Page 3 of One Night With the Devil Next Door

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “We’re supposed to be going out for Dillon’s bachelor party, remember?”

Right…I completely forgot about that. Mostly because I never had any intentions on actually going. I figured the rest of the guys would plan the party and then I could back out at the last minute with a made up excuse. The only problem is, I forgot to make up an excuse and I’m horrible at lying, especially when I haven’t had time to come up with a believable story.

I shrug. “Why you asking me? Why not ask one of the other guys?”

He snorts and waves his hand through the air. “You kidding me? Those guys can’t be trusted with something this important. I mean, a fellow officer is about to sign his life away. This is big. Those guys are way too old to plan anything cool. They think a quiet dinner at the country club and a round of golf is the way to party. We’re the young guys on the force. We’re supposed to know how to do this thing right.” He smirks, motioning between the two of us as he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Now, I’ve already paid for the stretch hummer.” He smirks. “Figured since he was about to get married, this would probably be the last hummer he gets.” He grins, winks, and nods.

I roll my eyes and shake my head.

“I figure we’ll grab some dinner, have a few drinks, and then hit up the clubs. Sound good to you?”

“I don’t know, man. To be honest, I forgot all about it. I don't have a babysitter lined up or anything.”

His eyes double in size as his back straightens. “You’re not backing out of this.” He jabs his index finger my way. “This night has been planned for six weeks. You’ve had more than enough time to line up a babysitter.”

“The whole club scene isn’t really my thing,” I try.

“Too damn bad. This isn’t about you. If you were getting married, then we’d celebrate with a round of golf or something equally as boring, but this is about Dillon. Pick up the phone, call your mom, and arrange a sitter. The limo will pick us all up at Melbourne’s Bar at seven tonight. No excuses.” He gets up and walks away before I can come up with another excuse.

“Fuck,” I mutter, rubbing my temples. I know he’s right. I agreed to go to this stupid party. I shouldn’t back out now. It’s only a few hours. How bad can it be?

I grab the phone and call my mom.

“Hello?” she answers after just two rings.

“Mom? Can you keep Ava tonight? Something came up with work.”

“Of course I can keep her. When are you planning on picking her up? Are you going to be busy all night?”

“I can pick her up tomorrow morning. I’m afraid that by the time I get done tonight, she’ll already be asleep anyway.”

“Okay, that’ll be fine. We can have a little girl’s night in. She’ll love it.”

“Thanks, Mom. I gotta get back to work. I’ll drop her off around five this evening.” I hang up the phone and grab the keys to my truck from my desk drawer.

I leave the station and make the drive over to the daycare to pick her up.

“Daddy!” she yells, arms in the air as she runs toward me at full speed.

I drop down to one knee, allowing her to run into my arms. I stand, holding her against me. “How was your day, princess?”

“Good. I finger-painted.” She holds up her tiny hands to show me the blue, pink, and yellow paint that’s dried around her fingernails.

I laugh. “That sounds like fun.” I move over to the desk, taking the pen and sign-out sheet from the attendant. I quickly sign her out and then we head for the parking lot. “You get to have a sleepover with Nanna tonight. What do you think about that?”

“Yay!” she cheers, throwing her arms in the air, making me chuckle. If she’s that excited about a sleepover I guess I really don’t have an excuse to avoid going to the bachelor party.

I get her buckled into her car seat and then I climb behind the wheel. I glance in the rearview mirror at her as we make the drive home. Her blonde hair is a wild mess, falling out of her pigtails. Her blue eyes are trained on the window and her little feet are kicking like crazy as she sings to herself. I can’t imagine my life without her. She’s the reason I wake up every morning. She’s the reason I go to work every day. She’s the reason I breathe at this point. Knowing how much I love her, it really makes me wonder how her mother could just walk away from her, from us?

I guess life got a little too serious for someone like her, she was always flaky and shallow. Hell, it got too serious for me too, but at least I stuck around and tried to do the right thing. I gave up my dreams of being a famous musician so I could get a stable job and care for the woman I loved, the woman who was pregnant with my child, right out of high school.

It wasn’t the life I planned for myself, but it wasn’t all bad either. I gave up music and I joined the police academy. With a good job, I was able to buy us a nice home. My income was enough to keep food on the table. But Allison, she wanted the life I promised her in high school, the one where I was a famous musician and she got everything she ever wanted. I didn’t deliver on that promise. After a while, we drifted apart until I finally came home from work one day to find a note on the kitchen table. She had dropped Ava off at my mom’s and she took off, breaking things off with me in a fucking letter. Who does that?

Anyway, that was two and half years ago. Ava and I have been alone ever since and I don’t think we’ll ever see her again. Sure, I’m bitter about it, but it is what it is. There’s nothing I can do about it now. It’s not like I can go back in time and tell eighteen year old me not to hook up with the beautiful blonde who had been giving me her undivided attention all night. Hell, even if I could go back and warn my younger self, he’d never listen. I know myself well enough, and at eighteen, all I thought about was my band and getting laid. And Allison, she was the hottest girl around. There was no stopping us once we collided.

Our love was hard, fast, and passionate. But it fizzled out as fast as it started. Now, I’m a twenty three year old single dad who doesn’t have a life outside of work and raising a child. I don’t have a girlfriend. I don’t date. I don’t go out. I just live the life I’ve been dealt. My mistakes aren’t Ava’s fault. She deserves to have a good father. She deserves to have a stable home life, and that’s what I’m going to give her even if it kills me.

I pull into the drive, hitting the button on the visor to open the garage door. I pull into the garage and push the button again, closing it behind us. Climbing out of the truck, I move around to the passenger side, unbuckling Ava and helping her out. She runs into the house and I follow along behind her. She runs straight to the living room, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV.

---