Chapter 20
CHAPTER
TWENTY
King
“Dad, can you hurry up?” Willow shouts from the hallway. “Cassidy and Alina are already there.”
“I’ll be out in one minute,” I yell back, slipping on a jacket and grabbing my keys.
I was pleasantly reminded last night that I promised Willow over a week ago that I’d take her to the indoor action park about thirty minutes from our house. When she brought it up and saw my face, she immediately knew that I forgot, and proceeded to scold me for it. But I covered it up the best that I could, assuring her that I remembered and would, of course, take her.
So now, here we are, me rushing to get ready to take her to meet her friends, where she’ll probably leave me for the next two hours to play with them.
Luckily, I’m dragging Ellie with me, who is just about as excited as I am, so that the moms of Willow’s friends don’t try to talk to me the entire time. If anyone ever asks me what my biggest fear is, I think it would be them. The PTA moms. They’re vultures. No boundaries, no filters.
They’re my worst nightmare, ones I try to avoid at all costs.
Although they’re not all like that, some are nice, but I’m a single dad with two daughters. If they’re not single themselves, they think it’s their life’s mission to find me someone to settle down with.
Little do they know, I may have already found her.
It’s been three weeks since the night Aria found out about us. I almost told her that I was in love with her then, and I’ve almost told her a million times since.
I think part of me fell for her the second she spilled her drink on me at Carl’s. I guess it wasn’t love right then, but she made me feel more than I’ve felt with anyone in a long time.
It was like she woke me up, and I hadn’t even realized I’d been sleeping.
But I didn’t tell her, not when I knew I had to leave her the next second. And I haven’t told her since. It feels like I’ve just been waiting for the perfect moment.
It might seem quick considering how long we’ve been together, especially for me, who’s never been someone who jumps into things. I’m a step-follower.
Except for when Jillian got pregnant. But even then, I proposed the next week, and we got married before Ellie was born. It seems wrong now. I know I never should have asked her to marry me in the first place, but I was young, and in my head, that’s what I had to do.
It was the right step to take.
This, falling quickly, living carefree, is so unlike me. Yet, it feels more right than anything I’ve ever done in my life.
A knock on my open door pulls me out of my thoughts, and I turn to see Ellie standing in the doorway. “Willow’s gonna lose her shit if you don’t hurry up,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Language,” I say half-heartedly.
“Sorry, bad habit,” she says. “Must have gotten it from you,” she jokes, a small smile on her face.
“Very funny.” I smile down at her. “Let’s go, kid.” I wrap my arm around her shoulder, leading her out of my room.
Willow is standing in front of the front door, hand already on the handle, ready to go. “Finally.” Willow sighs dramatically. “I’ve been waiting forever,” she mumbles, opening the front door and walking to the car.
I sneak a look at Ellie, who looks just as amused as me, the two of us laughing before following her. I lock up the house, and we all get in the car to drive the thirty minutes to the indoor action park.
Like I expected, Willow practically runs away from me and Ellie the second that we get there, finding her friends. And just like I thought would happen, a group of four moms walked toward me and Ellie in the next second.
“Good luck with that,” Ellie whispers, looking at the approaching moms. “I’ll be in the arcade.”
“Seriously?” I mumble, looking at Ellie with panic on my face.
She gives me a not-at-all reassuring thumbs-up as she practically runs away. I take a deep breath, turning to the moms as they approach me. I recognize two of them as the mothers of Willow’s friends.
Cassidy’s mom, Jackie, is married, but you’d never know it by the way she shamelessly flirts with the other dads at every event. That vulture pack I was talking about—well, she’s their leader. On the other hand, Alina’s mom, Marianne, isn’t actually that bad at all. She’s also married and seems to mind her own business for the most part.
The other two moms with them also have children in Willow’s class, but I can’t for the life of me remember who their kids are or what their names are.
“Damien,” Jackie coos. “How lovely to see you.” She reaches out, squeezing my arm. “How have you been?”
“I’m good, Jackie. Thanks.” I nod at her politely, ignoring how much I hate the way my name sounds coming from her.
“Oh, wonderful.” She smiles. “We were so sad to hear about Willow’s little incident that landed her in the principal’s office a few weeks ago.” She pouts. “But I’m sure you handled everything.”
“What do you mean by handled?” I ask, keeping my voice monotone.
“Well, we can’t have our little girls going around school assaulting people, now, can we?” She laughs it off, nudging the other moms to join her. Two of them do, but Marianne just looks uncomfortable.
“Hmm.” I nod. “Well, I’d argue that when a little boy tries to force himself on a little girl, then she has every right to defend herself however she sees fit.” I shrug.
“Oh.” Jackie scrunches her brows together in displeasure. “Well, sure. I guess so.” She fakes a smile. “You know, Lana was working in the office that day, just helping out.” She nods toward one of the women standing next to her. “But she said it was actually a woman who came in to pick Willow up.”
“Yes.” I nod, not offering anymore.
“She was very pretty.” The woman, Lana, speaks up. “Seemed young, though. Is she your babysitter?” she asks.
“No, she’s not,” I say, refusing to comment anymore.
“Well, then?—”
“You know, it’s been great talking to you ladies.” I cut Jackie off. “But I should really go find Ellie, she’s waiting for me.”
Marianne looks slightly amused, while the other three womens’ faces drop, a mix of shock and offense covering them. But Jackie doesn’t keep the expression for long and plasters on a fake smile hardly a second later.
“Sure.” She nods. “We’ll go check on the girls. Ladies.” She nods for them to follow her; Marianne lingers a second longer as they go.
“I was in the office that day too,” she says to me once they’re out of earshot. “I liked the woman who came in to pick up Willow. She seems like a good one.” She smiles at me.
“Yeah, she is,” I say with a small smile on my face.
“You go find Ellie. I’ll look out for Willow,” she says, and I nod at her thankfully before she turns away to follow the other women.
I make my way over to the arcade, looking through the different games for Ellie, stopping in my tracks when I see her. She’s leaning against a wall in the back corner, and a boy who looks around her age is leaning over her. He has one hand on the wall and the other by his side. She could get away from him if needed, but he’s still too close for my liking.
She has a wide smile on her face, so I know that she wants to be there, but the question is do I want her to be there? I watch her reach down, interlacing her fingers with his and pulling him closer.
I’ve had many moments as a dad where I don’t know what to do, but this one is a first. Even though Ellie is basically fifteen, Willow is always the one I’ve worried about the most when it comes to boys. I didn’t even know Ellie was really interested in them, which I guess was stupid on my part to assume.
But now a million thoughts are racing through my head. Is this guy a friend? Is this a first? Has she been sneaking around with boys for long?
Fucking teenage boys. I don’t want them anywhere near her.
I was a teenage boy, I know what they’re thinking.
I also know that everything I did and experienced as a teenage boy was normal. It was a part of growing up, and Ellie is growing up, no matter how much I’d like to think otherwise. I don’t want to be the overprotective dad who shelters her and stops her from having a boyfriend.
But I also don’t want to watch it happening.
On the other hand, how can I turn away and leave her here alone with him?
I walk over to the other side of the arcade, leaning against a wall so that I’m not directly facing them, but I can keep sneaking glances over to watch them. Then, I pull my phone out, clicking on Sawyer’s contact and bringing it to my ear. It rings a few times before she answers.
“Hey, aren’t you with the girls?” she asks.
“Um, yeah,” I say. “Willow’s with the other moms and kids and Ellie’s…” My words trail off.
“Ellie’s what?” she asks, curiosity in her tone.
“Ellie’s standing on the other side of the arcade with a boy.” I sigh.
“Fuck, please tell me you’re not watching them,” she says.
“Not completely,” I say. “I mean, I can see them but I’m on the opposite side of the arcade.”
“Get out of the arcade…right now,” she yells into the phone. “She’s a teenager, give her some privacy.”
“Yeah, well, so is he. He’s a teenage boy. I can’t leave her alone with him, right?” I ask.
“Wrong,” she says. “Your ten-year-old, who is a lot nicer than Ellie, by the way, kneed a boy in his junk for trying to kiss her. Your girls know how to defend themselves, King. She’ll be okay.” She laughs into the phone.
“I know.” I nod to myself. “You’re right,” I say, sneaking one more glance over at them, nearly crushing my phone in my hand as I do.
“Fuck. That little shit is kissing her,” I say. “I gotta go.”
“Damien, don’t—” Sawyer yells into the phone, but I’m already hanging up and storming over to where my daughter is now making out with a boy in the corner.
I clear my throat as I walk up to them, and the boy practically jumps a foot away from Ellie. Meanwhile, Ellie just looks up at me with pure annoyance in her eyes.
“You gonna introduce me to your friend, Ellie?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I’d rather not.” She sighs, and I raise a brow at her, letting her know I’m serious.
“Fine,” she says. “Dad, this is Max.” She turns to the boy. “Max, my dad, Damien King, who looks a lot scarier than he actually is.”
“Hi, sir,” Max says, his voice practically shaking. “It’s nice to meet you.” He extends his hand.
“Mm-hmm.” I reach out my hand, shaking his a little too hard.
“I should probably go,” he says. “My mom said I could only take the car for an hour.” He turns to Ellie. “I’ll talk to you later, Ellie.” He runs away without another word.
“Great, you scared him away.” Ellie huffs, walking past me toward the opposite end of the arcade. I watch her walk over to a car racing game with two seats, sliding into one of them.
I stay where I am, giving her some space. Ellie’s like me when she gets annoyed, she wants to be left alone. It takes her a little bit to calm down, and after that, she’s pretty rational.
She sits in the game, not bothering to play. A couple kids come up to her at one point, probably asking to play, but given how they walk away looking annoyed a few seconds later, I’m pretty sure she tells them no.
After about ten minutes pass, I walk over, sliding into the chair next to her and putting some coins into the machine. The game starts up, and I grab on to the plastic steering wheel in front of me. She hesitates for a second before grabbing on to her own steering wheel.
We stay like that, playing in silence for a few minutes, until she wins the race.
I turn to look at her. “I’m sorry for scaring him away,” I finally say.
“It’s fine.” She rolls her eyes. “He turned into a total baby the second you walked up anyway. I got the ick.” She sighs.
“The ick?” I raise a brow.
“It’s a turn-off, Dad.” She laughs.
“Right.” I nod uncomfortably. “I just don’t like the idea of you growing up. And I definitely don’t like watching you kissing anyone.”
“So don’t watch,” she jokes.
“Ellie,” I warn.
“I get it,” she says. “But I’m going to be fifteen next week. I’m not a little girl anymore.” She looks up at me.
“You’re always going to be my little girl.” I nudge her.
“Gross.” She laughs, scrunching her brows together.
“Speaking of your birthday, are you excited about next Saturday?” I ask her.
We planned Ellie’s party for her birthday about a month ago, but now it’s right around the corner. She invited a ton of her friends over to party out in our backyard during the day. All she asked for was pizza, snacks, sodas, and music.
Oh, and for me to leave them alone, which I promised that I would.
She told me that it would be fine if I invited my parents and the people from Blackheart over, as long as we stayed inside. But we could do cake with all of us. She practically planned the entire thing, and all I had to do was agree to it. She makes my life easy sometimes.
“Yeah, I guess so. As long as you keep your promise to stay inside.” She smiles at me knowingly.
“I’ll do minimal checking in on you,” I promise her, and she nods, accepting it.
“Now, I’m not letting you win a second time,” I tell her, putting some more coins into the game.
“Oh, please.” She scoffs. “I’ll beat you fair and square,” she challenges, and I laugh.
I spend the next couple hours playing different games and walking around the action park with her and Willow once she gets annoyed with her friends and comes to hang out with us. Sawyer texted me about a million times after I hung up on her, and I texted her back, assuring her that everything was good and that I’d see her for dinner later.
By the time we get home, both the girls are exhausted, going off to do their own things until Kade and Lo show up around six thirty. I don’t mind leaving Ellie home alone to watch Willow normally, but when I know that I’ll be out late, it’s nice to have someone here with them.
I told my girls that I have to go out to dinner with a client. Meanwhile, I told Kade that Justin, one of my regulars, wanted to take me out to meet his wife since she loved the new piece I did on him.
I don’t know how much he believed me, but he didn’t question it.
“Thanks for coming over,” I tell Kade and Lo as they set their things down. “I shouldn’t be too late.”
“Take your time.” Lo smiles. “I love hanging out with the girls anyway.” She walks further into the room, saying hi to Ellie and Willow, who are both sitting on the couch.
“Are you heading out right now?” Kade asks, and I look down at the phone, seeing the time.
“Yeah, I probably should.” I nod. “I’ll let you know when I’m coming back. Thanks again.”
“No problem,” he says.
I put my hand on the handle to open the front door but pause when he says his next words.
“And tell Sawyer I say hi.”
I turn around to see a smirk on his face.
“What?” I ask.
“Oh, come on. You really think none of us know?” he asks.
“Know what?” Ellie asks, walking over to stand with us.
“Nothing,” I say at the same time Kade says, “About him and Sawyer.”
“Oh, yeah.” Ellie nods. “You two are really bad at keeping secrets. It’s been obvious for weeks.”
“You knew?” I ask Ellie.
“Everyone does.” She shrugs. “Willow,” Ellie calls out. “Where’s Dad going tonight?”
“On a date with Sawyer, duh,” Willow yells from the couch. “Because he lovessss her.” She laughs loudly, falling back onto the cushions.
“Why did no one say anything?” I ask anyone willing to answer.
“Because we were trying to be respectful and wait for the two of you to be ready to tell us,” Logan says. “But of course, my husband just had to ruin that.” She raises a brow at him.
“He was taking too long.” Kade shrugs.
“Oh, you want to talk about keeping things from people for too long?” Lo raises a brow at him.
“Nope, you’re right,” Kade says instantly. “I’m sorry,” he says, not sure if it’s to me or Lo.
“Can I talk to both the girls for a minute?” I ask.
“We’ll be in the kitchen.” Lo smiles, standing from the couch and nodding for Kade to follow her.
Once they’re out of the room, I walk over to the couch, sitting down opposite Willow. Ellie sits down next to her.
“Are you two okay with this?” I ask them. “Me dating Sawyer.”
“Yeah, Dad. Obviously,” Willow says. “We love Sawyer.”
“You deserve to be happy,” Ellie adds.
“But you both know that if there’s ever a point where it’s not okay, you tell me. You’re allowed to change your minds,” I tell them. “You two are the most important to me always.”
“We know.” Ellie rolls her eyes.
“Plus, Sawyer loves us most too,” Willow says smugly.
“You’re probably right.” I smile at them. “I love you, kiddos.” I pull them both into me.
Ellie stays still, letting me hug her but not putting much effort into hugging me back, and Willow hugs me back for about five seconds before pushing me off of her.
“Love you too,” Ellie mumbles.
“Love you, but can I go play with Aunt Lo now?” Willow asks.
“Yeah, go.” I laugh as she jumps off the couch.
I get up, saying a last goodbye to the girls and to Kade and Lo, before heading to my car.
As I get behind the wheel, I pause, taking a deep breath. I told Sawyer that if she was never ready, then we’d deal with it when the time came. I just didn’t realize the time would come so soon.
Now, I just have to hope that she wants this as much as I do.
Me, the girls, all of it.