Page 49 of Melt For Us, Daddy (Big Daddy Energy #4)

Cordelia

T ightening her grip on Ivy’s hand, Cordelia moved closer to their boy. They needed to get him inside, where he wasn’t so fucking exposed .

But they couldn’t very well just drag him away from his mother. Especially when she was staring up at him with tears in her eyes, looking for all the world like he was the prodigal son finally returning home.

Fuck.

“Jacob. My baby. Oh, we’ve been so worried! Your father has been looking everywhere for you.”

“I was… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

His voice was odd. Strangled-sounding, almost like he was holding back tears. The need to comfort, to soothe, took over and Cordelia stepped up beside him, letting her hand rest on the small of his back.

I’m right here, baby boy. Daddy’s right here.

At her touch, he looked down, blinking owlishly like he’d forgotten where they were.

When he made no move to introduce them, she flashed a toothy smile for the woman.

She was tall, though not nearly as tall as her son, with his same dark hair swept up in the braided style worn by every woman within the Prophets.

“Hello. I’m Cordelia. Though you may know me better as Esther, sixteenth wife of the most holy prophet. ”

It was more satisfying than she’d expected to watch the woman’s head snap back, almost as if she’d been physically struck. So Harlan wasn’t keeping his women in the loop about her. Not surprising, really, but it still felt damn good to be the one to land that particular blow.

Eyes wide, Jacob’s mother looked from Cordelia to her son and back again, like she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. And then her expression twisted, her eyes filling with so much hatred Cordelia wondered how it didn’t simply burn her alive. “You get away from my son you–you–you harlot .”

“No.” Grinning now, Cordelia slid her arm around Jacob’s waist, tucking herself up against him. “He’s mine now. You can’t have him. Isn’t that right, baby boy?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

His voice was stronger now, without that strangled sound, and pride welled in her chest as she met his mother’s furious eyes.

“There you have it. So you can take that back to Harlan, let him know that his son belongs to me . And I have no intention of giving him back. Come on, Jacob, let’s go inside and play. ”

They turned as one to continue their trek toward the club, with Jacob’s mother screaming behind them. “Jacob! Don’t you dare step foot in that whorehouse! You’ll damn your soul to hell!”

He paused, but Cordelia gave him a firm nudge. “Don’t look back. Consider that an order, boy.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Several tense seconds later they were in the lobby of the club, and before Vivian, the rainbow-haired receptionist who usually manned the front desk, could speak, Cordelia was already snapping out orders. “I need your chair, Vivian. Now!”

Popping up from her seat, Vivian hurriedly rolled the chair toward them. Cordelia gave Jacob another nudge, this time toward the chair and he fell backward into it, his eyes unusually huge in his too-pale face.

“Ivy. He needs you. He’s having a panic attack.”

Letting go of Cordelia’s hand, Ivy stepped forward to place her hand over Jacob’s heart while taking his and placing it over her own.

“Breathe with me, honey. In through your nose.” She inhaled deeply and Jacob mimicked her as best he could, his eyes locked on hers like she was a life raft and he was about to drown.

Cordelia knew the feeling well.

“Good boy. Now out through your mouth. Perfect. Just keep doing that, breathe with me. Feel my heartbeat, and focus on matching it. Feel how slow and steady it is? Breathe in, baby, nice and deep. Good boy .”

“She’s good at that,” Holden murmured from his spot beside Cordelia.

“She is. I don’t know what I’d do without her half the time.”

“You feeling okay?”

“Yes.” Not nearly as shaken as she’d expected to be, and wasn’t that a hell of a victory all of its own? “Just worried about my boy.”

“It’s okay if you need a few minutes, too. That was intense.”

“It was, but I’m good.” Turning, she looked up at him so he could see the truth in her eyes.

“I’m so fucking good, Holden. You have no idea how amazing it felt, telling her he’s mine .

Knowing she’ll take that message back to Harlan, wherever he’s holed up, and that it will kill him to know I’ve gotten to his only son. ”

“Good. Hold onto that feeling. You’re going to need it, whether we’re able to ferret Harlan out or not.”

“Daddy.”

At Ivy’s voice, Cordelia turned to find her girl and her boy both watching her. Jacob had some color back in his cheeks and was no longer looking like he might pass out at any second.

“Feeling better, baby boy?” Cordelia asked, leaning down to cup his cheek in her hand.

“Yes, Ma’am. Sorry, I didn’t mean to… I wasn’t expecting to see her here. She never comes to the protests.”

“Yeah, I bet that’s what they were counting on.”

Confusion filled his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“That wasn’t an accident, baby. They sent her, maybe they’ve been sending her, because they were hoping you’d see her. They wanted you to see her and believe you made a huge mistake so you’d come running back home.”

“I wanted to. For a few seconds there, I wanted to go with her.”

Though it felt like her heart might shatter in her chest, she forced herself to ask the question that needed to be asked. “Why didn’t you?”

“You. If you hadn’t been right there, anchoring me the way you did, I don’t know that I would have been strong enough. But you were, so I was.”

“Fuck.” Closing her eyes against the tears that threatened, Cordelia pressed her forehead to hers. “You did so good for me, baby boy. I’m so fucking proud of you.”

“Really?” The question wasn’t suspicious, but rather full of an awe that tugged even harder at her heartstrings.

“Yes, baby. Now, let’s get you upstairs so you can meet the gang.”

Jacob

He wanted to argue. Wanted to tell them they’d done what they’d come to do and he wanted to go home now.

Humiliated. That was how he was feeling. Right down to his bones, to his very soul, embarrassed that seeing his mother had completely unraveled him in front of the women he loved and a man he looked up to.

Was he really as weak as his father had always said?

But at the mention of going upstairs, everything about Ivy lit up and she bounced excitedly on her toes. “Come on, Jakey! Everyone is dying to meet you!”

How could he turn her down? After everything his father had put her and Cordelia through, there was no way he could ruin this night for her.

So he forced a smile and hoped they wouldn’t notice the way his hand shook as he pushed himself up out of the chair.

Linking her fingers with his, Cordelia gave his hand a hard squeeze and smiled up at him. “You don’t need to be nervous, baby boy. We’re right here with you. And you always have your safeword if it gets too overwhelming.”

The knowledge that he could bow out of everything if he wanted helped to settle him more than he’d expected it to. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Hand in hand, they followed a bouncing Ivy up the stairs, and the little peeks he got of her bottom as her skirt flounced helped take the edge off a little more. So that by the time they made it up the stairs, with Holden trailing behind them, he was almost feeling normal again.

Almost.

“Ivy!”

Jerking around at the ear-piercing squeal, he nearly ducked behind Cordelia as a group of women descended on Ivy, taking turns hugging her as they all talked at once.

“Oh my god, we missed you so much!”

“Are you guys okay? We’ve been so worried.”

“Seriously! What happened? Daddy wouldn’t tell me anything .”

The last was from a pretty redhead who only stood a few inches taller than Ivy, but who pinned Holden with a dark glare. Behind Jacob, the other man sighed.

“We’ve been over this a dozen times already, Francesca. You know why I couldn’t tell you.”

Francesca. Running over the list of names they’d given him before leaving the house, he assumed she must be Frankie.

“Girls, if you smother my submissive before I get a chance to take her down to the pit and celebrate our return home, I am going to be very put out with all of you.”

Cordelia’s words inspired another round of happy squeals as they rushed her, but before they could envelop her the way they had Ivy, she held a hand up, stopping them all in their tracks. He watched, transfixed by the way they all immediately obeyed, and his cock twitched with arousal at the sight.

That was his woman, commanding an entire group of people with nothing more than a hand gesture. And it was really fucking hot.

Unfortunately for him, his body’s response to Cordelia’s dominance meant the cage around his cock was suddenly much tighter than it had been. Not painful, as Cordelia had said, but very, very uncomfortable.

It was going to be a long night.

“I appreciate you’re all very happy to see me, but you’ll have to give Ivy my share of the hugs.”

“Spoilsport.” Lottie, the only one of the group he actually recognized, puffed her bottom lip out in a pout. But then her gaze shifted to him and pouting gave way to curiosity. “Hi, Jacob. Daddy said you’d be here. With Ivy and Cordelia.”

“Ah… yeah. Yes. Um, yes, Ma’am?”

Laughter rippled through the small crowd in front of him and Lottie shook her head. “You do not have to call any of us Ma’am if you don’t want to. And don’t go calling all the men ‘Sir’, either. You’ll give them big heads.”

“Charlotte, if you’re going to teach my boy bad habits, I’ll have to talk to your Daddy about your lack of manners.”

There was a bite to Cordelia’s voice he wasn’t used to hearing, even when he was in trouble, and he was suddenly very glad that tone wasn’t directed at him. He was pretty sure he’d shrivel up and die of embarrassment if it was.

Lottie, on the other hand, barely seemed phased. “Oh come on, Delia. He’s one of us! We have to teach him the ways of the brat.”

“You certainly do not have to teach him any such thing. I swear your Daddy doesn’t spank you enough.”

“Shhh, not so loud! He’ll hear you!”

One of the women behind Lottie stepped forward, rolling her eyes at her friend’s dramatics as she held out a hand. “Hi. I’m Silver. The Viking over there with the blond hair and the bad attitude is my Daddy, Ice. Beside him is Beckett, and I believe you’ve already met Braden and Holden.”

“And I’m Ruby.” Another redhead, though her hair wasn’t nearly as fiery as Frankie’s. “Beckett’s mine, at least until I murder him in his sleep for being an overbearing asshole.”

Staring down at her, he could only blink in response. Luckily, he was saved from needing to answer by Cordelia’s soft laughter.

“She doesn’t mean it literally, baby. Ruby is… well, they’re all huge fucking brats. You’ll get used to it eventually.” Stepping forward, she gave his hand a tug. “Come on, let’s find you a seat. You look like you’re ready to pass out from all this excitement.”

“Sorry.” To his surprise, Ruby did actually look rather apologetic. “I forget you’re not, um, used to all this.”

“All this?”

“Yeah. You know. Like, how normal people act and stuff.”

They’d reached the table by then, and the man they’d identified as Beckett snapped his head up, his eyes narrowing. “Ruby! That was incredibly rude. Apologize right now.”

“Sorry! Sorry! I wasn’t trying to be rude, I just—” She sighed and gave him a sheepish smile. “You know what, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.”

Even though his feelings had been a little hurt by her comment, he couldn’t hold it against her when she looked so apologetic. “No, it’s okay. I knew what you meant. I didn’t exactly have a normal childhood.”

Relief flashed in her eyes. “Still, I’m sorry. I’ve just got a big ole case of foot-in- mouth disease tonight.”

“Foot-in-mouth disease?”

“I’ll explain later, baby,” Cordelia assured him, her own expression bright with amusement at his expense. “Sit, and we’ll order some food.”

At her less-than-gentle urging, he took a seat across from Braden and Lottie, both of whom were watching him with open curiosity.

As was… pretty much everyone at the table, with the exception of his women and Holden.

It made him feel a bit like something to be studied, the odd new addition to their group and he found himself missing the safe house more and more.

All he wanted was to go home and bury himself in Cordelia’s soft curves while Ivy stroked his hair and told him what a good boy he was.

But this was important to his women, which meant it was important to him.

Even if he’d rather be literally anywhere else.