Page 16 of Melt For Us, Daddy (Big Daddy Energy #4)

Ivy

C radling her new friend from the nature center, Ivy hurried her students onto the bus, counting heads as she went.

“Ashton! Hands to yourself, please!”

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and although it was technically against school policy to take a personal call while she was on duty, she checked anyway. And her heart immediately jumped into her throat at the sight of her Domme’s smiling face on the screen.

“I need to take this,” she said, flashing an apologetic smile to one of her fellow teachers. “Family emergency.”

Stepping away from the chaos, she hit the button to answer the call. “Dee? Is everything okay?”

“Nobody’s hurt, but I need you to listen to me very closely, baby.”

Though Cordelia was speaking in low, soothing tones, every nerve in Ivy’s body was instantly on alert. “What happened? Where are you? What’s going on?”

“Ivy.”

“Right, sorry.” Closing her eyes, she dragged air into her lungs, willed her heart to stop racing. “I’m listening, Ma’am.”

“Good girl. You’re still at the nature center, yes?”

“Yes, but we’re about to get on the bus to head back.”

“You are to stay exactly where you are, Ivy Mae. One of Holden’s men is coming for you. He’s already on his way.”

The panic she was trying so valiantly to will back threatened to choke the very air from her lungs. “Dee, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you everything when I see you. But right now, I need you to be my good girl and do as you’re told. Can you do that for me, blossom?”

“No, I can’t. I’m not trying to be defiant but I have to get back on the bus, Dee. You know I can’t just leave in the middle of a field trip.”

“Fuck.” Cordelia’s quiet swear was followed by a tense silence. “If you leave, will it fuck up the kid to teacher ratio?”

She started to say yes, but forced herself to pause. Think. “No. We brought a couple of our substitute teachers with us as chaperones.”

“Okay. Then you are going to stay put and wait.”

It chafed, god it chafed to have to obey when everything in her, everything she’d been taught demanded she turn around and head back to the bus.

But Dee wouldn’t be asking this of her if it wasn’t important. So she focused on that, and on the knowledge that her students would be safe even if she had to leave. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good girl. Holden’s man is named Blaze. Holden is texting you a picture of him now, along with a code word. Do not get in that car until you hear the code word. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Blaze is going to take you home. You will pack a single bag of clothes and anything else you need. Once you’re packed, Blaze will bring you to me and I’ll explain everything.”

What the hell was going on? “Okay,” she managed to squeak out, even though everything in her wanted to demand answers. She had to trust Cordelia would tell her when she could, and for now she just needed to a good girl and do as she’d been told.

“I’m sorry, baby. I know this is big and scary but I need you to trust me. Can you do that for me, blossom?”

“Always, Ma’am.”

“My good girl. I have to go, baby, they need my phone for something and I need to check in with Holden about Jacob. Blaze should be there any minute.”

As if she’d conjured him with her words, a black SUV nearly identical to Holden’s pulled up at the curb in front of her. “I think he’s here.”

“Check your texts. Don’t you dare get in that car without the code word, Ivy Mae.”

Pulling her phone from her ear, she opened the message from Holden, comparing the picture he’d sent her to the man stepping out of the vehicle in front of her.

“Ivy Baker?”

“Who’s asking?”

“My name’s Blaze. I work for Raptor Security. Need you to come with me, ma’am.”

Cordelia’s warning rang in her ears. “What’s the code word?”

“Banana pudding.”

Her favorite dessert, and it matched the phrase Holden had texted her. Nodding, she pressed the phone to her ear again. “It’s him. Code word and everything.”

“Good. Get in the car with him and I’ll see you soon. I love you, babygirl.”

“I love you too.”

The call ended, and Ivy let herself be ushered into the vehicle. “Wait! I need to let someone know I’m leaving.”

“It’s being handled.”

“Okay. Um, can you at least tell me what’s going on?”

His eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. “I think Cordelia would rather tell you herself.”

Yeah, well, she’s too busy saving Jacob.

As soon as the nasty thought flitted through her mind, her stomach twisted with guilt. If Cordelia was sending someone to get Jacob, that meant something had happened with the cult.

Oh, god. What if something happened to one of his sisters? He’d never forgive himself if his leaving got one of his sisters hurt.

Please, please let everyone be okay.

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?”

“Safe.”

“Did he… did he say anything about my sisters?”

“Not that I know of, but you’ll have a chance to ask Cordelia soon enough.”

Cordelia

What the hell was taking so long?

Pacing the length of the conference room Holden had stuck her in along with a man he’d only referred to as Hawk before he’d left, she glanced up at the clock at the far end of the room again. Only two minutes had passed since the last time she’d checked, but it felt like twenty.