Cherry Bomb (9 page)

Me: You can bring them ALL
home.

I tossed the cell back
into my purse, and cringed at the idea my children had to spend
more than five seconds with him. How I spent sixteen-years loving
him was beyond reason.

I pulled onto my drive,
and noticed my porch lights were on. I was positive I didn’t leave
them on.

Stop scaring yourself, the
kids probably just came by to pick up something.

Running my hands down my
face, I let out an audible breath. Lately, I’d been wound up, and
needed to get out and release some of my nerves. I reached across
the seat to pick up my meal.

I know a place where all
your problems melted away, my subconscious reminded me.

As I locked my car door, I
felt someone watching me.

My scalp tingled, the
hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, hives broke out over my
entire body.

It’s just your
imagination. Who in their right mind wants to watch
this?

I could tell myself that,
but my heart still wouldn’t stop rushing in my chest.

I scanned the premises,
telling myself I was crazy. Until I saw him. A man in a dark
colored hoodie, standing in my neighbor’s yard.

He stood next to her
mailbox, watching me from under the hood of his sweatshirt. I waved
in his direction. But he never acknowledged me. The only evidence
he even saw me was when he slipped his hands in his pockets, taking
on a defiant pose.

I should’ve called the
police but he was making no move to bother me. He was just
there.

In fact, seeing him
stirred something deep in me. Instead of worsening my overacted
nerves, seeing him calmed them.

I heard Pat calling me
from her front porch, causing my attention to shift from him to
Pat.

I waved in her direction,
but before walking over to her, my eyes glanced back to him. He was
gone, and suddenly I felt lost.

“
Did you see that guy?” I
asked, pointing over my shoulder to where he was
standing.

“
See who, sweetie?” she
asked, before hanging a fern back up on the hook swinging from the
porch ceiling.

I shook my head, and
looked one more time to see if I saw him again.

“
Never mine.” I winked to
avoid any awkward questions. “The kids are gone for the night; I
guess I’m a little spooked.”

“
Pat, darling,” I heard
Norman holler from the front door.

I took that as my cue to
leave. With a wave of my hand, I twisted around, and said a prayer
I would see my man-in-black again.

“Enjoying my money,” James, my soon-to-be ex,
said as he helped our youngest son out of the car at Touchdown
Wings. It was our two son’s favorite hang-out, and I thought it
would be a pleasant place to have James drop them off from their
weekend visit from his house. I should have known that James would
have to get in one of his many sly remarks. I handed Noah, our
eight-year-old, a five-dollar bill, and motioned for him to take
Henry, our five-year-old, in to play video games, not wanting them
to see another showdown between their mom and dad.

“And you wonder why our daughter goes to a
friend's house instead of staying at yours,” I replied.

The heat that radiated from within burned my
eyes and blurred my vision. James had shattered me. For a brief
moment, I was not sure if I would be able to go on farther with my
life. I had sacrificed everything to please him. But nothing I ever
did was good enough. Even now as I tried to move on, he found fault
with my every movement. I would never regret my marriage to him,
however, it gave me my three greatest blessings. My
fourteen-year-old daughter, Ruby, and two sons. But it would not
hurt my feelings if I never had to see him again.

“Can you at least one time drop off the boys
without attacking their mom?”

“No, she doesn’t have a problem taking my
money or my daughter away from me. So she can learn to listen to
the crap she gives out.”

“Ruby chose to be with friends this weekend.
I had nothing to do with it."
Or the fact, she would rather chew
nails than to ever see you again. "
As far as your money . . .”
I threw up my arms in disgust, turned around, and flew through the
doors of the restaurant, feeling the tears well up in my eyes. I
almost fell backwards when James snagged a fistful of the shirt I
was wearing.

“I’m not through talking,” he said, a
half-furious, half-stupid look in his eyes.

“I am,” I snapped, and flattened out my shirt
when he finally released me. “I have two boys waiting on me.”

I tried to walk away, but James stopped me by
forcibly gripping my arm.

“Let me go. You’re the one who fucked up,” I
said and finally jerked loose from his grasp. I was reeling at his
audacity when James abruptly halted his step, his eyes roamed to
the table where Henry and Noah were already sitting at a booth with
. . . Drake Hart.

It had been two months since we had spent the
night together and six weeks since he had tried to call, and still
I had not been able to get him out of my head. Every night, I went
to bed dreaming of his piercing blue eyes and how they looked as he
rammed his cock in me. For a moment, I was positive I was
hallucinating. But it was no illusion, there he was, sitting across
from both my sons, smiling as if they held all the fascination of
the world in them.

“It looks like you have company, whore,”
James said before leaving.

I had no will to care what James said or
thought. My walk slowed to almost a crawl as I took in the scene in
front of me.
Drake Hart and my boys.

Drake looked almost edible in a soft pink
button-down shirt and a faded pair of jeans. I could almost picture
the way they hugged his hips when he stood.
Get your mind out of
the gutter. Your biggest mistake is talking to your kids.

I paused when a young, auburn hair beauty
walked up to the booth they were sitting at. Didn’t he say his
favorite color of hair was red? Red brushed her fingers repeatedly
through her hair and shifted her weight from one foot to the other,
making sure her hip would rub against Drake’s arm.

“Your son looks just like his dad. A
heartbreaker,” Red said with an annoying giggle, and leaned over to
give Drake an eyeful of her fake rack.

Drake spotted me, and the smile that broke
out over his face was heart-stopping.

“Cherry.” His speech softened as his tongue
caressed over each letter of my name, causing a wave of lust to
course through me but I had to fight it. My sons were about to
witness a scene I was not ready for. I walked up to the booth, and
as if he knew I needed protection, Noah stood up in front of
me.

“To bad his dad is an ass.”

I wasn’t sure if I was describing Drake or
James at the moment.

“Who are you? His mom,” Red said and then
snarled up her inflated lips.

“She’s my mom,” Henry, my youngest, said.

“She’s a beauty that won’t answer her damn
phone,” Drake added, his mouth lifted into a sinister smile. Red
laid her hand on his shoulder. Drake basically ignored her, causing
her to leave in a huff.
How did he always know how to get my
juices flowing?

He waved two fingers at my sons. “Come here,”
he whispered. “I need to talk to your sweet mother.” He handed them
both a twenty, and pointed over to the arcade. “Why don’t you go
play a little while and when we are through talking, I will play
horse with you at the basketball goal.”

They didn’t look up to see if I approved
before racing off to the change dispenser. Truth be known, I was
relieved. I had a clear view of the entire arcade area and they
were out of ear shot of whatever Mr. Hart had to say.

Drake pulled me down beside him. I felt every
inch of his taut body as he moved closer to me.

“I don’t like to be ignored, Mrs. Webb. Maybe
I need to take you in that dark corner there and spank that pretty
little ass until you orgasm around my finger.” He pointed over to a
corner behind the arcade that was dark and desolated.

“Are you following me?”

“No, I was leaving when I saw you outside. I
meet my sister and her little girl here every Sunday for
lunch.”

My cheeks flamed. I looked away from him and
toward my sons.

“That night was a mistake. I was a
mistake.”

Drake slammed a fist onto the table. “You are
the one thing in my life that is not a mistake.” He softly stroked
his finger across my chin. “Look at me,” he whispered.

The humbling tone in his voice made me slump
in my seat but I looked.

Fuck, he’s stunning.

He twisted his mouth, only reminding me of
the pleasure those lips had given me.

The way his tongue worked over so much of my
body.

“What happened? Why did you leave like you
did?” he asked.

I closed my eyes and swallowed, envisioning
my kids only a few feet away. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-six.”

I started fumbling with my bottom lip. “She’s
right.”

“Who’s right?”

“That girl.” I stood up. “I’m almost old
enough to be your mom, or at the least a much older sister.”

He rose up out of the bench and hovered over
me.
Oh god, he smells so good.
There might’ve been a
ten-year age gap between us but Drake made me feel the way every
woman should feel.

“Believe me, you look nothing like my mom.
Mom is not even a word I would use to describe you.” He sounded
irate. “Now excuse me as I go play with my new buddies.”

I faltered up close, he was overwhelming.

“You knew about them, about me.” My voice
rose with each word. “How?”

Drake stumbled back as awareness washed over
his face.

“I already told you. It’s my job. I needed to
protect the club."

“It’s not right. I wasn’t signing up for your
club. You can’t just dig into someone’s life.”

“I’m sorry.” He leaned in, stroking my back
with his hand. “I’m going to go over there and play basketball with
your boys because I always do what I say. But the next time I see
you, I’m going to do things to this body you never dreamed
possible,” he whispered, raw, against my ear.

He rubbed his thumb across my lips. “I need
to walk away now. Because the way your cheeks are blazing only
reaffirms how turned on you are. How wet that sweet, sweet pussy
is.”

I should’ve shoved him away. My sons were
only steps away.

“If I touch you right now, I won’t be able to
stop.” He briefly kissed my cheek. “Noah and Henry, right?” he
asked, before turning on his heels.

I fell back into the booth, trying to get my
heart rate under control. Drake had already joined Noah and Henry
at the video games. I sighed when Henry reached for Drake’s hand.
Watching Drake standing there holding Henry’s little hand and
explaining to Noah how to do a trick move on some game captured my
attention. Those two had no idea that the last time I saw Drake
Hart we had wild monkey sex. He was just a new friend.
Good
Lord, what am I thinking? I can’t let my boys get involved with
that man.

“My dad told me a grown man doesn’t have time
to play kid’s games,” Noah said when I started to point out a trick
on the video game he was playing.

“Well, I’m a grown man and I like to play all
kinds of games.”

It felt odd when little Henry reached up and
wrapped his tiny hand around mine.

These boys need a real man in their
lives.

Noah peeked up at me under his fringe of
brown bangs. His soft green eyes were questioning my every
movement. He was a small male version of Cherry.

“Do you like my Mommy?”

Do I like your Mommy?

I closed my eyes and imagined her emerald
green eyes as they widen with each filthy word that I had just let
slip from my lips, the way she pulled on her bottom lip when she
was nervous. Damn, Cherry had played the good girl, all her damn,
boring life. I smiled. She would no longer have to hide who she was
anymore. I was more than willing to bring out that naughty girl who
would be more than thrilled to fuck my brains out in the back
corner of this dump.

Fuck, yeah, I like your mom.

“Sure, I like her. I heard she was fun to
play games with.”

“Mommy, doesn’t play games. She cleans,” Noah
said in a tone that was both questioning and serious.

“She doesn’t. Maybe, that is why I’m here, to
teach her how to play.”

That elicited a laugh out of both boys.

I planned on having playdates often too, but
first, I needed to prove to her that I could enjoy moments like
this too.

Before I knew it, I had played an hour of
games with the boys and found myself sitting at a small table
devouring a pizza with her family.
Hell, I was having
fun.

Those growing boys inhaled two pizzas on
their own. Well, Noah inhaled his. Henry wore his from his chin up
into his black, shaggy hair. His eyes were dark, and I hated to
admit it but he was a smaller version of their dad. I only hoped he
inherited his mom’s personality.

I found myself sitting there listening to
Henry talk about super heroes and Noah telling me about the
touchdown he made in his first flag football game.

I glanced over at Cherry. She was leaned back
against the booth, smiling. Damn, I even found the way her eyes
winkled at the corner as she smiled hot-as-hell.

“Sorry, I don’t think I’ve heard them talk
this much, well ever. But then again, I’m not cool enough for super
heroes,” Cherry said. “I’m a girl, you know.”