Cook (The Ridge MC Book 4)

Chapter 31

Cook

The smell of the recovery house in Park Ridge was better than the sterile hospital, but the bed was just as uncomfortable. The walls, just as white. The art, just as ugly. The machines still beeped.

I’d been here for two weeks before Doc finally decided that I wasn’t going to die and let Roni take me off the monitors. No matter how many times I’d sworn to them I was fine and wouldn’t be leaving my girl anytime soon, they were still immovable. But I wasn’t going anywhere but home with Maddie after she’d agreed to stay.

The other strange thing about this whole situation was Mom. At one point, she, Doc, Roni, and Ava came into my room and surrounded my bed.

Trying to diffuse the tension, I’d asked, “If this is an intervention for my sex addiction, you’re too late.”

They had all laughed and Roni said, “No, we just have a proposal for you.”

Mom then grinned from ear to ear. “They’ve asked me to cook around here. Isn’t that amazing, Morris?”

That’d been a gut-shot and I’d cried like a fucking baby, but happy tears. Mom would be closer. I didn’t have to hide her away anymore, and she would have a purpose.

Damn, the way shit worked out sometimes just baffled the hell outta me.

From that point on, Mom brought me three home-cooked meals every single day.

Maddie visited almost every day from sunup until she fell asleep with her head on my bed while holding my hand. When Mom came in, they would hug and make a little small talk about the food or new clothes. Something about having the two of them so close completed the picture of us. There wasn’t any stigma to Mom’s condition, and she seemed happy at the recovery house.

My girl would’ve stayed in my bed or slept in the chair by the window if Doc had allowed her. She always needed a ride, and she was getting comfortable with my brothers and even her sister. Things were better all the way around.

But I still wanted her with me all the time. I hated how the bed felt without her. How cold my body felt without her curled into me. How I couldn’t hold her and breathe in her scent.

This morning, though, she didn’t show up with the sun, and all I wanted to do was rip off the scrubs and ride out to find her.

A knock rattled the door, and I turned off the shitty soap opera.

Roni poked her head inside. “Can we come in?”

Only if she had Maddie. “We?”

My shoulders fell when she and Celt walked in. It was good to see my best friend too. He waited back as Roni came to my side, kissing me on the cheek and giving my hand a squeeze. I really had been close to death for everyone to be tiptoeing around me like this.

She grinned and looked over at her ol’ man. Celt wandered over, clapping his hand on my good shoulder, and I didn’t even grimace—much. Pain still sliced through me, though it turned quickly to a dull throb.

Better than yesterday.

“How ya doin’?” asked Celt.

“Good,” I said, purposefully not reaching for my tender side. “Better every day. Ready to go home.”

Roni knitted her eyebrows together. “You may not be in good enough shape yet.”

“Bullshit.” I didn’t want to spend any more time in a hospital, even if I had been transferred down to the Ridge. “I want to get the fuck out of here.”

She dragged her eyes down me, waiting for me to show any sign of pain with her best nurse’s appraisal. I put on a strong face, even when I wore scrubs and a ratty old T-shirt without anything fun on the front. And the fluffy hospital-safe socks made my feet sweat. No matter how many times I worked them off, either Kimmers or Roni would come and put them back on. It’s like they were connected to the fucking alarm system.

I wanted my jeans and cut back and to be on a motorcycle. Doc said I needed time to heal, but nothing—except Maddie—was a better balm than my motorcycle.

“How about you?” I asked, shoving the conversation back at Roni. “Are you making your position here official?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I put in my notice at the hospital in Phoenix, and I’ll be here full-time soon.”

“But your house isn’t done yet?” I said questioningly.

“Just getting started. We’re staying with Bou and Wilde,” said Celt.

I chuckled. “My place wasn’t good enough for you?”

“It’s cramped,” said Celt. “Only one bathroom with two women.”

Roni swatted him on the shoulder. “You’re the one who likes to take long showers.”

“Only with you.” He winked at her.

“Whatever,” she said, a blush pinking her cheeks.

“Everything has been going fine with Maddie?” I asked.

“Yeah,” said Celt nonchalantly, but Roni hesitated. I hated when she did that. Fuck, I was reading too much into it, but I couldn’t watch Maddie all the time. She needed someone when I wasn’t there.

“She’s good,” said Roni finally. “She’s getting better.”

I didn’t know what that meant, only knowing Maddie when she was with me. Maybe I should’ve called up Lanie and made sure she hunkered down at Maddie’s side until I got home tomorrow. I wanted that from day one in the hospital, but I wanted to be the one with her.

“She’s really using the darkroom,” continued Roni. “She’s in there almost every night developing more pictures.”

“How’re your drawing skills?” I smirked up at my best friend.

“Like a child’s,” mumbled Celt, and Roni glared at him. “What? You know I’m not an art person.”

Roni rolled her eyes.

“Can you do something for me?” I asked, and my best friend narrowed his eyes on me like I was asking for a kidney. After I’d been shot, this was the least he could do for me.

A few minutes later, a knock rattled my hospital room door. I kept the door shut to have as much privacy as I could. The kids ran up and down the halls sometimes, and other people would poke their heads in just to see me laid up.

Fucking small towns.

Although, I had to be happy that Bou wouldn’t have to go all the way to Phoenix to have her baby. He or she would be born on the Ridge like any biker in our MC should be.

Maddie entered my room, but halted when she saw Roni and Celt, as though she were surprised to see them.

“Should I come back later?” asked Maddie, backing up a step.

“No,” I said, and she stayed in the doorway, ducking her head down. Her hair fluttered across her face, and I wanted to see how she nibbled on her bottom lip.

“Come here, Maddie,” I ordered.

She obeyed, her white teeth biting into her pink lips, and I had to fight down a growl. My cock stirred, and I put the pillow in my lap.

I turned to Celt. “Thanks for helping me with that thing.”

Celt gave me a look but said, “Sure. I’ll take care of that... thing.”

Roni added, “I’ll make sure of it.” Then she pushed Celt toward the door, saying, “Hey, Maddie. We’ll see you at home later, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Maddie bobbed her head.

The door closed behind Celt and Roni, but I waited a few seconds until I was sure they were gone.

“I have a list for you to do at the house before I’m home tomorrow,” I said, reaching for the paper on my nightstand. My stitches pulled against my skin, and my breath hitched. Maddie rushed over, grabbing it from the table to hand it to me, and then I gave it back to her. “I want all these done. Read the list.”

Pulling up her head, she read the list, mouthing every word. I helped when she stumbled over one, blowing it off as my bad handwriting. When she got to the end, she blushed and her eyes grew wide. “You want me to...?” She gulped, like she couldn’t believe it.

“I want you in my room, Maddie,” I said. “Day and night. I want your stuff with me. I want every part of you with me. All the time.” My breath grew ragged at just the thought. “Would you like that, baby girl?”

“Yes, Daddy.” She beamed.

“Good.” I shifted in my bed. “Now lay down beside me. I want to hold you, nizhóní.”

“Yes, Daddy.” She placed her purse and the list on the nightstand and then climbed into bed with me.

Immediately, I reached around her body and grabbed her weight, pulling her halfway on top of me. Pain radiated from my wound, but I hid the grimace and moan until it faded. It was nothing compared to what it had been.

She rolled into me, and I pulled her closer, our bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces. My cock wouldn’t ignore her being so close, wanting to be buried deep in her. I wanted to fuck her until she screamed out for me, giving her orgasm after orgasm until she was limp and near lifeless in my arms. I still need to claim whatever remained of the trauma others had wrought on her, though I could tell she was better overall.

As much as I wanted to lose myself inside of her, I took her head and buried it against the crook of my neck. We couldn’t have sex in the recovery house—Doc had warned me multiple times that he’d make me sew myself back up if I busted my stitches.

When we got home, though, I would.

I would do anything to be back inside Maddie’s sweet pussy. Home.

Her leg wrapped around mine, and her hands curled into my old T-shirt. Just being so close to her was fucking perfection—how we were meant to be. Always.

From the moment we met at Signora’s and then when I took her home from the recovery house, she was mine, even though I didn’t understand at the time. To her, I’d been Daddy, a word I once thought meant only evil. And while some of my darker tendencies scared the shit out of me, they relieved those burdens from her.

Daddy had a new definition now, and I had been hers. Then and now.

Her Dom, and only hers.

Her master, protector, and lover.

I would always take her pain on my shoulders, wipe away her sadness, and rip away the shards of who she used to be. How we were together, power play and all, helped mold her into the free woman she was becoming.

Maddie nuzzled her lips against my neck. Her hot breath burned my skin, and her scent engulfed me, filling my nostrils.

She laid her hand flat against my chest and then moved her hips against my thigh, grinding her body against me. Fuck, my cock responded to her. My blood washed through my body, hot and heavy, and filled my length. I slid my hand down her body, reaching for the hem of her dress. Damn her for wearing it, but at the same time, I adored it. Her soft skin was pimpled in goose bumps from the air conditioning, and she leeched the heat from me.

“No,” I groaned, saying it more to myself than to her.

“Daddy?” she asked in a husky voice.

Fuck, she would be my undoing.

“We can’t,” I said.

She didn’t stop rotating her hips against my thigh. I wouldn’t have believed my no either with how weak my voice had been, or how strongly my cock pressed into her. I was basically trying to convince myself before I found the composure to tell her no.

“Tomorrow,” I said. No, I promised.

“Daddy?” she whimpered.

“Tomorrow, Maddie.” I made it more of a command now, rocking away from her.

She pouted like an insolent child.

I pushed her hair off her forehead. “You’ll earn a spanking for sticking that bottom lip out.” That, and how she seemed intent on giving me a fucking cockstand. The last thing I needed was Kimmers coming into my hospital room and yelling at us like we horny teenagers. In a way, we were.

“Tomorrow,” I repeated. “Get off the bed.”

She slid off the bed, head bowed. Her hair curled around her shoulders.

The pillow had slipped and my hard-on was obvious, so I pulled the blankets around my waist, needing more of a shield. I repeated tomorrow to myself like a mantra. I would be deep inside her tomorrow.

“Tomorrow is too far away,” said Maddie with a small whine. “And I’m already so wet.”

I could smell her arousal, so she didn’t need to tell me. Still, I loved that she felt free enough to do so.

“Stay that wet for me until I get home tomorrow,” I ordered, and she bobbed her head.

Grabbing her chin, I brought her up to face me. “Eyes on me.”

Those maple pools lifted obediently. She would think of me and maybe even fuck herself.

“Your orgasms, though, are mine. No coming without me.”

“I can be here to pick you up tomorrow. Mel can drive us,” said Maddie quickly. “From the hospital, I mean.”

Tightening my grip on her chin, I chided, “Maddie...”

“I promise,” she said.

“Promise what?”

“I won’t come without you.”

Fuck! That made my balls draw up.

“You’re not picking me up.” I shook my head. “I want you at home. Working on that list. You better be wet and ready when I walk through that door.”

Lanie would drive me home, which was a shame. She would want to come inside the house and speak to Maddie, while all I needed was the most primal connection with my girl. I wouldn’t hide that from Lanie, either. If her sister wouldn’t leave us, I would fuck Maddie right in front of her.

Given she was Angel’s girl though, she probably had a freaky streak too.

“Will you be wet for me, baby girl?” I asked. My words came out as an order and my tone a growl.

“Yes, Daddy.” She peeked up through her long, dark eyelashes.

“Will you touch yourself tonight because of me, baby girl?”

She smiled, red tinging her cheeks. “Yes, Daddy.”

“I want your scent all over my sheets.”

“You don’t want them washed, Daddy?”

“No.” I wanted all of her.