Twenty-Nine
Branwen
Glancing down at my phone, I frowned at Linc’s name lighting up the screen as it rang. When had his number been put into my cell phone? I was tempted to ignore it.
Yesterday morning, he had shown up in the great room while Stevie played with her new toys to tell her he had to leave to do some work. She’d thrown her arms around his neck, and he’d hugged her before giving me a nod, then walking away. Again, not one word.
It was almost thirty hours later, and we hadn’t seen him since. Yet his number had been programmed into my phone, which I had not put in there, and he was calling me. The third ring, I gave in and picked it up.
“Yes,” I said in a clipped tone.
“I need you both ready by four. Jayda knows what you need to pack and will help you. Than will pick you up and drive you to the airstrip.”
I waited for a moment for more information, but he said nothing.
“Okay, but where are you taking us?”
“Florida. Stevie needs to meet her brother.”
Oh. OH. I had known she had a brother. I remembered the wild little boy Levi had been. But I hadn’t really considered the fact that Stevie had a sibling.
I’d not been back to Ocala since I’d left at twelve years old. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. This might be good for us. Going somewhere. Stevie and I needed out of the house. The pool was great, and the house was huge, but we had been here for days. Although it wasn’t like I had a choice.
“Okay,” I agreed, but said nothing more.
“Is she good?” he asked me. His tone was still businesslike and detached.
“Yes, but she needs to get out of the house. I mean, after this trip. We can’t stay here all the time.” I tried to keep my voice equally cold.
He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I will make sure that happens more often.”
“Good.”
“See you then,” he said, and then the call ended.
I pulled the phone from my ear and stared at it. He’d really just hung up. If I didn’t have a bite mark on my shoulder, where he had locked into me when he unloaded inside me the last time, and my butt didn’t have small bruises from his fingertips digging into it, then I’d have thought I’d dreamed up the other night. The man he’d been that day was someone else. He’d dropped his charm on me, and I’d done whatever he said.
Seemed he had gotten his fill of me all in one night.
Jayda came walking outside to the pool with concern etched on her normally smiling face. Maui went running to her with his tail wagging as a wet and giggly Stevie chased him. I sat up from my reclined position on the lounger.
When she reached me, she glanced back at Stevie, who had picked up Maui and was playing with him, then swung her gaze back to me. “Hey, uh, there is a man at the gate for you. Hudson? I’m not allowed to open the gate for anyone unless given instruction to by Linc or Luther.” She winced as she said it.
I swung my feet off the seat and onto the ground. Shit. What was he doing here? How had he found me? I hadn’t given him an address. More than that, it was dangerous for him to be here. Thank God Linc wasn’t home.
Snatching up my cover-up, I pulled it on and looked over at Stevie. “Can you watch her for me? I need to call him and get him to leave.”
She nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry. I’d let him in, but…”
I shook my head. “Don’t apologize. I wouldn’t want you to. God knows what Linc would do.”
Slipping my feet into the flip-flops I’d worn out here, I hurried for the patio, then decided to go inside in case Stevie could hear me. She hadn’t asked about Hudson in days, and I didn’t want to confuse her. This was all still very new, and she was happy with it.
I dialed Hudson’s number while I stepped inside the house.
“Why is there a security gate to get up to this house?” Hudson demanded when he answered.
If you knew, you would not be sitting there.
“Hudson, why are you here? You need to leave.”
“No. Not until I see you. I came to talk to you. Beg you to reconsider. And you’re locked behind a gate, and I can’t get in. This is concerning, Branwen. I don’t feel good about this. You breaking things off seemed so…so not like you. I’m now seeing some major red flags here. Are you okay? Is he…is he holding you in there? Fuck, I don’t know. The man seemed dark and twisted. He might be Stevie’s father, but he isn’t someone you need to be around.”
I rubbed my temples with my forefinger and thumb. He had to stop thinking and go.
“I told you he was wealthy and powerful. This comes with it. I am safe. We are safe. But you can’t be here because you won’t be.”
“I won’t be?” he asked. “Do you hear yourself? You are saying that I won’t be safe. That means you believe he will do something to me. That he isn’t stable. You need to let me help you. You don’t love him. I know that.”
Oh God, Hudson. Shut up and go.
I had brought him into this. Another thing to add to my list of fails.
“This isn’t about love. It’s about Stevie. He wants to get to know his daughter. Form a bond with her. You being here makes him feel threatened. Just go. Find someone new. Someone worthy of you. Be happy.”
Please, for the love of all that is holy, get out of here.
“I can’t find someone new and be happy, Branwen! I love you. I want you. You make me happy.”
How was it that I struggled to get rid of men who wanted me, yet the one I wanted thought of me as a hookup that wasn’t even worthy of polite conversation? This was Bastian all over again. Except I didn’t have a best friend for him to start dating. Although she had tried hard to reach out to me and rekindle our friendship after their divorce two years later.
“Hudson, please. I can’t do this with you. My life right now…it’s a lot, and emotionally, I can’t handle this.”
“Might want to try harder.”
Luther’s voice caused my head to snap up, and I stared at him as he sat down on the sectional.
“I love you. I will be there for you. Just let me, please, baby,” I heard him pleading as I stood silently, my gaze fixed on Luther.
Did he mean that Linc was on his way home? Shit. Shit. Shit.
“If you love me, then you will respect my decision and let me go,” I pressed, not taking my eyes off Luther.
If he was in here, then no one was outside, killing Hudson.
He stretched out both his arms and rested them on the back of the sofa, then propped his right foot up onto his left knee as he watched me. “He won’t kill him here. Too messy. But the dentist will go missing. No one will ever find him. It will be a tragedy that makes the Nashville news for weeks, until another big event happens.”
My eyes widened in horror as he spoke. He was serious. I swallowed the bile in my throat.
Hudson was swearing his undying devotion, and all I could do was picture him with a bullet in his head. All my fault.
No. No! I wasn’t going to let Hudson do this.
“Hudson,” I said firmly, shutting him up. “For the next year, I am focusing on Stevie and her needs. Letting her get to know her father. I have no time for this. If you still feel this way in a year, then we can reconnect, but right now, you need to go home. Nothing you say will change my mind.”
He was silent, and for a moment, I feared Luther was wrong. Maybe Linc had arrived and killed him. He could be sitting in his Mercedes, bleeding out or with a broken neck.
“Okay.” His tone sounded defeated. “But I wish you’d let me see you. Kiss you goodbye.”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, and my shoulders sagged. “I can’t do that. It wouldn’t help this.”
“I’ll wait,” he said fiercely. “When this year is up, I will be waiting.”
I wished he wouldn’t. I had to believe he would get tired of this and change his mind.
“Goodbye, Hudson,” I replied, not going to feed into that at all.
“I love you, Branwen.”
I ended the call, praying he drove away.
“What naughty tricks do you have, sweetness?” Luther asked with a smirk.
I frowned at him, not sure what he meant. He picked up his phone and tapped something. The large theater-sized television screen came to life on their wall, and the front gate appeared. Hudson was still there. His car parked and him pacing back and forth, glaring toward the gate.
Dammit!
“That man is obsessed,” he said. “And as gorgeous as you might be, to have a man that fucked up in the head, you must have some euphoric witchery going on between your legs.”
I could assure him I didn’t. He could ask Linc all about it. This had nothing to do with sex. My sex life with Hudson hadn’t been that great. The other night had reminded me how much it had lacked.
Hudson finally jerked open his car door and climbed inside.
“Thank God,” I sighed, then held my breath, waiting for his car to back up.
“If he tries to crash through that gate, I’ll give you whatever you want to let me have a taste of that pussy,” Luther said, cutting his eyes to me and letting them ease their way up my body.
My face flushed. He couldn’t be serious.
“Fuck, the way you blush is even sexy.” His tone turned into a raspy purr. “I’d make it feel real good, I promise.”
I opened and closed my mouth, unable to think of words to say. There was no way in hell I’d be sleeping with Luther. The fact that I’d done so with Linc was bad enough. I didn’t intend to become the house whore. Was that what Linc had led him to believe? Humiliation sank in, and I clenched my cover-up together in the front tightly.
“You ever had a pierced cock in your cunt?”
Holy shit. He had a pierced penis!
“Had the metal bar slide over your slick, wet clit?” he said, his voice getting deeper and smoother. “Fuck.” He took one hand and grabbed his crotch. “Now, I’m hard, thinking about it.”
I needed to turn and leave. However, I was in shock at the moment and struggling to get my feet to move.
“You like that, don’t you? Those cheeks are such a pretty pink. Are your nipples hard? Thinking about having your pussy teased with the head of my dick. Wondering how the metal feels. Fuck, you’ve got great tits. I bet your nipples are like ripe raspberries.”
Raspberries? My nipples?
The desire in his eyes had his pupils dilated. He tugged the zipper of his jeans, and I jumped back, startled.
“You got my dick fully erect, sweetness. There isn’t enough room for it in my jeans when it’s like this.”
He was getting out his penis? Oh my God! I didn’t want to see this.
Thankfully, my legs began working again, and I turned, then ran out of the door, not stopping until I reached the pool. Jayda glanced up from where she sat on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs in, while Stevie swam around, showing her tricks.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, frowning as she stared up at me.
I shook my head. I couldn’t tell her what had just happened.
“Nothing,” I said, then cleared my throat. “I got him to leave.”
She pulled her legs out and stood up. “You sure? You look rattled.”
I was beyond rattled. Why would someone pierce their penis? And had he really intended to just pull it out right there?
“Good. Just drama with…him,” I said, trying to wave it all off.
She didn’t look convinced. “All right. But if you need anything, just tell me.”
I forced a smile. “Thank you.”
She waited for a moment, and I thought she was going to say more, but she didn’t. She turned to wave at Stevie and told her she was going back inside to clean the bathrooms. I stood there, attempting to act normal, while she walked away.