Page 17 of Melt For Us, Daddy (Big Daddy Energy #4)

One of Holden’s tech guys, a tall, beefy man with a thick beard who didn’t look anything like the stereotypical geek from the movies, had taken her phone almost as soon as she’d finished her call with Ivy so she couldn’t even text.

Couldn’t check in with her babygirl to make sure she wasn’t scared or upset.

Of course she’s fucking scared. Anyone would be. And it’s all your fault.

Guilt was an indulgence she couldn’t afford right now. Maybe later, when it was all done, she could have a meltdown over the danger she’d put her girl in. But not until she was safe. Until they all were safe.

She turned to pace again, and movement on the other side of the glass wall caught her attention.

Ivy.

Yanking open the door, she ignored the shouts from her guards and ran toward her babygirl, looking so small and scared, still clutching the pink stuffie she’d gotten from the gift shop.

“Dee!”

Her name was a sob, and when her arms came around Ivy, her babygirl was shaking, her breathing ragged. “Shh, baby. I’m here. Everything’s okay. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. But they wouldn’t tell me anything. What’s going on? What happened?”

“Give me a minute. Just a minute.” Clutching Ivy even closer, she buried her face in her neck, inhaling the scent of her, letting it soothe her own frayed nerves and pounding heart.

When she finally felt steady again, she pulled away, her heart breaking at the fear on her babygirl’s face. What she had to tell her was going to be hard, so fucking hard, but they didn’t have any other choice. “I ran into Harlan Redding today.”

The color drained from Ivy’s cheeks. “He found you? What about Jacob? Is Jacob okay?”

Oh, her sweet babygirl. “Yeah, baby. Holden has him, they’re on their way to safety.”

“So what does that mean? More guards? What?”

“In a sense. They’re moving us to a safe house.

Just until the danger’s passed or Harlan’s in custody.

” And as shaken as she was, she was thankful she hadn’t had to fight Holden to move them all to the same location.

Jacob wasn’t hers, not the way Ivy was, but he was still her responsibility and she took that responsibility as seriously as Holden took keeping them all safe.

“A safe house?” Taking a step back, Ivy shook her head, her expression turning fierce. “No. I’m not going to a safe house. I have a job, we have the club. We have people watching us.”

“And he still found me. Found us . He knew your name, Ivy. If it was just me, I might be willing to risk it. But I am not taking chances with your safety.”

“We can’t just leave .”

“It won’t be forever, baby, I promise.”

Jerking her chin up in a rare gesture of defiance, Ivy narrowed her eyes. “It won’t be at all because I’m not going.”

“Yes, you are. And if I have to tie you up and gag you to get you in that car, I will, Ivy Mae. This isn’t a game.”

“I know it’s not a game, Dee. I’m not stupid. But I can’t just drop everything and leave like this! It’s not fair!”

Her babygirl was spiraling. Taking Ivy’s arm in a firm grip, she glanced up at Blaze, who was either entirely unaffected by the drama playing out in front of him or doing a rather admirable job of pretending to be. “Bathroom?”

“That door just to your right, ma’am.”

“Thank you.”

“Dee! Let me go!”

She didn’t let go, not until they’d stepped into the spacious, surprisingly well-decorated bathroom. There, she spun around, pressing Ivy up against the wall behind them. Wrapping her fingers around her girl’s slender throat, she looked down into those round, terrified eyes.

You did that. Look what you’ve done to her.

Shoving aside the guilt she didn’t have time to indulge, she put every ounce of authority she could manage into her next words. “Who am I, Ivy?”

She could feel Ivy’s throat working beneath her palm, and even with everything falling apart around her, it gave her that same dark thrill she always felt when she had her babygirl so completely at her mercy.

“Cordelia,” Ivy whispered.

Tightening her grip, she leaned in, dropped her voice. “Who am I, Ivy Mae?”

“My-my woman.”

“Damn straight. And you’re my girl. Which means there is nothing, nothing in this world that matters to me more than your safety. You hear me, little girl?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Her eyes were still too big, too dark, but her breathing had calmed and the pulse beating beneath Cordelia’s fingertips had slowed.

“Good girl. I know this is hard. The hardest fucking thing I’ve ever asked of you.

But I need you to trust me enough to believe that I wouldn’t ask it if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Do you trust me, baby?”

It felt like an eternity, waiting there, feeling her girl’s heartbeat beneath her fingers as Ivy struggled.

Until, at last, she gave a small nod. “I trust you.”

Thank god . Leaning in, she captured Ivy’s lips with her own, letting herself drown in the taste of her for just a moment, until her own heart stopped its frantic galloping.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I never wanted you to be a part of this. Never wanted them to even know your name.”

“Don’t you dare apologize to me.” Ivy’s eyes, so soft and scared before, now blazed with righteous fury.

“This isn’t your fault. It’s theirs. They think because they have dicks swinging between their legs that they have some kind of claim to you?

That they can take you from me just because they’re men? Fuck them.”

“It’s my fault for bringing you into this.”

“Oh, fuck y?—”

“Careful, blossom. I’m not feeling quite guilty enough to overlook that level of disrespect.”

Pink rose to Ivy’s cheeks, but the rebuke did nothing to douse the fire in her eyes. “You didn’t bring me into anything, Cordelia. I chose to be with you. Because I love you. We may not have said the vows yet, but I’m with you. For better or worse, Dee, I’m with you.”

Love, pure and bright enough to burn away the sickness that had coated her stomach ever since her run-in with Harlan, filled her.

Closing her eyes, she dropped her forehead to Ivy’s and for a moment they just stayed there in that simple connection.

“I love you. So fucking much. I promise I’ll make this up to you when it’s all over.

I’ll pull some money from our savings, take you to Paris or something, I don’t know.

The guys are good at that big romantic stuff, I’m sure they’ll have some ideas. ”

“A house.”

Lifting her head, she stared down at her girl. “What?”

“When this is done, I want us to get serious about buying a house. I don’t need those big, expensive gestures, Dee. I just need you and the life we’re going to build together.”

“All right. If my baby wants a house, then she’ll have a house.”

“A house, and a kitten.”

“A kitten?”

“Mmhmm. I gave up on trying to convince you to let me have a snake. But I think a cute little kitten would be perfect for us. Between our regular jobs and the club we don’t have time for a dog, but we could make time for a kitten.”

“A house and a kitten, then. Done.”

Before Ivy could ask for anything else, a hard knock rapped on the bathroom door.

“Ma’am? Holden just called. We need to move.”

“Just a sec,” she called back. Meeting Ivy’s eyes again, she searched but found no trace of the fear she’d seen there earlier. Only a steely determination that banished the last of the nerves jumping in her stomach. “We have to go, baby. You okay?”

“I’m good. I’m with you.”

And that, at the heart of it, was all that mattered. “All right. Let’s go.”