Morrison

by Chelsea Camaron

She smirks and shakes her head.

  “You wanna take those clothes off, or you want me to do it for you?”

  She shrugs and says nothing.

  “Cat got your tongue?” And damn if all I can imagine is her kitty having mine. She obviously knows what I’m thinking, ’cause she blushes and looks down.

  I look up in the air and say, as if to myself, “Well, I’ll be damned. I give her my balls, and now I think she’s really ready for me to take ’em back. Thank God.”

  “Gave you more than that,” she says as she looks up.

  “So much more.” I stand and walk over to her. “Now I’m gonna give you something a little different.” I grab myself. “Okay, a lot different.”

  I take the hem of her shirt and lift, letting my fingers touch the warm, soft skin beneath it. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately.” I run my hands around her waist and up her back. “Not just about being physically inside you, but so much deeper.” I unhook her bra and run my hand up beneath her shirt, then hold the back of her neck. “You know what I’m saying?”

  She swallows hard. “I think so.”

  “I think so, too. But let me show you. Would you like me to show you?”

  “Yes.” She takes in a quick breath as I run my teeth lightly down her jawline.

  I pull her shirt up and over her shoulders, then pull her bra free.

  “The first time I saw you, I was instantly overloaded with feeling. Pissed, maybe.” I lick around her tight little nipples. “The first time I kissed you, I knew I would never be the same.” I take her mouth and lick inside. I love the taste of her; I can’t get enough. I pull back with a groan. “Addicting as heroin, Hailey Poe. Worse, maybe.”

  I run my hand down her back and hook her pants and panties with my thumbs before slowly pushing them down as I kiss every inch of flesh I expose. All the while, her strangled little moans test my restraint.

  Her hands grip my shoulders as I lift her ankle and pull one leg free, then the next. I run my hands up the back of her legs slowly until her tight little ass is in my hands.

  “Never wanted to own any ass I’ve had, little momma.” I kiss her belly, causing her to whimper, so I do it again, feeling a million tiny goose bumps cover her skin.

  I lift her leg and put it over my shoulder before running my nose up and down her inner thigh, inhaling her scent. “Never wanted to settle down, have a family, ’cause nothing in my life ever felt better than winning—freedom from the past, from near poverty. And now I know I can do better, be better. Superficial happiness by way of fulfilling material desires was a high. Winning was a high. Making it out was a high, the ultimate high, or so I thought.”

  I push a finger inside of her wet folds, making my mouth jealous of my hand. Then I cup her pussy and push another finger inside slowly as I look up, watching her mouth slowly open and her head fall back.

  I lean in and lick her up and down, fingers still working her inside as she trembles. Laying my tongue flat against her clit, I circle it as she cries out my name, and then I take her down, nice and easy.

  As her grip loosens on my shoulders, I pull my fingers out and look up at her while I suck her taste from my fingers.

  “As I was saying,” I continue as I stand, “I never wanted to own anyone until I tasted platinum. So, right here and now, I am telling you I don’t only want to own you, but I’ll have it no other way.”

  She looks mortified, and then, in less than two seconds, angry. She turns her head away, and I grab her arm.

  “From the minute I saw you, you fucking owned me. Does it piss me off? Am I running from you? Being an ass because I’m afraid some bitch—and let’s face it, you’ve been a bitch—has me by the balls? Fuck that, Hailey. You own part of my heart.”

  She looks back at me. “Part?”

  “Oh, don’t you get pissed. The other part of my heart is owned by that little girl. I should be the one who’s pissed, that you stole that shit from me. So, as far as you thinking I own you, it’s the other way around. If you don’t walk away after court tomorrow, you are giving me everything you’ve got, and don’t you dare try to ever take it back. So yes, I want to own you, just as I want you to own me.”

  “I already told you we’re yours.”

  “Owned.”

  She shakes her head. “I just had one of the greatest sexual experiences of my life, Caldwell, and you’re tripping on ‘owned’?”

  “You were supposed to agree, and that’s when”—I grab her up in my arms—“I scoop you up like this”—my mouth crashes down on hers, and I drink her in before pulling away—“and kiss you like that.”

  Her hands fist in my hair, and she pulls me back into a kiss, this time her tongue seeking control. When I give it to her, she pulls away but continues rubbing my hair between her fingers.

  “Then I was gonna look at you and tell you I have fallen in love with you, and you wouldn’t be able to doubt a damn thing.”

  “Owned.” She pushes her forehead against mine so we are eye to eye.

  “It’s about fucking time.”

  We stay like this, staring, sharing a moment. It’s the biggest one in my life, and I am pretty sure, aside from giving birth to Marisa, it is hers, too.

  “What were you going to do next?” she says in a whisper so soft I can barely hear it over our beating hearts.

  I set her in the tub and climb in behind her. Pulling her onto my lap, I reach between us and push my dick inside her. Then I pull her back against my chest and kiss her softly.

  “I love you, little momma.”

  Slowly, I guide her hips back and forth on me. Her head falls to my shoulder as I rock her into a slow buildup that ends with an orgasm shared with the chick who owns my heart.

  “That,” I whisper against her cheek.

  After I dry her body and mine, I decide to shave and make myself presentable for court tomorrow. When I finish, I see Hailey climbing into bed, ass in the air—and tagged “Caldwell’s Little Momma.”

  I hurry and grab her hips before she makes it to the top of the bed. “You’re giving me shit about needing the word ‘owned,’ and you’ve already got your ass tagged with my name and yours?”

  She rolls over and giggles. “Livi.”

  “Aw, yes, Livi.” I kiss her again, ’cause I can’t help it. “What the hell am I gonna do with you?”

  “Love me,” she answers with a vulnerability I have never seen in her before, and it is even sexier than the strength I saw in her on the first night.

  Strength is a turn-on, but knowing that a woman who has lived the life Hailey has has decided to give me herself and her daughter, to trust in me, to give me lust, desire, and a responsibility I never knew I wanted so badly…

  Now, that is sexy on steroids.

  So I do just what she asks. I love her. All. Night. Long.

  —

  Hailey is quiet as she gets ready for court. I know she and I are good, but the insecurities caused by her not saying the words I want to hear are fucking with my alpha instincts. That’s why I’ve basically put them in storage until I know I’m not going to scare her off.

  I also know she is exhausted, because so am I. Last night was nonstop body worship on both our parts. Fucking amazing.

  She is less vulnerable now than she was, but I don’t know what she is going to do when put in the same room with that fucking piece of shit.

  “Morrison,” I hear from behind me. I turn around to see her standing by the door, and I feel my jaw twitch and nostrils flare. “You okay?”

  “Me?” I ask, pointing to myself.

  “Yes, you. There isn’t anyone else—”

  “Let’s keep it that way.”

  Her lip turns up in the corner. “Are we gonna do this again?”

  “If you say so.”

  She rolls her eyes. “We’ll be late.”

  “You got my name on your ass today?” I ask as I grab the suit jacket off the hanger. I turn around to find her standing right in front of me.

>   Instead of answering me, she reaches out and grabs my sack, squeezes, and then turns to walk away.

  I grab her and pull her back against me. “Find what you’re looking for?”

  “Yep.” She stares up over her shoulder at me.

  “You haven’t said a word today.”

  “I’m tired.”

  “Sore?” I smirk as I kiss her neck.

  “A bit, yes.” She leans to the side, exposing more of that beautiful neck.

  “That’s hot.”

  —

  We arrive at Clark County District Court thirty minutes before the proceedings are scheduled to begin. We meet the prosecuting attorney, and he explains that I am going to be questioned and to just answer to the best of my recollection.

  “Mr. Timmons is facing charges including vehicular assault, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder—”

  “How long will he be in jail?” Hailey interrupts.

  “We can offer him a deal—drop the attempted murder charge, in which case he would get two to twenty years, but the likelihood of him serving even five years is slight. I’d like to offer him assault with a deadly weapon with a mandatory four years in prison, followed by two years’ probation.”

  “I want him to rot,” I tell the district attorney.

  “I completely understand, but nothing is guaranteed in a criminal trial. He takes a plea, and you’ll know where he is for the next four years, minimum.” He looks at his watch. “I need an answer. If we can settle this now, we avoid court and save the taxpayers money. If you want me to take this to court—”

  “Give him the plea,” Hailey says as she looks up at me. “It’s a guarantee. Marisa will be—”

  “Eight, ten when he gets off probation. Still too young, babe.”

  The attorney looks through his file. “Marisa is his daughter?”

  “My daughter,” Hailey answers. “He agreed to give up his rights.”

  “Do you have that in writing?”

  “No, I have his word.”

  The DA leans back in his chair and looks up at us. “So, this whole thing is about you, the mother of his child?”

  “Watch the way you speak to her.”

  “No disrespect, but if this goes to trial, they get a jury, and they spin it the right way—paint you as a cheat and you as a home-wrecker—he isn’t going to spend four or five years; they never do. I can’t tell you what to do. It’s your choice, Mr. Caldwell.”

  “I want to talk to him,” Hailey says.

  “No fucking way!”

  “I want to talk to him,” she repeats.

  “Hailey—”

  “I trust you with our lives, Morrison, so trust me with this.”

  I look in her eyes and see she is determined, focused. I see game in her eyes—her tell is the squaring of her shoulders, the twinkle in her eyes, the swallowing of her breaths, and the way she allows her arms to uncross and hang at her sides, giving the illusion she is open, vulnerable. However, the rubbing of her ring finger against her thumb shows a trained eye she is anxious.

  “I see a game running in your head. You think you got game?”

  “I know I do.”

  “You won’t convince him if he sees this.” I raise her hand up. “Relax the hands. Fuck, I can’t believe I’m allowing this shit. It feels like I’m sending you off to battle that piece of shit alone, and I don’t like it, Hailey, not even a little bit.”

  “He is in cuffs and shackles,” the DA says as he stands.

  “If he tries to touch you in any way, I’m gonna kill him with my—”

  “Morrison.” Her eyes shift to the DA.

  “Didn’t hear a thing.” He walks to the door. “I’ll have him in the room next door.” He points to the two-way glass. “She won’t be far.”

  I pull her into a hug, wishing I could keep her here, away from him, but she needs this. I know she does.

  When you ask for trust from someone, you damn well better give them the same, or you sure as hell aren’t gonna get far. And I don’t want just far, either. I want forever.

  I see him shuffle in, dressed in orange, his head shaved. Then he turns and sits, so I can only see the back of him.

  “He a white supremacist?”

  “No, why?” She looks up at me.

  “Swastika tattoo on the back of his skull isn’t gonna make him any friends in prison. He’s a bigger piece of shit than I thought.”

  She gasps as she turns around. “Oh, my God. I’ve never seen that. His head has never been shaved before. He has friends who are black. I don’t understand.”

  “Hailey, maybe you should reconsider facing him.”

  “No, I can do this.”

  “I know you can, but you don’t have to.”

  “I can do this. Trust me.”

  Chapter 22

  Hailey

  The door to the small interrogation room shuts loudly behind me, making me want to jump. Somehow, though, I stand firm.

  “I should say I’m surprised to see you here, but I’m not,” Monte says sardonically. “Too easy to read, Hailey. You always have been far too easy to read.”

  Without thinking, I blurt out, “What’s with the tattoo? I’ve never seen you like this before, Monte.”

  Evil dances in his dark eyes, sending a chill up my spine. I’d always feared the effects of Monte’s games and revenge scenarios on Marisa, but in this moment, I fear the man himself, and all he is capable of.

  His voice is low and stern, and his stare doesn’t waver. “Know this, Hard Knocks: My past is none of your fucking concern—never has been and never will be. You don’t know my history, because you don’t need to.”

  Feeling an unknown threat and a sense of things spinning out of control, I can’t stop myself as the words tumble out.

  “I need to know anything that can harm Marisa.”

  He laughs sadistically. “Oh, the things you can’t seem to see. I did all of this for you and for her.”

  My stomach churns, the room spins, and I have no choice but to take the seat across from him.

  “Stop playing games with me,” I choke out in a whisper.

  Monte leans forward. “Don’t you see? Big Daddy Pimp wanted to put you on the corner, precious. He had bragged to the streets since you were fourteen about the price of your virginity. Your momma hustled you into the game, not to save herself, but to save you from the streets. Word got around, and Marshall got through to the dealer to give me my phone as an emergency and a little cash for Marshall on the side. The information was slipped to me that I was indeed playing against the virgin bride. I had two choices: win and leave you to the fate that was certain to crush the light in your eyes, or bargain on the outside for you, because in the end, I never lose, and I wasn’t going to that day.”

  I have no words. I sit silently for what feels like forever, but in reality, it’s only two minutes before the DA pops his head in.

  “Hailey, finish up. Time is almost over.” His presence reminds me I’m here on borrowed time and a favor from the DA. It is quite possibly illegal for me to even be having this moment with Monte.

  “You bought me to save me?”

  “In a way, yes. The night of the game, I could read the fear behind the façade. If a game shook you up, there was no way you could work the corner. A girl like you has no business on the streets. I could tell that the instant you walked in the room.” He leans across the table toward me. “Prime fucking pussy, too. Best there is to have, even when you didn’t know what to do, even when you weren’t enjoying it. You’ve got prime fucking pussy, Hailey.” He leans back and grins, knowing he got to me again.

  “Enough.”

  “There she is. There’s the girl who has always had the fight to take on the world.”

  “You get off on this.”

  “I get off on you, but more than that, I never wanted to kill the fight inside you. I just wanted to keep you safe, which I did until you made the decision to walk away. For months, Hailey, I�
��d seen you battling to find an escape.”

  “Then why not let me go?”

  “If only it were that easy.” He looks down, then looks back up at me. “I have a past, and I have enemies, more than I care to count. It wasn’t safe unless you owed me. No one would touch you if you were working a marker for me; they would fear my wrath in not getting repaid. As long as you worked, went home, and took care of Marisa, all was fine.”

  “Okay, and I did that until you threatened to get to Marisa.”

  “You fucked Aces. I needed you out of the game, Hailey. You had no business in this world, yet there you were. Aces may be good at the table, but he’s not here full-time, which would leave you unprotected.”

  Anger fills me. “You want me to believe you did all this for my safety? I call bullshit.”

  He leans back in his chair arrogantly. “Read me, Hailey.” His eyes instantly soften. “I never lied to you, never beat on you. We both had a role to play, and in the beginning mine was to keep you safe. Then your mom died, and you had no one, so I made sure you got Marisa. I made sure to hide your pills so you couldn’t take them. I didn’t want you to be alone.”

  “You want me to believe you gave me my daughter out of the kindness of your heart?”

  “I don’t give a shit what you believe, Hailey. You should also know I don’t have a heart, so it wasn’t that. It was you. There is a softness under the hard that calls to a man. You are the best place to fall at end of the day. Any man who had a chance at that little bit of tender in his sheets would be a fool to pass it up.”

  “Then why the game with Morrison? Why put a price on Marisa?”

  “You still don’t see. You can’t find the read. Hailey, Aces had to be out of the game permanently. You can’t stay here with no debt to me. You made the choice to walk into a room of players and sit at the table. You made the choice with your man to publically repay the debt. In a world of checks and balances, you tipped the scales of your safety in a way I couldn’t keep under wraps. Word was getting out about you and Aces, and I couldn’t have that if he was gonna stay in the league.”

  “Fine, but he was out of the game, so why try to kill him?” My hands tremble and my voice shakes. How twisted can one person be? He really believes in his mind that everything he did was to protect me? In my day-to-day existence, Monte was an ass of epic proportion. He disgraced and threatened me using Marisa, in order to control and manipulate me. There is nothing he can do or say now that could make me trust or like him, if he’s even being serious.