“I want to know everything. I have to.” The pained look on his face tol me he meant what he said. “Does that scare you?”
I thought about it and was embarrassed by my answer. I didn’t want to share but Theo had been open with me, so I felt like I had to.
“No. It makes me feel special. Most people don’t care to learn anything about me.”
“Most people are fucking idiots, Sutton.” He brushed his hand against mine. “Why’d you work when you were eight? I need to know.”
Before I could answer there was a screech from the woods surrounding us and then a blur leaping onto Theo’s back. I screamed and then slapped my hand over my mouth when both Theo and the small girl on his back stared at me slack-jawed.
The little girl, filthy with a layer of nature covering her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pajamas jumped down from Theo’s back and crossed her arms.
“Lady, you scream like a damn banshee. You ever think about being in scary movies?”
CHAPTER 10
Dominic
The scream sent me sprinting into the woods, Ollie clutched to my chest, laughing at the top of his lungs over the way he was being jiggled all over the place. Leon was at my back, swearing up a storm over a piece of Lego he’d stomped on. I didn’t stop to worry about him, though. That scream was bouncing around in my brain. After less than two hours in Sutton’s presence I could already identify it was her scream. I didn’t know how, but I knew it was her screaming in my woods.
I trusted that whatever had her in the woods by our house and whatever had made her scream wasn’t dangerous enough to seriously hurt her. Theo had the property so wired with cameras and motion sensors that he would’ve known if a fucking wasp had flown a little too close. I had no doubt he was already with Sutton. He might’ve been the reason she screamed, even. He could be a sneaky fucker.
The forest floor was painful beneath my bare feet but I couldn’t slow down or lighten my steps, not even when I heard her voice and it was clear she was fine. I broke into a clearing and saw Theo and Charlie grinning at a red-faced Sutton.
Her head snapped around to me and Leon and somehow her face grew darker. She covered her face in her hands and groaned.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to cause a scene!”
Leon growled and continued on to her side while I stayed back a bit, Ollie’s weight in my arms suddenly heavier than it’d ever been. We didn’t let the women we fucked at the club meet the kids. The kids were sacred and yet…I wanted to see Sutton interact with them and then I wanted to send them away and fuck her senseless. She was going to be way more than a woman from the club. I just had to convince her of that.
Uncovering her face, Sutton ignored Leon hovering over her and looked at Charlie. The little girl was already dirty somehow.
“If you grow up and become a movie director, I’ll do all your scream work. The only thing I ask in return is that you don’t make too much fun of me today.”
Charlie’s face went blank for a second and then she looked up at Theo.
“I could do that?”
Ollie began wriggling so much in my arms that I had to put him down before I dropped him. I palmed the top of his head to keep him in place and it was like watching a cartoon character the way his little feet tried and tried to get traction.
Sutton seemed to forget we existed as she straightened her skirt and knelt down in the dirt to focus on Charlie.
“Of course you can do that. You can do almost anything you want.”
“Almost anything?”
Sutton’s smile was as bright at the sun breaking through the trees.
“Well, I don’t think you should grow up to be a crash test dummy. Or a dog food taste tester. But if you’re interested in those things…”
Charlie’s face twisted as she fought a smile. It was such a strange thing to see her smile, she was usually as stoic as Theo, that we all just kind of stared at her.
“I don’t think so. I think I’ll make scary movies and you can scream for them. You shouldn’t work for free, though, lady. You need money to live.”
Sutton straightened and hummed.
“I think you’re right. Fine. We’ll work out some sort of payment plan. Should we seal it with a gentleman’s handshake?”
Charlie frowned.
