Raising Cain

by Scarlett Jade

  A white SUV was pulling in front of the house, and Drake roared up behind him. As he stepped out of the car, a middle-aged, dark haired, built man exited his vehicle. “Have you lost your mind?” the man yelled. “Who the hell are you?”

  Drake yelled back, “Who the hell are you?”

  “I asked first. This is my property. You have trashed the body of that car. Are you insane?” The man barreled closer.

  Drake stood his ground. “Are you Damien?”

  The man paused and nodded. “Yeah.”

  “So you’re screwing my woman.” Drake declared.

  “Excuse me?” Damien’s dark eyebrow shot up. “Son, I think you’re confused…”

  “No, I’m not. She’s living here with you, you’re screwing her. I love her, and she’s mine!” Drake insisted, throwing his hands wide in frustration.

  “Wait, what?” Damien looked puzzled.

  Fury overtook Drake at Damien’s continued insistence that he wasn’t screwing Grace. As he rushed forward, murder on his mind, he heard Grace’s voice. “Don’t!”

  It was too late. His clenched fist slammed into the older man’s nose, a sickening crunch emitting from the fractured bone as he knocked him to the ground. Drake saw red. The only thing he could think of was the man, who was much older than he, was touching the woman he loved. He could feel Grace pulling at him and hear her screaming, “Stop! Drake stop!” Anger boiled through him, and he couldn’t. At least, until he heard her scream, “That’s my dad, you idiot!”

  Drake froze at that moment, his bloodied fist suspended in mid-air. “What?” Horror filled the pit of his stomach.

  “That’s my father! You’re beating the shit out of my father! Get off him, you moron!” Grace pushed at him, and he staggered away from the older man.

  “Oh my God, what have I done?” Drake whispered, wiping blood on his pants. “I’m so sorry.”

  The older man sat up with a chuckle as he wiped at the blood from his nose. “Grace, aren’t you a bit old to have a boy come to the yard and act a fool?”

  “Are you okay, Dad?” Drake watched her kneel beside her father and check over his discolored face. Then her gaze turned to him, and he flinched at the pure ice in her stare. “You…”

  “Grace!” Damien’s voice held a warning note, and Grace clenched her jaw.

  “You had no right coming here,” she finally murmured, her voice colder than her stare.

  “Grace, I’m sorry. Sir, I’m so sorry, I lost my temper.” Drake apologized profusely, knowing he was in deep, deep shit.

  “You losing your temper is like the understatement of the damn century!” Grace bellowed, her cheeks pinking in anger. “If you hadn’t taken off like a bat out of hell, you might’ve known that he was my dad. Instead, you threw a fit and ran away like a little boy. I don’t have time for this. I have my son to raise.” She turned her gaze back to her father and pushed his hair back from his forehead. “Are you okay?”

  Damien chuckled again. “I’m fine. Boy, you can throw a punch. I haven’t had the shit beat out of me like that in quite a while.”

  “This isn’t funny!” Grace shrieked, staring at the two of them. Damien started to laugh, and she threw her hands in the air. “Well, Cain damn sure won’t be acting like a barbarian.” She stood and stomped into the house, the sound of the door slamming reverberating through the air.

  Damien’s laughter tempered, and he held out his hand. “Well, come help me up.”

  Drake stepped over and took the older man’s hand. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Ah, it’s okay. I haven’t been beat up for not screwing someone in a while. Last time a big director got pissed off thinking I was dallying with his wife. I wasn’t. However, the beating was memorable.” Damien explained.

  “I’m a dumb ass,” Drake muttered.

  “Yeah, you are,” Damien agreed.

  “I screwed up,” Drake continued.

  “You’re the reason she came to Phoenix, aren’t you?” Damien grasped his nose and Drake shuddered as the man straightened his broken nose and wiped the blood on his pants.

  “Yeah,” Drake admitted, his head hung low.

  “Mmm…I gotta tell you, she’s been through a lot. I’m not too keen on you coming in here and hurting my girl. Because as mean as your punch is, kid, I know people who can put you six feet under, and no one would ever find you. Do we understand each other?” Damien held out his hand for Drake to shake, and Drake took it, nervously swallowing at the man’s threat.

  “I understand.”

  “You’re awfully old for my girl. How old are you?” Damien asked.

  “Twenty-nine,” Drake admitted.

  “Hah! I’m barely a decade older. Do you want a drink? We need a drink! Let’s go have one.” Damien breezed to the door, and Drake followed him.

  “Uh, should I go in there?” Drake paused at the front door, wondering if maybe he needed protection from the spitfire inside.

  “Yeah, Grace has probably taken the baby to the nursery and she’s in there stewing. She’ll be fine. She’s like her mama, she needs to cool off for a few.” Damien laughed good-naturedly, and Drake let out a weak chuckle.

  “She hates me,” Drake groaned.

  Damien closed the door behind them, and he took off down a hallway. “Maybe. If you haul ass now, you’ll never know, now will you?”

  Drake hurried down the hallway behind him, taking in the exquisite home. “I guess not.”

  “Then let her cool down and make it up to her.” Damien suggested. “Hold on, let me go get cleaned up.”

  Drake dawdled in the hallway while Damien disappeared to presumably wipe the blood from his face. A sharp howl had him wincing. A few moments later, Damien came from the bathroom with two pieces of tissue shoved in his nose.

  “Is everything okay?” Drake asked.

  “Sure, I straightened it up a bit and shoved some toilet paper in there to stop the bleeding. It’s not my first broken nose, and it won’t be my last. So, how about that drink?”

  “It sounds great. Should you go to the doctor? I mean, I hit you pretty hard.”

  “Nah, I got it back in place. No big deal. After the last one I just saved the little piece they use to tape it down and hold it steady. I’ll stick it on there tonight.” Damien shrugged and pointed to a door. “Here’s my office.”

  Turning the conversation back to grace, Drake murmured, “I have a lot of making up to do, I’m afraid,” he let out a low whistle of appreciation. “Nice office.”

  “Yep, it sure is. Sex really does sell.”

  Drake gave him a startled look. “What?”

  “I make pornos.” Damien smiled widely. “Want some scotch, son?”

  “I’d love one.” Drake sighed. “Can I sit?”

  “You’ve got an ass, don’t you?” Damien laughed, pouring scotch into two cut glass tumblers.

  Drake chuckled weakly and plopped into a leather chair. “You’re being really reasonable about this.”

  “When you’ve been in the business I’ve been in as long as I have, you learn not to stress a good fist to the face,” Damien explained, handing him a glass of amber colored scotch.

  “I just saw red. All I could think about was her with you.” Drake sighed. “I messed up.”

  “Yeah, you did. There’s still time to make it right,” Damien agreed.

  “Can you tell me something?” Drake asked as he nursed the scotch.

  “Sure, I’ll do what I can.” Damien offered as he sat in his chair and took a sip of his scotch. “Ahh, that hits the spot.”

  “Is Christina really dead?” Drake asked softly, hoping his voice wouldn’t carry to wherever Grace was in the mansion. The last thing he wanted to do was make her cry again.

  Damien’s face grew sad. “Yeah, she is. It’s really been hard on Grace.”

  “Is that kid hers?” He pressed.

  “It’s hers and Grace’s, yeah. You gotta understand she’s fiercely loyal to that baby, and if you want
her, you take him too. She won’t stand for anything less,” Damien remarked, taking another draught of his scotch.

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less. So, he’s Christina’s biological son? This all has thrown me for a loop, I got an e-mail from Christina, apparently on the day she died saying that the baby was mine and that Grace was with you, not just as father and daughter. That’s why I was acting like an ass. I thought you two were an item.” Drake explained.

  “On the day she died? That’s impossible.” Damien scoffed. “That girl was so sick for weeks before she died. No way.”

  Drake pulled out his new phone and logged into the mobile e-mail. “See, look.” He located the e-mail and passed it to the older man.

  Damien took the phone and read the e-mail. His brow furrowed. “That’s impossible.”

  “Well, I didn’t send it to me. Someone sent it to me, from her e-mail,” Drake insisted.

  “Well, stranger things have happened. Maybe the girl had someone do it for her. She loved Grace that much was evident. I believe she wouldn’t have wanted Grace to be alone. Grace explained that you had come back to the dorm and Christina turned you away and never told her. Maybe she tried to fix things when she knew she wouldn’t be here for Grace anymore. I don’t know. We may never know. You’re here now. So tell me.” Damien paused and finished off his scotch. “What are your intentions with my daughter?”

  “Well, I-I…” Drake drained his scotch. “I don’t know.”

  Damien stood and poured himself another scotch. “Don’t think you’re about to screw her and leave.”

  “No, of course not,” Drake agreed.

  “Because I’d hate to hunt you down. I know who you are. You’re in some band. Ladder something or other. Grace panics when she sees anything about you on TV.” Damien swirled the amber liquid around in his glass, sat back in his chair, and took another sip.

  Drake winced. “She does?”

  “Yep. She’s hurting.” Damien explained.

  “Do you have any suggestions on how I can fix things?” Drake begged, hoping to glean any information from the older man about his daughter.

  “Oh no, no way in hell. You have to earn her back. You’re on your own. Know this. There will be no sex in this house,” Damien warned.

  “I understand.” Drake assured him.

  “I sure hope so…” Damien’s implied threat left his blood running cold. “I’d do a whole lot worse to you than give you a broken nose, son.”

  Chapter Six

  Grace stomped around the nursery, much to the delight of Cain, who gurgled at her each time she passed by his bouncer.

  “Can you believe him, Cain?” Grace huffed. She was wiping down every surface of Cain’s nursery with baby wipes, scrubbing furiously to ease her irritation. “He just thinks he can come in here like a crazy person and I’m just supposed to fall in his arms like a year hasn’t passed since the last time we saw each other. My whole life is different now! I have responsibilities. He’s a rock God and probably kisses tons of girls. When you grow up, I’m not going to have that sort of behavior from you. You be nice to girls, young man. And no fist fights. It’s just not what a gentleman should be doing, do you understand?”

  Cain laughed a sweet, tiny baby laugh that made Grace smile. “You understand me, don’t you? You know I’m mad and you’re just making me feel better. You’re so cute!” She swept him up in her arms and kissed his cheek. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Cain, I love you.” She hugged the baby tightly as tears filled her eyes. “Why does life have to be confusing? Why can’t we just have a simple life?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She stared at the baby, who definitely hadn’t suddenly begun speaking in a sexy, rough timbre of a voice. Whirling around and clutching the baby, she glared at Drake in the doorway. “You.”

  “Me,” he admitted. “Stupid, foolish me.”

  “You got that right,” Grace quipped. “What are you doing up here? This is my son’s nursery, and I prefer to keep trash out of it.”

  Drake gripped his chest and frowned. “Ouch, you wound me. When did that tongue get so sharp?”

  “It’s always been sharp, I just never polished it on you. My words are mild compared to what you did to my dad. You shouldn’t even be up here. What, did you sneak in?” Grace bent and put Cain back in his bouncer, realizing as she did that she no longer had protection from the big, hulking man who filled the doorframe so perfectly. She snatched up the tub of baby wipes and continued to clean the surfaces that were already spotless.

  “No, he invited me in,” Drake answered.

  “I see. Well, I’m disinviting you. You can go.” Grace paused in her cleaning and stared at him. “Go on.”

  “This isn’t your house.” A smile stretched across his perfect mouth, and Grace longed to slap it off his face, or kiss it off, and it scared her that she didn’t know which one she wanted most.

  “It will be one day,” Grace growled, anger pulsing through her. She was angry with him for leaving, for not trying harder to reach her after everything fell apart at Yale.

  “Well, until it’s yours, I’m going to hang out right here in this doorway as long as I’m welcome.” Drake smiled wider.

  Grace threw away the baby wipe she’d been cleaning with and picked up Cain. “Well, I certainly don’t have to be in your presence.” She rushed through the door that connected her bedroom to the nursery and locked it. Before she could close her bedroom door, he was there, filling the opening again.

  “Sneaky little Grace. There will be no running this time,” Drake drawled and Grace couldn’t stop the throb of desire that shot through her at his words.

  “I’m not running,” She insisted, her words much colder than her internal temperature that was steadily rising. “I never have. I just chose to no longer have to deal with you.”

  “Funny, I distinctly remember you running the night at the hotel. Was it too real for you, Grace? Did you feel things you’ve never felt before and you couldn’t handle it? Did you shatter beneath me and it scared you?” His lips turned up again, and Grace felt a flush rise up her cheeks at the memory of their one magical night together.

  “It was hardly all that,” she muttered, turning away from him so he couldn’t see the flush that heated her skin.

  “Your mouth tells me one thing, and your body another,” Drake murmured, suddenly right behind her, the heat of his breath warming her ear.

  She jumped and put distance between them, which wasn’t much in her small bedroom. “Get out.”

  “Why? Your bedroom is nice.” Grace bristled as Drake hopped up on the edge of her bed and fell back on her coverlet.

  I’ll never get rid of the smell of him on my blankets! Dear God, why is this man torturing me?

  “Don’t,” Grace whispered. “Don’t do this to me.”

  “Don’t do what?” Drake sighed softly. “Love you? Worship you? Make you scream in pleasure? Don’t worry about the last one, I can’t do that…yet.”

  The throb of desire between her thighs became unbearable at his uttered ‘yet.’ “Don’t be here. Just go.” Grace choked out.

  “I can’t.” Drake shifted to his belly on her bed. “I screwed up my best friend’s car. I’m gonna be stuck here at least a couple of weeks to get it fixed. Damien already told me I could stay. I mean, I can’t go back to L.A. and have Toby kick my ass.”

  “Language!” Grace hissed, using one hand to cover Cain’s ear. “He’s innocent!”

  “And he has no idea what I just said, here, let me clean it up. I can’t have Toby kick my behind. How’s that?” Drake grinned up at her, and he held out his hands for the baby. “Can I see him?”

  “No.” Grace refused. “You can’t.”

  “I won’t break him.” Grace’s heart thundered as Drake stuck his lower lip out.

  “You might break me,” she finally whispered, tears filling her eyes.

  Drake shifted up to sitting and shook his head
slowly. “No, not this time. I got that e-mail for a reason, Grace. I was a fool, and I gave myself a million reasons why I should leave you alone. I thought I was saving you, Grace. I was wrong. I was scared. I know what I felt that night in the hotel, and it was real. And deep down, you know you felt it too.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Grace shot back, opening the door to Cain’s nursery and rushing back to the quiet sanctuary.

  “Are we going to run back and forth through every room in this mansion?” Drake asked, his sigh loud in the serenity of the room.

  “Maybe,” Grace offered.

  “Then I’ll do it. This time, you’re going to listen to me. You’re going to listen to me when I say that I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you since the minute I saw you in the bar wearing that tight little red dress. I know people say there’s no such thing as love at first sight, but they’re wrong. I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with you. And I’m going to. Even if that means spending years trying to win you. I’ll win you, Grace. Understand that. You’re the ultimate prize, and I want it. I want it all. I want Cain, I want you. I want us.”

  Grace turned and stared at the beautiful man crowding her. “I can’t do this. Just go away, Drake.”

  “Why?” Drake pleaded, stepping forward with his hands outstretched. “Tell me why you want me to go.”

  “Because I don’t love you,” Grace lied, her heart in her throat. “I never did. You were just a notch in my belt.”

  Drake laughed then, his eyes twinkling. “Come on, Grace, come up with a better lie than that.”

  “I’m not lying!” she spluttered, a blush stealing back up her cheeks. “It was purely sexual for me.”

  “Oh? Well, I’m okay with it being purely sexual for you again until I can make you love me. Because I’m going to make you love me,” Drake promised, and Grace stepped away from his heat, jumping as her butt bumped into the crib. “Let me see Cain,” Drake asked again, holding his hands out. “Please?”