OWNED by Dominic (Possessed #1) (22 page)

She didn’t miss a beat in her pounding of the dough.

“Pincess is mad, Daddy,” Jax helpfully supplied from his spot at the table where he was coloring and eating a snack.

“Is that so?” he asked, kissing her neck lightly, leaving to go sit with his son.

“Yup. Dat nasty lady said mean things.”

A loud gasp had him whipping his head to look at her.

“You heard her?” Dee asked Jax, and the horror on her face showed how much that upset her.

“Uh huh. She shoulden talk wike dat.”

“Your right, bud, she shouldn’t.”

With tears in her eyes, Dee turned back to mutilating her bread dough. When her shoulders started to shake, he went to her.

“C’mere,” he murmured as she tried to hide her distress.

“What if she takes him? What if a judge thinks she should
have him? What if we
lose
him, Dominic?” The heartbreak was clear in her voice, and the stress was in every line of her face.

“We won’t. We will fight this. He will be staying here with us where he belongs,” he vowed. Knowing full well he’d do whatever it took to keep his son. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Brooke was up to something; he just had to find out what.

“Pincess?” Little fingers grabbed at the both of them as he comforted her.

Wiping her face against his shirt, she looked down at Jax without losing the contact with him. “Yeah, sweetheart?”

“Why are you cwying?”

Kneeling down to his level, she looked him in the eye and was probably more honest with him than anyone ever had been before. “That mean lady thinks she’s going to take you from us, and the thought of never seeing your handsome little face again makes me very sad.”

She quickly looked to Dom like he might be pissed that she’d said so much, but he wasn’t. He admired her strength to face it head on rather than pussyfooting around it.

Giving Dee a slight smile so she knew he was ok with it, he looked back to his son as Jax asked, “Who is she?”

He should have expected that question next, but he was taken aback.

Picking Jax up, he cradled him on his hip, looked him straight in the eye, and told him, “She’s your mother.”

He wasn’t sure how Jax would react to that news. He’d been asking about his mother nearly daily until Deedee came home with him.

“But I don’t wike her.”

“That’s ok.” What else was he supposed to say? You have to?

“I don’t want to wive with her.”

Dom smiled. “That’s ok, too.”

“You won’t make me?”

“Never.”

“And Pincess will stop crying now?” He looked to her as he asked that.

“Yeah, baby, I will.”

Just like that he wiggled from Dom’s arms and ran back to his coloring. Simple words kept it easy for him.

Now, if only it were as simple for them to keep Brooke away from Jaxson.

*****

The ringing of
his phone had Dom getting out of bed in the middle of the night so it didn’t wake Dee, who had a hard time falling asleep with all the worry on her mind. Grabbing a pair of sweats from his dresser, he pulled them on before answering and leaving the room.

“Slade,” he snapped into the receiver.

“It’s Black. Listen, I heard you were in some trouble.”
Fucking Case.
“I might have some info for you.”

“Shit. What is it?” He wasn’t dumb enough to start an argument when he knew their info was always solid.

“I heard some rumblings about a chick named Brooke Cavalier. She was looking to screw over some dude named Slade. Real pissy about it, too. Figured there’s only one guy I know with that name that could piss someone off so thoroughly.

“Fucking cunt,” he growled.

“I take it you know her then?” Creed asked with humor in his voice.

“Oh, I fucking know her all right. Bitch tried to trap me, then dumped our son on my steps like garbage, and now she’s coming at me with this fake bullshit need to be maternal.”

“Shit,” he cursed. “You need backup with this nut?”

“Nah, man, I got it. What else did you hear? Any idea who she’s working with?”

“Yeah, hang on, I’ve got it written down somewhere.” Papers shuffled for a few seconds before he came back. “British dude by the name of Williams. Mean anything to you?”

“Fuck! Bradshaw Williams?”

“That’s the guy. I take it you know him?”

“That’s Deidre’s father. The same cocksucker that sold her to me when she was eleven. They’re both fucking dead!” He couldn’t contain his rage as his blood began to boil. Dom was dangerously close to putting his fist through a wall.

“Dom!” Creed’s scream penetrated his inner thoughts from taking fruit and he went to hunt the lowlife down before he was ready.

“What?” he snapped again.

“Calm the fuck down. I’m on my way,” he told him before hanging up.

Dom should have fucking known they were in cahoots together. Their timing was too perfect. Every time there was an encounter with one of them, the other would show up not long after.

He knew he needed to calm down. Dee had an innate sense of when something was wrong with him. She always knew. But he didn’t want to relax just yet. He needed to embrace the anger, to let it flow through his veins so thoroughly that when he did finally have his day of reckoning with Bradshaw, he’d take him out without a thought.

Remorse had never been something he entertained until he met Deedee all those years ago. After she’d been shipped off, he became angry at her for eliciting emotions he wanted to lay dormant. The lack of feelings had fueled him when he eliminated someone. He needed to be dead inside so it wouldn’t eat him alive, but she opened him up to a whole new world.

If she hadn’t introduced him to this other side of himself, he wouldn’t have been as willing to take Jaxson in as he was. There was never a doubt that he was Dom’s son, but there was always the doubt over whether he deserved that child or not.

Having her in his life again, he knew that not only did he deserve the two of them, but he needed them far more than they needed him. It was their existence that kept him human. It was them that kept him from becoming the cold person he used to be.

*****

“Pincess,” Poke. “Are
you up?”
Poke.
“I have to tell you something. Pincess?”

She had a nagging sense of déjà vu as Jax poked her, trying to wake her up. Stretching her arms above her head as he jumped on the bed beside her, she asked, “What do you have to tell me. Jaxson?”

“Daddy and Unca Case are on a case, and they are planning something big!” He sounded excited about the prospect of an adventure.

“Is that so?” she asked him distractedly as she got up, thinking the only case they could have possibly had was her father and Brooke. But nothing new had happened, had it?

“Yup, they have cool maps and stuff out, too!”

“Hmmm, have you eaten yet?” she asked him, thinking they could sneak down and she would find out what was happening that way. She knew they would both try to protect her at all costs.

“Daddy gived me yogurt. But I wanted panpakes.” He pouted that he didn’t get what he wanted.

“Let’s go see what we can do about that, shall we?”

Nodding his head, he grabbed her hand dragging her from the bed. They quietly made their way down the stairs. Nearing the kitchen, she heard Dom and Case talking.

“You can’t hide her forever, Dom,” she heard Case say.

“I can fucking damn well try,” Dom growled, making her smile. The man loved to growl.

“Look, all I’m saying is maybe we use her. I mean Bradshaw wants something from her, and we haven’t a fucking clue what that is. What if she contacts him? Pretends like she’s doing it without you knowing, then
BAM
! We trap the sucker. Find out what it is, then decide whether he lives or dies. Though, I gotta say I’m thinking the latter ‘cause dude, he’s a fucking waste of skin.”

“You talk too fucking much, Case.”

“But you’re thinking about it,” he said triumphantly.

Use her as bait? Could she pull it off? Did she want to?
What if everything backfired, and something happened to her? A tug on her hand had her looking down, and she realized it was a risk she had to take in order to keep those she loved safe.

Walking into the kitchen, she told them, “I’ll do it.”

“Oh hell, fucking no,” Dom growled again coming towards her. “You’re not,” he told her. Looking to Case with a death glare, he told him, “You’re dead.”

“But if it gets him out of our lives?” she acquiesced.

“No.”

“Dominic, you know it’s the only way.”

“No,” he repeated.

“You’re starting to sound like a broken record, man.” Case laughed.

“Fuck you,” he spat out at him.

“Dominic, I can’t just sit here and keep waiting. What if the next time, he actually hurts Jaxson?” She knew he’d see the logic there.

“The answer is no.”

Maybe not
.

“There’s more at play than you know,” he began to tell her.

“What else is there?”

Sighing, he ran his hand down his face roughly. “Brooke has had her eyes on me for a while.” Something like regret flashed across his face. “When she found out about you, she went searching for Bradshaw.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“I don’t have all of the particulars yet,” he explained. “Creed’s coming in today. Should be here anytime actually.”

“Creed’s coming?”

He narrowed his eyes on her at the excitement in her voice. When he would have said something, he closed his mouth instead. Averting his attention to Case, he did a manly chin lift thing, silent communication and all. Next thing she knew she was upside down over his shoulder and on her way back upstairs before she could say a word.

“Dom?” she tried to call, but he ignored her until they were back in the bedroom.

Tossing her on the bed, he whipped his shirt over his head before planting his body down on hers. “You got something you need to tell me, Deidre?”

The bite in his tone told her to watch what she said, but the emotion swirling in his eyes called her to challenge him. That he had a driving need to assert himself over her.

“Nothing,” she said quietly.

“You sure?” The threat in his tone was clear.

“No.” His eyes grew dark at her answer, and the veins along his neck bulged and pulsed in his anger with every beat of his heart.

When he arched a brow, she knew she’d better start talking. Lifting her head forward, she kissed the base of his neck right where his pulse was out of control. “When I was in Italy, Kenny kept me sane. On all those nights that I wanted to curl up in a ball and cry? I would think of her and what she’d been through. Then I realized my situation wasn’t so bad.”

“And?” he demanded.

Kissing up along his jaw, she nipped him lightly knowing he liked that bite of pain. “When Creed and Linc came, I wasn’t sure what to think. But then they sort of became my friends too, and with them around, things weren’t nearly as lonely before.”

“Watch it,” he barked.

She smiled. “Then I would see them with her, and I was jealous. So disgustingly so because she had something I knew I would never have.”

Tilting his head to look down at her, he asked, “What’s that?”

“A love so strong nothing could break it,” she sighed out as a lone tear escaped her eye. “They flew across the world because they felt a connection with her during the worst time of her life. I was never going to have that. But you know what I thought of every time those depressing thoughts entered my mind?”

Their eyes locked, and she thought he knew.

“This big scary man that growled when he spoke, was bossy as hell, and took no shit from some spoiled adolescent girl. When I thought of him, I was less lonely, felt more anticipation. I didn’t even realize why until out of the blue, there he was. In all his scary, growling, badass glory.”

“Fuck,” he groaned.

“So am I happy to see Creed? I am. He made my friend happy. When she left, she was smiling. Inside she was terrified, but even I knew that those two men would take care of her the way she deserved.”

Running her hands up his sides, she pondered her words for a second before meeting his gaze and saying, “And when I look at you, when I’m in your arms,
I know
I’ll have that same care and attention in a way I never thought I could.”

His eyes searched hers for so long she almost forgot where they were, what was happening around them.

“Do you know,” he paused, “you were never something I was looking for. I didn’t want to feel this way for anyone. I had Jax and that was enough. But the minute you opened that door in Italy, I fucking knew without a shadow of a doubt that I was done.”

“Yeah?” she murmured shyly.

“Fuck, yeah. You might think I own you, but Princess, you fucking have possession of all of me.”

His lips slammed onto hers as soon as he was done talking. He devoured her, sucking every breath from her body. Controlling her every move.

All she could do was lay there and take it, love it, own it.

Twenty-One

“Well it’s about
time!” Creed laughed as they came back downstairs. “I thought you were gonna keep that girl up there all damn day.”

“Fuck off, Creed,” he grumbled. Dom hadn’t expected him to be there so soon.

“Hi, Creed,” Dee greeted him half hiding behind his own body, which made him insanely happy that she didn’t rush over like he thought she might have.

Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, he dropped a kiss on her head as they walked further into the room. “I thought it’d be a couple more hours before you got here?”

“Soon as Kenny found out it was Dee in trouble, she insisted I leave as soon as possible,” he informed them.

“How is she?” Deedee asked worriedly.

“She’s good. She’s getting there.” He smiled.

“So what have you got for me?” Dom demanded, wanting to get to the bottom of things so they could plan their attack.

“Not nearly as much as I’d like. But Casey was saying something about having Dee call Brad – “

“Not happening,” Dom inserted before Creed could even finish his thought.