by B. B. Reid
He collapsed next to me while I stayed put. I went into this with control and yet I felt used and dirty. I smiled against the carpeting and turned my head to see him with his eyes shut tight and his chest heaving.
I decided I could watch him forever, but then he stood and helped me up, leaving me to wonder if forever was overestimated. He searched my eyes appearing unsure.
“I’m okay,” I said, reading his mind.
He pushed away stray hair sticking to my face. “Was I too rough?”
“Yes.” He frowned and opened his mouth, ready to apologize. “And I liked it.”
“Only liked it?”
“You don’t really need me to give praise to your dick, do you?” He only stared back at me expectantly. I suppressed an eyeball and said unenthusiastically, “Oh, Keiran, you’re a sex machine—the king. Your dick is the biggest and so awesome. You rocked my world, baby… How’s that?”
His lips quirked—the only sign of his amusement. “Could use some improvement, but I’ll take it.”
I snorted and leaned against him. My legs were no longer able to hold me up without support. Keiran noticed so he lifted me and headed for the stairs.
“We need to go. It’s a long ride.”
“Not with your come making a sticky mess between my thighs. I need a shower first.” His gaze shot down to the area in question and his face twisted in agony for round two. “Join me?”
* * *
I sighed and shifted for the umpteenth time. I was beginning to think we should live in our car. We didn’t reach the housing development until late afternoon, so I was grateful we decided to stay overnight. The houses were in various stages of completion, but most of them were fully completed and functional judging by the kids that played up and down the street.
We pulled into the third driveway belonging to a quaint college style house. Keiran had told me all about the mother and two little girls as well as their abusive father, so I instantly recognized the girl with dark bangs and curly ponytail sitting on the steps and clutching a book.
She looked up as we parked and released a bright smile. “Keiran!” She hugged his waist when he stepped out of the car.
“Hey, Cassie. Where are your mom and sister?”
“Maddie’s asleep and mom went to the store.” She retook her seat on the steps. Keiran followed her and pulled me down to sit on his lap.
“You’re here alone?” I recognized the dangerous edge in Keiran’s tone, though to untrained ears, he appeared calm and merely curious. From what Keiran had told me, they were a little young to be left alone. “How long has she been gone?”
Cassie seemed to pick up on his change of mood. She looked from Keiran to me uncertainly. “An hour. Who is she?”
“She’s my girlfriend, and she’s here for you.”
“Hi, Cassie. I’m Lake.”
“Wow, you’re really pretty.” She reached out and touched my bangs. “And you have bangs.”
“So you like bangs, huh?”
“I don’t know. My mom had to cut them because a boy at school cut my hair.”
“I’m going to go check on Maddie,” Keiran interrupted. He tapped my hip so I could stand up, and once he was inside, I sat back down.
“Why do you think he did that?”
“Cause he hates me.”
“Why does he hate you?” Unlike me, maybe this little girl would know why she was a target. It took ten years for me to start demanding answers.
“My dad does bad stuff to his mom.”
“Like what?” I started to feel as if this could go on all day.
“He hits her, but I don’t know why. Do you think my dad is married to his mom, too?”
“No, sweetie. Sometimes adults don’t always do the right thing. Let’s talk about this boy.”
“What about him?”
“Let’s start with his name.”
“His name is Ryan.”
“And are you afraid of this Ryan?” She nodded and in her eyes reflected a girl I hadn’t known for a long time. “It feels as if it’s very hard to not be afraid, doesn’t it?”
“He’s bigger than me, and he said if I ever told anyone, I’d be sorry.” Her frustration was apparent. The anger in her eyes burned bright, and I knew she hated that he was in control.
“He might be right, but do you know what will make you feel worse?”
“What?”
“Not telling anyone. He’s only as powerful as you allow him to be and underneath his tough shell is a scared little boy who probably feels as helpless as you do.”
“So what do I do?”
Do I tell her to run like I did or fight back? Neither was a sure thing. “You do what your instincts tell you to do.”
“He makes me want to punch him in the nose,” she grumbled. “Can I do that?”
“Do you think physical violence will solve your problem?”
She shrugged in that way ten-year-olds do when they know the answer but don’t want to admit it.
“It will make me feel better. I’ll embarrass him in front of all his friends like he does me.”
“Can I ask you something? I want you to think hard about this.”
“Okay.”
“Has he ever threatened to hurt you?”
Her face twisted hard as she tried to remember. “Do you mean like pull my hair and stuff?”
I took a deep breath and told myself it was necessary. “I mean has he threatened to kill you?”
Her eyes widened as if the prospect of dying never entered her mind. I was relieved, to say the least. At her age, I had already expected to die.
“No. Never. Do you think he will?”
“No, sweetie, I don’t, but make a promise, okay?” She nodded her permission to enter the pact. “If he ever does, I want you to tell an adult right away.”
“Like my mom?”
Something told me her mother wouldn’t come to her daughter’s rescue. “Don’t wait. Tell a teacher, your principal—and yes, your mom, too.”
“She didn’t listen to me before,” she pouted, confirming my suspicion.
“Then you keep telling her until she does.” She seemed to understand, and since I couldn’t think of anything else to say, I asked her about the book she was reading. She became completely animated as she filled me in on the adventures of Harriet the Spy. I was familiar with the fictional character, but she told it better.
When the sun began to set, I convinced her to come inside and found Keiran in one of the bedrooms with Maddie in his lap, holding a book. I stood back and listened to his melodic, deep voice fill the room as he patiently read to her.
“The cow mooed—”
“Do the moo! You have to do the moo.”
“The cow moooooed all the way home.” I stifled my laugh with a hand over my lips as he closed the book and set it aside.
“K—Ka…” Her nose wrinkled as she struggled to say his name. She was a light-haired version of Ken.
“You can call me Keke,” he begrudgingly offered, and I felt the shock to my heart just as it melted. I had been the one to advise Kennedy to call him by his dubious nickname and to this day, he vowed revenge. Pointing out that she would eventually outgrow the name didn’t help. He still despised it, but he would never risk hurting Kennedy’s feelings for his male ego.
“Keke, can you read another?”
“That depends… Are you going to make me moo if I don’t?”
“No, silly. That’s a cow.”
“Pick a book.” His innocent surrender drew me in until I found myself sitting between his legs with my own crossed and my hands on his shins. I needed to be in his space.
This was Keiran in rare form and something I may never see again after Kennedy grows older and Dash and Willow’s son follow.
“This one!” She shoved the book in his hand and crawled back into his lap. When her bright brown eyes rested on me, she slammed her head back against his chest and held my stare as if laying claim. My own narrowed
, challenging her, even as I secretly cried a river of amused tears inside.
“Enough, ladies.” Keiran smirked but his gaze never even left the front cover. He was always aware of me even when he wasn’t watching me. “At least rabbits are quiet.”
“Yes, but they make this cute little wiggle with their nose,” I snitched.
“Yeah! Like this—” She wriggled her nose and turned her eyes to see. Keiran met my gaze and promised retribution. Maddie looked up with a wide smile, but he only stared back at her. “Try it,” she encouraged, unperturbed.
I pulled out my phone and hit record, needing to capture this moment to use as a bargaining tool later when he got me alone.
“No.”
“Pleeeeease.”
“Yes, pleeeeease. Wriggle your nose like a good little bunny.” My hole only got deeper, but it was worth it. I was hidden behind my phone, but I could see his face perfectly as the video recorded.
“Later,” he mouthed and wriggled his nose.
Maddie cackled and wiggled in his lap with glee. She even reached up to squeeze his nose, and I could practically see steam coming from his ears.
“You make a cute angry bunny,” I cooed.
His eyes narrowed, and I knew I’d gone too far. “Maddie, will you excuse us?”
Shit.
She jumped down off his lap and skipped out with the book, which had been my only chance for a weapon. As soon as the door was closed, Keiran stepped forward. I countered by taking two steps back.
“Come here.” His nostrils flared.
“No.” I giggled even though I was scared shitless. When he lunged, I squealed and turned to run. I managed to get the door open, but his hand above me slammed it closed. He smashed me against the door with his hard body and exhaled against my neck.
It wasn’t fair to be that pissed and so fucking sexy at the same time.
“The reason—the only reason—I don’t bend you over and make you scream and cry how sorry you are for pissing me off is because I don’t want to traumatize the girls, but don’t push too far, Lake. There’s always my car.”
Like the time he overheard me agreeing with a classmate that one of his teammates was pretty cute. She had a crush on him and wanted me to introduce them. Of course, I never got to explain any of this. He dragged me from the party and managed to stay pissed until we reached our rental. He bent me over the hood of his car right there in the yard for anyone to walk past and see, and pounded me until my cries became hoarse, and I admitted that Brian Hinkley was the ugliest fucker alive.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I whispered with as much sultriness as I could.
He groaned and turned me around, no longer appearing as pissed as he had been sixty seconds before.
“So what happened with Cassie?”
I was put off by the abrupt change in topic but answered anyway. “Not much. We talked but it occurred to me that she could just solve her daughter’s ‘Ryan’ problem if she moved her to another school. Why doesn’t she just do that?”
“She said she didn’t want to uproot them too quickly with changing homes and leaving their father.”
“And you agreed with her?”
He stared until I began to squirm. “I had other things on my mind.”
I immediately knew what he alluded to—me killing his father and going missing in the middle of the night. He opened the bedroom door and led us to the front of the house where the girls were arguing over which cartoon to watch.
“It just seems like Cassie would be better off. Maddie isn’t in school yet so she would hardly be affected.”
“It’s none of our business.”
“You made this your business.”
“Do you really want to fight about this? They are safe and she won’t testify.”
I was prevented from arguing with him by the front door opening and the woman I recognized from the facility entering.
Chapter Seventeen
KEIRAN
I could tell she wanted to argue so I was relieved when the front door opened and Laurie appeared. I was also thankful to see store bags in her hand, or I would have gone postal.
“Where have you been?” I asked anyway. I didn’t have the right to question this woman or what she did with her kids. Not to mention they weren’t my responsibility. I felt it anyway.
She held up the grocery bags, but her eyes weren’t on me. She stared at Lake who stared back. I did a double take because I couldn’t fucking recognize the look in her eyes. Whatever it was made Laurie pale and lower her gaze. I couldn’t let it go on another second. I gripped her elbow hard to catch her attention and pulled her away.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“What?” she snapped. All she was missing was the neck roll. I stifled the urge to grab said neck until she remembered who called the shots. I sounded like a chauvinistic prick, but this was what she did to me. No one else.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know what she was talking about.”
“The car,” I reminded her.
She had the good sense to appear afraid. “I don’t know,” she said again. “I don’t trust her. What if she testifies anyway? Do you really trust her?”
“Of course not,” I spat. “But she’s our only chance of beating the charges.”
“You think they’ll find something?”
Fuck. Did I lie to her? I was sure they would. I didn’t know how closely they were watching, but I knew the grocery incident wasn’t the last we’d hear from them.
“I think we should be prepared if they do.” I told myself it wasn’t a lie.
“Fine. I’ll be good.”
“You better.” I kissed her lips softly and walked her back over to Laurie. She must have sent the girls away because they were nowhere to be found.
“You’re supposed to be lying low and why did you leave them alone?”
She looked insulted, but I didn’t give a shit. “Do you think this is the first time she’s had to look after Maddie? Their father is a drunk, young man. I’d come home some days to check on Maddie in the middle of the day and find him passed out drunk on the couch. Sometimes as early as ten.”
“Why not leave them with someone who wasn’t drunk by ten?” Lake grilled. I shot her look to chill the fuck out.
“He’d find wherever they were and drive them home, drunk or not.”
I shook my head but didn’t say more. Every time she spoke about her husband, I questioned the decision to let him live.
“Look, we’re out of here. You have my number if you need it, but lay low, Laurie. You’re in more danger now than you were living with him.”
She nodded and waved goodbye from the porch as we drove away. I drove us to a hotel nearby for the night. It was too long a drive to make tonight. We decided to stay in since Lake had homework to get through. I ordered room service and pulled out my own laptop. We worked in comfortable silence until the food arrived.
I paid for the food and turned around to see her drop the last of her clothing on the way to the bathroom. She paused at the entrance and sent a come-hither look over her shoulder before disappearing behind the door. The shower came on as I set the food down and stripped as fast as I could.
She teased me all day, and even after I promised retribution, she found the courage to continue. I had to applaud her. Instead, I joined her and ate her pussy against the shower wall until she shook and collapsed to her knees.
“While you’re down there,” I prompted and fell silent. I waited to see what she would do. A teasing smile on her lips kept me guessing, but then she gripped me in her small, soft hands. I loved the look in her eyes as she gripped me with bold hands and stroked as she lowered her head ever so slowly. She never severed eye contact, and I loved that so fucking much.
Her tongue touched me with the shy, innocence of someone who had not been sucking me off on a regular basis for the last five years.
I loved that, too.
&nbs
p; “I’m sorry I called you a cute, angry bunny,” she cooed and sucked me deep until my entire length disappeared down her throat. My head fell back against my will. I wanted to watch her.
I really did.
But she was so damn good at this.
My knees nearly buckled when she released me with a loud pop and hungrily wrapped her lips around the tip, but I wasn’t going out like that so I counted to ten in my head.
“Keiran?”
“Yeah?”
“I want you to come in my mouth, ‘kay?”
Son of a bitch. I should have known she wouldn’t play fair. She worked me over with her tongue and mouth. Her cheeks hollowed as she sucked me vigorously until I did come in her mouth. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out like a bitch when she swallowed my come in one gulp and licked her lips as if it were the tastiest fucking thing she had ever had.
We managed to finish our shower without molesting each other again. I stepped out first and dried off while she washed her hair. By the time I slipped into shorts, she was stepping out, so I grabbed a fresh towel and enveloped her in its warmth. She never liked the chill that came after leaving the steam from a hot shower.
“I’m starving.”
My lips quirked as I debated the dirty joke that popped in my head. She watched me curiously and then her eyes popped wide.
“Keiran Masters, don’t you dare say whatever dirty, dumb joke you’re about to tell. That’s Keenan’s thing.”
“I’m starting to think he’s the fun brother.”
“Don’t worry.” She wrapped her arms around me with a flirtatious smile. “You’re much more useful to me for things that matter. Like feeding me.”
“Come on, my sexy gremlin. I ordered chicken alfredo.”
We drove home early the next morning and spent the day playing in bed. I would tickle her until she cried, and she would wrap her lips around me and dare me not to come. We managed to keep it together until Monday night when I received a frantic call from Laurie.
“That was Laurie,” I announced, entering the kitchen where Lake was studying and cleaning.