Play Fair (The Devil's Share Book 3) (22 page)

Bryan reached down and put her hand on my shoulder. Landry looked between the two of us. “He’s ours. Right, B? He’s for our family.”

“That’s right, sweet girl.” She sat on the ground, pulling both Landry and the wiggly puppy into her lap. “But your dad and I want you to name him.”

“Anything I want?”

Bryan said “yes” the same time I said “within reason.” Landry had been spending a lot of time in a house full of rock stars. There’s no telling what she’d picked up. She tapped her chin. “Crash.”

“Crash?”

She nodded. “Like the crash cymbal on the drums. His name is Crash Florida Cole.”

***

“Nothing turns me on more than seeing you laying on our bed wearing my shirt.” I shut our door and laid my body on top of Bryan’s. “Now, take it off.”

Since we were going to be living together, permanently, I would get to do this every fucking night. Life with B would be…ecstasy. Huh, maybe I could turn that into a song lyric. This chick made me horny; she always had. But ever since she told me she loved me earlier today…? I was a whole new level of turned the hell on.

She grinned, wriggled free and slowly peeled the fabric from her body, giving me a small show in the process. “Your turn.”

I quickly tossed my own clothes away and then threw the blue plaid comforter over both of our naked bodies. I rolled on my side and pulled B’s back against my chest. My dick against her bare ass. “Say it again.”

She pushed against me. “I’m not leaving.”

“Because you’re mine.” I let my fingers trail lazily up her naked thigh and around the front of her hip. “Say it.” I used my palm against her pelvis to tug her closer to me. I placed small kisses on her shoulder.

“I’m yours, Jacks. Only. Ever. Yours.”

I moved my hand to her knee, draping her leg over mine, opening her up for me. I positioned the head of my dick at her core, coating myself in her desire. “You ready, doll?” I sucked lightly on her neck, leaving little red marks.

“Always.”

I filled her in one smooth motion. “You feel so good like this, baby.” I kept one hand on her leg, holding her in place. The other I wrapped around to rest at the base of her throat. “I’ll never get enough.” I pumped in and out, keeping a steady rhythm, over and over until we were both dripping with sweat.

“Oh, god, don’t stop.”

I loved feeling all of her body pressed against me, I loved the smell of her hair in my face, I loved the sound of her nearing release. Everything about being inside Bryan was so fucking perfect. Nothing and no one would ever compare. I put my mouth against her ear, my whispers making her cry out even louder.

“Let go for me, doll.” I added a little bit of pressure to her throat and quickened my pace.

“Yes, Jacks, just like that.”

I dropped my forehead to her back and went even faster, harder, giving her everything I had. When she came, I had to cover her mouth with my hand to quiet her moans. Which in turn made me follow her over the edge.  

Landry

I loved my new puppy. I’d wanted one my whole life, and now I had the cutest one ever made. I didn’t want Dagger to be jealous though so I made sure to let him get on the couch with us to watch cartoons. Jacks and B were still asleep when I woke up, but Crash was awake and wagging his tail. So I scooped him up and we came downstairs and got some yogurt (the good kind that Lexi hides in the back of the fridge) and I took him outside to potty. Now he, Dagger, and I were watching cartoons. I was going to be sad when Dagger lived in a different house than me; I bet Crash would be sad too. He liked to climb all over him and bite his ears.

There was a knock at the front door. I didn’t know what to do. I was pretty sure Jacks and B wouldn’t want me to open the door by myself. I looked over at Dagger. I wasn’t really alone; Lexi said that Dagger was a good guard dog. That’s why I was allowed to play in the backyard by myself. I stood and took him by the collar toward the front door. The person knocked again. Maybe it was Ms. Diane. It was time for another check. I’d left Crash on the couch and I could hear him whining because he couldn’t get down on his own. They knocked again. Man, they must really need something. As soon as I reached out to put my hand on the doorknob, Dagger started to growl deep in his throat. The sound vibrated through my body.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Bryan

“Did you hear that?”

“Hmmm? What?”

I sat up. “I think someone is knocking on the door.”

Jacks opened his eyes, looking toward the hall. “Why would they knock on our door? It’s open.”

I threw my legs over the side of the bed. “Not
our
door, the front door.” I stuck my head in Landry’s room. “She’s already up. And Crash is gone. Hope she took him to the backyard to pee.” Maybe that was her knocking, maybe she went out front and got locked out. Jacks must have thought the same thing because he was now suddenly awake and following me downstairs.

We reached the entryway to see Landry and Dagger standing in front of the closed front door. Dagger was growling and Landry was petting him, trying to calm him down. “Hey, sweet girl, was that someone knocking?”

She turned when she saw us. “Yes. I didn’t know if I was allowed to open it, so I brought Dagger with me to be safe…but then he started growling.”

Jacks and I looked at each other; we both knew who it was. We were too happy. Landry had calmed down and stopped looking over her shoulder. Of course Amelia would show back up. Jacks kneeled down in front of her. “That’s probably your mom.”

Landry’s lip started to quiver. When she looked at me, I got down next to her too. “If you don’t want to see her, then I can take you upstairs. It’s up to you.” I could feel Jacks looking at me like I’d lost my mind. He thought we needed to fight harder. But I’d realized we needed to fight
smarter
.

She put her hand in mine, straightening her spine. In that moment I saw what Jacks saw; she did look a lot like me. “I’m okay. I want to stay.”

I nodded and opened the door. This was the first time I’d really gotten a good look at her. You could tell that at one point she’d been very pretty. But time had not been good to her. She smiled a little when she saw Landry.

“Hi, baby.”

Landry scooted closer to me. “Hi.”

Jacks stood on the other side of her, his hand on her shoulder. “What are you doing here, Amelia? I told you that the next time I’d have no choice but to call the police.”

She nodded, not taking her eyes off Landry. “I know. I just needed to see her, make sure that she was okay. Are you okay, baby? Are you… Are they…”

Amelia was at a loss for words. Once I started letting myself think of Landry as my daughter, once she called me Momma…I’d seen things from Amelia’s perspective. She wasn’t a good parent. Landry spent more than most of her life in the back of that woman’s mind. But she was still a mom. She still had fears; she still worried; she still needed to know that Landry was okay. That was why she’d come back. That was the only reason. “It’s okay, sweet girl. We’re right here. You can talk to your mom.”

I felt her little hand squeeze mine. “I’m okay, Mom. I really like it here and I really want to stay. Please don’t make me choose. I don’t want to make you sad…” She was crying now.

I could tell the moment all fight left Amelia’s body. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes filled with tears. I was right. She just needed to know her kid was safe and happy. She needed permission to let go, just like I’d needed permission to hold on tighter. She nodded, her tears spilling out. “Please, I—”

“Emily?” All the knocking and growling had woken up the rest of the house and Smith was now standing in the doorway. “What in the flying fuck are you doing here?”

Chapter Twenty-nine

Jacks

What? How did Smith know who Landry’s mom was? “Emily? Her name is Amelia. You know her?”

Smith nodded. “Yeah, we grew up— Oh my God.” He shook his head, like he didn’t want to believe what was happening. “You’re Landry’s mother. It wasn’t Jared’s baby, it was Jacks’s.”

I was starting to get a headache. “What? When did anyone say that Jared had a kid?” Jared was Smith’s drug-addicted cousin, our former drummer. This was getting weird. Landry didn’t need to hear all of this.

Bryan must have felt the same way. “Come on, sweet girl. Crash is barking like a madman. He probably needs to go potty. Let’s let Uncle Smith and your mom talk for a bit.”

Amelia…Emily made a move to touch Landry. “Baby. Wait, I—”

Bryan shook her head. “I’ll make sure you get to tell her bye before you leave, but she doesn’t need to be here for this conversation.”

I wasn’t so sure why B was being so nice to her mom, but it had seemed to help Landry feel calm. I waited until I heard the backdoor close before I continued. “Now who ever said that Jared had a baby? What is happening right now?” This day just went from fucking infuriating to fucking weird.

Smith’s shoulders slumped. “My family,” he pointed to Landry’s mom, “and Emily all claimed that the baby was mine. But I knew it wasn’t. I hadn’t seen her in years.”

The pieces were all starting to come together now. I went home with Jared once, early on when he was still a good guy and a fun time. We did some charity thing that Smith wanted no part of. We went out afterward, this party… “Wait a fucking minute.” I looked over at him. “The label was paying that chick off, right? The one who said she had your kid?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Money every month, like clockwork. I never put a stop to it because I figured the kid was Jared’s and better off without him.”

I whirled around. “You’ve been getting money monthly from this band for ten fucking years?! Where the hell does it go? None of Landry’s clothes fit; she was malnourished; her shoes had holes in them! Where did the money go? Up your nose? In your fucking veins?!” I took a step toward her. All goodwill I’d felt a few minutes ago was disappearing. I’d never hit a girl in my life. But in that moment, I wanted to. This was the woman who hurt my kid. “How did you even pull that off? My name was on her damn birth certificate.”

She snorted. “You really should fire your label, they never even asked for proof. Just assumed what we said was the truth.”

I took another step toward her, my anger surging.

“We?” Smith put his arm in front of me, trying to get me to back down. “I need to know. I need to know why they said the baby was mine. Please.”

I took a deep breath and looked past Amelia…Emily’s shoulder toward the street. The last thing we needed was to be having any more of this confrontation in the front yard. I opened the door a little wider and motioned for her to come inside. She stayed rooted in place. “Well?”

She peeked up at Smith through her greasy bangs, her eyes bloodshot from all the crying earlier. She nodded and then followed us into the dining room. I didn’t want her at our table. I didn’t want her to sit where my daughter sat. It was almost like her very presence was tainting the room, stealing all of Landry’s joy out of it. She wrung her hands together. I wondered if I was the only one who noticed the tremble in them. “What do you want to know?”

“Why did you say the baby was mine? Jacks and I are in the same band, the same record label. You would’ve gotten your money regardless.” Smith reached out his hand when Dylan walked into the room. He tucked her into his side. He wanted her with him; he always wanted her by his side. I looked toward the backyard. As much as I felt the same way about Bryan, I’d rather her be with Landry.

“At first I didn’t tell anyone anything.” Emily started to chew on her lower lip. “But your dad, he saw me at the grocery store. He grabbed me, lifted my shirt. He always was a sick bastard, wasn’t he?” She shrugged. “He asked whose it was. Told him it was some guy in a band. He asked if it was Jared’s. Guess he thought the same thing you did. I told him no. I told him it was some other guy. But he said I needed to claim the baby was yours, that that was the only way I’d see any money. He said he could sell the story, said he’d split the profits.”

“And you agreed with him? How fucking sick are you? You would rather get into bed with my old man than just tell the truth? Just ask us for help?” Smith was starting to lose it. I felt for him. He hated his father, and it seemed like no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t escape the bullshit that came along with his family.

“I needed money! I had a baby on the way. My parents weren’t going to help me. What was I supposed to do?” She looked down at the table, tracing the grooves in the wood.

I sat down next to her, “Why didn’t you just tell me? Just contact me? You obviously knew she was mine. You put my name on her birth certificate.”

She let out a quick laugh, void of any humor. “We fucked in the bathroom stall of a rundown roadside bar. You didn’t give me a second glance after you were done. You never even asked me my name. So when Smith’s dad handed me an out, I went with the devil I knew.”

“I’m sorry.” My voice cracked on the words. I felt like utter shit. I’d been the worst type of man. “I’m sorry I treated you like that. I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t count on me, couldn’t come to me.” I shook my head. “But that doesn’t excuse the way you treated Landry. What happened to the money, Emily?”

Her eyes went to Smith. “His old man took some every month. He said if I didn’t keep giving him a cut that he would tell everyone I’d lied, that I was extorting the band. Smith got out, he got away. I didn’t. I was my own worst nightmare, raising my fatherless child in the trailer park.” She didn’t have to tell us the rest of her story; it was written all over her face, her body. The money went to drugs, to booze, to numb the pain of her life, and Landry was a casualty.

“Don’t you want better for her? Don’t you want more out of life for our daughter?”

She sobbed, “Yes.”

“Then let her stay with me. Don’t fight for custody.” I was pleading with her. I would get on my knees if I had to.

“How will I know if she’s okay? How will I know if she’s safe?”

“Because you can come check on her.” Bryan was standing at the backdoor, Landry’s small hand in hers. “You can call if you want…or come see her…” She looked down at Landry. “But you have to be clean. You have to be sober. We won’t let you come in and let her down. She deserves more than that, and you know it.”