Cinere_An Inferno Novella Read online

  Jocelyn doesn’t say anything. Instead, she folds her hands on her lap and glances up at me every now and then, cutting her eyes toward the door.

  I sigh loudly. “When did you become such a pussy? Seriously, kid. You used to be so full of spunk and ready to fight at a moment’s notice, and now you’re this docile little piece of shit and it’s starting to bug me.”

  This time, when she glances up at me and meets my eyes, she holds them in hers. I can tell that I’m starting to make her angry and that’s what I want because that’s when she fucks the best.

  “Good,” I say evenly, with a nod. “Get pissed off. You’ve got a child in this house that you don’t even know yet, and by the looks of it, you only seem to give a shit about yourself right now. That’s not a good look for you, Mommy.”

  “Must have been the example I had growing up,” she replies curtly, inspecting her fingernails.

  “Damn,” I reply with a chuckle. “That had some bite to it, little girl.”

  Jocelyn shrugs indifferently and puts a hand to her stomach. I can tell she’s hungry, but I don’t know if she’s worth sparing any food on.

  Not yet, anyway.

  Anyone, with the exception of Darby that wants to eat under my roof, has to work for it.

  “Hungry? Wanna sing for your supper?” I ask her deviously as I lean forward and rest my arms on my knees.

  She looks away for a moment, contemplating her answer, but if she waits for too long, I’ll just take what I want anyway, and she knows it.

  “Yes,” she finally says softly.

  “Good girl,” I say with a nod, getting to my feet and holding a hand out toward her. I don’t mind her putting up a fight every now and again, but right now, it’ll be much easier if she remembers to do as she’s told.

  “Goddamn,” I moan in a heavy breath as Jocelyn grinds her hips on top of me. It’s been so long since I’ve been fucked, that I’m trying not to cum too fast. It’s only been ten minutes after all, and I already had to grind my teeth to hold onto my load when she was giving me head.

  “Come on, girl,” I say through grit teeth, giving her ass a firm slap. I can tell her heart isn’t into it, but I can’t fuck her heart, so I don’t particularly care about that.

  I slide my hands up the sides of her body, then jerk her down toward me. Her lips are a few inches away from mine, and the feeling of her hot breath on my face is fucking intoxicating.

  I grip her arms tightly and grin. Joce closes her eyes and braces herself, because she knows what’s coming next.

  Her.

  I lift my ass off the bed and begin to fuck her, my grin widening when I see that familiar look take over her face. Her tits are bouncing and grazing against my chest as she holds my forearms tightly. I haven’t given it to her like this since the first time I fucked her, and it almost feels brand new again.

  “Are you gonna be a good girl and cum for me?” I ask her in bated breaths. She lets out a sound that is something between a strangled yes and a moan, as I fuck her harder.

  I don’t mind doing all this work because if I’m being honest, the best pussy I’ve ever had belongs to this one right here.

  For now.

  The thought of Darby sleeping so innocently in her bed while I fuck her mother enters my head and I’m flooded with the memory of when this was Laura on top of me and Joce was sleeping in her room. I can feel my balls tightening as I keep fucking her and she moans louder.

  Just like her mother.

  “Oh my God…” she whimpers as her body begins to stiffen, her breathing becoming heavier.

  “Yes, I am. Now give me what you owe me,” I say, before I pull her down and crush her lips against my own. The sweat on her upper lip is salty but sinfully sweet.

  She moans loudly into my mouth before her pussy begins to tighten around my cock and I groan. Jocelyn is cumming harder than she ever has before, and I think that’s worth a meal or two.

  She falls against me, breathing heavily, her body shaking, and I put an arm around her. Kissing the top of her head, I run my fingers down her back and smile.

  “Just like old times, isn’t it?” I ask her softly.

  Jocelyn puts a hand to my chest and lets it linger there, lulling me into a false sense of feeling loved. It doesn’t last too long though, because she’s just using me as leverage to pull herself off of me.

  I raise an eyebrow and prop myself up on my elbows. I watch her as she moves off the side of the bed, and gets to her feet, reaching down for her panties and dress.

  “Wham, bam, thank you ma’am,” I mutter, leaning back onto the bed and sighing.

  Once she’s dressed, she turns to face me, arms crossed loosely over her chest.

  I roll my eyes and push myself off the bed, putting my hands on my hips.

  “Well? What the fuck are you waiting for? Go make some dinner,” I snap at her.

  “I thought you said –”

  “I changed my mind. Now go cook something for all three of us and maybe if you do a good job, I’ll let you meet the kid,” I reply with a smirk.

  With a defeated sigh and tears in her eyes, Jocelyn turns and leaves the room. I may seem like a bastard to her, but the only way to rule a home properly is with an iron fist and my word is fucking law.

  I stop and check on Darby once I’m dressed again. She’s still fast asleep and I can’t help but smile at how beautiful she is. It wasn’t too long ago, theoretically speaking, that I used to stand in the doorway and watch Jocelyn sleep. She was always such a good little girl until her whore of a mother got pregnant again. And then another time after that, even though I told the bitch that I didn’t want anymore kids other than our perfect little girl.

  Boys.

  What the fuck was I supposed to do with them? Play sports? Show them how to fish? No; they were a waste of time and I didn’t care enough to pay them any mind.

  Not until they started to turn my Joce against me. That’s when I knew I had to put a stop to that shit.

  It’s also how I know that Darby won’t be a problem. Once she sees the example that I’ve set with her mother, she’ll be the perfect little girl that I’ve been missing ever since Jocelyn was ruined.

  I take a step back and close the door as quietly as I can. I won’t wake her up just yet because she can get really fucking cranky if woken up before she’s ready.

  I chuckle as I walk down the hallway, down the stairs, and toward the kitchen. She gets that from me, and while I’ll admit that it’s not my best quality, it’s nice to know that even though she looks like her mother, she’s still got some of her daddy in her.

  “It’s starting to smell good in here,” I say appreciatively as I enter the kitchen.

  Jocelyn has her back to me as she places a slab of seasoned meat into the oven. I’m not sure what she’s making, but I do know that it’ll more than likely be good enough to let her read Darby a bedtime story tonight.

  “Whatcha making?” I ask, walking up behind her and placing my hands on her hips. I push myself against her and she goes rigid for a moment before remembering the predicament she’s in and relaxes.

  “Braised pork shoulder,” she replies quietly.

  “You’re making my favorite?” I ask her with a laugh. “I guess you really wanna see the kid, don’t you?”

  She shrugs and turns to face me, crossing her arms over her chest again. I hate that she’s so damn stand-offish with me—especially since we just shared such a beautiful moment in the bedroom.

  I sigh and rub my face irritably.

  “Uncross them,” I say sternly. Her arms immediately drop to her sides and she looks down at her feet. “Alright. I know what’s gonna make you feel better. You keep yourself busy in here and I’ll be right back.”

  Joce turns back to the oven and I run a hand back through my hair, shaking my head as I leave her alone in the kitchen again. What I should do is hold her against the refrigerator and fuck her again, but I doubt she has the stamina for another go right now
.

  I go back to Darby’s room and push the door open quietly. She’s gonna be so pissed when I wake her up, but I know how to stop her temper before it flares into a tantrum.

  “Wake up, baby girl,” I say, gently running a hand over her head.

  She groans and rolls on her side, her back toward me, as she snuggles her blanket closer to her little body.

  “Come on, Darbs. It’s time to wake up now,” I say, giving her a gentle shake.

  “No,” she barks, her back still to me.

  I can’t help but laugh. How this kid can go from happily picking wildflowers to being so damn pissy about being woken up is beyond me. That’s something we’ll have to work on in the near future.

  “Darbs,” I say sternly. “Wake up. Let’s go. I got your surprise waiting.”

  At the mention of the surprise I promised her, she sits right up and looks at me with a tired smile on her face. I wait patiently while she rubs the sleep away from her eyes before she pushes her blanket off and holds her arms out toward me.

  I pick her up and kiss her cheek. She giggles quietly as she nuzzles into my neck and I carry her out of the room.

  I’m not sure how she’s going to react to Jocelyn when they’re face to face. She’s only ever heard her voice and I don’t keep pictures of the kids around. It’s a waste of space and I don’t care for clutter. I’m sure she’ll see herself in her Momma and she’ll probably love her right away, but the only way to find out is to take her into the kitchen.

  I walk slowly, deliberately.

  We play a game of peek-a-boo on the way to the kitchen because I want to keep her distracted long enough to give her a chance to understand what’s happening when I tell her who the lady in the kitchen is.

  It’s almost just like Laura all over again, I think with a chuckle as we finally reach the doorway. I put Darby down and turn her to face me.

  “I want you to go say hi to the nice lady. She’s being nice and making us supper. Go tell her thank you,” I say, running a hand over the side of her face.

  Darby nods and turns around, running the few steps toward Joce. She reaches up and pulls on her dress, a big smile on her face.

  “Thank you!” she shouts gleefully when Jocelyn looks down at her.

  I laugh and lean a hand on the door frame, watching them carefully. Jocelyn bites her lip so damn hard, I’m worried she’s going to draw blood and scare Darbs.

  “Watch it,” I warn her in a low tone.

  She quickly wipes the tears from her eyes and crouches down in front of our daughter, trying her best to smile.

  “You’re welcome,” she whispers.

  Darby puts her arms around Joce’s shoulders and gives her a quick hug, before she runs over to the table and pulls herself up onto one of the chairs.

  She doesn’t get it, I think with a relieved sigh.

  “Guess we’ll hold onto to our little secret just a bit longer,” I say to Jocelyn evenly as I walk over to the table and take the seat next to Darby.

  Jocelyn looks at the little girl and wrings her hands nervously before she turns her back to us again. I won’t tell Darby just yet. There’s no point in ruining her supper by telling her that the nice lady in the kitchen cooking is really nothing more than a disappointment for both of us.

  I decided that while Jocelyn is keeping herself busy making dinner, that I’d let Darby color at the table. I usually don’t allow that, but it’ll keep her occupied and not ask her Momma any questions.

  It’s just in her nature to be so damn curious. Always wants to know who, what, and why, never stopping her barrage of questions until she gets an answer she’s satisfied with.

  Vaughn asked too many fucking questions too, I think with a slight shudder. I get that Darby will inherit some of their traits, but I can hope that she’ll be just like me when she gets older. The way I choose to live my life with my family makes perfect sense to me—even if no one else would understand it.

  I glance over at her happily coloring next to me and run a hand back over her hair. Yeah; I can’t help but think that even though the rest of them were fucking failures, this one will make me proud.

  “Oh man!” she cries out, causing Joce to turn around quickly. Her eyes immediately fall on me instead of Darby and I roll my eyes at her. Obviously, she still thinks the worst of me.

  “What’s wrong baby?” I ask her.

  “I broke my crayon,” she replies with a pout, holding up her blue crayon for me to see it. The top partially snapped off because of how hard she was rubbing it against the paper.

  “Well,” I say, getting up from the table and walking over to the junk drawer next to the sink. “That’s why you need to be more patient when you’re coloring. We talked about patience before, remember?”

  I fish around in the drawer until I find the box of crayons I’m looking for. Darby has a habit of snapping her crayons when she colors, so I have a box that I keep in here for moments like this. I pull out the blue crayon then toss the box back into the drawer, closing it with my hip, and running a knuckle down Joce’s back before I head back to the table.

  I sit down and hold the crayon out to Darby who’s now watching Jocelyn with suspicion growing in her big brown eyes, and I chuckle.

  “Darbs? Would you like your crayon?” I ask her with a grin.

  “Yes, please,” she says quietly, narrowing her eyes. She reaches for the crayon then puckers her lips for me and I give her a gentle kiss on the lips before she goes back to coloring again.

  So far I’ve taught her that when Daddy does something nice for her, then Daddy gets a thank you kiss.

  Baby steps.

  The loud sigh that comes from Jocelyn tells me that she was watching us. It doesn’t matter to me; she went through this same fucking training so she’ll know when it’s time to worry. Not that I think it’s something to worry about—to me it’s just a different way of showing love, and I prefer it.

  And no matter how much huffing and puffing she’s doing, I know damn well that she does too.

  I rest my chin in my hand and watch Darby color in her blue sky. She’s very good at not running over any lines when she’s coloring and I can tell that’s the perfectionist in me rubbing off on her already.

  “Another hour and dinner will be ready,” Jocelyn announces in a subdued tone.

  “Alright,” I reply indifferently, not looking up from the paper. “Mind if I color with you?”

  Darby looks up at me and flashes a happy, toothy smile, handing me the yellow crayon and telling me to color in the flowers while she works on the sky.

  I clear my throat and pull my chair closer to hers, then begin to do as she’s asked of me. I like doing little things like this with her—it helps me understand this whole parenting thing on a different level.

  I’m so lost in making this precious memory with Darby that I never realize that Jocelyn is standing next to me. Not until I feel the cold blade of the knife she’s holding, under my chin. Not until she digs it in a little and uses it to lift my face.

  I let the crayon drop from my fingers onto the paper and it quietly rolls over to Darby, who almost immediately starts crying.

  She doesn’t understand.

  She doesn’t know that her Momma wants revenge for shit that was done to her and she doesn’t realize that by the time this little family day is over, one of us will be in the ground permanently.

  It all depends on who has the bigger set of balls, I think as I look Jocelyn square in the eyes and grin.

  “Are you gonna use that or are you trying to see how far you can go before you piss me off?” I ask her evenly, the grin never leaving my face.

  Her jaw clenches as she digs it in a little deeper and I find myself pushing against it. Jocelyn’s never had the fucking guts to do anything like this. When she knocked out Laura, she wasn’t even woman enough to finish the job—I had to toss that shit on one of her brothers to handle. I let him get some action before it was all said and done, and no matter how
much he fucking cried about it, I knew he wouldn’t be able to deny that his first pussy would be the one he would have always remembered had he still been alive.

  With a sigh, I slap the knife out of her hand and get to my feet, pulling her body tightly against mine. I point at Darby who’s still crying and decide to give her a little lesson in parenting.

  “You see this? That’s what you did. She was just fine with the two of us sitting here spending some time together, until you decided to try and grow a pair and knife me in front of her. That’s some shit I never did in front of any of you. Are you proud of yourself? Is this the kind of mother you want to be, because if it is, then you better make damn sure that the next time you pull any kind of weapon on me that you fucking use it.”

  I shove her away and walk over to Darbs, putting an arm around her shoulders and tell her that it’s okay. I tell her that the lady was just playing a scary game and that there’s no reason to cry anymore.

  “The dog,” Jocelyn says quietly.

  “Oh fuck the dog,” I snap at her. Then a slow smile starts to spread across my face. “Not the way you did.”

  The callousness of my tone, of what I just said to her, slaps her in the face hard and she turns away and runs toward the living room. I roll my eyes and sigh again when I hear her burst into tears, but if she’s trying to get away from the memory of that day, then maybe she should go into a different room.

  “Come on,” I say to Darby, as I get to my feet and pick her up into my arms. “You gotta learn to toughen up. Have you ever seen your daddy crying?”

  She shakes her head and takes a deep, shuddering breath as she buries her head into my neck. Her little fingers are grazing the back of my neck as she tries to find some comfort in my hug and I have to start walking before I put her down and give Jocelyn a reason to try and grow balls again.