Call Him Daddy

Chapter 4

Soleil

I don’t know if it’s the universe, him, or both who are playing with me. Gunnar Hawthorne was the last person I expected to see just a few minutes after getting off from work and a little over twenty-four hours of being in town. I’m sure finding me was easy, but I thought I had a little more time before that time came.

My heart hasn’t been able to calm down since the moment I saw him. It was a struggle to breathe around him, yet he wanted to touch, lean his body against mine, and entrap me in his arms while telling me he missed me. Anyone could walk by and see us. As if him lightly claiming me in front of my boss and colleagues wasn’t enough.

My mind was telling me to move, yet my body refused to do so. The warmth radiating from him made me want to stay like this forever. That was a dangerous thought. I shouldn’t have been thinking like this, had no business being this close and wanting this man. This is why I stayed clear of him for two years, but it seems that wasn’t long enough.

I expected him to go off on me once we met face to face, expected him to argue and try to force me to return home. Him easily accepting my excuse for having work to do and not questioning the fact that I opted for a condo instead of returning home made me feel uneasy. The man was accommodating but not that damn much. Maybe what happened two years ago didn’t affect him as it did me.

I’m not sure why that thought bothered me, but it did. It’s not like we ever talked about it or even mentioned it. To think about it, he never even asked why I stopped coming home or rather texted than talked to him on the phone. Our relationship had drastically changed and not once did he question it. Why does that realization hurt?

I didn’t get time to soul search for that answer. We got to the parking spot I had left my car, and it was gone. We walked the whole lot, and my car was nowhere in sight. I know for a fact that I drove to work, so where the hell was my car?

Now that answer came thirty-something minutes later when a security guard told me that it most likely got towed. Supposedly, a few of the parking spots, like the one I parked in, were marked off for constructive maintenance. I’ve never heard of such bullish in my life. I called the number he gave me and god damn it, my car did indeed get towed. The messed-up thing is the i***t that towed my car accidentally took it to a different tow company that is two hours away and currently closed.

I’m usually levelheaded and understanding, but this had me fuming. I was too pissed off to pay Gunnar any mind. Once he offered to drop me at my condo, I accepted just so I could get the day over with. It was only a fifteen-minute drive, I could keep it together for fifteen minutes. The ride was quiet, which I was happy about. I was even happier when I saw Dannie calling. Maybe she’ll come over and get drunk with me.

Yeah, that wasn’t the case. I was glad that she had some good news. I knew this meant a lot to her. She got a job for the summer, and it was one that would not only help her in the field she was studying but also help her and her family financially. The only downfall was it was two damn hours from her house and almost three from mine. There was a good possibility that she would have to stay in one of the company’s condos to cancel out the long commute.

We talked until I made it to my condo with Gunnar following behind. I was hoping he’d just drop me off and be on his way. As you can tell, my hopes and wishes are frivolous today. I didn’t think things could get any worse, but thinking isn’t working in my favor either, it seems.

As I’m about to walk past the receptionist, I get stopped. What does she tell me? My condo, along with a few others had suffered from bad piping. It was flooded. To make matters worse, the other condos that suffered the same fate were the empty ones. Supposedly, they were all newly renovated and someone f.cked up. Now, what does that mean for me? I have no condo until further notice.

My car is towed, my condo is destroyed and my best friend who I could have gone to just got a job that requires her to move.

No, what are my options? Get a rental and book a hotel or go home with the man that is just standing there waiting for me to make my next move. I chose the first set of options.

Then what happened? The car rental companies within a twenty-mile radius are either closed or don’t have anything available until the end of the week and the hotels are booked.

This has to be one of the worst days of my life and heaven knows I’ve had plenty of despicable days, if not months. If anything, it’s the domino effect that gets me, soon as this man pops up, everything turned to sh.t. I’m not much for crying but the anger and frustration of today had me in tears. In the span of four hours, everything that could go wrong went astronomically terrible.

The whole time he was quiet. Didn’t utter a single word as he pulled me out to the car, not throughout the drive to the house. Nothing. Every now and then he’ll get on his phone and text but most of it was just him driving as if I wasn’t even there and was going through a sh.t tone of misfortunes. I don’t expect much from anyone but for someone who's usually all in my business and always has something to say, I was expecting him to say something.

It was almost ten by the time we made it to the house. I was pissed off, sore and tired. My feet and legs hurt from hearing these stilettos all day. I had a pounding headache from the anger and stress. My stomach was tied in knots and my heart was beating way too fast from the realization of where I am and might be stuck here for a few days.

“Go get cleaned up. Dinner will be waiting.”

“I’m not hungry. Have a good night.”

“It wasn’t a question or request. Get moving.”

“I don’t care if it was or wasn’t. I’m not hungry and I’m going to bed.”

It all happened so fast. The force that pulled me wasn’t human. Crashed against him, he squeezed my jaw with his hand forcing me to hold his gaze. It hurt but I refused to cower. I was shocked and heaven knows I was trembling but the shock, or maybe it was fear. Yet I held his gaze.

“Don’t try me.”

He released me and left me to my own demise. I was rooted at the spot shaking wildly. In the years I’ve known him, not once has he ever done anything like this. His tone might occasionally rise or be clip when he’s upset but never this. I did come off disrespectful with my response, but it didn’t deserve what he just did to me.

My mind was in a frenzy and my body was still frozen. If it wasn’t for Lydia who coaxed me upstairs to my room and sat me down on the bench in my bathroom, I’d probably still be in that spot he left me at. The steam from the shower helped a little but not much. My mind was still processing.

As per habit, I yanked on a loose loc. I welcomed the pain from it. It somewhat distracts me from the other ones I was already feeling. I’ve been beaten and yelled at till I was fourteen, and it might have only been six years since I’ve been in a situation that led to either but for some reason, this one hurt differently.

“Get it together. So, what he yelled at me? It’s not the end of the world. I’m just being weak and too emotional over nothing. I’ve been through worse and I’m only here for a few days.”

Giving myself the most pathetic pep talk in history. Which was interrupted by a knocking on my bathroom door. I didn’t think much of walking out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around me, but I should have. There, leaning against the bedroom door with his hands in the pockets of his pajama pants was Gunnar. Our eyes met briefly before his traveled down my barely covered body. Embarrassed, I ran to my walk-in closet to get dressed.

I’m sure my panting of embarrassment and annoyance could be heard throughout the bedroom. I’m not sure why, but I expected some type of response from him. which one, I wasn’t quite sure. Once again, that shouldn’t be a thought I should be having. None of this should matter or be worth me processing over.

Pushing that thought from the center of my mind, I hurriedly got dressed. Wrapping the hair towel around my locs and securing it through the buttons around it, I gathered myself and walked out of the closet. I found him sitting at the mid-round table with dinner spread out. I guess I was taking too long to get downstairs for dinner, so dinner was brought up to me.

I wanted to laugh. Not much seemed to have changed over the years. Couldn’t tell if that was good or a nightmare waiting to happen. I took my seat and quietly waited for him to give the command that we could begin. His house, his rules. Hopefully, I won’t be here for long to deal with the nonsense.

“We need to talk.”