Page 124 of Melt For Us, Daddy
“I’m going in there.”
“Dee, no.” Ivy clung to her arm, clearly doing her best to physically restrain her, which Cordelia found rather adorable even in the midst of her worry and anger.
In the end, it was the plea in her girl’s eyes that kept her from barging into the bathroom the way she wanted to, even though it felt like she was being split in two. Half of her wanted to stay with Ivy, to soothe the hurt feelings she knew had to be lingering after Jacob’s outburst.
The other half of her wanted to be in the bathroom, demanding an explanation. Holding their boy as he told them why he’d blown up like that. Something was wrong, that much she was sure of, and it was killing her not to know what that something was.
After what felt like hours, the door swung open again and Killian stepped out, holding his hands up in the time-honored gesture of surrender. “I know you’re pissed at me, Cordelia, but your boy seemed like he needed someone to talk to. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
Why couldn’t he talk to me? Because she recognized the inherent selfishness in that thought, she swallowed it down and nodded. “I appreciate you talking to him.”
“You’re welcome. If you want, I can stand watch out here, point people in the direction of the downstairs bathroom while you talk to him.”
“We’d appreciate that very much. Come on, blossom.”
With Killian standing guard, they pushed their way into the bathroom, where they found their boy sitting on the leather couch, looking more miserable than she’d ever seen him. Glancing up, he spotted them, and his cheeks immediately flushed such a bright red he could have stopped traffic in the dead of night.
“Hi.”
“Hi, baby boy.” Settling beside him, she reached for him then hesitated, unsure if her comfort would be welcome.
Pulling her hand back, she placed it in her lap. Ivy, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any question about her reception and she immediately went to him, curling up in his lap just as she’d done at the table earlier.
“Scared us,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing.
“Sorry. I just had… a moment.”
Their poor baby boy. “Will you tell us about it?”
His eyes met hers, so lost and full of pain it nearly knocked the air from her lungs. “Would you be upset if I asked to go home?”
“I will never, ever be upset with you for asking for what you need, baby. I’ll just let Holden know we’re ready to head out. But first I need to know that you're okay.”
“I am. Killian helped a lot.”
Well, that was a phrase she’d never expected to hear out of her submissive’s mouth. Either of them. “Killian did?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Huh. Maybe I’ll hold off on torturing him, then.” Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be right back. You two stay here.”
It killed her to leave them behind, but instinct told her that dragging Jacob back to the group would do more harm than good just then so she hurried back to the table as quickly as she could, zeroing in on Holden as she approached.
“Hey, sorry to steal you away again so soon but we need to go home.”
Brows creased with worry, Holden rose from his seat. “All right. Is Jacob okay?”
“I think so. I don’t really know what happened, but he asked if we could leave, so we’re leaving.”
“Poor kid,” Lottie said, looking rather distressed. “I hope it wasn’t anything any of us said.”
“I think it was probably just a lot, coming here, meeting everyone. That’s on me, nobody else.” And she’d be carrying that guilt with her for a very long time. “Maybe when things calm down a bit we can have a smaller get-together, let him get used to everyone before we try the club again.”
Silver lit up at the suggestion. “I was just telling Ice I miss having everyone over. Dinner soon?”
“Definitely. I’ll let you know when he’s ready to try again. Holden?”
“Right behind you.”
