Page 67 of Daddy's Heart

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And I left anyway.” She popped her gaze back up to his. “But I wasn’t rude to Kelly or Kendrick. I was polite to them.”

His lips twitched. Maybe he could see her side and decide she’d just overreacted a little.

“Yes, you were polite to them. And I do appreciate that.” He dropped his hands to his sides, letting go of his authority stance. “But that doesn’t take away your disobedience. Also, there is the little matter of you not telling me about your lactose sensitivity. Or how you’ve been eating it without concern for your health.”

He would have to bring that up.

“I know how much I can have before it becomes a real problem.”

He sighed. “If it makes you sick, then you shouldn’t eat it at all.” He put his hand up when she started to speak again. “No, we aren’t discussing that right now. Right now,” he pulled his phone from his back pocket and handed it to her, “you’re going to call your brother, and we’re going to figure out what our next steps are.”

She cradled his phone in her palm. “Okay,” she said.

Dialing Paul, she put the phone up to her ear, watching him stare at her.

“Speaker?” she asked.

“Ask him if it’s okay first,” he said with a short nod.

She rolled her eyes. Of course, she’d tell him, she wasn’t rude.

“The eye rolling is going to stop now,” Ryder announced. She bit down on her lip. Not a strong habit of hers, but her annoyance of the afternoon had started to kick her brat into high gear.

“Hello?” Paul answered his phone on the fourth ring.

“Paul. Hey, it’s me.”

“Sam? You okay? What’s this number?” He rushed the questions.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m calling from Ryder’s phone. He’s here. Mind if I put you on speaker?” she asked, keeping her eyes lined up with Ryder.

“Sure, go ahead.”

She clicked over to speaker and held the phone in her palm between her and Ryder.

“Ryder. You’re George’s friend.”

“Yeah. I volunteer at the Gallant Domination,” Ryder stated.

“Sam’s been staying with you?”

“Yeah, Paul, I already told you that,” she said into the speaker. If they wanted to size each other up, they could do it later. “I want to know what’s going on with Jerri. What’s happening?”

“I told you, Sam, she moved out—”

“Cut the bullshit. I want to know what trouble she’s causing you,” Samantha cut him off. Her stomach nosedived a few inches at the dark glare Ryder gave her at her choice of words.

Paul sighed hard and let out a soft curse. “Shit, Sam, I didn’t want you to worry about that.”

“Too bad. Tell me,” she demanded.

“She filed a domestic abuse charge against me.”

Dread filled Samantha. “Charge? Like she had you arrested?”

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