He's My Daddy Now

Chapter 5

*Emmy*

I wake up feeling sick. It’s dark, and I’m confused. I look around as everything spins around me. I’m at Jim’s. s**t.

I stumble to the bathroom and pull the door behind me before losing the contents of my stomach into the toilet. Again. And again.

The door cracks open, and there’s a warm hand on my back as my hair is pulled back. He doesn’t say anything. He just comforts me as I vomit and cry.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper as I sit on the floor and lean back against the wall.

Jim reaches over me, flushing the toilet. He brings a wet rag for me and holds it to my face. “It’s alright, Darlin,” he says kindly as he sits on the floor beside me. “Want to talk about it?”

I shake my head. I don’t, but I do. “He didn’t show up. He didn’t even call.”

“Your phone has been going off all night,” he tells me, returning to the bedroom with my phone in his hand. “I didn’t think your dad would like a strange man answering, but maybe you should tell him you’re safe.”

I take the phone and find a dozen missed calls and texts from my dad. He’s sorry. He forgot. He’s so sorry. I sigh. He never forgot until Ava came into his life. Never.

-I’m safe. Please just give me some space.

I hit send and then turn the phone off. I don’t want to talk to him. Jim frowns as he sees me turn the power off. “I texted him and told him I’m safe. I just… I need some time to sort through all of this.”

“I doubt the alcohol is helping,” he says, and it’s so gentle yet so firm.

I nod, looking down at the cool tile beneath me. “I know. I f****d up.”

“Are you sure you didn’t hit anything?” he asks me cautiously. “I didn’t see any damage to your car, but it’s dark.”

A tear rolls down my cheek. “I don’t think I did.” If I’m being honest, I’m truly not sure. “He didn’t come, Jim. He left me sitting there. I called and called, but he wouldn’t answer.”

“I know,” he says softly, wrapping his arm around me. “I’m sorry. Maybe he had a meeting or something come up.”

I shake my head as I begin to cry again. “He was probably f*****g his new girlfriend. She probably knew what day it was and did it on purpose.”

“I doubt that,” he tells me, his hand gently rubbing my back. “That would be an awful lot of planning, and who would be that cruel?”

The irony isn’t lost on me as I laugh while I continue to sob. “You have no idea how cruel she is.”

I lean into him, finding his arms so warm and comforting. I shouldn’t say another word, but I’m still drunk and can’t stop myself. “He’s dating the girl who made high school hell for me. I ended up having to switch schools my junior year.”

“What happened?” he asks, with so much concern on his face. Have I said too much, and he knows it’s her?

“She filmed me changing in the locker room after soccer practice and put it on social media,” I say softly. “The whole school saw me like that and just tore me apart. I was too skinny. My ass was too small… everyone had something to say, and none of it was nice. But then the guys wouldn’t leave me alone because they’d seen it all.”

“Why didn’t she leave school?” he asks, and he’s angry. He’s so angry, but not with me.

“They couldn’t prove it was her,” I whisper. “Except that she told me herself that it was. It was too much, so I switched to a private school that was almost an hour away, and no one knew me. They’d not been there the night she ripped my homecoming dress. They hadn’t seen me naked. They hadn’t known me when my mom died and watched her torture me.”

“Emmy,” he says softly into my hair, and he places a kiss on my head.

“She told me one time he hoped my dad would die, too,” I say, my lip quivering as I remember how horrible it was. “I was already terrified it would happen. My mom’s parents were dead, and my dad’s didn’t talk to him. She told me I deserved to be orphaned.”

He wraps his arms around me tightly. “You don’t deserve that at all.”

I decide to keep my mouth shut. I’ve already said too much. Jim helps me up from the floor and guides me back to bed before leaving me alone. He returns with a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers that he sits on the nightstand beside me.

“Get some sleep, Darlin,” he says softly, kissing my head. “You’re going to feel like ass in the morning.”

-------------

He was right. I feel like absolute ass now. I pull the blanket over my head and curl into a ball, but I really need to pee. I stumble into the bathroom, trying my best to keep my eyes as closed as possible to avoid the sunlight. Stumbling back into the bedroom, I’m greeted by the water and painkillers he so kindly left for me, and I happily take them before going back to sleep.

I wake again, the medicine thankfully taking effect, and notice a note on Jim’s pillow.

Out working for a bit. Be back around noon. Stay as long as you’d like. Breakfast is in the microwave for you.

I smile as I read it. He truly is thoughtful. As I go downstairs, I hazily remember talking to him last night and saying too much. He seemed upset for me, though. And after much thought, I determine that he didn’t know I was talking about his daughter at all. Does he not know how horrible she was? Does SHE even know?

I sigh and go back upstairs, turning the water in the bathtub on. While I wait, I turn on my phone and read through the messages from my dad.

-I’m sorry, Emmy. I lost track of time.

-Thank you for telling me you are safe, but please tell me where you are.

-I’m going to track your phone and come to you.

-Amelia, why is your phone off?

Again with calling me Amelia. Twice in just over a week. He knows how I feel about it. Perhaps it’s being around Ava that has made him no longer care. I turn off the phone again. It won’t do for him to find me with his girlfriend’s father here. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

I’d planned to tell her and hold it over her head, but then I met him, and he was nice. He’s not like her at all, and I don’t know if I can go through with my plan. What’s worse is that when I was upset, I came here. I was upset, and all I wanted was to be near Jim.

I sigh and sink into the bathtub, trying not to think about my plan or how it’s gone to s**t. Maybe someday I’ll tell her, quietly, so that only she knows and there’s nothing she’ll be able to do. But for now, I find myself wishing Jim were in here with me.

I’ve found myself sleeping with quite a few guys for attention, but none of them have ever treated me the way Jim has. They’ve never paid attention to my body the way he has. The way he’s so sure of what he’s doing is something I’ve never experienced before, and I find that I really, truly like it. I like being around HIM, which I need to wrap my head around and figure out what I’m going to do here. If I’m being honest with myself, I don’t want to f**k him for revenge anymore. I want to be with him. This is turning into such a mess.

I’m pulled from my thoughts as Jim enters the bathroom, smiling when his eyes land on me. “You look good in there. How are you feeling?”

“The medicine is helping,” I say meekly, embarrassed by my well… everything last night. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here.”

Jim shakes his head as he washes his hands. “I want you here whenever you want to be here, Darlin. But don’t drive like that again. I checked your car in the daylight, and there are no marks. But there could have been.”

“I’m sorry,” I say softly, thoroughly admonished. “I was so upset and didn’t know where to go. I just… I just wanted to be with you.”

He sits on the side of the tub. “Hand me your foot,” he says with a small smile. I furrow my brow but do as instructed, shocked when he begins to massage my foot. “You need to call your dad and tell him you’re alright. I’m sure he’s worried about you.”

“I don’t think I can’ handle that right now,” I admit softly. “It… I can’t believe he’d do that to my mom. I know she’s gone and has been for a long time, but the man keeps her pictures up, and that he’d forget her birthday…”

Jim nods slightly. “Still, he seems like a good father, and I’m sure he’s worried sick about you.”

“He threatened to track my phone, and then he discovered it was off,” I say meekly. “I turned my phone back off when I saw those messages. I don’t want him to show up and find, well… you.”

He smirks. “Because I’m old as fuck.”

“You’re not as old as him,” I smile. I don’t know how old he is, but he’s definitely not as old as my dad.

“I got married young,” he says with a nod. “Met a girl in the city, then knocked her up. I’ve got a daughter your age, but I was only eighteen when she was born. We were too damn young for a kid, and we were terrible together,”

I nod, not wanting to interrupt him. It’s the first time he’s mentioned Ava.

He holds his arm out to show me a scar I’d noticed our first night together. “She was a crazy b***h, but she got mad enough she stabbed me one day, and I finally left. I felt bad leaving my daughter, but it was better for her to be alone than to be around the two of us together.”

My eyes widen as I take my foot from his other hand and sit up, moving so I can run my finger along the mark on his skin. “Why did she stab you?”

He chuckles. “I told her that the chicken she made was dry,” he tells me, pulling his arm back from my grasp. “It was, but there was more to all of it. I hated living in the city and working a 9-5. I just wanted to be back here, but I wanted to be around my daughter. I couldn’t figure out how to have it all.”

I knew Ava’s mom was shitty, but I didn’t realize she was the kind of person to stab her own husband. I almost feel sorry for her. Almost.

“Get in with me,” I tell him.

He shakes his head and holds his hand out. “I’ve been working, and I’m gross. Come get in the shower with me instead.”