Mike

One glance at her and I have my answer. I will kill her. No—

I will smack her ass and it won’t be only once. An image enters my head. Daisy is naked, on all fours and I’m smacking her ass with my hand until it’s red.

My dick grows hard at once.

More fantasies enter my mind. Daisy is on her knees and she’s sucking me. Then she’s on all fours again and I’m fucking her in the ass. She’s moaning and pleading for my cock to punish her harder.

Shame surges through me. I held her in my arms when she was a baby.

I need a drink. Or a few drinks in one go.

Or something powerful enough to erase Daisy away from my sight.

Rey looks at me like she can see my soul. She tilts her head and strokes Daisy’s head. Fucking hell. They look like a witch and her young apprentice. It’s fucking creepy.

I decide to join Axel and Jax and get drunk. Axel pours me a shot of vodka, and I empty it in one gulp. My stomach twists with nausea.

Axel grins at me. “You’re rusty, Mike.”

“You’re even uglier than I remember.”

Jax guffaws and gulps his shot. “What’s wrong with your bike?”

“Somebody punctured the tyre,” I say.

“The kids don’t do such things,” Axel says.

“Oh really?” I say. “Daisy did that.”

“Daisy does such things,” Jax says. “She broke my son’s nose, remember? When he was six.”

“Your son cut off her ponytail,” Axel says.

“Your daughter is no better, Axel,” Jax continues. “Your daughter stole my daughter’s favourite teddy bear and broke her little finger. Your daughter made Gunner Junior drunk when he was twelve?”

Jax is very sensitive about his kids and kids in general.

I decide to go to the basement and get drunk in solitude. A bottle of vodka swings in my hand as I rise to my feet and move towards the corridor. Brianna passes me but then backs up, gripping my arm.

“Tired?” she asks.

“Sort of.”

“Your room is ready. Have a shower. Go to bed.”

“Thank you for your permission, mommy.”

“I’m just trying to take care of my guest.”

“Thank you.”

“I heard you got divorced.” She flashes me a smile of pity.

I love her as I love every woman in the family, but from a long distance. I love her through my messenger; I love her postcards and her phone calls. I love her photo in my wallet—the photo of my whole family.

I nod. “Finally.”

“Carrie’s friend—“

“No, thank you, mommy, I’m alright.” I notice Sive who’s listening to our conversation. “You, the other mommy, what are you looking at?”

Sive giggles and raises her hand to sign. “Nice to see you. We missed you.”

I send her a smile and notice the third mommy. Athena approaches us and puts her hands on her hips.

“You’re single again,” Athena says. “I have a friend—“

“Jesus,” I growl. “You’re like three killer-flies.”

The three of them erupt into laughter and I escape from them as fast as possible. I open the brown ornate door leading to the basement and go down the stairs. The voices of the kids enjoying their company hit my ears. Fuck. My solitude is not achievable. Not in this house. This house is for the people who like being squeezed like sardines in a can. For the people who love bouncing off one another with every step. For the people who like getting tired of chatting and drinking. Hell yeah. We love this circus. We start missing one another when we go back to our scattered forgotten lives.

Memories flash through my head—streaks of smoke, gunshots, petrified Sol, crying Daisy, Gunner Junior with a gun in his hand—the Voronin Bratva came and smashed us. They stripped us of our life, forced us to go into hiding, and marked all the kids for life.

I feel my throat tighten. I’d die for all the kids. I’ve never been a good uncle, but I’m sober when I wish them a happy birthday. I reprimand them when they’re naughty.

I enter the large room as my eyes flick over all the kids scattered among the punch bags, the training mats and the pool tables. The strip lights on the ceiling give their faces a corpse-like tinge. Bottles of beer are strewn along the wall. The flat screen in the corner flashes with the images from a live concert and the music hurts my ears. Yep, I’m old.

Axel’s son, Hawk, is playing snooker with Zane’s son, Tyler. Carrie’s sons are flirting with the younger version of Sive, Sol. Jax’s kids are smoking weed.

“Hey,” I yell at them. “Get rid of that shit. You know the rules in this house. No shit in the house.”

“Sorry,” Aphrodite squeaks and tramples the joint with her high heel. “Only one joint, Mike.” She looks like a startled chicken.

“I don’t give a shit,” I say. “No joints, cigarettes or other shit.”

Takis, Jax’s son, approaches me and we shake hands.

“No shit in this house, I mean it.” I say firmly. “And you’re responsible for ensuring this,” I add and Takis salutes me.

“Mike,” a squeaky voice says behind me.

Of course, my personal rat is following me like a shadow.

I turn to face Daisy. “What?”

“Can we talk?” Daisy says in a faltering voice.

“About the tyre and the fuel tank?” I thread my fingers through my hair. Daisy cringes into herself as I grab her arm. “Let’s talk then.” I drag her behind me through the arched passage and along the narrow corridor and then into my en-suite bedroom.

Every member of our club has their own room in this house. Mine is between Blaze’s and Jax’s. The majority of the kids sleep in the basement too.

Daisy pulls away from me and hugs herself as I slam the door shut.

“Sit down,” I say. “I need to take a shower first. Then we will talk about my bike and about the punishment.”

She bobs her head at me and drops into the armchair that stands opposite the double bed covered with a patchwork bed throw. “I’m sorry.” Her voice trembles as she puts her hands neatly on her lap as a good girl would.

“I have an idea how to punish you,” I say.

Daisy’s eyes widen with fear. Her chin trembles. Her lips form an ‘o’. I can picture myself in my mind with my dick in her mouth, balls deep. She’d gag and she’d swallow every drop of my cum.

“Don’t go anywhere. You’ll be very sorry when I finish with you.” I remove my cut and t-shirt and toss them onto the bed then grab a towel from the cupboard and go to the bathroom.

As I strip and step into the shower cabin, I fight the urge to return to Daisy, grab her and have a shower with her.

My dick is so hard it hurts.

Daisy

I inhale deeply as the images of his naked muscular chest bombard my mind. He’s so enormous, so hairy. So primal. I shake. I melt. I almost faint. Fever surges through me.

He said he’d punish me.

He’ll talk to my dad and they’ll send me to the nuns’ coven. Yeah, Dimitri could suggest that. I’d be grounded even more than I’m now.

Or maybe Mike will tell me he will never visit us again.

I don’t want to hear this from him, so I decide to be a coward. I leave Mike’s room on my tiptoes and go upstairs. Uncles are getting drunk. Mom and Aunties are tidying up so I go to my bedroom to unpack all the presents. My heart hammers in my chest. My head pulsates.

Mike looks like I remember him, a hairy werewolf exuding this alluring aura. He smells so manly, so right. His appearance is still present in my mind, and his scent is still lingering in my nostrils. These stimuli wake something dark and dangerous inside me.

I had admired him my whole childhood. Now I desire him like a woman desires a man.

The presents are beautiful, but I can’t focus on enjoying them.

I go to the bathroom to have a bath, then I lie down on my bed and think about Mike. I hear all the guests dispersing into their rooms and a peaceful silence takes possession of the house.

The door creaks open and I see Sol embraced by the streak of light from the corridor. She moves towards my bed and dives under the duvet, clinging to me.

“You smell like a brewery, Sol.”

“Just two beers, relax.”

“And some vodka?”

“One shot. I wish I could be such a saint as you.” She rolls on her side.

I hear her inhale deeply then I hear her retch.

“The bowl is in the bathroom,” I say. “Don’t throw up over my duvet.”

She crawls off the bed and darts to the bathroom.

I hear her moans and retches.