Her Daddies’ Saving Grace

by Laylah Roberts

  Then it was his turn. He cupped the back of her head with his hand, holding her steady. “I can be demanding, controlling.”

  He didn’t know why he had to warn her. He was getting everything he wanted.

  Don’t ruin it, man.

  “You?”

  “Yes, me,” he told her. “And if the two of you think that my life is perfect, then you’re delusional.” He let out a humorless bark of laughter. “Not everything I touch turns to gold, you know.” He let out a deep breath. “There’s something I’ve never told you, Juliet. That I don’t talk about with anyone.”

  “Is it to do with the reason you moved back here to Wishingbone?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “This is hard to admit. I made a mistake. A big one. And it cost a woman her life.”

  28

  “Xavier, no,” she whispered. “I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”

  He gave her a sad smile. “It was, Twink. And if after hearing any of this you both change your minds, I’ll understand.”

  “Nothing will make me change my mind about you,” she told him fervently.

  Brick just regarded him steadily. They both waited, their food growing cold. But he didn’t have much of an appetite anyway.

  “I was working at Massachusetts General, this woman came in. She was in her mid-twenties. Seemed healthy enough. The nurses told me that she was a repeat visitor in the ER, but that there was never much wrong with her. But this time, she had strep throat. I treated her like any other patient. I don’t know if it’s because the other doctors and nurses usually dismissed her a hypochondriac or what, but she seemed to fixate on me.”

  “Fixate?” Juliet asked.

  “She’d keep coming back to the emergency department and asking for me. And there would never be anything wrong with her. Finally, I got sick of it. I had worked a long shift. Lost a young patient who’d been brought in after being in a car crash. I just didn’t have the patience for her to waste my time. She said she had a headache. I asked a less-experienced colleague to check on her. They dismissed her, telling her to take some painkillers. She died a few hours later from a ruptured aneurysm.”

  “Oh, no, Xavier. I’m so sorry.” Juliet wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed.

  “Not your fault, man,” Brick told him. “You didn’t even treat her.”

  “But I should have,” Xavier said. “I pawned her off on a colleague because I couldn’t be bothered. It was my fault.”

  “Xavy, no.”

  “It was.” He blew out a breath. “Her family thought so, too. There was talk of a malpractice suit. I deserved it. To pay. Then it suddenly disappeared.”

  “How?” Brick asked.

  “Reuben?” Juliet guessed.

  “Yeah, that bastard paid them all off. I was so angry at him. Mostly at myself, but it was easier to be mad at him. I quit and I turned into a hermit for a while. Until Reuben came to give me a pep talk. I punched him in the face and told him to fuck off, that we were no longer friends.”

  “Oh no,” Juliet said softly.

  “Not my finest moment. I’ve kept up the anger ever since, but it’s not fair. None of it was his fault. It was mine. However, something he said kept coming back to me. I could either wallow, and waste my life, and her death would be for nothing. Or I could actually help people. I found out about the opening at Wishingbone hospital and, surprisingly, got the job.”

  “Of course you got it. What happened wasn’t your fault, silly man,” Juliet scolded.

  He loved that she only saw the good in him. Fact was, there was more gray than he liked to admit.

  “For the longest time, I didn’t think I deserved happiness. Still don’t in a lot of ways. But I’m not unselfish enough to not grasp hold of it. Of you, if you still want me.”

  “Yes, of course I still want you.”

  Unable to resist, he dropped his lips to hers and kissed her. A feeling of rightness swept through him. Of coming home.

  He knew he would do anything for her. Whatever she needed, desired, he would give her.

  Because that’s what you did for your heart. You held it, you protected it, cherished it.

  When he pulled back, he glanced over at Brick, worried about his reaction. But the other man just gave him a nod. His tension eased.

  “Coming back here was the best thing I ever did. Even if my parents can’t see that. They’ve never been satisfied with anything I’ve done, though. They’re not terrible people. But I wouldn’t call them good people, either. They care more about appearances than they do about happiness.”

  “Guessing they wouldn’t approve of us, then,” Brick said.

  “That’s putting it mildly.”

  Juliet sucked in a breath. “We don’t have to tell them.”

  “What?” Xavier asked.

  “You don’t have to tell them about me. About us.”

  “Keep you a secret?”

  “Yeah,” she said.

  He let out a noise he’d never heard himself make, and by the way her eyes went wide, neither had Juliet.

  “You are not, nor will you ever be, my dirty little secret, you understand me?” When she didn’t say anything, he narrowed his gaze. He gave her his best Dom look. “Do you understand me?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Fuck if those words didn’t go straight to his dick, making him shift around slightly. Brick sent him a knowing smirk.

  “Suggest it again, and the spanking you’re owed will seem like child’s play in comparison to what I’ll give you. Understand?”

  “I understand.”

  “We’re not hiding this, Twink. Not from anyone.”

  “But what about your job?” she asked. “People will talk.”

  “So?” Brick said. “Who cares what people say?”

  A funny look came over her face. “People can be really mean. Maybe you think you don’t care. Or you tell yourself not to, but it burrows its way deep. It becomes this rotten thing inside you, growing and growing until you can’t breathe, you can’t sleep, you can’t eat. Their words become a mantra in your head. And maybe you know they’re not right. But then you start to think maybe they are. Maybe you are what they say. Maybe you’re stupid, a slut, maybe your parents wished you’d never been born, maybe the world would be a better place if you weren’t in it.”

  What the fuck kind of hell was this she was talking about? Xavier met Brick’s gaze. The other man was pale.

  Brick cupped their girl’s face between his hands as Xavier held her as tight as possible.

  “Duchess, look at me,” Brick crooned.

  “Twink?” he asked when she didn’t move.

  Suddenly, she stiffened, then she turned and buried her face in his chest.

  “Duchess, look at me,” Brick repeated.

  “Forget I said any of that.”

  Yeah, right, that wasn’t going to happen.

  He shared a look with Brick. Neither of them could ignore what she just said.

  “Baby girl, look at Daddy.”

  She let out a deep breath.

  Xavier sucked in his breath. “Talk to us, sweetheart. Come on, look at Brick before he loses it and starts crying. I don’t need to see the big guy cry.”

  To his credit, Brick backed him up straight away. “I can feel the tears starting.” He fake-sniffled.

  Her shoulders moved. He shared an alarmed look with Brick.

  “I’m practically sobbing,” Brick added.

  There was a small giggle. It was watery and tiny, but it was there. Then her hand reached out and wrapped itself in Brick’s pants.

  “Sorry, I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “You have nothing to be sorry for,” Xavier told her. He chose his next words carefully. “I know you were bullied before you came to Wishingbone.”

  She nodded. “I was.”

  “Why did no one do anything?” Brick demanded.

  “Hard to do something when they didn’t know.”

&nbs
p; Xavier kissed the top of her head and Brick grabbed onto her hand.

  “When I was nearly eleven, my parents were killed. It was a home invasion gone wrong. I woke up to yelling. I ran out of my bedroom just as shots were fired. There was just this . . . this silence after those shots. I remember that silence so well. I don’t know how long I stood there, but by the time I finally moved, whoever had shot them was gone.”

  She took in a shuddering breath.

  “They were lying on the floor of the living room. My mom was wearing these flannel pajamas she loved. They had cows on them. I tried to wake her up. But she wouldn’t wake and there was blood pooling under her body. My daddy, he was close to her, his arm was reaching out towards her.”

  She rubbed at her eyes.

  “Apparently, I must have started screaming. I yelled until I was hoarse. We didn’t have close neighbors, and I don’t really remember what happened next. But our neighbors found me walking down the road, dressed in my pajamas, covered in blood.”

  “Oh, baby girl,” Brick murmured. He knelt on the floor in front of them.

  Xavier knew about how Reuben’s father had died, he knew she’d found them, but she’d never spoken about it, and Reuben hadn’t given him details.

  “Did they find who did it?” Brick asked.

  “No, they never did.”

  “Where was Reuben?” Brick asked.

  “Reuben’s actually my half-brother,” she murmured. “Same dad. There’re four years between us. He lived with his mom and came to visit sometimes during the holidays. His mom hated our dad. I think she thought he had an affair with my mom and that’s why he left her. My mom was an only child and I didn’t have anyone but Reuben. And his mom wouldn’t take me because she hated me.”

  “Fuck,” Brick muttered.

  “That nearly killed Reuben,” Xavier said. He looked at Brick. “Reuben’s grandparents lived here. Whenever his mom found a new boyfriend, he’d get shipped here to live with them. Then when she got dumped, she’d take him back to Boston to live with her.”

  “Reuben wanted his grandparents to take me,” she added. “But his granddad had dementia, and his grandma didn’t have the time to take on a traumatized eleven-year-old who wouldn’t talk. Well, the doctors said I damaged my vocal cords, but I’m not sure I would have talked anyway.”

  “What happened?” Brick asked.

  “I went into foster care.”

  “Reuben played a game of football that weekend,” Xavier said. “He was so vicious they benched him for the rest of the season. To say he didn’t take it well was putting it mildly. He wanted to take you. He would have raised you himself. Except his mother wouldn’t let him move full time to Wishingbone, and his grandma could barely cope with looking after his grandpa.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “He called me every night. He swore he’d get me out of the system when he could. Told me not to give up. He was the only thing that kept me going.” She let out a deep breath. “You know how you hear those bad stories about foster parents?”

  “Yes,” Brick said carefully.

  “Well, I didn’t have that experience. My foster parents, they were amazing. They were kind and understanding. Supportive. I couldn’t have asked for better foster parents. For the first nine months I was with them, I didn’t go to school. My foster mom taught me at home. They decided to start me in a new school year. I had just begun speaking again, but my voice was this weird, broken thing. It didn’t sound like me. So, I didn’t like to talk much. When I went back to school, well, it wasn’t good. Not awful, but not great. I didn’t have any friends. I was the weird kid with the broken voice who barely spoke, but I managed. Until freshman year, that’s when it all went to hell.

  “I was younger than the other kids, which didn’t help. Still, the first couple of months were okay. I kept my head down, trying not to bring any attention to myself. But one day, I accidentally bumped into one of the star football players. I went flying backward. I thought he’d ignore me or blame me or something. But he was really nice. Helped me up. Smiled at me.”

  She let out a bark of humorless laughter. “Little did I know that would send me spiraling into hell. His girlfriend took exception to him helping me. But instead of taking it up with him, she started picking on me. She was part of the cool group. And her friends all backed her up. They made my life hell.

  “It was brutal. The things they said and did. I withdrew even more. I stopped eating. I went back to not talking at all. I wore long clothing all the time, in black. I just wanted to disappear, to fade away. They found out what happened to my parents, and they told everyone that I killed them. They said I was a slut who was after everyone’s boyfriend. They called me a freak, ugly. It just went on and on and on until I didn’t want to be there anymore. I didn’t want to be anywhere.”

  “I’ll kill them all,” Brick said in a low, harsh voice.

  “I’ll help you,” Xavier swore. She clung to them both. He wished they could go back and help her. To shelter that young girl who went through hell.

  “You didn’t tell your foster parents?” Brick asked.

  She shook her head. “My foster dad worked for the father of one of the girls who bullied me, and she said that he would lose his job if I said anything.”

  “So, what changed?” Brick asked.

  “Reuben was still at school. His grandpa had died and left him this plot of land and some money. When he turned eighteen, he started investing it. And he did well, really well. He came to visit whenever he could, but it had been a few months since I saw him. I know he blames himself for that, but it wasn’t his fault.”

  “No, it was theirs,” Brick said darkly.

  “I hid my weight loss under baggy clothes. I tried to pretend everything was fine. But it wasn’t. And one day, right at the end of the year, I collapsed in class. I ended up in the hospital for a week recovering. I had to see more therapists. Reuben had his lawyer in the thick of things, and he somehow convinced his grandma to apply for custody of me. His lawyer didn’t think that child services would give him custody of me at that stage.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know how he did it. He’d just graduated high school, but he was scarier than everyone else. I felt sorry for my foster parents. I still keep in touch with them. I told them why I hadn’t said anything and my foster dad broke down in tears. It was awful. I wish I had been better to them.”

  “Hey, none of it was your fault,” Xavier told her. Tears entered his eyes and he blinked, but one slipped free.

  A look of amazement filled her face. “For me?”

  “Sweetheart.” His voice broke, and he buried his face in her hair.

  “Brick?”

  “God, Duchess. God.” They hugged her tight.

  Xavier could feel his insides breaking. Yeah, he’d known some of it, but not all the details. He hadn’t even met her until she’d already been living here a few months. When Reuben had gone to get her, he’d been packing to move to college.

  But when he’d come back to visit Reuben during the summer break, there she’d been. Tiny and scared, clinging to her brother like he was her safety.

  “Reuben took a year off to take care of me. He’d been doing college classes in high school anyway, so he was well ahead. He got me into school here, made certain that everyone knew that any slight to me was a slight to him. I think he scared the whole town shitless. Told me that he was my wolf. That he would harm anyone who hurt me.”

  “Good,” Brick said, looking wrecked.

  “I’m all right, Daddy. I promise.”

  Xavier could tell that Brick was just as much of a mess as he was, his eyes red-rimmed and glassy.

  “I really will kill them. All of them,” Brick swore.

  “I looked some of them up, tried to stalk them online,” she told them. “Believe me, you don’t have to go after them. Their lives are hell. Not one of them was successful in life. They went on into bad marriages or poor business decisions. It’s like ev
erything came back to bite them on the ass.”

  Or Reuben had. But Xavier didn’t say it.

  She let out a shuddering breath, and Brick stood, grabbing a box of tissues from the counter. He crouched, but instead of offering her a tissue, he held them out to Xavier.

  Xavier took a tissue, then tilted up her face and carefully cleaned it. By the time he finished, she was bright red.

  “I’ve often wondered if you were a Daddy,” she told him. “You’re always so patient and kind to me. But when I tried to ask Reuben once, he refused to say anything other than you weren’t for me.”

  “Reuben introduced me to BDSM,” Xavier told her. “He took me to my first club. It was a way to relieve the stress of medical school, of my parents’ expectations. There, I could be in control. I could make the decisions. I enjoyed discipling naughty subs. I never went near the Littles area. Then one day, I saw a Dom comforting his Little. The way he held her, cared for her, you could see her blossoming under his attention. It struck me. I formed a friendship with that couple. The Little was a sweetheart. Her Dom was this huge guy. Turns out he owned a gym, and they’d been together for a while. Over time, they taught me a lot, but I never took it much further. I wasn’t sure why I didn’t feel like I could. Then I found out that you were a Little. And I had an outlet for my Daddy side. You. It’s always been you.” He brushed her hair back. “Forgive me for being an idiot.”

  “I forgive you. Idiot.” She grinned as he mock-glared at her. “Does this mean you want to be my Daddy too?”

  “How about your Papa?” he asked.

  “I like that. Will you kiss me again?”

  “Fuck, yes.”

  “So many f-bombs tonight, you best watch you don’t get your mouth washed out, Papa.”

  Lord. That filled him with so much happiness he thought it might burst out of him. Grasping hold of the back of her head, he brushed his lips over hers. Once. Twice. “You sure? Once you’re mine, there’s no going back.”

  “Shut up and kiss me.”

  “Brat.”

  His mouth moved against hers, he slid his tongue between her lips and kissed her like he needed her to breathe, as if this kiss was their first, their last, and everything in between.