Chapter 5: Chapter Five

Jessica sat in her car and stared at her house. She had ice cream in her sack, but if it melted and got all over the car she really did not care. If it hadn’t been for Mags at the grocery store she would have lost it and called Maria Moore a royal bitch and told her to mind her own business.

“She probably killed her, just like that other Coleman woman killed her husband. You can’t trust them, and because her man is a cop, she’ll get away with it. Murderer.”

The woman’s words rang through Jessica’s mind as she sat there. Mags had ordered the woman out, and told her to get her food elsewhere from now on. Jessica might do the same thing with the retirees in the morning, because she was sure it was their gossip that had spread all around town and branded her a killer.

“Damn you Matilda Dobbs,” she said. “When they find you I’m going to slap you across the face. Twice.”

“Twice is a little excessive, don’t you think?”

Jessica jumped, then looked out her open window to where Hawk stood. He had three pizza boxes balanced in one hand. She couldn’t help but giggle, then she pointed at the boxes. “You bought three pizzas? Talk about excessive.”

“Get out of the car,” he said. “I’ve been behind you for five minutes and you’ve just been sitting here. Are you locked out? Is that why you’re waiting for me?”

“No.” She took the keys from the ignition and got out of the car after he’d backed away. “I have groceries in the back.”

She took out two bags, and then headed toward the back door.

“What’s up?” he asked as she put the key in the door and threw it open. “That was a rather, um, forceful opening.”

“I got called a murderer at the store,” she said as she went inside. “Maria Moore.”

“I’ll remember to give her a speeding ticket the next time I see her.” He stepped inside and put the boxes on the table. “Aurora said she’d heard the gossip at the grocery store while she was there.”

“Damn retirees,” she said. “They’re banned.”

“Don’t fly off the handle.” Hawk came over and put his hands on her shoulders. He kissed her forehead and said, “Why don’t you go change.”

She knew what that meant, and she was more than happy to follow his order. She went to the bedroom without bothering to unpack the groceries. It took her seconds to strip out of her clothes and put on a pair of baby-doll pajamas that she kept for Little days. She was rather surprised he didn’t want to talk about Monday night, how she’d basically lied to him. It wasn’t like Sir to let things like that slide. Which meant she needed to be on the lookout for a discussion about the situation.

But not tonight. He never did things like that on a Little night. She left her hair down and padded, barefoot, into the living room. Hawk sat on the sofa, his bare feet propped up on the coffee table, a heaping plate of pizza centered on his thighs.

“There’s pepperoni pizza, breadsticks, and a chocolate chip cookie. But no cookie for you until after dinner, understand?”

“Yes, Daddy.” She hurried to the kitchen where she helped herself to food, then filled a glass with ice and soda. She took her dinner to the living room and sat down next to Hawk. “Do you need anything, Daddy?”

“Not now,” he said. He was working through the pile of food on his plate. She’d always said the man had the appetite of an elephant, but he never seemed to gain an ounce.

He took a drink from his soda. “How are things on the cake front?”

“All nine done,” she said. “We’re meeting at four at the bakery, just after it closes.”

“Good job, sweet pea.” Jessica took a bite from her pizza and focused on the TV. He had old cartoons on, where the roadrunner ran from the coyote. Sometimes she thought he enjoyed watching cartoons as much as she did, although she knew he did it for their Daddy/Little time. Or maybe he did. The cartoon ended just as Jessica finished a slice of pizza.

“You want to talk about Monday?” His voice was deep, and she could tell he was trying to hold in his emotions.

“Not particularly,” she said.

“Then let me phrase it a different way. I want to talk about Monday.”

“I thought we didn’t talk about sex during Little time.” She was pushing it, she knew. She should have faced the situation head on; instead, she was putting it off.

“This isn’t about the sex, and you know it.”

“The sex was pretty great,” she said.

He sighed so heavily she wondered if there was any air left in his lungs.

“I’m talking about you lying to me.”

“I didn’t lie!”

“What’s the old saying, omission is still a lie?” He was looking at her now. She couldn’t quite read his expression. He was angry, true, but there was also concern on his face.

“You don’t think I hurt her, do you?”

“No.” He took her hand in his and squeezed it. “But the Texas Rangers might. I understand her son is an ass, and he’s pushing the idea you had something to do with her disappearance.”

So much for keeping her pizza down. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“One thing at a time,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she came to visit you? And threatened you?”

“Because I thought I could handle it,” she said. “I didn’t take the ring, so I didn’t think there was anything to worry about. Naïve of me, true, but I did what I had to do.”

He continued to stare at her, and she knew she’d said the wrong thing.

“Do you remember when we officially started our relationship, not the one night let’s fuck and have a good time start, but when we sat down and talked it out, our public relationship, and the one we kept behind closed doors?”

“Of course I do.” Jessica knew where this was going, and she wasn’t happy about it, because he was right. She should have told him about Mrs. Dobbs’ visit. But she didn’t want to admit she’d been wrong.

“What did we say?”

“That you’re in charge,” she said. “But this was…” She couldn’t say this was about work, because it wasn’t. This was about her personal life, and she’d given him responsibility over it. She should have called him the minute Mrs. Dobbs left. Instead she’d kept it to herself. “You’re blaming me for something I couldn’t keep from happening.”

“Wrong,” he said. “I’m not blaming you for her visit. I’m upset about what came after. You agreed to let me care for you, to be your Daddy Dom. To make sure you were safe, and sound. That woman threatened you, and you kept it to yourself. How can I keep you safe if you don’t tell me what’s happening?”

Jessica stared at the slice of pizza that was still on her plate. It had looked so good earlier, but now her stomach churned. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I am, too,” he said. He got up and took his plate to the kitchen. Seconds later she heard the rattle of car keys. She jumped up from the sofa and raced after him.

“You’re leaving?” She still had her plate in her hand.

“I left something in the truck. I’ll be right back.” He crossed the room and kissed her on the forehead. “I would never abandon you. You should know that.”

She should know it, but thinking that wasn’t something that came easily to her. She put her plate next to his on the kitchen counter. His was empty. Hers was not. When he came back inside she stared at what he carried.

“A composition book,” she said. She sighed heavily. She wasn’t much on writing lines.

“Use this as a journal,” he said as he handed it to her. “Something tells me you have issues you don’t want to share with me, but things you need to think through. Write them down in here and work through them that way.”

“You mean so you can read them later?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. A diary was a very private thing—because even if it was called a journal it was basically a diary—and if he wanted to be able to read it, that didn’t set well with her.

“This is for your eyes only,” he said. “I won’t read it, but I want to know you’re using it. All I ask is if writing every day helps you discover something, like why you would keep something from me, you would ask to discuss it with me.”

“Thank you.” That reminded her Hawk was the most loving, generous man she’d ever known. She could trust him, and that thrilled her to no end.

“Good. Now I want to eat more before the pizza gets colder.” He refilled his plate and went back to the living room.

Jessica ran her hand over the cover of the composition book. It was purple, her favorite color. It made her smile that he knew that. She took it into her bedroom, then came back to the kitchen, added a slice of pizza and a few breadsticks to her plate, then went into the living room.

“We need some ranch dressing for these breadsticks,” she said after she took a bite of one.

“You know where it is,” he said. She went back to the kitchen, filled a bowl with the dressing, then sat down next to him. She picked up a breadstick and had just started to dunk it when he pulled it away from her and dunked his own.

“Hey!” She reached for the bowl but he held it out of her reach.

“Mine,” he said.

“Share!” She reached for it again, and couldn’t help but giggle when he held it out of her reach.

“Say please.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and Jessica laughed.

“Please, Daddy, may I have the dressing?”

“Wow, that was as weak as last week’s tea.”

She was tempted to crawl over his lap and grab the bowl, but that would probably end in a mess of ranch dressing on the floor. It was obvious what he wanted, but she didn’t like to beg, even in Daddy/Little time.

But she could be bratty.

“Give it to me now.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” she said. “I. Want. The. Dressing.”

“Do you?” He leaned over and put the bowl on the end table. “Then go and get it.”

She had pushed him too far, she could tell. There was an edge to his voice that told her this would end in a spanking, but not one that would end in good sex. Damn it. She had two choices. She could spring herself across his lap and grab the bowl, or could get up and go around the coffee table. There were good and bad reasons to follow one way or the other, and she wasn’t exactly sure where to go.

So she took the bull by the horns and launched herself over his lap, even though he had a plate full of pizza and breadsticks on his lap. She heard the plate crack as she landed, and she winced. Her knee landed on his thigh as she tried to crawl toward the bowl.

He slapped her ass and she cried out. The plate crunched again, and a sharp pain sliced through her thigh.

“Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!”

He must have recognized the tone of her voice because he lifted her as if she were a feather and put her on her feet. A small sliver of plate stuck out of her bare leg, right below the hem of the pajamas she wore.

“Oh crap.” There was blood, but not a lot of it. He jumped up and pushed her down on the sofa before he dropped to her knees. “It’s not bad. Maybe I should call Kyle.”

“He’s a vet!” Her voice was much louder than she thought it should be. She reached for the piece of plate and he grabbed her hand.

“Don’t.” He stared at her in concern. “We have no idea how deep it is, or if it’s cut a vein. There’s just a little bit of blood, but if we pull it out it could get worse. Stay where you are; I’m calling Kyle.”

“Okay.” Her leg throbbed a little, not enough for her to think there was a lot of damage from the plate, but enough for her to not argue with him anymore. As Hawk spoke on the phone a thought occurred to her. What if it wasn’t just Kyle and Reed?

“They’re on their way,” he said.

Visions of all six Coleman brothers, plus Holt’s future wife Aurora, filling her living room made her shiver. And then she said, “They’re going to see me in my pajamas.”

“Stay there.” Hawk went into her bedroom and came back with her robe.

“I’d rather a shirt and bra,” she said.

“And I’d rather you not move around so much.” He sat down next to her. “Relax.”

“You don’t have a shard of crockery sticking out of your leg.”

He squeezed her hand, and she focused on the TV. Her leg throbbed, and she wondered if he was right, if the shard was deeper than she thought. What if blood squirted out when they removed it? She didn’t care for the sight of blood.

“Relax,” Hawk said. “I’m here.”

“Thank God,” she said. “It looks small, but it scares me.”

“We’re here,” Reed called out. She looked up to see him and Kyle come into the room. She was glad they hadn’t brought the third triplet, Wyatt, with them. They both had a black bag in their hand.

“Punishment with broken plates?” Kyle called. “That’s a new one.”

Jessica blushed and looked away.

“Cut it out,” Hawk said. “Take a look, see if we should go to the emergency room or not.”

Kyle pushed his way past Hawk. “Back up, dork and let the professionals through.”

The two veterinarians knelt, one on each side of her. They took her pulse, probed around the wound, and then Reed cleared his throat.

“It’s in deeper than it looks, but not too deep,” he said. “I don’t think it’s nicked any major body part. What do you think, Kyle?”

“I think we can take it out and if it bleeds too much we’ll go to plan B.”

“What is that?” Jessica asked.

“The emergency room,” Kyle said, just as a sharp pain spread through her thigh. Reed had pulled it out while she’d been talking to Kyle. She looked down at the sharp piece of crockery Reed held in his hand. It was sharp and covered in blood.

She gasped, and then promptly fainted.

***

When she woke she was in bed, with Hawk next to her. She pushed up on her elbow and looked down at her thigh. It didn’t hurt, but it was wrapped in a gauze bandage.

“It’s not even four,” Hawk said. “Go back to sleep.”

“What happened?”

“It was a little deeper than they thought,” Hawk said, sleepily. “They took advantage of you being unconscious to clean it, then gave you four stitches. They also gave you a shot of antibiotics to ward off a possible infection, since there was food on the plate when it broke.”

“They had antibiotics they can use on a human?”

“I didn’t ask, but I trust them, implicitly.”

“I don’t do well around blood,” Jessica said. She lay her head against Hawk’s chest, since he hadn’t moved from the bed. He was still flat on his back.

“I noticed,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you bleed.”

“Hopefully, you won’t see it much.” She snuggled against him. “I sort of ruined Little night, didn’t I?”

“We’ll try tomorrow.” He wrapped her in his arms and she felt warm and cared for.

“Tomorrow is Friday,” she said. “Are you coming to the cake testing?”

“Nope,” he said. “It’s just Holt and Aurora.”

“So we’ll do it again tomorrow?” she asked. They didn’t have a set time for Little play. It just sort of came as it may.”

“Sounds like fun,” he said. “How about burgers and fries… and paper plates?”

Jessica playfully swatted at his arm. He held her close, and when she heard his even breathing she knew he’d fallen asleep. She was always up early to get to the bakery by six so she could pull dough out of the refrigerator after she’d taken it out of the freezer before she left the day before.

She tenderly pulled herself away from him and stood. Hawk slept through her movement. Once in the living room she realized he’d cleaned up. The empty pizza boxes were in the trash. Sitting on the table was the composition book he’d brought her. Jessica picked it up and flipped through the pages. Then she found a pen, sat down at the table, and started to write.