Page 4 of Smoke

“You gotta put a dollar in the swear tub!” Eloise said. Her ruffled panties peeked out the bottom of her dress as she bent over a large storage tote. We’d started with a swear jar, thenmoved to a beach bucket before having to move to a large plastic tote. We really did need to curb our potty mouths before the Littles bled us dry.

I opened my wallet and dropped a dollar in.

“Thank you,” she said, before pushing the tote to the next station. “Eloise?” I asked, calling her back into my area.

“Yes, Uncle Smoke?”

“Are you just pushing the tub around hoping to catch someone cursing?”

“Yes, Uncle Smoke,” she admitted without any shame.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it, she was too damn cute. The money from the swear jar was going toward a family vacation for all of us and I admired the Littles’ hustle.

“Well, make sure you check in with Auntie Kay. I heard she’s super grouchy today.”

“Okay!” she exclaimed before heading in the direction of Kay’s office.

“You’re almost as bad as they are,” Ash said from behind me.

Turning, I stared at her. She wasn’t supposed to be here. She was supposed to be at Rolling in Dough. Where I’d left her. Safely. “Ash, did you walk here again?”

Flushing, she nodded. “It’s not right for you to leave work to come get me, Dawson, and we were slow, so they told me to clock out early.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried to breathe through my terror. Six lanes of traffic. A thirty-five-minute walk. A very tiny woman with very sensitive skin. My imagination was flooded with images of dozens of things that could have happened to her. “It is not safe for you to cross the fucking highway to get here, Ashley Emery. It’s not safe for your skin to be exposed to the sun that long, especially with almost no protection and it sure isn’t safe for you to fucking walk across town by yourself.” Itdidn’t matter that her burns were a few years old, her skin would always be sensitive due to the trauma it experienced.

“Another dollar, please!” Eloise yelled, running back to the station and holding her hand out.

I pulled a fifty out of my wallet and handed it to her.

Her eyes grew comically wide. “Uh-oh.”

“I need to borrow Uncle Leland’s office. Watch for my next client, please,” I said, not bothering to wait for a response. I took Ash’s upper arm in my hand and started walking her toward the large office.

“Dawson, I am a grown woman. I can walk across the damn highway perfectly fine,” she argued. “I draped my apron over my arm to protect the skin, my back was covered by my shirt, and I ket my hat on. I made it safely. You worry too much.” Her words only served to make my panic grow. My body shook with the horror of knowing anything could have happened to her. I needed her to understand how serious this was.

I led her into the office, then shut and locked the door behind me, before turning to her.

“I understand you’re agrown woman, Ashley Emery. I am reminded every fucking time I look at you, but that doesn’t mean that I am going to allow you to do dangerous things that could kill you because you’re worried about being a damn inconvenience. You are living under my roof and you will abide by my rules. You will not be walking across town and across a very dangerous highway when you get off anymore, do you understand me? It’s fucking stupid. You’re being fucking stupid!” I said through my teeth. Desperation consumed me like a much too big wave and it felt like no matter how much I kicked and fought, I was never going to reach the surface again. Ineededher to understand how important her safety was.

“No, I do not fucking understand, you asshole,” she seethed right back at me.

I’d expected a tearful apology, not the fire and fight Ashley was giving me.

“Excuse me? What part wasn’t clear?”

“Fuck you, Dawson,” she spat. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears and her luscious lips were almost twisted in a snarl. “I didn’t ask to come live with you, but you made it seem like you really genuinely wanted me here. Moving wasn’t easy, but I did it, chasing some dream of having an actual family. The last thing I need isanotherman who thinks that because he’s giving me something, I owe him something in return, even if that something is compliance. Fuck you. I’ll be out of your house by tonight. No matter what I do, or don’t do, depending on your rules, it doesn’t give you the right to talk to me like I’m less than you or like you’re disgusted with me. ”

She snatched her arm from me, and fumbled to unlock the door.

My anger was suddenly deflated and regret sank in my stomach like a rock in water.

“Ashley, I’m…”

“Save it,” she said, turning to glare at me. “Just fucking save it, Dawson. I don’t need this, I don’t deserve this.”

Pulling open the door, she stomped out of the office and down the hall. Anger was evident in every movement she made, but her anger, even as righteous as it was, didn’t muffle the quiet sobs that left her mouth once she was farther away from me.

What the fuck did I just do?

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