“Thanks, Daddy,” I say and pop up on my toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Good talk today, old man.”
“Jerk,” he mutters before he laughs.
“Come on, Timber,” I say as I slink away from my dad, never being so happy to be rescued. “We have a shop to open.”
CHAPTER9
WYLDER
“Breathe, Wylder,”Tate says as we stand outside the dressing room at a store that only sells girl shit. Not just girl shit, but expensive girl shit.
“I’m trying,” I tell her, rubbing my hands together, unable to stand still.
I hadn’t realized how much the girls have grown until today. I mean, I knew Maddox was older, but I hadn’t really understood the fact that she was turning into a young woman. And I hate everything about it.
Boys are next on the horizon, and the very thought makes my blood boil. I know what I was like when I was a teenager, and that terrifies me for her.
“Okay. Don’t freak out,” Maddox says from inside, and I turn to Tate, who looks at me with a nervous smile.
“It’ll be okay,” Tate whispers, touching my arm in reassurance.
“Will it, though?”
Tate nods. “They’re just clothes.”
Maddox walks out slowly, her face tight as she stops in front of me. “Well?”
I stare at her, soaking in the outfit and the way it fits her. There’s too little cloth covering her body. Her midriff is showing, something I know will get her more attention than I’m comfortable with.
“No,” I grumble, wanting to cover her with the longest, baggiest sweater.
Maddox’s eyes narrow, and her face hardens. “Why?”
“I don’t need to explain. It’s a no.”
Tate squeezes my arm. “You look beautiful, Maddy.”
“Thanks, Tate,” Maddy says without taking her glare off me. “At least someone likes it.”
“Don’t you think she looks beautiful, Wylder?” Tate asks me, trying to be the peacemaker.
I grunt. “I like it, but not on my little girl.”
“Hazel’s your little girl, Dad. Not me.”
I grind my teeth, hating to hear the truth. I wanted to keep Maddox small, but no matter what I do, I can’t stop her from growing up. Someday she’ll head off to college, and I won’t be able to protect her anymore.
“You can’t wear that to school. It’s against dress code,” I say, trying to find a good reason for her not to get the outfit besides me being an asshole.
Maddy crosses her arms over her chest, and I immediately know I’m going to get pushback. “I wasn’t going to wear it to school.”
“Where exactly were you planning on wearing it, then?”
“When I hang out with my friends. And everything else I got today is okay for school. I want one cool outfit I can wear.”
Tate’s fingers tighten on my arm again, and I know she wants me to say okay, when everything inside me is screaming to say no. I take a deep breath, wanting nothing more than to see Maddy happy. That is the point of today. Something that will put a smile on their faces because they’ve been hurt more than I have by Katie’s decision to take off.
“Okay,” I whisper.
