CHAPTER 23
Sutton
The next day was full of playing with the kids and helping Dad pack a bag.
Dominic had arranged for Dad to see a doctor in Boston about a new treatment option.
I’d known nothing about it until Dominic mentioned it over breakfast. I hadn’t known whether to cry happy tears or be annoyed that he’d arranged for Dad to fly across the country without me.
When I complained to Dad about it, he’d just rolled his eyes at me and told me I had a job to do and couldn’t abandon it to hold his hand on an airplane.
All the annoyance drained away when I saw our old neighbor, Betty, show up with one of the guys’ drivers.
Dominic had somehow gotten Betty’s information from my dad and talked him into letting her tag along.
Seeing Dominic take charge of not just Dad’s medical care but also all the extras made me finally give into those happy tears.
Dad was going to be cared for. I trusted Betty to take care of him and I knew she’d do it with a smile on her face because she had a big crush on Dad.
Maybe the time away together would force Dad to acknowledge he had feelings for her, too.
Dad left before dinner so I ate with the kids.
Dominic and Leon were dealing with work stuff and Theo was still in hiding, so I got them all to myself.
I hadn’t been back to the club since the first night they took me, so I wasn’t expecting to find a gift bag on my bed when I returned after Naomi showed up to get the kids ready for bed.
There was a bag, though, and when I opened it and pulled out its contents, I felt the now familiar thrill ricochet through my body, bouncing around every nook and cranny until my hands shook and I was breathing faster.
Inside was another button-up shirt and skirt set.
The skirt was shorter than the first one but the real shocker in the bag was the pair of panties.
Heavier than normal panties it only took me a few seconds to understand what they were.
I’d read enough dirty books to recognize the little butterfly sewn into the panties for what it was.
They wanted me to wear vibrating panties. The lack of any kind of button or remote to turn them on let me know that someone else had control. I almost put them aside but then I saw the note resting at the bottom of the bag. Written in Theo’s distinct handwriting was a simple message.
It’s up to you.
Theo had control of the panties. Theo, who’d been avoiding me since telling me he killed people. Theo, who’d been on my mind most of the day. Theo, who I was desperate to see again.
I took a shower and scrubbed myself almost raw before stepping out and going through my routine for going out.
I dried my hair and, remembering Leon’s preference, put it up in a high pony.
I brushed my teeth and used mouthwash, my mind full of thoughts of kissing.
I dug around in my bag of rarely used toiletries until I found an old wand of mascara and I brushed some on.
I didn’t think about why I was doing it, I just did it.
It was the same with the outfit. Even the panties.
Especially the panties. Not thinking about the why made pulling them on a lot easier.
I wore the same shoes as the time before and ignored my reflection on the way out.
I didn’t want to know what I looked like.
It’d be easier if I didn’t. It seemed that acting oblivious was my new coping mechanism.
As I walked downstairs, I had the strangest feeling.
I was a grown woman, yet I still felt a little more free with my dad gone.
There was no one to see me and wonder if I was my mother’s child in every way, especially since I was ignoring all thoughts and feelings to do with that.
No one to walk in on anything, no one to catch me and scold me for what I was doing. That thrill grew stronger.
It was Theo waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me. His jaw tight, eyes dark, he shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded at me.
“You look beautiful.”
Suddenly shy, I ducked my head and murmured a thank you. I had so much I wanted to say to him but I didn’t know how to. I didn’t know if he’d want me to, either. Maybe he was over me because of how I’d told him to leave.
“Are you comfortable with me taking you to the club?” He sounded pained and that was all it took for me to find my voice.
“Theo! Of course!” I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug. “I’m sorry I freaked out and hurt you. I’m not scared of you, Theo. I don’t want you to hide from me. I’ve missed you.”
A shocking amount of tension left his body as he exhaled and brought his arms up around me.
His body ran hotter than anyone I’d ever touched and I was instantly engulfed in that warmth.
Maybe it would’ve creeped a different man out that I’d admitted to missing them after only knowing them for a little while, but not Theo.
He buried his face in my ponytail and took in a deep, deep inhale.
“You shouldn’t apologize.”
“I hurt you.”
He ran his hands down my back and only stopped when he reached the line of my panties.
“Are these mine?”
I blushed hard but nodded against his chest.
“Yes.”
“Then you should really save your apologies because I’m not giving you any mercy tonight, Angel.” His voice took on the same edge as the night in my bathroom. There was a tinge of something dark and manic, but when I looked up at him his eyes were warm. “Are you up for the walk?”
I thought of that path through the woods and how dark it would be. I knew other people would’ve run from the idea of being alone out there with Theo, especially after what he’d told me, but I embraced it.
“Yes.”
His smile was predatory as he slowly stepped away from me.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded. “I told you, Theo. I’m not scared of you.”
He opened the door and held out his arm for me to exit first. When I walked past him he leaned closer and lowered his voice.
“Maybe you should be.”
I caught his hand and intertwined our fingers.
“Maybe you should be scared of me.”
His laugh was strained.
“Oh, I am, Sutton. I am terrified of you.”
Before I could ask him to explain, he took off at a brisk pace and I had to put in real effort to keep up.
I couldn’t focus on anything but watching where my feet landed so I didn’t fall and hurt myself.
That was why when Theo let go of my hand, I didn’t immediately realize what was happening.
It took me a few more seconds to look up and see he was gone.
My heart dropped and I froze.
“Theo?”
A dark laugh came from somewhere in the trees around me, but it honestly sounded like it was coming from everywhere.
“Still not scared of me, Sutton?”
My body twitched with the urge to run but I grew wet between my thighs. I wasn’t scared of him. I was afraid of how I reacted to him and what it meant I wasn’t scared after everything he’d told me.
“Come out and ask me to my face.”
“Grown men four times your size have cried when they found themselves in this exact position.”
“The exact position? Did you give them special panties to wear, too?” I grinned when I heard him growl. No matter what he did, it wouldn’t truly scare me. Maybe I was broken because while the dark and the woods spooked me, Theo did not.
When he stepped out of the woods in front of me, a black mask covering everything but his eyes, his body language made me think of a lion. He moved with so much grace and confidence.
“On your knees.”
It never crossed my mind to disobey the command.
He walked closer and ran a gloved hand through my ponytail, twisting it around his fingers and then gripping it tight.
“Why are you not scared of me?”
“I don’t know.” He pulled my hair until my head was back far enough that I could look up at his masked face. The mask and gloves somehow added to his magic.
“You’re beautiful, Theo.”
He shifted and knelt in the dirt in front of me.
“Pull your skirt up.”
I loved the way his voice shook. He might’ve terrified grown men but I made his voice shake. I worked the tight skirt up my hips until the panties were on display.
His eyes behind the mask grew darker. He pulled a remote from his pocket and hit a button. The little butterfly vibrated lightly at first, lightly enough that I could hold back the moan that wanted to escape.
“The things I could do to you, Sutton. The ways I could hurt you. You’re a beautiful little lamb and I’m the big, bad wolf. You should be afraid.”
The vibrations became stronger but I still narrowed my eyes at him.
“I’m not afraid.”
He dropped the remote and undid his pants so he could pull out his penis.
No, I thought, that’s not a penis. That’s a dick.
He gripped it hard and I stared at it in awe.
I wanted to touch it and hold it the way he was.
I wanted to do everything to it and with it.
The vibrations against my clit grew stronger again and I saw he’d snapped up the remote again while I was watching his dick.
“I want to watch you come. Out here in the woods like an animal, Angel. I want to hear you moan my name like the night you let me watch.” He saw my eyes widen and smirked. “There’s a mic.”
I didn’t have the attention to be self-righteous about it.
“What about you?”
He stood up and stroked himself once before putting it away. He took several steps away and then slipped into the woods, disappearing almost instantly.
“I want to hear you when you come, Angel.”