Page 90 of Hey, Daddy

He had the car started and the back hatch open for me.

I placed the box into the back, then got into the passenger seat.

Haze waited until all three of us were in the vehicle before he opened the garage door and backed out.

He stopped and waited for it to close completely before he left, his eyes constantly moving.

I wasn’t sure what happened at Shasha’s office all those days ago.

Short of getting the information that “the senator was in on it more than you think” I chose to stay out of it.

That was one conversation that I hoped to never have.

I didn’t want to know anything.

Not because of plausible deniability—because that was definitely a plus—but because I just didn’t want to think about it.

We happened to get behind Brecken and followed her all the way to the school.

She parked in the teacher parking, but Haze passed right by her and drove to the front of the school before letting Desi out.

“One day, I’ll get to drive again,” Desi grumbled. “See you at twelve.”

She got out and pointed at her dad, who pointed right back at her.

“That’s cute,” I said softly.

He tossed me a grin before pulling away once he’d seen Desi got all the way inside.

“When she went into middle school, she got too cool for her old man and decided that she didn’t want to say I love you. We came up with that so she could say it without saying it, and it’s been that way ever since,” he explained.

She’d told me much the same, but she’d said she started doing it only because she hated seeing her dad look sad when she didn’t say it.

I thought it was adorable.

We got to the courthouse fifteen minutes later, despite it being less than a mile and a half from the school.

When I got out, it was with Haze standing in front of me, obstructing me from view as he took a long look around the area.

I hated that he was blocking me with his big body, and I hated even more that he’d protect me with it if worse came to worse.

Once he was sure that nothing was going to get me, he caught my hand and squeezed.

“Come on, let’s get inside before you blow away with this wind.” He paused, his gaze going to my eyelashes. “Or your eyelashes decide to take off.”

I gasped in outrage. “You did not just say that!”

He was laughing when he tugged me into a walk behind him.

“Let’s go.”

I rolled my eyes and argued, “You’re not my real dad.”

His hand curved around my hip and I knew that he’d regretted his earlier decision of saying he liked it when I called him daddy.

His hand came up underneath my shirt and he palmed my hip as we walked into the courthouse.

Also over the last week, Haze had tried, and failed, to get Finn from his ex-wife.

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