Page 110 of Deserter

“I’m pwoud of you too, Daddy.” She got to her feet and reached for my hand, pressing a kiss against each tattooed knuckle. That was another one of her nightly habits that I never wanted to go away.

“What are you proud of me for, baby girl?”

“Because you take good cawe of me and Mama. She telled me so. Will you come to Spidewman’s tea pawty?”

I nodded and wrapped my arms around her little body, pulling her close again.

She squirmed against me, struggling to get back to her feet with a giggle. “Daddy, you awe squeezing me. Let me go.”

“I will, as soon as you tell me how you got to be so smart.”

Her dark curls tickled my nose as she leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Yesterday, Spidewman’s awm falled off and guess what?”

“What” I whispered back.

“Mama fixed it. All by hewself. Maybe she can fix you.”

I leaned back with a frown. “Fix me? What’s wrong with me? My arms are still on… and my legs…”

She blinked her cat-like green eyes at me with another frown before simply stating, “You feel sad.”

I was but had no idea how my three-year-old had picked up on it. “Maybe I’m just sleepy. It’s past both our bedtimes.”

“Yew heawt feels sad to me.” She yawned and rubbed at her eyes again before climbing back into my lap with a soft sigh.

I carried her back to her bedroom and closed the door softly behind me before making my way down the hall to the master bedroom.

Celia lay on her side with my pillow wrapped up in her arms. I sank down on the side of the bed with a sigh; she’d kicked the comforter off at some point, leaving her bare legs exposed.

I ran my index finger from her ankle up to her thigh. When that didn’t work, I patted her ass. “Wake up, baby.”

Celia sat up with a jolt. “Jamie? Is everything okay?”

I shook my head and choked out, “No. I’m sorry to wake you up, but I’m a fuckin’ wreck. Shouldn’t have woken you. Go back to sleep, princess. We’ll talk in the morning.”

Her hand found mine. “Just give me a second.”

She padded into the bathroom and I laid back on the bed, Mikey’s horrified expression ingrained in my mind. I didn’t know if the image would ever go away.

The bathroom door reopened, and she emerged, wearing a bathrobe. “Come on. Let’s go sit outside. You can tell me what’s wrong.”

“Baby, it’s late—”

She opened the bedroom door. “I’m up now. Let’s go.”

I sat down on one of the vinyl chaise loungers when we reached the patio. Celia climbed across my lap, straddling me. “What’s wrong?”

“Kate said you passed out tonight.” I swallowed hard. “Are you okay?”

The moon was full, and I watched as her lips curved up into a smile. “She was supposed to keep that between us. I’m fine. Tell me what happened.”

“Mikey—Comedian brought him to the clubhouse tonight. He, uh, he—” My nostrils flared as I saw it happen again and I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Mikey heard a scream and he thought it was a mountain lion; you remember how he was obsessed with those damn things last year?”

She nodded and I continued. “Only it wasn’t a mountain lion. It was Karen, Beast’s Ol’ Lady. He put both her and Beast down right in front of the kid, Celia. Fuckin’ Christ. I tried, but couldn’t stop it.”

Her hand moved up over her mouth. “What did he say? Oh, he must’ve been so scared.”

“He thought maybe that was part of being a man; assumed that was why Comedian had brought him out there.” I’d tried explaining the way the club worked in terms I thought he’d understand while making it clear that I wanted better for him.

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