Jesus, you should have seen how badly I startled those men. One of them jumped up and pulled a gun on me!
That gun was pointed right at me. I could have peed in my pants. I was one trigger pull from being shot.
Daddy barely moved.
"Put the gun down, Slick." Daddy said.
"Who the hell is she?" Said Slick.
Daddy stood up. As if it was nothing at all he casually walked right up to Slick.
"This is my house, and I just told you to put that gun down." Daddy said.
Slick finally lowered his gun. Then Daddy punched him right across the jaw. Slick fell down hard. His gun fell out of his hand.
Daddy kicked the gun away from Slick, then Slick tried to scramble to his feet. But Daddy stepped on one of his wrists. He stepped hard. Slick actually let out a whimper.
"What the fuck are you doing bringing a gun into my house?" Daddy bellowed. "You ever point a gun at my daughter again, and I'll fucking kill you. Now get the fuck out of here."
As if to emphasize the point, Daddy grabbed the pommel of his knife. However, he didn't pull it out.
Slick wasn't so slick anymore. He stood up, slinked to the table to grab his stuff, and then he was gone.
Yeah, don't fucking mess with my daddy, I thought. But to tell the truth, I was shaking.
I wasn't scared of Slick. At least not anymore. But, yeah, I was scared of Daddy.
I watched him as he picked up Slick's gun, checked it, then placed it in his belt.
Then he came to me. He put his arm around me. He smiled at me with a lopsided grin.
"I thought you were staying at your friend's tonight, Tiger." He said.
I sighed. Here it came. Daddy was going to try and get rid of me. I was just some nuisance for him to manage.
Did even really care that I'd almost been shot? I really wanted to get his attention. Yet he just seemed to want to get rid of me.
I looked at Daddy's eyes. I could see a tinge of annoyance in them.
Good! I thought. That's better than nothing.
"Look, hun, it's late." Daddy said. "You go upstairs and get your beauty sleep. We'll try to keep things quiet for you."
I was tired of just doing what Daddy told me. That wasn't getting me anywhere. I thought maybe a little defiance might get me further.
I walked right to the table. I looked at those men. There wasn't one of them like my daddy. They were all overweight middle-aged men.
Daddy must ha
ve intended on taking them to the bank. I doubt any of them realized who they'd been dealing with.
I looked a Slick's seat. It was directly opposite Daddy's.
"Why don't you guys deal me in?" I said.
Daddy moved up to my side. Oh, I could just feel him bristling. He wanted to get back to scamming these guys out of their retirement funds.
"Tiger, I'm afraid this game just ain't for you." He said. "This is an adult game. And it's not like you have any money, either. So why don't you just go to bed. Go on now."