Chapter 5
Frankie
H e didn’t know what he was saying. He was just caught up in the drama of it all, playing the knight in shining armor. Once the shine wore off, he’d see her for the mess she really was and he’d want nothing to do with her.
So was it really wrong of her to simply enjoy him until that inevitable end? To pretend like there wasn’t a clock ticking down on their time together? She just needed enough time to get her head back on straight, get her food issues back under control so she could focus on school again and she’d be fine.
In the meantime…
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she dragged him down to press her lips to his, greedily taking all he had to offer. Comfort, want, need, all of it.
And he gave it in spades.
The washcloth fell to the floor behind her as he gripped her ass in those huge, rough hands of his, hauling her against him and pressing her back against the cool tile. Need flashed through her, heating her even more than the water had, and she whimpered into the kiss.
To her surprise, he didn’t sink into her right away. Instead, he broke the kiss, and with his gaze locked on hers, he slid to his knees in front of her. Her heart tripped in her chest at the knowledge that even on his knees they were nearly eye to eye. She’d never felt so tiny, so delicate, so breakable as she did with him.
“My beautiful little siren,” he murmured, pressing a kiss directly between her breasts, then trailing his lips down her stomach. “You’ve deprived me of the taste of you for far too long, and now I’m going to eat my fill.”
In a move that stole the breath from her lungs, he lifted her, draping both her legs over his shoulders as his large hands gripped her ass, holding her in place. With a shocked gasp, she sank her fingers into the soaked silver strands of his hair, clinging to him for dear life as he buried his face between her thighs.
Oh, god she’d missed this. Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back against the tile as pleasure flooded her body. She’d nearly forgotten how talented his mouth was.
But he was doing a damn good job of reminding her now, running his tongue between her soaked lips, teasing her swollen clit. And in her position, she had no leverage to move, to guide his tongue where she wanted it. All she could do was take what he gave her.
For the first time in months, her mind emptied of all the stress and worry of school, her parents, her friends. All the obligations she hadn’t lived up to simply faded away. Her only concern now was submitting, giving herself over to her Daddy’s demands.
She’d never felt so fucking free as she did pinned to his shower wall with no way to escape.
And when he pulled her throbbing clit between his lips, giving it one hard suck, the pain was enough to send her flying. Sobbing, she fisted her hands in his hair, her head pressed back against the tile as stars exploded behind her eyes.
He didn’t stop there. Didn’t stop at all, in fact, until he’d forced her over that edge two more times, leaving her limp and boneless as he lowered her back to her feet.
“My good girl,” he murmured as he rose to capture her lips, and it was only the steel band of his arm wrapped around her waist that kept her from sliding to the floor. She tasted herself on his lips, the sweet, salty taste of her own arousal, and somehow it only made her want more.
When he lifted his head, she grinned up at him before slowly turning in his arms to brace her hands against the same tile she’d just been pressed up against. Behind her, Holden groaned, and the sound was so tortured she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Baby… You have no idea how badly I want to fuck you right now.”
Glancing over her shoulder, she cocked a brow at him. “Then what are you waiting for, Daddy ?”
“You just got out of the hospital, Francesca. You need to rest.”
“What I need is some vitamin D. And by that I mean?—”
Strong, thick fingers wrapped around her throat, pulling her head back against his shoulder. “I know exactly what you mean, little girl. And Daddy said no. We are going to finish our shower and then you are going to lie down for a nap. Now, unless you want to find out exactly how creative I can be when spankings are off the table, the next words out of your mouth better be ‘Yes, Daddy’. Am I understood?”
Despite the three mind-blowing orgasms he’d just gifted her with, need coiled tight in her lower belly. But she really had no desire to test his creativity, so she swallowed all her bratty retorts. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good girl.”
Releasing his hold on her, he stepped out of the shower long enough to grab a fresh washcloth and then resumed scrubbing her from top to bottom. Which included, much to her burning humiliation, a very thorough cleaning of her bottom hole with his thick, soapy finger.
When they were both fresh and clean, he helped her out of the shower, where he proceeded to towel her off, and blow her hair dry before twisting it into a simple yet effective braid that hung down her back.
Eyes narrowed at their reflection, she toyed with the ends of her braid. “Where’d you learn to do that?” Taking care of some other babygirl? Who was she? Where was she now? Did he still think of her?
“You’d be amazed what you can learn online,” he said in a gruff voice that halted her mental spiral in its tracks. “Stop stalling and get your butt in that bed, little girl.”
With an annoyed huff that didn’t actually match the warm glow inside her, she turned and stomped into his bedroom, all but throwing herself down onto the bed.
“You can huff all you want, Francesca, but you need rest.” Pulling the comforter up over her shoulders, he leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. “Two hours. You don’t have to sleep, but you will not get out of this bed before I tell you to. Got it?”
“What if I have to piss?”
He raised an eyebrow in that way he had that never failed to make her tummy flip. “If you need to pee , you may get up. Bathroom trips are the only exception.”
She wanted to be annoyed by his bossiness, but she couldn’t find the energy. It was just so nice to let herself be taken care of for once. “Yes, Daddy,” she said with an exaggerated sigh.
Just because she was enjoying him taking care of her didn’t mean she had to let him know how much she liked it.
“Good girl. Get some rest, baby, and I’ll be back in two hours.”
But when he stepped away from the bed, panic set in, twisting like a vice around her chest. “Wait!”
When he turned back, his face was hard as stone. “Francesca, we’re not arguing about this.”
“I don’t want to argue.” Although with their history she couldn’t blame him for assuming that was the case. “I just…” She trailed off, uncertainty making the words stick in her throat.
“Will you hold me?” she finally managed to whisper.
At her soft plea, his expression immediately softened. “Of course I will, baby.”
Climbing under the covers with her, he pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her hair. “Sleep, little siren. Daddy will be right here when you wake up.”
And even though she would have sworn she wasn’t the least bit tired, she did as she was told and dropped straight into sleep wrapped in his arms.
Holden
He waited for the sound of her breathing to slow before slipping from the bed just long enough to grab his laptop from his office. Back in his bedroom, he settled beside her, relieved to find her still sleeping.
As much as he would love to simply take a few days off and do nothing but pamper and care for his babygirl, he had other responsibilities demanding his time.
The first of which did actually concern the woman sleeping next to him, so he opened the email from Cassie before he even glanced at the others.
Hey boss,
Found a storage unit in your girl’s name. Sending you the address and unit number now. From what we’ve been able to gather talking to some of the other med students, she got put on probation of some sort. Apparently she hasn’t shown up for classes in weeks. That’s all I know for now, need me to keep digging?
Probation? Frowning, he looked down at the sleeping form beside him. As far as he knew, she’d told everyone at the club that school was going great.
Setting the computer aside, he slipped from the bed again and headed for the bathroom, pulling the door mostly shut behind him. He retrieved his phone from the pocket of his pants and hit Braden’s number.
“Hey. How’s she doing?” Worry echoed in his friend’s voice the moment he answered.
“Good. Sleeping. Lottie around?”
“She’s here, but some of the other girls came by and they’re holed up in the parlor. What do you need?”
Hesitating, he weighed how much to say before just deciding to go for it. He needed answers and if anyone had them, it was Lottie. “Has she said anything to you about Frankie flunking out of college?”
“What?” Braden’s voice rose sharply with surprise. “No. Not a peep. Is that what happened?”
“I’m still piecing it together, but yeah, looks like that may be at the center of her relapse. Don’t say anything to Lottie unless she brings it up. If she doesn’t know, I want her to hear it from Frankie.”
“What a fucking mess. I won’t say anything. Will you be bringing Frankie by the club anytime soon?”
“Not sure. She needs some time to settle, get her strength back up. But maybe we could have you and Lottie over in a couple days for dinner or something.”
“Lottie would love that. She’s going a little nuts with worry so the sooner she can lay eyes on Frankie, the better.”
“Understood. I’ll let you know when she’s feeling up to it.”
“Sounds good. Give her a hug from all of us.”
So his little siren hadn’t even told her friends what was going on. Was that normal for her, he wondered, to keep everything bottled up inside until the pressure built up to the point it blew the lid off? Was that how she’d ended up in rehab the first time?
All questions for later. For now, he needed to get some things squared away, delegate some tasks so he could take the time he needed to focus on Frankie.
She was still sleeping when he returned to bed, so he fired off an email to Cassie letting her know he’d take over from here and thanking her for all she’d done. And then he contacted his team leads, letting them know he’d be taking the rest of the week off and handing off various assignments to them to complete in his absence.
He was just wrapping up the delegation portion of his day when his phone rang. Blaze, one of his team leaders.
Phone in hand, he headed back to the bathroom. “What’s up?”
“Just got your messages. Everything all right with your girl?”
Normally he wouldn’t talk about his personal life at work. But considering his personal life was very much affecting his work right now and he considered all four of his team leaders family, he gave Blaze a short rundown of everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours.
Blaze let out a low whistle. “Shit, boss. I’m sorry to hear that. She’s lucky to have you.”
“I’m not sure she’ll agree when she realizes how many rules I have,” Holden said with a chuckle. “But I have a feeling you didn’t call me just to check in.”
“Nope. That group you’ve had us watching, the one that’s been silently protesting across from the club?”
The hairs on the back of Holden's neck raised. “Yeah. What about them?”
“They’re not being so silent now. Guess they got tired of waiting, I don’t know. But now they’ve taken to chanting, hurling insults at anyone they see entering the club.”
“Fuck. You tell Braden?”
“Yeah, just got off the phone with him, actually. He’s going to send another memo to all the members and his staff, give them a heads up and reinforce the buddy rule. And he’s filing another report with the police.”
“About all he can do, for now. Your team have the bandwidth to double up for a little while?”
“I’ll figure something out. Gonna cost you a lot of overtime, though.”
“Focus on the busy hours, about nine to closing. And see if anyone has people they can spare for additional shifts. Don’t run your team ragged, but in case they get violent I want at least four people on site during those busy times.”
“You got it, boss.”
“Thanks, Blaze. You know where to find me if you need me.”
Ending the call, he swore loudly at the blank screen. Just what he needed, goddamn protestors making waves outside his club.
But he had a good team in place, and they’d handle it. And one of the club’s silent partners, Braden’s brother Desmond, was a retired cop, so he could pull in reinforcements if needed.
Shooting off a text to Braden telling him to ask about that, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and returned to the bedroom to check on his sleeping babygirl.
Braden could handle the protestors. For now, Holden had one job and one job only.
Figure out what the fuck was going on with Francesca Legare.