Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 79

A few hours later, I'm leading Heathcliff back into the stables from our ride. We didn't go in the ring today, but instead spent most of the early afternoon trotting around the property, admiring the scenery. It's a beautiful landscape with beautiful vistas and as I rose I resented, a little, that I hadn't been allowed to ride freely out here before. But then again, I'm not as interested in what I'm allowed to do as I used to be.

The day is growing hot, and both Heathcliff and I have a light sheen of sweat on us as we walk into the stables. I wipe it from my forehead with the back of my arm, looking forward to wetting Heathcliff down with the hose and taking a nice long drink from it myself, when I see him.

Just standing there, in the middle of the aisle that runs between the line of stable stalls. His arms crossed, his feet spread wide apart. Glaring at me.

Heathcliff surprises me by checking his step a bit, apparently intimidated by the raw animal fury that we can both sense coming off of the predator standing there. But I click my tongue at the horse, tugging his lead rope and asking him to come a long with me. I don't check my stride at all, barely glancing at Kent as I make for Heathcliff's stall.

After a moment, Heathcliff follows.

If Kent wants to talk to me, he can damn well wait until I've taken care of my horse.

I take a minute to settle Heathcliff in his stall, tying his rope to a metal ring on the wall and reaching for his hoof pick when suddenly one of the stable hands shows up at the stall door.

"Um," he says, awkward, glancing over his shoulder. "I'll do that for you, ma'am..."

"What?" I ask, standing up straight. "Why?"

He hesitates again, even more awkward, glancing again at Kent, who I'm sure gave him the order. I just give him a little laugh and wave my hand.

"Thanks," I say, dismissal strong in my voice as I turn away and lean down to pick up one of Heathcliff's feet so I can clean it. "But I can take care of my own horse."

"Your horse, Fay?" I hear Kent ask. I drop Heathcliff's hoof and straighten up again, turning to see Kent standing at the stall door now, furious at having been ignored several times this morning. "Last time I checked, I paid for that horse, and its care." "Really, Kent?" I ask, folding my arms over my chest and glaring at him. "You're going to take your present back, just because you're mad at me?"

Kent narrows his eyes. "I can take back more than the horse, Fay," he warns, his body seeming to fill the entire doorway.

"Is that what you want, Kent?" I ask, turning fully to him now, feeling my defiance slip a bit as I think about what he's saying. Because, as much as I like to defy him, in this moment I just...need to know. "Is that all I am to you? A contract? I defy you, and you take things away from me? I do as you say, and I get rewards?"

I see Kent tense at this change in direction. I think that he, too, was expecting a fight. Maybe looking forward to it. "Do you have a problem with that, Fay?" he asks, his voice low and resonant. "That seems to have been our deal, all along."

"So that's it, then," I push, taking a step closer and looking up into his face. "I really am just...your little doll. That you dress up and move around your play house, sending me where you want me to go, doing what you want me to do." I take another step towards him, looking up into his face, truly curious to see how he reacts. Kent works hard to hold my gaze, to keep his emotions tucked away and not let me see anything at all besides that which he wants me to see. "This is a job, Fay," Kent tells me, his voice stern. "You understood that. Services in exchange for pay, for...privileges. And if you don't perform those services...well, like any other job..."

"But this isn't my job, Kent," I reply, feeling my lower lip start to shake a little with unhappiness. Unhappiness I'm not sure I've fully acknowledged in a while. Because I've been...excited? About some of the changes in my life, and in my relationship? But if I really consider what they actually mean...I'm not sure anything has changed at all.

"I'm a therapist, Kent," I continue. "Or at least, I was training to be. That was my job, until you made me quit and locked me up in your house. Until you made it clear that the only way for me to gain any control over my life was to marry your son or sign your contract. You forced me into this."

"I forced you to nothing!" Kent hisses, closing the distance between us, his anger alive in him now. "You signed that contract of your own free will, Fay! You -"

"I am more than this!" I shout, surprising myself - and him, and the horse - with the loudness of my voice, my vehemence.

Kent takes a step back, blinking in surprise. "Fay -"

"No," I say, stepping forward into the space where Kent fell back, clenching my jaw and staring up at him. "No, Kent - you don't get to talk me out of it. All of this is bullshit - that contract is bullshit. It's just ink on paper - none of it means anything, or reflects any part of what's actually happening between us. All your contracts and your rules and your regulations? It's all designed to make me feel weak, and to make you feel strong and in charge."

"It's designed to privilege me, yes," Kent snarls down at me, not giving another inch, "because I am the one who has something you need, Fay. And your position is to serve me in exchange for it. With gratitude." His lip curls, now, with anger, maybe disgust. "Really, Kent?" I whisper, feeling a sudden burst of courage as I realize the actual truth of the situation. I close the distance between us completely so that my chest is pressed up against his. I allow the line of my body to arrange itself close against him, my stomach curved against his torso, our hips suddenly aligned.

I look up at him, my eyes wide and clear. "Because I think that the situation is actually reversed, Kent," I murmur, my voice thick with the knowledge of my power. "I think that, actually, I have what you need."

Kent stares down at me, his breath coming hard now, and then suddenly there's a shift in him - fast, lightning-quick. Just a simple click behind his green eyes, and one final moment of perfect stillness - And then Kent breaks.

A moan rips from him as he grabs me, one arm hard around my waist, crushing me against him as he brings his mouth to mine and claims me. I'm lost in him, instantly, my arms around his body fast, my hands pressing against the hard muscles of his back, wanting him closer wanting him against me, solid, now.

Kent moans again, desperate, his eyes closed as he reaches the hand around my waist lower, dipping below my a*s - not to grab it, but instead to lift me, bodily, up against him. I cry out against his mouth, shocked and a little frightened at the sudden force of him, but I wrap my legs around his waist, consenting to it, letting him carry me.

He falls forward a little, his footing unsure, almost drunk on the moment, lost in me, and then I feel the wood of the stall's barrier hit hard against my back, forcing a little gasp from me as the air rushes from my lungs at the impact. Kent pulls back for a moment, checking to see that I'm okay, but I nod to him, fervent, and he brings his face back to mine.