Page 42 of Melt For Us, Daddy
Jacob
* * *
Cleaning the club was turning out to be more fun than he’d expected it to be. Zach hung out with him most days, chatting about this and that, asking questions about Hannah that had Jacob wondering if he was interested in courting her. He hoped so. Hannah deserved that, deserved someone good and kind who saw her as more than just the awful thing that had happened to her.
Braden also came to check on him during his shift, making sure he was drinking enough water—he hadn’t even known that was a thing until Braden had given him a long lecture on the importance of hydration—and answering any questions he had about the club.
And he had plenty. Mostly about the different pieces of furniture stationed around the pit and up in the private rooms. Braden’s explanations helped a little, but since he still didn't know exactly how the mechanics of ‘rough sex’ worked, he was often left with more questions than answers.
Then there were the questions he didn’t dare ask. Like, which piece of equipment was Cordelia’s favorite? What kinds of things did she like to do to people? Or have done to her? Though he was pretty sure it was the former, because he couldn’t imagine bold, brash Cordelia letting anyone tie her up and… well, whatever they did after the tying up part. Beat her? Whip her?
And what about Ivy? Despite her assurances that she liked being whipped, the thought of anyone hurting tiny, delicate Ivy made his stomach ache.
Those were the answers he wanted the most, but he was too terrified that Braden would report back to Cordelia that he’d asked, and the thought of her knowing he’d expressed any interest in whatever it was they did here had his face heating with shame.
He’d managed to keep his hands off his forbidden parts ever since that first day in the shower, but it was getting harder and harder every day. Especially on the couple of days when Cordelia and Holden had come by the apartment to talk to him, ask him questions. One look from Cordelia was all it took to have him aching again.
He was on his knees beside something Braden had called a spanking bench, though it didn't look like any bench he’d ever seen, when a noise from upstairs drew his attention to the dining area. A moment later, he spotted Holden striding through the dining room, straight toward the stairs, his movements swift and purposeful in a way that made Jacob’s heart beat too fast.
“Jacob. You’re with me.”
“But I have to finish?—”
The look Holden sent him reminded him of the way Cordelia sometimes looked at him, and he instantly fell silent. “What you need to do is listen to me and do exactly as I tell you, no questions asked. Understood?”
Something was wrong. Really wrong. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. We’re going to go out the back entrance upstairs. My SUV is parked right outside. Then I’m going to drive you somewhere you’ll be safe. Cordelia and Ivy are on their way.”
“Did something happen? Are they hurt?”
Gripping Jacob’s arm, Holden hauled him to his feet and then they were headed for the stairs again. “Everyone is safe. Cordelia had a run-in with your father on the street. She’s fine, but as a precaution, we’re moving you all to a safe house a few hours away.”
Panic slithered around his chest, squeezing until it was a struggle to get any air into them at all. “He found me?”
“He tried. Cordelia told him to fuck off and then bashed his face in with a glass door.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Glancing over his shoulder, Holden grinned. “She’s kind of a badass.”
“I’m pretty sure she’s my guardian angel.”
Barking out a laugh, Holden paused by the back door and touched a small device in his ear. “At the service entrance. All clear?”
Whatever he heard was obviously good, because he slammed open the back door and practically dragged Jacob into his SUV before climbing into the driver’s seat. There was a woman in the passenger seat, her expression grim as she typed out something on the computer in her lap. “Blaze has Ivy, they grabbed her bag from the apartment and they’re on their way to Cordelia and Hawk.”
“Good. You tell them we’ll meet them at the house?”
“All updated. Boone and his lot filed a report with the cops, but without Cordelia there to give her statement I doubt anything will stick.”
“That’s fine. She can tell them everything later, once we’ve got that sick sonofabitch behind bars.” Holden glanced up, meeting Jacob’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Sorry, kid.”
“Why? He is a sick sonofabitch.” The words, ones he’d never dared to say out loud before, burned on his tongue. But he felt stronger somehow for having said them. “Did he hurt Cordelia?”
“Not physically. She's a bit shaken up but she’ll be all right. She’s tough.”
“She is. And Ivy?”
