Zayn didn’t question her decision. He poured her some Cheerios and added milk before carefully sliding the bowl over to her with a spoon. She gave him the biggest grin possible, immediately stuffing her face and making “mmm” sounds like it was the best thing she’d tasted.
Zayn laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling. He adored her and I didn’t blame him a bit. He’d become a parent figure to her, and she had him wrapped around her little finger already. It was hard to blame him, though. Shewascute.
“It’s Saturday, pumpkin. What’s the plan for today?” He moved around to our side of the island. After he gave me a softkiss on the mouth, he took the stool on the opposite side of Ginny.
She chewed her cereal with a look of concentration on her face, as though she was considering her options. She could ask Zayn to take her to the moon, and he would. He spoiled her, and I loved to see it because she’d never had a good life. She deserved the world and more.
“Me and Bernadette talked.” She sat up straighter on the stool when I chuckled. “And we want to go to the water park.” She kicked her feet, going for cute. Smart move. “My friend at school said it’s fun!”
I gave her a pointed stare. “You know Bernadette can’t go to the water park, Buggy. She’s a dog and dogs aren’t allowed.”
She pouted again, and my chest turned all warm and gooey. It would be nothing to kill someone who hurt her. Is that how Zayn felt about me? I looked at him, taking in the light expression plastered over his handsome face as he switched his gaze between Ginny and me, like he couldn’t quite believe his luck that we were here with him. It was strange because we hadn’t known Zayn for long, but I felt the same way. Being around him felt a lot like flying.
All the walls I put up to protect us had crumbled, but I didn’t know when exactly it had happened. I should’ve stayed away from him, but in a weird way, his deadly side attracted me to him more. He would murder the man who’d taken away my mother. I’d never thought about killing a person before, but it seemed almost...right when it involved drug dealers. Their products hurt people.
“Dogs have feelings, too,” she said, very dramatically. She flung her curly hair over her shoulder as though that would make the world change its mind on where pets were allowed.
Zayn and I laughed, and I patted her on the head. “They do, but they’re still not allowed in the water park. How about we bring home Bernadette a pup cup as a sorry, okay?”
She grinned widely and bounced on the stool. Zayn placed his hand behind her back in case she fell, and I smiled in thanks. He’d taken her protection very seriously and that was one of the hottest things I’d ever seen. “I love it!”
“Okay, Buggy. Do you think you can shower by yourself this morning?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Duh, Bubba. I’m nearly six. I’m a big girl now.”
I pressed my lips together to hold in a laugh as she finished the last of her Cheerios and slid off the stool. She skipped toward the stairs with her shadow, Bernadette, right behind her.
“And you.” Zayn pointed at me, and I blinked wide eyes at him.
“Me?” I asked, innocent.
“You owe me a phone number, boy. Hannibal. I told you I wanted to get you into the asylum as a guest to see what other games Uhlig plays, and I mean it.” He moved over to Ginny’s abandoned seat and stroked my chin.
“What about Goldie?” I whispered. Ginny wasn’t around, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak any louder. I couldn’t risk it.
He sighed. “It takes time to prepare, boy. Trust me. I’m working on it. I’m getting information.”
I nodded, believing him. The last thing I wanted was for him to be caught. “How do you use your own number and name? Don’t the cops find it on the victim’s phone? You texted me the night you met me.”
He beamed, and I must’ve asked the right question because he lit up the entire room. Pride flashed in his green eyes, and my gut flipped in a weird sensation that had me shifting uncomfortably in my seat. Since when did I give a shit aboutwhat someone thought about me? Apparently, I did when it came to Zayn.
“I have an app created by an IT genius friend of mine. It scrambles my number and the connection to my phone.” He brushed his fingertips over my cheek, and I leaned into his touch, hungry for it. “How many people do you know who look at someone’s phone number when they first meet? Basically no one. As soon as they add your name to the contacts, the number becomes nonexistent in their eyes. The app is designed to make me a ghost, so when I text, it’s never from my real location or number. And when I’m finished with the person, the app removes all the evidence on their phone. I never existed to them. The biggest players in the criminal world use it.”
I gaped. Holy fuck. “That’s fucking cool.”
Zayn laughed. “Yeah, it is. Even if the FBI gets the best IT staff on the planet, they’d struggle to get any answers. The app throws the location all across the country’s network towers.”
“I think I’m hard.” I glanced down, just to check, and I wasn’t, but that didn’t make it any less hot.
His laughter deepened and he grabbed my stool, dragging it across the pristine tiles so I was as close as possible to him. “Watch it, boy. I don’t want you getting hard for another man. Daddy doesn’t share.”
He grasped my face between his hands and hauled me into a deep kiss that had my toes curling and my fingers tingling. His tongue pushed past my lips, and I groaned, hips rocking forward involuntarily as he brushed his tongue against mine. He broke the kiss far too early, and I wouldn’t admit it, but I was pouting.
“Boy, I want to have some alone time with you. I want to take care of you, show you how much I want to be your Daddy.”
I sucked in a deep breath and nodded before I had time to think about it. I loved Ginny with my whole heart, but I really wanted whatever Daddy was going to do to me.
He flashed his perfect white teeth in a grin. “Good.”
