Page 8 of Broken Daddy

“I mean, not to be crass, but it wasn’t just a simple fuck,” Monty continued speaking. “We…talked and other shit. Cuddled. Made promises to each other. And then you took off in the middle of the night without so much as a phone number. Did something happen?”

That was one way to put it.

“Nothing happened,” I said. “I was just ready to leave.”

“In the middle of the night. With no shoes or underwear.” He gave me a disbelieving look. “I thought you might have been in some kind of trouble, so I looked for you, but no one had any idea who you were. What changed?”

Maybe the fact that I found out you work with my father.

It had been a shock to discover. I had been lying down in bed, and his phone kept going off. I picked it up to tell whoever it was that he was in the shower and to call back later when the person’s voice at the other end of the line came through clearly.

And it was my father.

I had been stunned, especially since my father had been telling him about a new deal he had.

I didn’t know in what capacity he worked with my dad, but I knew anyone linked to my father was bad news.

But he didn’t know yet that I knew who he was, and I would keep that tool in my arsenal for when I needed it.

So I remained silent as I looked out the window, staring at the hills passing by and thinking about how to get rid of him at the end of this.

I couldn’t have him coming back to town and asking questions. Although I kept to myself and kept a low profile, a few people already knew about my son. If Monty started asking questions, he would find out about Hunter, and that would be a disaster.

He could not find out about Hunter.

So I had to make it clear at the end of this that I never wanted to see him again.

A sudden popping sound from the engine interrupted the silence, and I turned and glanced at him in alarm.

He smiled. “No worries. Bertha here is just letting me know she’s tired after the long drive.”

“You named your car Bertha?”

“Sure did. After my kindergarten teacher. She’s old as hell and a little creaky, but she’s still got everything in working order.”

“Are we anywhere close to Gracetown?”

“Nope,” he said cheerily. “But we are close to a shop. I checked it out on the way into town. We could get it checked out and see how long a quick fix would take. If it’s more than a couple of hours, we can chill in the motel across the street while we give Bertha a chance to calm down.”

More than a couple of hours? I didn’t have that much time to spend. I wanted to go see Faith and get back to my son as soon as possible. I was only supposed to be gone for a few hours, tops.

“I don’t want to go to a motel with you.”

“Relax, sweetheart, nothing seedy is going on here,” He winked. “And trust me, I don’t have to be rejected twice. I get the message.”

I sighed, trying to think of another way to get out of this. “Can’t we just keep driving?”

He shook his head. “Not if you don’t want Bertha to completely give up on us a mile in. Unfortunately, we don’t get a choice here.”

He began pulling off at the exit, and I leaned back in my seat, resigned. There was an anxious feeling in my stomach. I felt like this was a horrible mistake.

And, of course, I was proven right the instant we reached the shop. Apparently, the car needed quite a few things done, and it would take at least four hours. Despite my protests, Monty agreed to leave the truck there, and we veered toward the motel. My anxiety was through the roof, but I couldn’t tell him that I needed to get home instantly because I needed to pick up my son. That would raise too many suspicions, so all I could do was swallow my protests and follow along. And then, things got even worse when we got there as we were told there was only one room available.

“What do you mean there’s only one room?” I asked the lady at the front desk, who seemed taken aback by my fervor.

“Sorry,” she said, addressing Monty. “We’re fully booked, and the only room not in use is our honeymoon suite.”

“Well, I suppose since it’s only for a few hours….” Monty turned to give me a mischievous smile before turning back to the lady. “We’ll take it.”

---