Page 9 of Santa Daddy’s Accidental Little Helper

CHAPTER NINE

Elaine

I didn’t even remember falling asleep in bed next to Henry after letting him torment me with the waves of pleasure that had accompanied the tension that built inside me the night before, but, when I woke up the following morning, I didn’t mind the fact that I was alone in his bedroom or the fact that I was still naked as the day I was born. Instead, what really bothered me was the fact that my phone was ringing at six in the morning. To my lack of surprise, it was Jessica.

“It’s about time!” she exclaimed as soon as I answered the phone, and I was already regretting having answered the phone in the first place. “Do you have any idea what time it is? Where were you all night?” Trying to remain as calm as possible, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

“I was out,” I answered back, more annoyed that she was yelling at me like I was a child rather than a full grown adult who happened to be her older sister. When she didn’t answer right away, I realized she was still waiting for a proper response, and I groaned in annoyance. “Look, I’m a full grown adult who can do as she pleases. I don’t need you babying me through every second of the day.” This seemed to calm her down a little, and she took a deep breath.

“Were you out with Henry?” she asked, sounding both relieved and genuinely curious as she spoke. “It’s okay if you were. I just want to know that you’re safe.” Despite the annoyance I felt towards her for being woken up so early in the morning on top of being treated like a child, a soft spot formed in my heart towards my younger sister, and I sighed through the phone.

“It’s a long story,” I told her as I sat back down on the incredibly soft bed I had woken up in. “I guess I’ll explain it all as soon as I get home.” At that moment, the worry returned to her voice, and she sounded a bit frantic.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, the words blurting out of her mouth like a mass of unidentified sounds rather than words. “Do you need me to come get you? When will you be home?” She asked about three more similar questions all at once, not even bothering to allow me a chance to respond. Between it being so early in the morning and having to deal with her frantic questions, I took a deep breath.

“Jessica, enough!” I finally snapped, and the call fell silent. After making sure that she hadn’t disconnected the call, I heaved a sigh of relief, grateful for the relief that came with the silence that greeted my ears. “I’m fine, and I’ll explain everything when I get home. In the meantime, I’m going to let you go. I’ll text you when I’m on my way home. It’s too early in the morning to be bothering with all this.” After considering this for a moment, Jessica finally calmed down as she responded through the phone.

“You’re right,” she agreed, her voice softer and less excited as she spoke. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be panicking like this just because you stayed out all night.” Grateful for the relief of not having her yelling through the phone, I nodded my head in response.

“I’m going to go now,” I informed her, eager to get off the phone so that I could go back to sleep. “Again, I’ll text you when I’m on my way home. I’ll talk to you later.” With that, I disconnected the call and laid back on the bed.

Now that I was fully awake and deeply exhausted thanks to her consistent worry, I found that it was next to impossible to fall back to sleep and I groaned in annoyance as I stared up at the ceiling, wishing I could have slept through her calling my phone or had the foresight to turn the sound off on my phone so that I could sleep this morning. I hated how she could wake up bright and early every morning and expected everyone to be just as energetic as she was, yet she never took into consideration the fact that no one was likely to be up at that point. Instead, she would go into full panic mode and demand to know what was wrong.

After tossing and turning for the last ten minutes or so, I finally gave up on sleep and decided that I was going to start to get up and look for Henry. I assumed this was his home and that he had to be around here somewhere, but I didn’t know where he would be. As I made my way across the room in order to reach the bathroom, I was startled when the door opened, and Henry walked out, his skin slick and sheen, drenched in water while he covered his lower half with a towel. Seeing me, he gave a gentle smile.

“Good morning, Little One,” he told me as he stared down at me. “I wasn’t expecting you to still be up.” Looking over at the nightstand, where my phone had been sitting when I woke up, he continued. “Should I assume that was your sister calling you a while ago?” Caught completely off guard by his question, I couldn’t help but nod in response.

“You heard that?” I asked, my cheeks burning red in embarrassment as I spoke. As he made his way over to the dresser, Henry chuckled and nodded his head in response.

“I heard the phone ringing,” he informed me. “It stopped after a while, but, thanks to the running water, I wasn’t able to hear if you had answered it or if the person gave up after a bit.” Pulling out a change of clothing, he turned to look at me. “Do you want a shower?” Confused by the way he was changing the subject, I nodded.

“Yes please,” I told him. Immediately, he raised an eyebrow at me, looking disappointed or disapproving of the words that had just left my mouth.

“Yes what?” he asked, and I scrambled to remember the answer. A faint memory finally returned to me, and I swallowed hard as I gave him a gentle smile as I remembered everything that had happened.

“Yes, please, Daddy,” I replied, hoping it was the right answer. As he stared at me for a moment, he finally nodded in response and motioned towards the bathroom.

“Go ahead,” he instructed me as he turned his attention back towards the dresser. “I’ll find you a change of clothing and go make breakfast. After we eat, we need to sit down and talk.”