Chapter 15
Fifteen
Kingston
The chat with Detective Baldwin goes well, although I can’t tell how much weight he’s putting into Ella’s recording or our subsequent suspicions. Baldwin seems suspicious that she would’ve just coincidentally ended up seated near them at a bistro.
To me, it’s less a coincidence and more a lucky break. Sometimes shit happens that way.
More productive is my phone call with Ironwood. Even though it’s a Saturday, I barely have time to take the call, and I feel like my company is falling down around me despite everyone else’s efforts to keep it running.
Is this what I can expect when I finally step down as CEO? Who’s going to be able to handle this place?
Still, I get through the day. Ella texts me a selfie where she’s grinning with her two guards. She captions the photo #BFFs, and I chuckle. She’s so damn cute.
As I leave the office, I pause at the Kristin’s door. I hope she’s all right. She could be a friend, now that the weird flirtatious bullshit has been cleared up.
But she can’t be a friend if we don’t get her back, and I’m fearing that too much time has gone by. When I spoke with Detective Baldwin, I was getting the sense that although he isn’t giving up, a lot of the urgency has passed. New emergencies and mysteries arise every day.
Kristin, eventually, is going to be forgotten.
And that’s not fucking fair.
The rest of the day passes quickly, and the sun is falling by the time I get back to my penthouse. It’s a low bar, but I’m pleased that I’m getting home in time for dinner—Bash has a dinner meeting with a potential new agent, and I don’t want Ella to feel lonely at my place by herself.
When I walk in, I find Ella curled up on the sofa with her phone. I drop my wallet and phone on the table by the elevator and notice some cash lying there.
“What’s this?” I ask.
“Oh, that’s the change from the other day, when I picked up lunch during our visit with Bash.”
“Right,” I say. I’d forgotten all about it.
Twin spots of color flood Ella’s cheeks, and she looks down at her phone.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “You know I wasn’t worried about it, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” She takes a deep breath. “Don’t mind me—I just had a day. Hey, how’d it go with the detectives?”
A day? This is news to me. She’d sent the smiling, happy photo with her security guards, last I’d checked.
I’m tempted to tell her all about my chat with Baldwin, but Ella can’t evade my concern that easily. “Little girl, what happened today? You seem upset.”
“Just…ran into my brother,” she grumbles.
Ah. Now her mood is starting to make sense.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask.
A shrug. A sigh. An uncertain shake of her head.
“Sweetheart,” I say, “I’m here to listen. Not just to good news, but to bad news, too. And if you’re grouchy, well, I would very much like to cheer you up.”
“I don’t want to be cheered up.” She scowls at her phone again.
“Okay,” I say in a light voice. “I’ll go do my own thing.”
Her jaw drops as I walk past her toward the balcony. I unbutton my shirt as I go. Outside, the sun has disappeared over the western horizon and the sky is a dusky, navy blue. I shrug out of my shirt and reach for the button of my pants.
Ella comes to the balcony door, her feet bare. She’s wearing sweats and one of my white t-shirts. “What are you doing?”
“Going for a swim.”
“…Naked?”
“Naked,” I say with a nod.
She makes a hmph sound and spins on her heel, going back into the living room. Grinning, I peel off my shirt, pants, boxer briefs, and socks. Then I dive into the pool.
The water is refreshing and cool, but not too cold. I propel myself to the far end before turning around to see what Ella’s doing.
Sure enough, she’s watching. She wants to cheer up, but she’s in a mood. If I give her time, she’ll come out on her own. Or I could order her to…but I like tempting her too much.
With that thought in mind, I swim over to the steps at the shallow corner and sit on the edge of the pool. There, I take my cock in my hand and give it a brief squeeze. I know my baby girl is watching, but I don’t look her way—I just lean back, let my eyes fall shut, and pleasure myself.
It doesn’t take long before footsteps sound on the balcony, walking around the pool. I slit my eyes open partway and see Ella swallow as she watches me.
She catches sight of my open eyes and frowns.
“What are you doing?” she demands. “It’s not dark yet. Aren’t you worried someone’s going to see you?”
The wall around the balcony is high enough that no, I’m not worried about it. Also, it’s now the darker side of twilight. Giving her a wicked smile, I continue stroking.
“You can see me,” I say, “and that’s all I care about right now.”
She folds her arms across her chest and shifts from foot to foot.
“I sure would love to be pounding into your tight, willing cunt,” I tell her. “Or watching you choke as you eagerly try to deep-throat me. What I really want to do is tongue you until you scream with pleasure.”
“You’re not being very nice,” she says.
“No? Could’ve fooled me. You’re blushing and squirming and I bet your pussy is sopping wet, eager for me.”
Clenching her stubborn little jaw, she starts to turn around to go back inside.
That’s it. I’ve played enough games.
“Little girl, stop where you are right now, and take off your clothes.”
“I’m too much of a good girl to do that sort of thing,” she says over her shoulder, and keeps walking.
She could’ve challenged me, asked me to punish her…but instead she pushed on my corruption fetish button and fuck me, this woman is perfect.
I follow her into the apartment, grabbing a towel on my way in and running it over my body and head. Ella stares as I do it and says, “I can’t believe you’re in here like that…naked. It’s so wrong, Daddy. I shouldn’t be seeing you like this.”
How is she so fucking right for me?
“If you don’t listen to me, I’m going to have to spank you,” I tell her. “So listen carefully. I want you to take off your clothes. It’s not bad if we’re both naked. So strip down, little girl, and let me see your body.”
“You would really punish me for not listening?” she says.
“Yep.”
She bites back a smile as she pulls my shirt over her head, revealing her gloriously bare breasts. Then she shrugs off her sweatpants. No panties, either.
“You’re walking around without any undies or bra?” I making a tsk sound. “Naughty.”
“Well, I didn’t know anyone would find out,” she says with a pout.
“Now I know, beautiful. Get down on your knees and give me head.”
“Head? What’s that?”
She’s taking this further than we have before. Twisted. I fucking love it.
“Head is when you put my cock in your mouth and make me feel good.”
She eyes my cock and I reach down to give it a quick stroke while she watches. Biting her lip, she shakes her head. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Oh, you can. And you will.”
“Nice girls don’t do this sort of thing,” she says, but she drops to her knees. Now that she’s eye-level with my cock, she gives me a hesitant look. “It’s so big, Daddy. What do I do with it?”
My cock twitches with need. Fuck, the way she says that, the way she pretends…
“You put it in your mouth, sweetheart. Lick it and suck it.”
“Like a lollipop? I don’t know if that’ll feel good for you.”
“Sure. Trust me, it’s going to feel good because it’s with you.”
With a hum of satisfaction, she wraps her lips around the head of my cock and pulls it into the sweet heaven of her mouth.
I groan and grip her hair, telling her what a good job she’s doing. My balls firm up, tight and ready for my orgasm, but I hold it off.
“Ella, sweetheart, Daddy’s going to come. I want you to touch yourself so you can come, too.”
She pulls off my cock to say, “Where do you want me to touch myself? Down…there?”
“Yes, baby. Down there. Get yourself off for Daddy.”
Reaching between her legs, she starts moving her fingers around in her folds.
“I bet you’re nice and wet,” I tell her. “I bet your juices are sliding all over your fingers. Pretty soon, it’s going to be my cock down there. Or Sebastian’s. We’re going to make you feel so fucking good, little girl.”
She moans in pleasure, her eyes closed.
“Look up at me, sweetheart. Let me see your face while you suck on my cock.”
Her brown eyes open and lock on mine.
“That’s it, beautiful. Keep pleasuring yourself. You can let go—you can come as soon as you want to.”
Her hand moves faster between her legs, and she lets out a loud, high-pitched moan around my dick. I feel it in my balls and I don’t hold back anymore—I empty into her mouth, pulsing out my release and watching the loving expression in her eyes as she swallows it down.
I help her stand up afterward and kiss her beautiful lips, tasting myself mixed with her and whispering how she’s such a good girl for Daddy. After, we put on some clothes and sit on the couch to snuggle.
“Do you feel better now?” I ask.
She gives me a shy smile. “Much. Thank you.”
“Anytime, little one. I love you, you know that?”
“I do. I love you, too.”
Sebastian
Helena Tran is vibrant, professional, and intelligent.
Her look is similar to Trina’s—nice blouse, nice jeans, heels, perfect make-up.
Her hair is black, whereas Trina’s is blond, and the straight, shoulder-length style is equally no-nonsense.
But there’s a warmth and genuine vibe to Helena that Trina always lacked.
We’re halfway through the main course when I’ve already made up my mind to accept her offer to be my agent. Of course, I have to wait for the offer, but I know it’s coming, otherwise she wouldn’t have flown all the way out here from Nashville to meet with me.
By the time dessert and coffee rolls around, she’s made her offer, I’ve accepted, and now we can sit back and relax—the interview process is over.
“I expected you to be a lot…angstier,” she says as she sips her coffee.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Your abrupt break from performing and releasing new music, rumors of substance abuse…and then what happened with Trina Jack.”
“Yeah. Well, most of that was due to her, not to me. If I ever come across as untrusting—”
“I won’t be offended by it,” she says. “Everything I do is on the up-and-up. If you ever need proof, receipts, whatever, I’ll share what I have.”
“I appreciate it,” I say.
My phone buzzes with a text.
“Do you want to check that?” Helena asks. “I have to run to the ladies, anyway.”
“Thanks.” I pull out my phone while Helena leaves the table. The screen shows a text from my cousin. Meet me for coffee at V’s?
Sure, I’m out already, wrapping up. What time? Nothing like double the caffeine in the evening.
15 minutes?
Helena returns and we settle the bill, then shake hands and say our goodbyes. I’d wanted to go straight to King’s after this, but with my uncle’s health and Kristin’s kidnapping, I don’t want to ignore Lin.
When I get to V’s Cafe, Lin is waiting with a mug of tea in front of her. I order some tea of my own, but I have zero intention of drinking it—I just want to get home to Ella.
“What’s up?” I ask after giving Lin a hug.
Her leg shakes beneath the table, something she does when she’s excited or nervous.
“So we’ve been trying to get as much info on everything in light of Kristin Wayfield’s kidnapping, right?”
“Right,” I say slowly.
“Well, nobody thought it was related or important, but I think it’s sus as fuck.
While I was chatting with Baldwin a little while ago, he let slip that soon after Bryan Crowley’s death, the guards on duty that night all resigned.
They said they found new positions, but now nobody can find them.
It led the detective to look at details in a new light. ”
“And?”
“And…the dude had some questionable marks on his hands and bruises on his bare feet—defensive wounds.”
“You’re telling me that Bryan Crowley’s death wasn’t a suicide?” I say.
Lin nods. “Yeah. Why nobody saw fit to share that information with you, I might never know. But that’s what an independent medical examiner found. It was murder, designed to look like suicide.”