AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I take my girls’ spiritual, mental, and physical development quite seriously. You have nothing to worry about.”
Dad chortles. “All right.”
“Thanks for bringing my bag, Dad,” I say forcefully.
“You’re welcome, kiddo.” He leans in to kiss the top of my head, then lingers by my ear. “Please come home.”
I playfully push him away. “Goodnight, Dad,” I say, laughing. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
He throws on a smile, his eyes sighing. “Goodnight, Dana.” A quick nod at Ms. Jaxx. “Sam, it was… nice to see you again.”
“Johnny,” she coos, this time with a wink.
Well.
They have history.
He leaves. Ms. Jaxx takes a good, long look at his backside before facing me again. “Coming in?” she asks. “There’s still time to change before we get started,” she adds with a nod to my clothes.
“I’m coming in,” I say, then… “So, you know my dad?”
“Uh-huh,” she says after a pause. “We, uh… we’re old friends.”
“Old friends?”
“Old friends.”
I hum teasingly, the truth more than obvious.
“Okay, fine. We banged,” she spits out. “But that was before your mom. Once he met Rose, he was a different man. A very different man.”
“Okay.”
“An annoyingly different man.” Her smile returns. “He never partied again. It was infuriating. Your dad was one of the fun ones.”
“That’s… good to hear, I guess.”
Ms. Jaxx touches my shoulder. “He took the right path, though.” She tugs lightly on a lock of my hair. “I mean, just look at you.”
I smile, automatic and effortless. There’s just something about Samantha Jaxx that makes one feel welcome and at ease. “I’m certainly happy to be alive,” I joke.
“As you should.” She takes a breath, seamlessly morphing from party girl to responsible adult in mere seconds. “Now, I don’t want this to affect our relationship, but I understand if it does. If you’re uncomfortable being in this house, then?—”
“It doesn’t,” I say with a laugh. “Believe me, I’ve heard plenty about my father’s reputation over the years. This doesn’t bother me.”
It really doesn’t.
“Good.” Ms. Jaxx nods. “Good.”
I step through the door. “So, how often does this happen to you?” I ask. Her words before seemed far too rehearsed to be new.
“Oh, god.” She rolls her eyes as she follows me inside. “All the time.”
“Really?”
“When you’ve been around for as long as I have… well…” She waves a hand as she closes the door. “Anyway, my days of partying with frat boys are long behind me now, though there was one Delta Xi a few years back who was quite persistent.”
“What’d you do?” I ask.
