[Dawn]The sun sets by the time we realize we’ve been on the couch for an hour like this. Aldo is still tender in the ribs, and he groans slightly as he sits up. I slide out and run to his fridge to find some ice or peas to press against his face. We’ve literally been sitting in silence while I stroked his hair and he lay in my arms. The whole time I thought about telling him, but never did.I come back, and he tries to get up. “No, back,” I command, pushing him with one finger.He groans but doesn’t fight it. He even exhales a satisfied breath when I press the cold ice pack to his face. It turns out there’s barely anything in his fridge, and it turns out there’s barely anything in the freezer too. I was lucky to find the pack.“He hits hard,” he says, finally talking of the fight. “I guess he’s just pissed off.”“At what, though? Who‘re these Russians? What’s the note?” I ask, intertwining my fingers and scratching nervously at my leg.Aldo pauses for a few beats and then makes him
[Dawn]“This morning,” I whisper, feeling my heartbeat thrum in my ears. “I was on my way here to tell you. I just—well, these last few weeks have been so tough. And missing you has made me sick to the core, you know? And well, I thought the nausea was just me being overly dramatic.”My voice cracks slightly, and I pause, feeling the weight of my emotions press against my chest. The room seems smaller now, quieter, as if everything is holding its breath for what I’ll say next.“But after it hung around for the second week, and became a bit more intense, I well—” I stop again, my words faltering. My throat tightens as my nervousness takes over. I keep fucking saying ‘well.’ My fingers fidget against the hem of my shirt. “So I rushed down to the corner store and bought some tests...”Aldo’s face shifts, his expression caught between disbelief and joy. His eyes sparkle, and the bruises on his face can’t hide the grin spreading across his lips. “And you waited until now to tell me?”
[Aldo]It’s been three days since Andre disappeared, and I’ve been working myself non-stop. Luca, I should correct myself, has had me working non-stop. Andre was my friend after all. And it is my friend who has made off with over three hundred K in goods and disappeared. We haven't heard anything from anywhere or anyone. We’ve got all our ears open and are even talking with other families. If anyone hears even a mouse fart, Luca is going to know.Which means my meeting today isn't a good one.I grind to a stop on the gravel driveway and get out of the car. I look back down at the entrance again. It was Rocko who let me in. Rocko, who had been on duty with Sophie all those years ago when she escaped and began dating Luca. Rocko, who wasn’t even working for Luca when she slipped past him. Luca was still keeping him as a guard because of her father's wishes. If he’s still playing guard after all these years, what the hell is gonna happen to me?The world feels like it's trying to bur
[Aldo]Luca sits back down. “Potentially. Leandro began asking around through his people after you dropped the van off. He was looking for any current contracts out on anyone. In the process he discovered the abandoned car that had been crashed when it tried to take you out. The men, rather than get it towed, set that on fire too. He had the plates traced with his connections and expected it to head back to Kumarin, he is a cautious man after all, but it went somewhere else upstate. It went to a fish packing facility that led to somewhere else. A rabbit den of trouble later, it eventually wound up linked to a laundromat business that belonged to someone that Kumarin knew of. Alexei’s first son.”All the while I’d been hearing this I was sinking lower in the chair. I was reeling from Andre’ death, and yet pissed off that he’d attempted to do what he’d done. Had he always been like this? Had Dawn always been right about him and I’d been blind? And why the fuck was the room so fuckung
[Dawn]Sophie is standing in front of me, trying to block the way back to the bedroom from the bathroom.“No,” I repeat. “I’m refusing, not because it isn't a nice gesture of yours.”“But you’re in danger,” Sophie implores. “Fucking Russian danger.”“I know,” I say, squeezing under her arm and putting my bag of toiletries on the bag I’ve packed to take to my mothers. “My mother is also in danger.”“She’s welcome as well!” Sophie throws up her hands.“You don’t understand though, Soph, it’s not the place. It’s not that you’re offering help; it’s that my mother is comfortable in her home. She doesn’t know that Andre died because of the Russians, she’s grieving because her son died in a car crash. If we come to your house, I have to explain everything else her son was up to since he left home.”I fought to keep the tears of frustration from breaking through. All I wanted to do was move in with Sophie and Luca too, to hide away and let the problem be sorted out. But Aldo had already bee
[Dawn]Sophie looks around the apartment and then does a double take on me. “Well, you’re definitely staying with us now—”“No,” I say, putting up my hands.“Yes!” Sophie tries pulling me off the bed to a standing position. “All this stress is horrible for a baby. “You’ll cause all these issues and you’ll—”“Need I remind you what you went through while pregnant?”“Please don’t,” Sophie says, pursing her lips. “You know that what I went through was horrible for my pregnancy. Which is why I don’t wish it upon anyone else.” She tries pulling me along again.“You can’t convince me otherwise, Soph.” I pull back, leaning back onto the bed.“Well, then I’ll have to—” Sophie is spluttering along, trying to understand my insanity. “You can’t! You just can’t do this.”“I have to Sophie,” I grab her hand now. “You of all people understand duty and honor and all that.” She grunts at me and frowns. “Low of you to use my father’s words against me.” She squints in fury at me.I snort and pet her ha
[Aldo]I come out of the bar and grill on the beachfront and head back north towards my car. Joe has been running that little grease joint for years, letting everyone from bikers, traffickers, fliers, drivers, heist guys, and bodyguards eat and drink there. It’s like a criminal who has open jobs and information. Of course Joe is confidential with all his customers and friends; he keeps a tight ship and an even tighter lid. He doesn’t trust many people.But he does trust me.Before I worked for Dante Rivera, I worked the grill and dishwasher at Joe’s. My dad put me up to it, something about knowing my roots or some other stuff like that….Mom and Aunt Elora were so proud when I decided to take dad up on his challenge to work at Joe's. Joe scared the shit out of me at fifteen. Five feet nine, arms like tree trunks, and wielding two twin spatulas. He also had a belly that probably weighed as much as me. If anyone thought Joe couldn’t move quickly, they'd be dead wrong. When I turned
[Aldo]Despite the boiling weather, the house is relatively cool. An old house like this should’ve been boiling. Dawn leads me down the hallway, her hand brushing mine just enough to make my skin prickle with anticipation. Each step feels charged, her movements unhurried but filled with intent. Her new room is quite cool. It’s also at the other end of the house, away from her mother.The door barely clicks shut behind us before she grabs my bulge, her touch so sudden and greedy it ignites a fire low in my belly. My hands travel up her tingling arms, her skin electric under my touch, the slight tremor beneath her flesh betraying her need. Gooseflesh rises against my fingers as I yank her shirt up, exposing her chest in one swift motion. Her breathing quickens, her breasts heaving as I pull one up and draw on her nipple, the warmth of her flesh intoxicating, sweet against my tongue. She gasps sharply, her back arching slightly toward me.Her hands are not idle. She wrenches my pan
Xavier when we get home on Sunday, I haven’t given a second’s thought to Melanie. It hasn’t occurred to me to wonder if there might be some sign of her left behind, if she could have maybe forgotten something—maybe even left a note. I’ve been so completely transported by the events of the past twenty-four hours that I’ve practically forgotten about her.So it’s a shock when I unlock the door and walk in to find Melanie waiting in the kitchen.“Hello!” she trills from a stool at the kitchen island, lifting both hands and one foot in an overly-exuberant greeting, as if we’d be happy to see her. Her phone and a glass of wine are on the island in front of her.“Melanie,” I say, stunned. “What are you doing here?” My lawyer was supposed to have her escorted off the premises. It occurs to me I haven’t even looked at my phone since last night, I’ve been so utterly consumed by Hazel, fucking her again and again over the course of the night and this morning until she complained that her pussy
“Yes.”“And you’re on the pill?”Understanding dawns in her eyes. “Yes.”“When I come, I want it to be inside of you, Hazel.”She pauses. “Okay, Daddy.”I can’t help but smile. “That’s good, baby. That’s very good.” I press the head of my cock harder against her hole, until I can feel her resistance. “I’m not going to wear a condom, because it’s different with us, okay? I’m not some boy doing God knows what. I’m your daddy who’s going to take care of you.”“Yes, Daddy,” she breathes again.“That’s good,” I murmur, caressing her cheek with one hand. “You’re such a good girl, Hazel. You’re so good to your daddy.”I push against her entrance, feeling the squeeze of her pussy as I slide into her slowly. She pinches her eyebrows together, looking strained, and I slow down. Grown women with lots of experience sometimes have trouble taking my cock. It’s something that I’m used to.“It’s okay,” I reassure her. “I’m going to go really slowly. Just relax.” I push in a little deeper, the tight b
“Yes.” My voice is almost a whisper. I can hardly hear it over the pounding of my heart. “Yes, Daddy.”He smiles slowly. “That’s good. What I really want is to be your daddy in every way, Hazel. I want to comfort and care for you, and love you, and I want to play games with you, games I think we will both enjoy, things we’ve tried out a little already. I want to be your daddy in bed, and I want you to be my little girl. Do you want that, too?”“Yes,” I breathe.“That’s good.” He takes another sip of his drink and then places the glass on the nightstand between us. “Then in that case,” he says. “You’re going to be a good little girl for me tonight.”#Xavier #it’s a relief to let go, to drop the burden of self-control. To lay down the mantle of responsibility and honour and just say, fuck it.Hazel’s safety and wellbeing comes first. I will always care for her and protect her, but knowing that she wants what I want, that she’s as eager to be my willing little girl as I am to be her b
“Hazel.” His voice is soft but censorious, a father gently correcting a child, but something inside me is breaking open; something that can’t be contained. I love him. I love him with a kind of fierceness that can’t be locked up or tamed.“Xavier.” I match his tone. “Don’t you know everything’s different between us? I can’t pretend we’re the same as we were before. I can’t pretend I don’t love you, and I don’t want to. What if it…what if it wasn’t a secret anymore?”He closes his eyes for a second and takes a breath. “Sweetheart. You know how I feel about you, but look around. We don’t live in a world where this is okay. And with your mother gone, I want you to know that I will always be there for you, okay? As…as a father.”“I know, Dad.” I tighten my arms around him, squeezing him before I ask the question that might make him pull away from me. “I know you will always be there for me. But I don’t want to stop what we’re doing. I…want you. Even if we have to do it in secret, then fin
The wedding is a short Uber ride from our hotel at a winery. Guests in their finery are milling all over the place, inside and out, and it’s clear the entire space is rented out just for the wedding. White ribbons billow from every post, and strings of Edison bulbs sway in the wind above us. Xavier doesn’t wait for a server, and walks right into the main room, ordering a scotch from the bar. When the bartender offers me a glass of wine, Xavier answers for me. “She’ll have a Coke.”We head outside, towards the back where white wooden chairs have been set out in neat rows below a makeshift ceiling of string lights, and I trail after Xavier as he circulates among the guests, introducing me to the people I don’t know and reminding me about the people I do. It feels a little like a game of make-believe, and I wonder if anyone would believe I’m Xavier’s date—except that he keeps introducing me to people as his daughter.When a woman in a headset with a clipboard starts telling us to take ou
“Babe,” she resists, blinking nervously. She knows me well enough to know when I won’t back down.I take a step forward. “I’ll call Patrick to take you to a hotel tonight.” Our family lawyer, Patrick, is well known to Melanie. “Tomorrow you’ll find accommodations for yourself. You will not speak to Hazel, you will not show up on our doorstep, and any future communication will go through Patrick.”She twists her mouth, furrowing her brow. Frustration is etched all over her face. “You could have had it all and now you’re going to throw it away?”I take another step forward, dwarfing her with my full height. “Could have had what?” I ask menacingly. “You and your daughter? She’s not yours to sell, Melanie.”“I’ll use it against you,” she threatens. “I’ll destroy you!”“I don’t care what you do. You think you can send any storm my way that I can’t weather? Do your worst. But don’t you dare try to use Hazel as a pawn.”She steps back. “You’ll have to pay me more alimony to shut me up!”“The
She sighs. “The point is this: We could both have what we want in this marriage, if you can just expand your definition of what a marriage is.”I roll my eyes, pulling my hands away. “Didn’t we try this already?” Years ago, at Melanie’s insistence, we’d tried swinging and I’d hated it.“See what you’re doing? You’re closing your mind already. You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”“Fine.”She continues. “I miss our lifestyle. I love being the wife of big, strong, rich Xavier Rochat.” The description irks me—those three things are all I am to her. “But we could lead separate, independent lives. Free to see or fuck other people if we want.”“But I don’t want that, Melanie. I’ve never wanted that.”She leans in, a satisfied look on her face like she knows she’s about to score the winning goal. “But don’t you? With me as your wife, Xavi, it doesn’t look weird for Hazel to be living here. No one will raise an eyebrow. What you do behind closed doors, no one will know about. I’m the pe
Xavier i’m surprised to find Melanie sitting at the kitchen island when I come downstairs. I’ve worked out, showered, and done a couple of hours of work at my desk but it’s still only ten in the morning. Melanie almost never gets up before noon.“Good morning,” I say civilly. “Coffee?”“Please.” She widens her eyes emphatically. “I’ve missed good coffee.”I don’t take the bait. I don’t ask more about her life in New Mexico or why she didn’t have good coffee, I don’t even return her smile. I just load up the Nespresso and pour two cups.“Hazel and I will be out today,” I tell her as I pass her a mug, and I don’t miss how her eyes flash up at me with sudden interest. “We’re going to Sarah Kearns’ wedding.”“Together?”The way she asks the question takes me by surprise, as if there’s something unusual about it. “I don’t have a date. Thought it might be fun for Hazel.”“Hm.” She takes a sip of her coffee, both hands wrapped around the mug. The oversize white dress shirt she’s wearing sli
I pause for a beat. He knows about it, of course, because he pays for it. It just seems like an out of the blue question. “About a year,” I answer.“And you take it every day? The way you’re supposed to?”“Yes.”He strokes harder, faster, his eyes glazed and distant as he looks at me. “That’s good. And when you had sex with Dante, where did he come? Inside of you?”“Yes.” For some reason, this line of questioning makes me nervous, like I might be in trouble. Lines seem blurred. But there’s an urgency to Xavier’s question; thinking about it is turning him on. “But in a condom,” I add.“That’s good,” he breathes, voice quivering. “That’s good, baby.” His brow furrows deeply, as if he’s in pain, and his breath starts coming in hard, rough pants. “Show me how good your tits feel. Squeeze them for me. Let me see you play with them.”Lifting my hands, I cup each one, rubbing and massaging them while my stepfather stares with rapt attention. I have a terrible thought, a thought I feel guilty