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I would love to ride a man until I come and call him Daddy.
Fuck, I’m going to need to read a book tonight, something extra spicy before I go to bed to help me get off.
CHAPTER2
MAVERICK
I’m pulling the last of tonight’s dinner out of the oven when I hear, “Hey, Dad. Smells good in here.”
October’s voice echoes as she walks from the entranceway to the kitchen. The uncanny ability she has to still fucking yell to announce herself when she walks in the door makes me huff. She used to do it every time she came home from her friend’s house or school, as if she couldn’t just walk in quietly. Full of life and never one to back down, that’s my daughter.
“Hey, O. Just in time. Set the table, would ya?” I yell back as I start plating up the chicken parmigiana I made, making sure it’s centered just right on the plates before turning back to the cutting board. I slice up some of the fresh bread I picked up from the bakery by the club, and the sourdough scent immediately hits me and causes my mouth to water.
Sourdough bread is my drug of choice, besides sex.
“Are you using the fancy plates or raw doggin’ it with paper ones?” I swing around to glare at her as she’s reaching into the cupboard next to the fridge. She’s going to have me fully gray in my beard and my hair by the end of the year.
The smirk on her face is evident, but I can barely get past the strip of skin showing in the gap between her shirt and shorts. Jesus, do the shorts she wears have to be so short? I have to pull my eyes away from her stomach. The last thing I need during dinner is to have a hard-on because my mind drifts away to fucking someone in the club and getting to grip onto their soft flesh.
I grab the back of my neck, rubbing away at the tension and trying to get myself to keep my mouth shut. She’s an adult and can wear whatever she chooses, and I need to chill the fuck out.
“October, just get the goddamn plates and stop talking about raw dogging. I don’t need to hear that shit out of your mouth, and you certainly better not be letting anyone raw dog you.” I point the bread knife at her because I’m fucking serious. I know she’s not a virgin, but I’m too young to be a grandfather, and no man should be defiling my little Halloween babygirl.
“What crawled up your ass tonight? Don’t worry, no one is touching anything on me lately. My social life is drier than the desert. It’s like the cupboard under the stairs, covered in cobwebs.” I did not need to know that, but as usual, October does not hold back.
I raised her to be loud and bold, to stand up for herself, and not to let anyone dull her shine. Now I have to deal with the fact that she speaks her mind all the damn time, even about things I should not be privy to.
She walks away toward the dining room, and I hear her work quickly to set the table, moving back and forth from both rooms, grabbing various things until all that’s left are the plates in my hands, the salad bowl, and the bread.
October dances back in until she’s standing right in front of me and leans up to give me a quick peck on the cheek. “Sorry, Dad. I kind of snapped at you and it wasn’t necessary.” I nod, letting her know it’s all forgiven before she grabs the remaining items, and we both walk side by side to the table.
We’re sitting down and start eating, and the edginess in the room slowly fades as the silverware scrapes and jokes are traded.
I hear all about Justina and her new obsession and can’t help but laugh. My daughter’s best friend is a force all by herself, so I have no doubt that this woman she’s newly infatuated with will fall into her web.
We’re just about finished, and I’m taking a pull of my Modelo, when October finally drops the bomb that I’ve felt laying between us all night.
“I got fired.” Beer spews out of my mouth as I sputter.
“You couldn’t have waited until I swallowed? And don’t even think about saying anything smartassey right now.” I tip the bottle at her while trying to wipe the drops of amber liquid hanging from my beard.
“I wasn’t going to.” She throws her hands up in the universal shrug, innocently.
“Bullshit, and you know it. You’re my clone and I absolutely would have, which means it was on the tip of your tongue. How the hell did you get fired, O?” I ask, genuinely curious. As far as I know, things have been going well for her, and her work ethic has always been fastidious, more than I even expected. The fatherly urge to take my ass up there and go off on why they fired my babygirl is strong, but I have to tamp it down.
“Well, laid off. Fired. It’s all the same thing. They are havingbudget cuts,and I was one of the ones to be let go. It’s fine. I’ll figure it out, but figured I better tell you.” While I wish like hell, she hadn’t experienced this, I can’t exactly go down there and fight the man for treating my kid like this. It’s a harsh reality, but these things happen. All I can do is help support her in this transition.
“Well, babygirl, that fucking sucks ass. I’m sorry that happened, but the market is volatile right now with all this talk of heading into a recession. You know—” She cuts me off.
“That is totally understandable, but the real truth is they just want a larger profit margin. They are using AI to replace a portion of the employees. So don’t feel sorry for them.” She tears into a piece of bread, chewing harshly. My angry little bat.
“Hmm,” is all I say in response to that because what is there to say? This artificial intelligence shit is getting out of hand. I can fully say I won’t be utilizing it in my business. There’s no way they are going to be slinging drinks behind my bar or helping me to get others together to fuck their brains out.
Leaning back in my chair, I set my eyes on her. “You file for unemployment yet?”
“Ugh, no. I’m not a loser.” Her fucking youth is showing and let me just nip that mindset in the bud now.
“Unemployment doesn’t make you a loser. You pay taxes for it and so does your company. It’s meant to bridge the gap while you search for a new job. A life jacket as you paddle your ass back to the dock. You need to do that,” I tell her sternly, and by the huffing she’s doing, she knows I’m right.
