“Be careful.” I stood up and wrapped my arms around myself. Having the confirmation that they did illegal things made all my stress come to a pinpoint focus. “If you get hurt and can’t take my virginity soon, I’m going to find someone else who can.”
“That spanking the other night wasn’t enough?” He threaded his hand through my hair and tugged. “That virginity is ours. We’ll take it when we decide you’ve been tortured so much that us stretching your body in ways you can’t imagine will feel like heaven.”
I moaned as he kissed me roughly and then stepped back, leaving me bereft.
“No fair.”
He looked me over from head to toe and groaned.
“Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you are?”
Blushing, I shook my head.
“But…I’m starting to feel it.”
CHAPTER 44
Sutton
The next few days were tense around the house. Whatever the guys were doing, it was keeping them busy from sunup to sundown. The few times I did spot them in passing they looked tired and run down. I wasn’t sure what to do to help them, so I focused on the kids and making sure they were happy.
I was obsessed with the kids. I spent so much time with them and had bonded so strongly to them that I couldn’t imagine not being with them every day. The end of the summer was coming and it filled me with anxiety to think of not being around them.
Charlie had been just as intense as Theo since I’d shown up but I was watching her relax little by little every day. She was learning to be a kid and it was such a beautiful thing to watch. It was changing her relationship with Ollie and Lee, too. The three of them were acting more and more like siblings and best friends.
With the guys gone so often, I’d taken over putting the kids to bed each night and singing lullabies to them was breaking my heart and rebuilding it around them. I was even finding camaraderie with Naomi. Everything was great inside the house. I just didn’t know what was happening outside of it.
Nights were the hardest. I stared at the tablet, watching to see if Theo would show up but he didn’t. I listened for the sound of Leon’s motorcycle but never heard it. There were no invitations from Dominic to go to the club with them. The nagging voice in the back of my brain whispered they were avoiding me and they’d changed their minds about me. I knew better, though. Most nights.
Things felt like they were in limbo and I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. At least things were going well with Dad in Boston. He hadn’t officially announced anything yet but I had a feeling he wasn’t coming home single.
I could tell the moment the tension in the house started to reach the kids. What started as a perfectly normal morning quickly turned into a screaming match between Ollie and Lee. I stepped in before Charlie could but it was clear we all needed some fresh air and a break. I ushered them all out to the playground and watched them work out their feelings by racing down the slide over and over again, before parking their butts in the swings and demanding I push them.
It was apparent I’d needed the fresh air, too, because my shoulders finally relaxed for the first time in longer than I could remember. I pushed the kids on the swings and then sat on the grass and watched them build sandcastles in the sandbox Dominic had installed. I had hopes that a personal sandbox wouldn’t be as disgusting as one at a public playground.
A loud bark made me jump and I looked toward the front of the house to see a giant dog bounding towards me. I shot to my feet and put myself between the dog and the kids but it was an unnecessary precaution. The dog tripped over its own feet and rolled a few times before getting up and finishing the trip to me. He jumped up on me and started licking my face like I’d moisturized with steak that morning.
“Whoa! Doggy!” The kids ran over and received equally enthusiastic greetings from the dog. He was gentler with them, I noticed.
“Where’d he come from?” Charlie couldn’t contain her childish giggle as he licked her nose.
I looked around and saw a woman in jogging gear coming toward us. I didn’t know if it was all the tension around the guys or the fact I hadn’t seen anyone without a guard accompanying them since I’d arrived at the house, but I felt a chill crawl up my spine. Unfortunately, years of teaching in the public school system had also hammered in a certain type of fear when someone approached me when I was with kids.
She looked perfectly nice with a big smile on her face but my hair stood on end. Her leggings and top were painted on and she had a perfect figure but her hair was freshly blown out and there wasn’t a hair out of place.
“Oh, my gosh! He got off his leash and just took off! Thank you for catching him!”
She didn’t have a leash. There was nothing in her hands. I leaned down and whispered to Charlie.
“Take Ollie and Lee into the house. Now. Lock the door and stay inside.”
I hated myself as I watched her childish joy bleed away into her typical distrusting scowl. She looked at the woman coming closer and grabbed Ollie and Lee.
“Come on. Now.” She only hesitated to look at the dog and nod at him, like she was telling him to follow them. To my shock, he did.
The woman frowned and tried to change direction to move towards the kids but I hurried to block her path.
“Did you drop your leash? Maybe the kids will find one inside for you. They’re going to go get some water for him.”
