Lacey glowers sometimes, but mostly she remains impassive. Like that stupid Mona Lisa painting we studied in art class. The same painting she so passionately spoke about to the teacher when she had to present her report over it. Some asshole named Troy suggested she get a room with the painting since she loved it so much and went on to make some porny moans that got his ass detention. We’ve been calling her Moaning Lisa ever since.
I chuckle, sliding my fingers along her ass crack. “Are you even capable of being nice?”
She steps back, pulling away from my touch, and glares. “I can’t make that promise. But if you make me feel good, I can promise tonight. You make it good for me and I’ll buy you breakfast. Deal?”
I stroke my dick, loving how her eyes unwillingly travel there. She’s not immune like I thought she once was. I’m athletic and muscular. Tall and hot as fuck. Girls do not turn down Terrence James. Not even little Lacey Henderson.
“I’ll make you come over and over until you beg me to give you a break.”
She licks her lips and lets out a resigned huff of air. “Fine. If you make fun of me, I’ll drown you.”
“You afraid I’m going to make fun of how you moan when you’re impaled on my dick?”
“I meant my body, asshole.”
At first I think it’s because she’s petite and not very curvy, but when she starts peeling off her shirt, I realize it’s something else altogether. Silvery scars dot her abdomen. Might be from cigarette burns or some shit. Whatever it’s from, it has me burning with the need to yank her to my chest so I can stroke her hair and kiss the top of her head.
A primal male part of me craves to claim her as mine and keep her. It scares the fuck out of me because I don’t keep chicks. I fuck them.
But Lacey?
She’s a keeper.
I didn’t keep her, though.
After we fucked in the river and shared a night in my tent that had me wanting to hang up my playboy ways so I could settle for a cool-ass girl, she left. Never gave me the breakfast she promised either. Simply bailed. I learned not only did she fuck and run, she moved too. Fell off the map. And little did we both know at the time, she was pregnant with my baby.
A mixture of hurt and anger churns in my gut.
“Terrence, man,” Jace says, drawing me from my thoughts. “Get Samantha to put a rush on that shit. If he hurt his woman and his stepdaughter, I wouldn’t feel safe if he had my daughter and neither should you.”
Cold, icy dread swallows me up.
Zella.
My sweet little Zella.
So quiet and sad.
It’s then, I know.
Jack is hurting my girl and I have to figure out a way to get her the hell out of there.
I leave Cal’s bedroom after having a lengthy conversation with Samantha on the phone. She says because there is concern of child abuse, though not proven, she thinks she can push through my request to the judge. Hope is surging through me at the thought of getting her out of Jack’s disgusting grip.
Now, I need to find out where Lacey is in Florida.
Maybe Garrett can loan me some cash to hire a private investigator to hunt her ass down. If she’s hiding from him, she needs to come out. I may be pissed at Lacey for leaving me, but I will work with her to get our daughter back. I can share custody and be friends with Lacey, though the romantic interest in her has long since fizzled.
“How you feeling, Tee?” I ask my cousin as I sit on the arm of the sofa next to her.
“Like I told Garrett a thousand times. Fine.” She crosses her arms over her chest, scowling.
I skim my gaze over to Penny, who’s taken over the recliner now. Her face is expressionless. Walls are erected high now that her daddy is here. Hollis catches me staring at his sister and narrows his eyes at me. Playfully, I flip him off before turning my attention to Garrett.
“They’re okay?” I ask him.
He nods. “I checked them both over. Whatever drugs they ingested seem to be gone. I wish, though, you guys would have taken them to the hospital to do a…” He glances over his shoulder at Charlotte and shudders before lowering his voice. “A rape kit.”
Violence I want to unleash on those sickos at the party comes surging to the surface.
“Tierra was surrounded by people the whole time and all she did was sleep,” Penny clips out. “And I told you. I wasn’t raped.”
“But you don’t know that for sure,” Garrett grinds out.
“Dad,” Penny huffs. “I’d know if there was a dick inside me.”
Jace lets out a snort. “What every dad wants to think about when regarding his daughter.”
“Not helping, pet,” Penny grumbles. “Dad, drop it. I’m fine.”
His lip curls up, reminding me of Penny when she’s grossed out. “Fine. Dropping it now.”
Penny’s shoulders relax just a bit. To everyone else, she’s this wall of no emotion. But I see my girl. Small tells, but they’re there. She feels just like the rest of us. It may be quieter, but it’s no less intense.
“I want you both to file a police report, though,” Garrett says in his superior way that makes people fucking listen.
“Of course,” Penny says in a sugary sweet voice. “Because that worked out so beautifully for Charlotte.”
Garrett’s nostrils flare. She’s right. They tried to do shit the legal, correct way and the Cunninghams kept fucking with Charlotte until she almost died. Attempted murder and rape. They tried to burn us all alive, for fuck’s sake. Police reports don’t do shit but piss the bad fuckers off.
Nah, when it comes to these pricks, we need to do it the Cal Hutton way.
A big, painful proverbial fuck-you thumb up the ass.
“What did Samantha say?” Jace asks, frowning. When he scowls, he looks just like Roan. Roan still has bad blood with his dad, but he tolerates him since his dad went and became besties with his husband’s father.
“She thinks she’ll get that shit pushed through faster with Zella potentially being in danger, though we have no proof.” I scrub a palm over my face and glance at Garrett. “We have to find Lacey.”
Penny tenses, her lips thinning out into a line. Nervousness glints in her blue eyes. I want to pull her into my arms and assure her I don’t want Lacey back. Just Penny. But, with her dad and brother within punching distance, I don’t go to her like I want. Instead, I try to reassure her with a smile. She flinches, darting her stare to her lap.
“I think Lacey is scared. Maybe hiding from Jack,” I tell him. “Back when we were together, she had scars. Like that fucker burned her with cigarettes.”
Penny snaps her head up, fury blazing in her blue eyes. “You think he’d do that with Zella?”
“If you saw Vicki’s bruises,” Jace reveals, “you’d have your answer. Fucking waste of breath is what he is.”
Garrett’s face reddens as he glowers at Penny. “And you went over to this motherfucker’s house?”
“I was there to protect her,” I remind him. “Plus, Jack wasn’t there. Penny won’t have to ever see him. It’s fine.”
“We need to get Zella out of there,” Tierra chimes in. “Can’t we just go get her?”