Page 45 of Keep Me Daddy

I have friends, security, a… Daddy.

But Benji knew that his positive thinking was only worth so much. Right now, he felt like his life was about as far from perfect as he could possibly imagine. Something had to change, he had to somehow work out a way of escaping from Tucker’s clutches and getting control of his money back at the same time too.

Benji remembered how when the family had moved to that cold, miserable house they had all eventually decided to sleep in the same bed until the heating issue got resolved. That had actually been kinda fun.

‘I wish we had Daddy here,’ Benji said, holding onto Zozo extra tightly. ‘Hmmm. Speaking of Daddy…’

Benji didn’t have his phone with him – it was with Tucker.

But Benji did have his Kindle. And maybe this meant that he could be closer to Harrison without actually speaking to him. After a quick search, Benji found Harrison’s most well-known novel and downloaded it.

It may not have been a movie, and Benji was definitely worried about it being too grown up for him, but Benji was desperate to feel a sense of closeness to Harrison and figured this might just be the way to do it.

But just as Benji touched the screen to begin reading, the Kindle’s battery warning flashed, and it turned itself off. This was the last straw for Benji.

Everything that could go wrong was going wrong.

Benji’s return to the city was turning out to be a total nightmare – and to make matters even worse it was the type of nightmare that Benji simply couldn’t see a way out of.

Benji needed his Daddy to protect him and keep him warm.

But instead, Benji was cold, alone, and feeling like there was no hope for the future.

Chapter 20

HARRISON

The house didn’t feel the same without Benji, and nothing that Harrison could do would even get close to changing that.

Having arrived back from the bar feeling a little on the drunk side, Harrison decided to rustle up a late-night snack to make himself feel better.

‘If only I knew someone who was good with food, huh?’ Harrison muttered, clumsily banging into the corner of the solid-oak kitchen unit. ‘Pfft. Whatever. I’m a grown-ass man. I can make a fucking sandwich.’

Harrison picked up the bread knife and began angrily cutting away at the large sourdough loaf. Next up for the chopping board was a large tomato that Harrison just about managed to slice without removing his own fingers in the process too.

‘Grrrr. No freakin’ cheese,’ Harrison said, opening the refrigerator and seeing pretty much a barren wasteland aside from a couple of bottles of pale ale and a milk carton. ‘Oh well. Tomato sandwich it is.’

Harrison put the sandwich on a large white plate and wandered toward his study. Harrison sat down on his work chair and instinctively turned the computer on.

It was late.

Harrison was drunk.

But his instinct to work on his novel was still there. It was almost like a defense mechanism for him. Things may have been going all to hell with Benji, and with Dean Hoffman too, but Harrison reasoned that if he could at least get some words on the page then that would go some way to helping him carry on like everything was normal.

‘Fuck, this is terrible,’ Harrison said, suddenly realizing that the tomato in his sandwich was probably a good two or three days past its best. ‘Damned Little. It’s all his fault.’

Harrison knew it was wrong to feel angry toward Benji. He was simply lashing out. But there was something that was becoming clearer and clearer to Harrison, and it wasn’t a comfortable feeling to sit with either.

Harrison cast his mind back to when his former boy, Justin walked out and ended their relationship. It had always been the narrative in Harrison’s head that it was Justin who couldn’t handle the change in Harrison’s status when his book really took off and changed his life. Harrison had always been more than happy to lay the vast majority of blame at Justin’s door.

But gradually over the years, Harrison had known on a subconscious level that it wasn’t quite that simple. Being in a happy relationship with Benji had helped to clarify that further – but now Benji was gone, Harrison was refining his version of events even more.

I was so arrogant back then.

Always thinking of me and my success.

Maybe Justin just had to prioritize himself…

Source: www.allfreenovel.com