When it finally passed, she realized everyone including Gabriel, was staring at her. "What?" Her cheeks reddened.
"Either you find Gabriel's dick fascinating or..." Caelan cocked his head in concern.
"Or she's using Gabe's belt buckle as a focus object," Kalinda interjected. Holding her hand out to Gabriel, she wiggled her fingers in a ‘give it here’ motion. "Cough it up, Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected."
Gabriel's expression eased, and he reached for his belt, unbuckling it before sliding it free of its loops. Kneeling down in front of Zhenya, he placed it in her hands, his gaze steady. "We're warm and comfortable here. Eventually the emergency crews will get to us. If not? Between the five us, we'll deliver your baby if it comes to that." He held the belt between their hands. "The only thing you need to worry about is having a beautiful little baby. Not about traipsing through the wind, freezing ice/sleet crap and darkness. I'd die if another woman died on my watch, Zhenya. Stay with us, with me...where it's safe."
Glancing around the room, she saw her friends, no her family's worried expressions. "Like I'd make it past you three big bad Doms, even if I did manage to give Nisey and Kalinda the slip." She lifted a hand and gently brushed his cheek, ignoring the way he shied away from her touch. "I'll stay, as long as you’re the one to deliver Sophie, if it comes down to that."
He nodded solemnly. "Of course."
Chapter Three
“I see the head, you’re doing good, louloúdi mou.” Wiping his forearm across his brow, Gabriel ignored the stiff muscles in his lower back. He’d been doubled over for too long obviously, and Lord knew he wasn’t getting any younger, but if Zhenya could bear the agony of childbirth without screaming the house down, well then he could deal with a few stiff muscles. Kneeling between her elevated legs as she lay on top of the sturdy banquet table, he only had to glance down between her thighs to realize he was vastly unqualified to deliver her baby. The mess between her thighs was something a lesser man would’ve been unable to stomach.
“Good…now you need to get ready for a spray of fluids, Gabriel, as the head breaches the canal. It’s normal. Do you have the clean towels at hand? Because once this happens, the rest of the body should come quickly.” Randi, the OB nurse who spoke over the speaker function on Caelan’s cell, had been a godsend. Working in conjunction with the police department and the hospital, she’d been the person they had connected him to when Zhenya had gone from just being merely uncomfortable to having contractions every five minutes in less than half an hour after her water had broken. Long labor, my ass.
Then to complicate matters, the downed traffic lights which had caused the road blockage on the east side of his restaurant had been compounded by a huge traffic accident on the west side. So in essence Pínaka ti̱s Mi̱téras was blocked off on both ends with the weather getting worse by the minute as the freezing rain turned into ice. So it was either deliver the baby himself or tie Zhenya’s legs together until help could come. He had a feeling the latter would’ve gotten him decked if he even suggested it, let alone tried it. Placing a hand on her distended stomach, he tried to comfort her as a whimper escaped her. “You’re doing a great job. It’ll be over soon, Zhenya.
“God…I hope so…I’m so ready for this…to be…over...” Panting between contractions, Zhenya clung to Kalinda’s hand who stood on her right and Nisey’s who stood on the left. The two women had been amazing in keeping her calm and focused.
“So am I. Now on the next contraction you need to give me a good push.” He repeated the mantra he’d been saying for the past twenty minutes. As a Dom, he didn’t do true pain, so this was nothing more than outside his comfort zone. Now on the other hand, Zhenya tied open as he ran an ice cube or better yet dripped candle wax over her inner thighs…well that was another story all together. As she groaned, he jerked back. This wasn’t the time to entertain those types of thoughts. For fuck sakes, she was giving birth and he’d packed his heart away.
“Ahhh…” Gripping the girls’ hands Zhenya strained forward, while being supported by Caelan who was kneeling behind her, bracketing her body with his splayed thighs.
“Good girl…” Gabriel murmured, just before he got splattered. His nose wrinkled. He’d been warned by the nurse. He just hadn’t thought it would like this. It was almost as if someone had turned the kitchen sprayer on him. Then he remembered what the nurse said as the baby started to slip out. “Shit.” Shoving his hand under the slippery head, he tried to hang onto the baby as the rest of the squirming body slipped free. Turning it over, he gazed down at the red-faced infant. Even covered in goo she was a cute little nubbin, her dainty little nose reminiscent of her mother.
“Has the head breached, Gabriel?” Randi’s voice remained calm, even in light of Gabriel’s outburst.
“More than just the head, Randi. The whole little package. Impatient little cuss just like her mother…” He reached for another towel and awkwardly tried to clean the baby’s face off. Dark gray eyes stared up at him raptly and he felt a softening in his heart. The awe of seeing a baby draw her first breath was soul-shattering. Obviously however, she didn’t agree because a moment later, her face wrinkled up and there was a lusty cry, as the little girl screamed her unhappiness at the world in general.
“Obviously so.” Randi chuckled. “That sometimes happens. Did you say you had leather sheers there?”
Gabriel nodded, then remembered she couldn’t see him. “Yes, but didn’t you tell me we weren’t going to cut the cord? ”
“Yes, I did but I was just given a message the fire truck and one of the ambulances responding to the accident on the west end of Jackson Street, was just hit by another motorist causing a ten car pile-up, and they’re no closer to fixing the downed traffic lights. I don’t see help getting there anytime soon, and I don’t feel comfortable in keeping the placenta attached to the baby for that long.”
Fuck…would this ever end? All he wanted to do was escape the building emotions rising in his chest. And to do that I need to distance myself from Zhenya and her daughter. “All right. So what do I need to do?”
“Well, first we need Zhenya to deliver it – it being the placenta. It’ll be similar to pushing the baby out. But before that’s done I need you to sterilize the sheers. Three to five minutes in boiling water should do the trick. Do you have something to use for binding? A shoelace, or any kind of cotton cord which can also be sterilized?”
His brain whirled. “Kitchen twine. We use twine to prepare some of our meat dishes and it’s made out of cotton. Would that work?”
“Yes, excellent. We’ll need two ten inch lengths.”
He looked up at an ‘obviously green around the gills’ Josh. Deciding it might be best to distract the other man, he asked him to go to the kitchen to get the needed items. “Go tell the chef you need him to cut two ten inch pieces of our regular cotton twine and boil them and these shears for me, A.S.A.P.”
A grateful look crossed Josh’s face before he scurried from the room. Next to Zhenya, Kalinda sighed. “You’d think the man would have an iron cast stomach after dealing with the lifestyle.”
Gabriel chuckled. “There’s a difference between whipping a willing submissive and watching another grown man get sprayed with bloody water and mucus.”
“I couldn’t have put it better, Gabriel…” Randi said, reminding him she could hear everything over the phone. “Once Mr. Joshua comes back with the twine, what we’re going to do is tie one piece of it about four inches from the baby’s belly, and then tie the other piece two to three inches further down. After they’re in place and the cord has stopped pulsating…I’ll have you cut the cord with the shears. Then place the placenta in a plastic grocery bag for the attending doctor.”
“Plastic bag, got it. Wait…what do you mean…pulsating?” All he could imagine was something out of a horror movie.
“The umbilical cord is like a highway,” Randi was quick to explain. “It’s how oxygen and nutrients flowed from mom to baby. Th
e twine will cut off the blood supply, once it does- it’s safe to cut. Don’t worry about hurting Mom or the baby. Neither can feel it.”
He heaved a sigh of relief. “Good.”
“Now, Ms. Zhenya, you’re going to feel something similar to a contraction. On your next one, I want you to push gently. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sir.” Even as Zhenya spoke, her eyes met his. The trust within them had him wanting to shake his head in denial. She couldn’t trust him. He hadn’t protected Sara. Because most days he’d let her take the deposit to the bank by herself, both she and their unborn baby had died. Then her honorific registered. Her soft reply somehow struck too close to home. It reminded him of Sara. Pushing thoughts of her memory away, however, he got down to the unpleasant task of getting rid of the placenta. As soon as this was taken care of, he was going to go find a stiff drink and some solitude. He wasn’t ready to let a pair of petite brunettes into his life and chance getting hurt again.
* * * *
“She’s beautiful, Zhenya.” Gabriel hovered next to the chair where Zhenya was holding Sophia and nursing her daughter. Even though he couldn’t recognize it himself, he had such a look of longing on his face, Zhenya was ready to offer herself and little Sophia up to him. But he’s not ready for that now, and I doubt he’ll ever be if the quick looks he keeps giving the doorway are any indication.
“Thank you, Master Gabriel.” She soothed her finger down her daughter’s soft cheek as the little rosebud mouth suckled at her, before looking up at him. It would be best to keep this as non-threatening as possible. “Which is why I’m going to name her after you…”
He shifted uncomfortably, glancing at the open door once more, his promise to not leave her alone the only thing keeping him in the room. He wouldn’t leave her and Sophia alone, while the rest of the group were out of the room.
“That’s not necessary, Ms. Addi…I didn’t do anything any other man wouldn’t have done. Besides it’d be a crime to hang Gabriel on such a pretty little girl.”
She sighed, as she pulled the baby free of her breast. The Ms. Addi had come back out shortly after she given birth. It was as if the man was gone and a stranger stood in his place. “If the man was one as generous as you, I’d think the child would be honored.” Gently sitting Sophia up, she rubbed her daughter’s back. “Which is why she is going to be named after the man who was nice enough to aid her mother in her time of need, even if he didn’t want to.”
“So what are we naming the new rugrat?” Josh asked as he and Caelan reentered the room, carrying huge trays of food, while Nisey and Kalinda followed behind them with pitchers of soda and beer. It was one of the few nice things about having her daughter in one of the private rooms of Pínaka ti̱s Mi̱téras. It guaranteed absolutely delicious food, along with a front row seat to one of the most intriguing men she’d met in sometime.
“Sophia Gabrielle,” Zhenya said smoothly, as she shifted her hold on her daughter, tucking Sophia closer to her body. Damn, what I wouldn’t give for a nice rocker or better yet a bed…
“How about Sophia Marie…” Gabriel countered, his arms crossing his massive chest.
“No.” Zhenya rubbed a bit harder, coaxing a loud burp out of her daughter. “It’ll be Sophia Gabrielle. I’m her mother and if I want her to carry your name, she will.” She glared up at him. “And you, Sir, have no say in it. You’re not my Dom, my husband, or my brother.” She tugged the side of her blouse over her exposed chest, as he growled and left the room.
There was a sudden awkward silence and the surprised looks on the men in the room had her scowling. “What?” She was suddenly pissed at the whole situation. They were circling the wagons around Gabriel, and frankly as far as she was concerned, he needed one of those interventions she saw on cable television. His refusal to move on wasn’t healthy. “Am I not allowed to have a mind of my own? Or is it the fact I dared talk back to one of your fellow Doms?”
A giggle escaped Nisey and Kalinda snickered, as both men sighed before setting down the trays. Caelan walked over and pressed a kiss across her forehead.
“Nope, not at all. I want you to use that brain, or you’ll find yourself over my knee. Remember?” He brushed a light kiss over the crown of Sophia’s head. “Now I’m going to go see if I can unruffle a certain restaurant owner’s feathers. Have Nisey bring you something to drink and perhaps something light to nibble on.”
He sauntered out of the room, followed by Josh. She rolled her eyes. “And they say we travel in packs.”
After pouring a glass of milk for Zhenya, Nisey carried it over to her. “But I don’t blame you at all, Zhenya. Sophia Gabrielle is a beautiful name. Máister and I would have words if I had my heart set on a name and he refused me.”
Kalinda joined them. “So don’t let that old grumpy bear change your mind. He needs to go get laid or something. Perhaps a long session at the club would help his moody ass. I know an hour or two with a flogger does the trick for me.”
Zhenya looked back and forth between the two women and then to the open door. If she’d dare ever speak of Ossie that way, even if he wasn’t in the room, it would’ve still gotten back to him, and she’d have been walking around with a sore bottom and feeling about the size of Thumbelina. She wasn’t sure what was worse: the pain of punishment or the guilt associated with it. She nibbled on her lower lip. “Are you sure you’re submissives? Aren’t you afraid your masters will hear you?”
Nisey rolled her eyes. “And what will they do? Spank us?”
Kalinda giggled as she handed her a small plate with some cheese and crackers on it. “As if that wasn’t what we wanted in the first place.”
Zhenya smiled but inside she shivered. Pain wasn’t something she’d ever wanted as a submissive. She’d wanted to serve, to please her Dom with not only her body, but her total submission to him as well. And my luck of finding a Dom who will agree to that is slim. It seems as if every Dom I’ve run across has taken pleasure in the idea of a woman writhing under their palm. And now that I have Sophia, the chance of a Dom wanting the same as I do went from slim to none. Cuddling her daughter close, she suddenly wished she was anywhere but here.
Chapter Four
“Damn, I didn’t realize how much I missed this.” Kalinda leaned back against the booth in the food court at the Atruim Mall. It’d been nearly two weeks since Zhenya had given birth inside of Pínaka ti̱s Mi̱téras and she’d been going stir crazy inside her apartment.
Nisey nodded, sipping on her milkshake as she watched the mall walkers. “Oh yes. I’ll have to agree. I’ve been so busy at the shop, I haven’t had time to do much more than breathe, eat, sleep and help Caelan with his classes at the club.”
“So is that where he is right now? I’m surprised he let you out of his sight, now that you’re expecting.” Zhenya picked up a french fry, dragged it through the ranch dressing on her plate before popping it in her mouth. Next to her, in her baby stroller, Sophia slept on. The little girl was such a sweetheart.
Nisey colored and toyed with her napkin. “Actually he went over to get Gabriel. I guess they’re having some type of intervention for him at the club. Besides Caelan doesn’t know yet…”
“Nisey!” Kalinda wailed loudly, drawing the attention of several bystanders. “I thought you were going to tell him.”
Nisey shrugged. “I was going to the other night. I made his favorite meal, dressed up in the kimono he got for me in Japan. Then I chickened out.”
“What do you mean you chickened out?”
Nisey colored. “Well he caught one glimpse of me in nothing but my kimono and his collar, and he ordered me to the playroom…” Her checks grew even redder. “And I couldn’t disobey a direct order. Besides I don’t know even know if I am or not. I haven’t even taken the pregnancy test yet, just missed my period…”
Kalinda glared at her. “Do you think that’s honestly going to sway my brother when he finds out you suspected and didn’t say anything?”
Nisey closed her eyes and shook her head. “No, but I’m not ready to give up the ropes yet…”
Her mention of her love affair with bondage didn’t seem to make sense to Zhenya.
“How many times do I have to tell you, girl. Just because you’re preggo doesn’t mean you have to give up playing. Hell, I played up until my seven month with the twins. Your Dom just has to take precautions. We both know my brother would be on the top of the world if you made him a father.” Kalinda put her hand on Nisey’s arm, as she reminded her friend of what Zhenya knew to be the truth. Ever since she’d had Sophia, Caelan had been dropping subtle hints to Nisey about perhaps starting their own family. And if the noises coming from Caelan’s dungeon in the basement are any indication, he’s doing his best to get her that way.
“Besides how guilty do you think Caelan would feel if you accidentally got hurt during the scene because you didn’t tell him about his son or daughter?” Kalinda drummed her fingers on the table.
Nisey set her drink down. “Point taken. I’ll tell him tonight after our demonstration….”
“After?” Kalinda gave her a pointed look. “Try again, Nisey. If he hasn’t noticed you not having a period in almost two months, he’s bound to notice how swollen your breasts are…especially when Hark mentions it to him.”
Nisey groaned. “I forgot all about Hark. Dammit, it’s just my luck that Native American switch decided to come out of his self-imposed exile to attend our demonstrations. I can’t actually believe he’s coming down from Zion every week to watch Caelan tie me up.”
“And that’s a problem?” Zhenya asked.
“Damn straight, he sees everything. I swear the man has eyes of a hawk.”
Kalinda nodded. “With his heritage, I suspect so. Did he ever tell you which tribe he was from?”
Gabriel's Light (Doms of Chicago) Page 3
