unexpected and I don’t do well with that. I like to think I’m observant, and I missed the signs.”
“Because I didn’t want you to see them.” Daddy didn’t like it when I interrupted him, but he had
to know this was my fault, not his. Deep down, I knew he wouldn’t be agreeable to me sleeping at the
bar, but I didn’t want him to see me as incapable or needing rescuing. I needed to know that he
wanted me because of attraction, not a sense of needing to save me. “Maybe that was wrong of me,
but I’ve worked really, really hard to prove I could make it on my own. Admitting that I’ll do just
about anything to stay away from my apartment until I can get out of my lease is something almost no
one knows. The guys at work know because it’s kinda hard to hide from them, but no one else. Not
even my parents.Especiallynot my parents.”
“I get that, baby.” Theron picked up a chicken nugget and held it in front of my mouth. I took a bite
and he smiled. After he popped the rest of the nugget into my mouth, he started rubbing my back. “But
you have to remember that I’m not anyone. I’m Daddy, and it’s my job to take care of you. Not
because you can’t do it on your own, but because we both get something out of it.”
It was impossible to swallow my food with the huge lump in my throat. Tears pooled along my
bottom lashes. I felt horrible. Daddy had never done anything to make me feel like an imposition or a
squatter in his space. The exact opposite was true. Every time I turned around, he was rearranging his
life to make room for me. He trusted me enough to have the code to get into his house when he wasn’t
here, and I repaid him by hiding.
“You might have to remind me a little bit sometimes. I’ve never been good about accepting help
from others,” I admitted. Daddy fed me another bite of nugget and I pulled the little bowl of fruit in
front of me. “It’s like I got so much help from my family when I was a teen, and then I saw how many
other guys like me didn’t have the same support so I thought I needed to be extra independent to make
up for it.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Theron slid off his stool, turned mine so I faced him, and stepped between my
legs. “I understand why you did it, but I promise no one is keeping tally of what different people are
doing. Let me help you from now on?”
“I will,” I promised. I let out a huge yawn. It felt like now that we were clearing the air, my brain
was able to process how tired I was. “I think I’m finished. Can we go to bed now?”
“You need to finish your fruit, and then I’ll get you cleaned up and you can use the potty before I
put you in your jammies,” he told me. No matter how many times I spent the night here, I was pretty
