways she craved.
“I’m going to spank you until I think I’ve made my point.” She f
elt his large hand squeeze her bare bottom. She squirmed a bit over his knee, nodding into the blanket before she felt the first sharp crack of his hand.
After that, he said very little, and she was grateful he didn’t. She focused on the feeling she got as his hand descended, pausing several seconds between each hard, searing swat. Pain scattered across her naked skin as he continued spanking her, one stroke after another. After a few swats, he massaged her red-hot skin before resuming again, this time a little harder and faster. She couldn’t keep count, but only focused on staying over his knee, as little by little he stripped her of the layers of emotions. All she could focus on was lying across his lap. The second time he paused, rubbing her sore bottom, he began to lecture.
“I don’t ever want to have to do this again, not like this, and not for this reason,” he said, before delivering the hardest swat he’d ever given her. “You’re beautiful. You’re strong. You’re resilient.” He raised his hand, punctuating each word with a stinging stroke of his palm. “And you. Are. Mine.”
A sob rent through her then, at the knowledge that she was his and he loved her, and he didn’t love some fake Tessa he didn’t know, but the real woman, the wounded woman who was strong, and capable, who worked hard and loved deeply and would face her struggles head on. He loved her, the crazy and the silly, the sexy and the smart. He loved everything about her but they would make it work, because they were worth it.
He gave her two more stinging swats. And then he was done spanking her. He quickly divested her of what little clothing remained. He had her flat on her back on the bed as she cried, and his mouth met hers.
“I love you, Tessa,” he whispered, his hands frantically reaching for the edge of his t-shirt and yanking it up over his head. She felt light, then, as if all that weighed her down had been lifted. She was here, alone, with the man who knew her and loved her anyway, and she loved him back. Her hands went to his waist at the same time his did. Laughing, they fumbled together until they were both bared to one another. He nestled down on her, holding his weight up just enough so that he didn’t harm her, but she still felt every inch of him on her as his knee spread her legs and he entered her.
