7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
What am I doing with my life?
Big Daddy stands behind me, more like towers over me after we showered together. I stare at our reflection in my bathroom mirror. Our size difference should be comical, but he makes me feel safe. Protected and cherished whenever we’re together. As if he’d burn the world down for me and he hardly knows me. Not on a personal level. Physically, I don’t think there is a part of me he doesn’t know.
I swore I wasn’t going to sleep with him again. That I’d only go to dinner with him, but somewhere between food and drinks, I found myself leading him back to my place and taking my clothes off the second his lips met mine. I lean against his chest, the top of my head barely reaching his pecs. He slides a thick, inked arm across my chest, his gaze holding mine in the reflective glass. The heat of his cock presses into my lower back.
“What are you thinking about?” his gruff voice sends a shiver through me. I’ve never met anyone sexier than he is to me.
“Our difference in height.”
His chest shakes with his deep belly chuckle. “You worried about what people will think?”
“Not really. No. I’m questioning my sanity because I don’t know what I’m doing…what we’re doing.”
“You want a label for what we are?”
“A definition maybe. How is this going to work? Casual? We both see whoever we want as well as each other?”
“Not big on sharing, Gwynee.”
“Sounds like a double standard.”
“I’ve got no interest in seeing anyone else while this between us plays out.” He grabs his phone off the sink, swipes his thumb across the screen. The ringing of a call on speaker phone sounds.
“Hey, BD. Thought we weren’t on until Tuesday,” a scratchy female voice greets him.
“I’m canceling, indefinitely.”
“What do you mean?” her voice raises.
“Lose my number.” He hangs up on her and I watch him block the number.
I listen as he makes two more similar calls. When he’s done, he bends down to kiss the top of my shoulder. “Better?”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“But you wanted me to.”
“Yes,” I answer honestly. The thought of him sleeping with other women, then coming to see me, turns my stomach.
“Then we’re on the same page. I like fucking you, Gwynee.”
“Gee thanks.”
“You telling me you don’t enjoy it?” He lifts a brow as he cups my pussy, brushing the rough pad of his thumb over my clit.
The closing of my eyes and parting of my legs is the only response I give him. I can’t think when he’s touching me. “Stop. We need to talk.”
“We talked.” He slips a finger inside me, and I hiss at the intrusion of his thick digit.
“I’m serious.”
“Me too. Serious about watching you come.”
I grip the sink and my toes curl when he adds a second finger. “I don’t know a lot about you.”
He punches his fingers in and out, working them overtime.
I gasp and pant, trying to remember what I was saying.
“Know that I can’t get enough of you. Fucking obsessed with you. I dream about the sweet sounds you make. How good your cunt feels when it squeezes the life outta my dick right before you come.”
“You’re not playing fair.”
“Fuck, baby. So wet. Greedy for it. Tell me how much you want it.” Thwack . He slaps my ass. “Let me hear you, Gwynee.”
“I…I…”
Thwack . Another slap. This one is harder than the last.
“Oh, God.”
“That’s not my name.”
Slap.
“What’s my name, Gwynee?”
Fuck. I try to concentrate on remembering the image of his license when he showed it to me at the bar. “Clayton.”
“Who owns this pussy?”
“You do.”
“Never forget it.” He removes his fingers, and I nearly cry out from the loss, but he quickly makes up for it by sitting me on the sink and going down on his knees. “Need to eat you, baby.” He buries his tongue inside me, taking me to a high I never knew was possible.
He licks, sucks, and tongue fucks me into oblivion. I can barely breathe he has me so worked up and ready to get off. My soul disconnects from my body, and it’s as if I’m floating in another dimension. I can’t explain the way he’s making me feel.
Like my insides have turned to hot lava, I’m so on fire. So alive for him, as he violates me with his mouth in the most delicious way.
He grins up at me, his face glistening with my juices, and I confess the sight is something to behold. This man is feral for me in a way I’ve never experienced with anyone before.
“You’re going to be the death of me. My sexy little sugar baby.”
“Sugar baby?”
“Yeah. You’re sweet. Addictive. And I want to spoil the fuck out of you.”
“I’m not opposed to being spoiled.”
“Didn’t figure you would be.”
Big Daddy traces lazy circles along my back as I lay on his chest in my bed.
“Are you going to tell me why everyone calls you Big Daddy?”
He smiles at a joke I’m not privy to. “It’s not some great story about the size of my dick, if that’s what you’re thinking. When I was patched in, I was called Big due to my size. When my girl, Sissy, was a toddler, she’d hear everyone calling me Big and started calling me Big Daddy. The guys used to give me shit about it, but over time, that’s what everyone began calling me. It stuck.”
“That’s sweet. How old is she?”
“She’s a sophomore in high school. Rebellious. Thinks she knows more than her old man. Spoiled damn rotten, and it shows.”
“I’m sure she appreciates all you do for her.”
“Did my best, but some days I question my choices.”
“I think that’s natural to worry and wonder. Sounds like you’re a great dad.”
“Guess you know my niece, Lucie.”
“Define know.” I stare up at him, curious to know what she’s said about me yet not caring at the same time.
“Yeah. Figured.”
“I don’t think she’ll be signing up for my fan club anytime soon.”
“Enough about me. Tell me about you.”
“Well, I grew up near Anarchy. My mother couldn’t get her shit together and ended up in prison. She died there. I never knew my father. I moved here with my grandparents until they passed from old age and declining health. Would have ended up in the system, but I was lucky that Cecilia’s folks took me in until I turned eighteen. After high school, I moved away with loser number one. I followed loser number two to Vegas. After a couple of rough years, I don’t want to talk about, I moved home and began working at the furniture store. Met Thad and now we’re here.”
“One day you’re going to tell me what loser number two did and I’m going to track his ass down and put a bullet in his head if he did what I think he did.”
“You can’t just go around killing anyone who fucked me over.”
“Says who?”
“Me.”
“Baby,” he says, low and gruff. “Not sure if you’re aware, but I’m a grown man who doesn’t take orders. I give them.”
“Maybe so, but you have to know how crazy that sounds.”
“There’s something about you that makes me fucking feral. I don’t know what it is about you, Gwynee. But I know one thing. I like you a fuckuvalot.”
“That might be the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“Don’t go telling anyone I’m sweet. Got myself a badass reputation to uphold.”
“Are you really as dangerous as people say?”
“I’m probably worse.” He tilts my chin up. “Does that scare you?”
“No.”
“It probably should.”
“When I’m with you. I don’t know. I feel safe. Like no one or nothing can touch me.”
“Except me.” He grins and comes in for a kiss that I don’t dare to deny him.
He takes his time, kissing me slowly. His tongue plundering my mouth as though he’s committing the taste of me to memory. Damn him and the way he kisses me. I’m soaked for him, and I don’t know if my pussy can take another pounding from this man.
We’ve been going at each other like animals.
“I’ve got to be out of town for a few days. Think you can stay out of trouble while I’m gone?”
“I’m always a good girl.” I nip at his bottom lip, unable to get enough of him.
I don’t know what we are or where this is headed. It’s crazy and probably a whole lot of stupid on my end. But since I met Big Daddy, Thad hasn’t crossed my mind.
As though he can read my thoughts, my dirty biker tenses beneath me. I glance at him and follow his line of sight to my closet. “Is that fuckwad’s shit hanging in your closet?”
“I haven’t had a chance to get rid of it and don’t really enjoy the idea of seeing him again, but I’ll drop it off when I pick up my final check.”
“Put it in a garbage bag. I’ll have one of my guys handle it.”
“It’s not a big deal and you and your guys have already gone above and beyond.” As promised, after he left my place last week, a few of his men knocked on my door and came prepared with a new couch and a roll of carpet. One thing about a man like Big Daddy is he doesn’t fuck around when he says he’s going to do something.
“It is to me. I don’t want him anywhere near you.”
“Now who sounds jealous?” I tease.
“Not worried about you going back to him after being with me.”
“Cocky.”
“I know my worth and hope you know yours.”
“Maybe I need you to remind me one more time before you go out of town.”
“I can do that.” He slides a palm between my thighs and my breath hitches in my throat as he begins to taunt me with light brushes of his rough fingertips.
It’s a slow day at the salon, so Cecilia and I are doing some redecorating for her waiting area. I talked her into replacing her faux flowers with the real deal from Anarchy Blooms, the flower shop across the street, and now, with a weekly standing order, she has two new clients. The girls who work there were thrilled about our order. Especially Jessika. She’s already made an appointment to get a trim and some fresh highlights later this week.
“See. You should have come to work for me ages ago.”
“Yeah. Yeah. You told me so.” I only hope she’s wrong about the things she’s heard about Big Daddy and him cutting women loose the second things get serious. I thought I was in love with Thad, but the more time I spend with the new man in my life, I’m realizing I was settling for what I thought I deserved.
It wasn’t love. I latched onto the next best thing after my other failed relationship attempts. I don’t want to make another mistake and need to protect my heart.
“What are you thinking so deeply about?” My best friend interrupts the conversation I’m having in my head with myself.
“Nothing much.”
“Does it have anything to do with a certain older man who rides a Harley?”
“Maybe.”
“So, are you guys a thing now?”
“I don’t know. We’re getting to know one another, and I like spending time with him.”
“I say this with love. Don’t go falling hard and fast like you always do. I don’t want to see you get hurt, and I’d rather not end up in the ocean with fish eating my guts when I go down for murdering a notorious biker.”
I bust out laughing. “Don’t worry.” I hang the last frame on the wall. It’s a simple black-and-white photo of a vase of lilies. It’s totally Cecilia and the vibe she’s going for. Classic and chic.
The doorbell rings and my good mood deflates as I look back to see Thad standing at the entrance.
“Get out,” Cecilia yells.
“I just want to talk to Gwynee.” I look at the man I thought I was in love with, taking in his disheveled appearance and bruised face. He looks nothing like the handsome man I was in a relationship with. Thad has always taken pride in his appearance, but he’s not shaved in days and smells like he could use a shower or three.
“It’s okay. If I’m not back in twenty minutes, you can send out a search party.”
Cecilia glares at Thad but doesn’t protest when I follow him outside. “Let’s talk at the park by the library,” I tell him for two reasons. It’s a public place and there are always people around. Plus, the local police station is close enough that if Thad creeps me out, I can run to the station.
At the park, there’s an older couple walking their dogs and some moms are at the playground with their toddlers. I take a seat on an empty bench and Thad sits at the opposite end. At least he’s wise enough not to sit directly next to me.
“What do you want, Thad?”
He laughs dryly. “To go back in time and make a better choice.”
“There’s no way that was the first time you cheated on me.”
“I swear there was never anyone else.”
“It doesn’t matter if it was one or ten. I’m glad I know you aren’t the right man for me.”
“You can’t seriously be involving yourself with Big Daddy. The man is a criminal.”
“Maybe, but at least he’s honest about who he is.”
“He keeps women on a rotation.”
“I know. He told me.”
Thad snorts. “So he can fuck anything that walks, and it’s fine, but I make one mistake and I’m a piece of shit? Unbelievable.”
“Is this why you wanted to talk? To warn me about him?”
“I’m here because I want you back, Gwynee. I love you.”
“Don’t. I don’t want to hear it, Thad. If you loved me and I mean really loved me, you never would have fucked someone else. And if I truly loved you, I wouldn’t have gone to bed with another man the same night.”
“It doesn’t matter. We can move past it.”
“Maybe you can, but I can’t. I don’t want to be with you. Please let this be the last time you contact me.”
“We’ll never be over. I’ll win you back.”
“I promise you. I’ll never want to be with you again. Not now. Not in a month or a year.”
“You don’t mean that,” he says, his voice cracking.
“I mean every word. I don’t wish you anything but a good life. We’re not meant to be. I’ve got to get back to work. Don’t come to the salon again.”
“Gwynee,” he calls after me, but I keep walking away and though part of me wants to look back, I don’t.
As I go to cross the street, I spot a guy on a motorcycle watching me with a cell phone glued to his ear. A smile plays at my lips. Before he left, Big Daddy told me he’d make sure I felt safe even when he’s not here.