Page 38 of Daddy Vibes (The Anti-Bachelorette 2)

Chapter 15

Angela

I walk into the tattoo shop even though I wasn’t scheduled for a shift today. I see Rob giving some girl a tattoo right below her breast. She is flirting heavily with him, but he just remains friendly. All my cousins get this reaction from the ladies with that tall, dark, and handsome thing they got going on.

Rob turns toward me when he hears me walk back. “Hey Ang. What’s up? You aren’t scheduled today.”

I give him a small wave. “Hey, I just wanted to talk when you got a second.”

He quickly wraps up whatever he was doing and gives the girl instructions on how to clean her new tattoo. She tries to linger, thinking she’ll be able to get his phone number or something. He just thanks her for coming in and turns back to me. “Come on back to my office.”

The girl gives me a snooty look like I’m stealing her man or something. I just smile really big at her, and then I follow him into the back. We walk back to the small room that has just a desk and a computer. Not exactly a real office, but it works. I sit down across from him on the folding chair he had leaned up against the wall.

He leans back in his chair and places his hands behind his head. “What can I do for you?”

I purse my lips almost a little embarrassed to be talking about this. “Uhm...so my dad found out about me and Eric.”

He raises an eyebrow at me. “Who’s Eric?”

I laugh and roll my eyes. “Emory’s dad.”

He opens his mouth in understanding. “Ohhhh right. Fuck that sucks. What did he say? Are you okay?”

I sigh. “Yeah, he was pretty nasty, but I’m not worried about that. I’m used to him, but he started talking shit about Eric within the construction community. I’m sure he’s making up things that aren’t true as well like he always does. I can’t have Eric’s business hurt because of me.”

Rob reaches forward at the tone of my voice and squeezes my hand. “I doubt anyone will care, Ang.”

I sigh. “I know, but I just want to make sure he isn’t starting rumors about when I was younger or something. Like that he took advantage of me.”

Rob leans back and sighs at that. “Fuck. I didn’t think of that. Do you think he’d go that low?”

I nod. “I wouldn’t put it past him.” I give him my best smile to try to convince him to go along with this. “I was hoping you could talk to him.”

He opens his eyes wide at me. “Me? Why would he listen to me?”

I just give him a smirk. “You know he likes you best.”

He laughs. “Yeah, best does not mean much when it comes to him. Talking to him won’t help.”

I drop my eyes in defeat. “Can’t you at least try?”

He pulls a key out and unlocks his drawer. “That’s not what I meant. We need to do more than just talking. I’ve been saving this for the right moment, and helping you out seems like as good of time as any.”

I glance at him curiously as he grabs a folder out of his drawer. I laugh. “What is this your blackmail drawer or something?” I joke.

He just looks at me seriously, and I open my eyes wide. “Oh my God I was joking. You seriously have a blackmail drawer?”

He laughs then. “No, but I do keep this in here.” He sets the folder on the desk and slides it across to me. I quickly open it up. I glance at the photos and then back at Rob in shock. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He just laughs. “For real. The hypocrite.”

I glance back down at the photos of my dad all over some random blonde I’ve never seen before outside some motel room. I look back up at Rob. “How did you get these?”

He just shrugs. “Let’s just say things weren’t going so well between me and your dad, and I had to get myself some leverage over him.”

I smirk back at him. “How long have you been holding these?”

He just chuckles. “Long enough.”

---