Daddy's Home (Firebacks Book 1)

by Linda Verji

  “Harder,” she ordered.

  “Are you sure you can take it?” The worry in his voice was evident, even in the hushed darkness.

  “Pregnant…not glass,” she somehow managed to say as she squeezed him hard inside her.

  He took her for her word. Within moments he’d flipped her negligee over her head, turned her to her stomach and onto her knees. Then he lost control.

  His strokes were short, fast, and desperate as he worked himself into her. Over and over again. Their position allowed him to reach below her and play with her clit as he stroked inside her. Within moments he had her legs shaking and her walls contracting around his dick. The second wave of pleasure hit her hard. It was all he needed to drive him over the edge, too.

  Well pleasured and tired, Zain collapsed on the bed. She cuddled up against him with her eyes closed and her head tucked into his shoulders as she let exhaustion take her over.

  “Baby?” Lucky’s voice pricked her already fading consciousness.

  “Mm?”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Tomo…” Zain couldn’t finish the word.

  * * *

  They didn’t get a chance to talk the next day. By the time Zain awakened from a dreamless and reinvigorating sleep, the kids were up and begging for her attention. The Ford family had barely finished their breakfast when Chryssa popped up with Tasha and Asia, her daughter, in tow. Operation Free Tasha had apparently been successful, but the worn expression on Tasha’s face said she wasn’t too happy about it.

  Lucky took his cue to leave at the ladies’ arrival.

  Zain somehow managed to convince him to take the kids, including Asia, with him for a couple of hours. After giving him a searing kiss promising him very exciting rewards when he came back, she sent them off.

  Zain had just suggested having a dinner party in the guise of a house-warming the next week and inviting all their friends when Chryssa dropped a bombshell.

  “I’m seeing someone.” It wasn’t a big statement! At least it wouldn’t have been if it was coming from anyone other than Chryssa.

  “What?” Zain turned in shock.

  “What?” The statement was enough to even startle Tasha out of the nervous silence she’d gone into since Lucky and the kids had left them.

  This Chryssa? The same Chryssa who’d sworn up and down New York that she’d slit her own wrists before she’d let a man run a.k.a. date her. The same Chryssa who’d kept said promise for the over thirty years of her life was seeing someone?

  No! She was playing them.

  “I’m seeing someone,” Chryssa repeated. “I just wanted to let you guys know so that you can stop throwing men at me.”

  “No,” Zain protested, “you can’t just drop a bomb like that and then expect us not to ask the obvious question: Who is it?”

  The three of them were seated on the carpeted floor around the small, glass coffee table with poker chips piled in front of them and cards in their hands. Chryssa’s expression was perfectly serious as she stared at her cards. “Nobody important.”

  “Nobody important?” Zain guffawed. She’d been trying to fix up Chryssa since forever and the woman always managed to sabotage any dates Zain set up for her. “Come on, spill. Who finally changed your mind?”

  “Aaron?” Tasha asked in reference to Chryssa’s assistant.

  “No, he’s gay.” Zain shook her head. “Victor?”

  Chryssa didn’t look up from her cards.

  “King?” Tasha asked.

  Living with Chryssa had been eye opening, to say the least. The girl had secrets. One of which was that she preferred to hire hookers to ‘service’ her instead of dating. King was her regular ‘man’ but from what Zain had seen, there was nothing there. Zain shook her head. “I don’t think so. Eli?”

  Zain wasn’t even thinking when she tossed the name out, but the sudden way Chryssa whipped her head towards her said she’d hit the mark.

  “Eli?” Zain’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open in shock. Wasn’t it just the other day that Eli had laughed in her face when she’d suggested he get to know Chryssa? “When?”

  “Who’s Eli?” Tasha asked.

  “You remember my doctor friend at the hospital.” Zain explained, “You guys met him when we—”

  Chryssa protested, “I’m not dating Eli. Why would I date that arrogant stuck-up ass. You two bitches need to quit being so nosy. Up in my busi—”

  “Ooh.” Tasha’s eyes lit in recognition. “You’re seeing that Eli?”

  “I’m not seeing, Eli.” Chryssa protested.

  “When did this thing with you and Eli—” Zain’s phone vibrated on the coffee table cutting off her words. The number that blinked on the screen was strange. She held up a finger. “Hold up, let me see who this is… Zain Ford.”

  “I want to leave and your man is holding me up!” Sonia’s voice came across the line. “It’s been long enough and that nigga hasn’t brought me my money. Tell him to get me my million today or I’m walking with the kid.”

  “Excuse me?” Zain was shocked.

  “Bitch, you heard me.” The dial tone immediately followed.

  Zain only saw red as she hurled the phone. It slammed into the wall and crumbled to the floor in several pieces. Who did Sonia Milán think she was?

  “Zain.” Chryssa and Tasha turned to her startled.

  She hadn’t felt anger so potent since she’d gone after Nadifa. Zain stood with her hands on her hips. “Mm. That bitch… Ooh, that bitch!”

  “What bitch?” Chryssa asked.

  “I don’t know who the hell that bitch thinks I am. I’m not the woman to mess with. Ooh! Sonia…Sonia…Sonia...” Just saying the woman’s name made Zain want to crack skulls. Why shouldn’t she? Zain walked to the TV unit and grabbed her car keys.

  “Woah! Woah!” Chryssa ran up behind her and snatched them away. “Where are you going?”

  “Sonia’s about to get her punk ass beat.” Zain kissed her teeth as she turned to face her friends who stood too. “Who does she think is her messenger dog? Talking about Lucky giving her a million dollars.”

  What million? Was he trying to give that trick their money? The moment she set her eyes on him, Lucky was getting an ass whooping too.

  “You promised you were going to control your temper better,” Tasha reminded her. “And you’re pregnant.”

  “So?” These were extenuating circumstances and her baby probably wanted to beat Sonia too! She wriggled her fingers at Chryssa. “Give me my keys”

  “Come and get them, Lil Miss Gangster.” Chryssa dangled the keys high above her head.

  There was no way Zain could get her car keys with Chryssa being so tall, not even if she was willing to embarrass herself by jumping up and down. Zain turned towards the door, “I don’t have time for this. I can walk.”

  “You know I’m all about snatching bitches, but Tasha’s right. You’re pregnant,” Chryssa said as she grabbed her arm. “And you can’t be risking my goddaughter like that.”

  “Seriously. Calm down.” Tasha added as she grabbed Zain’s other arm and they tagged her towards the seat. “You know it’s not good for the baby.”

  It took a while for them to calm Zain down.

  “I should probably just let Lucky give her that money,” Zain commented once she was sane enough to think through the phone call and put two and two together. “Maybe it’ll get her out of our lives, you know?”

  “No. That trick doesn’t deserve a dime of your money,” Chryssa said.

  “We won’t have child support payments on our credit cards every month and she won’t be able to barge in and out of our house all the time because she’ll be gone.” The more Zain thought about it, the more sense it made.

  “You can’t give her the money!” a frantic air filled Tasha’s insistent protest.

  “Why?” Zain asked. She’d already made up her mind. She was so tired of all this drama with Sonia. If a million dollars was what it‘d t
ake to get rid of Sonia, then it was worth it. The hoe could have it in all ones if she wanted it.

  “Lucky isn’t Ash’s father.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” Zain was sure her ears had deceived her. She had to be hallucinating.

  There was a pregnant pause as both Zain and Chryssa stared at Tasha like she’d grown a second and third head. Tasha took a deep breath and clarified, “Ash is Polo’s son.”

  CHAPTER 25

  “We need to talk.” The worst combination of words in the English language and Zain was saying them to him. To make matters worse, she’d called him using her second line, the one she only used in emergencies. “Halake drop the kids off at your mom’s then come over.”

  “Even Asia?” He tried to keep the dread from his voice.

  “Even Asia,” Zain confirmed. “Tasha is on the way to your mom’s now and she’ll pick her up from there.”

  Damn! It had to be bad if even her friends had left.

  She’d found out about the million dollars?

  No, she couldn’t have. After one night with her he knew that he’d do everything possible to get her back into the same house and bed as him ASAP. Zain would’ve never agreed to pay Sonia and asking her would’ve taken them even more steps back and even more weeks apart. This was the only way to get rid of Sonia forever.

  He’d asked Victor to lend him the money this morning while she was in the shower. Rather than taking the money from their joint account, he’d elected to borrow it from Victor because it was guaranteed that Zain would never find out about the money if he paid it back in small installments. And Victor would never snitch on him.

  “Okay, baby,” he said. “Give me about thirty.”

  “Okay.” She paused for a moment then added, “I love you, Lucky.”

  What was he missing? He was in trouble, but she loved him so whatever he’d done wasn’t as bad as he thought or was she just distracting him before she went for the jugular. She ended the call before he could ask for clarification.

  Tasha was waiting for him outside his mom’s house, pacing the front steps nervously. The moment Asia alighted the car, Tasha practically fled away. He considered dallying, but decided that it was best to get it over and done with. Zain would throw a few punches, tell him what he’d done wrong then he’d start solving whatever ‘it’ was. Again.

  Damn! He was tired of the drama.

  Lucky took a deep breath and pressed Zain’s buzzer. When she finally got to the door, the first thing he noticed were her red eyes – she’d been crying.

  Whoa! He must’ve done something really shitty.

  He was however pleasantly surprised when she immediately jumped into his arms.

  “What’s the matter?” He lifted her and closed the door before he carried her to the loveseat where he sat her in his lap. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Her voice held tears. “Will you ever forgive me? I am so sorry for not trusting you!”

  “Baby, what are you talking about?”

  “I put you through so much.” She stroked his face as she spoke, sadness in the brown depths of her eyes. “I hit you. I hurt you. I left you when you were just being a man and taking care of a mistake that wasn’t even yours. Baby, I am so, so sorry. Will you ever forgive me?”

  She hadn’t ever apologized for leaving in their counseling sessions. What was going on?

  “You didn’t do anything wrong.” He kissed her forehead. “You just had a normal reaction to your man dipping. I’m the one who’s sorry.”

  “Promise me you won’t blow up when I tell you something.”

  “You know you can tell me anything.”

  Zain took a few deep breaths. “Ashenafi is Polo’s son.”

  What? He was too shocked to voice the word.

  “Polo is Ashenafi’s father,” Zain emphasized. “Polo faked your DNA test.”

  It took a while for the words to register, but slowly and surely they seeped in through every limb and nerve of his body like poison. Cold, heated rage curled in Lucky’s veins and slithered through his blood stream like an awoken python.

  “Get off me.” His voice sounded cold as he tried to push Zain off him, even to his ears.

  Zain’s eyes widened and alarm suffused her expression. She locked her arms around his neck and resisted his efforts to deposit her on the loveseat. “No, let’s talk it out first. You’re not going anywhere like this.”

  What was there to talk about? He wasn’t even capable of thought, what made her think he could talk? He was a ticking time bomb that had no abort switch. Lucky stood with Zain still clinging to him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her weight almost slowed his movements – almost, but not quite.

  He walked to the door and unlocked her legs from his flanks as he walked until she hung onto him by her arms. Zain let her arms fall away and rushed to the door the moment she was on her feet. She plastered her body against the wood, spread-eagle as she pleaded, “Baby, please don’t go like this.”

  It was easy to pluck her from her position in front of the door and put her aside.

  “Lucky, please.” She followed him down the stairs on bare feet and when he pressed on his car keys to open the doors to his truck, she sprinted towards the passenger side. It’d been good thinking on her part because had he gotten into the truck before her, he’d have driven off without her.

  “Where are we going, baby?” Zain asked as he started the car. There was no response from Lucky. He only backed out of the parking lot with one destination in mind. Zain tried to take his hand, but he shook hers off. He might’ve hurt her feelings, but he didn’t want or need to be touched. She continued to ask him questions as he drove in an attempt to draw him back to sanity, but Lucky couldn’t hear her over the blood rushing in his ears.

  Minutes later, he drove up to their mansion. He didn’t open her door, but she managed to scramble out of the car using his side and followed him into the house on quick feet. They’d just entered the foyer when Zain suddenly sprinted for the stairs.

  It was like she’d read his mind because that was where he was headed. He loped up the stairs after her. He found her in their room, rifling through his bedside drawer. She came up with his gun. “Are you looking for this?”

  Lucky made a grab for her, but Zain darted into the bathroom and dropped the gun into the toilet. Any intentions Lucky had had of shooting someone sank into the blue water of the toilet bowl along with the blank metal. It was okay because there were other ways to kill a rat. He strode from the bathroom, bedroom, and back down the stairs. Zain dogged his heels every step of the way.

  “What are you going to do now, huh?” Zain grabbed his arm, but he shook her off. “Just calm down, Halake.”

  Ignoring Marilynn’s shocked gaze as they trooped into the kitchen, he opened one of the cabinets beneath the sink and removed several garbage bags. Lucky balled them in his fist and walked past the patio and towards the pool-house.

  He didn’t bother knocking, only pushed the door open roughly. The bang as it slammed into the wall was enough to draw Sonia – in just her towel – out of the bedroom. Sonia – the woman who’d damn near destroyed his life and family!

  “What’s going …” The sentence died on Sonia’s lips as she stared at Lucky and her eyes widened in alarm. It was hard to ignore the anger that radiated off of him. She hastily backed into the bedroom and locked the door.

  A loud crushing followed as Lucky crashed his foot into the wood. Sonia’s high-pitched scream was muted by the sound of the shuttering hinges. Her demon-like echoes only irritated him further. Lucky was on edge, his eyes twitched and his palms were sweaty as he stared at the shrieking Sonia. He was only a second from taking her over the cliff with him.

  “Shut up!” Zain’s words cracked over Sonia’s shrieks.

  She instantly quieted down, but her eyes darted between Lucky and Zain in fear. When Lucky moved further into the room, she scooted back against the wall. If she were an insect she�
�d have crawled up it in under a minute. Lucky ignored her heading straight for the closet. He quickly began to empty it of Sonia’s belongings. Without a word, Zain joined him.

  The husband and wife team worked in silence, filling up the garbage bags with Sonia’s shoes, clothes, beauty products, hangers and all. Lucky’s anger should’ve abated with the silence, but it didn’t.

  His anger kept building as he stuffed more of Sonia’s things into the garbage bags. It grew with every expensive item he grabbed; expensive items she’d stocked her closet with at the expense of his marriage. By the time everything was packed up, it all fit into nine bags but his anger still felt like an untamed animal trapped in a cage growling for release. He needed someone to take it out on.

  Polo!

  He heaved one of the bags over his shoulder and grabbed Sonia by the arm. There was obvious fear in her expression, but she didn’t make a sound as he dragged her out of his pool house. Her silence was a blessing because there was no way Lucky would’ve held his hand if she’d have uttered a sound.

  “Open.” Lucky bid the surprised guard when they reached the gates. Once the gates were open, he dumped both the garbage bag and the still toweled Sonia outside. Ignoring her now that she was officially purged from his life, he turned back to the guard. “There’s more of her garbage in the pool house. Make sure someone takes it out.”

  “Yes Mr. Ford.”

  One problem solved. One more to go!

  Zain was waiting for him beside his truck. He clicked on his keys without a word and opened both of their doors. As he started the car, she said, “Just so you know, I’m not letting you go to prison.”

  Lucky didn’t answer. Was he supposed to say that there wasn’t a good chance he’d be going to jail for murder? That’d be lying.

  If Zain wanted to be there for the show, that was her problem!