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Audrey
Every day that passed, I fell harder for Archer. He made it impossible not to. He was so sweet and amazing that I almost let myself forget about all his clients, or as I more often thought of them, his other girls. And then, like clockwork, Friday rolled around. Fridays were the worst. It was the one night a week I went home to my own apartment, and the one night a week I had no idea where Archer was. I knew it was a standing appointment, but that was all I really knew.
As his girlfriend and babygirl, I’d still been hesitant to, but I’d gotten over that quickly. If it were me disappearing like clockwork every Friday, all night with no explanation, it would never fly, and what is good for the goose ought to be good for the gander. Besides, all of his clients had appointments this week, two of them more than once. Add in a grueling court case that was taking up all his time at the office, and I felt like I’d barely seen him.
Tonight was his first night free and, as far as I was concerned, not spending it with me was not an option.
At lunchtime, he hadn’t even had the energy to go out and asked me to order in for the both of us. Before the food came, I walked over and flopped down on his lap while he sat there frowning and growling at his computer screen.
His eyes grew wide and he jumped, almost spilling me off his lap at first, but then he smiled. “Well, hello there.”
“Hi, Daddy.” I reached over and fiddled with his tie, a blue and gray paisley patterned one that he never wore to court.
“What’s up?” He turned his chair so that it swiveled away from his desk, giving us more room.
“Well,” I said, laying my head on his chest and blinking up at him with wide eyes. “I just missed you. I feel like I haven’t seen you all week.”
“It’s been a busy week,” he agreed. “Can’t wait ‘til this stupid Baxter case is behind me.”
“Poor Daddy.” I reached up and massaged his shoulders. “You need a nice relaxing weekend.”
“Mmmm.” He nuzzled my cheek with his. “Got anything in mind?”
“We should go away for the weekend!” I hadn’t planned to say that, but it just came out and it made perfect sense.
Archer seemed to think so too. He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to the side, considering. “A weekend getaway, hmmm? Could be fun. Got any place in mind?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Or ahead at all really.
Archer pushed his lips into a pensive frown. “Okay. I’ll book something and pack tonight. We can leave in the morning.”
“That’s so far away,” I whined. “How about we leave tonight? Then we can go away for two nights instead of just one!”
He was silent for a moment and I thought he was actually considering it, but then his brows furrowed and his expression hardened. “You know I’m busy on Friday nights.”
“I know, but… couldn’t you skip it this one time? I really have barely seen you.” I puffed my lip into a pout and tried to look as pathetic as possible.
“Tempting, but there are other important people in my life who have seen me even less than you have, so again, tempting but no.” He kissed my forehead, softening the blow and for a moment I regretted being so stubborn.
Until he kept talking. “My Friday night plans are long-standing and non-negotiable. Barring an actual emergency, I don’t cancel them for anyone, so don’t ask again.”
That enraged me. All I could think about were imaginary non-emergency circumstances that should be considered more important. What if my birthday fell on a Friday? An anniversary? Something that was important to me?
I put my hands on my hips and scowled, grabbing at his phone that was face down on the desk. I knew his passwords to just about everything else. Surely I could get into his phone and find out what he did on Friday nights.
“What are these super important plans?” I asked, aloud, typing in the first four number pin that popped into my brain, only to get an error message. I popped in the month and year of his birthday and was rewarded when the screen unlocked. My fingers hovered over the home screen as I pondered what app to open to get the answers I was looking for. “Do you have another Rent-A-Daddy client I don’t know about?”
As soon as I said it, I regretted it.
His eyes narrowed into dark slits and his jaw became a hard line. He plucked his phone from my clutches, reacting for the first time to my having grabbed it. “Didn’t I tell you jealousy wasn’t a good look on you?”
I wasn’t backing down. “I just don’t think it’s fair that you have these super-secret plans every Friday.”
“Super-secret, huh?” He regarded me with a withering stare. “Are they super-secret or have you just not asked what they are?”
That stopped me in my tracks. Ihadasked… hadn’t I? I was sure I had. And if I hadn’t asked outright, surely I’d hinted around enough that he could have just shared and put me out of my misery. I was not accepting responsibility for this because I was certain I was not in the wrong. “How would you like it if I had standing non-negotiable plans and wouldn’t tell you what they were?”
He scowled.
