CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Payton

“Yeah, Dad. I’m just heading out the door to meet Macey. Alex came to pick me up.” My dad appeared before us and I smiled. “How was your day?”

He looked Alex up and down, but not in a judgy way, just in my Dad sizing up my man-friend kind of way. “It was good, honey. How about yours?”

“Good. Um, Dad, this is Alex. Alex, Dad.”

My dad reached out his hand and Alex took it. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, son.” Dad glanced back at the street. “Is that your truck?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s a good truck. Safe. Just how I want my daughter to be.”

Alex grinned, his hand settling at the base of my spine. “Couldn’t agree more.”

“You staying at Macey’s tonight?” my dad asked me.

“Yep. Brock and Dallas are gone, so Bailey’s staying too.”

Dad nodded. “Good deal. You need me, you call.”

“I will, Dad,” I said, and kissed his cheek. “Thanks.”

He hugged me and then smiled at Alex. “I think we understand each other.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah.”

Dad let himself into the house as Alex grabbed my stuff and guided me to his truck. “Your dad’s pretty laid back.”

I settled myself in the truck and saw the front curtain flutter. “Yeah, sort of. He’s got my cell phone tracked as we speak and he’s watching from the front window.”

Alex laughed. “Good to know.”

He threw my stuff in the back and then climbed up beside me and started the truck.

“So, what happened with Lily?” I asked as he pulled away from the curb.

“Croup. I was worried it was whooping cough, but she was immunized, so the doctor said she’d just be uncomfortable until the virus left her system. A couple nights sitting in a steamy bathroom seemed to do the trick.”

“Still scary though.”

He nodded. “She went back to school today and really wanted to spend time with her aunt, so I used the distraction.”

“You had to take time off work?”

“Yeah, three days. Kayla took Monday for me, so I could at least get a little work done. But unless Lily was sleeping, she was attached to me. It’s gonna take me a week to just get caught up. I love her, but man, I was ready for a break.”

I giggled. “I get it. My nieces are the same way with my brothers-in-law. Something about little girls and their daddies.”

“And you? Were you a daddy’s girl?”

“Oh, hell, yes. When I was sick, all I wanted was my dad.” I smiled. “He used to give me M&Ms and tell me they were magical medicine.”

“I haven’t tried that.”

“It worked every time, until I figured out that if I “played” sick, I’d get M&Ms. Mom shut that down pretty quick.”

Alex laughed. “Fuckin’ A, the emotional blackmail girls can dish out.”

“Quit paying the ransom and maybe we’ll stop.”

“Never gonna happen.” He linked his fingers with mine. “It’s way too much fun.”

I grinned, my heart light as we drove into Portland. “Did you ever visit Booker?”

“Not at his place, no.”

“But you know where he lives.”

“Yeah, babe.”

“Are you guys friends outside of the club?” I asked.

He let out a weird sound. Chuckle? No, maybe snort. Chortle? Yes, it was definitely a chortle.

I squeezed his hand. “What?”

“Booker was one of the kids my parents’ took in to foster. He and I have a complicated past.”

“I didn’t realize he was a foster child,” I said sadly.

“He had a shit life, baby. It’s why he works so hard to make his current one good.”

“Why is your relationship complicated? Are you not friends?”

“We’re gettin’ there,” Alex said. “My dad molested most of the girls who came through our house. I didn’t know about it until Annie. She made a formal complaint through CPS, but it got lost or buried, or something. Not sure. Booker hacked into the computers and found it. It set in motion a series of events that sent my dad to prison for a very long time.”

“And you blame Booker for that?”

“Fuck, no. I hated my dad, but as a kid, I didn’t know just how much of a bastard he was. He used to smack my mom around and me too, ’til I got big enough to defend myself, but I still didn’t know the depths of evil in him. Booker nailed him to the wall. I was thankful for it.”

“So, why the tension?”

“The issue came when Annie got pregnant by some douchebag in high school and had an abortion that went bad. Booker thought I’d knocked her up, so he’s hated me for years. We’re cool now, but can’t say we’re gonna share our feelings anytime soon.”

I smiled. “No, that’ll probably take some time.”

“Where am I parking?”

I looked out the windshield to see we were almost at our destination. “I have Macey’s code, so we can park in her extra space.”

He nodded and guided the truck into the underground parking structure and I directed him to the space. I pulled out my phone. “I just have to check with Macey and make sure she’s comfortable with you coming up.”

“I don’t bite.”

“No, I know. It’s not that.” I wasn’t sure what to say at this point. It’s not as though Macey’s life was a secret, but I also didn’t want to drag her shit out onto the street so to speak.

He sighed. “It’s fine, babe. I’m a lot to take.”

“She was raped.”