Page 10 of His Love

“All nights. I’m just a baby.” The batting of her eyelashes let me know she knew exactly what she was doing.

“All right, baby. Scooch over.”

She did as I asked and I slid into the bed.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Her face was almost buried under the covers and I wondered if she was embarrassed by her request now.

I pulled the blanket down just enough to peek at her face.

“You never have to be embarrassed with me, baby. I don’t mind that you just needed to be close. That’s perfectly okay.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled again.

I placed my hand above her head and played with her curls.

“Thank you for everything. I would have really been scared without you there with me today,” she added.

“I’m very sorry you got hurt, but I am glad we got to spend this time together.”

“Me too,” she agreed. “I thought you were scary, but you’re not. You’re really nice.”

“Hey, now, don’t go telling all the Littles that. They’ll think they can have their way with poor Uncle Axel.”

“I’m gonna tell them all.” Her smile made the corner of my mouth tip up, but her sassy answer made my palm itch.

“Alright, Little miss, go to sleep before I start swatting that sassy ass.”

She yelped and rolled over so quickly, I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips. I realized I’d laughed more with Paisley than I had in a long time.

***

I woke to a bear growling. Prying my eyes open, I searched for the source of the noise. Pale pink curls stuck out from under the blanket. Reaching out, I pulled it back and was incredibly surprised to find Paisley snoring like an eighty-year-old grandpa. What. The. Fuck?

She was lying sideways in the bed. Her ouchie foot was draped across my stomach, the other hanging off the edge of the mattress. One arm was resting on her belly, the other thrown over her eyes. And she was snoring loud enough to wake the residents of the surrounding county.

How the fuck did something that loud, come out of something that small? I gently eased her foot off my stomach and sat up. After pulling her into the middle of the bed and supporting her ankle with a pillow, I slid out from beside her and stood. I needed to switch the wet sheets from last night into the dryer. I also needed to update Emily on my patient and probably make sure Onyx survived feeding Angel.

Grabbing my phone from the nightstand, I groaned when I saw four missed calls from Onyx’s number. I knew automatically that it was Emily calling in concern for her friend. It wasn’t even eight a.m. yet. The little brat had probably snuck her Daddy’s phone since hers stayed downstairs so she wasn’t tempted to play on it. Onyx’s stayed beside the bed in case of an emergency, but nobody was allowed to respond to calls or texts until after they’d had breakfast together.

I really loved the idea and if I ever had a Little one again, I thought I'd probably implement some kind of rule like that. I didn’t kid myself with pretending it might be Paisley. I was older than her by over a decade. Surely, she wasn’t interested in having an old man for a Daddy even if that old man might be interested in her. Shit. The thought ran through my brain so fast it stopped me in my tracks. Was I interested in Paisley? I’d dated a bit in recent years, but mostly vanilla. Until recently, I hadn't been willing to open my heart romantically to a Little one. It would have been too painful. But time heals all wounds. That was what they said, right? I was finally at a point where it felt like it might be true.

I hit redial and headed downstairs to make coffee. I needed it after last night's activities. Nobody answered Onyx’s phone. Emily must have gotten caught.

I started going through the motions of my morning routine while thinking about all the things Paisley and I needed to get done today. She had an orthopedic appointment at ten, I needed to make sure she called her boss, we needed to go feed her satanic cat, and I probably needed to pack some clothes to stay at her place until she was steadier, and in less constant pain. I’d only brought her to my home after the emergency room visit because I was closer to the orthopedist and I knew we would have an early morning after a late night.

A knock on the front door startled me. Rolling my eyes at myself, and hoping it was the kid next door who sold Girl Scout cookies, I grabbed my wallet and answered the door.

“Why the hell didn’t you answer your phone?” Emily yelled.

***

Paisley

I woke to the sounds of fighting. Loud fighting. After struggling to sit up, I finally scooted my way out of the bed. My arm hurt bad enough to bring tears to my eyes, but I needed to know what in the heck was happening.

I walked down the hallway and slowly took the stairs. As I got closer, I could hear Emily laying into Axel in a way that I didn’t know sweet, quiet Emily was even capable of. Frowning, I plopped down on the second to last step to listen. The door was just out of view, so while I could hear them, I couldn’t see them and they wouldn’t be able to see me either. I wasn’t ready to announce my presence just yet. I needed to hear what was being said.“I trusted you, Axel,” Emily cried. “What did you do, bring her back here and fuck her the first chance you got?”

I winced at her words. We hadn’t fucked, but came close to it. Hearing Emily’s tone and the words coming out of her mouth confused me. Something didn’t sit right. Why was she so angry? The sight of Hearing my sweet, timid best friend being so unkind and angry didn’t sit right with me. Why was she so angry? Panic danced in my tummy. Had I done something wrong?

---