OGs: Deep Down (32 page)

“What kind of man am I? The kind she married. I doubt you can say the same, can you?”

Mike clenched his teeth so hard he was surely ruining the enamel of all of them. Holding by a thread to the last of his control, he said slowly, “Get the fuck out of here. Don’t come back.”

Drake might be a tough guy, but he knew when he was overpowered and left.

Mike stood there for a while, seething with barely restrained fury.

He wanted to go after the asshole and beat him to a pulp, but he couldn’t. He had two scared girls he had to reassure.

* * * *

“They are nothing but a waste of space.”

How dare he!

Kyra was shaking, adrenaline soaring through her. She was furious and scared and double furious that she was scared.

“Mom, why is Dad mad?” Sam asked, pulling at her shirt. “What does he want?”

“Don’t know, sweetie.”

She only hoped her daughter hadn’t heard him bad-mouthing them.

Kyra had asked her to stay in, but when she came back for the second time, Sam was peeking from the front door, scared out of her wits from the looks of it but there nevertheless.

As Mike reached the door, Kyra rushed to him. “Are you okay?” she whispered into his neck, hugging him tight. Drake was by far not as well trained as Mike, but he had more bulk on him. And he had no qualms about playing dirty.

He nodded. “Just angry, baby,” he murmured into her hair.

“Is he gone?”

He kissed her softly. “Yes. He’s gone.”

His jaw was locked, but when he turned his gaze to Sam, he managed a smile.

They were too shaken to go anywhere, at least at that moment, and Mike seemed to understand that. He took a look at the discarded bag on the floor and said to Sam, “I’m thirsty. What about if we sit down to drink something for a while?”

Sam nodded, a hint of a smile appearing on her face.

“Great idea,” Kyra said. “We have some ice cream.”

She got the bowls, and as she was getting the water for the coffee, Mike came and hugged her from behind.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

“Kyra, what did he mean about you taking his shit?”

“I don’t know. I took only my stuff. Most of it is still in Angie’s garage. Nothing he should harass me about.”

They stood quiet for a second, Mike’s chin on top of her head. Not moving. “He’s wrong. You know that, don’t you?” Kyra didn’t answer, so he gave her a gentle shake. “He is wrong, and he’s fucked up. Royally. You are not a waste of space. Or a drag. He is. Don’t you ever forget that.”

“Okay,” she whispered, letting out a long sigh. Still, that didn’t make it easier to swallow.

After the coffee was ready and the ice cream in bowls, they all sat on the sofa to watch a movie that Sam had put on.

“Can I stay here tonight, Mom?”

That broke her heart, but she faked a smile. “Sure.”

Kyra was pretending she was okay, mainly for Sam’s benefit, but she wasn’t fooling Mike; he could see through her smoke screen. Sam, though, seemed to calm down little by little, and soon she was her chattering self.

“Still want to stay? We can drive you now if you want; it’s not late,” Kyra said to Sam with as casual a voice as she could. She didn’t want to be away from her daughter, but she hated for Sam to miss the sleepover. She’d been so excited.

Sam shook her head. “Another time.”

Again Drake had managed to ruin something for Sam.

“Baby girl, go get my jacket from the kitchen,” Mike told her. “There’s a surprise there for you.”

That got Sam’s attention. She sprinted to the kitchen.

“I thought about giving them to you tomorrow, but you can have them now,” Mike said as Sam handed the jacket to him.

When Mike gave the package to Sam, she started squeaking and jumping up and down, doing her cute victory dance Kyra loved so much.

“Press-on tattoos?” Kyra asked, blinking fast not to cry at his thoughtfulness. Sam had been bugging him about his tattoos for a while now, asking all sorts of questions.

Mike shrugged sheepishly. “I know. Kind of temporary, but that’s the best I could do.”

Sam was already opening the packet and spreading the tattoos on the sofa table. “Oh, I’m putting this on. And this. And this. And this. I’m putting on all of them,” she concluded.

By the time Sam finished with the press-on tattoos, her arms looked like those of a seasoned sailor.

In spite of her excitement, Sam soon became tired, and Kyra took her to bed, lying with her until she fell asleep.

All the pretending for her daughter’s sake had sucked the life out of Kyra, and she was exhausted. She went straight to her room, where she once again curled up on one side of the bed.

She heard Mike coming in, but she didn’t move. He lay beside her and spooned her. “Baby, tell me what you need.”

She didn’t have to think. She whirled to him and hid her head on his chest, hugging him as hard as she could. “You,” she whispered against his warm skin. “I need you.”

Mike hugged her. “You have me. You always did and you always will.”

They lay there for a long while. Not moving. “Baby, is it true what he said about me?”

“You were a tough example to follow,” she said. “He couldn’t measure up.”

“So you loved me even then.”

She lifted her head and nodded.

“Do you still love me?” Tough-as-nails Mike sounded unsure.

“Never stopped, honey. Not for a second of these past seven years.”

“I need the words, kitten. I fucking need them.”

Kyra cupped his face, feeling the bite of his stubble in her palms. “I love you, Mike. I’ve always loved you. Even when I was married to someone else, I still loved you. I loved you for so long I don’t know how not to love you. It’s you or no one. Without you I barely got by. I was not able to breathe. Not able to laugh. Not able to live.”

He brought her up to him and kissed her, deep and slow. “I’ve waited seven years to hear you say you love me. I thought I’d never hear it again.”

He kissed her some more, softly, while he traced her face with his rough hands.

“You didn’t tell me if you love me,” she said.

He chuckled. “Baby, do I have to spell it out for you? Your name is inked on top of my junk.”

“On top of your junk. That you’re in lust with me is obvious. But I was talking about someplace a bit farther north than your cock.”

“You’re there too,” he whispered and after lifting his T-shirt, brought her hand to his chest. “Look close, baby.”

She froze as she saw what he was talking about. She’d kissed his gorgeous chest many times, traced the ink with her fingers, but she hadn’t noticed that her name was there too. Embedded in the artwork, almost invisible, but there nevertheless. On his heart.

“I love you, Kyra. I was born to love you. It’s always been you. I’ve tried everything, believe me, to change that, but I realized at the end that I will die loving you.”

Kyra stared into Mike’s eyes, her silent tears rolling down her cheeks. There was no reserve in Mike’s expression. He was not giving her a line; he was telling her the truth.

“I’ve been so fucking in love with you for so many years I don’t know what to do with myself if I don’t have you by my side.”

She moved, lying over him, and kissed his eyes, his nose, lips, his chest, caressing the ink there.

“Sad tattoo,” she mumbled, remembering what he’d said to Sam.

“No. Not anymore, baby.”

“You want me,” she whispered against his lips while his erection pulsed on her inner thigh.

He smiled. “I always want you.”

“Mike, I want so much to make love to you, but Sam was very upset. She sleeps light then. I’m afraid she’ll wake up and come to our bed.”

Mike kissed her and rolled them on their side. “Baby. I’m not here only for the sex.”

She thought she wouldn’t be able to fall sleep, but there, in Mike’s arms, she felt content and protected, and before she realized it, she was drifting into unconsciousness.

* * * *

He wasn’t sure what she’d been dreaming, but she woke up startled, with her heart thumping so loud he could hear it. He noticed from her sudden body tension the second she opened her eyes to complete blackness.

“Baby, calm down,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s me. Mike. You’re okay.”

She thrashed, trying to flail her arms, but he held her tight. “Can’t brea—”

“Yes, you can breathe, my love. Calm down.”

She couldn’t break his hold, but in no way was he overpowering her or using his body against her. He needed her to calm down on her own.

“Listen to my voice, baby. We are in your room. There’s this big window in front of you. The curtains are closed, but there’s no reason to panic. You can breathe. Feel my chest rising and falling behind you. Feel yours,” he added, bringing her hand to her chest.

She stilled.

“Concentrate on my breathing, baby. And yours.”

Little by little, she managed to calm herself down.

“Why did you close the curtains?” she asked after a while, her voice still coming in choppy pants.

With Drake around, he didn’t want them vulnerable in any way. “I didn’t want us sleeping so exposed. That’s why I drew them.”

They would have to go through Angie’s garage tomorrow. There had been desperation in Drake’s eyes. He was missing something, and he wasn’t going to give up that easily.

She turned around and wrapped herself around him, hiding her face on his neck. “Mike, I always chose wrong.”

He stiffened. “What do you mean?”

“I left the person who respected and loved me and stayed with the one who abused me. What does that say about me, huh? When I should have stayed with you, I left. When I should have left Drake, I stayed. I suck. To put it mildly.”

“You chose correctly every time, baby. If you’d stayed with me, you would have ended up hating me for cutting your wings.” She shook her head, but he covered her mouth before she could reply. “You would have regretted not doing what you wanted to do. I want to believe I would have seen the light eventually, and that we would have worked our differences out, but the truth of the matter is, it could have been too late, and the damage could have been permanent and driven us apart.”

They had been crazy in love, but they had been young and not ready. Too young to really value what they were risking losing. She’d hidden so much from him about herself. And Mike was so set in what he wanted in life. They would have failed; he saw it now.

“You stayed with Drake for Sam’s sake. You wanted to make it work so that your daughter would have a father. You chose what you had to choose every time. You’re so strong, and I love you for that.”

Rebecca had been right. There was a reason for everything. Fate had a plan and things happen exactly the way they are supposed to happen.

“If you’d stayed with me, you wouldn’t have Sam. As much as I hate her father, that kid is all you, and she’s amazing. I couldn’t love her more even if she were my own.”

She kissed him with trembling lips while he pushed her hair away from her face. “Mike, what do you think Drake is going to—”

“Shh,” he said, tightening his embrace. “Don’t worry about anything. I’m here now. I will take care of everything. Sleep, my love.”

And she did. There in the dark, after she avoided a massive panic attack, he felt her sighing and letting go.

“Mike?” she mumbled before falling sleep.

“Right here, baby. Always here. Going nowhere. Ever again. Hear me?”

“Good,” she whispered before going totally under.

He lay there, listening to her slow breathing, his heart in a fist.

He heard Sam coming before she knocked at their door and entered.

He’d thought about buying a lock to avoid Sam barging in and catching them in the middle of lovemaking, but he’d decided against it. Sam was a sound sleeper; so far she hadn’t woken up once. And Mike had great hearing. Never mind what he might be doing, he was pretty sure he would hear her coming.

Bottom line, he didn’t want Sam getting the impression she was denied access to her mother.

“What is it, baby girl?”

She fidgeted, standing at the foot of the bed, her short-sleeved pajamas showing off her tattooed arms. Tattoos she’d tried to arrange to imitate his. “Can I stay with you guys?”

“Sure, jump in.”

There was space on the side of the bed by Kyra, but Sam crawled between her mother and Mike. Turning to Mike, she burrowed her face into him and threw her arm around him, hugging him tight. Kyra didn’t wake up, but she must have sensed her daughter, for she nuzzled her daughter’s head and placed her arm over Sam.

“Sleep, baby girl. You’re safe here.”

He lay still, pretending he didn’t noticed the strain in Sam’s shoulders. How she clung to him, until little by little she relaxed and fell asleep. By then, Mike was seething with anger. Drake had been lucky Sam and Kyra had been close by; otherwise Mike would have pounded him to the ground. Who spoke of his daughter in that manner? Especially with her in hearing range? They were not a bother. They were precious and to be protected, and he was going to make damn sure they were.

Chapter Sixteen

Mike stood in front of Angie’s garage and rubbed his face in frustration. He’d already gone through it with Kyra once this morning. There were books, papers, toys, pictures, and several pieces of furniture. Nothing that would justify Drake going ballistic. But it had to be here; they’d already checked the stuff Kyra had brought to Cynthia’s from New York. Nada.

The rumble of a motor got his attention. A black Hummer came down the road, parked in front of Mike’s truck, and Wata and Josh got out.

“What are you doing here?”

Josh ignored the question. “Why is your woman’s stuff in Angie’s garage?”

Why indeed?

Because she hadn’t wanted to explain to him where she’d gotten it. And that Josh probably knew that and had helped them load Angie’s truck pissed him off to no end.

“Tomorrow all of this will be in her place. You can be sure of it.”

Josh shook his head, commiserating. “Where is Kyra now?”

“I took her and Sam to the school. She’s a first grader; today they had the introduction tour. Why are you here?” Mike repeated, losing patience.