Love On A Dollar

Chapter 3: The Infamous Dollar

Noah's POV



Willow found my daughter, my whole reason for being. She's great like that, talented in so many ways it's hard to keep track. Millie was with a social worker at the station as they tried to find someone to take her in. Apparently Alana told them her boyfriend was the father, which only pissed me the f**k off more.

She's never living with my daughter again. She can have supervised visits until Millie says otherwise. Given she's only eighteen months, it's going to be a while. Maybe by then I won't want to kill Alana anymore. Now I was tearing my place apart to try and find Millie's birth certificate to prove that I am in fact my daughter's father.

I swear, Alana, you're such a b***h.

“Found it!” Willow yells, her bright green eyes shimmering with accomplishment.

“I love you so much right now!” I blurt out before I could stop myself.

She shucks it as a moment of insanity due to everything that's happening, and starts to tease me instead. What she doesn't know is that I have loved her since the moment she knocked on my door asking if I had seen her evil cat run through. When she told me Count Clawcula's name I knew she was going to be different…be fun.

“Oh really? You love me?” She wiggles her eyebrows with a mischievous little grin on her pouty crimson lips.

Her hands are up in the air with her fingers wiggling as she suddenly races towards me and begins to tickle my sides. I'm not one for tickles, grabbing both her wrists and pinning them against the wall. She gasps, surprised by the action with a sudden flare in her eyes. I noticed it earlier too, she's finally starting to see me differently.

This is the longest friend's zone ever.

“I don't do tickles.”

That's a lie, but only for Millie.

She breathes heavy, her chest rising to press against me. The action causes me to smile, knowing she was being turned on. Too bad now isn't the time for his. I let her go, turning as if she didn't interest me, even though every little thing she does makes me want her more.

“You need to go. I gotta get Millie.” I hold her birth certificate up for Willow to see.

“Are you crazy? I'm coming with you.” She crosses her arms with her forehead creased to show she means business.

“No. You're going home.” I wrap my arm around her, causing her to believe I will guide her out. Instead, I throw her over my shoulder and carry her out of my apartment, knowing she won't go willingly.

She dead-weights on me, trying to be as heavy as her one-hundred-and-twenty-five pound self can be. She doesn't stop, refusing to stand on her feet when I try to put her down. She reminds me of a toddler throwing a tantrum when they don't want to leave somewhere. I let her slowly slide to the floor, watching her lay there without a care. Until she locks her hands around my ankle.

“Willow,” I say her name in warning, really needing to get to my baby girl.

“What?” She shrugs her shoulders as if she has no idea what she's doing wrong.

“Let go. I have to go.”

“You can go. I am not holding you back.”

“Only you literally are.” I gesture down to her hands locked around me, but she just shrugs again. “Okay, but know you asked for this.”

She looks up at me with a slight weariness in her eyes as she's uncertain of what I am about to do. I bend down, tickling under arms where she's most ticklish since she left them unguarded. She squirms, trying hard not to let go of my ankle but unable to do so as the instinct to cover her underarms overcomes her. The moment she lets me go, I run off hearing her yells of complaint, looking behind me to see her still laying on the floor with her arms crossed.

“I thought you didn't do tickles!”

“Go home, Willow!”

She better not still be in the hall when I get back. I swear this woman is a mess. I honestly couldn't tell you how she has survived living on her own. It's hard to believe she can take care of herself, let alone an animal, too.

I'm coming, Baby Girl.

________________

“How's the single dad's life treating you?” Charlie pats me on the back as I sit beside him, finally getting Millie down for the night. She wants to stay up and repeat all the new words she's learning right now. It's made putting her to bed a longer process than it used to be.

“Rough man.”

“I can imagine. How are you even getting laid right now?” That's what always seems to occupy Charlie's thoughts. He's crude, with a singular focus... a good f**k.

“I haven't been.” I'm honest, because there's really no way for me to get a woman in here. I am lucky to have Willow be able to watch Millie while I work. Thankfully, Millie loves Willow and she loves her right back.

“You're shitting me!” Charlie looks as if I just told him I had some kind of terminal illness. “It's been three months!”

“Trust me, I know!” I sigh, feeling so pent up, my d**k could explode.

“Honestly without Willow I wouldn't be getting too much action myself right now.” He smiles, but he has no idea the self restraint I am practicing right now by not punching him right in the mouth. I hate this stupid ass arrangement she created between them.

The moment she told me about it, I thought it wouldn't last. Figured Charlie would find himself a girlfriend soon and that would be that. Turns out Charlie isn't the girlfriend type and Willow isn't the boyfriend type. It's the only reason I haven't made my move with her yet. I need her to believe in relationships again before I do, because once I do, I am playing for keeps.

“You guys still have that thing going on? Isn't there a point in time where this is no longer a friends with benefits thing and turns into an actual relationship? It's been almost a year and a half now.” I try to scare him away with the thought of being tied down. Yet when I turn to look at him I see him actually contemplating the idea.

Don't you dare, Charlie. She's mine!

The knock on my door, causes him to stop whatever thought he was having. “Pizza!”

He jumps off my couch, opening the door and handing the delivery boy his money. There's a small exchange of words as Charlie asks for some change and then hands him a tip. He lays the pizza before me, opening the box and taking a slice as he sits back on my couch. He looks comfy as hell for being in someone else's place, ordering pizza to my door.

But that's when I notice it, the top bill he placed on my coffee table is a dollar bill with ‘where am I?’ and a phone number written on it. It's her dollar and I practically choke on my own spit, needing that bill more than the air I breathe at the moment.

“Can I trade you that dollar for one of my own?” I ask him, hoping he doesn't question it. But what kind of person wouldn't?

“Why?” He arches a brow, asking with his mouth full.

“Just, please.” I don't want to tell him how important this dollar is. He doesn't need to know, doesn't need to have that power over my Willow.

Of course I cause him to be curious, and he inspects the dollar, seeing the number on the back. He arches his brow, looking at it in curiosity before looking back at me. “Don't be that desperate, Noah. There are other ways of getting laid. You don't even know if this is a girl.”

“I'll give you five bucks for it.” I randomly spew in my desperation to obtain that specific George Washington.

“Make it ten and you got a deal.” He grins, knowing he's got me, and I have no choice but to agree. Fishing my wallet out I hand him a ten, but I get back something worth much more than that.

Her dollar rests in my hands, a holy grail if I ever saw one. This — this is how I get her to believe again. I immediately download a texting app that will give me a different phone number to text from. Willow has my cell phone number memorized and would know it was me right away. For this to work, I have to be somebody else.