42. Call Him Daddy
CALL HIM DADDY
CHELSEA
M om was going to pick up Noah from my apartment, so Sean had driven us to my place even though I insisted on taking the bus.
“You should leave before she arrives,” I said, folding the laundry while Noah played with Rory in the living room.
It had been a few weeks since I came to my apartment and soon I was going to move in with Sean because he forced me to.
I was excited to take the next step in our relationship, but I was scared to confront my mom about me and Sean.
What if she still has feelings for him or she blows up or?—
My attention moved to my hot older boyfriend when he mumbled something, his head planted on my lap. I was sitting cross-legged on the small queen-sized bed with a tall giant in work clothes, taking a nap.
“You’re so clingy for a Daddy,” I said, running my hand through his soft thick hair.
He opened his eyes, glaring at me. “I’m not,” he said, leaning up and pushing me down on the bed.
I chuckled, trying to escape, when his arms tightened around me. “Sean, stop— ah! ” I laughed, his fingers tickling my waist. He was a monster tickler. He never took mercy on me.
Not until I begged him with sexual favors in return.
“Okay, okay, stop, please.” I was panting, eyes glassy with tears, when he finally relented, his large frame hovering above me. I blinked up at him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “You’re so mean,” I whispered, pouting my lips.
Sean grinned, claiming my lips in a soft kiss. “You still lov?—”
The door to my room opened, and we both pulled away when I heard a gasp. My eyes widened seeing my mom standing in the doorway, covering her mouth and looking between me and Sean. My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.
“Mom!” I sat up too fast, smacking my head with Sean, both of us groaning. “ I’msosorry ,” I said in a rushed breath, rubbing his head and he did the same with me.
“Are you okay?” He asked, straightening up and helping me off the bed. “I think she’s pissed.”
You think?
This is so bad .
She had rushed out of my room as quick as she had entered.
Why couldn’t she knock? But then it would be harder to explain why Sean was in my room.
I had planned to talk to her soon, but seeing us like that—I didn’t know if she would ever listen to me or understand me.
I didn’t know what I would do if I saw my ex-high-school-boyfriend making out with my daughter in a tiny bed.
Sean helped me fix my clothes, and I was glad we weren’t having sex, or it could have been much, much worse. Patting my hair, I said, “I’ll go talk to her.”
He held my wrist before I could leave. “Do you want me to come with you?”
“She might blow up on you.” I shook my head. “I need to do this alone.”
He nodded, parting his lips to say something, but closed them, wishing me good luck instead.
I needed all the luck in the world to face my mom.
Rory told me she had taken the elevator to go downstairs, so I took the stairs, hopping on my feet to get into my sneakers. I was panting by the time I made it to the ground floor.
“Mom!” I yelled when I saw her blond hair. “Mom, stop!” I ran after her, but thankfully she was pacing in the parking lot, running her hand over her face.
“What the hell have you been doing, Chelsea?” I flinched at her harsh tone, her eyes wide when she faced me.
She didn’t look composed, even in her formal attire.
Her face was flushed, with lips pursed in a thin line.
“I didn’t send you off to this godforsaken place to hook-up with people! Especially, that man?—”
“I’m not hooking up with people, Mom,” I said, trying to remain calm. “Let me explain what happened.”
“I know what I saw!” She raised her arms in the air. “You were giggling and kissing Sean! As if you were teenagers.”
My cheeks and neck felt heated. I felt so small whenever she acted like this . I had the sudden urge to let her walk all over me, keep my head down and apologize.
“Is this what you do here in Los Angeles?” She gasped, shaking her head, her hair getting mussed. “Don’t tell me he’s the rich boyfriend you were talking about? He was right there! Oh my god, Chelsea, how could you? ”
“Mom, calm down,” I said, wincing at the look she gave me.
“Do not tell me to calm down, Chelsea,” she said, her voice high pitched with anger. “Karen was right. LA has changed my innocent daughter. My sweet sunflower kissing my high-school boyfriend…” She looked like she was talking to herself, pacing around.
“Mom, I get it he was your high-school boyfriend but?—”
“ But? ” she yelled, my jaw clenching at her tone. She sounded as if I had betrayed her. “But what, Chelsea? Can’t you see how weird it looks? You’re so young, and he’s taking advantage of you! He is the same age as me. Think about it.”
I massaged my throbbing temple and said, “He’s not taking advantage of me, Mom. You don’t know how much he has helped me. Helped us . And I like him.” I took a deep breath and met her eyes. “I love him, Mom.”
She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You can’t love a man that old, Chelsea. And he doesn’t love you. He just wants your youth and how na?ve you are. He is playing with you to get under your pant— wait , you haven’t had sex, right?”
“I’m twenty-four years old, mom.” I pursed my lips. “I am not na?ve.”
Her face changed and my skin prickled with the way she looked at me. As if she wished I wasn’t her daughter.
“I can’t believe you,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I have failed as a mother. What will Noah think seeing his elder sister, that he looks up to, make out with someone that old?”
I stayed my ground, my throat burning and eyes stinging with tears. “Noah likes him and so do I.”
“He’s my ex-boy?—”
I interrupted her. “You were fifteen when you dated him, mom. He’s forty-four now. He moved on and so did you. Stop getting stuck in the past.”
“Are you hearing yourself right now?” She demanded, her hands shaking my shoulder. “He is old enough to be your father!”
That’s why I love calling him Daddy!
I wish I was strong enough to say that out loud.
“Snap out of it, Chelsea,” she said, her voice softening. “He is a man and he will ruin you. Just like David did?—”
“Don’t you ever compare that man to Sean,” I said, flaring my nose. I stepped out of her hold. “It’s you who need to snap out of it, Mom. You need to move on from your deadbeat ex-husband. How long will you wait for him to come back?”
“This isn’t about me,” she said, clenching her jaw. She grabbed my hand and started dragging me back to the elevator. “I’m taking you back home. Come on. I’ll pack your things and you can stay with us. Go talk to Jesse and you will understand how?—”
I yanked my arm out of her hold and said, “I’m not coming back with you.
I live with Sean. His home is my home now.
He has treated me better in the past two months than Jesse ever did in my lifetime of knowing him.
Jesse almost hit me, and you’re telling me to go talk to that jerk?
” It was wrong, but it made me happy to see the horrified expression on her face.
“And I… I don’t want to see you until you calm down and we can have a normal conversation?—”
“Chelsea, if you are my daughter, you will do as I say,” she said, her voice on edge.
I took a sharp intake of breath and stared at her. How could she say that to me? My bottom lip quivered. “That’s manipulative?—”
Her face changed when she looked over my shoulder. Her eyes widened, and she reached towards me. “Chelsea, watch out!”
I was a second too late to turn around when something cold pressed against my nose.
I struggled when muscular hands wrapped around me.
I heard my mom’s scream, but I felt like I was suffocating.
I flailed my limbs, trying to kick and punch, but I felt like I was falling and falling, going deep under the water.
My limbs went limp and soon my world turned dark and hollow.