Cherry Bomb (18 page)

“Thank you, Sir.”

It didn’t take her long to make her way back
around to the kids. It amazed me how much more confident and steady
she walked going back then coming. It was the kids. Her strength
lay in protecting her children.

Billy had to know I was up to something
because he had carried the kids to the smaller cliff and continued
to watch them as they each took a turn at jumping. Well, except for
Grace who sat firmly in Billy’s lap, laughing as each of the boys
took their turn.

We sat on the rocks across the stream from
them. I kissed a red mark left on Cherry’s shoulder from the stick
earlier. It excited me to see her marked, knowing I was the one who
branded her.

“I love to hear you call me Master.”

“I thought we were going to have sex. I like
how you control me when we do. I guess you still controlled the
situation.”

“Babe, sex is only a small part of a true
Dom-sub relationship. That was a scene but it was to teach us both
a lesson. I would never ask you for sex when you are with your
kids.”

She slightly turned to face me and smiled.
“What did we learn?”

“You learned your worst fears are in your
head.”

I reached over, running a fingertip slowly
down the length of her neck. Leaning in, close to her ear, I
whispered, “I learned sometimes your worst fears are hiding in
plain sight.”

She lifted her head and our eyes locked. The
air around us suddenly thickened with a tension so tangible it
threw me. At that moment, we were no longer at The Falls, there was
no one else around but her and me.

At the sound of a joyful, child-like squeal
the bubble busted, jolting us both back to reality.

“Drakie, did you see us? Billy helped me,”
Grace said, plopping down in my lap, letting her soaked hair slap
against my chest.

I didn’t see anything but the lovely lady
sitting beside me but I couldn’t find it in my heart to tell Grace.
“If I didn’t know better, I would say Uncle Billy was cooler than
me” I held Grace close to me, and tickled her small stomach,

I loved Grace’s giggle. “No, Drakie’s the
coolest ever.”

“I agree. Now convince Mrs. Cherry of
that.”

“Mommy, Mommy, did you see me? I did it all
by myself. Billy didn’t help me. Can I go up there with Noah?
Please Mommy, I won’t be scared,” Henry said. Or I thought he said.
He was talking so fast I was not quite sure.

“No, how about I get your brother and we go
get something to eat.”

Drake nudged Grace’s shoulder and whispered
something in her ear.

“Can we go too? Drakie will be good,” Grace
said then laughed. “I promise.”

I really needed a break from all things Drake
Hart but suddenly, looking out over the water, I had the strangest
sensation, one I had not truly felt in years . . .
happiness.

Drake Hart was a force that had turned my
world on its ends.

“Please, I’ll be good,” Drake teased.

My cheeks hurt from the large smile I was
sporting. “Do you even know how to be good?”

“Oh, babe, do I need to show you how good I
can be?”

That was my problem, I did know how good he
could be.

“Come on, boys. Let’s go. Drake is taking us
to Touchdown Wings for dinner.”

Drake got up, and Grace held on to the bottom
of his swim trunks.

“You’re sure she’s not yours?”

“No, I’m just the lucky guy who gets to be
her Drakie.” Drake ran his hand through Grace’s curls as he looked
down at her like she was a bright angel that shone only for
him.

“Drakie?” I asked.

“Yeah, I became Drakie when she was about one
and a half. Her mom, my sister, is named Katie, so that is how she
became Gracie.”

“The three musketeers,” I teased, gathering
our things together, and wondering how our stuff seemed to multiply
in the sun.

“We’re definitely a team.”

He didn’t smile, something in the tone of his
voice was warning me that Katie and Grace were part of the package
that came along with him.

Drake picked up Grace with the assurance of a
man who had done it a million times. A few steps up the hot rocks,
Henry ran up to Drake, arms raised, looking for a piggyback up the
mountain. Drake scooped him up, never missing a step.

When they reached the top, Drake put Grace
and Henry down and knelt down to check Noah, Thomas, and Jeff’s
feet, making sure they didn’t get burned on the rocks.

A sick feeling plummeted my stomach. Drake
was too perfect. No man had the capability to rock the bedroom and
yet, be this gentle with children. There was a character flaw
somewhere, and I was horrified what it was.

There was no way in hell I was letting her
pay for the meal. No one ever took care of me but I had always
taken care of what was mine. Cherry may not be ready to hear it but
she had most definitely become mine. So I let Billy and her wrangle
together the kids and all the gear as I went to the counter to
pay.

“Master,” came from a soft unfamiliar
voice.

I snapped my head up. Master would be a term
used by a semi-regular not one of my clients. I didn’t instantly
recognize her. She was a beautiful blonde with very little clothes
on and really large, fake boobs.

“Master,” she squealed out again. Grace ran
up and pulled at my shirt. “I’ve never seen you not in a suit.”

I lifted Grace up when I remembered she was
one of the two girls who kept me company after Cherry walked out of
my house. I wanted her to see I was with my family and not playing
the part of Master.

“I’ve missed you,” she said, running her
hands down my chest as if she was ready to undress me right then.
“Cute kid, is she yours?”

“Might as well be,’ I replied, and reached
up, pulling her hands for my body.

Cherry was suddenly at my side, taking in the
girl who didn’t want to take no for an answer.

The girl started to pout when I use my free
arm to wrap around Cherry’s waist.
Was this whore for real?
Her lips stuck out so far I was afraid she was going to step on
them with the six-inch heels she was wearing.

The girl’s eyes finally tore themselves off
me long enough to take in Cherry. “Oh, I didn’t realize you already
had company.”

She started to do the annoying pout again but
then a slow smile appeared instead. She leaned into me and pushed
her breast up against my chest. “You know I don’t mind sharing. I’m
all up for a threesome. She’s older but . . .”

“What the,” I said, behind gritted teeth.

“What’s a threesome?” Grace asked, placing
her small hand on my jaw to force me to look at her.

“A game I should’ve never played.” I kept my
arms protectively around Cherry’s waist. “I think you need to
leave. That’s not my scene anymore.”

My stomach was in knots. The girl bowed her
head, and luckily walked away without another word. I was furious.
How dare she talk like that not only in front of Cherry but Grace?
I would have a talk with Billy about revoking her membership. Rule
one in our world was to never talk outside of the club. Luckily,
Billy still had the boys in the arcade. I couldn’t even begin to
imagine what Cherry would have done if her kids would have heard
the shit coming from that girl’s mouth. Cherry didn’t know the real
me, and I was terrified of her discovering that part of me too.

Cherry relaxed beside me, and I almost let
out a breath of relief. “Ready to go?” she asked, but I could hear
the strain in her voice.

The sun was setting behind a mountain in the
distance, but the heat from the day still vibrated from the parking
lot as we walked to the car. Billy sent me a narrow-eyed stare that
probably had to do with the job I was scheduled to be at in less
than two hours. Not that I was planning on missing it. But it felt
wrong after spending the day with Cherry and the kids.

I unlocked the doors, and switched on the air
conditioner as Cherry started to strap the boys into their booster
seats. Grace was giving my arms a work-out and I needed to say my
good-byes to Cherry so I handed her off to Billy.

“Billy, I like that eating place. It has
games to play. I didn’t know eating places had games,” Gracie said
as Billy carried her off to his car.

I reached over and took Cherry’s hand in
mine, lacing my fingers with hers as if it was the last piece to my
puzzle. An uncomfortable feeling worked its way into my chest. I
had never had a problem telling a girl goodbye, half the time I
didn’t say a word just walked away.

A voice in my head was screaming,
never
let her go.
But if the past ever taught me anything, it was
that I didn’t get to keep the prize. She deserved someone that
wouldn’t leave her to meet someone at a sex club.

“I’m sorry you had to see that in there.”

The sound of my voice was whinier than even I
expected. It didn’t matter she kept staring straight ahead. I was
afraid to look in her eyes and see the disgust in them.

“I’ve got to go work. Can I call you
later?”

“Yeah,” she said, shrugging her shoulder but
still never looking at me. “Drake, I mean it. I can’t take much
more, and now my kids are involved. If you hurt us.”

“I swear, I’m here because there is nowhere
else I want to be.”

The tightness in my chest had finally eased
by the time I pulled into the driveway of the house. Drake was
really good at pleading the innocent thing. He even knew when to
drop his voice to a low, sexy rumble.

“Mom, did you see me jump off the cliff,”
Noah said as he climbed out of the backseat of the car. “Billy said
Thomas and Jeff can come over sometime. I hope you’re cool with
that.”

“I’m cool.” I picked up a sleeping Henry from
his car seat, and slammed the door shut with my hip. “Grab the bag
of snacks, Noah.”

“Why? That’s Ruby’s job.”

“Because Ruby went to Matt’s house hours ago.
I’m sure you’ll be leaving me for some cute girl soon enough.”
Why not everyone seems to leave me?
“But right now grabbed
the bag.”

The day had been hard to wrap my head around,
from the return of my panties, to him showing up at The Falls, to
the girl and her talk of threesomes. Now he was at work. Did work
involve the club, and maybe, unleashing some punishment on the
blonde from the restaurant. But as Drake said was it really
punishment if your body craved it.

I’d never dreamed I would enjoy punishment.
Hell, I never dreamed I would cry out for a man’s touch. Even more
desperately want to return that touch. There was a lot I didn’t
think about or want before Drake entered my world. Sensations,
emotions, needs threatened to overwhelm me, and possibly even drown
me.

“I’m going to put Henry in bed then I’ll come
in to read to you.”

I climbed the stairs, my arms giving out from
the weight. The weight of holding Henry and the weight of trying to
keep it all together.

Pulling back the covers, I laid Henry down in
the bed, and twirled one of his brown curls around my pinky before
slipping off the t-shirt and swim trunks he had worn all day. I
pulled his favorite batman shirt out of the dresser and tugged it
on his body, relieved he didn’t stir. The boys had been through
enough already. Now they had found a new hero in Drake. Was it
right? After all, I had no idea where Drake was leading me.

A stool scraped across the tile floor,
followed closely by a loud crash.
Got to quit trying to balance
on the thing,
I thought with a chuckle.

I went to the bathroom to check on Noah when
he bounced out into the hallway and caught me by the leg. I limped
along to Noah’s room, knowing the days of this game was limited. He
crawled into bed and flipped through the stack of books laying on
his bedside table, before settling back on the headrest, growing
uncharacteristically quiet, and letting his big green eyes study
mine.

He swept the bangs off his forehead, wiping
away the serious face and replacing it with a snaggletooth grin.
“Mommy, is Drake going to be my new daddy?”

I forced myself to smile back and sat on the
edge of his bed. “Baby, you have a daddy. And I know he is doing
things right now that are confusing and makes you sad but he is
still your daddy, and he loves you.”

“I wish Drake was my daddy instead.”

He couldn’t be his daddy. He deserved a daddy
that would be there for him at night not running off to some club
to play his games.

Noah sat up and hugged my neck. “I love you,
Mommy. You’re enough.”

“Am I?” I asked as I tucked him in tight and
placed a kiss on his cheek before completely losing it.

I glanced at my watch for the hundredth time.
She was late, and I didn’t take kindly to tardiness.

The Dungeon held a magic I could never
explain to an outsider. I felt freer here than any other place in
the world. It had been my medicine. When I took over all this from
my father, I was determined to build more than a club but an
empire. Too much blood, sweat, and tears had been poured into this
place to walk away from it now.

A faint tap at the door caught my attention.
Not assertive. That was a good thing.

“Come in,” I said, taking a seat at my
desk.

She closed the door behind her and took in
the view of Beale Street out the picture window that took up the
entire south wall of my office. In the center of the room stood a
large heavy wood desk my dad made when this was his. I tapped my
fingers over it, annoyed at her hesitation.

I started to roll the sleeves of my dress
shirt up, bored my eyes into hers, but didn’t say a word.

“Sir,” she said, her breathing labored.
“There was a wreck on I-40 and I sat in traffic for over an
hour.”