“Good, now let’s go knock some balls in some holes.” Paxton clicked his tongue and winked, letting them both know that he wasn’t mad. He winked at me, too. My heart fluttered. That feeling I described as glitter, sparkling in my chest. Damn. This was going to hurt.
Paxton was more into golf than he was baseball. I watched from a hard bench below a maple tree, happy for the moment of peace. My head hurt right behind both eyes. A steady thump heard in both my ears.
My mind filled with a trillion and one questions, and I had the answers to none of them. Not one. Unless someone told me. Someone like Lane. He would know. I looked up to Paxton, standing behind Rowan and to my phone. Did I have his number?
The curve in my back straightened and my hand slid into my purse. I looked to see where Paxton’s attention was, and swiped my phone. Sure enough. Lane was half way down in my contacts. Nothing in my call history and no messages. Of course that didn’t really surprise me. Paxton picked my phone up on a daily basis to snoop. I didn’t talk to anyone but him. Therefore, I didn’t really care. He could look all he wanted. The only text messages he’d find on my phone were from him.
Both thumbs moved quickly across the screen.
Gabriella—WTF? Tell me what’s going on.
I deleted the message right away and waited, and waited, and waited. Lane never answered, and my one and only chance dwindled away with my hope.
Paxton asked about my drama at the baseball field several times throughout the rest of the day. I told him over and over that it was nothing. Me being insecure. He didn’t buy it any more than I bought bacon.
I made a light supper later on in the evening, and we ate in the outside kitchen by the pool. A chicken salad with grilled vegetables. Mine and Rowan’s minus the grilled chicken. She’d recently decided that she didn’t want to eat meat either. Except hotdogs, and pepperoni.
“Can we get in the pool now, Daddy,” Rowan asked half way through our meal.
Paxton answered with a point to her plate. “No, you’ve hardly touched that. Eat first.”
“I’m almost done,” Ophelia said while her hand shoveled potatoes and squash inside her mouth. “I’m getting in before you.”
I clinked my fork twice off my plate to get her attention. “Phi, stop that. Slow down, or you’re not getting in the pool either. ”
“Huh-uh, Daddy said I could. Right, Daddy?” she said with sad eyes right to her left. Paxton melted, letting Ophelia wrap the string right around his finger.
My eyes dove sharply right to her. “Are you being serious right now, girlfriend? You can’t do that. How would you feel if I told Rowan that she was more important than you? That’s what you’re doing when you do that. Do you want me to feel less important than Daddy?”
“Whoa, Gabriella. That’s a little too deep for a four year old,” Paxton said, expression putting me in my place.
“She’s almost five. She understands, don’t you, Phi.”
“You’re important, Mommy.”
“See, she understood every word,” I told Paxton mater of factly. “Thank you baby, eat the cucumbers, too.”
“I don’t like them.”
I was okay with that. She got me. She knew exactly what she just did, and I put Paxton in his place for once. That’ll teach him. As proud as that made me, I couldn’t really take the blame for it. I just spewed it out like word vomit. No control. What was one more nail in my coffin? I was dead already.
I was denied the request to go for a walk when the girls went in for showers. That was my other lost hope. I wouldn’t know whether Lane would be at the beach or not. I wasn’t allowed to find out. Instead I cleaned the kitchen, and mopped the floors for the third time that week. I swallowed my pride and did it. That was my life until it wasn’t. Until everything came out. Until the truth. Whatever that was.
Chapter Seventeen
There was no way of telling what Paxton had in store for me. The text message told me to shower and lay in my bed until he got there. I did shower, I just didn’t lay in my bed yet. The thing is, I wanted him to come. I wanted him to cause whatever pain he could to soak up the thoughts. I didn’t want to be alone with them.
Rather than thinking about anything that confused me even more, I thought about two little girls and a crazy mom. I could see us running on the beach in a distance. We were all flying kites, high above the sea. If only I could go back to that time. The time before my mom fell, before Rod and Dink, before they took Izzy from me, before Ms. Porter, and Falcon, before Markus Long, and—. Wait. Markus Long?
“You never listen anymore. Head injury’s make you stupid.”
I didn’t respond to Paxton’s comment. Not the stupid part, anyway. “Are they asleep?”
“Don’t worry about it. I can take care of these girls just fine without you. Tell me what was said at the ballgame today.”
“I told you it was nothing.”
“Yes, yes you did. Lay down, slut.”
I rolled my eyes and noticeably shook my head. I wasn’t afraid of Paxton Pierce. Not even a little. Maybe I was at one time, maybe I should have been, but I wasn’t, and I wasn’t going to pretend to be. Maybe enduring his wrath would stop all the thoughts. My obedience to lie on my bed was even defiant. I didn’t gracefully sit, and lay down. I plopped. Straight back. Like I was falling from five stories. From a fire escape. My eyes remained closed and the room stilled. I knew if I opened my eyes, Paxton would be wearing a puzzled expression.
My eyes remained closed while I listened to the cabinet being unlocked and then rustling by the head of my bed.
“Scoot up. Lay in your bed right, and don’t talk. Not one word unless I tell you to. Got it, slut?”
“Yup.”
“I said no talking.”
“Then stop asking me questions.”
“Shut the fuck up, Gabriella.”
With my eyes still closed, I zipped my lips and threw the key behind my head. I did want to open my eyes when I heard the hum. Instead I smirked with a puff of air. A vibrator. That’s what he was going to torture me with? Okay. Let’s go. My body moved where Paxton wanted it to move. I may have even laughed a little when I felt my wrists being tied above my head.
“Keep laughing. You’re going to love this.”
Next came my feet. The humming vibrated the bed while both ankles were strapped with thick leather.
“Last chance before the fun begins. My fun. Tell me what happened at the ballfield.”
Silence. I didn’t say a word. Not one.
Until.
“Ahh,” I instantly moaned. Holy shit. That thing was packing a hemi. I swear he barely touched me before I was on top of an orgasm. To my surprise. That was his goal. Paxton had me calling out in pure ecstasy in a matter of seconds. Not minutes.
As soon as I came, Paxton turned off the vibrating devise and left me tied to my bed. Hmm. I silently pondered my predicament. There was no way in hell Paxton was finished with me. One eye opened, and I cautiously looked to the closed door. I waited, wondering what the hell he was up to. Knowing Paxton was probably watching me, I didn’t show emotions. Not the kind he hoped for anyway. I hummed a song I didn’t know. Familiar, yet not.
Thirty minutes was the exact time. As soon as the door opened, I closed my eyes, not about to give him the satisfaction.
“Just tell me what was said. Something happened today. Did it have anything to do with the day you left? Your accident?”
Nothing. I didn’t answer. I guess I was secretly hoping for more of what I’d been punished with the last time. I was. Paxton clicked his tongue and opened me with two fingers. It was a little longer than last time, but nonetheless, I came. I came hard, shuddering from the inside out.
I smirked, knowing the game as soon as the vibration instantly stopped. I smiled with a wink when he turned to look at me as he closed the door. Needless to say, I wouldn’t be the one with the last laugh.