Authors: Sarina Wilde
“She and Daddy are at the museum showing his sculpture off
to everyone.”
“Mommy too.”
Chas tilted his head. “I thought your mother said she had to
go out of town.”
He shook his head.
Chas closed his mouth before he said anything else. Wyatt
had enough problems without Chas letting fly with what he really thought of
Liam’s ex.
“Well, we’re here. Let’s go downstairs and see if we can’t
rustle up a man’s dinner.”
“What’s that?”
Chas laughed. “I was thinking takeout pizza. What about you?”
Wyatt brightened right up. “Them bring it to us?”
“Sure if that’s what you want.”
The prospect of having a uniformed guy show up at the door
with pizza apparently held some fascination Chas didn’t quite understand, but
if it made Wyatt happy, he was all for it. While they waited for the pizza to
arrive, Chas helped Wyatt pick out a movie.
“I want
Cars
,” Wyatt insisted.
Chas looked at the bright red racecar on the front of it and
grinned. “Excellent choice. One of my personal favorites. I like when they tip
the tractors over.”
Wyatt grinned. “Me too.”
Chas was relieved to see Wyatt returning more and more to
his normal self as they chowed down on pizza, drank sugary soft drinks he was
sure would make Greer cringe, and watched the movie. When it ended, he looked
over at Wyatt, curled up in a corner of the big couch and said, “Bath time.
Want a piggy-back ride upstairs?”
“Okay.”
Chas set him on the floor in the big bath. “Can you handle
gettin’ naked while I run the water?”
“Yup. Greer showed me.”
Chas knelt next to the tub and started the water running,
testing it to make sure the temperature was not too hot or too cold. When he
was finally satisfied, he turned—and fell back on his ass.
“Wyatt?” he began cautiously and swallowed. “What happened
to your butt?”
Chas didn’t really need to ask, but he was trying to buy
some time. There was absolutely no mistaking the hand and finger imprints
starkly outlined in the bruising there. His eyes drifted up, and again saw
bruising around the little boy’s upper arms as though someone had grabbed him
and spanked him—hard enough to leave marks.
* * * * *
Liam and Greer stood near the sculpture accepting
congratulations both on his work and on their engagement. One person was
noticeably absent—Julie. Liam’s phone vibrated in his pants pocket. He turned
away and slipped it out so he could check caller ID. Their house phone.
“Chas is calling,” he whispered to Greer and slipped around
the corner.
“What’s up?” he asked once the crowd noise had diminished
somewhat.
“Liam, I need you two to come home right now. I was getting
ready to give Wyatt a bath. Man, when he took off his clothes, his butt and his
upper arms are covered in bruises. I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but I
have to report what I’ve seen.”
Liam’s heart skipped a beat for a moment, then fury started
pumping through his veins like acid. “Don’t wait for us to get there. I want
you to call Greer’s dad. Get him over there right away to witness you talking
to Wyatt and document the bruising.” He stopped, tears leaking from his eyes at
the thought of what his son had been through. “Jesus. That bitch. She was here.
I gotta go, man.”
“Liam!”
He hung up on Chas, sucking in several deep breaths, but
they did little good. He needed to find Julie, find out just what the hell was
going on. So help him God, he’d kill her. He felt a light touch on his arm and
looked down. Greer stared at him, tears in her eyes along with a steady resolve
that helped him calm.
“Chas called as soon as you disconnected. I’ve already told
the museum curator we have an emergency and need to go.”
“Julie…”
“Is already gone.” She pressed her hands against his chest. “We
need to go home. Wyatt needs us. The police will handle Julie, and you have to
let them.”
His chest was tight and his throat even tighter. Liam closed
his eyes and scrubbed the heels of his hands across them. He’d sat back, not
pushing for fairer custody, and they’d hurt his son. He grabbed Greer’s arm.
“Let’s go.”
When they exited the museum, the curator had already ordered
the BMW brought around. The valet started to hand him the keys, but Greer
grabbed them.
“I’ll drive.”
* * * * *
“Chas?” Wyatt whispered, “You’re not going to spank me too,
are you?”
He wheeled around, having just hung up the phone from
talking to Greer’s father, who was even now on his way over along with his
wife. Chas squatted and pulled Wyatt into his arms. He’d forgone the bath and
simply put the boy in his pajamas.
“No, little man. I won’t spank you. You know you’re safe
here, don’t you?”
Wyatt nodded. “I don’t need my bear here ‘cause you and
Greer and Daddy are here.”
“Why don’t we go back downstairs to the den. We’re going to
have some company—Greer’s mommy and daddy—and Greer and Daddy are coming home
too.”
“Is it about my butt?”
Chas picked him up, cuddling him close. “Yes. It is. You
know I’m a doctor, right?”
“Yeah, but you don’t give shots. Daddy says you fix people.”
“Well, when I see bruises like you have, I have to tell
people.”
“Did you tell Greer’s daddy and mommy?”
“Yes.” Wyatt started to cry. “What’s wrong, buddy?”
The little boy was sobbing. “Why’d you tell on Greer? She
didn’t do nothin’.”
Chas was horrified. “No, no, Wyatt. I didn’t tell like that.
Greer’s daddy is a man who helps people too. He’s helping me, and he’s going to
help you as well.”
“He is? How?”
“Well, he’s going to listen while we talk about what
happened, and he might want to take some pictures.”
“Of my butt?”
Chas nodded. “Your arms too. Will that be okay?”
“I guess.”
“All right. Let’s just settle down on the couch. You wanna
sit on my lap?”
“Yeah.” Wyatt clung to him, his thumb stuck in his mouth.
Chas held him, stroking the little boy’s dark curls while he tamped the fury
burning nearly as bright in him as he was sure it did in Liam. They would be
here soon. Greer’s parents should be here even sooner since they were just a
few minutes down the road.
* * * * *
Greer drove as if demons pursued them. Liam wasn’t the only
one dealing with anger. If she’d realized when she talked to Julie earlier that
Wyatt had actually been hurt, Greer wasn’t sure she could have stopped herself
from belting her right in the face. Bitch. Still, as much as she hated the
woman, she seriously doubted she would have left Wyatt with them knowing he had
marks on him.
She was way too smart for that. In fact, the more Greer
thought about Julie’s remarks about Greer’s scars, the more she started putting
things together and coming up with conclusions that seemed so farfetched at the
moment, she didn’t want to think about them.
Greer turned off the highway and hit the remote to open the
gates on the driveway. She was relieved to see her father’s car already parked
out front.
“Dad and Mom are here.”
Liam’s hands gripped his thighs. He’d barely spoken on the
way home and she knew he wrestled trying to get his emotions under control. As
she pulled up in front of the house and set the brake, she reached over and
touched his hand. “Whatever you need to do, you know Chas and I will be with
you all the way.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “Thank you. Greer, what do I
say to him? I feel like this is all my fault.”
“No, Liam, no. We’ve never seen any indication of this
before, nothing that would have stood out as being a major problem, so you can’t
blame yourself. It’s important you don’t blame yourself. Wyatt needs all our
support.”
Her mother opened the door to them. After a quick glance at
Greer, she took Liam in her arms and hugged him. “Chas and George are in Chas’
study. George called a detective he knows as soon as he finished taking
pictures.”
Greer gave Liam a push. “Go. Mom and I will wait for the
police.”
Liam hurried toward the study, his hands dug deep in his
pants pockets. Greer had no doubt it was to hide how much he was still shaking
from a mixture of fury and worry. As soon as he’d disappeared around the
corner, Greer hugged her mother.
“Thank you for coming. Chas was so upset over the phone…and
Liam. Oh, Momma, he cried. He’s already said a couple of times it’s his fault,
but we had no reason to suspect anything like this. I mean, it was obvious
Julie wasn’t paying as much attention to him as she should…”
“So you don’t think she’s the one responsible?”
Greer shook her head. “No. Had she done this, she would
never have dumped Wyatt on us at the last minute today.” Greer frowned. “There’s
something else just not right about this whole situation, and once we get
everything squared away with Wyatt, I want to talk to Chas.”
“What’s going on?”
“This is going to sound really stupid, but I think his
situation at the hospital is connected to Julie Carle.”
Liam knocked on the door, his heart pounding in a matching
rhythm. At the muffled command to come in, he opened the door to see Chas
sitting in the big leather swivel chair behind his desk, Wyatt curled up
against him, and George Davidson sitting on the other side, a tape recorder
next to him. Liam inhaled and forced a smile to his face.
“Hey, Wyatt.”
“Daddy!” His son scrambled from Chas’ lap and threw his arms
around Liam’s thigh. He bent and plucked him up for a long hug. Once again, his
throat tightened and he had to clear it before he spoke.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh-huh. Do you know Grandpa George?”
“I sure do.” He glanced at George who gave him an
imperceptible nod. Looking back to his son, he said, “I know you’ve probably
already talked to Chas, but can you tell me how you got the bruises on your
butt?”
“I was bad. Louisa told me. She said to take a nap, but I
wasn’t tired.”
“So what happened?”
“She spanked me. I told her it hurt, but she kept doin’ it.”
“Then what happened?”
“She locked me in my room.”
“Did you tell Mommy?” Liam had to ask. Wyatt shook his head.
“Why not, baby?”
“She gets mad. She said she’d take Teddy.”
God damn her
. Liam hugged his son again, then set him
down. “Greer’s outside. Why don’t you see if she’ll get you a snack while
Grandpa George, Chas and I talk?”
“Okay.”
When the door had shut and Liam was sure his son was out of
earshot, he let loose with a string of curses and smacked his palm against the
thick wood of the door frame. “That bitch!” He turned toward George. “I want to
see the pictures. I need to see them before I actually see the bruises on
Wyatt. I need to be able to control my reaction.”
Chas stood, put his hand on Liam’s shoulder, and hugged him.
Liam sat in Chas’ chair while George turned his laptop around.
“The bruising is confined to his upper arms and his bottom,”
George said as he clicked the first image. Liam swallowed the bile that rose in
his throat. “What he tells us and what we see are entirely consistent.”
Liam swiveled his gaze to George. “Is it enough to get
custody?”
George smiled. “Oh yes.”
Lizzy stuck her head in the door. “The police are here.
Shall I show them in?”
“Where’re Greer and Wyatt?”
“She’s getting him a snack in the kitchen, but they’ll be
right back. I already let her know.”
“Why don’t we go to the kitchen? It will be too crowded in
here.”
The next couple of hours passed in a blur of statements and
more pictures. Liam glanced over at Greer and Wyatt. Both of them were wilting.
He looked at the detective and the woman from Child Protective Services.
“I understand Wyatt’s placement will have to be made
official through the courts, but since his mother voluntarily dropped him off
to stay here for the weekend, would it be all right if Greer takes him
upstairs? In fact, if you have what you need from her, I’m sure Greer would
like to stay with him until she’s sure he’s sleeping all right.”
The woman nodded. “That would be fine.”
Greer smiled at them and left with Wyatt cradled in her
arms. Her mother followed. Liam was grateful. He expelled his breath on a heavy
sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. “Julie is supposed to pick him up
tomorrow afternoon. I think it goes without saying I don’t want that to happen.”
“We have a judge on call who can hear this. I don’t
anticipate a problem in getting an emergency child protective order issued.”
George spoke. “And can we get some assurance that order will
include the recommendation that the child stay with Mr. Carle? Because of Wyatt’s
age at the time of their divorce, the court granted primary custody to Mrs.
Carle with unsupervised visitation a minimum of one weekend a month. However,
according to my clients, Julie Carle has used that to her advantage and not in
the best interests of the child.”
“I see no reason why Wyatt should be removed from Mr. Carle’s
custody. It’s obvious he feels happy and secure here. Mr. Carle works from the
home and employs a live-in housekeeper and nanny, so the child is well supervised.”
She glanced at Chas. “Dr. Lynch also resides here and shares in Wyatt’s care.”
She paused and smiled. “A biological parent, a nanny and a doctor all on site?
It should be a no-brainer.”
Liam cleared his throat. “I want everything to be above
board because I know—at least I anticipate—what my ex-wife’s reaction will be.”
“Liam,” George said, “there’s no need to add anything else.”
“Thanks, but I will anyway. Greer is my fiancée, so
technically she’s quite a bit more than simply our employee. But the other
thing you should know is Dr. Lynch is our domestic partner as well.”
The woman’s eyes widened slightly. “My job isn’t to make any
kind of moral judgments as long as you’re providing a safe, secure home for the
child. That’s what I see, so that will be my recommendation.”
Chas and Liam both smiled. They wrapped things up fairly
quickly, the police leaving with copies of the photographs, and the medical
examination signed off on by Chas, though he had recommended taking Wyatt in to
his own doctor to have him give a second opinion. Once the detective and the
social worker left, Liam raised his face to Chas and George.
“Thank you. If it hadn’t been for the two of you and Greer,
I’m afraid I might have hunted Julie down and really gotten myself in trouble.
It doesn’t matter one bit to me that she’s probably not who actually hit
him—her neglect of him resulted in this.”
Chas put his hand on his arm. “Chill, Liam. This will be
done legally and locked tight.”
George tapped his finger on his tape recorder. “It would be
difficult to make an abuse charge stick against her since she didn’t actually
inflict the injuries, but I see no way she can avoid a charge of neglect.
Either way, we’ll go back to court with the evidence we have and revisit the
whole custody issue. I am extremely confident we can get you sole custody. If
Julie’s granted any visitation at all, it should be supervised and only take
place here. We’ll ask for sole custody and no visitation and hope we can settle
on supervised.”
He gathered his notes and laptop together and put everything
back in its case. “If you gentlemen don’t mind, I’d like to peek in on my
future grandson, then Lizzy and I are going to head home. It’s late.”
Liam and Chas both stood. Liam put his hand out. George
grinned at him, ignored the hand and pulled him into a backslapping hug. “I can’t
tell you how proud I am to be able to call you both sons.”
It had been a long night. Chas was relieved to finally shut
the door so it was just the three of them with Wyatt safely and soundly sleep
upstairs in his room. As if they were all of the same accord, Liam began
turning off the lights downstairs. Chas checked to make sure the doors were
locked and the alarm system on. They had sometimes been casual about that in
the past, but not anymore. He didn’t trust Julie any more than Liam did. Greer
had gone upstairs to check in on Wyatt one more time.
Chas waited at the bottom of the steps for Liam. In the
moonlight flooding the hall, he saw him walking toward him, still dressed in
his tux, though his tie had long since been shoved in his coat pocket. They
needed no words. Chas wrapped him in his arms and they simply leaned into each
other. After just a second, he felt Liam’s shoulders shake.
“It’s okay, man,” Chas whispered. “Get it out. Now everyone’s
gone, just let it out, Liam.” He tightened his hold, clasping one hand on the
back of Liam’s head. “It’s just you and me.”
Chas knew what Liam was feeling. He’d felt it several times
himself; today just topped off the times since Samantha Marlowe’s accusations.
“We’re gonna get through this and we’re gonna be okay.” He
put his arm around Liam’s waist and guided him up the steps.
Showing she understood them both, Greer had turned down the
bed, lighted candles in the bedroom and had soft music playing. When they
stepped through the door, she stood in the bathroom doorway, still in her
dress, though her shoes and stockings were gone.
“I’ve run a bath for us.” She reached behind her and lowered
the zipper on her dress before slowly peeling it off each shoulder. The
body-hugging material slithered down, revealing her breasts with their already
puckered nipples. It pooled at her feet and she stood in front of them clad in
just the barest scrap of black lace.
Chas stepped to the side, arms across his chest as he
watched her saunter over to Liam, who seemed rooted in place. Standing on
tiptoe, she pressed a soft kiss to his lips and whispered in his ear.
“Above everything else,” she murmured, “remember, we love
you.”
Chas watched her seduce Liam, the slow movements of her
hands as she guided off his coat, unbuttoned his vest, and removed the studs
from his shirt. After tugging his shirt tails from his pants, she pressed soft
kisses down the strip of skin now visible to her until she knelt in front of
him, her full lips just a breath away from the ridge of flesh still hiding
behind the finely woven wool of his slacks.
She tilted her head back, her lips parting, and Liam wasn’t
the only one to groan. Chas rubbed his hand over the front of his jeans, his
cock begging for release. Her fingers released the snap and ticked the zipper
open tooth by tooth. Parting the front of Liam’s pants, she nuzzled him, hands
sliding around for an instant to cup his ass.
Unable to stand it any longer, Chas stepped behind Liam and
drew the shirt and vest off his shoulders at the same time, bending his head to
lick the back of his neck. From the corner of his eye, he watched Greer remove
Liam’s shoes and socks then tug his slacks down. He stepped out of them
automatically, his breathing accelerating.
“That’s it, Liam,” Chas whispered. “Let us show you, let us
love you.”
He slid his hands around his waist, hooking them in his
boxers before slowly inching them until Liam’s cock sprang free, the head
already glistening with his juices. Greer ran her tongue along his thigh,
tilted her head to suck his testicles one by one, then kissed along his
twitching shaft.
“Do it,” Chas told her. “Swallow him and let him fuck your
face while I undress.”
Christ it was hot watching her do him, watching the way Liam’s
fingers curled in her hair, holding her in place while his buttocks tightened
and released with the slow, controlled movements of his hips. Chas ripped his
T-shirt over his head and kicked out of his jeans. With no underwear on, his
cock thrust forward. He wrapped his hand around it, stroking as he watched Liam
and Greer.
He returned to his previous spot right at Liam’s back,
kissing his way over broad shoulders and well-defined muscles. When he reached
Liam’s ass, he gently bit one cheek. As if sensing what he wanted, Liam spread
his feet apart. Chas growled deep in his throat, using his hands to pull Liam’s
ass cheeks apart.
Exactly what he wanted, that puckered invitation. He buried
his face there, his tongue licking and circling, teasing the tight hole until
he felt just the slightest relaxation, then darting forward to penetrate, to
stroke. From the other side, Greer’s mouth made soft, rhythmic sucking noises
as she worked Liam’s shaft, and from above, his breath sobbed in and out.
“Please,” Liam managed in a choked voice.
“Please? Do we?” Chas growled. He spit on his finger then
began tracing the outer edges of where his tongue had just been. Greer did
something that made Liam gasp, and his anus wink. In a flash, Chas pushed his
finger inside, standing as he pumped it back and forth.
“Tonight, I’m top,” he growled. Liam simply nodded,
completely incapable of speech. Chas peered at Greer. “Don’t let him come.
There’s a cock ring in the nightstand drawer. Put it on him.” Chas was amazed
at himself. He was normally content to let Liam take the lead, but tonight he
sensed a different need in Lee. He needed someone else to take charge.
Greer strapped the cock ring around his shaft and balls,
getting it as tight as she could around his already erect penis. It wasn’t
ideal, but it would do the job.
“Lay down.” While Liam complied, Chas looked at Greer. “We’ll
bring him just to the brink, but not let him come until we say he can. You good
with that?”
Greer nodded. In her gaze he saw the same realization he had
come to—this was how Liam would overcome his need to find Julie and her maid in
order to take out his fury. This wasn’t just about sex, it was about sanity.
Liam stared at Chas and Greer, his whole body throbbing with
the need to come. He didn’t want it slow, didn’t want it tender. He needed
fast. Hard.
Greer eased next to him on the bed. “Give me your wrists.”
“What?”
She smiled with a wicked glint in her eye. “You heard me.”
She produced a set of padded cuffs and had him put his arms
over his head before she tightened them around his wrists. His stomach
flip-flopped, then he swallowed when Chas grabbed one of his legs and used a
long, silken scarf to bind his ankle before attaching it to the footboard.
“Chas?” Oh God, had his voice just cracked?
Bright blue eyes gazed at him with not a spark of laughter. “Trust
me, man. You did this for me the other day, now let me do it for you. Much
better than pounding walls or pounding your ex.”
Liam let his head fall back, his breathing accelerating. He
remembered vividly everything they’d done. His nuts throbbed and his dick
twitched. Greer had done all too good a job with the cock ring, so all that
really happened was his erection swelled so close to the point of pain Liam
worried he’d shoot cum if anyone even brushed it by accident.
“I want you to lick Greer’s pussy ‘til she comes all over
your face.” Chas’ voice held a tone of command Liam seldom heard.