Chapter 22

Chapter

Twenty-Two

K andie

"You can call her in a bit," Rocco tells me over the line. "Use FaceTime so she'll know you aren't being coerced."

After he hangs up, I pace the small expanse of my bakery, tensing, making my shoulders so tight I feel a pinch of pain. As much as I try not to blame myself for being wrong as hell, I can't help the guilt eating me up like Devil Lye . I almost feel the queasiness that proceeds retching, but I push it down. The best thing to do is get it over with and hope Ezekiel-Jane doesn't hate me.

My words at her and Saban leaving play over and over in my mind. " I can't y'all I'm sorry. Nikki can't have me bailing on her now. She's just graduated and I promised to keep that turtle, even if I don't really have a yard. She's just got around to trusting us enough. I'm all she has left." The turtle that is even now at the Honey Love Farm. Ms. Berniece Sanders is good company, even though she eats way more than I thought a turtle could, but she's a giant one.

We hugged, and they got on the private plane Krie snuck from under her husband's nose. I took my chances with Ulysses and Angel, but still was mostly no contact with my family because we didn't want to give up my location. My heart was crushed for months and I threw myself into making Wildcat Kandie liquor rather than to allow myself to sink any lower when it came to the man I gave myself to.

I dial the number that Rocco gave me, waiting long minutes before her beautiful cherubic face fills the screen.

"Kandie?" I hear her ask, pressing the button and bending to look at the screen.

"Hey, girlie," I chime happily, the bakery quiet behind me in the early afternoon light. My anxiety seemed to flee the moment I saw my cousin. She's glowing. Western Cape seems to agree with her.

"One second," she tells me. I hear the muffled fuss of a baby.

"I'm back." I watch her settle a newborn baby on her breast to nurse.

"Ohmyfuckingoodness, Ohmyfuckingoodness," I cheer over the line, clapping my hands.

"You had a baby. Jeeze Louise, Ezekiel-Jane, you had a baby? I didn't know…" I trail off as the realization hits me like an unstable baking rack. "Ohhh, no wonder he lost his frigging mind." Clutching my hair at the sides, I tip my head back, hearing but not registering the sounds I'm making. Heat burns my eyes, tears spilling over in a cascade down my cheeks. I cover my face for the sheer havoc this misunderstanding has wrought in my cousin's life. Pulling my hands free, I wipe the tears away as best I can.

"I'm so sorry, Easy." My hand trembles as I cover my mouth, looking into her earnest face that seems so perplexed right now. I don't know how to tell her.

"Why?" Confusion and concern sharpen her tone. She looks at me like I'm having a full-on mental breakdown — which I am. She looks like she wants to come to comfort me. Only I don't think I deserve that.

"What the fuck?" A roar sounds behind me. I jerk to find Ulysses storming over to me.

"What's wrong? Who are you talking to?" His booming voice cuts in just before he fills the screen, upsetting what I was about to say.

"Ezekiel-Jane?" he whispers, like all the air has been sucked out of his large frame when he sees her sitting before him on the screen nursing the baby, his face paling under his tan skin. I'm guessing Angel kept her pregnancy a secret from him too. I wonder if Mimi knows who would have been the first person Easy went to then everything spiraled so fast afterward.

"It's me." She smiles at us over the screen. "This is Judah, my son."

I stop at that, knowing she lost her parents just like I did when she was a kid.

"Judah? Like your dad?" I can't help the emotional response I'm having.

"Yeah." There is a long silence as we both drink in the baby and Easy.

"Why did you say you were sorry?" she asks after a long moment.

Searching U's face, I struggle to find the right words. I see his jaw ticking, but when he looks at me it's not recrimination there but the silent promise that I can count on him no matter the outcome. His solemn blue eyes hold that oath and it gives me the courage to say the next words.

"I made a huge mistake." Dashing away tears, I forge ahead. "I didn't fully understand the situation with the kids. Yeah, they were being trafficked. But the person who was behind it was Rudy not Angel…" I rush through the rest about how some deputies stumbled upon the two tractor trailers on some obscure side road pretending they had a break down when they were waiting for their connect — Rudy who turned out to be dead because of his challenge to Angel. It seems that he'd been running a trafficking side hustle in an attempt to get backing to take over El Diablo Cartel.

She listens, her face giving nothing away as the words pour out.

I end with what Krie told me when I came back to town. "They tried to contact you. To let you and Saban know he was innocent. They just had the kids in the warehouse until they could find them safe passage back home or place them with relatives here. The ones who'd actually been sold have been given asylum status. I-I'm so sorry, Easy," I finally trail off.

She looks too stunned to speak. My tummy is in knots as I wait for her to lash out at me like anyone would be well within their rights to do, but especially her. I denied her the support of her husband through her first pregnancy. Not to mention Angel missing the entire pregnancy. Guilt has my tummy in knots.

"It's not your fault, Kandie. It was an honest mistake," she says in a distant, distracted voice. "I have to go now."

"I'm sorry," I whisper, watching the screen blur. I sit there for I don't know how long. Absently, I notice Ulysses moving around in the periphery.

"Come on, wildcat." I look at him, feeling so lost. "We can start fresh tomorrow."

I look at his outstretched hand for a long moment before I place my hand in his and allow him to lead me out of the Kandie Shoppe.

"How we doing, wildcat?" Resting his chin on the pile of curls atop my head, he trails his fingers through the suds as he checks on me.

We stayed silent as we processed everything that's happened.

"Angel says thank you," he murmured before he went to run the tub. "He says you gave him his family back."

His words cause more tears. I feel anything but worthy of gratitude. I feel like the worst of the worst people. I cost them nearly a year of time together. Me, who knows more than anything how precious family is and how fleeting time is. Forget tomorrow not being promised to you, right now isn't either. "Find the one that speaks to your soul," my mom would say to us. "And never let them go. Life is too fleeting."

"Okay, I guess." My answer is a shadow. I feel like a wraith. Hulled out and left hollow. "I will be," I concede, watching as he twines his long fingers between mine. The bath served its purpose. Easing the aches, we both got setting the bakery back to rights before we open. We needed an entire new inventory. Krie offered to front me what I needed, but Ulysses took care of it. Said he was putting his Shelby inheritance to good use. I told him he was making his ancestors roll in their graves and he gave a quick reply. "Good, if it means it's making you smile."

"Alright, this water is getting cold." Shifting me forward, he rises. Stepping from the garden tub, water sluicing down the hard planes of his body, I deliberately look away. He's too much of a temptation. He's been back in my life for three weeks and hasn't made a move to touch me. Admittedly, I was skittish at first. Then he started looking good as fuck, especially when he was doing acts of service like organizing shelves and loading fifty-pound bags of cake flour. Just so happens when he started seeming less hesitant my period started so that put a stop to that train of thought for both of us.

"Here." Handing me the towel, he turns, and I see that little muscle working in his jaw.

"Thanks," I say, wrapping the plush cotton around my body. Moving behind him, I press a kiss to his damp shoulder.

"I said thanks," murmuring I kiss the spot beaded with moisture again, following with a quick nip of his flesh.

"The fuck you doing?" He turns. I guess the question is rhetorical because his dick is already answering. His eyes bore into me with questions and worry. "Are you still bleeding?"

"No." I smirk, dropping little kisses and bites over his broad chest. His muscles jump each time and it brings a wicked smile to my lips. Leaning in right under his right pec, I sink my teeth into his flesh. He stiffens and his dick kicks high against my tummy, sending a thrill straight to my kittykat.

I lick the spot, then suck the flesh into my mouth. He groans, holding my head against him. Leaning back, I look at my handy work, unable to hide the smile of pride spreading across my face when I see the big bruise there. "Miss me?"

His eyes are like an artic storm when I meet them.

"Fuck yeah. Every damn day, wildcat." His big hand caresses my cheek. His thumb slides down, pushing past my lips. "You know I'm going to have to punish you, right?"

Nodding, then wrapping my mouth around the intrusion, I suck long and hard before digging my teeth into the pad of his meaty flesh. Another groan accompanies him, shoving his thumb in deep until he reaches the back of my throat. Testing me, he repeats the motion a few more times. "On your fucking knees, wildcat."

Slipping down to the floor, I drag the towel for a little comfort. Rising high on my knees, I arch until I'm eye level with his dick. Dipping my head, I cover his sac into my mouth. Sucking him, I dance the globes on my tongue, releasing him with a pop. I go back in, taking him back into my mouth. Spreading his thighs, he allows me free rein to pleasure him. Taking my time, I savor him, loving the fresh delicious taste of him. Fresh, clean, and a hint of citrus. My eyes burn a little at what I denied him, denied us.

Pulling free, I look up at him. "I'm ready to learn my lesson."

Face hardening, he grips my messy bun in one big fist. "Open your fucking mouth."

No sooner than I comply does he push his massive length to the back of my throat. "Take all this motherfucker, lil mama." I do my best when he presses back until he finds his home in the back of my throat.

"Yeah, that's it," he murmurs, holding me steady, pressing deeper and deeper into my throat. "Breathe through that shit," he growls. Tears spill down my face and a tight knot coils low in my pussy as I relax around him. Grip relentless. Hold merciless, he makes me take as much of him as I can. He feeds me his dick again and again. Wetness slicks my thighs as he fucks my face, bottoming into my throat.

"Look at her cry." Hips pistoning, he grinds in and out of my mouth. He uses my mouth like it's his own little fuck toy.

"Take this motherfucker you made wait. Take it down that messy ass little mouth." His hips flex hard as his essence pours over my tongue. Dick kicking, he demands, "Take all my come. Don't waste any of it."

Swallowing rope after rope, an unhinged kind of happiness fills me when he grunts his approval. "Good girl."

Seconds later, I'm being lifted and thrown over his shoulder. Holding me steady with one heavy hand covering most of one bottom cheek, he strides into the main space of the loft dumping me squarely onto the down comforter.

"Uh-uh, stay like I put you," he commands, crowding behind me. Looking over my shoulder, our gazes meet for a brief second before his head disappears between my ass cheeks. His mouth covers my pussy from the back.

"Fuck," I near scream, feeling his hot mouth missing no part of me. His tongue laps over my pussy lips before dipping and swirling into my hole. He tongue fucks me like it's his ministry. He worships me. Arching into his mouth, I fuck his face just as he did mine. My eyes roll as pleasure ripples through me. Tongue fucking and flicking my clit is like a mission for him. My tummy drops every time he brings me close, only to pull back at the last moment, denying me what I need.

"U, please," I cry after the fifth time he denies my orgasm.

"Nah, wildcat." Rising, he slaps my ass hard, sending a fire straight to my spot. I shudder as the tendril of orgasmic bliss makes me shatter. "You denied us for months." Another toe-curling smack. "You ran and hid this pussy from me." Another. "Hid yourself." Smack. "I searched the state." Smack. "All the way to your cousins in New York." Smack. I gasp in surprise. I can't imagine what FADE thought of a Shelby coming to his compound. Hearing my response, he falls silent. Spreading my cheeks, he dips a finger into my pussy. Adding another, he presses a kiss to the top of my crease, his fingers working inside me. My muscles clench around him when he drags them free. "I promised myself this ass when I found you," he whispers against my flesh, easing one finger inside me, slowly pumping.

Licking from seam to rosette, he finger fucks my ass. I'm breathless, scared, and filled with anticipation.

Rising, he lines up with my pussy, pressing the head into my tightness. "You better be glad. She still needs training." Grumbling, he keeps working me as his dick splits me open with ruthless precision.

My mouth is open, no sound emits, as I can do nothing but take what he's giving me. I feel every inch, every ridge of his hardness driving into me. I can feel him in my damn chest. He's almost mean with it, giving no quarter, barely a chance to catch my breath.

"You know this is what you deserve, don't you, wildcat? You know me ramming this dick in your hot little pussy is exactly what a little cumslut like you deserves?" he grits. The pressure of his invasion is so intense my toes curl. Back arching, I can't help taking as much of him as I can. Simultaneously, he fucks both holes, driving into me with a brutal relentlessness. Burying my face into the counterpane, I let him put me through my paces. His dick is punishing in its demand to wring pleasure.

"U—" Reaching back, I try to hold him off.

Grabbing my arm, he holds it against my back. "Shut the fuck up and take this dick, wildcat. I don't want to hear shit from you, but yes, fuck me. You got that?" Holding me, he slams his hips into my flesh, more heavy slaps make my ass jiggle as he finger fucks my ass at the same time.

I feel myself coming despite his mean words. Muscles spasming almost to a painful degree, I see stars as he pounds inside me. My essence gushes all over us as I come.

"Fuck yeah, baby, squirt on this motherfucker. You gone lick that shit up too." Riding me through my orgasm, he waits, his breath heaving. Easing out of me, he turns me around to face him.

"Clean your mess up." His eyes are chips of ice. Hand trembling, I take his dick, licking it clean. "All of it," he says. Grabbing my hair, he moves me lower, making me lick every drop from his sac and thighs before moving me to his lower abs. "Such a good little fuck toy," he growls, shoving me back on the bed.

Kneeling before me, he pushes my thighs up and knees over my head. Stradling me with my knees literally over my head, he slowly glides the head of his dick into my soaked pussy. The sounds would be embarrassing if I cared about anything other than how full I feel as his dick fills up every inch of me.

"Look at how prettily she takes me. Look how she missed me, welcoming me, like a good fucking girl." Pressing down, he holds the back of my thighs as he bottoms out, his sac pressing against my back hole. "Let me know if it gets to be too much, wildcat. But you're taking me so well." Gliding out, he strokes back into me. My pussy is so open for him. The pressure and intensity of this position is mind-blowing. It's an almost an out-of-body experience with my head cocooned between my knees as Ulysses completely surrounds me with his big body. I feel open, vulnerable, yet cared for at the same time.

"Look at you, just beautiful," he praises, his eyes clouded with an intensity that almost makes me want to shy away. "Taking me so good. You missed this?" I nod, words caught in my throat, letting him fill me again and again. "Missed me?" He almost sounds plaintive.

"Yes," I manage.

"Good, because I need you to take more." He angles his body. "I need you to take it all, wildcat," he grounds out, his hips increasing in pace and intensity until he's driving into me, fucking me like I owe him money. He hits my spot with every pass. The pressure rises and rises, taking me higher than I have ever been. Him hitting my spot with the blunt head of his dick is almost painful, but I whine and beg for more. I'm babbling nonsense as he fucks me. My legs start to shake as he demands I take all of him, then praises me more when I do.

"Such a good girl taking me so good. Giving me everything I need."

Bliss so profound coalesces from deep within me spiraling uncontrollably until I am quaking with an orgasm so cataclysmic that my synapsis misfire.

"That's it. Give me what's mine, wildcat. Give me all of it."

Distantly, I hear a shout as darkness wraps me in its loving arms.