The Dom’s Submission: Complete Series by Ellis O. Day
CHAPTER 23: Terry
Terry got out of the car and had to force himself not to slam the door. Maggie’s place looked like she was having a huge party. He was glad his friends had all come through for him, but she should’ve woken him.
“Hey, Terry. Almost ready with the first load. Just filling in the gaps with some boxes.” Mattie jumped down from the U-Haul truck. “Where are we going?”
“I’ll let you know in a minute. Where’s Maggie?”
“Last time I saw her she was in one of the boys’ rooms.”
“Great.” He headed toward the house. “Thanks for coming to help.”
“Sure thing.” Mattie tagged along after him. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Why?” He walked inside, nodding at Patrick who was on his way out with a large box.
“You look…kind of pissed.”
“I’m fine.” He glanced at Mattie. “But Maggie and I need to talk. Alone.”
“Right.” Mattie spun around. “I’ll grab a box and go outside.”
Terry strode down the hallway, glancing inside first one room and then the next. There she was. He walked into the older boy’s room.
She glanced up and smiled at him as she closed a box. “Hi.”
“Where the hell did you sneak off to this morning?” He’d been furious when he’d woken, hard and ready for a fuck, and found himself alone.
“I had to get groceries.” She straightened, the smile disappearing from her face.
“Why? I had food at the house.”
“Not for me. For your friends.”
“Why are you feeding my friends?” Women made no sense.
“It’s the least I can do since they’re helping me move.”
He stepped closer to her. “You know, I arranged it, right?”
“Yes and thank you again.” She looked puzzled but she’d figure it out soon.
He stopped in front of her, close enough to smell her—vanilla and woman, an aphrodisiac. “Then, the least you could’ve done is stayed with me.” He kissed her, loving how she opened for him without any hesitation, her body leaning into his. “I missed you this morning.” He took her hand and placed it on his rising cock.
“I’ll make it up to you later, Sir.” She gave him a slight squeeze and he moaned against her lips.
“Damn right, you will.” He swatted her ass as she stepped away.
“I think, I’m done in here.”
“Great. I’ll tell the guys this room is ready to load up.” He bent and grabbed the box. “Oh, where are they going? Mattie said the truck is almost full.”
“Already? That was fast.”
“Lots of muscle.” He flexed his arms and loved the spark of heat that lighted her eyes.
“Tell him, Southshore Apartments. Apartment two—”
“Southshore? That place is a dump.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad? Compared to what? A Turkish prison?”
“Well, that’s where we’re moving.” Her voice cracked a little.
Terry winced. She was going to cry. He dropped the box and pulled her to him. “No, baby. We can figure out something else.”
“No, we can’t.” She pushed away from him. “I can’t afford anything else and I’m not taking your money.”
“You won’t be taking it. I’ll pay your rent—”
“That’s the same as taking your money and I won’t do it.”
“You agreed to let me take care of you.”
“Not with money.” She moved past him but he grabbed her arm.
“You are not moving there.” This was not up for discussion.
“You can’t stop me.”
“Watch me.” He stormed out of the bedroom. “Everyone. We’re done. Unload everything back into the house.”
“Terry, stop.” Maggie trailed after him, clutching at his shirt, but he ignored her.
“What’s going on?” Patrick glanced from Terry to Maggie and then to Annie who’d just stepped out of the little girl’s bedroom with Sarah.
“Change of plans. Maggie’s not moving. Not yet anyway.”
“Okaaay.” Nick dropped the box he was carrying and headed for the door. “I’ll tell Mattie and the guys.”
“Wait.” Maggie grabbed Terry’s hand and he let her pull him into the baby’s room. “I already signed the lease.”
“I’ll get you out of it.”
“You can’t.”
“I can. I’m a lawyer.” This was easy to fix.
“But I have to move. This is the only place I can afford. I looked at other places. Trust me. Southshore was not my first choice.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find something else. Something nicer. Closer to my place.” He pulled her flush against him. “I can sneak over when the kids go to sleep—”
“Stop.” She stepped away from him. “Just stop. Okay. This is it. This is where I have to live.”
“Stop being so fucking stubborn.”
“I will when you stop being so thickheaded.”
“I’m not the one being thickheaded. I understand how this works. I take care of you and making sure you don’t live in a neighborhood where you could get shot in a drive-by is part of taking care of you.”
“For how long? I can’t move to one house and in a few months to another. Isabella and Peter are in school and moving is hard on them.”
“You can stay here.”
“I can’t.” Her voice was shrill. “Listen to me. I can’t afford this and part of you taking care of me is not me taking your money.”
“Yes, it is.” This was getting old. He’d never had a woman fight him so much. Of course, his other women had all been well off but they never cared when he bought them things.
She took a deep breath. “Let me help you see this from my point of view.”
“Okay.” It wasn’t going to change anything but he’d listen and later, he’d use her words against her like any good attorney.
“Let’s say, I take your offer and you move me and the kids to a place near your house.”
“Sounds good so far.”
Her lips thinned. “And then in three months or six months, this ends.”
“It might not.” He couldn’t imagine getting tired of her that soon, but it was possible.
“No, it might not, but it might. If it does, I’m going to have to move again and that’s hard on the kids and me.” She touched his cheek. “I appreciate your offer. I really do”—she leaned up and kissed him—“but I need to move to a place I can afford on my own.”
His hands went to her hips and he rested his chin on the top of her head. She wasn’t going to like this. “No.”
“What?” She tried to back away but he tightened his grip, keeping her near. “You can’t just tell me no.”
“I can. I did.” Damnit, that wasn’t the right answer. “Think of your kids. You don’t want them living in that area.”
“No, I don’t but I have no choice.”
“You do and before you get all ruffled listen to me.” He cupped her cheek. “I’d never leave you hanging with no money and no place to live. Even after it was over.”
“You say that now—”
“I mean it.”
“So did David and look at what that got me.” She tore his hand from her hip and stepped away from him.
“I am not your fucking ex-husband.” He was yelling now, but that comparison was too low to let pass. “I would never leave my wife, ex-wife, in such a financial mess that she’d have to move herself and kids…my kids…to a slum.”
“You’re lucky. You have the money to make those promises.”
“Your ex can’t be that fucking broke.”
“I told you, business was bad for years before our divorce.”
“I will not leave you with no place to go.” He was sick of her defending the bastard. She trusted that asshole more than she trusted him. “If you don’t believe me, I can put money in your account or we can sign a contract. Whatever you want.”
“What I want is to not be treated like your whore,” she yelled. “Why can’t you understand that?”
That was it. This woman pushed all his buttons. “The only difference between what I’m suggesting and what you did with your fuckhead ex-husband is a piece of fucking paper.”
“We were married.”
“You fucked him for a roof over your head.” As soon as he said the words, he regretted them. “Maggie…”
Her face was pale and her eyes wide, but her voice was soft. “Get out.”
“Maggie…” He stepped toward her and she backed away so fast she tripped over a box and landed on her ass on her son’s bed.
“Get out. Now.” She scrambled up and hurried past him.
He followed but she ducked into the bathroom.
“Maggie. Please.” He rested his head against the door.
“Go away.” She was crying now and he felt like a piece of shit.
A large hand landed on his shoulder. “Terry, come on,” said Nick.
“Fuck you.” He shoved Nick away and hit the door. “Maggie, come out here right now. Let me explain.”
“Go away.”
“Terry.” Sarah’s voice was smooth and calm. “You guys should go. Annie and I will stay.” Her hand on his arm was soft and fleeting. “You can come back later and talk to her, but right now, you should go.”
“Fuck.” He hit his head against the door. “Maggie, talk to me.”
The only sound he heard was her crying.
