“
Yes, sweetheart. It’s
exactly like that.”
“
You are so smart, Stella,”
Dodger said, sniffling.
“
Why are you crying, Mr.
Vanderbea-Vanderbrook?” Stella mumbled against my
shoulder.
“
Because the story
of
Beauty and the Beast
is so beautiful, and you did such a good job
telling it.”
“
Oh.” Stella shrugged. She
pushed away from me and smiled at Dodger. “So did you come to ask
my daddy to come help you?”
Dodger reached out to take my hand. He
pressed a soft kiss on the backs of my fingers before looking back
up at Stella. “Your daddy is the man I’m in love with
Stella.”
Stella turned wide eyes to me. “Daddy!
Don’t you love him, too?”
I looked back and forth from my little
girl to Dodger. “I um… well.” God, I hated being put on the spot.
My days of loving being the center of attention were gone. Now, I
just wanted to enjoy a life of obscurity with my daughter and the
man of my dreams, who was currently watching me with amusement. I
nodded. “Yes,” I admitted. “Yes, I love him too.”
Stella tossed her hands up in the air.
“Well, then, why aren’t you guys together? In the movies they say
they love each other, then they kiss, and then they get married.”
She shook her head as if we were the most annoying people in the
world.
Dodger leaned his head back and let
out a roar of laughter, Stella joining him in a round of giggling,
while I stood there staring at both of them, completely
flabbergasted. My daughter was beyond adorable, and Dodger was
apparently enchanted by her. I had the two people I loved most in
the world in the same room, and they were getting along better than
I could have hoped, and now Stella was championing the very idea of
Dodger and me marrying. Though it was a little too fast for me, it
was still nice to know.
“
I think they cut out the
prince and the future princess dating in the movies, Stella-bear,”
I pointed out with a smile.
“
Or in our case the two
princes.” Dodger winked.
“
Right.” I agreed with a
smile.
Dodger rose from the chair he was
sitting in and walked over to me. “So maybe we should go on a few
dates like real boyfriends until we get to the wedding
part?”
I swallowed nervously and looked down
at Stella who nodded her head at me excitedly. Looking back up at
Dodger, I saw the gentle smile on his face and returned it with one
of my own.
“
Yeah. Great. That sounds
like a good idea.”
****
Dodger and I walked up to the doors of
the Mexican restaurant and stopped. It was our fifth official
“date.” Not as a “John” and a prostitute, but as Dodger and Tyler.
Our first date had been with Stella to the park, the second had
been to the movies, the third back to the zoo with Stella, and the
fourth had been to the beach. Each date had been amazing, and yet
each one had ended in the same way, with Dodger kissing me either
on the cheek or the forehead and promising to call me the next day
or that evening when he got home, and he always did. While I felt
cherished and treasured, I also felt a bit like spun glass.
Fragile. Like a porcelain doll. I knew Dodger wanted me. I’d felt
the evidence of that desire pressed against my stomach or my hip
more than once, and yet he made no move to do anything about it.
I’d spoken to Amanda and Brandi about it, and both of them had told
me that perhaps Dodger was afraid to take things to the next step
due to our history and my own words and actions toward him. He was
afraid I would react badly.
However, it was Tim’s words that gave
me the boost of self-esteem I needed. “If you want him, and you
know he wants you, then go get him. You make the first move. Ain’t
no law that says the man with the money or the one doing the asking
is the one who’s gotta steer.”
Wise man.
So I’d decided to go for it
with Dodger. To make the first move, as it were. In my former life,
while I so often put out the bait for my clients, they inevitably
had to be the ones who reeled me in. After the initial setup, it
was always them pursuing me. Even before I was established as one
of the most sought after, highly paid male
companions
in Los Angeles, and was
just a prostitute on the streets of San Francisco, giving KuJoe
sixty-five percent of my earnings a night, my clients came after
me. Maybe it was my way of distancing myself from what was
occurring. Just like when I was a child because, if I wasn’t going
after the men or the women who paid me, then it wasn’t my fault. I
wasn’t responsible.
But Dodger was different, and I knew
that. And maybe he knew I knew that, as well, and that was why he
hadn’t taken things further than a kiss on the cheek or the
forehead in weeks. I knew he had told me he was seeing a therapist,
as well, about his part in what had happened to me and his role in
ICE, but as I stood outside the restaurant, I realized for the
first time, what he was being told and what I was being told might
actually be the same thing. And that would put us on the same
page.
“
Tyler? Are you okay?”
Dodger’s voice penetrated the haze surrounding me, his hand on my
lower back, and I shivered slightly.
I nodded and lifted my head to smile
at him. “Yeah. I’m great, actually. Just having a bit of an
epiphany.”
“
Oh? Care to share with the
rest of the class?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows, his blue eyes
shining with amusement.
“
Hhhmmm… maybe later.” I
shrugged and winked at him. “But right now? Let’s go eat.” I took
Dodger’s hand in mine and led him inside the restaurant. I came to
an abrupt halt when I saw who sat within, the smile on my face
dropping away for a moment, before I plastered it back
on.
“
Table for two.
Vanderbrook,” Dodger’s voice rumbled behind me like thunder on the
horizon, and when he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, I leaned
into his side, my eyes trying hard not to drift over into the
seating area where a former client, Senator McQueen, sat with his
wife and another former client of mine, former NFL star, Lance
Pharmson.
Though I knew that eventually I would
run into the tragic realities of my past life, I’d foolishly
thought fate would give me a little more time. I’d
also—mistakenly—believed that when confronted by the brutal truth
of the life I’d once lived so unapologetically, I wouldn’t be
embarrassed in front of Dodger or my daughter, but perhaps it would
be in the presence of an actual business client as opposed to the
sexual ones I’d entertained so frequently. But no, as I stood at
the hostess stand with Dodger, the love of my life, waiting to be
seated, my face grew hot, and I felt embarrassed and ashamed that I
was so… experienced. That I had been so used and degraded. I’d been
bought and sold so many times over the years. Treated as a whore
because I was one. I knew women, and some men, who felt like
secondhand goods, but what about me? I was more like
twenty-eighth-hand goods, better suited for the incineration pile
than the shelf.
I had the sudden urge to leave, my
appetite deserting me in a flash, and I turned to tell Dodger just
that when his arm tightened around me, and he pulled me close to
his chest. Dodger buried his fingers in my hair and pushed my head
down to rest on his chest, pressing my nose into his neck above the
collar of his black button-down shirt. I gripped the lapel of his
dark-green jacket and inhaled the scent of his cologne, feeling
myself calming.
“
Don’t. You. Dare.”
Dodger’s voice was firm and brooked no argument.
“
What?” I asked in a
whisper.
“
You will not let seeing
those men and their wives or girlfriends or dates, drive you out of
any restaurant, movie theater, park, zoo, or social event, whether
we’re together, or you’re there with Stella or someone else, or
even if you’re there alone. There is nothing for you to be ashamed
about. You had a job. One you took in order to take care of your
daughter, to pay off someone who was threatening her life and your
own, and because you were forced into it when you were just a child
yourself. You have known no differently. These people have not had
to endure what you have. They don’t know your story. They have not
lived your life or had to walk a mile in your shoes, much less a
day. So let them say what they want. Let them gossip and sneer at
you, but never give them the satisfaction of making you run. No one
has that right,” Dodger said in a low voice.
I swallowed the lump that had formed
in my throat and sniffled. Nodding, I lifted my head just enough to
place a kiss on Dodger’s chin. When he handed me his handkerchief,
I chuckled softly before wiping my face. I handed Dodger my clean
handkerchief and placed his soiled one in my inner jacket pocket,
the two of us laughing at the turn of events, before Dodger took my
hand and placed a soft kiss on the back of it.
I looked over at him and
smiled.
“
I love you,” I
said.
“
I love you
too.”
****
I turned the key in the lock and spun
to look at Dodger, and before he could kiss me on my forehead or my
cheek, I gestured toward the door. “Would you like to come
inside?”
I almost laughed when Dodger’s eyes
widened at me. He stepped closer to me, pressing me against the
doorframe, the breadth of his chest blocking out the overhead
light. He looked down at me, one hand on my waist, the other
tilting my head up toward his own.
“
Are you sure?” he
asked.
I nodded. “Positive. I want to be with
you. Not like before, but as lovers. Partners. I want this for us.
I want us to be together in every way.”
Dodger sighed. “I want that, too. I
just didn’t want to push you into something you weren’t ready
for.”
I leaned up and captured his lips with
my own. The kiss was gentle. The meeting of my broken, but strong
and mending soul, with Dodger’s stronger and protective one. The
soul that had always been there for me, even if it wasn’t always
apparent. The soul that had always loved me and would always love
me. It was a kiss of passion. A kiss of forevers. A promise of
things to come. “I’m ready.”
“
Thank God,” Dodger
breathed before bending down to lift me up into his arms. I let out
a laugh of pure joy and allowed him to carry me inside my home,
glad that I’d asked Amanda and Tim to watch Stella for the evening.
I slapped my hand against the wood paneling, not giving the door a
second thought as it slammed closed. I pressed my lips against
Dodger’s.
I grunted when the side of my body hit
the corner as Dodger lowered his hand to lock the door, I waved
away Dodger’s attempt to apologize when he lifted his mouth from my
own. I pulled his lips back down to my own. I needed his taste in
my mouth; we could worry about everything else later. I pointed up
the stairs wordlessly, knowing Dodger would know what I meant by
the gesture. When he headed in that direction, I clenched my hands
in his hair and tried hard not to squeal in joy.
Dodger’s tongue in my mouth, dueling
with my own, his scent filling my nostrils, his hair wrapped around
my fingers, and his muscles pressed against my body, was all I
could think about as we traveled up the stairs and stopped on the
landing. I pointed to the left, and Dodger headed that way toward
the master suite. He went inside and kicked the door closed, laying
me on top of the mattress.
I ran my hands down over Dodger’s neck
to the buttons of his shirt, unbuttoning them one by one, kissing
the skin of his chest as each inch was revealed. I licked his
flesh, moaning as his sweat and the smell of him filled my senses.
I kissed back up to Dodger’s chin, before taking his lips in a
hard, passionate kiss, my fingers pinching and pulling on his
pebbled nipples. I moaned in pleasure when Dodger’s hands pushed
into the space between my boxer briefs and my ass, gripping the
flesh of my bottom in his huge hands. I pressed my butt back as
much as I possibly could, squirming to try to get closer to
him.
I gasped when Dodger flipped me over,
pulling me up onto my knees. My shirt was removed, my pants and
underwear following quickly after. I hissed and groaned when I felt
the sharp sting of Dodger’s hand make contact with the curve of my
ass. He ran his fingers through my hair and leaned over
me.
“
Is this okay?” he asked,
checking with me. “Or do we need to be face-to-face?”
My heart clenched, and I fell just a
bit more in love with him right then. That he would take the time,
in the middle of such a passionate interlude, to make sure I wasn’t
being triggered, showed the depth of his care and concern for me.
Dodger was one of a kind. I was truly lucky to have him.
“
This is fine, Dodge,” I
assured him. “I know it’s you.” I reached back to touch him. “I’ll
always know it’s you, and as long as it’s you, I know I’m
safe.”
I tilted my head to the side when
Dodger pressed a gentle kiss on the side of my neck. “You have no
idea what that means to me.”
I nodded. I did know, but it was
something we could talk about later. Right now, I wanted Dodger’s
fat cock inside me. I wiggled my ass and jumped slightly when
Dodger smacked it again. “Stop moving.”