36. Not On The Prowl,Not Single?
Not On The Prowl, Or Not Single?
Doug
Dick move, prick. Fuckin’ dick move.
Driving away from Cara after what just happened had me feeling like shit.
I went to so much effort to dress up the house. I wanted it to be perfect for her. I even hired a cleaning crew to make sure there wasn’t a speck of dust left when she got home from Missy’s because I wanted it to be exactly that, home, and the moment was fucking perfect until I took from her, the way those pricks took from her. I feel like punching myself in the balls… the sobering realization is that the only reason I’m not doing that is the idea of maybe putting a baby in her one day. Where the fuck did that come from?
I’m not like the others. Her pleasure is my driving force, always. Hearing her screaming my name sent me into some kind of subspace where my need to be so deeply connected to her took over.
I wanted to make it up to her. I wanted to give her the fucking world as an apology for taking that moment from her—the first time she’s been the one in control, the assertive one, and I took it away.
‘Fuck!’ I shout, taking the turn toward Mama’s house a little too quickly, ‘Fuckin’ idiot.’
I need to make this up to her. I wanted, no, I needed to make it right, and then, fuckin’ Jessie pulled me away from her.
I park my truck and get out, seeing Jessie leaning against her car, looking down at the ground while Bowie and Harley run around in the yard.
‘Daddy,’ Bo shrieks running and jumping into my waiting arms, and I pull her close, inhaling her scent, letting her closeness soothe me a little until Harley jumps up and does the punching in the balls for me.
‘Goddam, Harley,’ I groan as I put Bo down and bend forward a little. Jessie laughs sadistically.
‘It’s a good job you don’t need them for anything, huh?’
I glare up at her, and she smirks.
‘I take it Bowie is staying with me?’
‘Yep.’
‘Well, you can go then.’ I’m losing my fucking patience with her.
With a humorless huff of laughter, she turns, gets in her car, and drives away. It doesn’t shock me that she doesn’t say bye to Bowie, and it doesn’t shock me that Bo doesn’t seem to care.
‘Bowie, go inside, take Harley. I’ll be in in a second.’
I watch them head inside and pull out my cell phone.
Me: Baby, I’m so sorry. I’m kicking myself for being such a fuckin’ idiot x
I notice the bubbles of a reply immediately.
Cara: No more apologizing, please. You wanted me to communicate with you. I have. I told you what bothered me, and you said sorry. It’s done. I just need to remember that next time I want control, I’ll have to tie you up so that I can keep it…
She adds a winking face emoji for added impact, but she didn’t need to, my dick was hard from her words, and now I need more than a second before heading inside.
‘That dog better not be on my furniture,’ Mama calls out from the kitchen, and I swear, the woman can see through walls.
‘Down, Harley,’ I whisper, shoving her down and holding my finger to my lips to silence a giggling Bowie. ‘No, Mama, course not.’
Bo laughs harder, and I can’t help but join her.
‘What’s all this commotion?’ Zoe asks as she walks in the front door, followed by Bree.
‘Don’t you ever work anymore?’ I sass, and she throws me daggers.
‘It’s called being the boss, Douglas. I delegate.’
I smirk, and Bree laughs.
‘Hey, Bo,’ Zoe says, passing me as Bree drops to the sofa next to me. Bowie takes Zoe’s hand and leads her into the kitchen so they can help Mama cook.
‘Did you hear about the house?’
‘Nah, I’m starting to think it ain’t happenin’.’ I lean my head back, and Bree leans her head onto my shoulder.
‘It’ll happen, honey. It’ll all fall into place.’
I turn and press a kiss to my sister’s head. I wish I had her confidence, but I can’t see this one coming through. Tristan will be gone soon, and Mr. Lawton said he’d let me know about taking on the lease, but he’s ghosting me, I swear.
Appearing out of nowhere, Zoe sits on the opposite sofa and pulls her feet up under her butt.
‘How long do you have Bo?’ she asks, and I shrug.
‘Do I ever know the answer to that?’ My voice is low. I don’t want Bowie to hear.
‘It’s just we won’t be around on Saturday, and I don’t want you to be stuck with anything.’
I smile. I love my sisters. They are always willing to help me with Bowie. ‘It’s fine. If I still have her this weekend, I might take her somewhere camping. Where are you headed?’
Zoe grins that naughty smile she always has when she’s about to get into some shit.
‘Girls’ night.’
Bree sits up next to me and explains. ‘It’s Missy’s birthday, so the four of us are headed up to the city, getting hotel rooms, spending the afternoon in the spa, then hitting the club.’
The four of them… Cara.
I feel the frown crease my brow, and my jaw tightens. She never said.
‘Girls’ night, huh? Fun.’ I nod, trying to smile.
‘I hope so, four single ladies on the prowl.’
I see the way Zoe is staring at me—she wants a reaction. She still thinks I’m into Cara and trying not to be. She doesn’t realize I’m getting into her as often as possible.
‘Ask,’ Bree says, turning to face me head-on, and I look at her, nervous.
‘Are you about to interrogate me, Chief? Do I need a lawyer?’
She narrows her gaze and leans in.
‘You want to ask, so ask.’
I glance at Zoe, who lowers her feet to the floor and leans in. Jesus, I’m penned in.
‘She’s been here two months,’ she whispers, glancing behind her to make sure Bowie is still in the kitchen. ‘You can’t still pull the I don’t like her bullshit because we’ve seen the two of you in the same room too many times.’
‘And after what happened between y’all, you would think it would be awkward, but it’s not. It’s just hot,’ Bree adds, and I snap my gaze to her.
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’
‘Doug, you and Cara, the sexual tension between you two is ridiculous. You want her bad, and she definitely fuckin’ wants you, so just ask. You want to know if she’s looking to meet somebody this weekend.’
What the fuck?
‘No, I don’t.’ I really don’t, but then… ‘How long have y’all been planning this girls’ night anyway?’ I try to sound relaxed, uninterested in Cara, and just showing a casual interest in their plans.
‘We planned it this afternoon. Cara met us for coffee, and we called Missy to arrange it all.’ This afternoon? I was with Cara this afternoon. I upset Cara this afternoon…
I nod, trying to ignore the way they study me as my jaw tightens and my foot twitches. Is this payback? Did I piss her off so much that she wants a single ladies’ night out to make up for it? She’s not fuckin’ single. Or is she? We haven’t put a label on this thing—haven’t said the words that have been on the tip of my tongue for weeks.
‘Doug,’ Zoe says, reaching out her hand to my knee. ‘You look like you’re about to blow out a blood vessel or something. You okay?’
I nod. ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ I stand quickly, startling Harley, who thinks it’s playtime and jumps up before I have my defenses in place. ‘Ah, fuck, Harley.’
I cup my balls and walk away as my sisters laugh, and the damn dog rolls over to get her tummy pets like she didn’t just try to sterilize me once again.
Standing on the front porch, I pull my cell phone from my pocket and open a message.
Me: Girls’ night, huh?
Cara: Yeah, Missy’s idea. I was going to tell you later, just thought you’d be busy with Bowie x
See, that makes sense. My stupid idiot brain trying to convince me of an ulterior motive does not.
Me: Sounds like fun. My sisters think I’m pissed off because you’re a single lady on the prowl…
I’m fishing. Scared shitless to just put it out there in case we’re on completely different pages.
Cara: LOL, don’t be silly! Of course, I’m not x
I tap my thumb on the screen, wondering what to say. ‘Fuck it.’
Me: Not on the prowl, or not single?
She starts to reply immediately, and my heart races. I swallow.
Cara: Not either…
Fuck. Yes.
It’s stupid. I’m a grown man, I shouldn’t be about to punch the air because I have a girlfriend, but I feel like I want to. I haven’t been in a relationship since Jessie, and we broke up before I left for college. I had a lot of fun with a lot of women in the time between that breakup and Jessie telling me she was pregnant, but nothing that I ever wanted to be serious.
Cara got under my skin from day one, and part of my eagerness to get a place of my own and get this custody shit done is being able to tell everyone that she’s mine. It’s some primal bullshit. I know that. I want to make sure everyone knows to stay the fuck away. Right now, every man in this town and the next thinks she’s available, and I can’t do shit about it.
I need to get it done. I need to lock this down. I need to know I have my girls, Bowie and Cara, and the fucking ball buster, Harley, and start building a life, a family. I might not have said the words, but I sure as shit feel them.
‘She’s not looking to meet anyone.’
Bree’s hand on my back startles me, and I lock my phone in my hand. I can tell my sisters. I know I can trust them. It’s me that I don’t trust. Mama knows out of necessity, and she’s hard enough to reign in. She loves Cara and just wants me to be happy, but her excitement over the two of us gets a little much at times. If she’s not bursting at the seams every time she sees Cara, wanting to make a fuss over her as though she’s the future of the Campbell name, she’s trying to force me out of the door every night to go and spend time with her… that would be great if she didn’t wink every time she says spend time , making it very clear she’s sending me out to get laid. It’s weird as fuck, but it’s also really fucking sweet. I love that she knows. I love that she’s happy. I’m worried that if Bree and Zoe know, if Merv knows, and if Leo knows, my brain will convince me the secret is out, and I’ll forget I have shit to tie down first. I should say it doesn’t matter. I should say I don’t care.
Instead, and without a second thought, I slide my phone into my back pocket, lean in to kiss her forehead, and say, ‘I know,’ before leaving her on the porch and heading inside.
By some miracle, I escaped the inquisition from Bree. Mostly, I think, because she realized that telling Zoe what I said would have meant a full-scale interrogation that none of us needed, so she stayed quiet. She glanced at me often through dinner and tried to get Zoe to put Bo to bed so she could get me alone, but my girl wanted her Daddy.
I told Cara what I said, and she asked if that meant they knew. I said they didn’t and then explained that I was going to take Bowie away for a couple of days now that the house was finished, so I did just that. I took my girl up to my favorite spot by the lake and spent two nights together, daddy/daughter time, exploring, swimming, and listening to music; perfect.
We came back, and Jessie was waiting for us. She took Bowie, and I spent last night with Cara, and now it’s Saturday morning, and I can’t stop thinking about the fact that she’s going to be in a club tonight with three single women all looking to have fun. It’s not helping that I’m lying in her bed, watching her stand by her wardrobe in my t-shirt, trying to pick out what to wear.
‘Nope,’ I say as she holds a short, tight, little black dress up against her body and looks in the mirror. She laughs as though I’m not having a fucking heart attack over here and puts the dress in her bag.
‘Stop it,’ she says, crawling onto the bed and up my body, straddling my lap. My hands come to her hips, and I take a deep breath.
‘I hate that guys are going to be looking at you.’
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. ‘Men don’t look at me. Only you, for some unknown reason.’
I grab her and roll us, coming to rest on top of her.
‘Cara, I look because you’re the sexiest, most beautiful woman in the world.’ She flushes pink and squirms under me. ‘Men do look at you. I see them look, and I have to fight to keep my caveman under control. The thought of you in a club, surrounded by men hoping to hook up is fuckin’ killin’ me, baby.’ I groan, trying not to be a possessive prick and failing.
‘I’m not an option for those men. I’m not available.’ Her words and soft tone start to soothe me. ‘Now, lift off me so I can finish packing and kick you out before your sisters get here.’ She grins, and with a groan, I roll off her and watch as she goes back to looking at dresses. ‘It’s a shame none of them know about us, would have been nice to have a night out with you,’ she says, holding up a little red dress, and as I watch her, my dick, my heart, and my brain, start to work together… that would be nice.