Chapter Nine
Rosie
“I called him Daddy.” I close my eyes and lay back on the bed I’ve been sleeping in since childhood. I haven’t even updated the sheet set. I’m still rocking hot pink unicorns.How sad is that?
“And it sounds like he liked it.” Ellie laughs and sips her Cherry Coke. “I told you he was a freak.”
“I don’t even know why I said it. It just came out of my mouth.”
“Who cares why you said it? He was into it. Let him be into it.”
“I don’t even know ifI’minto it.”
Ellie rolls her eyes and shakes her head like she’s utterly annoyed by all of my bullshit. “You’re into it. Trust me.”
“Why would I be into calling a grown man Daddy? It sounds… kinda of sick. Also… I don’t need a daddy. I’m actually trying to get away from my dad, not find another one.”
“No, you’re trying to get away from your father. The man who’s weighing you down with responsibility. Professor Wilder is yourdaddy.The guy who wants to take all the responsibility away. You need someone who’ll pull you out of your head.” She grins. “I like the idea of Professor Daddy for you.”
“Oh my God.” I shake my head back and forth as the doorbell rings downstairs. “Speaking of,” I bite back a grin, “hesaid he’d stop over and talk to my dad, who’s already drunk off his ass, so this should be fun.”
Ellie raises her brows in solidarity and offers a hug. “Good luck. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be home all night trying to convince my mom that I don’t need a post-graduation bodyguard.”
“We need a full talk about that for sure. Call you later?”
She nods as we hop down the steps toward the back door. Ellie and her family only live a few houses down. She’s been coming through the patio door since we were kids. Most of the time she didn’t even knock. “Love you, babe!”
“Love you too!”
A moment later, the doorbell rings, and my chest tightens. I was just bouncing on the man’s cock, but for some reason, seeing Professor Wilder in my home is another experience entirely.
Here, everything is more real. Here, he sees the layers of me.
Where I hang my coat, where I set my shoes, where I let the mail pile up, and where Dad leaves the crushed cans of beer by the couch. Somehow, letting a man impale you with his massive penis on the edge of his desk feels less invasive than this.
However, the second I open the door, my entire body feels lighter, and everything I was worried about melts away.
“Hey, princess.” He leans into my lips and offers me a kiss as though we’re together, as though I belong to him.
Why do I like it there? Why does it scare me to like it there?
“Hey, Daddy!” The name slips from my lips like his God-given name is Daddy. “Umm,” I swallow hard and glance down at his boots before drawing my gaze up again, “sorry. I—”
“Don’t apologize for that, remember? You’re my little girl.” He kisses my forehead again. “How’s your father today?”
“He’s in the living room watching TV. I told him you were coming. He’s not happy about it.”
I’ve barely finished my sentence when I smell the yeasty breath of my father before I hear him. “She told me you were coming.” He reaches his hand out like he’s going to greet Professor Wilder, except he reaches for the lamp by the door instead, yanking the plug out of the wall.
Everything is happening so quickly that my brain doesn’t catch up until he’s pulled the lamp back. I feel a sting and my lip is bleeding.
My lips are bleeding.
What the hell?
I’ve never known my father to be an aggressive man. Sure, he gets drinking and throws things around from time to time, and once he yelled at the neighbor nonsensically for an hour over a dirt pile, but he’s never hurt me.
Professor Wilder does not like this. His eyes glaze over and his jaw tightens before he steps forward, his big hand landing on my father’s shirt. “You see what you did to her? You see what you fucking did to your daughter?” He turns my father around to look at me, but Dad is so drunk he’s not connecting the dots. He only sees the giant man holding him back.
