Double Dare(264)

“Baby, we’ve got a lot to discuss,” I said smoothly, my expression giving nothing away despite my body’s heated reaction to her.

“But why are we here?” she gasped, trying to arrange her dress to cover her legs, the miles of smooth flesh. I found it funny, kind of. After all, you could find her in her birthday suit on her website, in countless vids and pics, all available at the click of a mouse. But I guess real-life is different for everyone, even strippers. They don’t want to be on display if they don’t have to be.

So it was endearing to watch her scramble, pulling the glittery fabric over her knees. Except that there wasn’t enough material, so she just held what she could in place, crossing her legs to cover as much as possible.

“Honey, don’t you think it’s too late for that?” my eyebrows arched. I didn’t mean to be cruel, just realistic.

And that really set her off.

“You have no idea,” she spat, a beautiful flush crawling over her chest. “You have no idea!”

What was the redhead talking about? She’d left a life with me, a life in the lap of luxury, to dance at a seedy joint. Suddenly, I was pissed too. What the fuck?

“You better get a grip girlie,” I warned, my expression grim. “Because you’ve had more than enough chances.”

“More than enough chances!” she shrieked. “What are you talking about? About the time that you booted me out of your house, too cowardly to tell me about your other woman?”

Okay, at least we were on the same page. Neither of us was interested in discussing Hustler, we were interested in re-hashing the past.

“What other woman?” I growled. “And I never kicked you out of the house … you left.”

That made her pause for an instant.

“Don’t pretend,” she said tightly. “I know all about her. About Marie.”

“What about Marie?” I said, my expression frozen, willing myself to give nothing away. There was a lot of history surrounding the dog-walker, but I wanted to figure out what Cleo knew first to minimize any damage.

“She’s the mother of your child,” said Cleo scornfully. “What, you won’t even acknowledge that?”

Now I knew things were really off course.

“Cleo,” I said slowly. “It’s true Marie was pregnant, but it’s not what you think.”

But upon hearing those words, the redhead had flushed again, her expression so hurt, so pained, that I had to continue immediately, I couldn’t stand putting her through this. Best to yank off the band-aid in one fell swoop.

“Marie was pregnant with a child which she thought was mine,” I said slowly, “but I never fucked her.”

“Drake,” said Cleo woodenly, looking out the window, unwilling to meet my eyes. “You don’t have to lie to me. I know how babies are made. You don’t have to make up some crazy story.”

And it was then that I seized her shoulders, gripping the narrow frame, forcing her to look at me, my eyes flashing. I had to make her understand.

“Lorena’s lies have messed shit up so bad that it’s impossible to disentangle,” I growled, “but I’m going to try. I have to try.”

“Baby,” I said slowly, “you know your mother was insecure right? That she was getting older, starting to sag, that she was worried I was going to divorce her and kick her out, right?”

But Cleo wouldn’t even acknowledge me, instead staring out the window, her expression frozen. But I saw a single tear streak from the corner of her eye, and that tear broke my heart, a great surge of emotion running through my big frame. My girl hurt and I had to fix it asap.

“Cleo,” I continued, more gently this time. “Lorena and I never had a real marriage, you know that. Back then, I just needed easy twat and Lorena was it. She never expected anything, never bothered me, so I married her for convenience,” I said. “But she started getting insecure because her body was starting to go to shit, sagging, showing her age.”

Cleo still wasn’t looking at me, but I could tell she was listening, biting her lip while staring out the window, that one tear still streaming down her cheek.

I tried to explain some more.

“Lorena wanted my lifestyle,” I said slowly, “and she was afraid that I’d kick her to the curb, divorce her once she started getting old. So she turned to all sorts of shenanigans to keep me hooked.”

That got the redhead’s attention finally. She turned to me with a hurt expression on her face.

“She pushed me towards you, did you know that?” she said softly. “Her own daughter, she offered me in her place, as a replacement for her. Did you know that?”