by Vivian Ward
The problem with that? I’d enjoy it. I’d enjoy it because I wanted to inflict the pain I felt on her, but at the same time, my sadistic mind would love every fucking minute of it. I still remember the way her pussy would instantly get wet at the slightest slap on the ass, and I could only imagine how wet she’d be if I gave her a full-fledged spanking.
But the worst part of it all? Every. Damn. Time. I saw her, my cock throbbed and fought like hell to get unleashed, and I had to tell it to settle the fuck down anytime I looked at her.
I hadn’t been laid in days, not since I threw the slut out of my room the night that she walked in and saw us. My balls ached, and my dick begged for release.
We were going to work this shit out, even if I had to ruin every damned pair of panties that she owned, shredding them until there wasn’t even a thread of fabric to stop me from burying my cock deep inside of her whenever I fucking pleased. I’d fuck her so hard until she was numb that she wouldn’t care about anything else.
Things were going to be much different than they were when I was growing up. My boy was going to have a mom and a dad, even if it killed her.
I’d drag her to the altar and make an honest woman out of her. Call it what you want: mom and dad, prisoner and captive, husband and wife. It was all going to mean the same damned thing.
I’d make her mine and watch her slide down to her knees, my fist in her hair, moaning and begging to suck my cock. It’d be like the good ole days before she betrayed me and lied to me, but this time, she’d be my wife.
I would make an honest woman out of her. It didn’t matter to me if it took us years to break down before we fucked again, I’d never let another man try to lay his claim on her.
But first, I had to get her out of that damned hotel. It wasn’t right to keep her and her parents caged up there like a bunch of rats.
As far as I could tell from the last couple of days, nothing was going on in the woods around her property. Whoever the hell was behind burying an arsenal of weapons on their property hadn’t shown their face to pick it back up.
It was only mid-morning, and the sun was starting to burn so brightly in the sky that I was already breaking out into a sweat as I walked back to my Jeep. Before I could even turn the key in the ignition, my cell phone started to ring.
“Hey, I know you’re busy, but I had to tell you that I finally got a hit on one of Mask’s charge cards.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“It was a third party vendor, but I’m running an analysis on them right now to see who they deal in business with so we can narrow it down to a few places and go from there,” Henry said.
“Cool. How’s everyone on your end?”
“The parents don’t like being here one bit, and she’s struggling with the baby to keep him happy. He’s fussy, and she says he’s bored.”
“I’m on my way there right now. Have you called Mr. Sanders and told him about Mask yet?”
“He doesn’t know anything right now. When I called he was in a meeting, but he’ll call me back later, I’m sure.”
“I’m sure he will.”
I was glad that Henry was able to find something on Mask, but there was no guarantee that Bethany was still with him. He could’ve sold her a dozen times over as long as they’d been off our radar, but if we could find him, it would eventually lead us to her.
I’d hate to be him if she wasn’t with him. Mr. Sanders gave me orders to keep him alive so that we could find her, but he didn’t say anything about how far I could torture the sick son-of-a-bitch.
Walking into the hotel lobby, I saw Bentley with Anita in a small play area. I hated to admit it, but she was damned good with that kid. He was grinning and laughing as she helped him down the slide.
I still couldn’t get over how much we looked alike; though, he had his mom’s nose. Admiring them playing for a few minutes was a painful reminder of how much of his life I had already missed out on, but I wasn’t going to miss out on another minute. Not anymore.
“Hey buddy,” I said, walking up to them.
The smile on Anita’s face faded, and she stepped away, observing us together.
“Are you having fun with mommy?” I glanced up at her. “Here, I brought you this.”
On my way to the hotel, I stopped by a toy store and bought him a brown teddy bear wearing a pair of blue jean overalls. It was the only thing I figured he could have as small as he was.
I didn’t want to get him anything that he could choke on, or that was too advanced for him to play with. Picking out his toy was another reminder of how little I knew in parenting, and I hated it. I should have known everything there is to know about my boy.
His tiny hands reached out and took the bear from me, a contagious grin spreading across his face as he cooed at it. The kid melted my fucking heart. It was incredible.
“Do you like teddy bears?” I smiled at him, rubbing his back.
God, it felt so good just to touch him, interact with him, and be with him. I couldn’t wait to spend the rest of my life raising him, teaching him things and showing him how to be a man.
I never wanted this moment to end. The one where he looked up at me with a big jack-o-lantern smile, his curly hair twigging off in a million little directions as he clutched the only toy I’d ever given him.
I looked up at Anita and even though she hated me for finding out her little secret and dragging her away from their home, I could tell that it touched her too.
No matter how much she wanted to stay pissed off at me, she couldn’t help but grin at us. For a second, I saw the love in her eyes that she once carried for me—and would always carry for Bentley—until she caught me staring at her.
She quickly wiped the look off of her face and folded her arms.
“How much longer are we going to have to stay here?”
“Well,” I stood up and leaned against the fence surrounding the play area. “The way I see it, you’re mine now, and we need to start living as a family so today, we’re going to go hunting for an apartment. I’ll let your parents decide what they want to do, but I strongly advise that they don’t go back to their property until I give them the clear.”
“What? We can’t just go apartment hunting. I’ve got too many bills to be playing house with an overgrown asshole such as yourself. And as for my parents, my dad has a car lot to run. He has to go back there. There’s no choice in the matter.”
“Look, babe, you can say what you want, but you don’t have a choice in the matter. You’re coming with me, like it or not. Let’s go get your things packed up while I have a talk with your folks.”
“What about Henry?” she asked, and I swear those words made my blood boil.
“What about Henry?” I said through gritted teeth. “That bastard can stay put up in a hotel until we finish what we came for. I don’t give a fuck if he has to sleep under a highway after he put his hands and lips on you. Right now, everything between us is strictly business, and if it weren’t for that, I would’ve already busted his fucking skull for putting his lips on you.”
Staring down at her before I opened the door to the hotel room, I couldn’t help but notice how fucking innocent and sweet she looked.
She was wearing a white summer dress that hugged her body perfectly, exposing just enough of her breasts to make my dick throb. It took every ounce of my being not to stare at her and think about all of the bad things I’d like to do to her in bed.
Her dad was sitting on the bed watching the news, and Henry was working on his laptop at the desk beside their bed.
“I was just finishing up. I only came in after she left,” he nodded at Anita.
Shawn shot a confused look between the two of us, waiting for an update from me about what was going on.
“I’ve been out in the woods for the last couple of days, and there hasn’t been any activity, but that doesn’t mean much in my book.
There’s no telling if they’ll ever come back, but there’s also no te
lling if they saw me and are waiting me out or they’re in jail or what the case might be. All I can say is that we’ll have to continue monitoring the situation.”
“So can we go back home?” her father asked.
“That’s up to you. Would I advise it? Absolutely not. I know you have a business to run, but is it worth your life? Could some of your other employees run it? Even if it’s just until we figure out what in the hell is going on?”
“No, I’m afraid not. I always ran it with the help of Anita and one other sales person. Honestly,” he rubbed his forehead, “we need another sales person to help out, but it’s hard to find someone reliable.”
“I can’t tell you what to do, but you do what you think is best. Just know and remember that I’m against it.”
“I’ll be fine,” he turned to Anita. “Come on; I’ll help you take all of your bags back home.”
I stepped in front of her. There was no way in hell I was giving her the option to go back home and take my son away from me again, and I sure as hell wasn’t shacking up with Pops.
“She’ll be coming with me. We’re going to get a place of our own and start living like a family.”
He studied me for a minute before looking at his daughter. Stepping beside her, I put my arm around her and pressed my fingers into her arms, letting her know there were no other options; no way was she getting out of this one.
“You sure? That’s what you want?” her mom asked her.
I tightened my grip on her and dug my fingers deeper into her arm, pulling her in closer to me.
“Y-yes,” she looked up at me. “We’re going to start living as a family now.”
She didn’t sound very convincing, and everyone in the room knew it.
“I think it’s best for the baby. He needs to get to know his dad,” she added, with a bit more confidence in her voice.
Her parents had looked at each of us before her dad focused his attention on her. “If you change your mind, you can always come back home.”
“I know,” she answered him, pulling the baby a little closer to her chest.
“All right, let’s get a move on. We’re burning daylight, and I want to start looking for a place today.”
Chapter 9: Anita
Bentley was quietly snuggled in the backseat as we drove down the main road, probably dreaming of his crib at home. A crib that he couldn’t—and wouldn’t—see for a long time, if ever. Gage was on his phone, returning a call-back for an appointment to look at a place.
I crossed my arms and let out a huff of air as I sighed; annoyed.
“Where are we going anyway? I can’t imagine you made many appointments, but that could be a good thing,” I studied his face as I pulled my hair out of my face.
The warm summer breeze was tangling and knotting my hair, threatening to break every twisted strand if I ever got it untangled.
“Why is that?”
He seemed uninterested but asked anyway.
“Because Bentley’s going to need to eat soon. He had breakfast at the butt crack of dawn; I’m sure he’ll be getting hungry before too long.”
“If he starts fussing, we can stop but I’ve got three appointments lined up for this afternoon,” he looked over at me, licking his lips. “And you’re gonna pick one of them. I’m not playing around, Anita. This isn’t a house hunt for the perfect new home. You’ll tell me which place you like the best, and I’ll sign the papers.”
I couldn’t believe him but as stunned as I was, I expected it. That’s the kind of person he was, and maybe that’s why I hid Bentley from him for so long.
I was afraid of what he would say or do, but there was no turning back now. It was undeniable that Bentley was his and now that Gage knew about him, he made it obvious that they would not be separated.
Not ever again.
We only made it through the first place that he had scheduled before the baby started demanding food, and I was glad to get out of there. It was a small, two bedroom apartment and it was a little on the dumpy side. Several of the walls had large cracks going from the ceiling to the floor, and the walls were discolored. It didn’t help that the old woman showing us around the apartment smelled like piss and cats.
“What does he like to eat?” Gage asked as I strapped him back into his car seat.
“He’s pretty flexible, but his favorite food is chicken nuggets. He practically inhales those things.”
“You know, despite the fact that you kept him from me, you’ve done a good job raising him. He’s happy, healthy and,” he glanced in the backseat, “very well fed, judging by those round, puffy cheeks of his.”
We both laughed for a moment, and it made the feeling in the car a hundred times lighter.
“So this moving thing, is it negotiable? I don’t wanna leave my parents all alone; my dad could use my help on the car lot.”
“Like it or not, I’m going to protect you guys, and I’m not leaving your side. It’s not safe to go back there—at least not yet. We’re going to give this a shot, and I’m not leaving anything to chance. Maybe one day, if the time’s right, we can all go back there, but I’d say to give this a fighting chance, we need our space. I’m going to make you my wife, and you’re going to love me, or you’ll die pretending till your last breath. I’ll be damned if my kid’s gonna grow up a bastard like his old man.”
So much for that.
“Just so you know, my son and I aren’t living in any dumps, not like the place we just went to. I’ll—”
“Listen, babe. These are just showings. I said you could pick, didn’t I? I want you and the boy to be happy. Hell, I want us to all be happy. Don’t you get that? I didn’t say every place we’re going to is a fucking palace today; they’re just starter places.”
After lunch, we headed to the next place on the list. It was a three-bedroom rental house with updated bathrooms and an updated kitchen, but I wasn’t holding my breath until I saw it even though it sounded nice. We had arrived a little before the landlord did.
“Hop out, go have a look around; I’ve got the kid,” he took Bentley out of his car seat and tossed him up in the air, catching him in his hands before I had a near heart attack.
I walked up to the house and peeked in the front windows. The living room looked decent; not too big and not too small, but I couldn’t tell anything about the paint or carpet because it was so dark inside and I was standing on my tiptoes as it was. Hearing a car door shut, I turned around; embarrassed that the landlord had caught me peeking through the windows.
“You guys the Miller’s?” he asked with a toothpick hanging out of his mouth as he ran his thumb around the waistband of his pants.
“We will be,” Gage said, shaking the man’s hand as he glared at me.
You son-of-a-bitch. I bet you just love telling people that I’m going to marry you, even though they don’t know you’re forcing me to.
I smiled politely, not giving away how badly I wanted to punch Gage right in the gut.
“Well, this place isn’t the fanciest that you young kids are prolly lookin’ for, but I’d imagine you might like it,” he pried the front door open with his key and held his arm out for us to enter first.
Gage nodded at me, allowing me to go inside first.
When I first walked in, all I could smell was fresh paint. The walls were much nicer than the apartment, but the carpet was old. Old, but no stains and still functional; I could deal. First on my checklist was the kitchen since I loved to cook.
“Which way’s the kitchen?” I asked the man.
“O’er there,” he pointed.
I hadn’t noticed that he was missing a few of his teeth until he spoke to me up close.
The kitchen was all right; decent size, white cabinets with a linoleum floor that looked like a variety of gray stones. I liked the fact that it had a gas stove, and the fridge was plenty big for us.
Running my fingers along the countertops, I noticed that it was a slick, gray granite countertop and
it matched the flooring.
Satisfied with the kitchen, I went to check out the size of the bedrooms while Gage and the landlord continued talking in the front room.
He was telling him something about the furnace and the plumbing; typical guy shit. And just like before, Gage didn’t bother himself with checking things out. It was like he didn’t even care.
The bedrooms were okay. Nothing to write home about, but they weren’t too small, either. The closet space would do, though I could use more; and all of the bedrooms had the same old carpet the rest of the house had. At least it all matched, and it was dark so if Bentley spilled anything the stains wouldn’t be noticeable.
In the master bath, there was a basic shower and a small vanity. It was clean, and just like the carpet, functional. For a rental house, it was nice considering that any houses that my friends rented weren’t this updated.
“Where is the laundry room?” I asked, walking into the living room.
Bentley was busy crawling around on the floor, checking things out as Gage watched over him like a hawk.
“There’s a half basement, nothing special. Concrete. There are washer and dryer hook-ups down there; watch your head going down the steps because the ceiling is low. The door to the basement is near the back door, it’s the one with the black handle and has a skeleton keyhole.”
Great. It’s probably the portal to hell, which might be the whole reason Gage brought me to this place.
Creeping down the stairs, I noticed he was right about the ceiling. Whoever built this place did a hell of a job trying to knock people out if they tried to run down to the basement in a hurry. The musty basement smell overpowered my senses. Damn. I could taste it because it was so strong.
Yep, he was right.
It was a tiny concrete slab under the steps that wrapped around to a washer and dryer hook up. There certainly wasn’t much storage area, but how much would we need? The boards of the steps creaked and groaned under my feet as I walked back upstairs.