Page 32 of His Love

Paisley

Embarrassment nipped at my core as I admitted the truth. I’d wanted a boyfriend so badly but I’d never had one. Cheeks flushing, I turned my head away from Axel. Why had I admitted that?

“Oh, baby.” His soft tone had me tearing up.

“I just… I think that maybe my looks were off-putting?” My birthmark took up most of my face and I’d undergone several surgeries on it to keep it from causing more damage to my eye. Foster homes had kept me clean, but hadn’t provided stylish clothes. I hadn’t learned to do makeup or to style my hair until one of the other women in the Independent Living Program taught me how.

“I’m so sorry you went through that, sweet girl. Well, I would be proud to be your Daddy and your boyfriend,” he said as he took a seat beside me.

“Really?”

“Of course, Little one.”

“That’s so nice.”

He chuckled at me and pulled one of my curls. “Would you like to be my Little?”

Dallas froze in front of us. “Uncle Axel, you can’t ask her like that!”

What did she mean?

Axel didn’t seem to know either. “What's wrong with how I asked her?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You asked her in a loud club! There were no balloons or cake or anything,” she protested, her outrage evident.

“Did your Daddy ask you with balloons or cake?” he asked, pointedly, in a way that told me he already knew the answer..

“No. I am actually super upset about it. I am demanding he ask me again, properly this time.”

“ I don’t need cake,” I assured them both. I wasn’t at all upset with how he asked me.

“Well, you should be. You should feel… so super bad,” Dallas said as she hit her palm down on the counter in anger.

“Girl, if you don’t calm your ass down, I’m going to go call your Daddy,” one of the cooks yelled from behind the bar. “First, you were outraged that we don’t have grilled cheese sandwiches and now about how someone else asks their girl out.”

Dallas flushed a bit. “Well, I just have lotsa big feelings today.”

“Today was your brother’s birthday, wasn’t it?” Axel asked gently.

She nodded. “Oh, darlin’. I’m sorry.” He opened his arms and she rushed from behind the counter into them. Dallas’ brother had been killed in a car accident several years ago. I couldn’t imagine how hurt she was feeling today. I knew they were really close. I don’t think they had parents.

Pike came from his office and walked up behind her. He and Axel had some kind of silent conversation before Pike scooped Dallas into his arms and headed back to his office.

Axel looked at me like he wanted to say more, but instead he changed the subject, grabbing a menu from the bar top and opening it in front of me. “Alright, baby. We have lots of options you can pick from for a snack.”

I looked over the menu. I was starving so anything sounded good. “Can I have fried pickles?”

“You can, and how about some fries to hold you over until my shift is done?”

I nodded.

He placed the order in the back of the store and came back over to sit down. He set a plastic cup of ice water in front of me. “I’m sorry I was an underprepared Uncle Axel today. I should have brought you some healthy snacks, baby.”

I smoothed my straw paper out against the counter and swallowed down my nerves. I could do this. I wanted this.

“Underprepared Daddy,” I whispered.

“What, baby?” he asked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you, Little one.”

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