Page 78 of Silver Player

Could she love me?

Fuck, my mind screams as I scrub a hand over my face before sitting up and letting Roxie slide off my lap.

She chuckles hesitantly. “This is so embarrassing, sir.” She addresses my father, swiping back her long hair—wild and white curtaining her face as she leaned over me. Illuminated in the dim light, she looked otherworldly, and I want to enter that world…within her.

“It happens,” my dad states, lessening his tone a bit as he opens the door wider, suggesting she leave. I don’t want her to go. I want to hold her in my arms as a shield against the onslaught of attack from my father. Billy fucks up again. Huzzah! Party of one.

Roxanne doesn’t look back at me as she excuses herself, and my father leans on the doorjamb as she exits.

“So, you’re a father,” my dad begins, once Roxanne heads for the stairs.

“I am.” The obvious has already been said, so I wait, knowing disappointment is coming from him.

“Now what?”

“I had a paternity test.” My father waits for more explanation, but I promised Roxanne we’d work it out. Only Jordan’s been pressuring me. I don’t need guardianship, he says. I’m Sadie’s father, but I should seek residential custody. Sadie should live with me. I’m opposed, it’s just what I have arranged with Roxanne’s seems to be working. Financially, though, Jordan says we need things in writing. A formal agreement of responsibility, which just seems cold to me. I’ll take responsibility for my child however she needs it.

“I want Sadie to live with me,” I blurt, although I haven’t settled the decision with Roxanne. It’s something I haven’t been able to bring up yet. I don’t want to rip Sadie from Roxie, which is one of Roxanne’s fears, but I also want my turn at parenting. I want my child in my home.

“And what do you know about raising a teenage daughter?”

“What did you know before Mati?” I sass back. Mati is the baby girl of four brothers. I have no doubt she was a different kind of handful than us boys, but she’s also daddy’s princess.

“I’d already been a father. I had some practice.”

“Fine, then before Giant?” I question.

“Let’s not split hairs,” my dad snaps back.

“Then what should we split? You’re here to tell me I’ve eff-ed up…again…and remind me of all the things I didn’t do well before. College. Rachel. But you don’t see what’s right in front of you. The pub and the amazing success it’s had for the past fifteen years. Fifteen. And now, I have a daughter, who I’ve missed out on for sixteen. I don’t want to miss any more time with her.”

George Harrington Jr. falls silent for a moment, weighing his words or calculating them, I’m not certain.

“Where did you ever get the idea we weren’t proud of the pub?”

“Because you’ve never said it,” I shriek, exasperated with the man I admired and hated a little growing up. I wasn’t going to conform. I wasn’t going to fit in the puzzle, but then again, neither did James. He just walked away.

“William, I’m proud of all my children. That includes you even if I don’t agree with all your life choices.”

Life choices. I snort. He means Rachel and what he thinks he knows. And now, possibly Sadie.

“What’s with Roxanne?” He nods toward the bed, and my face would have heated in embarrassment if I wasn’t already steaming mad, slowly trying to decode his words.

“We were just fooling around.” As soon as I say it, the words taste bitter, the label incorrect. I need to stop fooling myself. I like her a lot. I care about her. And I want to fuck her again.

Shit.

“This is playing with fire, William. She’s your daughter’s aunt. She has temporary guardianship. If things go south, she could ruin you in a character testimony.” I don’t know how my dad knows such things, but I know enough to realize Sadie has a say in things. She’d have the final say in where she lives, if I push, but I don’t want to push her.

I wonder what she’ll say. Who would she choose? Is it a choice?

“That won’t happen,” I huff, defending Roxanne’s opinion of me. We might not be on solid ground, but we’re getting there. I’m not in a rush. She isn’t a one-night stand to me, so I can take my time. I know she runs hot and cold with me, and adding physical trysts blurs some lines, but I don’t need a firm definition of us. As long as we stay a united front for Sadie, as she suggested, we’ll be okay. I believe that.

“Are you…dating? In a relationship?” The awkward questions make me laugh a bit bitterly.

“No, Dad. It’s complicated.” How very social media of me, and I don’t social media other than to market the pub.

“It seems like it.” He pauses a second, looking down at his polished shoes. My dad is a powerful man who can dress up or down and still have an aura about him that says he’s someone accomplished. I don’t know that I’ll ever feel that way. “I’m going to head back downstairs. I have a new granddaughter to meet.”