Page 12 of Clean Slade
There were lots of Pokémon, at least two Stitches, a healthy selection of Care Bears, and a lot of novelty ones, like a burger, an avocado, and an ice cream.
I didn’t know if it was endearing or creepy.
Maybe a bit of both?
I leaned against the door and watched him, trying to determine.
He hadn’t changed a bit.
I mean, he was a bit heavier, possibly taller, but not much of him had changed. His afro was short on the sides and cute and fluffy on the top. His eyelashes were full and beautiful over his brown eyes. His jaw was stronger and more shapely.
What were the chances a hookup from a million years ago would come back into my life?
The chances were even smaller than getting discovered by Tony.
It took me by surprise how well and how quickly I remembered him. Over the years, the thing that had stayed with me was the sensation. How he’d made me feel. How he’d taken care of me when I was going through my darkest time. I didn’t think I’d ever remember his face again, and then I saw him. Sitting there at the Outpost like an illusion, like another thing from my past coming back to haunt me.
If I’d seen him anywhere else, I might have thought Tony had paid him to fuck me, but he couldn’t have. The man was an ex-SEAL. That was what Joey was. That was what they all were.
“The end,” he sang and closed the book, turning to me with a big smile.
Seeing him being so sweet with my daughter, so warm and fatherly, almost did things to me I didn’t want or need to explore. Not when my life was going to shit.
Did he remember me? I couldn’t quite decide. I looked different. I wasn’t dressed in a suit—I hadn’t dressed in one in a lifetime—and my hair was longer and dyed. I’d lost some weight. Did he still remember me from all those years ago?
Probably not. He’d probably hooked up with so many others I was only a blip in his head, if that. Whereas I’d latched onto that memory as my only sustenance.
He carefully lifted Mac in his arms and laid her on the bed before he joined me at the door.
“She went out like a light.”
“She must be exhausted,” I said.
“Of course she is. It’s been a hell of a night. You must be tired too.”
I shook my head.
Slade stepped out of the room and beckoned me to follow. As I closed the door, I watched my daughter clinging to her Pokémon for dear life, breathing deeply and slowly, looking like the angel she was, and I felt a pang in my chest.
I should have prepared better. I shouldn’t have gotten comfortable. Now I’d have to introduce her to a life I’d vowed to protect her from.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, hoping one day she’d forgive me. Hoping that I wouldn’t damage her psyche too much and that she’d grow to be a strong, healthy person who didn’t hate me.
“You must have magical powers,” I told Slade when I found him in the living room.
He was sitting on the couch in front of a fireplace with a fresh load of wood. He turned to me and chuckled.
“Tea?” I asked him. He shook his head.
“Why do you think I’m magical?”
I stopped myself from rolling my eyes and sipped my tea instead.
“Because I can never get her to sleep like that. She always wakes up when I try to get up.”
He shrugged.
“Just experience, I guess.”
