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“How fitting.” I reached for the water bottle near me and unscrewed the cap. “Jude,” I said before tipping the bottle back. “Don’t say, Jude–”
“Law,” she beat me to the punch, and a smile brighter than the sun crawled across her face.Fuck I wanted to kiss her.
“What do you do?”
Her voice was so damn cute, and I nearly died every time she spoke.
“Getting personal, are we?” I wanted to shoot myself for trying to hold up the wall that was weakening by the minute. But the truth of the matter was I had no idea where my little princess lived and if being in her life was even an option.
“I mean, I kinda—”
The screen went black, and the video chat disconnected. I returned my recliner to the upright position and searched for her profile. A greyed-out circle appeared next to her name with ‘OFFLINE’ in bold letters.
I waited a few minutes, hoping she’ll be back, but five minutes turned to twenty, and soon, an hour had passed. Any normal man would have shrugged it off and gone to bed, but not me. I pressed the message icon and typed up a little note, eager to let her know that a string of consequences awaited her the next time she was online.
Every bone in my body knew I would regret hanging up on Jude, but I had no choice when my dad walked into my room.
“Hey, sweet pea.” His words were slightly slurred. Which meant he had Jack Daniels for dinner, or he was just waking up from a long, drawn-out nap on the couch. He cleared his throat and switched on the small night light near my bed before sitting beside me. My fingers gripped the duvet, pinning down the sides in the hopes he wouldn’t catch a glance at the black lace peeking out from the covers.
“Dad, it’s late.”
He twisted his body and swung one arm across the bed. “I know, honey, and I’m sorry for waking you, but….”
His words trailed off as he brushed a stray hair out of my eyes. I stilled my movements, afraid to move, afraid to breathe, not wanting to draw attention to myself or the fact that I was under a thick blanket when it was 85 degrees outside.
“But what?” I asked as I pulled the cover over my nose, leaving only my eyes exposed in the dim light.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and released a heavy breath. “Nothing.
I just had some crazy idea, but it’s nothing.”
I hated seeing him like this. He was down on his luck, with an empty pipeline of options. Seeing him twirling his thumbs as he searched high and low for a construction contract riddled me with sadness. But the bills never stopped, and I silently waited for the shoe to drop.
“Dad….” I said as I rose a brow.
Even with a damped cloud hovering above us, he always drawled up a smile for me, especially when my words came out scoldingly.
“I have to go see Dylan tomorrow morning. Do you remember Dylan and his daughter Cora? She’s about two or three years older than you now, I believe.”
I shrugged, “I kind of remember. Why do you need to see him?”
He began to ramble about his crossover and how some rich asshole in a cowboy hat, the same guy that snatched his construction job from him, slammed into the back of him. I let his words flow in one ear and out the other, but my pulse went ragged when my laptop chimed. I sliced my eyes from him to my laptop, and relief washed over me when I realized he was too deep in his story to notice. I forced a yawn off my lips, and he took the bait. He switched my nightlight off and closed the door behind him. I let a few seconds pass before I sprung up and snatched my laptop from the corner of my bed.
Naughty girl. You’ll pay for that.
-Daddy
* * *
I woketo my dad running the blender at 7 AM. Not that I really slept in, but it would have been nice not to be catapulted out of my bed. I swung my legs over and slipped them into a pair of soft slippers. Daddy invaded my dreams last night, and getting back to sleep wasn’t easy. Every time I closed my eyes, his smooth dangerous voice took hold of me, leaving me tossing and turning for his touch.
I logged back into my cam room, hoping he would reappear, but after an hour or so, I gave up and slipped out of the lingerie and into an oversized t-shirt. Then frustrated that my mind wouldn’t relax, I did the unspeakable and touched myself all over again. I focused on his words, his voice, and his intoxicating gaze. I came harder than when I was on cam with him, and the thought made me feel dirty and naughty at the same time. I turned the corner into the kitchen to see my dad packing his blue cooler as the scent of burned eggs cloaked the air.
“Did you get a job?” I said, eyeing the turkey and cheese sandwich he had wrapped in plastic.
He walked around the center kitchen island and placed a small kiss on my forehead. “No, but I don’t know how long it will take Dylan to fix the crossover. I’ll just stay and wait.”
As a yawn dripped off my lips, I stretched out my arms and watched him head out the front door. Eager to get back to bed, I turned on my heels when I caught sight of my dad's phone sitting on the charger. I grabbed it and bolted out the front door and down the steps to find my dad standing in front of a man that looked gravely familiar.Too familiar.
