Page 44 of Until Daddy

“I’m not hurt now. My mom is who she is, there’s no changing her. I take what I can get, and I’m happy with it. When I was little, I was confused. I didn’t understand why my dad left me like that, why Mom was with a new guy all the time, but when I grew up, I understood. It made sense. They were broken. But I’m not.” She pulled back and looked him in the eye, her stare determined, her jaw set. “I’m not broken.”

Jamison tugged her back against him and stroked her hair while she continued.

“Do you see, though? Do you see why relationships don’t work, and kink relationships really can’t work? We’ll grow tired of this, it’ll get too hard.”

She was saying the same words she had before, but the sincerity didn’t match.

“It will always be worth it, but we aren’t having that talk yet. Two more weeks before you can bring that up again, understood?”

“Yes, Daddy.” She nodded, her head bumping his chin.

“Good. Your friend—the one my father evicted—did she and her mother find a new place? Did they do okay?”

“Yes. The shelter helped them, and they were in a new apartment before the end of the school year.”

If Barron Croft hadn’t bought that building, another developer would have, Jamison knew that, but that didn’t take the sting out of what she’d told him. While he’d been growing up in a house fit for royalty, being ignored and annoyed by his careless, narcissistic father and whatever wife he had at the time, Carissa had been struggling to help provide stability for her own life and for her mother. And girls just like her were doing the same.

“How do you know who bought the building? Doesn’t seem like something kids really think about.”

“He bought a bunch in the area. It was a hot topic among the adults. Kids overhear things. Besides, his name was plastered all over the construction sites. A lot of my friends wound up in the same situation. Their parents were put out of work, their rents became too high to stay. Your father and other people like him ran them out like rats and put up shiny new things in their place. My mom lost her job, but we were living farther north so we were able to keep our place. She was lucky and found a new job pretty quickly.”

Hadn’t he been helping his father do the very same thing since college? He’d never once asked or thought about the areas they developed. Or wondered who was losing their home because of the prime real estate they happened to be sitting on.

Did that make him as self-centered as his father?

“It’s not going to happen this time, Carissa. I swear to you, that shelter is not going to be bought by my father’s company.” He blew out a long breath. “No wonder you didn’t want to date me at first.”

“That was stupid of me. I should have known that anyone who could brush my hair with such gentleness, and who could give me such a mind-blowing orgasm and not expect anything in return couldn’t be like Barron Croft.” She sneered his father’s name and snuggled closer to him.

They sat quietly for a while. He was almost afraid to move and ruin the moment. Almost.

“I have a present for you, do you want it?”

She bounced up and down and gave him a big grin, a deep dimple he hadn’t noticed before appearing on her left cheek.

“Of course I do!”

“Okay, sit back on the bed and I’ll get it. I left it in my drawer, because you swore and I had to give you that little spank.”

Her brow crinkled but she appeared to remember the cursing when she’d been admiring the view out his window and her cheeks blushed.

“I’m sorry about that, Daddy.”

“Sit right there.” He plopped her back on the bed and went back to the dresser.

After sorting through his sock drawer, he found the little envelope and brought it back to her. She took it from him and tore into it, pulling out the two tickets he’d bought.

Her eyes went wide and her lips pulled up into a large grin.

“You got us tickets to seePink?” The excitement filled her voice and her expression.

“I noticed her music is all over your playlists, so I thought you’d like to go.”

“Like to go? Are you insane? I’ve been trying to get tickets every time she comes to town, but either it’s too expensive or it’s sold out.” She jumped off the bed, looking at the tickets again. “Wait.” Her smile dropped and she shook them.

“What’s wrong?” He stepped up to her and plucked them from her hand.

“These are for March 13th.”

---