Page 88 of Daddy's Little Patient

Cricket felt like she’d been hit in the back of the head by a cast iron frying pan. Or what she’d guess that felt like since that’d never happened to her. Kinda like her brain had been knocked all the way out of her skull and onto the floor and was flopping around like a halibut that’d just been pulled onboard a boat.

That made no sense. Owen’s father was dead. Killed in a fishing accident when he was just a little kid. Was this some super mean prank? Not a funny one like when Gwennie made her Daddy think she’d dyed her hair blue. That had been hilarious, although Mister Gavin hadn’t thought so—Gwennie had a red bottom for a few days after that.

Cricket’s temper flared. Her Daddy might be protective of her, but she was protective of him too, and it wasnotokay for someone to mess with him like that.

“You’re a big liar,” she said to the man on the phone. “Owen’s dad died a long time ago. Why would you—”

Then Owen was taking the phone from her. She hoped it was to tell that meany to fuck off himself since she wasn’t supposed to use bad words. She’d gladly take a spanking and even naughty girl dinner if it meant she got to tell off this poopyhead. He didn’t though.

“Can I call you back?” he said tightly.

What? Why—

Her brain had that wobbly feeling again, and her knees were kinda shaky as Daddy said, “Yeah, talk to you later. Bye.”

Once he’d hung up the phone, her Daddy looked at her, his jaw tight and a deep V between his brows.

“Cricket.”

The way he said her name ratcheted up her disbelief. She felt like a kettle that had come to a boil. This couldn’t be true but it seemed more and more likely with each passing second that it was.

“Was that for realsies your dad?”

Her emotions were so jumbled she couldn’t sort them out and she felt like her thoughts were cartwheeling around her brain. Daddy blowing a big sigh through his mouth didn’t make her feel any better.

“Yes, that was really him.”

Her brain might’ve bubbled over but strangely she didn’t feel like she was going to have a tantrum. It wasn’t that she’d grown out of them or anything of the sort, it was just a different kind of upset. Incredulous and hurt and verging on angry but not kick and scream on the floor.

“How? You said he died. You were so sad. Did you lie to me?”

“No. I didn’t lie to you.” Her Daddy blew a breath out his mouth again and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Ididn’t lie. My mom lied to me for most of my life. She told me my dad was dead so I wouldn’t keep asking to come back to Alaska or go looking for him when I got older. And she told him to leave me alone and he respected her wishes.”

Wow, that was terrible. Like worse than Mitch terrible, and he’d been very, very bad. But for her Daddy’s mom to lie to him about something so major was a million times meaner.

“How do you know?”

Daddy laughed humorlessly. “He walked into the clinic in Silver Sun last week.”

“Oh.”

It had been a whole week and he hadn’t told her? Was he ever going to tell her? And why hadn’t he?

“Why didn’t you tell me? That’s a huge deal! You must’ve been so happy, and…” Cricket trailed off. “If you didn’t tell me about him, did you not tell him about me either?”

Daddy only blinked at her, and there came the cast iron skillet again. “Did you not want him to know about me? Are you ashamed of me? I’m good enough to play with and fuck and spank in your cabin in the middle of nowhere but I’m not good enough for anything else?”

Okay, maybe the tantrum was coming after all. It was like Mitch had made a wound and her Daddy had dumped salt and lemon juice on it. It hurt, and the pain distorted her voice until it was a scream. “Is that why we’ve never been back to Covert? Is that why you never let me come on your trips with you? What’s wrong with me? Is it that I’m a Little? Is it that I’m fat? Both? I hate you! You’re just like Mitch. A big, huge meany!”

Her nails cut into her palms as she squeezed her hands into fists and she stomped her foot so hard the floor shook. It felt like all the kindness and care Daddy had given her over the past couple months got turned inside out into something ugly and fake and cruel.

She wanted to grab things and throw them, pound her fists into the floor, shriek until her throat hurt and cry until her eyes were red and swollen. Before she could do any of that, her Daddy grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to face him.

“Babygirl, listen to me. I didn’t tell you because I wanted to make sure he was for real first. If you saw him, you’d probably have no doubt but I wanted to be positive. I didn’t want to expose you to a scammer if that’s what he was. I wanted Taj to look into him and be certain before I brought him into your life.Ourlife. Taj gave me the all clear last night and I hadn’t figured out how to tell you yet. I hadn’t mentioned you to him because if he was a con artist, I didn’t want to give him any more ammunition or put you in his crosshairs. I was going to tell him about you today.”

Owen blew a breath out his mouth.

“As for the other things you said, I have never for a minute been ashamed of you. I’m so proud that you’re my babygirl. You’re gorgeous and sweet and clever and funny and you’re perfect for me. I feel like the luckiest man alive that our kinks line up so well and that I get to tuck you into your crib at night and wake you up every morning. You’re the light of my life and I love you.”

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