by Flynn, Poppy
"Actually, I'm Luanna's fiancé," Logan intoned coolly. "And shortly, I will be Danny's stepfather. I can assure you that my 'prospects' are very much more conclusive that yours. Danny already has the option to attend any university in the country, not merely a 'decent college' as you so quaintly put it. And as for your family business…" Logan said sharply, his eyes narrowing. "Since I am also a shareholder and director of Blackwood's Universal Holdings, as well as their lawyer, I could buy and sell Fulford's both personally and professionally. And believe me, I have considered it."
James' face drained of colour, and he looked wildly from Logan to Luanna and then to her left hand, fixating on her ring finger with an expression akin to fear.
"I don't believe it," James whispered. "She's set this up."
Before Logan or Luanna could form a response, Danny rounded on his father. "Are you not listening to anyone?" he yelled in a manner that had Luanna rushing forward and imploring him to calm down.
Danny eased away from her and focussed on his father once more. "I'll tell you what she told me, shall I? And this time, you need to listen well, and you had better hear what I'm saying, or it will be the last time I bother trying to speak to you."
Logan took Luanna's arm and guided her back to the couch, silently coaxing her to sit.
On the opposite side, Kimberly surreptitiously inched across the room and eased herself gently onto one of the chairs. She said nothing, gave nothing away. Luanna couldn't help speculating how the other woman felt about all this. Was it easier for her than for Luanna, or was it more difficult for her to come face to face with her husband's past? A past, she herself, had played a part in.
"She told me that you were just a scared teenager, hardly any more than a child, yourself, and that neither of you were old enough to bring up a baby. She told me that because you were both just kids, you each still lived at home with your parents, and that's why you didn't live with us. She told me that my grandparents moved away to get better jobs so they could support me and Mum while she stayed home to care for me, and that's why we didn't see you. She defended you, always, and she told me what your name was, and when I asked what you looked like, she gave me this." Danny ended his tirade and slapped an old, yellowing photograph in a time-worn, blue plastic frame with the word 'Daddy' printed underneath on the table.
James stood and stared at it. It was a photograph of him dressed up in a tuxedo, taken on the night of the prom, the night their son had been conceived.
And then James made a move that no one in the room expected. He slumped into the chair next to his wife, plucked the picture off the table then hung his head in shame and cried.
For a while, there was an awkward silence that no one really knew how to fill. In the end, it was James, himself, who cleared it.
"Your mother was right," he choked emotionally. "I was a young, scared kid but not in the way she meant it. I was scared of my father, scared enough to dump your mother when he thought I was getting too involved. Scared enough to deny everything, when she told me she thought she was pregnant. He was so angry when he found out that Lulu was expecting. I'd had time to think. I wanted to do the right thing. I wanted to be part of my child's life, but he wouldn't hear of it. He threatened to throw me out and disown me if I didn't toe the line." James snivelled. "And still, I thought I could resist him, that I could go and live with the Morgans. They were always nice to me. I could get a job and help to support my baby. I yelled my defiance at him, told him exactly what I would do." James' voice dropped to a whisper. "And that's when he reminded me that Mr. Morgan worked for his company and that, without a job, they wouldn't be able to make their mortgage payments, and they wouldn't think much of me then, when none of us had a roof over our heads and they realised I was the reason he'd been fired."
James coughed and cleared his throat, rubbing his fingers over the faded silver letters on the frame. "I backed off, realised I'd given the game away. Played things the way he wanted, the way he expected. Still trying to come up with a plan, but this time on the quiet."
When James paused, Kimberly's own muffled sobs were the only sound in the room.
"The next thing I knew, you were gone. The whole family just upped and left. I found out what I could without alerting my father and discovered that he'd given Mr. Morgan a so-called promotion, which required him to move to another area, but I knew that he'd just out manoeuvred me and ensured that anything he didn't want to deal with was cleared away. Check-mate."
Danny sat down on the sofa next to his father and gave the man a sympathetic pat on the back. The gesture was incongruous to Luanna's mind. The child comforting the man. But she couldn't say she wasn't touched by his story. And she was glad she'd never been tempted to bad-mouth James to his son.
Logan rose and poured a stiff brandy for all the adults. He handed Danny a bottle of water that the lad took gratefully.
"Mum said whatever choice I made, I needed to make for myself. Not what you wanted. Not what would make her happy. A decision that I would be able to live with for the rest of my life."
"Your mother is a remarkable woman, Danny," James said sincerely.
"Yeah, she is pretty great." Danny grinned. "I don't know about college or uni, and I don't know about being part of the family business. I'm not sure I want anything to do with your dad, whether he's my grandfather or not. He sounds like a jerk!"
"Danny!" Luanna and Logan scolded in unison.
"Hey, you can't blame the boy for telling the truth." James chuckled.
Danny looked seriously at his father and then over at Kimberly, who had yet to make any contribution. "I would like to meet my sisters, though, and, well, maybe we can work on the rest of it."
Kimberly reached over and took Danny's hand. "They're lucky to have a big brother as wonderful as you, Danny. I-I know they'd love to meet you, just as soon as we can get it all arranged."
* * *
Logan diligently tied the knots of the karada. They were all at Club Risqué. Well, almost all of them. Jake was there with Charlotte, although since Charlotte was heavily pregnant, they weren't playing. Desi was there with Joel, both of them loved up with no sign of the 'honeymoon period' wearing off anytime soon. Laurel was with them, too, pale and unusually quiet after what Luanna considered to have been a pretty brutal scene with the formidable sadist, Master X. Micah and Trinity were on duty, so they flitted back and forth between obligations. Connor was conspicuously absent, but nobody mentioned it, and everything had settled just about as well as anyone could hope.
It was the eve of their wedding, and this was a strange kind of joint stag and hen party, but they were an unconventional lot.
"You know, there's some conjecture about where the phrase 'tying the knot' comes from, with regards to marriage," Logan said conversationally as he crossed the ropes over her torso so that they tightened deliciously around her breasts.
"Some think it originates from Roman times, when the bride's girdle was tied in knots on the wedding day and the groom had to untie them prior to consummating the marriage."
So saying, he placed the special knot that he'd fashioned directly over her clit and drew the ropes around her thighs, making nimble work of the rear construction but manipulating the strings until she was writhing with frustrated lust against the suspension chain.
"More likely, it's from the pagan Celtic ceremony of handfasting, where the hands of the bride and groom were tied together to form a marriage contract of one year and one day before the marriage either became legal or was dissolved. One thing is for certain, though, they're all ties that bind a couple both physically and emotionally, just like those invisible ties that bind us to our friends, our family and even those people who may no longer be part of our lives. The echoes are still there, if only in our mind."
Logan filled his hands with her breasts, loving the way they plumped and pouted within the constraints of the rope.
“The next time I’m ‘tying the knot’, it will be metaphorically spe
aking, when you become my wife. A rather fitting metaphor, don’t you think, just like the way I want to bind you to my heart forever; the way you’ve tied me to yours.”
Luanna could only nod; she couldn’t have put it more perfectly herself. She knew exactly what Logan meant, since her insides were just as metaphorically tied in knots as her body was on the outside. Her heart tripped, and her stomach tumbled, lust and delight filling every cell of her body as he lowered his head and took her lips in a kiss of passion and fire, but most of all, love, and she sincerely hoped they would be tying each other in knots for the rest of their lives.
The End
Poppy Flynn
Poppy Flynn was born in Buckinghamshire, UK and moved to Wales at eight years old with parents who wanted to live the 'self-sufficiency' lifestyle.
Today she still lives in rural Wales and is married with six children.
Poppy's love of reading and writing stemmed from her parents’ encouragement and the fact that they didn't have a television in the house.
"When you're surrounded by fields, cows and sheep, no neighbours, no TV and the closest tiny village is four miles away, there's a certain limit to your options, but with books your adventures and your horizons are endless."
Poppy x
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Club Risqué Series
Fool’s Desire - Book One
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Ties That Bind - Book Three
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