Page 8 of Her Hero Daddy

“Uh… yeah, there’s robes.”

“Good. Okay. Go take your bath. I’ll order pizza. Do not open the door to your room without looking out the peephole first to confirm it’s the delivery person. Do you understand?” he asked sternly.

“Okay.”

“Good girl. Thank you. I will call you back in a bit to check on you. What kind of pizza do you like?”

“Hawaiian is good,” she answered, feeling a bit shy.

She almost expected him to criticize the type of pizza she liked. Tim would have.

“That’s a great choice, baby girl,” he said warmly.

When they hung up, she stared at her phone for several minutes. She didn’t even know this man, yet he was being so kind. Well, kind, but with a good amount of bossiness and sternness. Based on the picture Ally had sent of him, he looked like he was not a man to be messed with, which she found confusing. One minute, he sounded cold as ice, and the next, he was warm and calling her a good girl and baby girl. The way he’d called her baby girl did more to her body than Tim had done during their entire relationship.

You shouldn’t be reacting to a man you don’t even know, dummy. Besides, like he would want a bruised and battered woman.

Shaking off her thoughts of Kane, who she had never even met but was coming to rescue her from the nightmare of her life, Haylee stood and walked into the bathroom. When she looked in the mirror, she felt herself sway a little as she stared at the horrifying reflection. She had bruises all over her arms and chest, along with the bruise on her cheek. Her bottom lip was swollen and split open slightly, and she could see a large bump on her head from where it had hit the wall.

Turning on the taps to the hottest temperature she could stand, she stripped but began trembling again when she saw the number of bruises covering her ribs. She was pretty sure Tim had kicked her a few times, but it had all become a blur while trying to protect herself.

Using the railing in the tub, she stepped in and sank down into the shallow water. Lying back against the edge of the tub, Haylee closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. She was free. She’d gotten away from him. Without a single item of hers, but that didn’t matter. At least she got away.

She should have known it would have ended badly. It would be just her luck that he would come home early the one day she decided to leave him. He could have killed her. Shit, he told her he would kill her before she left him. But she had fought and got away. She felt proud of herself for finally standing up to him, even if it did take months of his abuse before she did so. She hoped he was still clutching his balls on the stairway, passed out in pain. It would serve him right.

Sinking down in the water until only her face was above water, she hissed as the water touched the open wound on her head. She wasn’t going to wash her hair, but she wanted to get as much blood out of it as she could. She’d just have to figure out how to comb out the knots that had formed. She was sure she would have some bald patches on her scalp from him pulling her hair so hard.

Using the washcloth, she scrubbed as hard as she could until she felt like she’d washed off every trace of his touch. Coming to her feet carefully, she stepped out of the tub and wrapped herself in one of the thick terry cloth robes. She was thankful that Kane was bringing her some clothes, so she could throw the clothes she’d been wearing away. They were bloodstained, and the top was ripped. Using her fingers, she finger-combed her hair the best she could, doing her best to avoid looking in the mirror.

A knock brought her attention back to reality since she was really only going through the motions by that point. Her mind was blank. Too numb to even have thoughts. She went to the door and remembered Kane’s words to look out the peephole. She looked and saw a scrawny deliveryman standing on the other side, holding a pizza box. She opened the door to take the pizza and then realized she would be expected to tip him.

“Oh… shit. I… uh… I don’t have any money to tip you.”

The young man smiled, seeming to not notice the condition of her face, and pushed the pizza box toward her.

“It’s already been taken care of, ma’am. I was also told to pick this stuff up for you.”

He held out a plastic shopping bag for her from a Walgreens. She hesitantly took the bag from him before he quickly wished her a good night and disappeared down the hall. Setting the delicious-smelling pizza down on the table, she looked in the plastic bag. She found a toothbrush, toothpaste, a chocolate bar, antibacterial ointment, princess-character Band-Aids, cotton swabs, a bottle of liquid ibuprofen, a bottle of water, a bottle of chocolate milk, and a hairbrush. Realization hit her that Kane had asked the delivery person to pick these up for her. She smiled at his thoughtfulness. Maybe he wasn’t quite as scary as he sounded.

Opening the pizza box, she stared at the pile of cheese and toppings. It smelled delicious, but the thought of eating made her stomach turn. Closing the box without taking a slice, she sat down on the bed and turned on the TV, startling when her phone began ringing. She saw it was Kane’s number again.

“Hello?”

“Hi. It’s Kane.”

Duh.

“Hi. Thank you for the pizza… and the other stuff.”

“You’re welcome. You need to put the antibiotic ointment on any open wounds you have and cover them with a Band-Aid. Can you do that for me, little one?”

Could she do that… for him? Little one? When had his tone gone from being ice-cold to sweet as honey? And why did it make her melt a little inside?

“Um… yes… are you driving?”

“Yes, I’m almost to the California border.”

“Oh… okay. I can let you go so you don’t have to pull over.”

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