Cinere_An Inferno Novella Read online

  Cinere

  An Inferno Novella

  Yolanda Olson

  Copyright © 2018 Yolanda Olson

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Welcome Back

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  My PAs, Ginja, Bootz, and Meanie, thank you for sitting through the headache that is Yolanda Olson and not quitting on me. Specifically when I said I was going to write about this bastard again. Your reactions were priceless and I’m still smiling thinking about it!

  Abigail Davies of Pink Elephant Designs for bringing the fuego and you’re undying excitement in creating this cover! Tu eres un amiga increíble, gracias por las risas.

  Dez of Pretty in Ink Creations. I know how you feel about this man, so thank you for going through it again and editing it and for the beautiful formatting!

  The Twisted Rabbits; some of you sat through him again as I told the story, and some of you got to see him in pieces before you saw the whole picture. I cannot thank you enough for keeping me laughing and typing when I thought this might not be my best idea. You ladies are the best!

  And last, but never least, to my readers:

  I bet you didn’t see this coming.

  Daddy’s back.

  Well, holy shit.

  I’m impressed that we have company again so soon and even more impressed that you’ve even decided to come back to my humble home.

  Make yourself comfortable, because man, have I got a story to tell you this time! The little one you’ll see running around from time to time is Darby; I’m sure you remember her from the last time you came over.

  The house is a hell of a lot more quiet without the other three running around like the little assholes that they were, but I’m sure you’ll recognize a couple of people once I get started here.

  Buckle up, kid.

  This is gonna be one wild ride.

  I never did feel good about what happened to Jocelyn. What ended up becoming of her is not my fault though, because disobedient children always did leave a sour taste in my mouth, and she knew that.

  Maybe things shouldn’t have ended the way they did, but what’s done is done and I don’t have the will or the want to start over with her again.

  The boys were a fucking waste—I never cared much for either of them. Jocelyn on the other hand; man, was she special. The unadulterated embodiment of everything I ever wanted and needed, and she did a damn fine job of taking care of her wifely duties until those little fuckers got inside her head.

  It’s alright though, because they got what they deserved, and in a way, so did she. Her entire purpose for even being allowed above ground as long as I let her was to give me children. She only gave me one, but that’s better than what Laura did, giving me three, two of which were fucking useless.

  But as I lie here on my lawn chair watching little Darby running around picking wildflowers, her pigtails bouncing in excitement each time she finds a new one, I can’t help but think that we did alright.

  She’s about five now, which is almost as long as Joce has been in the oubliette. After I delivered the baby from her womb, I tossed her down in the fucking ground where she belonged for disobeying me one too many times.

  It’s a damn shame it had to come to this because there are nights where I’ll admit that I miss feeling her body next to mine on our bed. Hell, there are even some nights, after I put Darby to bed, that I go into my room and jerk off thinking about the way her mouth felt on my dick.

  Part of the reason I get hard is because I miss Joce’s touch, but the other part is because I know that Darby will be just as good as her Momma when the time comes and it’s something I can’t wait to fucking experience.

  “Don’t get too close to the well! I told you about that!” I call out to her when she starts picking wildflowers at the base of it.

  That little girl is full of spunk and curiosity, but unlike her Momma, she listens to me. I know with time that will go away, because all children go through a stage of defiance, but I hope she’ll learn to love me the way that Joce did.

  The more I think about things, the more I have to force myself to keep my hands off of her. Darby isn’t ready for me yet, and I don’t want her to be afraid of me—not when she’s supposed to love me.

  Maybe I’ll bring Joce up for a family day soon. It’ll be easier for Darby if she sees how a daughter is supposed to love her Daddy, so she’ll be ready when it’s her turn to try.

  Getting to my feet, I walk over to my baby and pick her up off the grass causing her to squeal happily. She loves the way my beard feels against her chubby cheeks—it always makes her laugh like this.

  “Why don’t you go inside and put those flowers in a vase? I’ll be in shortly. I’m just gonna have a quick talk with your Momma, okay?” I say to her, gently kissing her cheek.

  She squeals again and nods, kicking her feet so that I know she wants to get down, then turns and runs back toward the house.

  I watch her, my hands on my hips, and sigh. Yeah; things would be a hell of a lot easier on her, if Jocelyn were up here with us.

  “She smells a lot like you did before you crawled into my bed for the first time,” I say quietly into the dark hole. Jocelyn doesn’t respond but I know she can hear me, so I continue. “I thought that she would taste like you too, but I think that maybe I waited too long to find out—or it could be that I took my taste before she was ripe enough.”

  When I hear her shifting on the hay at the bottom of the oubliette, I smirk and keep going.

  “I don’t know. A lot of this shit doesn’t seem to make sense anymore. It’s not the way it was when you were above ground—I won’t lie about that. I do miss you sometimes, Joce, but you’re too fucking willful to be up here with us. Hell, you’d probably try to grab my baby and make a run for it even though you know how that would end. And that’s why you’re down in the hole where you belong,” I say, crouching down and putting a hand on either side of the well.

  A rock goes whizzing by my head and I move quickly enough to keep from getting cracked in the face with it, letting out a laugh.

  “Still got some spirit, I see. Relax; I haven’t touched her. I just wanted to make sure I had your attention, and now that I do, I want to make a proposition.”

  Jocelyn throws another rock, but this time I catch it, stand up, and start tossing it up in the air.

  “If you keep throwing shit at me, I’ll just seal this fucking well up forever and you’ll starve to death. I think maybe you should listen to what I have to say,” I reply conversationally.

  She shifts again down in the dark, but at least there aren’t any more rocks being hurled at me. I’ll have to get down there soon and find out how she got them. Can’t have her thinking she’s got some kind of upper-hand
on me by sneaking shit around when she thinks no one is looking.

  I catch the rock in my hand again and cast a thoughtful glance at the house. The only way she’s been getting these is if Darby’s been tossing them down to her, which means I’ll have to teach her a lesson in discipline sooner rather than later.

  Fuck, I think with a sigh. I was hoping to avoid that shit until later, but I don’t want her to think she can give her Momma “presents” without me knowing about it.

  Nothing a sound spanking can’t fix.

  “What do you want?” Joce calls up weakly.

  Huh. I had almost forgotten about her already. I guess knowing what I have waiting for me in the face of what I had, is a bit more distracting than I thought it would be.

  “I want to bring you up for a day,” I say, crouching back down and grinning into the darkness. “I want us to have a proper day together—as a family. I think Darby deserves that, don’t you?”

  She’s quiet now because she thinks there’s a trick somewhere in my offer. There’s not—I’m fresh out of ways to fool Joce and she should know that by now.

  “What’s the catch?” she calls up quietly.

  “No catch,” I reply immediately with a chuckle. “You know how important it is for a child to be with their mother and father. Well, maybe you don’t because Laura split, but Darby shouldn’t know what you felt like. I think she should know us both, even if for a day. Come on, kid. Don’t you want the chance to be a real mother this time?”

  Jocelyn lets out a sigh that echoes off the stone walls surrounding her. I can tell she’s seriously contemplating my offer now. Either that or she’s already thinking of her escape plan, but she should know better.

  “Okay,” she finally says softly. “I’ll do it.”

  A grin instantly spreads across my face. Nothing is sexier than a woman that’s willing to comply with a simple request. I reach down, grabbing the rope and toss it into the hole.

  “Come on up when you’re ready. We’ll be inside, baby girl,” I say before I walk away.

  I have to find Darby and get her to take a nap or something because if Jocelyn looks anything like I think she might right now, she’s gonna need a hot shower and a change of clothes before she sees our daughter.

  I kiss Darby’s forehead as she snuggles underneath her light pink, plush blanket, and closes her eyes. I had to make a deal with her—if she behaved like the good little girl I know she can be and take her nap now, she’d have a surprise waiting for her when she woke up, but not a moment sooner.

  I can hear the backdoor slam shut, which tells me that Joce is finally in the house. I look down at Darby who opens her eyes curiously, but I hold a finger to my lips and grin at her. She giggles, closes her eyes again, and pretends to be asleep. I’ll stay with her a little while longer to make sure she doesn’t ruin her own surprise.

  Not that she’ll recognize Jocelyn right away since she never got the chance to know her, but I still want to be the one that physically brings them together.

  Whatever happens after that depends on how much of a mother the bitch plans on being.

  I run a hand over Darby’s hair and smile. She looks so much like her Momma at this age, that they could pass for twins.

  Man, that would have been something, I think with a soft chuckle as I ease myself off the side of the bed where I’ve been sitting. My baby will be asleep in no time now—I can tell by the way her breathing is evening out, so I suppose I should go see what kind of fight Joce has in her these days.

  I begin to hum as I gently close the door to Darby’s bedroom. It’ll give the other one a chance to know I’m coming and I think it’s the right thing to do since she never did care for surprises. I never understood why though, because any surprise I ever had for her usually ended with my dick in one of her holes.

  She liked it, I know she did. Even after those little miserable brats got inside her head, she would still moan the same way her whore mother did whenever I fucked her.

  It’ll feel nice to slide my dick into some pussy again but before that happens, she probably needs to get cleaned up and eat something substantial. I don’t want her dying on me while I’m fucking her because that would cross a line of morality I am not comfortable with.

  I walk into the kitchen and smile at her when I see her standing just inside the doorway. She looks so damn dirty and she’s lost quite a bit of weight, but that’s what happens when you try to undermine authority.

  “You can come in,” I tell her as I walk toward the refrigerator and open the freezer door. “I won’t be expecting you to make dinner for us tonight, but if you’re still up here tomorrow, then you probably should.”

  I pull out a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, then head toward the counter to retrieve a spoon from the drawer next to the sink. I make my way back to the table, kick my feet up, and pull the lid off, digging my spoon in and scooping up some ice cream.

  “Damn that’s good,” I say quietly as I lick the spoon before turning my attention back to Jocelyn. “I’d offer you some, but you’re really fucking dirty right now and I don’t feel like grabbing another spoon.”

  She wraps her arms around herself and looks down at her bare feet. I watch her shuffle in place a few times before she turns her eyes back to the doorway and I chuckle.

  “Go ahead; try to run. You’re not gonna get very far and you know it,” I say, digging my spoon back into the pint. I set it down on the table, drop my feet to the floor, and rest an arm on the polished wood. As I start to drum my fingertips along the tabletop, Jocelyn sighs and turns her attention back to me.

  “Can I go take a shower?” she asks timidly.

  “Yes,” I reply with a nod. “You know where our bedroom is, and your clothes are where you left them. Get yourself nice and clean, then come back and talk to me. It’s been a while since I’ve had some adult conversation.”

  The smirk on my face is enough to make her wince, but she knows better than to defy me again. One wrong move and back into the ground she goes, only this time, she’ll fucking stay there.

  I watch her leave the room and pick my pint back up when I’m confident she won’t stray anywhere she doesn’t belong right now. I’m sure she’ll want to stop by her brothers’ room, but that belongs to Darby now and none of their shit is in there. I built a bonfire one night and burned it all to hell—I figured they could use it there while they rot.

  I wouldn’t imagine that Eloy and Vaughn went anywhere good. Honor Thy Mother and Father is one of the Ten Commandments and they sure fucked that up big time.

  Not that I’m a religious man, but I like to think logically about things and if that’s what I can use to be able to sleep better at night knowing that those little fucks are out of my hair forever, then Hell, I’m willing to play along and believe.

  “Fuck ‘em,” I say to no one in particular as I pick the pint back up and keep eating.

  Jocelyn is here now, and Darby will get to know her Momma soon enough. And if they’re both really good girls, they’ll get to know me too.

  Once I finished my ice cream and tossed the empty pint into the trash can, I made my way into the living room to lie down on the couch and wait for Jocelyn. I can hear the shower knobs turning so I know she’s done now, I just have to wait for her to dry up and get dressed.

  Ever since she was a little girl, she’s always been very curious and I’m hoping that she knows better at this point. She knows that she’s only to go to our room, shower, then come straight to me. I’m hoping she’s not dumb enough to try and sneak a glance into the boys’ room because if she does, she’ll see Darby and that’ll pop open a can of worms that I don’t have the can opener for just yet.

  I close my eyes and sigh as I clasp my hands over my chest. If she’s smart—and I know she is, she’ll probably try to take me out thinking I’m asleep, but I’m ready for that. These kids have always kept me on my toes when they were all around, and anything they’ve tried, I’ve alrea
dy done before.

  It’s the proverbial eyes in the back of the head thing that parents always talk about. Kids think it’s all bullshit until they’re caught being dumb little fucks, then they are amazed as hell that we knew all along.

  I don’t regret having any of them, I just wish they turned out better is all.

  Now, I could take some blame for it but I won’t. I did what I could with them and that’s all there is to that story. Darby on the other hand … I’ll do much better with her.

  “Hi.”

  I open my eyes and cock my head to the side, a smile spreading across my face. Jocelyn is standing just inside the living room, her hands firmly clasped in front of her, and her hair damply sitting on her shoulders.

  “Didn’t have time to dry up completely?” I ask with a laugh.

  “I … I just didn’t want to draw attention to myself,” she says, her eyes darting nervously around the room. “I can go back and fix it if you want me to.”

  “Nah,” I reply, swinging my legs off the side of the couch. “Come on in and have a seat, kid. Let’s catch up.”

  She clears her throat and walks toward the chair that sits directly across from the couch. In a way, it reminds me of the last time that Laura came to visit because she sat in that same damn chair.

  Fucking bitches and that chair, I think as I shake my head. Maybe that’ll be the next thing I make a bonfire for—it’s just up to Joce if she’s in the damn thing when I decide to take it out back.

  “So, how ya been?” I ask, leaning back and crossing my hands behind my head. I’m not exactly sure what I’m expecting her to say, but I wait for her answer anyway. I stopped going to check on her as often as I used to when I first tossed her down there. I didn’t want Darby getting too curious about the oubliette, even though she clearly already has.