Chapter Seven

Baz

“I’ll take the guestroom Sweetness just so you’re not tempted to jump my bones. Again.” I don’t know what happened but after a day spent grilling at the clubhouse on the Fourth, Trina agreed to let me move in even though I could tell she still felt wary about the whole thing.

“There is no guestroom. The spare is my office and no one but me is allowed in there, got it?” I nodded, smirking at how sexy she looked all serious and fierce about her work. “You’ll be sleeping on the sofa.”

I looked at that sorry excuse for a couch and then back to Trina with skepticism. It was at least two feet too damn small and the twitch of her lips told me she knew it. “Guess we’ll be sharing after all.”

“Fine,” she said with groan, shaking her head. “You take the bed and I’ll take the sofa.”

I reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her close until we stood chest to chest. “You know I can’t allow that, Sweetness. But I’ll tell you what, we’ll share a bed but I’ll only sink my cock into that deliciously wet cunt of yours, if you ask real nice.” She laughed but I saw the flash of desire in those deep blue eyes and I knew, if I slid a finger between her thighs she would be sticky and dripping all over my hand. No one got as wet as Trina did and even now my cock tightened at the thought.

We broke apart at the sound of Jack’s door opening. “Are you really moving in Dad, for real?”

Damn it never got old hearing him call me that with the enthusiasm only a little kid can have. “For real. At least for a while anyway.” I knew Trina only meant this to be temporary but I didn’t plan to leave, at least not without my family.

“All right!” Jack punched the air, a smile lighting up his face as he flung his skinny frame—all arms and legs—at me and Trina. “This is super cool!”

It turned out the kid was right. Living with Trina and Jack was unlike anything I’d experienced in my own adult life. I had some memories of my own mom whipping up breakfast every morning the way Trina did for us, eggs and bacon some days, pancakes, waffles and even disgusting ass oatmeal. But I ate up every goddamned bite because there was something appealing as fuck watching a woman wake up early to nourish her family. I got to spend extra time with Jack by taking him to the community center each morning, which meant Trina got to spend more time working in her office. She never said what she worked on and I hadn’t asked her but I would.

Soon.

It was all so fucking domestic and that was something I’d told myself I never wanted again, not after I’d come home five days after the fight that sent Trina running from me and Brently. This. We could have had this for the past ten years but we were both too young and immature to fight for it. To fight for us. This time though I wouldn’t give up so easily.

***

“What about tacos?” Jack held up both soft and hard shells with a bright grin that reminded me so much of my younger self.

“You want to make tacos?” I had the dumb idea that me and the kid could make dinner tonight and let Trina work until she tired herself out. Now though I was having doubts because tacos were a whole lot of shit and I was more of the grill a slab a meat and whip up some instant mashed potatoes kind of guy.

He nodded. “Me and Mom make them on Fridays with all the toppings.”

All the toppings. Sounded like a fuck ton of work to me but I couldn’t look at the face and say no. “All right. What do we need?” I pushed the cart while Jack named all kinds of shit we would need like lettuce and olives. “Olives? You sure?”

He laughed, bobbing his head up and down and squeezing fifty tomatoes before putting eight in a bag. “Mom says you have to make sure they’re soft but not too soft.”

“My sister makes the best salsa around. Hot as fuck but good.” Shit. I cringed at his wide-eyed smile. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I promised Mom I’d wait until my vocabulary improved before I started using them.” He said it so matter of fact I knew Trina had done a good job with the kid.

“Good. But uhm, maybe don’t tell your Mom.” He nodded his agreement, his attention already back to the ingredients we would need. “Are these gourmet tacos?”

“Nope.” Thank fuck twenty minutes later we stood in the kitchen unpacking the bags while Trina stayed holed up in her office. “Mom must be in the zone,” Jack commented as he pulled out the cheese grater and set up the way I guessed he and Trina did before I got here.

“What’s she doing in there?” I knew she had a blog, Minx had told me as much but that seemed like more work than just kid shit for moms.

“Working. She has a blog she started when I was a kid, that helps other moms do cool things for their kids even if they can’t afford it. She always did cool things like that for me growing up, making cakes and stuff.” He smiled at the memory that was like a punch in the balls for me, realizing she’d started this blog because as a single mother she couldn’t afford do everything our son deserved. “Or she’s working on her books, the ones I’m not supposed to know about.”

Books? I wondered how a blog allowed her to pay all the bills a kid required but, books? “What kind of books?”

Jack shrugged. “They’re for girls, well grown up girls and I’m not supposed to know about them so you should ask her.”

Damn. Schooled by a fifth grader. “You’re protective of her. That’s good. A man should protect his family.”

He nodded, seeming deep in thought. “It’s always just been me and Mom. She works hard to give me everything I need and plenty of things I want. I just want her to be happy.” He started grating an onion and dumping it in a bowl. “For the salsa,” he said and rinsed the grater before tackling the cheese.

Shit this kid was the absolute fucking best. I would have to be a better man than I thought I could be. For him. “Okay what do I do?”

Jack walked me through what he could remember and the internet helped us with the rest. I couldn’t deny helping out like this gave me a sense of accomplishment I never would’ve imagined, and Jack ate up everything I said like it was the fucking gospel.

“Man, what smells so good?”

“We cooked dinner Mom. Tacos!”

Suspiciously watery blue eyes widened as she took in the spread on the table. “You even made the salsa? Fantastic.”

“Yeah well Jack said the jar stuff had a lot of sugar in it.” Didn’t make sense to me but I took the kid’s word for it.

“Thank you guys. I was completely in the zone and sometimes that means we end up with takeout.” She smiled at our son who rolled his eyes affectionately and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“It’s nice to share the load then, isn’t it?”

She nodded as she took a seat and began assembling a taco. “Delicious. How was your day kiddo?”

I sat back, listening as Jack told her all about the book he was reading about genius kids fighting crime in space. Sounded complicated as hell but he ate up the series like they were comic books. “I’m almost finished,” he proudly declared.

“With another one? Wow you must want something pretty big this year,” she told him casually.

“What?” Catching up on their shorthand took some time but I realized real fast that asking was the best way to find out.

Trina stood at the sound of the phone ringing but I grabbed her wrist as Jack explained, “Mom gives me five bucks for every book I read and summarize but instead of giving me the cash we total it and I get to buy whatever I want. As long as it’s legal. And safe,” he tacked on the last part with an eye roll that told me the kid had hidden depths.

“I’ll get it,” I told her, pulling her down and reaching for the cordless phone on the counter. “Hello?” My whole body tensed at the automated voice asking me if I wanted to accept the collect call. “Yes.” As soon as the smarmy bastard started speaking I shut that shit down. “Listen to me you tiny dick motherfucker, if you call or send someone else to bother either of them, I’ll make sure you spend the rest of your life eating through a motherfuckin’ straw. Got it?” I didn’t wait for a fucking response because if he called again or Wagman showed up, I’d make good on my promise. Trina looked at me with a mixture of worry and fear but Jack just looked proud. In awe. I just grinned to get rid of the tension in the air.

“So…who wants dessert?” Jack stood and went to the fridge with a wide smile.

Damn I loved my kid.

***

“Did you ever love Mom? Do you still love her?”

Damn the kid didn’t pull any punches. “Your mom was the only woman I ever loved besides my sister and mom and I never stopped loving her. When you’re young you want things how you want them and I was too stubborn to compromise. Trina and I couldn’t, so she left.” I’d kicked my own ass for months after she’d gone. Why had I stayed away for five fucking days? Arrogance. Stupidity. Just plain fuckin’ ignorant.

Jack nodded as though he understood but he couldn’t possibly. “But now you guys are older and you want each other. I can tell.”

I laughed as we sat in my truck on our way to Dagger’s place, where Jack would stay the night with Teddy. “Oh yeah, how?”

“Because you look at each other like this,” he said and leaned forward, batting his eyelashes and looking away coyly before turning back with what I guess was supposed to be a smoldering look. “You both think I don’t see it, but I do,” he told me proudly, crossing his arms like a kid way older and wiser than ten.

Damn he didn’t miss a beat. “Well your mom is a beautiful woman and I’d have to be blind not to notice.”

“Yeah but it’s not just that. Men always look at Mom but not the way you do.”

I had no clue how to handle the fatherhood shit. My own dad didn’t talk, not like Jack expected anyway. He’d only told me to wrap my dick up until I was ready to have a kid so I was way out of my depth with Jack and decided on brutal honesty. “I want Trina and I want you too, but I need to earn her trust again. I need to show her things can be different this time.”

“But you’re gonna do that, right?”

“Yeah kid, that’s the plan.” I ruffled his hair and he laughed.

“Okay. Good. I’ll help if you want.” Then he hopped from the car and grabbed his bag from the back, darting towards the door with me far behind.

“Hey Jack!” Teddy pulled open the door and they high fived before darting down the hall and leaving the door wide open.

I went inside to check in with Trudy. “Trina wanted me to let you know she’ll take Teddy next week if it’ll help.”

She flashed a grin. “It always helps. How’s fatherhood?”

“Jack is great. And I’m learning.”

“And Trina?”

I raked a hand through my hair with a sheepish grin. “That will take a bit more time.” But I was committed to trying, especially now that we had another night to ourselves. I stopped for beers and burgers, and even fucking flowers on the way home, because that’s how I now thought of Trina’s place. Hell, I didn’t spend as much time here when Cherie lived here but now I couldn’t seem to stay away.

But when I pulled up the only thing I could think of was murder at the sight of Wagman with his greasy fucking hair, leaning into a terrified looking Trina. I was out of the car in a flash, stalking up the walk and snatching a handful of the fucker’s hair. My fist slammed into his face over and over and over, ignoring the blood that sprayed from his nose and mouth. The sickening crunch didn’t faze me one bit, but the sound of Trina shouting my name loosened my hand and he fell to the ground and my foot kept him there. “Stay the fuck away or you’ll end up joining your buddies. Soon.” I kicked him several times in the stomach and once in the face. “Now get the fuck out! If I see you again Wag, I will fucking end you.”

The asshole nodded and crawled across the lawn before pulling himself to his feet, flashing a sinister smile over his shoulder. “See you soon Trina.”

“If you think that’s true I hope your affairs are in order asshole!” Grabbing Trina around the waist I pulled her inside and kicked the door shut. “You okay Sweetness?”

She nodded quickly, too quickly, and those beautiful blue eyes were a tad too bright for my liking. “I am, actually. Thanks.”

“You sure?” I cupped her cheeks so I could look deep into her eyes to see for myself. “If you’re not say so. I’m right here babe.”

Then that lush, kissable mouth spread into a sultry smile. “That was kind of hot, you know. And yes, big guy, I am completely ashamed that I think so.”

Interesting. “You mean instead of flowers, beers and burgers I could have just kicked the shit out of someone to get you all wet and bothered?”

“Don’t you mean hot and bothered?”

I shook my head and leaned in to brush a kiss on her lips. “Depends. If I slide my fingers inside you right now will I find you hot? Or wet?”

She shook her head. “Do I have a choice?” That husky laugh had my dick hard enough to pound nails. “Besides I do need to eat.”

“Yeah me too,” I told her and took her mouth, kissing her hard and fast, eating at her sweet mouth until she jumped up and wrapped those long sexy legs around my waist, urging me to do more. Her warm tongue and eager hips drove me crazy. “Trina.”

“I want you Baz. Right here. Right now.” She untangled her legs until her feet hit the floor, unfastening her pants and shoving them down along with a pair of sheer red panties. When she bent over the arm of the sofa, exposing that round, heart shaped ass to me, I lost all pretense of restraint.

I smacked her ass. “I missed this sweet ass,” I told her as my cock nudged her opening and I sank in slow and deep. The sounds she made as my cock invaded her were low and strangled, incomprehensible and damn if my cock didn’t harden at that. I plunged in and out, loving how much tighter she felt at this angle, hitting that spot that made her scream out. That flooded her pussy with moisture, coating me so I slid in easier. Faster. Deeper.

We came together hard and fast. Rough and necessary. Everything we both needed to forget about what the fuck had just happened. In no time at all Trina shook and convulsed, milking my cock. Her pussy sucked me in deep until every drop was wrung from me. A long minute later, Trina finally spoke.

“Now is the perfect time for beer and burgers.” She groaned when I separated our bodies, pushing her ass back against me. “But I remember hearing something about flowers?”

Laughing at her playfulness I smacked her ass and lifted her in my arms. “First we shower.” We both knew what that meant, another forty-five minutes—at least—before we were dry and ready for food.

And flowers.

“I’m starved, make it fast,” she instructed.

“Hell no, this time we do it nice and slow. And wet.”

She purred in my ear. “I know a little something about wet.”

Fuck she was killing me.