CHAPTER 12
OAKLYNN
I almost giggle.
This man is going to make me tea?
How domesticated.
I watch him out of the corner of my eye.
His movements are precise.
There isn’t a single wasted movement.
It’s kind of beautiful to watch.
Getting the last tray of cookies in the over is a nice distraction from the way Huck’s muscles move while making me tea.
It probably shouldn’t be as sexy as it is, but I find myself squeezing my thighs together.
Once I close the oven, I can feel the heat of Huck’s body behind me.
I have to take a deep breath to stop myself from turning and throwing myself into his arms.
That would not be ladylike.
“Come and have some tea, Sweet Girl,” he demands.
He doesn’t give me the chance to head over to the island where a cup is waiting for me.
I’m not at all surprised when he grips my hand, lacing our fingers, and leads me over to stools set up on the other side of the island.
I smirk at him and shake my head, not really admonishing him.
“You’re bossy.”
Huck barks out a laugh as he sits next to me and proceeds to put some honey in his tea.
“I’m not even the worst of the lot,” there’s a tease in his voice.
The quiet we fall into doesn’t feel awkward.
It’s peaceful.
There haven’t been many times in my life when silence with another person felt like this.
Normally I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop, but not right now.
I’m content.
It’s a strange feeling and one I want to hold onto and never let go of.
I’m sure that my father is angry, if he’s even realized that I’m not where I’m supposed to be.
It’s not uncommon for days to go by without seeing my father.
Especially after he’s put his hands on me, he tends to keep his distance.
I used to tell myself that he didn’t want to see the pain he inflicted on me, that maybe he felt bad about it.
Now, I don’t think any such thing.
When the timer goes off, I can feel Huck’s eyes on me as I move around the kitchen.
Surprisingly, It doesn’t make me feel like I’m on display.
Once I’ve transferred the last batch to the cooling rack, I grab two from the first tray that went it and bring them back to where Huck’s is still watching me with an intensity in his brown eyes.
The smile he gives me when I hand him one of the cookies has my heart pounding in my chest.
He’s gorgeous when he smiles, though I’m not sure he would appreciate it if I said as much.
Huck practically moans around his first bite of cookie.
It looks like he wants to shove the rest of it in his mouth but holds off, barely.
I can hardly contain the laughter that wants to bubble out of me.
“I have a feeling you didn’t just come home because you wanted to see me,” I challenge him while arching my eyebrow.
He eyes me, amusement dancing in his eyes.
“You’re observant, aren’t you, Sweet Girl?”
I shrug, not denying it.
“I’ve learned to read people. It pays off.”
When he grips my chin, it feels like my entire body lights up from the inside out.
He turns my face so I’m looking at him, his eyes boring into mine like he can see past the polish that has always been expected of me.
“That was about survival,” his voice is low, an ominous quality to it that has goosebumps covering me.
“You became a master at manipulating your cage as much as you could. Now, you’re no longer caged, Oaklynn. You’re free.”
“Am I?” My question is soft because I don’t want to challenge him and what he’s potentially laying at my feet.
Huck rears back a little, almost as if I slapped him.
“Of course,” he insists.
“I don’t believe this cage is anything like the one my father forced me into.” I pause and take a deep breath, needing to find my resolve, “But how do I know this one won’t have just as many bars, even though it may seem more lavish.”
“We will never harm you,” his voice is firm, unmoving.
“None of us will ever raise a hand to you unless it’s one of us spanking your ass to see our handprint like a primal mark.”
The image Huck has conjured in my head with his words has my nipples pebbling and my pussy getting wetter.
I was already turned on just being in the same room with him.
With any of my men, really.
It’s not really fair that all four of my men are hot as hell.
I’m not going to complain about it.
I’m one lucky woman if I take them at face value and believe what they’re offering me.
Before I can even try to think of a response, Huck is standing and gently grabbing my hand.
Seeing no reason to fight him on it, I willingly follow him out of the kitchen and up the stairs toward his room.
I start to get more nervous with every step I take with him.
It’s not that I’m scared.
Hell no.
But I know how talented Baker was with his mouth last night, it makes me wonder what is in store for me behind Huck’s door.
My body tries to anticipate what is going to happen next, but there are so many possibilities.
“Where are we going?”
Huck looks back at me over his shoulder and winks right before he opens his door and leads me into his room.
Yesterday I glanced inside on the tour, but I didn’t take it all in before I knew if I was really welcome in each man’s space.
Clearly, I am.
My eyebrows furrow together as he leads me past the bed and toward the door I’m guessing is the walk-in closet.
Even when he pulls me inside, which is big enough to be most people’s bedrooms alone, he doesn’t stop, and I become a little concerned.
“The closet?” My voice is high and thready, belying the worry starting to creep in.
Huck turns to me fully, his free hand coming up to cup my face.
“You’re safe, Sweet Girl.”
His nickname for me makes me melt.
They’ve all come up with small ways to show me that I’m precious to them.
It’s a welcome change to what I’m used to.
To go from never having a nickname to having four, as unique as the men who have given them, makes me feel a giddy.
It is not a feeling I’m used to at all.
His words ease some of the worry, but not the confusion.
That only grows when he steps up to the back wall of the closet and flips open a keypad that I didn’t even notice at first and presses his finger to the scanner.
“You’ll be able to get into here just like you can for the front door,” he tells me and pulls me into a hidden room.
“What the fuck?” I hiss out the question when we step into a room that is almost as large as the bedroom.
The size of the room isn’t even the shocking thing.
What has my mouth hanging open is the computer set-up and desk that is taking up a huge portion of the space.
“This is my office away from the office,” he tells me.
I can’t keep the awe off my face as I look at the screens which he’s woken up.
It’s clear that programs are running and that he was diving into something, I’m just not sure what.
Even though I take it all in, I force myself not to look at details.
It’s none of my business what he’s working on, and I learned a long time ago not to ask about certain things.
Huck studies my face before sitting in his large, very comfortable looking office chair.
I let out a small squeak of surprise when he grips my hips and pulls me down on his lap.
“What are you doing?” My question comes out far more breathless than I intended.
I wave a hand in the direction of his screens, but keep my eyes firmly trained on him.
If this is a test, I want to pass it.
“I’m sure this is very important, and I shouldn’t be looking at it.”
Huck’s eyes are serious as he takes me in, but I don’t buckle under the intensity of his stare.
“We’re not going to keep secrets from you, Oaklynn,” his voice is deep, and I find myself relaxing against his chest.
“While there might be things we don’t share with you, it’s only because we don’t want you to look at us differently, be afraid of us, or for your own protection. But for the most part, we will be open with you. Knowledge is power and it can help to keep you more aware of what is going on around you.”
“Okay,” I hold the word out, the question clear in my tone.
“I’m sure you’ve already figured out that not all of our business dealings are legal.”
I can’t help it; I tense in his hold.
Being dangerous isn’t a surprise, but I can’t help but wonder if they’re doing the same kind of business that my father has been involved in?
The thought makes my stomach flip.
“Don’t go there,” Huck hums.
“We are nothing like your father or the men he did business with.”
I narrow my eyes at him and muse, “Are you a mind reader now?”
He barks out a laugh and it makes him even more handsome.
How is that possible?
“I’m not, but your face is expressive, Sweet Girl.” He leans in and nuzzles my neck.
“While we’re more than willing to work outside of the law and profit from it, there are lines we won’t ever cross. We will never peddle in flesh. We’ve worked hard to push the bratva from this city out because they used the ports to traffic people. We weren’t willing to let that continue.”
“I feel like there’s something about this that you’re talking around,” I look into his eyes, hoping he doesn’t feel like I’m challenging him too much.
Something clicks inside of me, and my body deflates.
My words come out broken, “My father was involved with whoever it was you pushed out, wasn’t he?”
“Oaklynn,” he grips my chin and tips my head up, not even realizing that I averted my eyes in shame, “your father’s actions are on him. You are not responsible for the hell he has helped to release upon this city.”
“Young girls? Women?” The thought of him doing that, of him ruining the lives of countless people, guts me.
“Yes,” he tells me honestly even though he tries to soften the blow as he rubs his hand up and down my back, “but not only females are trafficked.”
“What a monster,” I mutter.
Huck points toward the screens and now that I focus on one of the screens, it becomes clear that it’s a financial report.
“I’ve been following your father’s money. He was in deep with Morozov.”
I sit up straighter and gasp, “That name. I’ve heard it before. My father used to meet with someone with that name.”
He nods and his hand clenches into a fist, but I don’t get the feeling he’s angry at me.
“The thought of you being anywhere near those men makes me want to track down your father and gut him.”
My head jerks in his direction and I blink a few times.
I should be running from him in fear.
His deep brown eyes are wary when he looks at me and whispers, “Are you scared of me?”
“I should be,” I admit, “but I’m not. You make me feel protected.”
He swallows hard, his words hoarse, “There will be times when we come home covered in blood. There will be times when it’s difficult to put our beasts back in their cages.”
My hand cups his jaw and my thumb runs back and forth right under his lower lip.
“I’m not afraid of you. It makes no damn sense, but I’m not.”
The breath he blows out is relieved.
When I look back at the report on the screen, I really look at the information in front of me and gasp.
“My father is broke.”
“He is,” there’s an ominous note in his voice.
I make a humming sound, no longer wanting to learn anything else about my father and what he’s been up to.
He’s made his bed, and his enemies.
His problems are not mine.
Especially not now.
When I stand up, Huck’s hands grip my hips tightly for a moment before letting me go.
I stand between his legs and smile down at him, completely ignoring the monitors behind me.
“What are you doing?” His voice is strained as I grip the armrests and push him back a little bit.
While I sink to my knees, I eye him and smirk wickedly.
“You don’t know what I’m doing?”
He sucks in a breath as I reach for the fly of his pants and quickly unzip him, knowing I’m going to find him hard and throbbing.
I felt the evidence of his arousal under my ass the entire time I was sitting on his lap.
“Okay,” he chokes out, “but why?”
“You shared something really important with me,” I murmur.
When I pull him out completely, I groan, “So big.” Huck chuckles, the sound washing over me and helping to make me feel bold.
“You didn’t have to show me this, but you did.”
“I want you to see that you can trust us, Sweet Girl,” there’s a note of reverence in his voice.
Not another word is needed as I lean forward and lick the pre-cum starting to coat the tip of his dick.
His length twitches where I have my hand wrapped around the base.
I run my thumb along the vein running up underneath his shaft before giving a squeeze and pumping him slowly.
He grunts as his hands come up and his fingers grip the strands of my hair.
The way he’s holding me should make me feel like I’m losing control, but it doesn’t.
I can feel the restraint in the way his fingers are flexing against my scalp.
I feel powerful even on my knees for him.
When I wrap my lips around the head of his cock and start to take more of him into my mouth, he lets out a moan that makes me clench my thighs together.
I hollow out my cheeks and suck him as I start to move up and down his length.
He lets out a masculine grunt, which I find sexy as fuck, every time he hits the back of my throat.
He’s so hard and I desperately want to taste his cum.
His scent, which is fresh and light with a hint of citrus, surrounds me.
Looking up at him, his brown eyes are hooded and filled with so much fucking lust.
He shared something important with me, something he didn’t have to trust me with.
I want to show him exactly what that means to me.
As I move up his shaft, my tongue flicks against that spot on the underside of the head of his cock and his entire body shudders.
Fuck, being able to give pleasure to this powerful man who could have any woman gives me a sense of determination that I’m not used to.
I move faster up and down his length, reveling in the sounds he’s making.
Suddenly, he stands up and starts to fuck my mouth, his movements on the edge of frenzy.
There’s a feral glint in his eyes that has me relaxing my jaw and taking him deeper in my throat.
The way he’s looking down at me makes me even more eager to swallow every ounce of his cum.
“Oh fuck,” he grits out, his jaw clenched and the muscles of his neck straining.
“I’m going to cum.”
I suck him harder and relax, giving over to him as he fucks my face.
When he roars out his release, I try to keep up with each spurt.
A little leaks out of the side of my mouth and Huck’s thumb catches it.
He pulls out of my mouth slowly and I clean him up as he does.
My tongue darts out and I lick his thumb clean as well.
As he falls back into his chair, he’s panting and staring at me with wild, hungry eyes.
“Oaklynn,” there’s praise in the way he says my name, like awe wrapped in forever.
“Fuck, I can’t feel my legs.”
There’s no way in the world I could keep the wide smile off my face, and I don’t even try.
I didn’t ask for them to open their home to me or share their secrets, but here we are.
I’m starting to believe in the forever they’re offering me.