by Roxie Ray
I tried not to let my jaw drag the ground. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Nope.” She sipped her coffee, which made me wish I’d stopped for one. “It’s been so long since I had an orgasm that I wasn’t responsible for.”
I couldn’t help but think about Jace and how I would’ve never expected that from him in a million years.
“Well, I haven’t dated since I divorced Damon,” I said. “I can’t relate. And I’ve been responsible for my own orgasm for my entire life. Having Damon didn’t help.”
We dissolved into giggles and the girls ran up. “What are you laughing about, Mommy?” Hayden asked.
That made us laugh even harder. “Nothing, baby. Or nothing you’ll need to worry about for an awfully long time.”
“Never, if you’re lucky,” Lisa quipped.
We laughed and waved the girls away.
“Remember, you’re more than just a mom,” Lisa said when we both calmed down. “You’re a woman, too. It’s okay to want companionship other than an almost seven-year-old.”
“I get where you’re coming from.” I crossed my legs and looked out at the kids playing. “I really do. But my heart isn’t into it yet. Damon really did a number on me. But I’m okay with where I’m at. When I’m ready, it’ll happen.”
“I mean, you don’t have to date to get things taken care of. Just do a good job picking out men, better than I did, anyway.”
That made us die laughing again, but my laughter was a little forced. I felt bad for Jace and couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been rude because he’d thought I realized what he’d gone through. I wasn’t laughing at his personal problem, but more at how relatable it was that so many men were unable to bring women to orgasm when all they really had to do was listen to us to find out how to do it.
I also laughed because casual sex was such a foreign concept for me. All I’d ever known was commitment. Being single had been freeing, really. I loved the idea of getting into another committed relationship, this time with an actual good human being. But the prospect of something without stress or strings did seem a tiny bit intriguing. Lisa caught on to my small bit of interest. “If you’re ready, or when you get ready, I know a guy.”
I smiled and nodded. “Okay. I’ll think about it. And you’ll be the first I tell.”
We let the girls play as long as we could stand sitting at the park shooting the breeze. “Want to take them for pizza?” Lisa asked.
Our town had a pizza buffet with an arcade. Hayden loved going there, especially if she had a little bit of pocket money. “Pizza Inn?” I asked.
Lisa grinned. “Is there anywhere else?”
We hauled the girls up, who complained like crazy until we told them where we were going. The restaurant wasn’t far from the park, and it took longer to get the girls’ hands washed than it had to drive from one place to the next.
As Hayden and Tori ate their pizza, I realized my phone was buzzing quietly in my pocket. I hadn’t heard or felt it in the loud atmosphere of the buffet. They always had music playing and gaudy lights. And given the lack of options in town, they were always booming with business.
I checked my phone to find the number said blocked.
My heart sank. I knew what that meant. Damn it. Only one person would call me and block their number.
I turned off my phone and muttered a curse under my breath which was swallowed by the music in the restaurant.
I knew the cycle. He’d keep calling until I eventually picked up. I was going to have to change my number again; I’d lost count of how many times I’d had to do that. I’d started giving out my parents’ number to important places like work and the doctor’s office. No doubt he’d find a way to get a hold of their number too, if I didn’t answer this one.
But Hayden was having a great time, so I shoved my phone in my back pocket and smiled at her as she chattered at Tori about a new toy that was supposed to come out in time for her birthday. I logged it away for birthday shopping.
By the time the girls spent the money we allocated for them to spend in the arcade, the sun was starting to sink in the sky and Hayden had begun yawning big time. By then, my nerves were shot all to hell.
We walked out of the restaurant with the girls holding hands between us, already trying to talk us into spending the night with each other. “No,” I said as I laughed at them. “You’ve got school tomorrow. What in the world made you think we’d ever go for a sleepover?”
My voice faded as I stopped short. I slammed my hand down and gripped Hayden’s shoulder so she wouldn’t go any farther.
Damon stood beside my car, looking down at his phone. Fear spiked in me, making the back of my neck tingle and my flight response came out. I stepped forward and around my daughter, trying to stop Hayden from seeing him. It would be far better if I got us out of this without confusing her with her father.
I wasn’t fast enough. “Daddy?” Hayden said in her shrill, loud tone.
His gaze jerked up from his phone and landed on us. Damon’s face split into a big grin and he strode forward. “I’ve missed you so much, puppy,” Damon said.
I moved again, fully in front of Hayden.
He shot me a glare when I blocked her. “Aren’t you going to come to hug your daddy?” he asked. Hayden peeked out from around me. Damon stopped in the parking lot and waited. “Hayden? Don’t you want to say hi to your father?”
She shook her head and ducked behind me again, shy. She knew how horrible he was. She didn’t really remember, but the sort of abuse she’d seen me suffer at his hands didn’t just go away in the psyche.
His face hardened. Damn it.
“What have you told her?” he said in a low voice. He was pissed. “This is your fault. You turned her against me.” He stepped to the side, trying to catch sight of Hayden again, and his voice came out sugary sweet. “I’ve missed you, puppy. I came so far to see you.”
Hayden stayed behind me.
“Should I call the cops?” Lisa asked. She spoke in a low tone. I didn’t even glance her way. I just nodded.
Damon moved toward us again.
“Please take Hayden back inside,” I said under my breath.
Lisa didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Hayden’s hand, but Hayden jerked it away. “No!” she shouted. “I’m staying with my mommy!”
“Do as you’re told, Hayden,” I said sharply. “Now!”
Hayden gave me big, hurt eyes. I loathed Damon all the more because I’d had to speak sharply with her. I didn’t have time to explain to her why it was better she be out of sight.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Damon went off. “You stupid bitch!” He got much closer, but I didn’t go back toward the building. I went sideways. I wanted him as far away from Hayden as possible. “You’re such a dumb slut,” he seethed. “You turned my daughter against me. Everything that ever went wrong between us has been due to you. I can’t wait to see you get yours.” His hands were clenched in fists, and I knew the pain of having those fists come at me. I kept moving, relieved when he stalked after me, farther into the parking lot and away from our daughter.
“You are violating your restraining order,” I said. I didn’t engage with the names he’d called me. I’d learned it was better if I didn’t. Arguing with him further enraged him and then he took it out on me.
He laughed and kept stalking after me. “A piece of paper can’t keep me from my family. You think you’ll ever escape me? I was an idiot when I signed the divorce papers. I’m going to have you and our daughter back, Briana. I have friends in high places. How do you think I found you? Your family has all of their social media locked up tight.”
My butt backed against a car. I didn’t know whose it was, but it meant I was fully in the parking lot and away from the building. I prayed Lisa had called the cops.
My stomach rolled with anxiety. I was trapped, physically by Damon and in theory. No matter where I tried to run, he’d find me.
My gaze darted ar
ound, and I realized people were watching in the parking lot. A few of them were talking on the phone. Surely the police were on their way.
“I’m going to hurt you again if you don’t stop your games and come home.” He moved closer and I jumped, terrified he’d hit me in front of all these people. I couldn’t put anything past him anymore. Sliding backward with my butt against the car, I put more space between us.
“Are you going to make me hurt you, Briana?” Damon asked as he closed the distance.
A warmth washed over me like a fan heater turned on that enveloped my entire body. Damon lunged at me, and then, miraculously, someone was in front of me, blocking Damon. How had this person moved so fast? One moment I was about to be choked, and the next, I was safe, just like that.
Heat continued to radiate from the body, and I peered around to see who it was, then Jace spoke. “Can you not comprehend what it means to back off?”
If I’d thought Damon was pissed before, Jace was completely furious.
“Who the fuck are you?” Damon yelled.
“I’m the man standing between you and who you think you have a right to.” Jace clenched his fists and glared at Damon, angry energy rolling off of him like heat waves.
Damon’s face went from red to purple. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
Jace snorted. “That’s not going to happen.”
Damon charged.
I jerked away, circling the car, and putting some distance between me and the two men who seemed as though they were about to take each other’s heads off.
Jace easily ducked him, which only served to make Damon angrier. He turned and charged again. I couldn’t see what Jace did, but Damon hit the ground hard and I was sure Jace hadn’t pulled back to swing on him. Geez. Was this guy like a karate whiz or something?
“Okay, break it up!”
Damon hadn’t had a chance to get off the pavement before the cops ran up. Two of them took Damon off and stuffed him in the back of one of the cars.
“I have to check on my daughter,” I told the female officer who came around the car to talk to me.
She nodded. “I’ll follow you.”
I ran to the restaurant. Lisa stepped out. “One of the other classroom moms was here. The girls are in the arcade with the little boy from their class. Hayden is worried about you, though.”
I sighed in relief. “I’ll just go tell her I’m okay.” I nodded at the officer. “Be right back.”
“Did you see the whole incident?” the officer asked Lisa. I peered at her nametag. Reyes.
“Yes, up until I took our daughters inside.”
Officer Reyes nodded toward the door. “Go check on your daughter and I’ll use the time to take your friend’s statement.”
Hayden must’ve been watching for me because she streaked across the arcade the moment I stepped in. “Mommy! Are you okay?”
I scooped her up in my arms. “I’m fine, and Daddy is gone. He’s not bothering us.”
The other mom walked up. “Do you need me to watch her for a few more minutes?”
Reaching into my pocket, I nodded gratefully. “If you could.” I handed her a twenty. “Here, split this among the kids to play games.”
Hayden’s face lit up. “Yes!” she yelled. “More skeeball!”
I hurried back outside, and Lisa was just finishing up. “I’ll go back in with the girls,” she said, “while you talk to them.”
Squeezing her arm, I smiled at her. “Thank you so much.”
“I’d want someone to do it for me,” she said.
Officer Reyes asked me to recount what had happened and give me some backstory on Damon—That took a while.
I noticed Jace talking to the two officers who had stuffed Damon in the back of their car. When he finished, they all walked over and joined us.
“I’ve seen enough domestic violence cases turn bad and with the connections Damon seems to have, I’m afraid he’s going to keep getting away with this bullshit,” Officer Reyes said. “You may want to start thinking of other ways to protect yourself.”
Her words terrified me. “Do you think Damon would go that far?”
One of the other officers spoke up. “Men like Damon tend to have escalated behavior. I’d hate to see you hurt.” He looked toward Jace who was listening. “You know her?” He nodded toward me.
Jace looked like he was about to say yes but then didn’t. “I know nothing about her. Just that she seems to have trouble following her.”
If I could’ve shot him with daggers out of my eyes, I would’ve. I hated the man. I hated him so much it burned beneath my skin. I’d just dealt with an abusive ex-husband, and somehow, I was angrier at Jace than Damon. I’d given him no reason to be so cold toward me. I tried to pack all my emotions of loathing into my facial expression as I looked at him.
He flinched, but then pressed his hand to his chest and frowned. As he opened his mouth to speak, I held up my hand. “I’ll take further precautions to protect myself, so I don’t need the assistance of good Samaritans like Jace here.” I looked at Officer Reyes. “Do you need anything else from me?”
Reyes shook her head. “No, you can pick up your report at the station.”
I went and gathered Hayden up. She was good to go until we got near the front doors. Then she stopped. “Is he out there?” she whispered.
I peeked outside to find all the police cars gone. I didn’t know which of the other vehicles belonged to Damon, but he was gone with the police. “No, he’s gone. We’re safe.”
Hayden’s fears further cemented that I would do anything to keep her safe.
Once I got her tucked into bed, I went downstairs and sat down in the living room. Bianca was there watching one of the new superhero movies with my parents. “Got a second?” I asked.
They paused the movie while I explained everything that had happened tonight.
Dad stayed silent while I explained, then leaned forward. “There’s only one thing to do.”
I nodded. He’d suggested it a long time ago, but I’d rejected it. Now, I didn’t see what other options I had. “I want you to take me to the shooting range.”
6
Jace
I was so fucking pissed at Briana’s ex-husband that I didn’t feel the pain until I was home. I found Sammy sitting on the stairs to my apartment, calmly laying out tarot cards on the next stair up, like she didn’t have a care in the world.
The concoction she’d given me hadn’t been anything but torture. I’d downed it, and within minutes it had felt like my entire soul was being ripped from my body. I’d been in hell for two solid days. Work wasn’t remotely an option. Fuck, I hadn’t even been able to get out of the damn bed. Anthony and Skye brought the babies over a couple of times and cooked me a meal. I’d barely been able to eat. They’d told me that everyone was pitching in to cover me at the bar. I didn’t know who everyone was, but at the moment I hadn’t cared, either.
When the pain had finally subsided, I’d thought it was over. Done. I was free. My body felt like my own again, if a little weak from not eating.
Since I’d finally felt halfway normal, I’d decided to walk down to the diner and get a juicy burger and fries. I needed to run a shift tonight, and luckily it was Sunday, so it would be slow to give me time to catch up on whatever inevitably hadn’t been done on a busy Friday and Saturday night shift while I’d been incapacitated.
But halfway to the diner, the mating pull nearly knocked me off my feet. This was supposed to have been gone. I didn’t understand.
But I did follow it, into the pizza buffet’s parking lot, to find Briana about to be attacked by her ex-husband.
Again.
Seriously, what the fuck was this guy’s problem?
I’d thought it was a fluke, me still feeling drawn toward Briana, until the cops had asked if I knew her. She looked at me with something in her eyes that made me pause. It was hope or appreciation or something, but whatever it was, it was too damn much. I rejected
her again.
The fond look on her face had morphed into disdain and possibly hatred. And the vice had gripped my chest… again. I took off for home as fast as I could, only to find Sammy sitting there.
She’d played me.
“What fucking game are you playing at?” I growled out.
Sammy flipped a card over, then slowly turned her gaze toward me. She didn’t blink, just stared. I didn’t know if she was just looking at me or seeing me. I wanted to crowd past her and go back to bed, but I wasn’t going to push her that far.
Sammy’s powers went beyond that of any witch I’d ever known. Even Anthony wasn’t sure of her limits. We’d had this discussion after Sammy had been able to block one of the clan members from shifting as a punishment for hiring a rogue witch to steal the memories of Anthony’s mate. Neither of us was even sure if Sammy knew her own limits. But I wasn’t crazy enough to cross her. That didn’t mean I liked the games she was playing or that I would stay quiet about it.
“Child, I gave you a small dose of what it’s going to feel like when that bond is broken.” She raised her eyebrows to let that sink in.
Shit. “That wasn’t all?” It got worse. “If the pain is more intense than that, it will kill me.”
“It gets worse and it won’t kill you. You are sure that pain is really worth it? Is being free to sleep around with different women for the rest of your life more important than feeling the love of your fated mate until you both die together?” She seemed like she was getting aggravated with me. But she knew it was about a lot more than sleeping around. I opened my mouth to remind her of what I went through, but she held up a hand. “How could you ever question fate and destiny when you were born to a species that the world doesn’t even know exists? Honey, that little girl hurt you badly, I know. But she wasn’t your destiny. The universe makes no mistakes. You’re taking a huge shit on the blessing of having a fated mate.”
I’d never seen Sammy so worked up before, and I didn’t understand why she was so upset. But then her eyes blackened and almost hardened. It was spooky enough to freeze my blood, and I was a freaking dragon. They looked like two coals.