Bad Dad

by Sloane Howell

  “You have to decide if you’re in or out.”

  She glared at me. “I’m pretty sure I heard him out there. I’m in this no matter what.”

  I shook my head. “No, you have a choice. I can get you out of it. Make sure you’re left alone. I can broker a deal. You don’t know anything more than a name. I can talk to them, arrange a polygraph. There are ways for you to get out of this, if you want. I’m not telling you anything else until you make a decision.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  I stared out the window. “I want you safe. I was reckless.” I turned back, and the tears formed in her eyes again.

  “You regret this?” She waved a finger between us.

  I shook my head. “Of course not. I should’ve never let it happen. But I’d never regret that it did.” I pulled her into a hug. “Ever. I need you to believe that.”

  “You never lied to me?”

  I exhaled a long breath. “I never lied to you. I dodged questions. I withheld information, for obvious reasons. But I never lied.”

  “So, what should I do?”

  I didn’t want to make the decision for her, but I would if she couldn’t do it. Her safety would always be priority number one for me, whether it hurt or not. “I’ll get you out.” It wasn’t what I wanted. It was what was best. It would have been nice to have some kind of romance fantasy where Cora and I sailed off into the sunset, but we were dealing with reality.

  She nodded. “O-okay. I guess I want out then.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Cora Chapman

  THREE DAYS HAD PASSED. NO calls. Landon didn’t have a cell phone, so it wasn’t really a surprise. But no visits.

  I’d called in sick to work two days in a row. The first time I’d ever lied to my boss. But I was sick with worry. I couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Afraid to go outside. The one time I took out my trash, to try and be productive, I sprinted it to the curb and thought I might have a panic attack. I left the television on non-stop. Silence only sent my thoughts deeper into a labyrinth of worry and self-doubt. The quiet house amplified every noise and I’d jump every time the heater kicked on or the joists would creak.

  I cried.

  It was humiliating. I hated crying.

  But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t realize how much I liked Landon until he wasn’t around anymore. It wasn’t just him either. I missed Janet. I missed Logan. You can get really close to people, even over a short period of time.

  I knew he was keeping his distance to try and protect me. My mind was a bitch, though. She told me it was because he didn’t want me. I wasn’t all that important. I was a quick stop along the road that was his life, nothing more. Just a quick vacation spot that he’d never return to. A single memory in a sea of memories.

  The worst part was I didn’t have anyone I could call. In my short time back, I hadn’t done anything except hang out with Landon. Landon’s family. Landon’s friends. It wasn’t because Landon wouldn’t have done things I wanted to do, either. If I’d said, “Hey, let’s go hang out with my friends,” or, “come meet my old buddies.” He would’ve jumped all over it. Landon was fearless in that respect.

  I grabbed a pen and a notebook and walked over to my table. My three-day-old sweatpants and me sat down and wrote. Hadn’t showered since I’d left his house, but I wrote and wrote. Once I started I couldn’t stop. I had to get it out. Everything.

  I’d never analyzed my life before. I wrote down facts. Things that had happened, not my biased opinions or excuses for why I did certain things. Just the facts.

  The more I wrote, the more I realized I wasn’t some strong, rebellious, independent woman. I wasn’t the woman I thought I was at all. I glared at the notebook and broke down in tears. I stared at it over and over and the fat teardrops exploded on the paper and blurred the ink when I saw my pattern.

  I hadn’t rebelled against my parents. I ran away from them. I ran away from home. I was afraid of the future. I hadn’t been independent in New York. I’d gone to college there. Earned my degree. My one crowning achievement. But college was a safe environment. It had no real consequences other than passing or failing. It was classes in a different building in a different state. I hadn’t dived out of a plane, rolled off Niagara Falls in a barrel, or climbed Everest—figuratively of course.

  Once I was thrust back out into the real world, things got hard again. I had to pay bills. Manage my money. Feed myself. I was responsible for a class full of students in a rough neighborhood. Many of the kids were raised by single mothers. I had to comfort them when they were forced to grow up faster than a kid should. It was hard. It weighed on me fast.

  I tucked tail and ran.

  I came back home, defeated. I borrowed money from my parents. I told myself all kinds of lies to rationalize what I’d done. Then I met Landon. I fell in love with his kid and then with him. He offered me a choice and I let him make the decision. Of course he’d choose to protect me. It wasn’t because he wanted to do it. I’d pawned it off on him. Landon knew how to make tough calls. He was brave. He was willing to sacrifice what he wanted to keep the people he loved safe.

  My dad should’ve named me Coward.

  I stood up and walked over to the mirror.

  Who was the person I stared at?

  That one moment was the true moment of clarity in my life. What were the facts?

  I loved Landon Lane.

  I loved Logan Lane.

  I loved Janet.

  I bailed when things got tough.

  Every. Single. Time.

  I shook my head at my reflection in the mirror. “No.” I yelled it again for emphasis. “No!”

  I wasn’t going to sabotage myself any longer. Wasn’t going to run away from happiness because I’d have to work for it, or it might be a tough road. I showered and put on some decent clothes as fast as I could. Stormed out to my car and flew out of the driveway.

  I’d never felt this way before—ever. I loved Landon Lane. I wanted to shout it to the world. I wasn’t running when things got hard anymore. He was going to know that I was in this thing, whether he wanted it or not. I was seizing the moment. I was taking control.

  And just like that, I was liberated from the chains.

  CHAPTER 15

  Landon Lane

  CORA’S PRIUS FISHTAILED UP THE driveway.

  I stood in the front yard and my jaw tensed—blood cooled. Everything focused. The first thought through my mind was that she was being chased. I sprinted farther out into the yard to get a better angle, but nobody followed her. Joe ran after me.

  She was so intense. Her eyes were zoned in on me from behind the wheel. My cock stirred in my shorts from the heat in her stare.

  Joe hammered me with another fist. “Pay attention, asshole!”

  “I am. Trust me.” The cold breeze whipped over my sweaty chest. My whole head jerked to the right when Joe crashed another fist into my jaw. Blood arced out in a parabola and splattered on the grass. Didn’t matter. I didn’t feel shit. All I felt was her.

  “Pointless.” Joe walked off.

  We’d beaten the hell out of each other for the better part of an hour.

  Joe was fast. He had me winded. He’d been training the last ten years. I’d been taking punches and had a lot of work to do.

  Despite all of that, the fight was the furthest thing from my thoughts at that moment. Four letters flashed across my mind like a scrolling advertisement.

  C-O-R-A.

  I hadn’t been able to steer my brain from her since she’d left the house. Had to force-feed myself every bite of food. Stared at my keys, constantly. But she’d made her choice. I had to respect her wishes. Keep her safe, far away from Edmon and all my demons.

  But why was she here? Something had to be wrong.

  She slammed on the brakes and it kicked up a cloud of dust in her wake. My need to protect her kicked into overdrive. I sprinted to the car so fast I wasn’t even sure she’d seen me. I yanked open the door and pu
lled her into me before she could step out. “Are you safe? Is someone following you?” I glared out toward the road. It was empty and silent. What the hell is going on?

  Her eyes glossed over and angled up to me. “I couldn’t stay away.”

  She’s not in danger. She’s back.

  Shocks of tingles surged through my limbs until I felt weightless.

  I gripped the back of her head and smashed my lips into hers, then reached down and lifted her up to me. Her thighs tightened around my waist. I couldn’t get enough of her, tried to breathe her in and wrapped her in my arms so tight she couldn’t escape again. My blood smeared all over her and she didn’t care. It was animalistic and delicious. Her hands were frantic—pawing, grabbing, searching for more. She writhed against me, like she couldn’t get close enough—strained like she had an itch that couldn’t be scratched. Her tongue was hungry, and I swallowed every ounce of pent up frustration, lust, and love that she had to offer. My hands gripped her ass and she moaned into my mouth.

  I sucked down her neck. It was salty and sweet. I tried to taste every inch of her soft flesh and growled into her ear. “Fuck, I missed you.”

  She put her hands on the side of my face and plowed her lips into mine again. I groaned as her tongue danced wickedly through my mouth. I nipped at her jawline and a moan caught low in her throat. Her fingers dug into my cheeks and she held my face out in front of her.

  Our lips finally parted long enough for me to get out three words. “I love you.”

  She bit my lower lip and growled with it in between her teeth. “I love you too.”

  It was primal and raw and true. I knew by the way her hips ground into me, and the way she held my face, and kissed me like she might die if she didn’t.

  “I wanted you to be safe.”

  She nodded against my mouth, refusing to let my lips get away from her. “I only feel safe with you.”

  My hand raked through her hair, and I licked along the shell of her ear. “You’ll always be safe. I can’t let you go again.” I pulled back and pierced her armor with my stare. Alleviated every fear in her mind with only my eyes. “I won’t.”

  Her hands were all over me, searching for every muscle, telling me to give her every secret. “I want to know—”

  I bit down on her collar bone and she gasped out the end of her sentence.

  “Everything.”

  I hauled her into the house. My feet couldn’t move fast enough.

  “Hey, what the—” Joe glared.

  “Take a break.” I blew past him with Cora latched around me.

  Logan was in school. Janet was away. Why wasn’t Cora at school? I wasn’t about to ask questions. Didn’t give a shit. I wanted her in my bed, beneath me, right then.

  We crashed through the front door and I carried her back to my room. I kicked the bedroom door and it broke off its hinges and slammed against the wall. Her eyes widened and then went half-hooded. Her pussy was hot on my stomach.

  “It was in my way.”

  She glanced down at my face and chest. “Oh my God, is this blood?”

  “Just a scratch.”

  She attacked me again. “I don’t give a shit.”

  I collapsed on top of her on the bed. She was so damn beautiful it hurt. I dipped down and sank my mouth onto hers. She writhed underneath me, hungry and needy.

  Our arms and legs were tangled in a heap of desire. Her breasts arched into me, rubbing and bucking for any extra bit of friction she could get between us.

  My mouth moved to her neck and I cupped one of her breasts in my hand. Pinched her nipple hard between my fingers.

  “Shit.” The word came out of her on an exhale. She grabbed my face and held it up in front of her. “I’ve never been with a man.”

  Something inside of me roared to life at her admission—the opportunity to be her first. “Really?”

  She nodded and bit her lip.

  I slanted my mouth over hers and never wanted to stop kissing her. My tongue worked along her neck. I sucked down her throat and then kissed back up to the shell of her ear.

  I flipped her tight red shirt up over her tits. They bounced lightly and then fell into place, high and firm. She hadn’t worn a bra and her nipples were light pink and hard. I sucked down on one of them and bit. She arched into me and a small yelp of approval caught in her throat.

  I stared up over her breasts as I kissed down her flat stomach.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and moaned. “God, that’s so good. Don’t stop.” She gripped a handful of my hair.

  I smiled like the devil against her flesh.

  She had on tight Levi’s and red Chucks with blue laces. I yanked each shoe off and then her pants. She lifted her ass from the bed and they slid right off.

  I pulled her panties down and slid them off one foot. She kicked them against the wall. It was sexy as hell. I stood from the bed and stared at her, marveled at her. She was the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Her legs spread. Showed me her pretty pink pussy with a thin landing strip of hair. The place no man had ever been. I’d be the first and the last.

  I dropped to my knees and her legs spread wider. I worked up her calf, to her inner thigh. Her legs tried to squeeze together but I held them apart with my hands while she squirmed against my grip in the best possible way.

  “I’m so close already.” Her hips tried to rise from the bed and I pinned them back down. I hadn’t even made it close to her pussy yet, and I could see her folds glistening. She was wet for me.

  My nostrils flared when I smelled how eager she was. I wanted to taste her. I wanted her to get off and come undone while she fucked my face. I licked up her inner thigh, bit down lightly on the soft tender flesh, and sucked her skin into my mouth hard enough to leave my mark. It made a pop sound when I released it from my teeth and she belted out a moan.

  Her hands worked through my hair. Fingers wild and uncontrolled and her nails dug into my scalp.

  “I’m going to fuck you with my mouth until you come all over my face.”

  “Oh my God.” Her head flew back into a pillow.

  Her fingers gripped my hair and she tried to pull me up to her.

  I resisted, only because watching her body beg for my tongue sent more blood rushing straight into my cock. I was so damn swollen and hard that it hurt, but it would be worth the wait.

  I traced a circle with my tongue around her entrance and felt the heat from her core against my cheek. She was so damn wet. I took my thumb and forefinger and spread her lips. The hood over her clit slid back and revealed a large, swollen bud. I flicked my tongue across it and she gasped.

  “Holy. Shit.”

  I growled against her pussy and the vibrations sent her hands flying back toward the sheets. I stroked her with my tongue, harder. And then harder. Until she was squirming against my mouth and her hands beat against the bedsheets, searching for anything she could grab hold of. I kept my head buried between her legs and stared hungrily over her mound where all she could see was my eyes. Then I flattened my tongue and licked her from just above her ass, the length of her seam, and all the way up to her clit, slow and deliberately as my tongue parted her folds. She’d sucked in a deep breath and her eyes locked onto mine the entire time.

  They rolled back into her head when I hit the magic spot. “Fuck, Land—”

  I swirled my tongue around her clit and she couldn’t finish her sentence. “Say my name when you come all over my mouth. While I fuck this pussy with my tongue.”

  Her hips bucked against my lips and I buried my tongue inside of her. I dipped in and out while I kept her thighs pinned to the bed. Felt every bit of energy building in her clit. She nodded furiously like it was time. Like she couldn’t hold out anymore.

  I clamped my lips down on her clit and worked my tongue back and forth over it—sucking, pulling, rolling.

  She planted her feet and rammed her hot pussy into my face, nothing but air between the mattress and her ass. She’d forced herself up
through my hold. I reached below and slapped both hands on her ass and curled her up to my mouth like I was doing a rep at the gym.

  “Landon. Landon!” Her whole body trembled, and her thighs quivered against my cheeks. Her legs wrapped around my head and I kept my mouth suckled to her clit, refusing to give her a second of reprieve while her orgasm rolled through her hips and I swallowed every ounce of electricity from her body. My name on her lips only spurred me on, and I sped my tongue up on her. Her whole body convulsed, and her legs went stiff as multiple waves filtered through her limbs. I rode it out with my hands cupping her ass. Kept her lifted to my face and pulled every ounce of pleasure from her with my mouth. It was heaven.

  After a few more jolts and shivers, her entire body relaxed, and a satisfied smile curled on the corners of her mouth. Her eyes slowly eased open and she stared at me like she was in another world.

  I lowered her ass back to the bed and stared down between her legs. Her pussy was darker pink now and swollen, almost like I’d bruised her with my mouth. Every primal urge in my body told me to claim her. Mark her as mine.

  I sat beneath her for a moment and licked my lips. Her wet pussy had coated my chin. Cora’s stare angled down at me. My greedy irises flicked back up at her, only the top half of my face visible, and I wiped away her wetness with my palm. I leaned back and drew my hand up to my mouth. Made a show of licking and sucking her from each one of my fingers like I’d just had her for a meal. “Fucking exquisite.”

  Her breath hitched, like I’d stolen the air right out of her lungs. I didn’t want to stop staring at her. I wanted to stay on my knees and worship her. She was strong and fierce. A woman with a powerful body and an even more powerful mind. Her breasts rose and fell with each huge breath she panted.

  I finally stood and leaned up over her. Her legs parted. Nothing separated us from joining but a layer of thin fabric. “You’re fucking perfect.” I yanked the elastic waist band of my shorts down my legs and my cock sprang to life. It bounced up and down when it released. Her mouth parted and her tongue poked between her teeth at the sight of it.