by Brair Lake
‘I - I’m sorry.’
Fuck, I want to grab hold of her. To hug her tight, and apologize for the way I’m treating her. For being a bastard. There has only ever been one other woman, and she had been more girl than woman, who could do to me, what Sugar Jay does to me. Fuck, I never want to feel that kind of pain again. My fingers reach over to stroke Sugar Jay’s flesh, and I welcome the warmth before burying it deep inside. ‘So am I - You’ll never know how sorry.’
Sugar Jay’s eyes shut as she gives a nod while leaning into my touch. Her flesh burns my palm, and a slow throb in the back of my neck begins. I know then, that it would be easy to take Sugar Jay to my room. And the compulsion to drag her up the stairs is back. Gray eyes stare at me as her tongue runs over her lip, and my head begins to dip. Then she steps back. Away from me. ‘What time.’
‘What.’ I blink. I’m in a sexual haze, and my dick aches.
‘What time are we leaving?’
I attempt to bank down my lust. This is my round, and I’ve won. Now there’s no need for a quick tumble. Sugar Jay is coming into my territory. I’ll have plenty of time to seduce her. To fuck her for a few months. I’ll also get to spend time with my son. My head lowers once more. My lips brush against her forehead. Yes, I can wait for her body. ‘Dawn. Apple-Pie will probably ride with you.’
‘I’ll like that.’
‘Sugar Jay.’ I grab her arm as she turns to leave. I can afford to be magnanimous. ‘Thank you.’ Her hair bounces as she nods.
‘Sugar Jay.’ I feel the sigh more than hear it. ‘As soon as it’s safe for you to return to Noir Valley. I’ll take you both back.’
‘Thanks.’
I stay where I am, watching her as she blends into the group of dancers in her search for Apple-Pie.
*******
‘I hope you know what you’re doing?’
I smirk as I turn to Tabby. ‘Did you know what you were doing when you chased after Rayven.’
Tabby’s amber eyes go in search of the woman in question. The small brunette is dancing with Quick Draw, her head flung back as she chuckles at something he is saying to her.
‘Fuck if I know what I’m doing now. But whatever it is, it must be working. She’s stayed with me so far.’
My gaze remains on the dancers. ‘I spoke to Bastian. He’s fully aware of my plans.’
Tabby’s Adam apple bobs as he swallows a large amount of beer. His eyes glinting as his gaze follows Sugar Jay. ‘Is that why she’s here?’
My head falls back as I laugh. ‘I’m not a god. I didn’t plan the floods. But I’m grateful they happened.’
‘Not many people will be saying that.’
I watch Tabby saunter off. A smile lingers on my lips. I have my ghosts to lay to rest. A past to clean up, and a future to make. A future I believed I would never have. My gaze unerringly finds Sugar Jay amongst the dancers. She’s trouble. She has been since our first meeting, and I don’t give a fuck.
*******
‘You need to be careful.’
I tear my gaze away from the second hand Ford to glare at Crabby’s empty face. His shoulders rolling as he pulls away from the wall. ‘Fuck, First Tabby asks if I know what I’m doing - Now you’re telling me to be careful. I do know how to handle women. Especially one like Sugar.’
Crabby’s laughter came from nowhere, and he uses his hand to wipe away the tears. My frown grows, especially when several sets of eyes turn towards us.
‘Want to share the joke.’
‘Nope. I’m only here for the ride.’
My gaze returns to Sugar Jay, my frown replaced with a smile as my cock twitches. ‘How much crap does a baby need?’
‘How much have you bought.’ As we turn towards the club, instead of answering Crabby, I release a chuckle which is more of a low rumble in my throat.
When I’d offered to help Sugar Jay with loading the car, she had chased me away, scowling at me. As she finishes loading, I head for the bar. That’s all she’s done since I asked her to return with me to Burntwood Creek.
I take a sizeable swallow of the cold beer Kitty hands over. Sugar Jay is back in my thoughts as my gaze roams over the room. Comfort Springs was my home for a long time. It was the one place where I felt I belonged. When Trax asked me to go on the road, and then to return to Burntwood Creek, I had hesitated. It hadn’t been an easy request to accept.
When he first asked, I had wondered if his reason for asking, was because he knew of my connection to the small town. It was only once we arrived, I had discovered his own connection. My smile deepens, it would seem, even if fate hadn’t brought me to Comfort Spring all those years ago, Trax and I were destined to meet.
The thought of my home town has me speculating if Sugar Jay would have come into my life. With a shake of my head, I rid myself of that notion. No, if things had turned out right for me. My life would have been different. My cock twitches, a clear indication that Sugar Jay is back in my thoughts, and I twist towards the bar to hide my growing erection. With everyone else she laughs, jokes and takes time to talk to them. With me, she either ignores or I find her scowling at me. That was going to end. With a firm slam, I place the empty beer bottle on the wooden counter and go in search of my son.
‘Charlie needs feeding.’
Sugar Jay, drops the last bag of baby stuff in the borrowed car, then slams the trunk lid down before turning her attention to Charlie and me. ‘I was on my way in. There was no need to bring him outside.’
‘He was fussing, Sugar.’
‘Of course he’s fussing. Between You, Tabby and Twiggy, he’s getting spoiled. It took me long enough to train Bastion not to molly coddle him.’
At the roll of her eyes, I chuckle Charlie under the chin before reluctantly handing him over to her. My smile grows as I watch her ass sway as I follow her into the kitchen.
‘You can leave now.’
Ignoring her, I close the door and lean against it, watching her as she sorts out Charlie’s bottle. ‘How come you never breast fed?’
Sugar Jay jerks up, her face burning. ‘Because I was never able to produce any milk.’
‘Oh - How come.’
‘Erm - I don’t think that’s any of your business.’
‘Sure it is- We’re…’
‘Here you feed Charlie. I’m going to find Apple-Pie.’
I blink as I find Charlie thrust in my arms and as the baby begins to squeal. I thrust my arms out to Sugar Jay. ‘Uh - You’re not going anywhere the boy wants his mother.’
Sugar Jay slams the door she just opened. Her gray eyes burning into me. ‘If you want to be a part of Charlie’s life. You can feed him.’
I settle into one of the chairs, tucking Charlie into my arms. My heart clenches as I watch my son sucking on his bottle. The gray eyes staring up at me, tug at my insides, and my stomach quivers. It always does when I’m in Charlie’s company. ‘I want us to be a family, Sugar Jay.’
‘That’s never going to happen.’
‘It can if we give it a go.’ I drag my gaze to Sugar Jay, who has come to stand beside me. Her gaze avoids mine. I crave to reach out. To hold her. There’s a sadness in her posture. A sadness I think I may be responsible for, and I want to be the one to take it away.
‘That boat’s sailed.’
‘What if we start off as friends. You’re going to be in Burntwood Creek for a while.’
‘You hurt me Sundance. You called me a whore. Don’t you remember. You never wanted to know your son until he was born.’
Charlie is spitting his bottle out of his mouth and I place him over my shoulder, rubbing his back, smiling when his burb echoes in the kitchen. I rub my forehead. My head aches. There is still so much I have to do. ‘Does it bother you that Crabby killed a man. That he spent time in prison.’
Sugar Jay jerks her gaze away from Charlie, who has fallen asleep over my shoulder. ‘Most people I know have killed someone.’
‘But he killed in cold blood.’
‘He killed to save Apple-Pie.’
‘I’m going to put Charlie down.’
My hand was on the door handle when Sugar Jay’s voice reaches me and my body freezes. My eyes close as memories swamped me. ‘What about you Sundance. Would you kill for someone you loved?’
‘Why don’t you ask me. If I’ve ever killed anyone.’
‘Have you.’
I leave the kitchen without answering. Hurting Sugar Jay more, isn’t my intention.
Chapter 3
The house Apple-Pie pulls up in front of, is large. Compared to the house in Comfort Springs, which I always considered to be a big house, this one is a mansion. My gaze shifts from the house to watch Sundance dismount from his bike.
Between feeding Charlie, and preparing him for the journey, there had barely been time to grab a quick coffee never mind something to eat and a chat with Sundance before we left Comfort Springs, and now my stomach gave a loud grumble in protest. A glance at my watch shows it’s coming up for nine, and apart from being hungry, after the three-hour drive my body aches. Thankfully, Charlie slept through the ride, but now the car has stopped, it’ll not be long before he stirs.
‘You never mentioned the house was so... So big.’ I peer through the window shield of the car. My gaze shifting to the other woman when she remained silent. ‘What is it.’
‘There’s something I need to tell you.’
‘Yeah, what’s that.’
‘What do you know about ‘Tie me Down.’’
‘You mean the club owned by Devil’s Comfort?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Not much.’
My gaze is back on Sundance, watching him greedily as he greets a small blond as he hugs her, pulling her in close when he kisses the top of her head. Heat spears through me. Two nights ago he had talked about wanting us to be family, and now here he is, cuddling up to some whore. ‘The thing is...’
*******
‘You brought my son to a whore house.’ The main door bounces as it slams behind me as I face Sundance, whose hand still rests on the whore’s waist. His smile fading when he finally tears his gaze from the blond. ‘We’ll talk about this in our room.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about. I’m not having my son around a bunch of whores. We’re going back to Comfort Springs.’
‘There are whores there too.’
‘But not paid ones.’
‘We have a living to make.’
‘Do you think I want Charlie knowing his Dad is nothing more than a pimp.’
‘When you’ve finished insulting everyone - We’ll go to our room and talk.’
The hall descends into silence as I sense several pairs of eyes on me. The look Apple-Pie flashes me, curls my toes in my sneakers. Trax is glaring at me and I toss my head. Then Sundance’s words hit me, and my fingers clench into my palm. I want to throw something at him, and I only just prevent myself from stomping my foot. I’m pissed at being railroaded. ‘What do you mean. Our room?’
‘I told you Sugar – We’re going to be family.’
‘I’m sure in a house this size you can find a spare room Charlie and I can use.’
Sundance smiles, and I step back at the predatory look he swept over my body. ‘We all earn our keep here Sugar. You occupy one of the empty rooms. You become a working girl. Oh, and Charlie stays with me. We wouldn’t want him to know his mama is a whore.’
First heat flushes my body, then a chill runs through me. I don’t know this Sundance, and I’m not sure if I want to. ‘Where is it?’
‘Where’s what.’
‘Your room.’
‘Good Girl.’
*******
‘He didn’t mean it.’ The walnut Tallboy vibrates as I slam another drawer shut. After showing me to his room, Sundance disappeared, leaving me to unpack.
‘Didn’t he.’ I throw myself onto the bed. My gaze scans the room before coming to rest on the crib where Charlie is in dreamland, his smile makes me smile. My sigh is deep as I close my eyes. Only to reopen them to stare at Apple-Pie. ‘I could be here a while.’
‘Yep - So what are you going to do.’
My mind ticks while my smile spreads. ‘I’m going to make him regret giving this up’ As I rose from the bed, my hand swept over my body. ‘For some cheap whores.’
‘They’re not cheap you know.’
‘Shit - How come you never said anything about running a whore house.’
Apple-Pie’s shoulders shrug as she watches me finish unpacking. ‘It didn’t seem important. - What are you going to do about Sundance?’
‘First, you’re going to give me a tour of the whore house - You do know I’ve never been inside Tie Me Down.’
‘Me neither - Anyway, there’s not much to see. The girls use the two floors above us. The club members live on this floor. Then there’s a kitchen and communal room where we all eat, meet and be merry. And that, my friend is our little abode. - Oh, and then there’s Nightshades.’
‘Nightshades.’
‘Yeah, you’ll get to see that room later.’
I sit beside Apple-Pie on the bed. My mind is buzzing and it isn’t long before I’m pacing the floor again, only stopping once I reach the window. The house, Sundance and the others live in, is the last one in the small parish. When I look to the left, I see nothing more than an empty road and trees. To the right, there are several more houses. All with their neat gardens and little cars parked on their drives. The street is dry, and there’s nothing floating down the middle of the road. So different to Noir Valley. ‘How many girls are there?’
‘A dozen or so. However, the numbers increase daily’
I continue to watch the street. My gaze follows an old lady with over dyed red hair, walking some kind of dog. From this position, it’s hard to tell, if it’s a Shih Tzu or a Lhasa Apso. ‘And what do you do for fun?’ Apple-Pie’s smile has me sniggering. ‘Okay - Let me rephrase that. When you’re not having sex - What do you do for fun.’
‘There hasn’t been time for fun.’ The other woman’s smile droops as she rises from the bed. Her hand reaching for the door just as someone knocked on it. ‘That’ll be Violet - She’ll watch Charlie while we make dinner.’
*******
‘That’s the fifth time you’ve sighed. Relax and have a drink.’
I swallow a large amount of the cool liquid, Apple-Pie passed to me, without noticing the taste. My gaze glances over the room again, looking for signs of Sundance and failing. I haven’t seen him since he abandoned me this morning. ‘I am relaxed - it’s just…’
‘Just what?’
‘I guess I wasn’t expecting the club to be this busy.’
Apple-Pie looks up from the appointment book, her gaze following the same route mine has taken over the room. There were several women, whom I didn’t recognize, entertaining the club’s clientele. According to Apple-Pie, in the three months since Devil’s Comfort began party night. Their reputation is spreading, and their clientele growing.
Apple-Pie’s frown niggles me as she stares at me, and I arch my eyebrow while waiting for her to speak. I know she’s hiding something, I just didn’t know what.
‘It’s the party room. You’ll get used to it.’
My gaze never left hers, watching her as her pen flew across the book. ‘And what do you do on party night?’
Apple-Pie drops her pen, swallowing a large amount of her own beer before she answers.
‘Like Sundance said, we all earn our keep. Violet - You met her earlier, she’s the club’s hostess. She’s the one who makes sure the girls mingle with the clientele. Layla- That’s the redhead behind the bar, well as you can see, she’s bar staff. Me, well, I’m a kind of secretary, keeping track of who the girls hook up with, and how long they spend with the customer. Neither, Violet, Layla or I are hookers. Shit, Trax wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who even winks at Layla - I’m not sure what’s going on between Quick Draw and Violet. She has her own room, and he never visits it.’ A faint
blush colors Apple-Pie’s cheeks. ‘And Crabby likes to keep me to himself.’
‘And you’re happy that you left Comfort Springs – To live like this.’
‘Yep.’
I watch the blond who had been canoodling with Sundance earlier, leave the room with a middle aged man hanging on to her arm, chuckling at something she is saying to him. My gaze is drawn to another unfamiliar face. The stranger is dressed in Devil’s Comfort regular uniform. When his brown eyes meet mine, I smile at him, which he returns. Fingers twist the flesh on my arm and I turn to glare at Apple-Pie as I rub the pinking flesh. ‘That’s Crow, one of the club’s prospects.’
‘Why did you pinch me.’
Apple-Pie’s eyes roll as she smiles at the young biker, who winks back at her. ‘Because you’re distracting the poor boy from his job.’
My chuckle is light as I continue to watch the biker. I haven’t flirted with another person since meeting Sundance, and I want some fun. Sliding from my chair, I collect my beer, and stroll towards the door.
‘Hi.’
‘Hi.’
When I offer the biker my half-drunk beer, he slowly shakes his slowly. ‘Maybe later.’
‘Yeah - I’ll like that.’ I preen as the biker enjoys a leisurely view of my body. My smile bright while silently congratulating myself for doing those thousand plus sit ups. They had been worth it to get rid of the evidence of my previous baby bump.
‘You’re new here.’
I hold back my giggle. So the biker thought I was one of the working girls. ‘Yeah - I arrived this morning - You weren’t about though.’
‘No, I was running an errand. - Who brought you in.’
‘Sundance.’
The biker threw his head back. His laughter grating over me, causing me to frown. ‘Yeah - He’s good at picking the good ones.’
I move in closer, stroking the prospect’s arm as my body brushes up against his. ‘Don’t be modest - I bet you’re good at picking good ones too.’
The biker’s gaze sweeps over the room before returning to me. His gaze warm, making me feel sexy for the first time in a long time. ‘Not yet. All the girls here are thanks to Trax and Sundance.’
