Santa Baby~Chapter 15



Jealousy was stirring his blood. Blind rage was pumping through his veins. He watched her bright eyes fill. He watched as she fled from the stage. Yet, nothing--nothing--could extinguish the anger as it flooded over him in thick, hot waves. Those around him were unaware of his emotions, thus all were in a very dangerous position.

Insults were hurled at the stage, at the remaining girls who were doing their best to make up for the star's disappearance. And they were hurled at Belle who wasn't even there to defend herself.

"Hey! Where'd the lead whore go?!"

"Where's that pretty, little blonde slut!?"

"Honey! Come on back out here and shake that tight, little ass for us!!!" That was the last thing any of the assholes said. Now their drunken attention was focused on the tall, furious man who had a short, balding man pulled up in his face by his fancy suit lapels.

Shawn Brady's eyes were clouded with disdain for the man and what he'd yelled out to the absent Belle. "Asshole, if you ever so much as look at that girl again, I'll personally kick your fuckin' sorry ass." That said, he shoved the man out of his way and continued towards the stage. Temper had always had a short fuse for Shawn. It was one of his main faults and a scary one at that. He couldn't control it. And when it snapped, he was dangerous.

He stormed up the side steps of the stage and disappeared behind the curtains, his eyes immediately sweeping over the girls who still hadn't gone on stage.

An exotic brunette with criticizing eyes scowled at him. "Sorry, baby, we don't do backstage shows. You'll have to watch out there with the rest of the drunken fools." She stalked over, taking in every inch of him with an appreciative glance. "Though I wouldn't mind having you back here with us." She ran her hand down his arm and almost purred when she felt his taut muscles. "What's got you so tense, baby?"

"Where the hell did Belle go?"

"Shit, all the cute ones are either gay or after Belle. I take it you're the lawyer hunk?" At his lack of response, she shrugged and gestured in the direction of a steep, dark staircase. "Those stairs lead up to a little apartment. She flew up their about three minutes ago cussing about some tight-assed bastard. I'd watch myself, honey. She may seem harmless, but I'm willing to bet there's a pouncing lion under that kitten's exterior."

"Thanks." He didn't give her a chance to respond and was up the stairs in a flash, banging on the door at the top. "Belle! Open the damn door. We need to talk."

Inside, Belle paced in front of the doorway, unsure of what move to make next. She'd seen this type of behavior before. Hell, she'd experienced it firsthand, and it always left her in a predicament. She couldn't just walk away from her career, as sad as it was. Nor could she do anything to soothe the strong emotions she knew Shawn must be feeling. So, what the hell could she do?

Shawn's pounding on the door calmed enough that she felt safe enough to open it. Taking a deep breath, she pulled it open and watched him explode into the room, practically fuming with raw anger. "What the hell were you thinking?" He demanded, shrugging out of his overcoat and throwing it around her shoulders. "Christ, Belle, did you see how those assholes were looking at you?"

Reluctantly, she met his eyes, which--to her surprise--were filled with anger, yes, but had traces of concern in them. "This is my job, Shawn."

"Fuck that! You didn't hear what they were yelling at you. You didn't hear the things they said."

"Of course I did. I heard the insults, the suggestive comments. I heard them as well as I saw the jealousy fill your eyes. There's all kind of passion and emotions flowing through this damn club, that doesn't mean that I'm going to pay attention to any of it."

He grabbed her shoulders now, forced her to look at him. "You paid attention to the jealousy though. That's the reason you ran off the stage."

"Instinct." She smirked and started to turn away only to have him tighten his hold.

"Shit."

"Wonderful choice of words. It is all a load of shit, isn't it? Let me go, Shawn, I don't need some egotistical asshole who feels threatened by a bunch of nameless drunks. So, why don't you go ahead and get out of my life now, before we get into this too deep?"

He released her then and sighed. "You damn well know I can't just walk out. I'm already in too deep."

"So, what do you want to do? Drag me away by my hair and tell everyone that I belong to you? That I'm not allowed to have my own fuckin' life? I'm afraid that's not how that works. At least not with me, though I'm sure you could find at least ten of my coworkers who'd be more than willing to have you drag them away."

"You make it sound like I'm in the wrong here, Belle. When you came out onto that stage tonight, you were half-naked. There were a bunch of assholes calling you things that I'd rather never hear anyone called, much less someone I--I--shit--much less someone I care about." He turned to face her then, and though he knew better that to touch her with his emotions running so high, he traced a finger along her jaw line. "I care about you, Belle."

He couldn't have said anything that would've surprised her--or thrown her off guard--more than that. Her mind screamed at her to tell him to get out, to throw everything they could have away--but that incessant whisper in her heart that was telling her to go for it was the part of her that won out. "So, what are we going to do?"

All the temper and jealousy that he'd felt before had melted away as he enveloped her in his arms, buried his face in her wild mane of hair. "I don't know. I just don't know."



Santa Baby~Chapter 16


The child's eyes saw what she'd spent her entire life hoping for. Her mother and a potential father linked in a warm, caring embrace. Excitement bubbled up in her young heart as she watched the two begin to dance in the empty apartment. Whispering things that even the youngest child could understand. There was no music, other than that that Maddy heard being played in her heart. There was no rhythm to the dance either, other than that age-old ritual of bodies moving together without limitations.

The woman that was buried deep in Madison's heart saw something entirely different than the child. She saw passion and heat and anger. It danced around the room much like the two adults were dancing, but instead of being smooth and soothing it was jerky and unsettling. She was old enough to recognize anger when she saw it, and though that anger was being smoothed over with something calm and serene, it still left an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. Wanting to rid of that feeling and be reassured, she cleared her throat and stepped through the open door of the apartment. "Mommy?" She asked in a voice that was shaky and unsure.

Belle automatically moved away from Shawn and blinked over at her wide-eyed daughter. "Madison, what--I thought you were going to stay at Meredith's apartment tonight." Oh God, how much of that argument had her little girl actually heard? She took another calculated step away from Shawn and smoothed her hair in a nervous gesture. "What are you still doing here?"

The wide, innocent eyes filled with unexpected tears. Not because she'd heard the fight between her mother and Shawn, but because now, as she looked at Belle, she could feel nothing but pain and confusion radiating from the only stable adult in her life. "I--I was just coming up to get my bag and--and--" Her eyes wandered over to where the raggedy teddy bear lay face up on her cot. "--and to get Da."

"Of course, baby, go ahead. Shawn and I were just--just--" Belle sent a desperate glance to Shawn which made him automatically step forward and offer an explanation of his own.

"Did you hear us fighting, Madison Renee?" He asked in a voice so soft, so calm that Belle was almost certain he had dealt with children before. And fights.

Maddy nodded, her eyes averting to her shoes. "Then you danced."

"Yes, we did." Acting on instinct and emotion rather than sensibility, he took another step towards the little girl, then crouched down in front of her. "I was just about to apologize to your mom for the fight. Do you think that's a good idea?"

The girl's bottom lip quivered, but the tears had yet to spill over. "You yelled at her."
"I did, grownups do silly stuff like that sometimes, but just because they're yelling doesn't mean that they hate each other or are even angry at each other for that matter. Most of the time they're just angry at the circumstances."

"You don't hate her?"

He automatically glanced up at Belle, who was fighting back tears of her own, and smiled warmly. "No, I don't think I could hate your mom if I tried. She's a great lady."

"Yeah." Madison readily agreed. "Do you want me to leave you alone now, so that you can apologize and dance some more?"

Biting back a grin, he pulled the girl into his arms and hugged her fiercely. "I can't help falling in love with you, Madison. You're just so irresistible. You can leave if you like, but to tell you the truth, I enjoy your company around here and wouldn't mind too bad if you decided to stay."

Her eyes traveled up and landed on her mother's. The woman deep inside her heart reemerged and understood. "No, I think I still want to stay with Aunt Meredith." She kissed Shawn's cheek, then hugged her mommy. "'Night, Mommy. I love you."

"I love you, too, baby." Belle watched and waited until the door was closed firmly behind Madison, before she walked back over to Shawn and gave him a hard kiss on the mouth. "That's for being so good with her." She whispered, pulling back long enough to see the look of stunned pleasure on his face. "And this--" She traced his lips with her finger, before replacing it with her own lips. "--is for being so good with me."

"Belle--"

"Shh. I know you're sorry, and I know you won't be able to ignore what I do for a living. I respect that, and I expect you to respect me. I'm a dancer, Shawn. A not-so-innocent dancer. It may not be the most fulfilling job in the world, but it pays well. Or well enough. I need you to see that that's all it is--a job. Something that keeps food on the table."

"I do see that, and I respect you, but--" He ran a hand over her hair, tried to find the right words. The words that would explain what he was feeling, though he still wasn't quite sure himself what that was. "--I can't just ignore it. That's not how that works."

She closed her eyes, tried to imagine a world without complications and heartache. Couldn't. "For now. Can you ignore it for now? We've not even known each other a week and we're already complicating things. Can't we keep them simple for now?"

Already feeling the consequences swell up, Shawn nodded. "Yeah. For now."