Page 7 of Broken Daddy
That was an interesting nightmare.
Her worst nightmare was her brother getting shanked. Or waking up to find her dad had overdosed in the night. Although sometimes she had the terrible thought that that might be a relief.
But that wasn’t something she’d ever tell anyone.
“Mine is being kidnapped, held in a dark, damp basement where I have to fight giant rats for scraps of food, and having to pee in a bucket while knowing I am going to die at any moment,” she said.
Sondra blinked. “That is terrifying. Why would you think that would happen?”
“I read a lot.” The library was free and it was a way for her to escape. But she should probably stop reading so many murder mysteries and horror stories.
Yep, she might stick to romance for a while. Although her reaction to Mr. Tragic Eyes told her that perhaps romance wasn’t a good idea, either.
Maybe she’d take up reading autobiographies. Or cookbooks.
“Um, right,” Sondra said, giving her a wary look. “We better go, Hayes.”
Hayes?
That was his name? Was that his first or last name?
Hayes grunted. Then, to her shock, his finger once more landed under her chin. He tilted her head back. “Sure you’re not hurt?”
Her hands and knees were thumping in pain, but she forced a smile onto her face. “Yep! I’m all good.”
The expression on his face was difficult to read. It could have been disbelief. It might have been annoyance.
Or boredom.
He nodded and turned, following behind Sondra. She paused at the door to let him go through first.
“Devi!”
Devi jumped at Aaron’s voice. She turned to find him glaring at her. “Get back to fucking work.”
With a grimace, she gave everyone else in the cafe an apologetic look. Aaron didn’t care who heard him swearing or yelling.
Luckily, there were no children in here this morning. One day, he’d actually made one cry.
“I’m coming. Bathroom break.”
She knew he’d probably be spitting mad at her the rest of the day for this, but she just needed a moment to calm down and catch her breath.
Washing her shaking hands, she stared into the mirror. There were dried tears on her red cheeks.
Crap.
She scooped up some water, splashing it onto her face.
Taking a deep breath in, she let it out slowly.
She had this. She was good.
Nothing was going to get her down.
2
Hayes walked into the beauty salon and sighed.
