“Sure thing, sunshine,” Howler promised, stepping back from getting her buckled in. “I’m going to close this door for a minute, Josie.”
“Is Elli going to be put in time-out?” she asked with concern.
“No, but Uncle Judge might be.”
“Ohhhhh, he’s in trouble!” she singsonged, reminding me so much of Lyla, the tightness in my throat only intensified, and I struggled to swallow.
The door shut, and Howler crossed his massive arms over his chest. “The fuck was that?” he grated out in a low voice, his eyes pinning me in place for a second.
I shrugged.
Shaking his head at me in disappointment, he shifted his gaze to Ellianna. His face softened, causing my hands to contract reflexively. A pained little gasp reached my ears, and I instantly released her. Howler gently grasped her shoulders and guided her behind him before swinging back around to me.
“If Josie weren’t watching me right now, I’d pound your ass into the ground right here, rules or no rules. I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m already sick of it. Call your fucking driver, because I’m not dealing with your shit anymore tonight, and neither is Elli.”
Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I nodded, my throat still not cooperating with me.
With another hard glare, my best friend turned and opened the passenger door. When Ellianna was hesitant to get in, he didn’t give her a choice and lifted her into the seat. “We’re getting McDonald’s on the way home,” he said in a chipper voice for Josie’s sake. “And then we’re going to watch all of the How to Train Your Dragon movies all night!”
“Slumber party?” Josie squealed.
“Slumber party,” her father agreed with a light laugh. “What do you say, Elli?”
“Um… Sure?”
I turned to stone when I realized he was taking her home. “No!” I roared, jealousy and a multitude of other emotions churning within me. “She’s not going with you, Howler. I forbid it.”
Shutting the door, he turned and ran his thumb over his throat threateningly. “Do not push me further tonight, man. Or I’ll forget my kid is watching and beat your ass in this parking lot.”
“You’d break the rules for her?” I seethed. No one broke the rules. Fighting outside the Underground was the quickest way to get a Son banned for life.
“If I’d been the one who’d treated Elli like this, you would break them too.” He rubbed a hand over his blond head in agitation. “At least, the old Judge would have. The man in front of me right now is a fucking stranger. If this is the person you’ve turned into, maybe that’s why Lyla won’t come home for good.”
Throwing back the double pour of bourbon like a shot, I slammed the tumbler down on the desk in my office and listened to the sniveling little bitch on the other end of the phone make excuse after excuse for why Ellianna hadn’t been getting some of the extra money I’d been providing for her.
I knew it was being spent. It came out of the account every damn month. I had statements that showed it going into the “scholarship fund” and then used. But I didn’t have any idea what happened to it after that. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that someone was pocketing the money Ellianna so obviously needed.
Fuck, if I’d just followed my gut—this need to know her every move—and kept better watch over her, she wouldn’t have had to suffer for the past few years. She wouldn’t have had to choose between paying bills that she never should have had to worry about in the first damn place and being able to fill her fridge with whatever she wanted each week.
“She gets that money, Mr. Bennet, sir,” Tabor vowed nervously. “It goes straight into the account made just for her. I personally deposit those funds myself, sir.”
Every time he said “sir,” my fingers contracted around the glass still in my hand, wanting to smash it across his face. “My accountant will be investigating where all of that money has gone, you sack of shit. If even one penny isn’t where it should have been, you better pray I don’t find you.”
“I-I swear to y-you!”
“Don’t care.” Releasing the glass, I picked up the crystal decanter filled with the twenty-five-year-old bourbon and filled it to the brim. A little sloshed onto the desk and my pants as I lifted it and gulped down two swallows. “That money was for her needs. And she hasn’t been receiving all of it. She’s been working at some diner at all hours of the day and night just to survive. I can fucking see her bones!”
The words felt torn from me, the picture of how thin she was coming back to haunt me, along with the tears in her eyes earlier that evening.
Fuck!
Chapter 10
Judge
Draining the glass, I slammed it down again and refilled.
“A-a lot o-of college kids turn to d-drugs to help them cope with the stress of school,” Tabor stuttered. “Miss C-Chambers isn’t an exception.”
My hand paused halfway to my mouth, my eyes narrowing as I glared at nothing while I processed the motherfucker’s words. “Let me get this straight, Tabor. You’re telling me Ellianna Chambers has been putting all that cash up her nose because she’s stressed out over…what? A few tests and a difficult study schedule?”
“I’ve seen many students turn to self-medication in order to keep up with the demands of—”
I flung the glass against the wall. As the expensive crystal shattered, the smoky scent of the liquor filled the air around me. “Do not say another word if you want to keep breathing long enough to kiss your wife goodbye, Tabor. I know that girl better than anyone. If anyone can withstand the pressure she’s been under and come out standing, it’s Elli. Do not slander her again, or I promise, your end will be slow and painful. You have two weeks to return the money to her accounts.”
“I… I put those… Those funds…”
“I don’t give two fucks where the money is right now,” I assured him in a deceptively calm voice, the alcohol starting to numb me. Fucking finally. Picking up another glass from the silver tray on the edge of my desk, I poured myself another drink. “What I care about is where it’s going to be when your two weeks are up. And if you value your balls, Tabor, you’ll care too.”
“T-two weeks,” he choked out. “Yes, sir.”
“Talk to you soon, Tabor,” I promised. Disconnecting, I tossed the phone on my desk and sat back, sipping my drink.
A noise from the doorway had me turning and slowly lifting my gaze. When I saw Ellianna standing there, her hair falling over one shoulder, her dress—my shirt—still hanging off her like a fucking dream, I held my breath.
Pushing the door open completely, she stepped inside.
“Thought you were having a sleepover,” I sneered even as my eyes drank in the sight of her in my clothes. I wanted her to get rid of the belt, slowly undo each button, and strip off the shirt before crawling to me and pulling my cock from the strangled confines of my slacks. I wanted her to look up at me through those golden lashes with her mouth all wet and swollen from sucking me off, a smear of my release on her chin. She’d lick away a few drops and moan as my taste continued to explode on her tongue.