Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Ford

This is all going to backfire in our faces—I can feel it. And it will all be my fault because I had to open my big fucking mouth. When she was talking about her ex, it struck a nerve. Then the way she looked at me with her big ice-blue eyes and those damn freckles... I caved like a weak-ass man, picturing her on her knees, my hand wrapped in her long blue hair, and her pouty lips parting for me to slide my cock into her mouth.

After we ate, Lenny, as she wants to be called, decided to decorate the living area. I have spent the last ten minutes looking through the clothes selection, and let’s just say her uncle’s partner doesn’t have the same taste in clothes as me. He likes bright colors and bold prints, whereas I prefer suits. I managed to find a pair of blue sweats and a plain white shirt.

Zeph walks in shirtless and smirks at me. “Blue suits you, Daddy.”

I shake my head at him. “Don’t start with me.”

“I was thinking—and yes, I know it’s dangerous... but should we maybe let her see our faces? Hear me out. If she’s our alibi and she doesn’t know what we look like, there is no way it would hold up in court.”

“And if she finds out we are not from that website, and who we really are, how will that play out?”

Zeph shrugs. “It’s got to be better than going to prison. What if we just show her our faces and tell her our first names? Hopefully, when we leave here, she will move on with her life and never see us again.”

I run my hand over my face. It feels weird to have a beard; I normally shave every morning.

“Even if she finds out we are not with the website, she has consented to everything we have done. Lenny has presumed we’ve been gifted to her by her friend, but we’ve never confirmed that’s the case. You can’t tell me your hotshot lawyer couldn’t work with that if he had to. Besides, I have a gut feeling she needs this right now and wouldn’t care.”

He has a point about our alibi, though I don’t like hiding behind a lie when sex is involved. If we tell her a watered-down version of the truth, she can’t run because the storm is still going strong. The power has been flickering but is still on for now, cell reception is nonexistent, and according to Lenny, her uncle doesn’t have the Wi-Fi connected here yet.

The sound of Taylor singing has both Zeph and me looking toward the door. “Looks like Taylor is getting friendly,” I say, and Zeph growls. He is possessive of Taylor. I know they also sleep with women, but Zeph didn’t have a good upbringing, and he had nothing of his own. So now when he has something, he fears losing it. He is covered in physical and emotional scars from the abuse he endured during his childhood.

When we first met, and I let them stay with me, he would take non-perishable food and store it in his closet. Not because he intentionally wanted to steal from me, but from fear of losing it. He is okay now, but it was after a lot of trust was built between us, with me showing him that no matter how much he tried to piss me off, there would always be food and he would always get paid. Even still, Zeph takes his money out of the bank and stores it in a shoebox, always ready to run at a moment’s notice.

Taylor has similar insecurities, but while his parents were terrible, they didn’t beat him. They were junkies, and he had to find his own way to make money.

I might not get along with my father, but I had a good upbringing. I had the best money could buy since my father bought my love—or my silence when I would catch him cheating. Mom knew, she wasn’t an idiot, and she used it against him when she finally asked for a divorce.

We walk back down the hall and into the living area and come to a stop. Taylor has Lenny on his shoulders, and both are singing horrendously to Mariah Carey’s Christmas album. Everyone knows the words because it’s blasted through every store at this time of year. She attaches some tinsel to the ceiling, and as he moves, she drapes it and sticks more down.

“Taylor,” Zeph snaps.

Well, I guess we may as well give up our identities now. I grab the balaclava and pull it over my head as he turns around.

Lenny goes wide-eyed. “You took it off,” she says with a smile.

Zeph doesn’t move. He just stares at Taylor as he lifts Lenny over his shoulders and sets her back down on the floor. She looks between all three of us.

“Calm down, caveman,” Taylor says, moving toward Zeph and placing a hand on his chest. “I’m not leaving you. I’m just helping the pretty girl hang the decorations.”

Zeph relaxes under his touch, and to further defuse the situation Lenny is taking in, I step toward her. “I guess we should formally introduce ourselves. I’m Ford.”

She reaches out, giving my hand a squeeze, and stares up at me. For the first time in my life, I almost buckle under her scrutiny. The way she is looking at me gives me butterflies in my stomach.

“It’s nice to have a face and a name,” she says, followed by a smile.

“Those two idiots are Taylor and Zeph.”

She turns to look at them, and they both have their masks off. “I apologize for my behavior,” Zeph says, winking at her.

“No need to apologize. I shouldn’t have wrapped my legs around your boyfriend’s neck when you were not in the room. If I crossed a line, I’m the one who should be sorry.”

Taylor and Zeph both laugh, then Zeph replies, “He isn’t really my boyfriend. It’s complicated, plus I have abandonment issues. Sometimes old habits resurface, but Daddy is making me go to therapy.”

“Do you call him Daddy because he is your dad? He does look a bit older than you guys.”

That makes me snort. “I’m not old enough to be their father, not unless I had them when I was barely a teenager. They call me Daddy because they think it’s funny.”

“Don’t be modest. It’s because you look after us, Ford. Zeph and I had a shit upbringing, and Ford has been like a father figure to us, you could say. And it is funny.”

“Daddy has a nice ring to it,” Lenny says, winking at me. And fuck me—the image of her on her knees flashes before my eyes, but this time she’s whispering, “Daddy.”

“Little girl, don’t start something you’re not willing to finish. I might take you over my knee and spank you.”

“Yes please, Daddy,” she says and bites her lip. I growl deep in the back of my throat. Fuck, Ford! Calm down . Since we revealed our faces, we might as well throw everything on the table and see what she says.

“Let’s save that for a minute. Can we all sit down? I need to tell you something before you consent to any more sexual activity.”

“Okay,” she says with a furrowed brow. She moves to the couch, and all three of us sit on the large marble coffee table opposite her.

Taylor looks lost, since he wasn’t privy to the conversation Zeph and I had earlier.

“I want to start by saying you are in no danger around us. If what I’m about to say makes you uncomfortable, then we can leave. But hear me out before you respond.” She nods and bites down on her thumbnail. “We are not from a website. We really broke in, but it was to get out of the storm. Zeph here decided it was a great idea to stop at a bar and pick a fight.”

Her eyes go wide, but she remains quiet. She looks at Zeph’s face, where he has a nice gash across the top of his nose.

“It was a good idea to be noticed there, and there’s nothing like a good punch in the face,” Zeph retorts.

“Anyway, we didn’t think anyone was home, and we needed a place to lie low until the storm passed. What we didn’t expect was you. No one should have touched you until you knew the truth.”

“Fuck, I’m so sorry,” Taylor says. “You were just so sad and cute. Though that is a shitty excuse.”

“When I heard you ramble about the website and your friend, Ana, I panicked. I figured we could show you a good time and then leave, but I can’t go back to prison,” Zeph says, sounding defeated.

“Why would you go back to prison?”

Fuck it. Here goes nothing. “We did something stupid. Do you remember earlier I said I got revenge on my ex-wife and my father?”

“Yes,” she says with a little more interest.

“Well, before she screwed me over, she purchased an expensive painting with my money, and she gave it to my father. He proudly put it on display in his house, which is how I figured out their affair was happening. Long story short, we stole it. Zeph is a computer genius, and the footage of three Santas in glow masks stealing it would have appeared to happen at around the time we were somewhere else.”

Lenny laughs. “Let me get this straight... you all dressed up as Santa to steal a painting?”

I scratch my head. I thought for sure she would freak out. We are strangers who lied and fucked her—well, technically, I just came on her back, but still.

“That painting is worth one hundred million dollars,” I reply, and her mouth drops open.

“The Wells family,” she whispers.

“That would be the one. How did you know?” I ask.

“My friend Ana called as I arrived. It was all over the news.”

Taylor laughs. “I’m only pissed we couldn’t be flies on the wall when your father watched the security tape. The reason we dressed up as Santa was because his father hates Christmas. He’s the original Scrooge.”

“Can we focus?” Zeph demands. “You seriously have nothing to say about how we’re not from the website your friend signed you up for?”

Lenny shrugs. “In the end, they would have been strangers as well. You didn’t do anything I didn’t want, and I’m kind of glad in a way—I’m not the kind of girl who pays for sex. Does it mean more sex is off the table, though?”

I chuckle. “Not if you don’t want it to be. But first I need to know if you are questioned by the cops?—”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell them you stole the painting, if that’s what you’re wondering. I mean, who pays so much for a painting when there are starving kids in the world? Your car broke down, and I saw you outside and offered you a place to wait out the storm.”

“Why would you do that?” Zeph snaps at her.

“Zeph,” I growl. “Sometimes people do nice things for no reason. I promise you, if shit goes wrong, I will take full responsibility. Technically, I paid for the painting anyway. The worst they could get me for is breaking into his house.”

“I promise I won’t snitch, and what happens here stays here. But if someone could cover my neck in hickeys before you leave, that would be great, as I really need to piss off my ex.”

Taylor smiles at her. “Oh, we can arrange that, pretty girl.”

“Hey, Zeph, I promise I have no intention of taking what belongs to you,” she says earnestly, and Zeph gives her a sharp nod. She is a smart girl. “Now I think it’s time we played a game of hide-and-seek.” She smiles coyly. “I am going to hide, and whoever finds me gets to decide what to do with me.”

All three of us watch as she stands and moves across the room, pulling aside a tapestry and disappearing into the wall.

“Was that a slide?” Taylor asks.

“I fucking hope so,” Zeph says.

“Let’s give the lady what she wants. Everyone in your Santa suits and masks. May the best man win.”

I plan to find her first because now that she knows who we really are, I intend to have her on her knees, making my idle thoughts a reality.