Chapter Nine
Janea
I had no problem watching him while Lydia, who apparently was the old lady of someone named Bear, as she called herself rushed home after receiving a call from him. She assured me, Eros would come get Ambrose as soon as he was done with club business. Whatever the hell that meant.
“He’s a sweet little boy,” I said, closing the book I’d been reading to him for at least twenty minutes. “Where’s his mother if you don’t mind me asking?”
Ambrose was wide awake when he came in here earlier looking for his father. You could tell he had been trying hard not to fall asleep before he got to see his dad. So, when Lydia left, I played with him, then convinced him to let me read him his favorite book.
I couldn’t imagine that the man who kidnapped me was a loving father, but he was exactly that because as soon as his eyes landed on his son, the emotionless facade he wore disappeared and was replaced with nothing but pure love.
“Why do you want to know?” he asked with a smirk like he figured out some dark secret of mine. “Trying to find out if I have an old lady?”
“I have no idea what an old lady is other than Lydia is Bear’s.”
He chuckled. “She’s something like a wife. But Lydia is Bear’s old lady and his wife.”
When he smiled, the lines around his eyes crinkled. And for a brief moment, the fact that he kidnapped me didn’t even matter. It was like I wasn’t lying beside the man who had altered my life in an instant.
I’m definitely having some type of Stockholm Syndrome.
“Oh okay,” I said, glad that I understand a little more of his lifestyle even though I shouldn’t care. “But that’s not why I asked. I just wondered where Ambrose’s mother is.”
He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he said like he couldn’t care less where or what happened to the mother of his child.
“To make a long story short before you ask, we weren’t together.
It was a few nights of sex, drugs, and alcohol along with a broken condom.
She brought him to me two years ago when she decided motherhood wasn’t her thing. ”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” He sighed. “Everyone isn’t cut out to be a mother, Janea.
Just like everyone isn’t cut out to be a father.
” He gave me a pointed look, causing me to roll my eyes.
This conversation wasn’t about my father, but about his child’s mother.
“And Ambrose’s mother is one of those women, just like your father is one of those men.
She’s a cunt, but I would never regret having him.
Just like you father’s a motherfucker, but I don’t doubt for one minute you mother regretted the relationship she had with you. ”
“It must be hard for you?” I asked, ignoring the emotions clogging my throat. “He’s got a lot of energy. I know he’s a handful.”
He shrugged again. “It is what it is. But he’s mine. And like I said, I wouldn’t change that for the world, no matter how much of a cunt his mother is.”
He rose from the bed, and I couldn’t help but admire the way his jeans hugged his thighs or the way his t-shirt stretched across his chest. The confidence in his movements was very attractive, and it was starting to get too hard to look away anytime he was around.
“If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to have you swallowing my dick,” he said, his voice huskier than before.
Damn it! He caught me looking.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure, you don’t.” He chuckled, adjusting himself in his jeans. “Anyway, me and Ambrose are crashing here with you tonight. It’s not safe to go home. You take the bed with him, and I’ll take the floor. And tomorrow, we need to have a talk.”
“What kind of talk?” I asked already knowing that it had something to do with what I know. At this point, I should just tell him. I didn’t know if I was protecting myself or my father.
“You owe me answers.”
I nodded. “I know. I promise I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. I need something to sleep in.”
Even though the clubhouse was far from ideal, right now I believe it was the safest place for me to be. And I knew in order to stay safe, I had to get it all out. Eros was my saving grace. He’d know what to do with this information.
He walked to the small dresser situated on the wall across from the queen-size bed, next to the bathroom door. He pulled open the top drawer, pulled some clothes from inside before closing it. When he faced me, he held up a pair of black briefs and a black t-shirt.
“This will have to do,” he said.
I slowly got off the bed so I wouldn’t wake Ambrose, then walked to him.
“Everything you need is in the small cabinet just through that door,” he said. “Save me some hot water unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless you want to conserve, then we can take a shower together.”
I snatched the clothes from his hand, then stepped inside the bathroom. “In your dreams, Niko.”
The heart-stopping smile blanketing his face caused flutters to erupt inside my stomach.
“Niko, huh?” His grin widened. “I like it, but I’d love it even more when you’re screaming it.”
“You’ll have to work a lot harder than that to fuck me, Niko. I just don’t spread my legs for anyone.”
He stepped closer to me, invading my space. Leather, patchouli, and incense filled my nose. “You’ll spread them for me.” He ran his calloused fingertips against my cheek. I fought against the urge to lean into his touch. “And much sooner than you think.”
“Don’t count on it.”
I closed the door in his face, but I didn’t lock it when I should have.
His laughter filtered through the door, and I couldn’t stop the smile from crossing my face. I braced my palms against the vanity and stared at my reflection in the mirror. I’d never met anyone like him, and it would be hard to keep my wits about me around him.
“Have you lost your damn mind, flirting with the person who kidnapped you,” I berated myself.
Obviously, I had. With a damn target on my back, my father placed on me, I was spending my time flirting with the man who not only kidnapped me but saved my life.
“Fuck me,” I whispered, while turning on the water to the hottest temperature.
After stripping out of my clothes, I stepped into the shower and closed the curtain.
The warm water had already started to steam up the bathroom.
He didn’t have anything I could cover my hair with, so I just stepped under the scorching hot spray, letting the water drench me from head to toe.
It felt so good to get rid of some of the grime from the day.
I reached for his body wash and inhaled its fresh, manly scent. It smelled so good.
The sound of the door opening then closing captured my attention. “Eros?”
He pulled the curtain open, completely naked, then stepped into the shower. “Let’s not play these games anymore, Janea.”
He pinned me against the shower wall. “And call me, Niko.”