Page 52 of Melt For Us, Daddy (Big Daddy Energy #4)

Cordelia

“ I ’m going in there.”

“Dee, no.” Ivy clung to her arm, clearly doing her best to physically restrain her, which Cordelia found rather adorable even in the midst of her worry and anger.

In the end, it was the plea in her girl’s eyes that kept her from barging into the bathroom the way she wanted to, even though it felt like she was being split in two. Half of her wanted to stay with Ivy, to soothe the hurt feelings she knew had to be lingering after Jacob’s outburst.

The other half of her wanted to be in the bathroom, demanding an explanation. Holding their boy as he told them why he’d blown up like that. Something was wrong, that much she was sure of, and it was killing her not to know what that something was.

After what felt like hours, the door swung open again and Killian stepped out, holding his hands up in the time-honored gesture of surrender. “I know you’re pissed at me, Cordelia, but your boy seemed like he needed someone to talk to. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

Why couldn’t he talk to me? Because she recognized the inherent selfishness in that thought, she swallowed it down and nodded. “I appreciate you talking to him.”

“You’re welcome. If you want, I can stand watch out here, point people in the direction of the downstairs bathroom while you talk to him.”

“We’d appreciate that very much. Come on, blossom.”

With Killian standing guard, they pushed their way into the bathroom, where they found their boy sitting on the leather couch, looking more miserable than she’d ever seen him.

Glancing up, he spotted them, and his cheeks immediately flushed such a bright red he could have stopped traffic in the dead of night.

“Hi.”

“Hi, baby boy.” Settling beside him, she reached for him then hesitated, unsure if her comfort would be welcome.

Pulling her hand back, she placed it in her lap. Ivy, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any question about her reception and she immediately went to him, curling up in his lap just as she’d done at the table earlier.

“Scared us,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing.

“Sorry. I just had… a moment.”

Their poor baby boy. “Will you tell us about it?”

His eyes met hers, so lost and full of pain it nearly knocked the air from her lungs. “Would you be upset if I asked to go home?”

“I will never, ever be upset with you for asking for what you need, baby. I’ll just let Holden know we’re ready to head out. But first I need to know that you're okay.”

“I am. Killian helped a lot.”

Well, that was a phrase she’d never expected to hear out of her submissive’s mouth. Either of them. “Killian did?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Huh. Maybe I’ll hold off on torturing him, then.” Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be right back. You two stay here.”

It killed her to leave them behind, but instinct told her that dragging Jacob back to the group would do more harm than good just then so she hurried back to the table as quickly as she could, zeroing in on Holden as she approached.

“Hey, sorry to steal you away again so soon but we need to go home.”

Brows creased with worry, Holden rose from his seat. “All right. Is Jacob okay?”

“I think so. I don’t really know what happened, but he asked if we could leave, so we’re leaving.”

“Poor kid,” Lottie said, looking rather distressed. “I hope it wasn’t anything any of us said.”

“I think it was probably just a lot, coming here, meeting everyone. That’s on me, nobody else.” And she’d be carrying that guilt with her for a very long time. “Maybe when things calm down a bit we can have a smaller get-together, let him get used to everyone before we try the club again.”

Silver lit up at the suggestion. “I was just telling Ice I miss having everyone over. Dinner soon?”

“Definitely. I’ll let you know when he’s ready to try again. Holden?”

“Right behind you.”

Without waiting for any of the others to say their goodbyes, she turned on her heel, trusting Holden would be right behind her.

“This isn’t your fault.”

She didn’t so much as slow down as she glanced over her shoulder at the giant towering behind her. “My boy, my responsibility.”

“You tried to talk me out of it. I pushed for it. This is on me.”

“I could have pushed back harder. Should have put my foot down about bringing him here. At the very least I should have insisted that we just walk him through the club and straight out the back door. I knew he wasn’t ready for this. Ivy did, too. It’s on me for ignoring my gut.”

“Stubborn ass,” Holden muttered and for the first time since Jacob’s outburst, Cordelia grinned.

“You’ve known me long enough that shouldn’t be a surprise, GSFD .” The acronym, coined by Silver, stood for Giant Silver Fox Daddy and it drove Holden mad when they used it. Which, of course, made it all the more enjoyable for Cordelia.

Doms often made the best brats, after all.

As she’d hoped, his eyes narrowed at her teasing. “Doesn’t make it any less frustrating.”

“Fair enough. Will you go get the car and bring it around to the service entrance? I’d rather not expose him to that crowd outside again if I can help it.”

“On it.”

With a nod for Killian, who was still guarding the bathroom door, she pushed inside, the knots in her stomach loosening somewhat when she found her boy and her girl right where she’d left them.

“Time to go, my loves. Holden is bringing the car around back so we don’t have to worry about walking past the protestors again. ”

“I can do it,” Jacob said. “I’ll be okay.”

“Absolutely not. They already saw you come in, we don’t need to give them anything more than that.”

“But—”

“I said no , Jacob. End of discussion.”

She thought he was going to argue, given the stubborn set of his jaw. But then he relaxed and nodded, and the knots in her stomach loosened even more. “Yes, Ma’am.”

“Good boy. Holden already left to get the car so he should be ready soon. Let’s go.”

It felt a bit like something out of an action movie, sneaking him out the back to where Holden was already waiting in his giant SUV with the blacked-out windows.

The ride home was made in silence, the tension so thick she could have cut it with a knife.

Holden walked them all up to their apartment, giving it a thorough sweep before declaring it safe and reminding them not to go anywhere without contacting him first.

And then he was gone, leaving her and Ivy alone with their naughty baby boy.

“I’m, um… gonna make us all some tea.” As she spoke, Ivy inched toward the kitchen.

“Tea would be lovely, blossom. Something without caffeine for our boy.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Turning her attention back to Jacob, she pointed at the sofa behind him. “Sit.”

He dropped down so obediently, then winced thanks to the plug in his ass likely making itself known again, and she nearly chuckled.

But this was a serious moment, and it was her responsibility to ensure he understood the seriousness of what they were discussing and breaking into laughter would definitely not set the right mood.

Shrugging out of her suit jacket, she tossed it to the side and popped open the button on her shirtsleeves. “All right, baby boy. Enough stalling. Tell me what happened back at the club.”

Eyes locked on her forearms as she slowly rolled the first sleeve to her elbow, Jacob licked his lips. Good to know that move worked on her boy as well as it worked on her girl. “I panicked.”

“That much I was able to gather. Why? Was it something someone said? Something they did?”

“No. Well, sort of? It was a combination of things.”

“What kind of things?”

Squirming a bit in his seat, he lifted his gaze to meet hers. “You’re going to be mad when I tell you.”

“I might. But I promise to listen to whatever you have to tell me, even if it upsets me. Okay?”

“Okay. Um. It’s just… when it was just us at the safe house, it was easier to convince myself that wanting this, wanting you the way I do wasn’t wrong.

But then we were at the club and all the other guys are Daddies and it just sort of felt like confirmation that everything I was taught was actually the way things are supposed to be. ”

Fuck. Her poor, sweet baby boy.

Rounding the coffee table, she perched on the edge, keeping her gaze locked squarely on his. “And now? How are you feeling about this? About us?”

“Better. Killian told me I wasn’t paying very good attention if I thought all the men at the club were Doms.”

She couldn’t help but smile at that. “He’s right. But that’s okay. It was a lot to take in all at once. I’m sorry I put you in that position, baby boy. I should have listened to my gut and put my foot down about you going in there so soon.”

“How is it your fault when Holden and I talked you into it? I wanted to do this, Cordelia. I needed to do it, to know that I was doing something more than just waiting. That’s not on you.”

“It is, because you’re mine and I didn’t protect you the way I should have.”

“Oh, please.” Carrying a small tray with three cups of steaming water and an assortment of tea bags, Ivy rolled her eyes. “If any of the guys said that about their babygirls, you’d be the first one to rake them over the coals for being misogynistic asshats.”

“This is different. And unless you want to spend the rest of this conversation standing in the corner, you won’t roll your eyes at me again, little girl.”

“Sorry, Daddy.” Clearing her throat, Ivy nudged the tray toward Jacob. “What kind of tea do you want, honey?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really drink tea.”

“Hmm. Do you like mint?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Perfect.” Ripping open one of the packages, she dropped the bag into the water and handed him the cup. “Let it steep for a few minutes and give it a try. If it’s not sweet enough I can get you some sugar.”

While Ivy made their tea, Cordelia returned her attention to their boy.

“Setting blame aside for now, the point is, I understand we asked a lot of you tonight. And I understand why you reacted the way you did. That being said, you owe Ivy an apology for the way you spoke to her. No matter how upset you are, that’s no excuse for lashing out like that. ”

To his credit, he looked suitably chastised as he dipped his head and peeked up at Ivy through his lashes. “I’m really sorry, Ivy. I shouldn’t have blown up at you like that. I didn’t mean it.”

“I know, honey. I forgive you.”

At that, his entire face seemed to light up. “Thanks, Ivy.”

“Was there anything else upsetting you, Jacob?” Cordelia asked as he sipped his tea and made a face that had Ivy giggling quietly as she dropped a sugar cube in his cup.

“That was mostly it. My own insecurities, I guess, wrapped up in wondering if my mom was right. If I’ve really damned myself to hell for the things I’ve done with you.”

Emotion lodged in her throat as she leaned forward.

“I know there’s nothing I can say to convince you how wrong they are.

But I can tell you I don’t think a God who supposedly loves His creation as deeply as the church claims He loves us could possibly condemn you to hell for loving differently than what those small-minded assholes say is right. ”

“That’s kind of what Killian said. He said that if he had children, he’d just want them to be happy and he believes that’s what God wants for us.”

God bless Killian O’Rourke. Never thought I’d be saying that . “I agree with Killian.” Or that. “But what really matters is how you’re feeling about things.”

“Good… and still kind of bad at the same time.”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m feeling better about the stuff I talked to Killian about. Because I think he’s right, too. I don’t really believe God hates me because I had sex outside of marriage or I’m in a relationship with two women. Honestly, after watching the news, it seems like He’s got bigger things to worry about.”

God, she was fucking proud of how far he’d come in such a short amount of time. “Agreed. So what are you still feeling bad about?”

Color rose to his cheeks. “Yelling at Ivy. It wasn’t nice and I embarrassed you both in front of your friends. They probably all hate me and think I’m awful now. And I don’t blame them.”

“They don’t think anything of the sort,” Ivy assured him. “And if they did, I would be more than happy to tell them how wrong they are.”

“Even though I yelled at you?”

It would forever be a mystery and a miracle to her that he managed to keep that sweet soul intact with how he’d been raised. “First of all, I’d hardly consider that yelling. Second of all, even if you had yelled at her, you recognized it was wrong and you apologized.”

“But shouldn’t I be punished?”

Glancing over, she shared a long look with Ivy and thankfully saw her own thoughts reflected in her babygirl's eyes. “Not this time, baby. We both know why you reacted the way you did and it’s completely understandable. Now, if you’d escalated or cussed at one of us, we might be having a different conversation.

But you didn’t. You removed yourself from a situation that was upsetting you, and after you calmed down you apologized and communicated your needs to us in a respectful way.

We’re both so proud of you and how you handled yourself tonight in a really difficult situation. ”

If she lived a thousand years she knew she’d never tire of the way his eyes lit up at her praise.

“Really? You’re proud of me?”

Pushing slowly to her feet, she let a smile curve her lips as she lowered one knee to the couch beside him, her fingers tangling in his hair as she straddled him. “So fucking proud of our good baby boy. Aren’t we, Ivy?”

“Yes, Daddy.” Ivy joined them on the couch, kneeling beside him, feathering her lips over the side of his neck as Cordelia ducked her head to capture his lips with hers.

Beneath her, he shuddered, and everything in her crowed with triumph at his surrender. There was something so fucking powerful about having a man like him, more than capable of physically overpowering her, submit to her just because she commanded it.

And then there was her babygirl. Her sweet, delicate Ivy Mae. Two very different submissives, and yet they had both chosen her. Trusted her to guide them, to lead them.

It was humbling, to say the least, and she vowed then and there to never give either of them a reason to regret choosing her.

Moving one hand to Ivy’s hair, she wrapped those silky curls around her fist and tugged. And when she lifted her head to find both of her sweet little subbies staring up at her with glazed, hungry eyes, she couldn’t help but grin at the adorable picture they made.

“To the bedroom. Daddy wants to play.”