CHAPTER 23
After realizing how far they’d have to haul their beloved patrons, Sahvrin decided to tie them to the first hidden tree suitable.
“You’re going to die, I hope you know,” the colorful one said. “And we know you have our missing girl,” he added, grinning. “They’re gonna get her back and finish what they started.”
“Fuuuuckin’ shit,” Zep muttered. “I wouldn’t mind a bit if you did, but don’t forget you wanted to interrogate later.”
Sahvrin’s rage peaked into that deadly calm as he stooped down and pulled out his knife, gripping the man’s filthy jaw tight. Holding his head against the tree, he stared into those hateful eyes, calling out the visions of His Petite, beaten half to death. He gripped his hair in his fist and slammed his head three times against the tree then put the blade at his mouth. “Open.”
Like a late bloomer, he finally seemed to realize his land balls were in the jaws of the swamp. Muffled wails strained out as his jaw gradually opened.
“Give me your filthy tongue.”
“No, please,” he begged. “I’m sorry, I was…I was lying.”
Sahvrin forced the flat side of the blade between his teeth then turned it on its side, wedging his jaw open with it. “I’ll dig around your fucking mouth for it with my knife till you’re choking on blood.”
He belted out several screams before finally sticking out his tongue, sobbing. Sahvrin gripped the slimy organ between his fingers and held tight as he slid his blade through it. He stopped shy of cutting it off, wanting it to dangle around in that abyss.
“Duct tape it,” he said to Zep around his screams. He put the tip of his blade under his chin and pushed his mouth shut while Zep slapped tape on it.
They stood, watching him gurgle in panic for several seconds. “Drink up or choke to death, demon. Your fucking choice.”
“That’ll loosen him up for confession,” Zep said. “He’ll have to write it, though.”
Sahvrin walked around the tree. “Big Man,” he said, wiping the blood on his blade along his vest. “You have anything to say before we leave you here to think about your sins?”
“No sir,” he said, shaking his head a lot.
Sahvrin stared long and hard into his terrified eyes then straightened.
“I’m already praying and repenting,” he said, nodding a lot, holding Sahvrin’s hard gaze.
“When I come back,” Sahvrin said quietly, “we’ll have a proper confession, and you’ll spill your filthy soul.”
“I will, I will,” he nodded. “Every bit of it, I swear I will.”
****
Beth woke in a panic and glanced around. Shit, shit, what time was it? She spotted a new bag on the floor near the door with her name on it and hurried to it. More clothes, yes!
At finding the cutest overall blue-jeaned shorts, she dressed in it with a red tank top. And more sandals! Please let them fit, please! She gasped in delight when they did, almost perfectly. She needed a mirror.
Hurrying down to the bathroom on the second floor, she entered it and shut the door for a look at her butt in the body length mirror. Of course it filled it out as it did everything but this time, a wave of desire hit her at recalling Sahvrin’s reaction to it. Would it be the same in this? Was it too much? It wasn’t super tight, but it was definitely obvious she had a fat butt. She had no idea how Sahvrin liked it, but she wasn’t about to argue him out of it.
Making her way to the kitchen, she smiled at the delicious aroma, wondering if it always smelled like somebody had cooked a feast. She bet it did. Where was everybody? She spied a note on the counter and her heart flip-flopped at seeing Ma Petiteat the top. Wow, such beautiful handwriting!
Juliette brought more clothes.
“Yep, found them.”
I hope you get some sleep. I’ll bring you a phone when I get back so you can call me if you ever want to.
She smiled at that. Only every minute of the day.
Everybody is in town for party supplies and hurricane prep. Lucas , Savvie and Katrina are there. Remember what we talked about.
Sahvrin.
Shit, right. Her heart pounded as she put the note in her front pocket at her breast, planning to keep it forever. She hurried out the door to find the love birds deciding to check obvious places first or at least asking. She knocked on the guest house door, peering around the large yard, turning when Katrina opened it. “Hi,” Beth said, “how are you doing?”
“I’m good,” she answered, looking like she’d just returned from a photoshoot. “Are you looking for Bishop?”
That name out of her mouth hit her like a punch in the gut. “I was actually looking for Lucas and Savvie. Sahvrin asked me to keep an eye on them.”
“Ah, you too?”
“Yes,” she said with a light laugh, wondering what he’d told Katrina while catching the beautiful ex’s brief perusal of her outfit, bringing that timeless fat-ass feeling she always got in public.
“Isn’t it crazy how those two get along?” Katrina said, shaking her head. “Bishop acts like I raised a putan.”
“Putan?”
“A bitch,” she clarified.
“Oh, God no,” Beth assured. “He just doesn’t want them getting hurt or doing anything—”
“Like him and I did?” she finished with a smirk and nod while looking around. “I get it. He doesn’t want the same mistakes to happen. Don’t blame him, neither do I.”
“Do you know where they are?” Beth asked, ready to not hear another word about their past.
“I’m sure he’s worried they’ll fuck the first day and every day after like we did,” she went on, like Beth hadn’t even spoken. “Right under everybody’s oblivious nose, every chance they get.”
Maintaining composure suddenly got very hard. “They are young and inexperienced,” was all she could manage to get out while wondering what the hell experience had to do with Lucas and Savvie.
Katrina did another full-body assessment of Beth, bringing the fat-ass up to a thousand percent. “I’m sure now that Bishop is in his prime, he’s one hell of a force to be near.” She fanned her face with a hand and anger heated Beth at the gesture. “Hot as hades here still. Sure hope you’re on birth control, you’ll need it with him. But there ain’t nothin’ like sultry swamp nights for hot sweaty sex,” she said, taking a seat on one of the rocking chairs.
Wow. What a bitch. Right at home talking about the sex she had with the man that was now hers.
“Even as a sex therapist, it’s been a challenge.”
This got her immediate attention. “Sex therapist? You?”
She nodded, putting her hands in her back pockets and looking out at the yard.
“He’s having problems? Not that it’s my business.”
You think, bitch? “With him being a force to contend with, I’m the one with the problems.” Beth fanned her face like she had. “He’s helping me learn how to keep up.”
She gave a light snort. “How noble of him. Before you know it, he’ll have fucked you in every room of every house here if he hasn’t already.”
Beth swallowed, ready to vomit. She couldn’t do this. Katrina was way out of Beth’s league in the sex with Sahvrin department. No, with Bishop department. Hell, there was no league between her and Sahvrin or Bishop. “I better go find the love birds,” she said, heading down the steps.
“I tried to text Savvie about fifteen minutes ago. Check the docks,” she called. “All that boy talks about is his Swamp Dragons.”
She couldn’t even bring herself to say bye. She’d wanted to form a friendship with Katrina for everybody’s sake, but like hell could she stomach hearing another word about their non-stop fucking while her and Sahvrin or Bishop hadn’t even once. Every house and every room? No doubt every position. She’d taught him everything and visions of her fucking Sahvrin burned gaping holes in her brain. Very first day and every day after, all day.
Jealousy and pain had her psycho-walking, almost forgetting where she was going. Finally reaching the dock, she stopped abruptly at seeing Savvie and Lucas sitting near the boats. She backed up, hiding in the bushes, watching them for a moment. After a bit, her heart warmed at the way they laughed and carried on. Such sweet kids. Savvie was a doll, a mini version of Katrina, minus the bitch-slut-whore-putan.
Beth gasped when Savvie leaned and kissed Lucas on the cheek, a quick peck then she pulled away. Oh my. Beth held her breath as Lucas now stared at Savvies’ profile for several seconds. The girl sat there not moving, maybe realizing she’d just crossed a line and panicked over what he might do or not do now. Lucas said something. Dammit what did he say? Beth’s hand went to her chest when he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Oh my, oh my,” she whispered, emotion welling up at realizing it was likely his first kiss. She waited, her heart hammering in her chest, ready to interrupt if things got out of hand. Savvie scooted closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder then Lucas reached around her and put his hand on her outer thigh, angling his head down at her with a smile that turned her into a blubbering mess.
She quickly wiped her eyes, needing to let them know they weren’t alone. “There you guys are,” she called, walking out, looking at the swamp so they had time to right themselves.
When she saw them standing in her peripheral, she waved and smiled at them now heading her way.
“I was asked to keep you two out of trouble,” she said, blocking the sun with a hand at her brow smiling at them. “Then I slept like the dead for two hours.” She gave a grin, pretending not to notice the awkward her words had just created. “So, what do you do around here for fun?” she asked Lucas.
“Normally, I’m working with Sahvrin,” he said with one squinted eye. “But I have to babysit Savvie.”
Savvie gasped and shoved him with a laugh. “You do not!”
“I can’t have her getting eaten by an alligator. I hear they love New Orleans meat.”
He looked down at her with a smile, creating that two’s company, threes a crowd feeling. “I was talking to Katrina, she said she texted you.”
Savvie gasped, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. “Crap, she did!”
“She’s the one who told me to check here. Where’s Luseah?” Beth wondered, realizing she hadn’t seen her around.
“She’s spending the week with a friend.”
“Oh, okay. So Savvie hasn’t met her yet.”
“Not yet,” Lucas said, like he might be praying the event never happened.
She realized how bad it would be if Luseah treated Savvie poorly at such a time.
“Oh no,” Savvie muttered, panicked. “My dad texted.”
Fear jolted Beth at that news while realizing Sahvrin didn’t really go into details about what had happened. Now she felt stupid to not have found that out.
“Don’t text him back,” she hurried, realizing that might not be a good idea. More panic hit her at realizing she could have tracking on her phone. “Can I see your phone?” she asked.
Savvie handed it to her. “I just want to make sure you don’t have any tracking services on here. Wouldn’t want them showing up, surprise,” Beth sang, drawing a whimper from Savvie. “God, I’m so sorry,” Beth cried. “I say stupid shit when I’m nervous. Excuse the French!” Beth’s fingers shook as she moved through the settings. Oh, holy shit. There it was. “Honey, I may need to disable your phone.” She bit her tongue on you’re being tracked.
“Oh my God, oh my God, do it. Can you?”
The amount of panic in her half cry was alarming. “Doing that now.” Beth went to the phone identification to see what kind she had. “I’ll need tools, let’s go back to the house.”
Once in the kitchen, it hit her that Katrina likely had tracking on hers too, holy shit. Surely Sahvrin thought of that with her. “I need a tiny flat tip screw-driver,” she told Lucas.
He took off running while she went through all the apps, disabling the GPS related ones. “Thank you, sir,” she said to Lucas when he returned with the screwdriver.
“Where’d you learn this?” he wondered, on his forearms next to her, watching.
“Plenty of Data Science classes with my Geospatial degree, also known as digital mapping.” She opened the casing where the sim card would be located and dumped it out of the tray. “I’ll destroy the SIM and he won’t be able to use that for tracking. Now I need to look for any hidden ghost apps.”
“Oh my God,” she cried. “Can’t you just get rid of it? He uses that to keep tabs on me, I don’t even want it.”
She eyed her than looked at Lucas. “Are you allowed to use a boat?”
“Yeah, why?”
She handed him the phone. “Take this about five miles from here and throw it in the water. I’d say feed it to an alligator so they’re chasing that if they are tracking.”
“He is, I promise you! Oh my God, I didn’t even think of that!” she said between panicked breaths, pacing.
“She’ll stay here with you,” Lucas said.
“What? I’ll go with you,” she hurried, looking scared.
“Lucas, can you get Sahvrin on your phone for me so I can make sure all phones leading to the wrong place are disabled.”
“Oh my God, my mom’s phone!” she squealed, realizing.
“I’m sure they thought of it, honey, try not to panic.”
“You don’t know my dad, he’s…he’s very scary and not nice to my mom.”
She was sure that was the understatement of the century. Lucas handed her his phone and she covered the mouthpiece while it rang. “Distract her,” she mouthed to him.
“Everything okay?” Sahvrin said upon answering.
“It’s me, Beth,” she said, watching Lucas take Savvie to the huge swing under the tree.
“What’s wrong?”
“Savvie’s…uh, stepdad texted her.”
“She has a phone?”
“Yes, I’m having Lucas take it five miles into the swamp and dumping it, she’s really freaking out.”
“Savvie is?”
“Yes, Sahvrin, she acts like he’s a monster.”
“Because he fucking is!”
“Oh my God, what about Katrina’s phone?”
“Fucking Christ,” he muttered. “I’ll call Jek to see what he did with it. He’s the Geek and I’m sure he handled it but I’m calling to make sure. Keep Lucas’ phone with you.”
“Okay, bye.”
She went to the window, watching them on the swing. “Oh how precious,” she whispered, seeing Savvie leaning into him with his arm around her. Sahvrin would probably not like that.
The phone rang and she swiped it. “Yes?”
“He says he wiped everything but now I’m nervous. I’ll call her and tell her she needs to give Lucas her phone too, we can get her another one.”
“Okay,” she said.
“What’s wrong? She say something to you?”
Was he reading her effing mind? “No, nothing like that.”
“Then what?”
“It can wait.”
“Okay. I just left the post office by the way. Your items were in.”
“Oh,” she said, excitement mixing with her anger, making her want to vomit. “Can’t wait.”
“Ma Petite, you’re hiding a lot, I can hear it in your voice.”
“Ugh,” she mumbled. “I am. But like I said, it can wait.”
“Oh, I’m sure it can,” he muttered, as if knowing it was about Katrina. “You stay with Savvie while Lucas handles the phones.”
“Yes sir,” she said, closing her eyes at realizing it sounded like a submissive thing. “I didn’t mean it like…in relation to… never mind.”
“We’ll talk soon, Ma Petite.”
She hung up, letting out a huge shaky breath and putting the phone on the island only to snatch it back up and hurry outside.
Lucas and Savvie headed her way the second they saw her. “Sahvrin said to do as I suggested. He’s calling Katrina to have her give her phone as well. Jek said he took care of it, but Sahvrin doesn’t want to take any chances.”
“Thank God,” Savvie gasped, holding on to Lucas’ arm.
Lucas tried to move out of her hold without being too obvious and Beth decided she’d better talk to him about what was going on, first chance. And Savvie. She sure didn’t want Katrina corrupting the girl’s mind with the wrong thing, biological mother or not. “Savvie, maybe you and I can find something to cook for our guys while we’re waiting?”
She gave her a worried look. “I can’t really cook.” She glanced at Lucas. “I wanted to go with you,” she said quietly.
He eyed Beth and she put her hands on her hips with a sigh. “I hate to break it to you guys, but Sahvrin wants you two chaperoned at all times.” The look they gave her made her laugh. “Oh yeah, he’s thinking what you think he’s thinking.”
Thank God they didn’t argue. Lucas looked at Savvie. “I hear Betty Crocker makes everything easier. I know we have tons of her dishes in the pantry. Like brownies?”
“Oh, we have an order of brownies,” Beth said. “Come on Savvie, I can’t be trusted in the kitchen alone. We can talk about what we’re wearing at the party tomorrow while we make a mess.”
The smile Savvie gave put a big one on Lucas’ handsome face. “I’ll be back in about thirty minutes,” he said to her. “Gonna get some clothes on first,” he added, walking backward with his gaze still on her.
“Okay,” she said, giving him a small wave and smile. “Be careful.”
Beth gave her raised brows and a smile when he walked off. “That was a little painful to watch,” she murmured under her breath as they headed to the house.
“What do you mean?” she asked, a smile in her voice. “And did Sahvrin really say we had to be chaperoned? Why?”
Beth laughed as she entered the kitchen. “Because it’s so obvious you two are head over heels for each other!”
Her jaw dropped and Beth laughed. “You can tell?” Her blush was priceless.
“It’s hard to hide that kind of thing,” Beth said, going to the pantry next to the kitchen and returning with two bags of brownies and a huge grin. “Sit right there,” she instructed, pointing to the stool at the counter and handing her a brownie bag. “You can read the directions and I’ll make the mess.”
After finding a mixing bowl and pans and setting the oven to the preheating temperature, she eyed Savvie. “Soooooo,” she began with a huge smile, making Savvie blush.
“What?”
“Tell me everything of course!” The look on her face made Beth pause. “What’s wrong?”
She barely shook her lowered head. “He’s just…so cute and I’m….”
“You’re what?” Beth pressed, dumping the contents in the bowl. “Drop dead gorgeous like him?”
This got her a huge laugh. “I’m so not gorgeous like him,” she assured, pink cheeks and all.
“Are you serious?” Beth asked, realizing she might be. “Honey…”
Savvie looked up at her.
“Surely you know how beautiful you are?”
She lowered her head and Beth froze at seeing tears roll down her cheeks. “My mom’s pretty, but I didn’t inherit that.”
Beth gave an offended gasp. “Who on earth told you that crock of shit?”
Savvie looked up with a little laugh then lowered her head again with a shrug. “My dad,” she said around a squeak as more tears fell.
“Oh my God, he…he must’ve done that for other reasons.”
She wiped her face. “Like what? To make me feel like crap? He’s real good at that.”
“Yes, that’s exactly why!”
She looked at her, brows narrowed. “But why?” Like she’d asked that question a million times and hadn’t come up with an answer that fit.
“The first reason that comes to mind is him not wanting you to know your worth. Not that looks define that, but he’d know to a young girl, they do, and if her dad is defining worth by looks then it makes sense you would too. But newsflash Savvie. He straight up lied to you! You are one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen and I’m not buttering your bread!”
She gave a small smile.
“And Lucas sure agrees with me.”
Her gaze shot to hers and the desperate hope and fear there was heartbreaking. “Why do you say that?”
“Oh honey, you don’t see how he looks at you?”
“He doesn’t seem to look at me. But I look a lot at him,” she sputtered, wiping her face.
“Then he’s hiding it well from you, but I can see it. And…I may have seen the little kiss that happened on the dock.” Beth laughed at her worried look. “It’s okay. That was mighty brave of you.”
“More like stupid,” she gasped. “I don’t know what I was thinking other than…I would die if I didn’t kiss this boy who was more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen and so kind to me. I’d just meant it as a thank you and when he asked why I did it, I froze and couldn’t answer him! It was horrible!”
“Until he kissed you back?”
The way her body seemed to melt, and her eyes fluttered into her head made Beth laugh. “Oh, I know exactly how you’re feeling. I had the exact same reaction with Sahvrin.”
“It’s like a spell!” Savvie whispered, serious as can be.
“What did he tell you when you kissed him?” she was dying to know.
“He asked why I did it!”
“Such a Bishop question,” Beth laughed, grabbing four eggs from the basket on the counter.
“And all I could do was apologize!”
“And then he kissed you back.”
“Yes,” she said, sounding dizzy while putting her hands over her chest. “And he said, ‘I’m not sorry’.”
“Swoooooooon,” Beth said, cracking the eggs into the dry mix. “Sahvrin says some of the most amazing things too. I told him he needed to write for Hallmark.”
Savvie laughed at that, such a cute tinkling sound before going serious. “But what if…something happens, and I have to leave? I might never see him again.”
Beth paused her mixing. “You don’t have to leave, you can stay here as long as you like. This can be your home.”
Savvie gave her a confused look, maybe even scared to hope such a thing. “You think?”
Beth really wished she could say more. “Sahvrin is a very good man. He’d never, ever let anything hurt you.”
“My mom says the same.” She lowered her head. “She told me all about the swamp life in her younger days.” She smiled now, casting her a shy look. “I used to pretend her and I lived in the swamps alone with nobody telling us what to do and where to go. Nobody… being so mean to my mom…”
Beth put down her spoon and hurried around the island. “Come here,” she said, wrapping her arms around her. “What if I said you can have that dream? Sahvrin said he’s happy to have you and your mom here for as long as you want to stay. That means forever if you want!” She pet her head, letting her cry. “Trust me when I say your life is changed forever now. This is your new life, and you can enjoy it. Besides, the Bishops are like the Swamp Kings, and nobody knows the waterways like they do. So, even if they wanted to find you, they couldn’t. And if Sahvrin thought they might, he’d move us to a hidden location, even deeper in the swamp.”
She pulled back, wiping her eyes and looking at her. “How long have you known him?”
At realizing she didn’t know him long enough to be so certain about him, she went with telling her how she got there. “I know this is going to sound crazy to you but…about two weeks ago, I was in a very bad situation too that Sahvrin saved me from.”
“Really?”
She nodded. “He rescued me, and I was…really in a bad way. He literally nursed me back to health and I fell in love with him and…” She lowered her head. “Well, I’m pretty sure he feels the same.” Beth made her way back around the counter. “Just because somebody doesn’t say the words doesn’t mean you can’t know something. I know what Mr. Bishop feels.”
“I’m so embarrassed he wanted us to be chaperoned. What if he doesn’t…want me to…like his brother since I’m the daughter of somebody he obviously hates?”
Ugh, crap. “He just doesn’t want you two going fast, that’s all. He wants you to take your time and not do things that…married people do.”
“Sex?” she asked, smiling. “I’m used to that word, trust me.” Beth’s face fell. “Not used to it like that,” she hurried.
“Oh, thank God,” Beth said, pouring the batter into the large pan and licking her finger. “Mmm.” She handed her the bowl after scraping. “Wanna lick it?”
“Really?” she asked, taking it.
“Duh, yeah,” Beth assured incredulous. “Can’t be wasting all that chocolate down the drain.”
“Right?” she said, swiping her finger and eating with a huge grin. “Mmmmm, yes.”
“Don’t try to tell me you never licked a bowl.”
She shook her head. “Mom is so funny about that! Germ this germ that.”
“Ohhh, my own mother was the same way!”
“Really? How annoying.”
“My dad however was the opposite, but he had to sneak behind mom because she’d have a fit if she knew.”
“Your dad sounds nice,” she said with a smile, still licking away.
“He is. My mom died a couple years ago, and it’s been hard for him.”
“Oh man, sorry,” she said, eyeing her while swiping her mouth with her tongue.
“Sooooo, let’s talk about what we’re wearing for the party!”
The excitement that put on her face made Beth feel like a superhero. God, she could get used to this whole parenting thing. So fulfilling!