Page 38 of Straight Dad

“Answer me.”

“Fuck you.”

I don’t respond. I need something to bind him. I need to talk with Livy. I need more than anything to keep my temper in check.

Kyle’s barks have moved. They’re no longer behind me and above me, but coming toward me. Kyle, leashed… Livy dressed, on his heels, with a knife and a phone in her other hand.

I don’t know whether to be impressed or pissed. I’m both, but mostly pissed.

I control my voice enough to say, “I need something to bind him. Rope, belt… something. You can leave the knife inside.”

She nods and walks away, leading Kyle who snarls and growls at the man beneath me. He strains against his leash.

“Let’s go.” Her voice is commanding, and he acquiesces, following her, looking back and forth between Livy and Tustin.

He twists his neck to face the stairs where Livy just disappeared and spits something from his mouth.

“Don’t look at her. Answer me, Tustin. What are you doing here?” I ask the man prone before me. I remove my knee enough that he won’t have a bruise.

“Get off me.”

Livy reappears with a dishrag and a pair of yoga pants, lifting them both as if weighing them. Good Lord, we might as well be the Clampetts come to town.

I reach for the yoga pants and force them up Tustin’s arms as he struggles and turns, threatening to roll. I manage to twist the pants and his arms with what was left of the pant legs before knotting them around his lifted ankles. I effectively hog-tie him in stretchy pants, and not gracefully.

I motion Livy to walk behind me and hold my hand out for her phone. On my knees, I’m barely a foot shorter than her.

I open the text screen and type:Have you called the cops?

She shakes her head and looks back at me, waiting for my next question.

I don’t want to leave you. I certainly don’t want to leave you with him.

She nods and exhales.

If I’m here when the cops get here, I will be in the police report.

When I flash the phone to her so she can read it, her face is lit in the harsh blue light of the device. It doesn’t take a moment for her to grasp my meaning.

She grabs the phone and types her own message.And I lose my job because of it.

I nod. “I’m sorry,” I mouth the words that are too little. Meaningless.

Tell me what you want me to do.It’s her choice. But I won’t make a career-ending decision for her.

She bites her bottom lip, rolling it under her top teeth. She looks to the sky, takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes in resignation.

Pix? I’ll do what you ask. It’s not my nature to leave you vulnerable or to leave after… well— But it’s your career. Tell me what you need from me.

“I’ve got it from here,” she says quietly. The resignation in her voice kills me.

I reach up and wrap a hand on her lower back, drawing her to me. I kiss her belly and then realize how intimate the gesture is. I try to communicate how sorry I am with my eyes. But I can’t be sure she gets it.

I do what she asks and stand. At least I can honor her in that way.

As I stand, she holds the phone up.I need Kyle.

“Roger that.”

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