Cherry Bomb (20 page)

“
Don’t talk. If we talk I
have to think, and I don’t want to think tonight I just want to
feel,” I pleaded.

He placed our conjoined
hands on my hip, maintaining a respectable distance between
us.

He stared into my eyes
until he drifted off to sleep, and only then did I have the nerve
to cuddle close to him. I pressed my head against his chest, and
listened to his breathing. My last thought before sleep overtook me
was,
“Drake came back.”

My eyes snapped open as
the mid-day sun filtered through the window, and I ran my hand over
an empty mattress.

Drake was gone,
again.

I quelled the urge to
pout, and plastered a smile on my face instead.

After all, he thought
enough of me to show up for a few hours.
Get a life, Cherry. He’s not worth it.
But God, I wanted him, and was sure that feeling would never
go away.

I was fucked. I had become
entirely too wrapped up in that kinky, beautiful
bastard.

“Katie, Billy has made some lemonade. Why
don’t you go in and get me a glass,” Jerry said as he walked over
to the swing Katie and I were sitting on.

Katie loved lemonade, and before Jerry even
finished talking she had thrown the Barbie and sissy-looking Ken
doll we were playing with down on the front porch and took off
squealing for Billy.

I didn’t enjoy playing with her dumb dolls
but Katie was the master manipulator, and so cute I let her have
her way most of the time.

Jerry sat down beside me and slumped. I
stared straight ahead, sensing what he was about to say was not a
good thing.

For several long minutes, we both sat there,
watching our feet move along with the motion of the swing.

After letting out a deep breath, Jerry
reached over and took my hand in his, squeezing it. His hands were
rough from all the hard labor he had done in his life, but they
were warm and I would never admit it but I like the contact.

“I saw your Mom last night.”

I cringed and let out a slight moan. “Yeah,
what’s it to me?”

I hated the sound of my own voice, but I
wouldn’t hide my feelings anymore, I hated that woman.

“She signed her rights away. So I can legally
adopt you now.”

I took in his words, turning them over and
over in my mind. With a flick of a pen, the person who gave birth
to me wrote me off as if I never mattered. It should’ve made me
happy but it didn’t. Instead it was as if the scab to all my old
wounds had been ripped off. With a trembling lip, I faked a smile.
This was supposed to have been good news. That woman could never
come back for me. Katie and I would finally belong to someone who
would love us.

“What are you going to tell Katie?”

All she had known her entire life was Jerry
being Daddy. She never had to know the nightmare of living in a
house with the monster who had us.

“That is the thing. She only signed her
rights away to you. She wants to see Katie again.”

I stood so hastily I almost caused Jerry to
flip over in the swing. “No!”

Jerry gripped my arm. “She has just spent a
year in rehab, and she still keeps in contact with Katie’s real
father. She wants to get to know her daughter.”

“But to hell with her son. She’s some mom.” I
stomped off to find Katie. It had been my job to protect her since
she was born, and I wouldn’t stop because that bitch wanted to see
her.

Hearing her mumble about me coming back had
woken me from the nightmare of my past. I was a fucking loser. I
didn’t deserve to feel complete but that was exactly how she made
me feel, and I knew when everything came out I would hurt her
again. These few memories I had of her would become the newest
nightmares that kept me up at night. I should run and get it over
with. But my feelings for her were too real and kept me coming back
for anything I could get.

I even debated telling her the truth. I
couldn’t. At this point it would just cause her to hate me sooner
rather than later, and I couldn’t live with Cherry hating me so
soon.

This weekend I would devote every moment to
her and maybe somehow work my way a little into her heart.

The front door was still slightly ajar as I
entered to the amazing view of Cherry staring at me with a look of
surprise. She shifted the robe she was wearing and took in the two
large bags of food I was holding, nibbling nervously on her bottom
lip before saying, “I thought you had left.”

Oh, God, she thought I had left her
without even a good bye. Was I that big of an asshole?
A sick
knot had formed in my stomach that I hadn’t felt since I was a
little boy at the mercy of my mother.

“I wanted to fix you breakfast and went out
to pick up some stuff.” I bent down to kiss the hurt look off her
face. I wanted to drill on the good points and leave the hurt for
another day. “I make a killer omelet.”

I started walking toward the kitchen.

“Drake, wait.”

I snuck in her house the night before, surely
making myself at home wouldn’t be what set her off. I stalled but
didn’t turn to look at her. “Sweetheart.”

“Where have you been?”

I turned on my heels to catch the look in her
eyes that showed the untold sadness she held in her. I cringed,
knowing every move I was making would only add more misery in her
life.

“James use to leave me for days.”

Fuck, I was no better than that ass.

I sat the bags I was holding on the ground,
and walked over until I was within an inch of her. “I was in North
Carolina, working on a job. I couldn’t call. I couldn’t have
anybody tracing me to you.”

“I deserve better than this. My kids deserve
better. Henry has asked everyday if you were coming over. I didn’t
know what to say.”

Shit, she was right. She deserved a hell of
a lot more than me.

My jaw tightened. She stood there so
vulnerable in only a robe. The contrast between what I saw when I
looked at her, and the way she saw herself when she looked in the
mirror was stark. What I felt for her grew at that moment.

I was on her in an instant, one hand on her
lower back and the other one wrapped around her neck. I wasted no
time, prying open her mouth with my tongue, plunging deep and
hard.

She moaned and raised up on her tiptoes,
giving me better access to her body. My hand lowered to cup her ass
when I sunk my teeth into her lower lip, with enough force to hurt.
“This will never be over. Tell that little boy I will always come
back.”

I flipped around without another word and
picked of the bags of food on the floor.

“Let me go change. I’ll meet you in the
kitchen,” she said.

I gripped the bags I was holding, trying like
hell to get control of myself as I listen to her turn and walk
away. I had no idea how much I was willing to tell her about the
past week but I would show her what I hoped our future could look
like.

I moved the first piece of bacon to the
frying pan when she entered the kitchen. She had changed into a
t-shirt and pair of flannel pajama bottoms, making sure every inch
of skin she could cover was covered.

“You can’t just leave again without
something.” Those incredible green eyes of hers went large again.
As much as I loved staring into those eyes, I couldn’t handle
knowing that I was the one who had put that look into them. Fuck, I
didn’t call because I wanted to keep her safe from that side of my
life. Not because I didn’t want to talk to her.

I was trying my damnest not to throw the
spatula I was holding. I wanted to hit something, and it had
nothing to do with my sexual libido. Anger was taking over, anger
that was directed totally on me, and I needed to ease that anger
before I scared Cherry totally away. I had been so worried about
working and keeping her safe, I hadn’t even thought that not
hearing from me hurt her worse.

Flipping over the bacon, a spark of grease
flew up and landed on top of my hand. “Shit,” I screamed, letting
the spatula fall onto the stove top.

“Come here, baby, let me see if you will
live.”

Cherry had my hand in hers, scraping her
thumb over the red burn. It should have been the gentle way she was
touching me that caught my attention but it wasn’t. It was the
unbelievably perfect smile that lit up not only her eyes but the
whole damn room that did.

“I was working. Nothing else.”

“Huh,” she said, and looked up at me.

“Manning, my assistant, discovered some
information I needed to check on myself. I wanted to call you. I
wanted to hear your damn voice so bad but I couldn’t. I couldn’t
talk, knowing what I was doing.”

“Next time at least send a text,” she said,
and kissed the top of my hand before letting it fall back to my
side.

I wanted to pound my fist into my chest like
a fucking gorilla. She was letting it go. However, the warning in
my sweet Cherry’s voice was signaling she wouldn’t tolerate it
again. I had to quit fucking up.

I managed to cook Cherry a breakfast worth
eating.

I poured the eggs over onto the oversized
plate, and slid three pieces of bacon before adding a side of
biscuit and gravy.

“Breakfast is served, my sweet,” I said,
setting the plate down in front of Cherry.

She took a bite, and her eyes widen as I took
a seat opposite her. “This is seriously above par. You can
cook.”

“Am a man of many talents,” I said, picking
up the pot of coffee. I filled up her cup and mine, letting a
little of it splash out over onto her walnut table. She giggled.
Damn, I love the sound of her laughter.

“You didn’t have to do all this. I usually
just eat oatmeal when the kids are not around.”

I pressed my lips together to avoid smiling
at the cute expressions she was making. “I don’t have to do
anything, but I wanted too. I know I haven’t showed it but I like
taking care of you.”

Cherry took a bite, and then another, hardly
pausing long enough to swallow. I barely touched my food, I simply
enjoyed watching Cherry; the way she worked the fork between her
teeth, the small hums emanating from her lips, the way her eyes
shined when she looked in my direction. I took a drink of the
mimosas I had mixed earlier, and witness the eyebrows of her
beautiful face scrunched together. “Long night, it’s a Buck’s
Fizz.”

“A what?” She let the fork she was holding
slip from her grasp.

“Mimosas,” I took another drink, and motioned
for her to come hither. When she moved closer, I kissed her,
letting the cold, crisp liquid pour from my mouth as I did. It was
so unexpected, she moaned. “Good?” I whispered.

She nodded. I lean back over the warmth of
her lips and let more of the drink pass between us. The feel of the
coldness of the drink passing between us caused my cock to
twitch
. Shit, nobody but her.
I pulled back. “Not too much,
don't want the kids finding us drunk.”

“The kids won't be home until Sunday,” she
said and placed her hand on mine. “Like you didn’t know that. I
seriously doubt you would have broken into my house if you didn’t
know the kids were gone.” She paused and bit down on her bottom
lip. “Or I hope not.”

I laughed at the quizzical way her eyes
studied me. “No, I don't think they are ready for an early morning
visit from Drake yet.”

“They like you. I’m glad too. I want my
family to like you.”

I wanted them to like me too. I needed them
in my corner when the truth came out.

“Speaking of family. Mine is having a cookout
at my dad’s and step-mom’s. We should be getting ready to
leave.”

Because I’m so fucking ready for them to
meet the lady who had finally silenced all my demons.

Our birth mom came today. I told her hi four
times. She ignored me as if I had the incurable disease of human
decency. It wouldn’t have bothered me if not for the fact she had
taken Katie skipping away with her. Katie had her share of
limitations but loving someone was not one of them. I saw it in her
eyes. She was trying to see our mom for what she should be, not
what she was.

Jerry or Dad, I’m not sure what to call him
yet, told me it was for only two days. But I’m not sure he
understood what hell two days with that monster was. Katie was too
innocent; she didn’t have any fight in her.

I threw the book I was holding against the
wall. I had started reading Harry Potter to Katie. Reading had
become my escape. I could disappear from the real world full of
pain for hours. Harry Potter was one of my favorites. I’d already
read it twice, but I kept going back to it. I, too, was once a
small boy hidden away except I didn’t have a magical land to escape
too. I decided Katie was old enough to enjoy the land of wizards
and magic. I wasn’t wrong. She loved it and laughed at all the
wrong places. I think she laughed because she knew no matter how
tough I pretended to be, she had a way about her that got under my
skin and controlled me.

Dad tapped on my door, and I was jerked from
my thoughts. He stood right in front of me, looking down with that
damn look of pity. Glancing sideways, I gave him my best I didn’t
give a damn look. But I did. I never cared about anything more than
how Jerry felt.

He knelt down in front of me. “I know how
much Katie means to you, and the last thing I wanted was to see her
leave with that woman. But son, our hands are tied.” He sat down
right beside me and cradled me under his armpit. It felt nice.
“Son, we all have demons in our lives. Some we create ourselves,
others are forced on us, but one day someone will come in your life
and when she is near all the demons in your head will go
silent.”