His Baby Girl by Rosa Mink
Chapter 2
Mel
My heart is racing for two reasons, one so good, but the other so bad. I can’t believe my best friend would go behind my back and date my ex, let alone sleep with him. Anger and hurt is rushing through me, overriding the fluttery giddiness that hit hearing Clint call me baby girl. I know he likely doesn’t mean it the way I want, but it still settled my franticness.
The shit with Jenna though just keeps building and I flick through my contacts, hitting Kyle’s name before I can stop myself. I know he’ll answer. Not because it’s me calling but because he can’t resist from being the center of attention. Doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, he wanted all eyes on him, which is one of the reasons I broke up with him.
I hated it, didn’t want to live in the spotlight. Add in that I never wanted him in any way and his constant pushing to sleep with him and I was done.
“Yello,” he says making my eyes roll. He thinks it makes him sound cool, but he just sounds like an idiot saying it.
“Where’s Jenna?” I state, gritting my teeth when I hear his response.
“Yo babe, phone for you. Get your mouth off my cock and handle this shit.”
“Who is it?” Jenna asks. The sound of rustling sheets making me take a deep breath, so I don’t start screaming.
“It’s your ex-best friend,” I say before a soft curse flows from the other side.
“Mel, what’s up?” Jenna states as though it’s nothing.
“What’s up? Oh, I don’t know, you abandoning me at this fucked up party to go screw my ex-boyfriend?” I fume. “What the hell are you playing?”
“I’m sorry I forgot about the party.” Her tone is the one she uses when she lies and if I weren’t hiding in this little closet, I’d scream out my irritation right now. “Who told you about Kyle?”
“Your father, who answered your phone when you didn’t because you left it at home. So, was that on purpose as well as having no intention of coming to pick me up from here and falling onto my ex’s dick or was that one actually accidental?” I demand, forcing the tears back deep. She doesn’t get to pull them out of me anymore. I’m done with her.
“Alright, fine, yeah, I’m sleeping with Kyle. What’s the big deal? It’s not like you and your sanctimonious ass ever put out. Although, good luck getting out of there without having to,” she adds, and I hang up the phone, blocking Kyle’s number when it rings back instantly, before going in and blocking Jenna’s as well.
She knew. She knew what this stupid party was going to turn into and didn’t warn me. Purposely had me come here knowing what was likely to happen. That hurts worse than anything she might do with Kyle. I could forgive her for that. This I never will.
She knows my past. Knows why I don’t get close to anyone.
I wipe away the tears falling from my eyes, letting out a breath when my phone buzzes and the message from Clint comes up.
Pulling into drive now. Stay where you are, I’ll come get you.
It calms the worst of the worry and I lean my head against the wall in this dark space. A minute later, my phone rings and I answer. “Hi…”
“I’m coming up the steps, baby girl. Which hall are you on?” Clint asks, and I twist open the door, crawling out from the space under the first shelf to peek out. I’m thanking god that I’m so freaking short that it lets me hide in here.
“The Camden Room is across from me,” I tell him softly, hearing footsteps moving around the floor. I quickly shut the closet door back and huddle in the dark space.
“Almost there,” he says, and I try to breathe normally to calm myself as I wait.
A little yelp slips from my lips when the door opens, pulling myself into an even smaller ball. Every part of me is frozen in fear.
“Shit, baby girl, it’s okay, it’s just me,” Clint says, crouching down to my eye level. He holds out his hand, his eyes gentle as he watches me. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
I don’t know what compels me to do it, but I throw myself at him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, letting his beard tickle against my face as I bury it there. He catches us before we slam into the floor, then stands, one arm wrapped around my waist.
My legs twine around him not wanting to be put down, to let go. The panic I’ve been fighting for the last two hours unleashes. Tears slip down as I gasp, trying to catch my breath. It doesn’t work and my head feels floaty, everything dimmer.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay. I’ve got you. No one’s going to touch you, I swear,” Clint whispers into my ear, his arm still wrapped around me, but his other hand slips up, holding the back of my head. He presses it a bit further into him and my mouth opens, connecting with his skin.
A hint of saltiness hits me, but also fresh air and safety seems to wrap around my tastebuds. It pulls me back from that foggy haze dragging me under, as well as a whimper from my throat, and I bite gently wanting more of it.
“Mel, you’re killing me, baby girl. You have no idea what you’re unleashing.”
The rumble of his voice flows up from his chest and I let him hold me tighter as he starts to move. Back down the hall, down the stairs, and out the front door, with his arm still wrapped around me, his hand resting on my head. I haven’t felt this safe in years. Not since my dad died when I was seven.
Deep down I know it’s because I’m in his arms. Clint’s been more to me for almost a year than just Jenna’s father. He’s been my fantasy, my desire. The daddy I wanted to save me from all of the bad surrounding me. The daddy I wanted to touch me in places I shouldn’t think.
The first time I saw him without a shirt on as he worked on Jenna’s car, tattoos up and down his body, I felt myself wake. It’d taken eighteen years for me to feel anything remotely close to desire. It’d taken my daddy to wake it.
It was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw him bent over, his ass calling to my hands to touch, to tease. The words ‘oh daddy’ instantly came to mind.
I was worried I’d actually said them when he straightened, turning a bit, but his little double take when he saw me said I didn’t. He gave me a smile, asking what I was up to, calming every part of me that had been anxious that morning.
That was the first time I was at their place when Jenna wasn’t there. Each one since then the desire for him to touch me, hold me has only grown, and now, I can’t stop it.
That first day, she’d borrowed his truck and went shopping—not inviting me because of course I couldn’t help pay for anything. I didn’t have any money to spare but that day, I wasn’t working and needed to get away from my foster parents and their arguing.
The husband wanted to take in another kid for the money, but the wife didn’t. Didn’t want another mouth to feed—even if the state paid for it. Didn’t want more clothes to wash—even though we did our own laundry. It was my birthday and I’d worried that they’d find a way to kick me out, especially with the arguments if I didn’t get out of there for the day pronto.
There were four of us and they were licensed for five as long as two of the five were over the age of thirteen, which we were. Grant was fourteen. Lisa was thirteen and her brother David was eleven. We all did our own laundry, made our own beds, our own breakfasts, and even lunches during the summer since we weren’t receiving free lunches at school. She was just lazy and didn’t want to even attempt to pay attention to another person in the house.
I’d left, not really thinking a thing about what I was wearing. The cut-off jean shorts were almost too short, but they still fit around the waist, and I didn’t bother to get rid of them. Seeing Clint’s brow lift seeing me in them made me warm, tingle from head to toe. He asked if I wanted to help him with the car and I couldn’t resist from saying yes.
We finished up the repair, a cut hose from when Jenna ran over something, together, me handing him tools as he asked for them. Then headed inside, where much to my disappointment, Clint slid his shirt back on before taking me to the kitchen for a drink. My stomach rumbled smelling the leftover cinnamon rolls he’d made for breakfast, and he grabbed the plate, feeding me bites of them after putting me up on the kitchen island.
That was how Jenna found us when she got home, but she didn’t even blink an eye about it. She just started showing off what she’d bought with a little smirk on her lips as she eyed my shorts. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen the mean-bitch side of her, the one that liked to lord things over others, but it was the first it’d been blatantly directed my way.
It wasn’t the last though, even before this shit tonight. I put up with it because I couldn’t bear the thought of not being near Clint, not seeing the man I wanted, the man I wanted to be my daddy. The dirty fantasies had grown in the last ten months, and I can’t control it any longer.
I don’t know what might happen beyond tonight, but tonight, I know what I want. I want him.
