“Mommy!” Stassi protested.
Charlie’s eyes prickled. “You know what? Fuck this fake-ass family,” Charlie said, voice trembling as she stormed out.
Demi lingered.
“Follow your whore...”
Before Major could finish his sentence, Demi had his hands wrapped around Major’s neck, lifting him clear off the ground as he choked him. What kind of father spoke that over his daughter? Demi didn’t even have a daughter, but if he did, he knew he would never. He could never. If Major spoke this way about Charlie in front of other people, Demi couldn’t imagine the damage he had done over the years in private. The thought made him more aggressive.
“I’ll kill you about her,” he said through gritted teeth.
He couldn’t even hear Stassi and Yvonne shouting around him. All he saw was Major as his eyes bulged and his hands clawed, trying to get Demi’s grip to loosen.
Charlie heard the commotion and came running back into the kitchen. She rushed to him.
“Demi, babe, no,” she said, placing her hand on his forearm. Demi released Major with a shove, sending him to the ground as Charlie positioned herself between Demi and her father. She pressed her forehead to Demi’s. She could feel his pulse, racing, through the vein in his forehead that was protruding. “Stay here with me, Demi. It’s okay. Let’s just go, okay? I’m fine. I’m used to this. Let’s go. Fuck this shit. I don’t need them. All I need is you.”
“You’re defending him?! This man just assaulted your father, and you take up for him? Get out! Get out and don’t come back when he’s done abusing you and using you!” Yvonne shouted.
Charlie looked to Stassi, down at her father, and then to Yvonne.
“Let’s go, Bird,” Demi ordered. She followed, walking out without hesitation.
The car ride was silent. Charlie couldn’t look at him. She lent her eyes to the window, watching the city pass her by as she fought tears. She had known it would go bad. Her relationship with her father was the reason why she had run away from home right after high school. It had been the worst decision of her life, but she had needed a place to escape to. Her escape just so happened to be hell. Coming home with her tail tucked hadn’t been easy. Her father and Yvonne had never taken it easy on her. There was always judgement. They took it so easy on Stassi but handled Charlie in the harshest of ways.
Demi didn’t know what to say.
“Maybe I overreacted, Bird. I’m sorry for fucking up your day,” he said.
Charlie didn’t respond, but he heard a small sob and Demi reached for her hand, lacing his fingers between hers, ignoring his pain to absorb hers. He even lifted her hand and brought her fingers to his lips, biting one softly before kissing her knuckles. Charlie didn’t even care that he was driving, she climbed across the console and straddled him, burying her face in his neck. He felt her wet tears on his skin.
“You trying to kill us both?” he asked.
She laughed through her tears as Demi drove in the most uncomfortable position.
“I got you, Bird,” he whispered. Kissing her shoulder and lifting his neck so he could see better while steering with one hand.
They rode just like that for ten miles until they arrived at the club.
He parked in the back of the lot and opened his door to give them more room.
“You want to talk about it?” Demi asked.
Charlie shook her head as she pulled back, still in his lap, but now eye to eye. “Will you come back later? To watch the set?”
“Yeah, I’ma fall through. Let me go handle this business first, a’ight?” he asked.
Nodding, she closed the space between their lips and rolled her ass into his dick.
“You gon’ make me want to fuck, Bird. You keep going and you ain’t singing shit tonight,” he said, hands on her ass, squeezing, pressing her into his body.
“Stassi thinks I’m being stupid for you. That I don’t know enough about you,” she said, pulling back. “She just doesn’t understand.”
She right,he thought. How he wished this thing with Charlie could be built on truth. He would be able to enjoy it so much more if he could do so with a clear conscience, but he couldn’t. If he told her about Lauren and DJ, Charlie would leave him alone and he just wanted her to bother him. To call him. To crave him. To touch him. To dirty up his life like only she could.
“It ain’t her business to understand. You understand? Cuz I understand this shit clearly, Bird.”
Charlie nodded. “Me too.”
