“Fate,” she says, and it sounds so simple. “It’s fate. I know it is.”
“Fate,” I repeat.
I want to believe her. I find no fate in numbers, or balancing books, or managing a business. I find nothing but cold hard logic behind every aspect of my life. Apart from in her. In her beautiful innocence. In her wide eyes, and her sweet smile.
I find fate here, in my arms.
“Daddy,” she whispers so softly.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“When will we… you know…”
I seek out her lips and kiss her gently. Tasting her breath. Breathing in apples and innocence.
“Soon,” I say. “Now go to sleep, like a good girl.”
She wriggles against me with a contented sigh.
“Yes, Daddy.”LaineI wake to an empty bed, but it smells of him, all woody and dark and musky. I pull the covers to my nose and breathe him in, and there’s a thrill all the way to my toes.
Daddy. Daddy Nick. And he loves me.
I can still feel his hands on me, and his mouth, the way it felt so good. The way he made it feel. He makes everything feel good.
“Wake up, sleepyhead! Breakfast’s up!”
His voice is so loud from downstairs. It makes me smile, and I can’t move fast enough, jumping out of bed and throwing on my dressing gown. I laugh to myself as I realise I’ve still got silly socks on. Toasty feet.
He’s dressed for work as I join him at the table, and he’s smiling his serious smile again, looking so dapper and fine with his hair so slick.
“Bacon and eggs. Yummy.” I take my knife and fork, and his eyes burn my cheeks.
“You look cute,” he says. “Like a dishevelled little elf.”
I brush my hair down with my fingers. “You look like a Rolex advert.”
He laughs. “I do, do I?”
I nod. “I like it.” I can’t stop looking at him, and my clit feels tingly, wanting more, wanting his cock inside me for the first time, wanting to stay in bed and do it all over again, all day long.
He must be able to tell, because his smile turns dark, his eyes stern.
“Eat your breakfast all up, little Laine,” he says, “never any waste in this household.”
“Ok.” I smile as I cut up my bacon, and he’s still staring as I take a swig of juice.
“Ok, what?”
My heart flutters. And I don’t know. I don’t know if I’ve got it right but I say it anyway.
“Ok, Daddy.”
I got it right. His smile tells me so.
“That’s my good girl,” he says.
It feels the best thing in the world to be his good girl.
I eat my breakfast all up, just like Daddy wants me to.He kisses me on the head outside the college gates, and part of me is disappointed, wanting to feel his tongue in my mouth and his hands in my hair.
“I’ll call you at lunchtime,” he tells me. “And I’ll pick you up at the usual time. Don’t be late.”
I nod. “I won’t. Thanks, Daddy. See you later.”
It still feels so weird, still gives me this tingle in my belly every time I say it.
I’m grinning as Kelly Anne catches me up in the corridor, lost in my own little world as she shunts into my back.
“Hey!” she says. “Earth to Laine! I’ve been yelling after you right through the fucking car park.”
I shrug. “Didn’t hear you, sorry.”
She groans. “Your head’s too busy floating away after the creepy old guy. Urgh, I saw him kiss you.” She pulls a face at the lunchbox in my arms. “What you got today? Human spleen on wholemeal?”
“Don’t be stupid.”
She laughs, like it’s funny. “He’s a bit Hannibal, don’t you think? My sweet Clarice… are the lambs still screaming…” She groans again, an over the top sound that grates at me. “Just because he drives a flash car and buys you shit doesn’t mean he’s not a Class-A weirdo.”
It’s her expression, one I haven’t seen on her before. I guess it’s a little in the shift of her feet, too. The way she shuffles, the scowl beneath her stupid jokes.
She’s jealous.
And I can’t believe it, I can’t believe Kelly Anne is actually jealous of me.
“He’s nice,” I tell her. “He’s really nice.”
“Nice and creepy…”
“Nice and nice. Kind and strong and considerate and thoughtful and loving.”
“Loving?” She raises her eyebrows. “Oh my God, did he… touch you? Major gross-out.”
I’m a bad person, I must be, because I want to tell her everything, want to tell her all about how amazing he made me feel, and how good he was and how much he loves me. I want to tell her that it’s fate, and I love him and he loves me, and he’s going to take care of me, hold me tight, and make my lunch every day, and take my virginity and it’s going to be everything I ever wanted, not some crappy fumble with Kyle Vickers behind the school bins like hers was.