8. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Ali
Reed is seriously giving me the biggest case of whiplash. The things that have come out of his mouth frighten me but also make me want to agree to anything if it means he rips my clothes off. The way his kiss made me feel was earth-shattering. It felt like finally being able to take a deep breath of fresh air. Feeling his hard dick press into my stomach made my panties wet and I had to lock my muscles up to keep me from shamelessly grinding on him. The way he said he would protect us lifted the weight off my shoulders. I should be terrified of depending on someone, but I’m so tired of going through this life alone, of having to be the one to make all the decisions and protect my boys. Call me naive, but I believe him when he says we’re safe with him.
I’ve seen evil multiple times and lived with pure, true evil for three years. I still remember how my body felt every time I looked at that house or looked at the people I was living with. With Reed, my body only feels lust, a deep itch inside that only he can scratch and safety. So yeah, I trust him, fucking sue me.
While Reed was talking to his men, I dug through the boys’ bags and handed them each a toy to play with. My phone rings, and I pull it out. The number that flashes across my screen is the one I called from the ad for the studio apartment. I’m supposed to already be there. “Hello,” I say, swiping the green button.
“This is Glen. I was wondering if you were still interested in the studio?”
Reed opens the door and slides into the truck. “Yes, I am. I apologize, but I had a small issue with my vehicle. Is it possible to still come by and check it out?”
Reed raises his eyebrows and narrows his eyes. I mimic his look. He mouths speakerphone, and I listen. “Yeah, sure, no problem. Knock on the front door when you get here,” Glen says.
“Thank you. I’ll be there in less than ten minutes.” I hang up and sit the phone down in the cup holder. “Can you–”
“Who–” We talk simultaneously, and I motion for Reed to continue. “Who was that?”
“Hopefully, my new landlord. If you don’t have time to drive me, I can try to grab a taxi.” I don’t have the extra money, especially since I’m going to have to get the Jeep towed and fixed, but I can’t pass up this apartment.
“What happened to the place you are currently living in?” Reed asks, shifting the SUV into drive.
“Nothing, it just isn’t going to work out there. Look, can you take me or not?”
“Sure. Where is it?” Reed asks, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main highway.
“Mommy, I’m hungry,” Jacob calls from the backseat. I sigh. The teenage years are going to kill me because he is already eating me out of house and home. “I want nuggets,” he demands.
“You want nuggets, little man?” Reed asks, looking in the rearview mirror and smiling.
“Yeah.”
“Me too.” Caleb joins in.
I turn around to look at my boys. “Guys, we have nuggets at home. Mommy will make you some as soon as we get there.” I hate how their faces fall, and I pray Jacob won’t start crying again. But like every other time I have to tell him no, the tears start coming. “Oh baby, don’t cry. Mommy promises to get you nuggets next week.”
“I want Donald’s nuggets,” Jacob cries.
Sighing, I turn around, pull my bag up from the floor, and dig through the small pocket on the front until I find my wallet. I make sure to hide what I’m doing from Reed. I know the exact cost of two happy meals. I have thirty dollars in my wallet, which won’t cover cabs for the week. My insurance should cover the cost of the tow, but if it doesn’t, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
“Would you mind stopping by McDonald’s? It’s on the way. The apartment is behind Big Lots. Take the first right, and it’s the blue house on the left,” I say, pulling out a ten-dollar bill and shoving my wallet back in my bag. I will be fine walking for a little while.
The boys cheer in the background as Reed turns into McDonald’s. “I thought you said apartment, not a house,” Reed says, pulling into the drive-thru line.
“It’s an apartment above the garage.” I don’t miss how his hands tighten on the steering wheel or the way all his muscles seem to lock up.
We inch up until it’s our turn to order. “What do you want?” Reed asks.
“Nothing, I’m not hungry. The boys want a chicken nugget happy meal with extra fries and white milk,” I say, rattling off the only order I’ve ever put in here. The few times I can afford fast food, I only get food for the boys. Reed repeats what I said but adds a Big Mac and a Quarter Pounder. After he gets the total, he pulls forward. I hold out the money toward him. “Here, it’s for the boys’ meal.”
He ignores me and pulls out his wallet. “Keep your money. I got this.”
“No. They are my kids, and I will pay for their food.” I shove the money into his chest and watch it fall down, landing on his crotch.
“Ali, I’m not taking your money,” he says, picking up the ten-dollar bill and putting it on my lap.
“Reed—” I’m cut off when he leans across the console, ignoring the kid at the window waiting for our money, and pulls me close by the back of my neck.
“Fucking listen to me. I’m not taking your money. You’re mine now, which means they are mine, and I take care of what’s mine. So you will stop arguing with me and let me treat you like the queen you fucking are.” With his attention still on me, he hands his card out the window.
“Who said I was yours?” I can’t help but poke him. Hearing him call not only me but my boys his does something funny to my body. I feel like I’m submerged in a warm bath. I’ve always dreamed about someone swooping in and taking all my worries away, even though I knew it was unrealistic. A dream that I would never get.
“I did.” Reed releases me and takes his card back. I sit back and notice that the boys are unusually quiet. I look back to see them both staring at Reed with big, toothy smiles as if they understood everything he said. After handing me the bags, I start handing back a fry and nugget to each boy. I grab their sippy cups and pour the milk in them, then turn to sit them in their holders attached to their car seats.
“Want me to hand you food as you drive?” I ask, looking at Reed shyly.
“You want to feed me, Little One?” He smirks. My body heats as I think of another way I could feed him.
“I want you to focus on driving.”
“I can wait until we get home to eat. However, you should eat. One of those is for you,” he says after he stops laughing.
“I told you I wasn’t hungry.”
“And I don’t believe you.”
“Fine, if it makes you happy, I’ll eat when you do,” I say. I’m too busy handing the boys their food to notice that he drives straight past Big Lots until we are heading out of town. “Um… Reed, we were supposed to go look at that apartment.”
“You don’t need that apartment. Or any apartment anymore.” He turns down a gravel road and expertly avoids the potholes.
“Why don’t I need an apartment?” I ask, handing the boys their last nuggets.
“Because of this.” He points out the window, and I gasp in surprise.
We are parked in front of a black iron gate. Reed leans out the window, punches in a code, and I watch as the gate opens. “Wow,” I say as his house comes into view. It’s a two-story, white brick, modern home. If someone were to ask me what my dream house was and then built it, it would be this. Two pillars frame a black, rounded front door. Two big picture windows on each side. There is an upstairs balcony with four windows, exactly like the two downstairs, and a smaller version of the front door. The roof looks to be black metal and glimmers in the afternoon sun. From what I can see, spruce trees surround the house and stretch on for miles.
“Welcome home, Little One and my little men,” Reed says, parking in front of the house and getting out. I’m too stunned to move. So it’s a good thing he opens my door and lifts me out. I’ve tried hard not to pay attention to his body, but when it’s pressed against mine, I can’t help but notice. His chest and stomach are rock-hard with muscles. His shoulders are broad, and his arms are thick. I come up to the middle of his chest, meaning he has to be almost six foot five. Which makes me feel even smaller at five foot two.
“Home?” I ask, flustered. Reed goes to the back and grabs Caleb before going to get Jacob. I reach back inside and grab our bags, plus the food.
“Yeah. You and the boys will live here.” He starts toward the front door, and I follow him.
“Reed, this is absolute craziness. We don’t know each other. I can’t move in with you,” I say, sighing because everything has my head spinning. He ignores me and walks into a living room off to the right. He sits the boys down and turns on the TV.
“What do my little men want to watch?” He asks, and I give up on talking and put the boys’ cups on the small table. Then, I turn around and head into a kitchen that takes my breath away.
“SpongeBob,” they both yell.
I sit the undoubtedly cold food down on a table. Stepping into the kitchen, I run my hands over the stainless-steel fridge, along the smooth marble countertop, down into the sunk-in oversized sink, and stop when I get to a six-burner stove. The meals I could cook in this kitchen leave me wishing we could stay. I sense Reed before I hear him. I’m spun around and pressed up against the stove. He reaches down, grabs me beneath my ass, and lifts me like I don’t weigh close to two hundred pounds. My ass hits the stove, and the grates clang as they shift under my weight. Reed pushes between my opened legs and tips my head back with a finger under my chin.
“Now, back to what you were saying about how you can’t move in here with me,” he growls, pinching my chin to keep me from turning my head away.
“We don’t know each other,” I say through gritted teeth. My mind is telling me to grab my kids and run, but my body is telling me to pull this man closer, to wrap myself around him until I can’t see where he ends, and I begin.
“I don’t have to fucking know you, to know that I want you here.” Dropping his hand from my chin, he pulls me closer by my thighs. My ass scrapes against the grate, and I hiss at the sting. “From the moment you ran into me in the hall, I can’t get you out of my fucking mind. You are like a disease eating me from the inside out. We can get to know each other. But right now, I need you to stop fighting me. Someone is out there trying to hurt you, and I will be damned if I let them. Nothing in my life has ever made me feel like this. I walked around not feeling anything, that is, until you literally ran into me. I’ve learned the hard way not to wait around when there is something you want. We aren’t guaranteed a tomorrow. So when there is something I want, I go after it. And believe me, Little One, there is nothing I want more than you and those boys with me.”
Reed’s speech leaves me speechless and wanting. I feel his dick, long and hard pressed up against me, and it makes me ache in the best way possible. “This is crazy,” I say again because it is. I run my hands up his arms and sink them into his inky dark black hair. His eyes close, and a groan comes from his throat.
As I’m about to lean in and kiss him, his phone rings, interrupting us. “Shit, I have to take this Little One. But keep that thought for later,” he says, backing up and pulling me down. He answers his phone, and I leave him to check on the boys. They are sitting quietly, absorbed in the world of SpongeBob. A minute later, Reed enters the living room, ruffles their hair, and walks over to me. “I’ve got to head out for a little while. I’ll be back.” He bends down and brushes his lips over mine.
“Be safe,” I say, pulling him closer for a deeper kiss before letting him walk out. As the front door closes, I sink down into the black leather sofa and wonder what the fuck I got myself into. Only then do I remember I didn’t ask about my Jeep. I need to check my insurance to find out if it will cover the tow. After a quick call, I learned I do not have roadside service, so towing the Jeep will have to wait.
I don’t have Reed’s phone number, so I email him.
Reed,
I don’t have your number, but how long can my Jeep sit there until the school has it towed away?
Ali.
Instead of an email reply, my phone dings with a new text message.
Unknown number
Don’t worry about it, Little One. I’ve taken care of it.
Me
How do you have my number?
I save his number before heading into the dining room to grab the food he bought me. I’m starving and not about to let good food go to waste. I settle back on the couch, and the boys come over to help me eat the fries.
Reed
I have my ways.
Me
That doesn’t surprise me. Thank you, by the way.
Reed
There’s no need to thank me. I told you. You are mine, and I take care of what is mine.
I can’t help but smile because I’m starting to like the thought of being his more and more.
“Mommy happy,” Jacob says.
“Reed,” Caleb says before they both grab another fry and walk away.