Page 24 of Babydoll

I hear her frustrated chuff through the static. “I admit, you’re quite cute, but I’m not playing any more games tonight. Let me out.”

“I’m not letting you sleep in your car. And besides, I have a feeling your friends will be back.”

“That’s temporary. And you can’t save me from my life, Jeff.”

I clear my throat. At least she’s not insulting my intelligence by denying that she’s been sleeping in her car. “It’s Daddy, Lu.” When I release the talk button I catch her mid-curse.

“I’m pulling the alarm right now.”

“Pull it, go ahead. Just know two things are going to happen if you do.” I wait for her to reply.

“Oh yeah?”

“Uh-huh, and you won’t like either.” She cuts me off before I can say any more.

“You gonna spank me and tie me to the bed, Daddy Grizz?”

The saucy tone of her voice has heat stirring inside me, but her words send a jolt of lightning straight to my cock.

“Well, if you think I won’t like that, you’re wrong.”

Hell.

As if she sucker-punched me in the gut, I groan.

“You’ve been pushing for one of those for a while now, babydoll.” I reply, keeping my cool despite my painfully hard dick. “And I’ll gladly oblige, but no, that’s not what I was going to say.”

She laughs. “Uh-huh. Please enlighten me then.”

But before I can answer her, an alert chimes from my phone. I yank it out of my pocket and see it’s a silent alarm. One for another door. The same door she went out of the last time.

“You little brat,” I blurt with a growl, and run. It’s on the other side of the building along with her car.

Damn you, you should have kept her keys.

When I round the corner, I come up short as she runs right into me, rushing toward her car. My own panting blocks out her curses but only temporarily and then both the eff bomb and a sharp crack assault my ears. I spin, still holding Lu, and see a man dressed in black, swinging a baseball bat. The thud of it hitting her door panel makes me wince. I yank her around the corner and shove her against the wall.

“Stay!” I demand, giving her my best ‘I mean business look’ and taking off for the car.

“What the hell are you doing?” I holler at the dude destroying Lu’s vehicle.

The guy stops, looks at me and runs. I take off after him but then stop so quickly I slide several feet across the icy pavement. The roar of a motorcycle has me spinning back.

Fuck!

Lu is gone when I get back around the corner where I left her. But thankfully there are no bike tracks in the snow; only Lu’s footprints, and clearly by the distance between them, she took off at a run.

I curse again, yanking out my phone.

“Date’s over, Bale. We’ve got a problem.”

Chapter Seven

Lu

I make it to an all-night diner but not without falling several times in the snow. My knees are burning and my jeans are soaked, but those things are the least of my worries. I didn’t get the information Preacher wants. I could have made some calls on my walk here, but didn’t.

I order a coffee, pay for it with the change at the bottom of my bag, and find a table away from the windows. It isn’t hard since I’m the only one here.

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