“I know you wouldn’t dare do anything ill-willed toward the people there. That’s not what I meant, though it came out that way. Forgive me.”
“Always, Mama.” I squeezed her hand. There was nothing but love in her gaze.
“She’s been beaten?”
“Just a black eye. It’s possible a man hit her, but she doesn’t seem that upset by the injury. Truth be told, I think she’s scamming the shelter. That sounds awful, but it’s just a gut feeling. She doesn’t belong there, though. Of that I’m certain.”
“She could be hiding, or perhaps she needed somewhere to go.”
“I don’t like her, but I can’t seem to stay away.”
Mama winked at me in understanding. “What’s her name?”
“Sonya.”
“Don’t keep her from me too long.” She paused. Would she come? Would Sonya actually come with me to meet my mama? “Even if you don’t pursue it, I’d like to meet a woman who intrigues you. Can’t say I recall that ever happening.”
“Only—”
“Not her,” she cut me off, refusing to speak the name of the woman who had torn me up. “She fit the mold. Beautiful, loved baseball, seemed to be a family girl. You loved her, but she wasn’t the one.”
“Did you know that all along?” I asked, the ache that came every time I thought of Erin tightening my chest.
“It was more apparent after the fact. Yes, she made you happy, but something was off. Nothing I could ever put my finger on. This woman you barely know has put more interest in your eyes than I’ve ever seen.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you thought it wasn’t right?” It stung to know she had kept that from me.
“What would you have said if I had come to you with a feeling it wasn’t right? And what if I had been wrong? It would have planted seeds of doubt.” She took a deep breath, her eyes drifting closed for a second, and I was scared she wouldn’t be able to talk any longer when I wanted her to. After a swallow, she continued. “We have to discover things for ourselves. I’ve wondered if I should have run her off to protect you, but you would have hated me for that.”
“I wouldn’t have listened anyway,” I admitted. “She had me by the—um, well, you know,” I finished sheepishly, cheeks heating.
“Balls. Yes, I know.” My eyes bulged, and she laughed. “The three of you think I have a stick shoved up my rear.”
“No, Mama. I promise we don’t. But I was a little scared of what you’d do if I finished that sentence. You raised a gentleman, right?”
Her expression turned serious. “I did.” And sadly, she hadn’t seen that gentleman for a few years now. Ever since—
“What the hell did I tell you?” Dad boomed, drawing our attention. “Go. Now.” He pointed, his jaw working in anger.
I didn’t move a muscle, and Mama’s hand tightened on mine.
“Harris, I want him to stay,” she said firmly. Nobody argued with her when she took that tone.
“Honey, I—”
“I don’t give a damn what you want.” She paused to catch her breath. Neither Dad nor I said a word. “We were having a nice talk, and I feel better than I have in days.” She stood up to him in ways none of us ever would. My chest filled with warmth, knowing she was taking up for me. That couldn’t have been easy on her. “Sit down.” Without hesitation, Dad went straight to a chair, obediently taking a seat.
He didn’t look at me.
“Mama, you should rest,” I said, getting her another drink of water.
“I’m tired of resting,” she protested. “I want to get out of this bed.” If she set her mind to it, that was exactly what she’d do.
“Loretta, just a few more days of rest.” Dad sounded weary and looked even worse, my mother’s illness taking as much a toll on him in ways as it had on her. He and I might not be in the best of places, but there was one thing I admired very much about the man. He loved my mother with a vengeance. If something happened to her, he wouldn’t be far behind. Their heartbeats were tied together.
“Want me to ask the nurse if it’s okay for you to get up? I’ll take you for a walk down the hall.” Dad glared at me, and she beamed.
“I’d like that, sweetheart.”
“Be right back.”
It was a big production, but in a few minutes, she was up and out of bed, my father on one side of her, and I on the other, slowly taking her up and down the hall. She did three laps, and I felt like I had when I’d begun sliding home for the winning run in the College World Series—like nothing could ever bring me down.
Chapter Eighteen
Sonya
“Let’s take a field trip.”
I was clearing my plate from lunch when he spoke from behind me. I continued with my task, pretending to ignore him.
Drew Carter wouldn’t get out of my mind. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I hated him. But that one percent had rooted itself in my heart, and I couldn’t help but be curious about who he was and why he was here.
“I can’t leave without permission,” I lied.
“Who said we’re leaving?”
He was the smuggest bastard I’d ever met. I wanted him at my mercy, wanted to see how cocky he was when I held all the marbles. “Generally, that’s what a field trip indicates. You leave the usual premises.”
“Okay, Webster’s Dictionary. Get your coat. I’ll wait here.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you. I told you, I can’t—”
“You don’t need a permission slip. This isn’t a prison, sugar.”
While that might be true, I was nervous about going out into the world. Here, I was safe. If Tamas found me—and I had no doubt he was looking—it spelled the kind of difficulty I wasn’t sure I could get out of.
“What about Sam?”
We both looked down at the dog sitting at my feet. Even if I wanted to go with Drew, I couldn’t leave Sam behind. Seemed as if we’d gotten attached to one another.
“The mutt can come too.” There was no malice behind the words, only mock annoyance. Drew offered him something from his pocket, which Sam immediately wolfed down.
“I’ll be back.”
The stunned look on his face was totally worth it. He’d expected more of a fight, but doing what he didn’t anticipate was effective.
* * *
“Where are we headed?” I asked as we slipped out the front door.
“You’ll see.” He was being serious, not one ounce of the playful, carefree asshole present.
“Everything okay?” I asked, hating that my concern had come forth without thought.
“Yes and no.”
“Hi, Mr. Drew.”
He showed a moment of panic before he turned to a young boy with honey-brown hair the exact shade of his approaching with a giant smile on his face.
“Hey, Gabriel.”
Drew flinched when they high-fived. Then he went straight for Sam.
“You’ve got a dog?” He crouched down, and Sam licked him in the face. A shrill giggle pierced the winter air.
“Not mine.” I barely recognized Drew’s gruff and awkward voice.
My attention was on the stunning woman with the little guy. I’d put my money on her in a fight against anybody. She was stiff, like Drew was the last person on earth she wanted to see. That look was incinerating. And I had the overwhelming urge to step between her and Drew to protect him. What was that about?
“Are you coming to story time too?” The boy cocked his head. I’d seen that exact same move from Drew. “Aunt Mulaney and Uncle Easton said they’d try to be there.”
“They told him he could call them that,” she explained, her gaze unwavering. Drew’s shoulders didn’t relax.
The boy’s features were a combination of the woman and Drew, but the similarity between him and Gabriel was striking.
“What’s your name?” There was a sweet expression on the boy’s face. He was harmless, but kids were not my thing.
“Sonya,” I said, and he stuck ou
t his hand. We shook.
“I’m Gabriel. Nice to meet you.” This kid had never met a stranger, that was for sure. “That’s my mama.” He beamed at the blonde, who smiled at him tightly.
“I’m Holly.”
“Pleasure,” I said curtly. She didn’t deserve that, but I didn’t like the way she treated Drew.
“Likewise,” she said with a Southern lilt. “We need to get going.” Holly motioned toward Paths of Purpose.
“See you around, Mr. Drew and Miss Sonya.”
They disappeared inside the building and jealousy uncoiled, swift and unrelenting. What the hell? I’d let other women fuck the men I was using and never cared. In fact, I’d enjoyed watching, got off even.
“He doesn’t know you’re his daddy,” I said innocently, the blow having the intended effect. How had I gone from wanting to protect Drew to going for the jugular?
He looked ready to kill someone. “Shut your mouth.”
“If you don’t want anyone else to figure it out, I’d suggest you not be seen with the little guy. He’s the spitting image of you.” I was being cruel, but I’d just gotten the upper hand.
“Hush.”
“I don’t think so. This field trip is fun so far. Why don’t you tell me more about why he doesn’t know who you are?”
“Why don’t you shut that fucking mouth?” He was pissed, almost crazed.
A sane woman might have been a little scared, definitely offended, but I was excited. “Are you going to do it for me?” Glutton for punishment, I was egging him on, wanting to see how far I could push him and what would happen when he got to the edge.
In zero point two seconds, I was slammed against a tree trunk and his mouth was on mine. I should be a bitch more often. No one had ever kissed me with this kind of passion. It was angry, furious, and damn it, the man knew how to use his lips.
Sam growled, and Drew threw something at him out of his pocket again to quiet him.
“Make this worth my while or stop,” I demanded against his mouth. It was insanity to push him, but I didn’t care. This was only a mind-blowing kiss. I didn’t think he’d take it any further than that.
He steered me between buildings and into a deserted alcove, sandwiching me between him and a brick wall. It felt good against my back. There would be marks tomorrow, and strangely, the prospect excited me.
Sam nudged my hand to see if I was okay. I stroked his head in reassurance.
“Say no now or keep quiet.”
I shivered and kept my mouth closed. No one had ever spoken to me like this. Like I was nothing yet giving me a choice. I wanted to see where he was going with this.
Drew snapped his fingers and pointed at the asphalt, and Sam immediately lay down. He was silent as he undid the button of my jeans, then yanked them and my cotton panties down to my ankles and shoved his fingers into my center. I gasped. When had anyone taken what they wanted without consulting me? I was always the one taking, not the other way around. But I loved it more than I would ever admit. He didn’t ask permission—didn’t give one single fuck if I was comfortable—and that was exactly what I needed.
“You’re wet enough,” he said gruffly, undoing his fly, pulling out his cock, and sheathing it with a condom.
“No one would ever mistake you for a romantic,” I breathed as he impaled me.
My legs were barely apart, yet somehow, he spread me enough to thrust inside. It was a tight fit. He was big, but that was to be expected. Drew had an athletic build, was tall and broad, and if his cock wouldn’t have been painfully tight, I’d have been disappointed. I’d checked out his feet. They were large.
It was impossible for me to move, so Drew did every bit of the work, yet a fine sheen of sweat broke out across my forehead despite the cold. This fuck wasn’t for me but for him. To prove he was in charge. I was at his mercy. He had the power.
He did, and he didn’t.
If I’d have put the brakes on this, he probably would have stopped, but I liked being used. It did something to the twisted side of me that had been waiting for some guy to man up and take what he wanted.
Drew didn’t speak. He didn’t ask me if I liked it or how I wanted it. He took, and he wasn’t gentle or kind. He fucked.
I clawed at his neck, wanting my marks on him, because he sure as hell was marking me. I was going to come. I usually faked it during sex, most of my partners subpar. I got off by my own hands or a trusty vibrator, but I was so close. I could feel it, the tingle starting in my hips, spreading to my thighs. I’d fucked men for the sole purpose of seeing just how much I could get them to give, but I couldn’t remember the last time it had been about pleasure. This was nothing but ecstasy.
“All you want is a fuck doll,” I hissed, fighting the orgasm within reach.
He blinked at me as if just realizing I was here. “That’s who you want to be. My fuck doll.”
I questioned whether there was some truth to his words, but when he sent me over without any assistance, I shuddered against him, clamping my teeth into his shoulder through his sweater. With a grunt, he was right there with me.
When it was done, he peeled off the condom, tossed it on the ground, and tucked himself back in his pants. He gave me an expectant look as I panted against the wall.
“You going to get dressed?”
He was the biggest fucking asshole I’d ever met, but I liked it. It was humiliating, tugging up my jeans and underwear while he watched, but something about that had me turned on in a way I’d never been before. Drew was disrespectful—treated me like shit, if I was perfectly honest—and I wanted more of that. What I didn’t know was why.
“What a disappointing field trip,” I commented, when I was anything but let down.
I shoved off the wall, grabbed Sam’s leash, and strode past him with my shoulders back and my head held high. Drew easily caught up to me, and without a word, he slipped his hand in mine, my steps faltering at the gesture. We’d just fucked. It had been brutal, fast, careless. So, how could holding his hand feel too intimate? But somehow this was, and it was so unexpected, it unsettled me.
I didn’t even consider letting go.
Chapter Nineteen
Drew
I panicked.
It had nothing to do with fucking Sonya in broad daylight in an alley. It was because we’d been alone.
The last person I’d been one-on-one with was Holly, a rare mistake that had me panicking back then too, to the point where I kicked her out in the middle of the night without so much as a ride. I. Didn’t. Do. One-on-one.
When I grabbed Sonya’s hand, refusing to let her get away, I didn’t know what to make of that. I’d treated her like shit in that alley, taking what I’d wanted from the second I’d met her. But I’d had to shut her up. She’d guessed the truth in no time, and I’d snapped. I’d had this need to take her, show her who was in charge. I hadn’t even tried to make her come, didn’t consider her pleasure . . . and she’d gotten off on it. I rubbed the back of my neck, grazing what felt like dried blood. She’d marked me, damn it. I never let any woman do that kind of shit to me. I needed to get away from her. The tigress had had me in her claws for too long.
Yet my fingers tightened around hers as I stalked down the street at a clipped pace. Sonya and Sam easily kept up.
“If you’re worried I think this means we’re going steady, you can relax,” she said as if what we’d done meant nothing, just another average day in the life of Sonya Hughes. It was a move out of my own playbook. My mother was right. This woman intrigued me. She should be complaining about how rough I was, how I had just . . . rutted. Fucked. With no permission. Yet her comments suggested she didn’t give a fuck . . . fascinating. Insulting.
“Sugar, it most definitely does.”
Sonya smirked, though it didn’t go unnoticed that she hadn’t even tried to pull her hand out of mine. “Never pegged you for one to get attached so easily.”
“It’s just that sparkling personality of yours,” I f
ired back.
“You really know how to woo a woman. I have no idea why you aren’t taken.”
“I am now.” I lifted a brow, and her mouth clamped shut as though she didn’t know what to do. There was some sort of battle going on in that head, probably something akin to what was happening in mine. I didn’t even know if I was serious. Did I think she’d be my girlfriend, and we’d ride off into the sunset?
More likely, we’d fly into a hurricane. I felt like I was spinning out of control around a calm center with everything breaking apart, destroying me.
“Where are we?” she asked as I pulled the two of them inside the now all-too-familiar building. She didn’t hesitate to come with me, even as she protested.
“Say something to make me shut you up again,” I demanded when we were in the elevator. Sam stayed against her leg, that dog as loyal as could be when it came to her.
She got right up in my space, caging me against the wall, her eyes locked on mine. I stuck my hand in her hair to keep her in place. “Are you a deadbeat dad?”
I growled in anger before I crashed my lips onto hers. Goddamned temptress. She was the devil incarnate. I absolutely didn’t like her, was infuriated at the gall she had, but I was hard again.
I spun so her back was against the wall and devoured her mouth. Sonya was no helpless little kitten. She kissed me back. I wasn’t sure who was in control, and I didn’t care.
My tongue lashed inside her mouth, and hers dueled back. She bit my bottom lip and then licked off the blood she’d drawn. I sank my teeth into her neck, sucking so she’d have one motherfucker of a hickey. The vixen was all about fair play, taking advantage of my exposed neck as I marked hers. She wasn’t gentle, her sharp little teeth breaking my flesh. The way she sucked had me pressing my dick into her stomach.
Thick As Thieves: An Enemies-To-Lovers Romance (Paths To Love Book 5) Page 10
