Possessive Daddy: A Dark Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  My car roared to life as I tore down the streets. This was what it was meant for as I headed toward her location. She was in a decent part of Brooklyn, so I didn’t think it was a robbery issue. I doubted it was something too dire, or else she’d go to the police.

  It had to do with her boyfriend. There was no other reason she’d call me instead of him. Unless he was working, but still, she could call any number of her other friends.

  I was the only one unaffiliated. We both knew Greg and Lauren, but that was it. I was on the edge of her friend group.

  That idea scared me, and I pushed the pedal down further.

  It took me ten minutes to get to the address she sent me. Ten agonizing minutes, but finally I arrived.

  And she was nowhere in sight.

  I double-parked, threw on my flashers, and jumped out of my car. I wanted to draw my weapon so fucking badly, but I knew that would be a very bad idea. I was in a pretty populous neighborhood in Brooklyn, and there were people walking their fucking dogs. Some guy with a gun would just start a panic.

  But I couldn’t find her. I swept the area, assessing every corner for threats, but there was nothing.

  “Gates.”

  I turned and felt a tension drain from my chest. Piper waved as she hurried toward me.

  “I told you not to move,” I said to her.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I can’t say.” She looked around like she was expecting someone to appear at any second. “I had to, uh, get some more money out.”

  “Money?”

  “Yeah. Can we go?”

  I cocked my head at her. “Tell me what’s happening.”

  “You won’t believe me. Can I tell you in the car?”

  “Fine. Come on.”

  We got into my car and I pulled out into traffic. She was safe, and so I didn’t drive like a maniac. I could sense the fear and anxiety rolling off of her in waves, and I wanted to pull over and try to calm her down.

  I sensed that was the wrong move, though. I could tell that she wanted to be moving, almost like she was running from someone. She mentioned getting money out, which confused me.

  “Okay, Pipes,” I said. “Tell me.”

  “I saw Tony do something . . . horrible,” she said slowly.

  “What did he do?”

  “You won’t believe me.”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “No. But I’m afraid he will.”

  “Tell me what happened, Pipes.”

  “After you dropped me off, I made him some dinner. I wanted to surprise him, give him something to eat. I don’t know, I wanted to see him. So I went to his club and Thomas told me that he was upstairs.”

  I nodded, listening carefully. She was telling her story in a single rush, just like any other trauma victim. She was clearly still afraid. I could fell myself analyzing the moment from a distance, even though this was Piper beside me, the girl I’d been thinking about for two years. I couldn’t stop that part of my brain, the part of me that had been trained so intensely.

  “I went upstairs, but his office door was open,” she continued. “They were talking about drugs, I think. Tony was trying to sell them. I didn’t know who they were. But then they argued about the price, I think. That was when it happened.”

  “What happened?” I pressed gently.

  “Gunshots. Lots of them. And a man with blood all over him.” She was crying and I wanted to comfort her, but I had to hear the rest of the story. I had to know what I was up against.

  “And then?” I asked.

  “The man fell down the stairs. He was dead, or at least I think he was. I looked back and saw Tony and two other men holding guns. That was when Tony spoke to me, said he didn’t expect me. But it was his tone of voice, you know? Like it was empty and flat, as if there weren’t dead bodies all around him.”

  “How many bodies?”

  “Two more, I think. I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

  “What next?”

  “I turned and ran.”

  “Good. What did he do?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t look back. I just kept running.”

  I nodded, frowning to myself.

  So Tony was a gangster for real, and Piper had walked in on a drug deal gone wrong. She saw Tony and his associates murder some men, and if I knew one thing about the mob, it was that they fucking hated when people saw them murder people.

  Which was why it was smart that Piper ran. If she hadn’t, she’d probably be dead.

  “I’m glad you called me,” I said.

  “I’m so scared,” she whispered. “I took all my money out. Checking and savings. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  I nodded. “That’s good. Cash is good. They can’t track cash.”

  “I didn’t know who to call. I knew the police would never believe me, and as soon as Tony knew where I was I’d be dead.”

  “That was smart. The cops might even be bought by his people.”

  “His people? What do you mean?”

  “He’s a mobster. I mean, I assume he is.” I shrugged. “Makes sense.”

  “Oh my god,” she said softly. “A mobster. I never saw it.”

  “Of course not. Men like him are good at hiding what they really are. Fucking snakes.”

  “I lived with him.”

  “You’re safe now,” I said. “He doesn’t know me. We’ll be safe.”

  “Yeah. You’re right.” She began to sob again, breaking down into tears.

  I put my hand on her leg to comfort her as I drove, but my mind was moving in a million different directions.

  I couldn’t help myself. This was a tactical situation, and it was the sort of thing that I was trained for. Maybe not this situation exactly, but situations just like it. We had a hostile enemy, a larger, stronger enemy, chasing after us. We had to evade that enemy until it moved past us, or until we destroyed it.

  I was already planning what we were going to do. Planning and war and death. That was who I was.

  And that was exactly who she needed me to be.

  Maybe in normal civilian life, my skills as a SEAL weren’t desirable. Maybe they got in the way when I was trying to live as a normal person. But this wasn’t normal.

  This was far from normal.

  I needed more information, but I knew better than to press at this point. She needed a second to grieve for whatever it is she just lost. Whether she lost her life or something else, I couldn’t be sure, but she just went through a trauma.

  I was there for her. I wasn’t going to let this mafia fucking shit prick hurt her.

  I had a mission, and I always completed my missions.

  11

  Piper

  I felt like the world had opened up beneath me as I sat in Gates’s apartment. He was in the kitchen making me tea, and normally I would find that really amusing, but I couldn’t stop seeing those men lying bleeding on the floor.

  My phone buzzing grabbed my attention. I looked down and saw another text from Tony.

  “Come on, babe. I’m sorry if I scared you. We need to talk.”

  He called me ten times since Gates picked me up and sent as many texts, but I was ignoring them. Gates knew about the messages but hadn’t said anything about them yet.

  I sat there staring at Gates as he moved around the kitchen. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but it didn’t matter. I was in this, deep in this, and Gates was willing to help me.

  That thought sent a wave of relief washing over me.

  Gates was trained for this sort of thing. Well, maybe not this specific situation, but something like it. He was trained to fight and survive difficult tasks, and there was no better person for me to have in my corner right now.

  Still, for all of that, I barely knew the man. I didn’t know why he wanted to get involved in something that was clearly incredibly dangerous. He owed me nothing and had every right to walk
away.

  The only thing I could think of was that he felt the same pull that I felt. Maybe that was true, or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I just wanted that to be true. Either way, I kept staring at his body and felt the tug toward him, that deep yearning that wanted me to get up and throw myself at him.

  “Here you go.”

  I looked down at the cup in front of me.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “Chamomile.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Chamomile tea.” He leaned up against the counter across from me and crossed his arms. “Drink.”

  “Okay.” I picked it up and blew on it then took a sip. It was vaguely sweet and tasted like watery apples. “I like it.”

  “You’ve never had chamomile before?”

  I shrugged. “Not much of a tea drinker, I guess.”

  “It’s good for you. Calms the nerves, eases digestion. That sort of thing.”

  “They teach you about tea in the military?”

  “Nope,” he said. “That was all my mother.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Your mother. Where does she live?”

  “Passed away when I was twenty.”

  I blinked. He was an orphan. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. She lived long enough to see me get chosen as a SEAL. That was a good day.”

  “Do you have a lot of good memories of your mom?”

  He nodded. “I do. She took care of me when my dad died.” He glanced at the clock then back at me. “What about you? What are your parents like?”

  “They’re nice,” I said. “Typical parents. Dad works for a bank and my mom works for a real estate lawyer.”

  “Were they supportive when their daughter wanted to become a weather girl?”

  I laughed. “No, actually. Dad thought it was stupid. Mom was better, but even she was worried about me.”

  “You showed them.”

  I shrugged and sipped the tea again. “I guess. Mostly I just wanted them to be proud of me.”

  “And are they?”

  “Yeah. I think so.”

  “Good.” He stared at me intently for a moment, like he was studying me. “We need to talk.”

  My phone vibrated again but I sent it to voicemail. “Okay.”

  “What does he keep saying?”

  “Apologizing. Wants to meet.” I laughed ruefully. “I guess he thinks I’m an idiot.”

  “You’re not an idiot,” he said seriously. “It’s good you called me.”

  “Yeah. I think so, too.”

  “Tell me about Tony.”

  “There’s not much to say. I met him through work when his club was promoting a product on our show. He seemed nice, took me out a few times. We dated for a while before moving in. I had no clue he was involved with drugs.”

  Gates nodded and I felt so stupid. How could I not see it? Tony always had nice things and was always buying me small but expensive presents. They came out of nowhere, diamond earrings, cell phones, iPods, stuff like that. I never really questioned it, since his night club was doing so well.

  But how did a guy his age own a freaking night club to begin with? Tony’s parents were normal Italian people living out in Staten Island. They couldn’t offer him a loan. I never really asked him how he got involved with the club. Hell, I never really asked him anything. I never asked how he had so much money or where all that cash came from.

  I was so, so stupid. I trusted him and I never should have. I could feel the tears coming on again and I had to fight them back.

  Gates came around the island and put his hands on my shoulders. “Hey,” he said. “You can’t do that now. I know you’re dealing with some heavy shit, Pipes, but you need to hold it together for me. You need to tell me everything you know about this guy.”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “Associates, friends, family. Anybody he deals with. Where he keeps his money, where he gets his money. Anything you can think of.”

  I took a deep breath, looking into Gates’s eyes. He was so competent, so in control, and I felt that relief wash over me again.

  “Okay,” I said, and started talking.

  The story of Tony spilled out of me. I told Gates every single detail that I could remember, every story Tony mentioned, every friend and business associate. I talked about the presents, about his expensive car, about his cash. I dredged up memories I didn’t even know I had and then some. I talked for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, until finally I was out of things to say.

  Gates listened carefully the whole time, nodding once in a while. He didn’t interrupt to ask questions and he didn’t get bored. He simply watched me, nodded along, and listened.

  When I was done, I felt drained. Gates put his hand on my thigh and I felt a spike of desire run up through me.

  “That was good,” he said. “I’m going to have some questions for you, but we can do that later. For now, that was really good.”

  “What will any of that do, though?” I asked him.

  “You want to live a normal life, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “We need to find a way to get you out of this mess. We need to find something we can use against Tony.”

  “I don’t know what that could be.”

  “I’ll find it.” His eyes went dark for a second. “Or else I’ll create it.”

  I didn’t know what he meant and was about to ask, but my phone started ringing again.

  “Tony,” I said, and went to shut it off.

  “Wait,” Gates cut in. “Answer it.”

  “What?”

  “Answer it. On speaker.”

  I blinked, frowning. “That’s a bad idea.”

  “Trust me, Piper. Do it.”

  “Fine.” I answered it and turned on speakerphone. “Hello?”

  “Piper,” Tony said, sounding relieved. “I was worried about you.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because of what you saw.” He paused. “We need to talk, Pipes.”

  “I don’t want to see you.”

  “I know. I can’t blame you.” He sighed. “I’m so sorry you saw that, Pipes. I never wanted that to happen.”

  The look on his face came back to me. Cold, expressionless, dead. It was the face of a killer.

  “I understand,” I said and Gates nodded at me.

  “The other guys, they pushed me into it. They’re dangerous men, Piper. I need to talk to you so I can explain. I’m so, so sorry.”

  He wasn’t sorry, I reminded myself. He was a murderer.

  Gates quickly hit the mute button. “Make a meeting,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Do it,” he said, and turned mute off.

  “Piper?” Tony asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Okay. We can meet.”

  “Good. You don’t know how badly I need to see you. I need to make sure you’re okay, that they didn’t get you.”

  “Who?” I asked him.

  “The men I was with. I didn’t hurt anyone, Piper. They did it all.”

  “Okay.” He was lying. I could hear it, plain as day.

  “Meet me at Moreno’s. You know that Italian place?”

  “I know it.”

  “Meet me there tonight at ten. Can you do that?”

  “I can.”

  “Okay, Pipes. We’ll get through this together, I promise.”

  Gates took the phone from my hand and hung it up.

  I shook my head at him. “I can’t go to that.”

  “Of course not. I’m going to go.”

  “What?”

  “He doesn’t know me,” Gates said. “I’ll watch him, see who he’s with, get a sense of him.”

  “That’s crazy.”

  “It’s our best first move. Soon he’ll figure out who I am and then we won’t have the advantage anymore. Trust me, Pipes.”

  I stared at him, surprised all over again at the kind of man he was.

  “You don’t have to help me,” I said softly. “I sh
ouldn’t have brought you into this.”

  He reached forward suddenly and took my hair, pulling me toward him. I gasped as he kissed me hard, surprised at first.

  But quickly I gave into him. His lips felt right, the exact way I needed them to feel. It was like he simply knew what I needed, and in that moment I needed him to kiss me. I needed to know what he wanted, that he wanted me.

  We kissed like that for minutes, maybe hours. I lost track of time and it didn’t matter at all. I only needed Gates in that moment, his mouth against mine.

  Finally, he pulled back, hand lingering on my cheek.

  “You should get some rest,” he said gently.

  “Okay,” I answered, biting my lip.

  “I need to prepare for later.”

  “I understand.”

  He sat there for a second, lingering over me, before standing up. I watched him turn and leave the room, shutting his bedroom door behind him.

  I stared at the empty space he left, confused. I didn’t know why he had to stand up and walk away like that. But then again, I didn’t have the right to ask anything from him. He was helping me, but that didn’t mean he really owed me anything.

  Truthfully, I owed him. I should have been thankful that I was sitting in his apartment, relatively safe.

  Instead, I just wanted him to carry me into his bedroom and take me. I wanted him to destroy me, make me his, get me off.

  I sipped my tea and took a deep breath. I had to stop being selfish. Gates was helping me, and that was enough.

  But truthfully, I was terrified that it wouldn’t be even close to enough.

  12

  Gates

  I couldn’t let myself get distracted, and kissing Piper was the ultimate distraction. After the kiss, I went into my room to prep my weapon, but mostly to get my head right. I was going into a dangerous situation and I couldn’t have Piper on my mind. I needed to be sharp, or else risk my life and hers.

  I sat in my car at a quarter to ten across the street from that Italian restaurant Tony told Pipes to go to. I’d been there for about an hour, and as far as I could tell it seemed like a normal place. Busy even, fairly popular. I didn’t catch sight of anything suspicious or shady going down.