Page 49 of Hey, Daddy

Desi was more than old enough to make her own decisions on where she wanted to live.

And I knew without a doubt it was with me.

But, like me, she hadn’t wanted to hurt her mom, despite her mother’s assholeish nature.

Now, it was time to play hardball and get custody of my girl and our dog.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said as he pulled into my complex twenty minutes later.

“You need to move out of this dump,” he pointed out.

He was right.

I did.

But my new neighbor was definitely something that helped me want to stay, despite knowing my daughter would do a hell of a lot better in a better place.

On the other hand, having a kid that was very susceptible to life, I didn’t want her living in this shitty apartment with me for long.

“Call me if you need any more help with anything,” he said. “What time are you coming to pick up Finn tomorrow?”

“Around noon or so. I’ll come by after I go to Desi’s place and grab some of her shit,” I explained.

“You should just buy her new shit and leave that for when you have a court order to keep your girl,” Ben pointed out.

I sighed. “Yeah, but do you see how appealing it would be to get all of her shit now so that I didn’t have to deal with seeing her later?”

Ben snorted. “You have always been able to deal with Julia. Just do it.”

“But I spent a small fortune on all of the clothes that Desi currently has. Not to mention all of her makeup products. Do you truly have any concept of how much money it will cost to replace it all?” I asked. “I’m a cop, not a millionaire.”

“You’re doing damn good, and you know it. All that money you saved living in that shitty apartment,” he pointed out.

He was right. The rent at the complex was damn near a quarter of what I’d be spending anywhere else, and I’d been living the single life for years.

Other than my child support, which was a hefty chunk of change, I didn’t have any bills.

“I’ll think about it,” I grumbled.

Or maybe I just wouldn’t tell him my plans next time.

Something inside me told me to get all the shit that I needed now, because there wouldn’t be an opportunity later. And Desi had several clothing items that she considered irreplaceable due to where she’d gotten them.

Hell, she was wearing my old bomber jacket from high school all the time. If I didn’t get that back, she’d be devastated.

I’d given it to Desi because she’d loved it so much. But the thought of my ex-wife having a very sentimental item like thatin her possession, pissed off and looking to hurt me any way she could, I could see her taking out her anger on Desi’s things.

Plus, she had a three-thousand-dollar-plus Mac desktop that I’d bought her a few months ago for school that I wouldn’t be replacing.

Needless to say, I wouldn’t be taking my brother’s advice on not getting Desi’s things because I didn’t see a point in wasting money.

“Bye, man,” I said as I shut the door on his amused face.

He knew me better than to think I’d just drop it.

“Hey,” I heard called as soon as I turned to head up the stairs that would lead me into the apartment building.

The complex was set up in a U shape with the office in the middle of the U.

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