HOLD (10 page)

CORD

I knew she’d stayed up way too late trying to finish just one more chapter so when the alarm started buzzing I switched it off lightning quick and tucked the quilt around her bare shoulders. 

Saylor stirred and murmured in her sleep before settling back into the pillow with a soft sigh.  I spooned my body carefully around hers for a stolen moment, just enjoying her warmth and knowing that for the rest of the day my mind would keep returning here. 

In the week that had passed since my brothers and I had driven down to Emblem, something had been weighing on me.  Something I couldn’t name, something that might not even be real.  But it seemed to hover close with a silent threat all the same. 

A series of soft thumps turned into the sound of small footsteps and the girls appeared in the doorway, two little sleep-tousled cherubs who smiled at me lazily. 

I put a finger to my lips, motioning for them to be quiet, kissed Say on her cheek and hunted around the floor for my shirt before climbing out of bed. 

“I’m hungry,” announced Cami with a trace of impatience. 

“Me too!” agreed Cassie, bouncing on her toes. 

“Hush,” I whispered, ushering them out of the room and gently closing the door behind me.  “Mommy’s still sleeping. I’ll get your breakfast.” 

My daughters automatically went to either side of me – Cami on the right, Cassie on the left – and reached for my hands.  I walked them down the hall to the bright kitchen.  Say had absently left the half-filled coffee carafe on the counter.  She’d been putting in a lot of hours lately, trying to meet a deadline for her fifth book. 

“I want Marshies,” demanded Cami as she climbed onto the padded wooden bench at the table.  Her sister followed her. 

I had to crack a grin as I found the cereal box after a quick pantry search.  The girls were in the habit of calling it Marshies for short.  It was Chase’s favorite cereal.  He used to buy boxes by the dozen when we all shared an apartment.  It occurred to me that I had no idea if he still did. 

“Juice too, Daddy,” chirped Cassie.

“Of course,” I answered, pouring three heaping bowls of cereal with a generous amount of milk. 

My girls dove right into their breakfast the second I placed the bowls before them.  I sat down at the table and happily watched them eat for a few minutes before tackling my own bowl.  I had well over an hour before I needed to be at Scratch and it was only a five minute drive away. 

“I had a bad dream, Daddy,” Cassie said suddenly.  She dropped her spoon on the table and propped her chin in her dimpled hands with a troubled look. 

“I’m sorry, baby,” I told her.  “What was it about?”

She looked at me mournfully.  “You.” 

“Me?”

“Yes.  You.” 

I took a drink of orange juice.  I’d suffered horrible nightmares since I was about the girls’ age.  Mine were different though.  Mine were based on the truth, where a terrible giant chased relentlessly, always threatening to annihilate the only good things that lived in that desolate world.  It seemed those nightmares had faded substantially when Saylor came into my life but even now sometimes I awoke in the middle of the night washed in a cold sweat, my heart pounding.  The girls would have no reason for such nightmares. 

I set the orange juice back down, my mouth dry even though I’d just drained half the glass.  “It was just a dream, honey.  Daddy would never do anything scary.” 

The little girl frowned.  “No.  You weren’t scary.” 

“Why was it a bad dream then, sweetheart?”

“You were lost.”

“Lost?”

She nodded her blonde head seriously.  “We couldn’t find you.  We couldn’t find you at all.  You were nowhere.” 

I leaned forward and stared into my daughter’s eyes.  “I’m not lost, Cassidy.  I’m right here.  I’ll always be right here.” 

“Promise?” she whispered in all earnestness. 

“I promise,” I whispered back and crossed my heart emphatically. 

“Mommy!” shouted Cami with delight and I looked up to see the most beautiful woman in the world walk into the kitchen. 

“Morning, Gentry family,” she yawned, pausing by the table to kiss the girls on each of their heads.  They both gazed up at her with pure adoration.  I knew just how they felt. 

I pushed my chair back from the table a few inches and opened my arms.  “My turn.” 

Saylor gave me a happy smile and settled right into my lap while the girls giggled. Many years in the future, when my daughters were grown women reflecting on their childhood, I wanted them to remember without a shred of doubt that their father absolutely idolized their mother.  I wanted them to believe that they deserved no less from any man. 

“What’s wrong?” my wife asked as her green eyes scanned me with a touch of concern. 

“Nothing,” I assured her with a squeeze.  “Just enjoying a gourmet breakfast with all my favorite girls.” 

I would have liked to stay right in that spot all day but the clock was ticking.  Reluctantly I left my little family and all their bright breakfast chatter to go jump in the shower and transition into work mode.   As I was still toweling off I heard the distinct sound of my phone buzzing on the bedroom dresser.  I didn’t run in there and grab it, figuring it was probably just Aspen chiding me for running a little late because in Aspen’s world, ‘late’ meant not twenty minutes early. 

After I pulled some clothes on and got around to picking up the phone, Saylor wandered in and slipped her arms around my waist.  She buried her face in my neck while I stroked her hair. 

“Writing today?” I asked her. 

“Hopefully.  Once I get the girls off to preschool I’ll have the luxury of a few uninterrupted hours.” 

She kissed my neck and I felt the familiar thunder rumbling low in my belly before shooting straight to my dick.  My mind started making a deal with itself over sparing a few minutes to hike up her nightgown and get some relief. 

Say tilted her head back and smiled up at me.  She knew exactly what I was thinking and she was all for it, already letting her hands travel lower and search for my zipper while I slid one nightie strap over her smooth shoulder.   I let her cup the thick arousal in her palm, focusing on the way she wet her lips and the impatient set of her mouth.  I was going to have fun with that mouth.  I was going to invade it and own it and make it do whatever I wanted, just like I’d done a thousand times before and then –

CRASH.

SMASH.

“CAMI!”  

“I didn’t do it!  It just fell!” 

Saylor automatically pulled the strap of her nightie back up and hurtled through the bedroom door to discover the source of all the panic.  Since there wasn’t any screaming or crying I figured there was no emergency so I took a few extra seconds to clear my head and tame my third leg before following. 

The unfortunate victim of the crash was a ceramic cactus statue that typically sat atop the sideboard.  It was cheap and cheesy, a joke gift from our wedding.  But painted on the front was a silly face that had appealed to the girls since they were babies.  They named him Mr. Cobb for some unknown reason. 

Saylor was picking up the pieces while Cassie looked on with a mournful expression and Cami stood nearby with her hand over her mouth and her eyes filling with tears. 

“It was an accident,” she wailed when she saw me, one tear spilling over her round cheek.  Cami wasn’t a child who cried often so her tears always hurt a little more to see. 

“Hey,” I soothed, putting a hand on her back while Saylor finished gathering the pieces.    “It’s okay.  I’m sure we can glue Mr. Cobb back together.” 

“Sure we can,” Saylor agreed brightly even though I saw the doubt in her eyes.  We exchanged a look and understood each other.  We’d search for a new Mr. Cobb on EBay or wherever. 

Cami was hiccupping lightly and swiping at her eyes.  It had been purely an accident, I was sure of it.  The girls liked to run their little fingers over the thing’s smiling mouth, that’s all.  A sudden unwelcome memory invaded of how accidents were dealt with in the house I’d grown up in but I forced it away. 

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I told my daughter as I bent to her level and pressed my cheek against her forehead while Saylor carefully placed the many pieces of Mr. Cobb in a Ziploc bag. 

Cami threw her arms around my neck and gave a little sigh that made me think of when she was a tiny baby.  Like many infants she had spells where she was fretful, colicky.  Sometimes the only way she’d fall asleep was on my shoulder where she’d stay for hours at a time.

“I love you, Daddy.” 

“Love you too, little one.”  I gave her a comforting squeeze, patted Cassie on the head and kissed Saylor quickly on the lips because by that time I really did need to take off.  Aspen was capable of opening on her own but Brick wouldn’t be in until late morning so there was no one to handle any walk in clients. 

It wasn’t until I was halfway there that I thought to check my phone.  The buzzing I’d heard when I was emerging from the shower was actually just a text from Creed. Texts from Creed were like harvest moons.  They happened but were rare.  He once called texting ‘pussy speak’, whatever the hell that meant.  Creed was a direct kind of a guy so I suppose that was his way of saying that if you wanted to say something you should just say it rather than tapping an emoticon-heavy message into a tiny keyboard.  He wanted to swing by the shop for lunch because he had ‘stuff’ to talk about.  I texted back. 

“Sure.  Between noon and one is fine.  But what kind of stuff?”

The reply was immediate. 

“Just stuff.” 

Well, all right then.  There was no prying anything out of my brother if he wasn’t in the to mood to be pried.  As I set my truck in park and hopped out I wondered if he was stopping by to say that he and Truly were pregnant.  Saylor and Truly talked a lot and she’d hinted a while ago that they’d been trying but then I never heard another word about it.  I had to shake my head and grin over the thought of Creed as a daddy. Yeah, I would love to see fatherhood soften that guy’s lingering rough edges. 

Aspen was already installed behind the front desk when I walked into Scratch. 

“Sleep in?” she inquired, batting her long eyelashes. 

“I’m not late,” I argued, although there was nothing to argue about since this was my shop after all. 

She laughed and pulled a headband out of her blue hair.  “I made coffee already.” 

“Thanks,” I said and meant it because I didn’t consider taking care of my caffeine needs to be part of her job description.  I headed over to the closet-like room that served as the informal break area.  “Brick still going to be here in a few hours?” I called out as I poured a hot cup while Aspen started on what sounded like a manic stapling spree.  

“Sure,” Aspen answered cheerfully, pausing between staple clicks.  “He’ll be around after he recovers.” 

I took a drink, grateful to the unknown inventor of coffee.  “Recovers from what?”

Staple
.  “From me.” 
Staple.
  “Woke him up at four am for a workout.”
Staple.
  “Not that he minded.” 
Staple.
  “We went at so hard-“

“All right, enough,” I groaned.  “Shit, I just walked right into that one.” 

Aspen suddenly popped her head around the corner.  I saw an innocent smile beneath a Technicolor mop.  “You have a dirty mind, Cordero.  I was talking about the marathon we’re training for.” 

“Right,” I nodded, although the smirk on Aspen’s face said she was messing with me and the only marathon she’d been training for this morning was a vulgar one. 

Speaking of vulgar, once Aspen had skipped away, I stood there leaning against the wall, still moodily wishing that I’d managed a morning quickie with Saylor.  The memory of her mouth, the idea of her mouth on my dick, was a haunting way to start the day.  If Creed wasn’t already stopping by at lunch, I’d think up some excuse to head home for a short fuck break. 

Yeah, I still had a hell of a filthy mind. 

Thank god I married a girl eager to please it. 

The vibration of my phone jarred me back to business.  I didn’t recognize the number.

“Head out of the gutter, kid,” Declan Gentry said by way of greeting. 

“You’ve got no idea where my head is,” I fired back. 

“Of course I do.  It’s mooning around in the break room wishing it was back in bed with your wife.” 

“What?” I sputtered, plunking the coffee cup down so hard the contents swished out onto the counter.  “Where the hell are you?”

“Macedonia I think.  Is that where we are, Jen?  Yup, Macedonia.” 

“Cameras,” I remembered and whirled around to see the tiny lens mounted in the upper corner.  Deck had them installed about two months ago.  “I keep forgetting about them.” 

“You’re not the only one.  You might want to reconsider resting your hand on that countertop.”

“Why is that?”

“Because Aspen and Brick fucked themselves silly in that very spot yesterday morning while you were in the back office messing with spreadsheets and shit.  On second thought they probably remembered the cameras after all.  They seem like they enjoy an audience.”