Chapter 4 – Skylar #2
And last night when he came over to the table, he teased me for a few minutes, chatted with the guys, then excused himself and left. That was that. It wasn’t a thing. I’m the one making it so.
“Micha…”
“Please. For me,” he begs. “Aston is a single dad. It’s a lot. Zoey is five and living in a new city where she has no friends. They need you. You’re a pediatric nurse. This is what you do. You help kids in need.”
“You’re hitting below the belt.”
“Actually, I’m hitting your ooey, gooey, soft, sweet-as-spun-sugar heart. Do this for me. Do this for Zoey.”
I clench my jaw and close my eyes. “I hate you.”
“You’re the best. I love you. Put Aston back on the phone.”
With a blustery sigh, I head back over to him.
Zoey is doing small twirls, so the bottom of her dress flares out, using Aston’s hand above her head to guide her along.
I used to do those with Micha when I was little.
Micha—and Aston—are ten years older than me.
I liked having an older brother. I still do.
Even when he’s acting a bit too overprotective.
“Micha wants to talk to you. Zoey and I can hang out if you want privacy.” I hand him back his phone, and without a response, he storms into the kitchen.
“I don’t think Daddy is happy you live here,” Zoey tells me in that blunt way kids are.
“Tough noogies on him.”
She scrunches her nose, not fully understanding.
“Would it be weird for you if I lived here too? At least for a little while.”
She shrugs. “Will you sleep in my room or play with my toys?”
I try to hold in my smile. “Nope. Not unless you have really awesome toys and tell me I can play with them first.”
She juts her hip out. “Then I’m cool with it.”
“You’re kind of a sassy pants, aren’t you?”
“Daddy says I have the mouth of a troublemaker.”
Now there’s no holding back my smile. “I do too. I think we’ll be fast friends.”
“How come you don’t like Daddy?”
“Grown-up reasons.” And because I need to change the subject from that. “You’ve stayed here before, huh?”
She nods vigorously. “Uncle Micha has a princess room for me. It’s my favorite.” Then she frowns, her body sinking in on itself. “Other than my old room at my mom’s and stepdad’s.”
I didn’t know she had a stepdad. I wonder if he’s still in the picture.
“I get that. Moving is hard. I moved recently too. It’s not fun.”
She shakes her blonde head, her curls bouncing. Other than the dark eyes, she looks so much like Aston. I never met his ex-wife, so I have no clue what she looked like.
“What was your favorite thing about your old room?”
“My rainbow fairy lights and my pictures.”
“We can make some new pictures if you want. I love to draw, and I’m pretty good at it.”
A smile lights up her face, but before she can say anything, her father comes back over and interrupts us. “Can I talk to you?” Aston asks, a hard edge to his voice.
“Sure.” I smile sweetly at him, which makes his jaw twitch a little. Fun.
“Zo-Zo, you can go up to your room. I’ll come get you in a few minutes.”
“Okay. Bye, Sky.” She jumps up to give me a high five.
“Bye, Zoey. It was fun meeting you.”
She scampers up the stairs, and I turn to Aston, only to have him grab me by my arm and drag me back into the kitchen. “You’re not wearing pants.”
“Your powers of observation are masterful.”
He gives me an unimpressed look.
I throw my hands up in the air. “Get over it. You weren’t supposed to be here. I was alone. It’s not like my ass is showing. Either look or don’t.”
He grunts. “Micha said he can’t kick you out.” He paces in front of me. “But we can’t live here together. You know that, right?”
I huff a breath. “I already live here, Aston. I have been for six weeks.” And this house has become my sanctuary. My happy place. It’s a home I feel good and safe being in.
He stops and stands over me, staring down at me as an aggravated growl hits his lips. Before I can comprehend what he’s doing, he grasps my hips and lifts me until I’m seated on the counter.
“What the hell?” I swat his hands away.
“You’re too damn short to have this conversation with. This is better.”
I roll my eyes, fold my arms, and cross my knees, which covers my underwear but manages to hike up my shirt even more. Something I’m positive he notices. “I don’t like being manhandled without my permission.”
That pulls him up short, and he tilts his head. “What does that mean? You like being manhandled when you do give permission?”
I honestly said it as a joke, but it sounds kind of hot in the right situation with the right guy. “None of your business.”
He sighs. “Skylar, these past six months have been hell. Zoey’s mother died, and her stepfather decided he didn’t want any parenting responsibility for Zoey and essentially booted her out of their house the week Astrid died.
I punched him out at the funeral because he had it coming, and I wasn’t in the best mental state, and my kid was heartbroken on top of being heartbroken.
I broke his jaw, and because he’s a lawyer and a dick, he had me arrested for assault and then dragged me through court over it.
I had to deal with that and with Child and Family Services coming into my home to make sure Zoey was safe.
Can you imagine that? All of that turmoil and upheaval for a five-year-old?
Everything is finally settled, and now we’re here, trying to restart our lives, but so are you, and now my best friend is telling me you have to stay. ”
I get it. He’s hurting, and they’ve been through unspeakable pain over the last six months.
I’m not insensitive to that, especially for Zoey.
But that doesn’t stop me from feeling rubbed raw and left outside naked.
I don’t even know if that makes sense, but that’s how it’s been for me with nearly every guy in my life.
Not my friends and not my father or even Micha. They’re men.
I’m talking about guys. Teased and belittled and made to feel small and insignificant.
My entire life, that’s how it’s been for me.
I was in a bad relationship for longer than I should have been with a guy who wasn’t good to me.
With a guy who repeated the same bad behavior others did throughout my life, only worse, while gaslighting me and telling me he loved me.
Then he started getting aggressive. It took a while, but I left him.
I’m here, and for the first time in my life, I feel strong, capable, and in control.
Now the guy who gave me the best kiss of my life at a party two years ago, the same guy who called me a drunken mistake, is trying to kick me out onto the street.
“Where do you propose I go?” I ask in a small but unmistakably bitter voice. I don’t want to cry, but this morning took a miserable turn for me.
“Your parents?”
I laugh. “Why don’t you go back to your parents?”
“I can’t live with my parents, Skylar. I’m a thirty-five-year-old dad.
Zoey needs consistency and familiarity right now, and this house is it.
Her bedroom upstairs is it. Micha was going to sell me the house because he doesn’t need it or want something so big when he’s here a couple of months out of the year. ”
I frown. Micha never offered to sell me the house. I would have bought it from him.
“I can’t live with my parents either,” I tell him flatly.
But I also don’t want to live with him. Zoey is cool, and I like her, but her father is a dick. A gorgeous dick but still a dick nonetheless. Maybe it’s better this way. Maybe it’s time I go out and find my own place and make it all mine and start living my best girl life.
“I need two months to find something else. It’s not up for negotiation. If you don’t like it, feel free to leave.”
I hop off the counter and head toward the family room to get my candy and shut off my movie. I’m going to shower and get the hell out of here for a while. Go clear my head and do some deep thinking.
I spin back around. “And Aston? Your daughter, I like. But not you. Stay the hell away from me. I only make mistakes once. Never twice.”