Page 40 of Unleashed

Rhodes shakes his hand with a star-struck look on his face. This dildo is about to splooge all over himself. “I love The Wild Side.”

I glance at Nico and roll my eyes before miming a jerking-off gesture. Unfortunately, his mother sees me, grabs my hand, and returns it to my leg. Ferrera’s eyes fill with tears as he laughs behind his hand.

Simone had scooped her platinum-blonde hair into a high ponytail that skims her neck. Her sugary perfume floats across the table. I claw my thighs and glance at Nico—anything to distract my growing hard-on.

On the other side of me, Hadley tries to help tame the scene in front of us. “Simone, did you want to hold Finley?”

Unable to resist, Simone hones in on her mini-me niece with a grin before blowing kisses at her. However, she says, “Later.”

Simone returns to dickless with more fake laughter and rests her hand on Rhodes’s chest, letting it slide down the front. Okay. I’ve had more than my goddamn fill.

“Jesus Christ, Greg. I can’t get enough of you. I’ve never loved anyone like this, swizzle stick.”

I shove out my chair, which isn’t easy on the grass. Val grabs my left hand while Hadley snags my shirt hem. Val says, “Greg, let’s go for a walk.”

Hadley jerks my shirt, but I swat her hand away and mutter to Val, “No, thanks.”

But I only take a step before almost walking into two airbags. “Hey!” Shasta complains, yet she doesn’t move. In her arms is a brown-haired toddler with hazel eyes. My stomach drops when my eyes meet hers, and I can’t breathe. The kid stares back at me like she would a gorilla at a zoo.

From nowhere, Val is next to me, Finley-less. “Greg...”

Shasta sighs and shoves Birdy into my arms. “I’m sorry about the lab mix-up. She liked you, anyway.”

“Uh...” Birdy squirms and whines with me, not that I blame her.

Shasta rolls her eyes and backs away. “Visit with her while I take care of something. Thanks.”

She slithers toward the house, and I don’t know what to say as Birdy looks up at me with teary eyes. She has food crusted around her mouth and a juice stain on her frilly yellow dress. I’m pretty sure she also soaked her diaper.

It’s hard to see Birdy, but I can’t stop looking at her. There’s a pink poodle barrette in her somewhat curly hair. She’s grown so much and is no longer the baby I struggled to bathe or change. The daughter I thought I had.

Next to me, Val grins as she talks to Birdy. I notice the earrings in Birdy’s pierced ears and inwardly roll my eyes. Who in the hell gives a toddler pearl earrings? A sociopath.

Birdy reaches up and grabs my chin. Without thinking, I lift my hand and rub my fingers over her baby-soft skin. She smiles through her tears, making my eyes burn.

Though my throat is tight, I whisper, “Hey, Tweety. Do you remember me? I used to be your...dad.” Saying that is a line drive to my heart. I didn’t realize how much I miss someone needing me for more than a shoulder, a laugh, or a fuck.

With her other hand, she grips a handful of my Bob Seger T-shirt and whines more, but it’s like she’s frustrated. Does she even know how to talk? Finley has a decent vocabulary. I doubt Shasta takes the fucking time to teach Birdy anything.

From her seat with Finley, Hadley says, “I’m sure she remembers you.”

Birdy was my daughter, and that motherfucker Grant stole her from me and then ditched her. No, I didn’t aspire to be a father to Shasta’s kid, but I stepped up to take care of my responsibility. But I didn’t do it alone. I had Simone. Now, I have neither.

Overwhelming sadness is a sudden bitch and creeps like vines through me. I don’t have my wife, daughter, or new baby. I couldn’t care less about becoming an attorney anymore. What’s the damn point of fulfilling a dream when I lost my little family?

I hear their pity at the table. How Shasta snowed me and laughed about it. How I was too dense to figure it out. And how I deserved to suffer because I shouldn’t have fucked her.

My body shakes, and I’m thrown back to the night at the bar when I bared my teeth and soul to old neighbors, teachers, town drunks, and strangers.

I hold Birdy tighter, knowing I’m losing her all over again.

Val asks, “Greg, do you need a minute?”

“Uh... I... Um...” The judgment they hurdle toward me sears my damn skin, but Simone’s hatred incinerates what’s left of me.

I kiss Birdy’s forehead and whisper, “I’ll miss you, Tweety. Stay strong.” I think I tell myself that more than her since she won’t remember me.

I try to give Birdy to Val, but the kid’s still holding onto my shirt. I squeeze her hand, prying her little fingers from my shirt for her to grip my fingers instead. I kiss her hand and rasp, “You’ll always be my little girl. Got it?”

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