Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22147 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
My dad’s good like that.
“What’s the problem, honey?” he’ll ask. “You look like you’ve got something on your mind.”
I’ll try to act like its nothing so I can bring up my relationship with Dax on my own terms at my own time, but he’ll press me and say he can tell that I’m hiding something. I’ll break and spill the beans, and all I can do is pray that I don’t completely blow my explanation right then – that I don’t crumble under the pressure. Because if I do, not only will I have let my dad down, but I’ll have let Dax down too.
I’m about to do what must be my 100th lap around the living room when I hear the sound of Dax’s bike approaching from outside. Immediately my pulse skyrockets.
This is it, I think, my hands immediately searching for something to do – something to hold on to. All I can find is a dishtowel on the counter. I grab it and just start clumping it up between my fingers as the sound of the engine grows louder and louder. Soon, it’s right outside, and I glance out the window and see Dax pulling up, my dad sitting on the back of the bike.
He parks, and they both get off. For some reason, neither of them are smiling. Could something have already happened on the way home?
No, don’t be silly, Becca.
I’m sure Dad’s just tired. He’s been in jail, and it must be weird for him to be out. I can’t expect him to be all smiles already.
Doing my best not to panic, I go to the door. Hand on the knob, I take a deep breath.
This is it. Keep it together.
I’m just about to twist the knob when the door opens on its own, and I’m greeted with my father’s face looking up at me from the steps.
“There’s my girl.” He smiles, and far too many emotions hit me all at once. I simply can’t process them all and do what any girl would do in a situation like this: I burst into tears.
“Dad!” I throw my arms around his neck and fall into his arms. It wasn’t until this very moment that I realized just how much I missed him. “It’s so good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, sweetie.”
“They didn’t kill you,” I laugh through sobs.
“They couldn’t kill me,” he laughs. “Couldn’t even hold me. Not thanks to your new man here.”
My heart stops. So do my sobs. My whole body freezes.
Slowly, like I’m moving in slow-motion, I take a step back and look at my father. He’s giving me one of those looks he always gives when he knows something. And right now, there’s only one thing he could know.
The steps creak, and I look over his shoulder to see Dax standing behind him with a black eye.
“Oh, no…” My heart drops, but to my surprise, Dax grins.
“Hey, babe.”
I panic. Massive adrenaline dump.
“B-babe?” I stutter. “What – what are you talking about?”
“Relax, Becca,” my dad says. “It’s fine.”
“I told him about us,” Dax says.
“You – you did!?”
Dax points to his eye. “Where do you think this came from?”
My first instinct is to rush to Dax’s side, throw my arms around him, and cover him with kisses. But with my dad standing there, I just can’t bring myself to. Instead, I put both hands on my hips and glare at him.
“Why would you do that!?” I ask in my most demanding tone.
My dad shrugs, but it’s Dax who replies. “It’s all right, Becca. He had to.”
“It’s a guy thing,” my dad says. “You wouldn’t understand.”
A guy thing!?
I glance back at Dax for some kind of explanation, but he just gives me a shrug and a nod of confirmation.
Is this seriously happening? All the emotion and adrenaline flowing through me has my head spinning. Before they came back home, I desperately needed a stress ball, but now I feel like I am a stress ball that’s seen way too much use.
“So…you’re okay with this?” I ask my dad. This is not what I was expecting, and although both of them are acting like everything is all good, I still feel like I’m walking on a mine field and one false step, or in this case word, and everything is going to blow up in my face.
My dad breathes deep and exhales, comes up beside me and pulls me close. He turns, and together, we look out at Dax, who has yet to come in and is still standing out on the steps.
“That’s a good question, Becca,” he says. “Am I okay with this?”
Dax frowns but also sort of smiles back and crosses his arms over his chest like he’s waiting for my dad to give him a ton of grief.
“Am I okay with the guy I put in charge of watching over my teenage daughter, who said he’d keep his hands off her and then slept with her while I was in jail, who is twice her age – am I okay with the two of them now being together?” Dax smirks, looking guilty as hell. My dad looks down at me. “Well, there’s only one way to find out. Let me ask you something, Becca. Do you love this man?”