Man Of Steel

by Silver, Jordan

  “Come ‘ere baby, there’s nothing to worry about. I’m just gonna go see where lil bit got off to and I’ll call you in a minute. Look at me. It’s under control okay, no worrying think about the baby.” She nodded her head at me but I knew she wouldn’t listen. Holly was hers too and she would feel the same fear I did until this shit was resolved.

  I called the guys on the way to the school letting them know what was going on and to be on the lookout. I’d already ascertained that the tracker in her ID bracelet wasn’t working or had been taken off because it was showing her on school grounds and I’m pretty sure the cops weren’t such fuck ups that they would miss a little tow headed sprite in their midst.

  I headed right to where the signal said she was, knowing exactly what I would find. Her bracelet was lying in the grass almost casually, like it had just fallen off her hand. But I knew better, I knew there was no way for it to come off unless it was taken off and the only way the person could know what it was, was if someone told them.

  The only ones who knew, was her mother, Lily and I and I knew Lily had no part in this so that left only one person. I found the cops and the principal along with Holly’s teacher in the office like that’s where the fuck they were gonna find my kid. I heard the engines of about twenty odd bikes roaring down the street headed this way.

  “What happened?” I directed my question to Deanna because although Holly was taken off of school grounds I had no doubt that she had something to do with it. She looked at the cops, maybe for protection, who knows? But in that moment she was right to be afraid. I’d never come this close to fucking her up before, and a room full of cops or not I was holding onto my temper by a thread.

  “I don’t know what happened…I”

  “Mr. Masters if I may have a word with you.” The head detective in charge stepped aside and waited for me to follow him. He started off his spiel with how he knew I was once one of them and they were doing everything in their power to find my kid and all the other bullshit.

  “Yeah? You plan on finding her standing around in here? She’s been missing for hours didn’t they tell you?”

  “Yes but we were only informed a half an hour ago.” I glared at Deanna who cowered back in her seat but now was not the time to let loose on her ass. First things first I had to find my daughter.

  The cops did their questioning as to where I was and all the shit they needed to get out of the way before they could proceed. They had already issued an Amber alert and done all the necessary things that were needed in situations like this. The irony was not lost on me and I thought, not for the first time since getting the call. If this might be payback for one of those times that I’d stepped in and saved a kid from a monster.

  I couldn’t let myself go there. Couldn’t think on what may or may not be happening to my little girl right now. I just focused on finding her and getting her back in one piece. When the cops were through doing their thing and a search team had been coordinated it was time for me to go do my own thing.

  I met with my guys out in the parking lot and gave them a quick rundown. I had no leads and nowhere to start, because Deanna swore she didn’t know who could’ve taken our daughter. But I already had my own ideas about that. “First place I want you guys is at this Paul’s apartment and any other place you’ve tracked him before. I could be wrong but my money’s on him.” the only thing that kept me from being one hundred percent certain about that was why in the fuck Deanna would tell that hump about the bracelet.

  “I’ll follow you home Deanna.” I stopped her in the parking lot as she headed for her car. What I had to say to her wasn’t fit for public consumption. The cops set up strobe lights because darkness was setting in and there were volunteers lined up to start the search. Since it was already dark the search wouldn’t last too long tonight and they’d pick it up in the morning, at least that’s what the cop had said when he told Deanna it would be better if she were at home just in case there was a ransom call.

  I followed her home while some of my guys went off in the directions I’d sent them and my three shadows followed me. When we reached the house I overlooked her distress and repeated apologies. There was so much wrong with the way she’d handled this shit that I didn’t know where to begin.

  “Who did you tell about the bracelet?” She opened her mouth and I knew her so well that I knew she was about to lie to me. “And don’t fucking lie to me, you’ve fucked up enough as it is.” She wrung her hands and looked away.

  “I might’ve mentioned something to Paul about it a while back.”

  Fucking bitch, I ought to ring her fucking neck. “What else might you have told him and when is the last time you saw him?”

  “Um, he came by not too long ago, maybe a couple days.” Now she was nervous and she had every right to be. “After I told you not to have this guy around my kid.”

  I was barely holding onto my temper by a thread, but I needed to get as much information out of her as possible before I ended her ass. Somewhere out there I knew that sick fuck had her in his clutches and who knows what the fuck he was doing while I was here wasting time with this piece of navel lint. What the fuck was I thinking when I hitched up with her?

  I got all I could out of her lying ass to try to get some type of handle on where this guy might be. In all the time he’s been on the scene I was never able to get beyond a certain level while researching him and that thought more than any bothered me right now. There was always something about him other than the obvious that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Now she was telling me how she’d told him about Holly’s security detail and shit.

  I knew that she’d done it out of spite. Ever since Lily’s pregnancy she’s been acting crazier than usual but I never thought for one second that she would put my daughter in danger. I listened to her until she wound down and when I was sure I’d gotten everything out of her I let her see what I really thought of her. If I could’ve killed her then and there and get away with it I would’ve. Maybe I still could, and who would blame me? She’d practically hand delivered my kid to a man she’d been warned had a violent past.

  “What the fuck were you thinking?”

  “I didn't know.”

  “I don't give a fuck about you and what you didn't know. Anything happens to my kid you're dead. Pack your shit and get the fuck outta my house. Now.”

  “This is my home.” She flew up from the couch where she’d been sitting as I read her the riot act.

  “No, here is where I let you stay for my daughter’s sake but since there isn’t a snowballs chance in hell that I'll ever let you near her again, there's no need for you to be here any longer.”

  “You can't do this, she's mine too.”

  “If you're here when I get back I will gut you and bury your ass somewhere.” Her eyes widened and she stumbled backwards.

  “Oh yes bitch you fucked up royally. The next time you see my kid she'll be thirty fucking years old. By then she'll know how to take care of herself. No contact from now on, not even a fucking postcard.”

  I turned and left after that, her tears and pleading bullshit didn’t mean shit to me. Now I had to go hunt this fucker down.

  I would ask one of my boys to stay here and make sure she was gone but I knew they wouldn't. They were all staying close until Holly was home safe and sound. “Any word?”

  “Nah boss, the others called in and he’s not in any of those places. Nate’s headed back to the club to see if he can find anything that we’ve missed in the earlier searches.” Deke was pissed and scared though he tried to hide it. I felt like a fish out of water because I didn’t have the slightest clue where to go from here. If this was somehow about me I had no doubt that I’d hear something soon. But if it went south and the fucker just…

  No Blade, don’t think that way. Can’t think that way. I’ve been here before; only those other times it was someone else’s kid on the line. This shit did not feel good at all. I will never again tell another parent
not to worry that everything will be okay, because those empty words mean nothing when your guts are hanging out and your heart has been ripped to threads.

  We spent hours searching in every hole between the school and all his known haunts with no luck. Lily had called me about five times but I had nothing to give her. I didn’t want her stressing over this either so I was in a tight spot. Trying to keep her sheltered as much as I could without making her feel left out of the loop.

  I didn’t want to go home at the end of the night. Not with my girl still out there but I knew it was better if I got some rest so I could start fresh in the morning. The cops gave me an update but I wasn’t holding out much hope on that end. They gave me the whole let us do our jobs spiel but that shit didn’t fly. The fucker was dead one way or the other. He was dead the minute he put hands on my kid.

  I went home after my boys and I worked out a schedule for the next day. Nate still hadn’t found anything by the time we knocked off and I tried not to be discouraged.

  My phone rang just as I was parking my bike in my driveway. “Blade.”

  “I’m on it.” That was Jake on the other end. In all the turmoil I’d forgotten to get in touch with him.

  “Thanks brother, you got everything you need?”

  “Of course, and don’t mention it.” He didn’t stay on too long and I dragged my ass into the house.

  Lily had every light in the house blazing as she sat on the couch huddled under a blanket. Seeing her face went a long way to easing the pain in my chest, but fuck I wish this day were over.

  I sat next to her and pulled her into my lap with my hand on her protruding stomach. She curled into me and let her tears flow. I let her cry for a minute before drying her face and holding her close.

  We sat there in silence for the longest time as I felt my child kick in her womb. All that I kept telling myself was that things will work out; that I will find my daughter. I kept pushing back the memory of her little face because even that was too much right now

  “Let’s go to bed.” I picked her up and carried her into our bedroom where we both got undressed in silence. When she reached for her nightgown I took it from her hand. “No baby you don’t need that.”

  “Okay.”

  We climbed into bed on opposite sides and met in the middle. Without words being spoken between us our lips met in the dark. Soft and sweet and sad as I tasted the tears on her lips. I rubbed her body up and down on my growing length, making sure to hit her at the right spot. In the back of my mind was the wonder that my body could react even at a time like this; that I could want her even now.

  Pushing her hair back from her face I stared up at her in the moonlight. “I love you Lily, my Lily, my heart.” I don’t think I’d ever said anything that gentle to her before, and when her breath caught and she lowered her mouth to mine I kissed her as softly as I could.

  “Lean back for me baby.” She leaned back and I ran my hands over her middle and up to her much fuller breasts and back again. She trembled and sighed as I lifted and took one of her nipples between my teeth. She was still grinding her pussy into me and on one of her downward slides I lifted her hips enough to find her with my tip.

  Easing her down on my length I kept my hand there to stop the last few inches from going in and hurting her but she pushed my hand away.

  “I don’t want to hurt you baby.”

  “You won’t, just love me.”

  I eased the last few inches up inside her and clasped her hips to control her movements. With her nipple in my mouth and her pussy clenched tight around my cock, she rode me nice and slow. I let her keep that pace for as long as I could until the day caught up with me.

  I tried to leash myself I really did, but there was no hope for it. There was a storm brewing inside me and Lily was about to reap the whirlwind.

  “Hang on baby.” I turned her onto her back and drove into her, stopping short at her wild scream. “You hurt?”

  “Uh-uh.” She pulled me back down to her and fucked up at me even as I slammed into her over and over.

  Halfway between fucking her into the bed and trying to pull my thrusts, I realized she was soothing me with long strokes of her hands up and down my back. It was then I realized I had totally lost it. I had her practically pinned against the headboard and her legs were stretched at an odd angle. She was wide open and my cock looked like it was tearing her in two as I watched it go in and out of her.

  “Fuck Lily I can’t stop, I need this.” I pounded out all my frustration and anger on her poor pussy, and all the while she encouraged me with her body and her words. When I’d fucked myself to exhaustion but still hadn’t cum, she once again turned me to my back and took over.

  She pulled my hands up onto her sides where our son was doing cartwheels. “Feel.” I looked up at her beauty and was hit by a love so profound it defied words. Then and only then was I able to spill my seed inside her warmth.

  Chapter 21

  I sat up most of the night while she tossed and turned in my arms. I had the need for a cigarette and I don’t fucking smoke, so that’ll tell you what kind of state I was in. I dozed off in the wee hours only to jump back up again when I hear my little girl calling for me in my dreams.

  I rolled out of bed at the crack of dawn and she awakened at the movement. One look at her face told me it had all come crashing back and whatever relief she’d gained in the few hours of sleep was now gone.

  I wasn’t surprised to hear my boys gathering outside, I wouldn’t be at all surprised either to find that they’d bedded down on my lawn the night before. “I have to get up and get going baby.” With a quick kiss on her lips and a gentle rub of her tummy I headed for a quick shower.

  She had coffee ready when I came down and I could tell from her puffy eyes that she’d been crying. She broke as soon as I rinsed my cup and put it on the drain. I was moving on autopilot, I had no idea what the fuck I was doing.

  “Shh, come here baby.” I pulled her in and held her close. “I’m gonna need you to be real strong now baby. This is one of those times when your man is gonna be as close to being a dick as he can possibly get. I won’t have any time for you or anything else right now. My sole focus is gonna be on my kid. It’s also gonna prove who we are together as a team, because I’m gonna need you to have my fucking back. This is not just my kid this is our kid that’s in danger. She’s a part of me, she’s mine, as you’re mine, the three of us are a unit. Are you getting what I’m saying?”

  “Yes.” Her voice broke and tore at my fucking heart. I wish I could howl at the fucking moon myself but there was no time for that, I had shit to do. Shit that called for me to be stone cold. But as much as my mind and heart was with my baby girl, I knew my woman was hurting now too, so I had to give her something.

  “Come on baby don’t be scared, don’t cry. I’m gonna get our girl back. You just prepare our home for when I bring her home because she’s not going anywhere after this. She’s with us from now on okay.”

  She nodded her head against my chest as I squeezed her and kissed her hair. “I love you baby, now be my big girl and go clean up while I get moving.” She held onto me for a minute longer and I could feel the wild beating of her heart. I knew her fear was twofold; she was afraid that Holly or myself might be hurt. But she was also afraid of what I would do once I caught up to this fuck. The jury was still out on that one.

  I heard the roar of engines outside as what sounded like the rest of my boys pulling into the driveway, horns blasting. I went from lover and concerned dad to terminator in a hot second. There was only one way to go into battle and this might just be the most important battle of my fucking life. With one last kiss on her lips I walked out the door. I didn’t look back; her soft sobs would only make this shit harder than it already was. I know she was trying to be brave but the fear was plain in her eyes and I couldn’t handle that right now.

  The guys hadn’t even got off their bikes but sat in full gear as they waited for me to join th
em. I nodded in acknowledgement before climbing onto my ride and heading out with them forming in line behind me.

  We had already coordinated the night before so we all knew where we were going. Nate as the one most proficient with technology was staying back at the club to keep digging while the rest of us went hunting. Someone had brought in the dogs, we had helicopters scheduled to hit the air in a few hours and we’d organized our own search party separate from the cops.

  Only my men knew that my focus was on this Paul person, I never let on to the cops that I had a suspect in mind. Why? Because I didn’t want them to catch him. If I believed for one minute that their resources were better I would’ve spilled in a New York minute. But I had no doubt that I could get to him first.

  I saw a call from Deanna but ignored that shit. I was sure she wasn’t calling to tell me that she had my kid because the eyes in Holly’s room would’ve shown me if she were there. Anything else she had to say to me right now was of no interest. Fuck her.

  We headed back to the school to pick up the scent which I knew cold be a crap shoot since I was pretty sure he’d left in a car and most trackers couldn’t pick up scents that easily in such cases. But supposedly this pair was trained specifically for that, so we’ll see.

  No one was saying anything as we got to work which is the way we usually did this, only this time there was a sense of something in the air. This was one of ours, she wasn’t an unknown, not that we cared any less when we were trying to save a stranger. But the fact that this was Holly added a whole other element to what we were doing here.

  Deke I knew was having a hard time and the set look on his face did not bode well. I knew if he caught up with this hump before any of us did things might get messy and I wanted to avoid that at all cost. Besides this was my kill plain and simple.