Daddy Dearest Page 6

  “Shut up, you like it,” I teased him, and he just rolled his eyes in response and drove out of the parking lot. “Hey, can we make a quick stop?”

  “Sure, princess,” he replied easily. “Where do you want to go?”

  “I want to get an ice cream sundae,” I told him. “Pleaaaaase. Like we used to a few years ago. Remember? It was just you and me. And it was always so much fun. I’d just love it if we could do it again.”

  “Just us?” he raised his eyebrows at me. “What about your sister?”

  “She’s in debate class,” I shrugged. “You know she has a trillion after-school activities. Plus, it’ll be nice to spend some quality time with you. I feel like we never hang out anymore.”

  He pondered this for a second before saying, “Well, maybe we should pick up your mom on the way there, unless she’s on another one of those crazy fad diets. You want her to come with us?”

  I gave him my best Amanda pout, and he shook his head and chuckled.

  “Fine, princess,” he finally surrendered. “Ice cream sundaes, just the two of us. You got it.”

  He drove towards the ice cream shop we used to go to. My eyes lit up when I saw it was still exactly the same, even though I hadn’t been back there for years. The last time we went, we took Mom and Kendall with us, and Mom and Levi ended up getting into a huge fight over something moronic like maraschino cherries. Levi took us the fuck out of there after Mom took off. It was a good thing we weren’t banned for life after the scene they’d made.

  But thankfully, nobody seemed to recognize us as we made our way into the cafe. Levi picked a private booth at the back of the restaurant, and it gave me tingles as we sat down. It felt like we were on a date. I peered at him over the top of my menu, and he grinned at me and grabbed it out of my hands.

  “Don’t you remember how we used to do this?” he asked me. “You don’t get to pick yours out.”

  “I know,” I said with a smile. “Daddy’s orders.”

  The waitress approached us, and she was totally making googly eyes at Levi which annoyed the hell out of me. I sulked as he ordered for us.

  It started when we’d been here a few times and he noticed me ordering the same thing every single time – cookie dough with chocolate fudge syrup.

  Levi told me I couldn’t go through life always ordering the same thing. He said I needed some adventure, to try something out of my limits and be a little bit adventurous. And ever since then, he’d been ordering for me. And it was a different flavor of ice cream every time.

  Once the waitress left, I watched Levi checking out her ass and sulked even more. It reminded me of all those times I saw him fucking somebody else. All those girls, pretty, young girls who looked so very much like me. I was so jealous of every single one of them. I wanted him to pick me instead.

  “What?” he asked me defiantly, and I stuck my bottom lip out. “Oh come on, princess. Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

  “You’re here with me, not her,” I said defensively, motioning towards the waitress who kept sneaking looks at us. “Can’t you pay attention to me instead of that girl?”

  “You’re my stepdaughter,” he reminded me sternly.

  “So?” I purred. “I’m eighteen, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  I stuck my tits out and he stared at me, my eyes daring him to look down. I had to give it to the old man, he was stubborn as a bull. He kept his gaze on mine for several excruciatingly long seconds before glancing at my pert nipples, then back at the menu.

  “You’re going to get yourself in trouble, Amanda,” he told me softly.

  “I hope so,” I giggled. “I’m always looking for trouble.”

  He glanced at me, his eyes crinkling with laugh lines. God, he was fucking handsome.

  “I think you are trouble, period,” he laughed. “Now come on. Tell me everything. What’s going on with my princess? And talk to me about Kendall too.”

  “Why do you want to know about Kendall?” I asked innocently.

  “Well, you two are close,” he said thoughtfully, just as the waitress arrived with our orders.

  He didn’t even glance at her this time around, instead keeping his eyes firmly fixed on me, his laugh lines showing. He was trying so hard not to stare it made me giggle before I dug in.

  “What did you get for me?” I asked him, ignoring the topic from before. “It looks yummy, Daddy.”

  He flinched every-fucking-time I called him that.

  “Honeycomb,” he said. “I think you’ll like it. Dig in, tell me if it’s good.”

  I scooped a big spoon of ice cream into my mouth and rolled my eyes with pleasure when I tasted the caramel and sweet, delicious honey.

  “I love it, Daddy,” I said, licking my pouty lips at him.

  He looked at me over the cup of his own ice cream.

  “Come on, Mandy,” he said placatingly. “Don’t play games with me, princess. Talk to me.”

  “What would you like to know?” I asked him innocently. “I thought you and Kendall were close.”

  “Well, you know,” he said, shrugging awkwardly. “Not as close as we used to be. Both you girls are growing up now and I really don’t get to spend as much time as I’d like with either of you. I guess I just feel as if we’ve grown apart a little.”

  “I see,” I said thoughtfully.

  My tongue lapped at the spoon as I stared at him. Levi was having trouble keeping his eyes off my mouth and I fucking loved it. I would never get sick of men falling at my feet just because I knew exactly how to work them.

  “I guess it’s hard to see it that way for me,” I said slowly, accentuating every word and licking my lips in between. Levi was mesmerized, his spoon hovering above his own sundae as he stared at me.

  “Why is that, princess?” he asked me curiously, and I sucked my spoon clean before putting it back into my cup.

  “I guess because you popped her cherry,” I shrugged. I heard him take a sharp intake of breath. “You know, I guess I just thought you guys were closer than ever now that you’ve fucked her pretty little pussy.”

  “Amanda,” he barked at me over the table, leaning towards me. His eyes were panicked, his breaths coming so fast. “You don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about. What the fuck do you mean?”

  “You know exactly what I mean,” I smiled prettily at him, licking up another spoon of honeycomb ice cream. “You did fuck her, didn’t you, Daddy? Did you fuck your little girl?”

  “Shut the fuck up,” he hissed at me.

  He stared at me while I grinned at him before holding his head in his hands. He looked fucking scared, and I loved that I’d made him feel that way all by myself.

  “You have no idea,” he repeated again. “No fucking clue what you’re doing here, Mandy. How dare you insinuate that I–”

  “Save your breath,” I rolled my eyes. “Kenny told me everything. You know as well as I do I’m her bestest friend. More like the only friend she’s ever had.”

  “Amanda,” Levi said roughly. “You have to stop talking about this shit. You can’t tell anyone.”

  “I won’t,” I said in a voice as sweet as my honeycomb sundae.

  Levi breathed a sigh of relief, looking up at me as I licked the corners of my lips.

  “Of course, being a businessman and all,” I sighed. “I assume you know everything comes at a price.”

  His mouth set in a thin line as he stared at me.

  “What the fuck do you want, Mandy?” he asked me, practically growling at me now. “Another Chanel? The new Louis Vuitton I saw you looking at?”

  I didn’t reply, just grinned at him mischievously until he slammed a fist down on the table. Several people glanced at us, but he kept his gaze firmly on me, glaring at me as I giggled and ate up my sundae.

  “I don’t want much, Daddy,” I told him innocently.

  “Stop fucking acting,” he snapped. “Tell me what the fuck you want to keep that pretty little mouth shut, Mandy.”


  “I just want you to treat us equally,” I said childishly. “You say you don’t have a favorite. But you like her. You spend time with her. You kiss her. Fuck her.”

  “What are you saying, Amanda?” he asked me, his voice strained, his eyes expectant. “What the fucking hell are you even saying, princess? You’re going to need to be clearer.”

  “I’m just saying I want you to like me too, Daddy.” My voice sounded young and sweet. So perfect. So wrong. Exactly what he was craving. I knew he had a hard on.

  I leaned over the table, my tits spilling out of my top as I stared into Levi’s eyes.

  “I just want you to love us both, Daddy,” I whispered. “And I want you to give me what you gave my sister, but I want you to fuck me harder.”

  9

  Kendall

  Debate club had never been more boring.

  I spent the whole time checking my phone, anxious to finally get home. But I had no texts, no calls. Nobody was as eager as I was to get me back home and it was really disappointing. I wished Levi had sent me a message. Something, anything to let me know he missed me as much as I missed him.

  “Hey, Miss Distracted,” a voice interrupted me, and I looked up into the smiling face of Ryan, a guy that had been in my class since we were in primary school. “You seem like you’re in a world of your own today. Everything okay?”

  I sighed and waved a hand dismissively, but he took it as an invitation and sat down on the chair next to mine. The rest of the group was busy practicing their speeches, everyone was grouped off, and I’d spent the whole time there worrying about what I’d done and what was going to come out of it.

  “I guess I’m just dealing with some stuff at the moment,” I said to Ryan. “Nothing you should worry about.”

  “Uh oh,” he furrowed his eyebrows. “It doesn’t sound like nothing. You sure you’re okay? There isn’t something going on at home again, is there?”

  I sighed heavily and he gave me a knowing look. I used to be very close with Ryan, but as the years passed, our friendship cooled off a little. I always suspected he had a little crush on me. I just wasn’t sure how to deal with it, so I chose to ignore it instead.

  “It’s fine,” I told him.

  “Is it about your mom again?” he asked me worriedly, and I didn’t want to look at him, because I knew he’d figure it out right away.

  That was the problem with old friends. They knew you so well they were aware right away when something was off. And since Ryan had spent a lot of time at our house, he knew my mom had a temper, and he knew all about her tumultuous relationship with Levi as well.

  “I’m not going to pry,” he said gently. “As long as you know you can talk to me about anything, at any time. You do know that, don’t you, babe?”

  “Of course,” I said. “And I really appreciate it, you know that.”

  My voice sounded strained even to my own ears. He could tell I was pretending, I was sure of it. But that was the great thing about Ryan. He never pried, and he didn’t push me to reveal things I didn’t want to.

  “Do you maybe want to grab a drink later?” he asked me, and I shrugged.

  “Hey,” I said, remembering something. “Do you remember when you got your driving permit?”

  “Yeah,” he grinned. “You made me drive you everywhere for five months until you got yours.”

  “Are you still mad about that?” I giggled.

  “Not at all,” he told me. “It would be nice to get something in return, though…”

  He waggled his eyebrows at me and I laughed out loud.

  “Like a life-long friendship and a shoulder to cry on anytime,” I told him, firmly putting him in the friendzone.

  Ryan sighed and stared at me with longing in his eyes, but there was a smile playing on his lips nonetheless. So I’d dodged that bullet, at least. Now maybe we could move on and do something fun, something we used to do a couple of years ago.

  “When you got your permit,” I told him. “Do you remember how we used to go on those crazy long drives? We’d just fill up the tank, jump in the car, and go.”

  “I remember,” he said wistfully, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. “We had a nice time, didn’t we, Kenny?”

  “It was great,” I confessed. “I loved driving around with you. Do you think maybe we could go for a drive today, after debate club? I’d like that a lot. We could go somewhere, anywhere. Doesn’t even matter. I just want to get away from… everything… Just for a few hours.”

  “Sure, Ken,” he said with an easy smile. “We can do anything you want.”

  That was what I’d always loved about Ryan. He was always so easy going, always ready to do something fun and spontaneous. Not that I was very fun – or spontaneous – myself. That was more Amanda’s thing… but even I had my moments.

  “You ready?”

  I came out of the gas station carrying two bags filled with snacks. This was another one of our things. We used to stop at the gas station and stock up on so much unhealthy junk food we couldn’t eat anything overly salty or sweet for weeks.

  For some reason though, it felt nice to be doing something that we used to all those years ago. Slipping into a routine with Ryan was always so easy, and I couldn’t help wanting it. Just some small reminder of when things weren’t so complicated would do me good.

  “Ready, locked and loaded,” I grinned at him, showing him my overflowing bags.

  “Did you get my sour–”

  “Cream and onion chips?” I asked, lifting them out of the bag. “How could I forget? I still have the horrifying memory of your breath after you eat these things.”

  “Oh yeah, gummy bear queen?” he teased me, and I laughed again. “We’ll see about that. Now get in, I have the perfect spot for us to go to.”

  I climbed in the car and he revved up the engine, getting ready to take off. Ryan drove a convertible, a 16th birthday present from his parents. They were rich, but they’d treated him like an accessory since the day he was born. Ryan used to confide in me about it, but over the past years we’d grown apart, and I didn’t know that much about him anymore. I did, however, remember him getting the expensive car as a birthday gift and being so upset, because it really didn’t make up for all the time his parents spent away from their home and their son.

  “Where are we going?” I asked him, a note of compassion slipping into my voice.

  Ryan didn’t notice, or if he did, he didn’t bring it up.

  “I have the perfect spot,” he told me. “But you’re not allowed to know before we get there. Now buckle up, babe!”

  I cringed at the nickname he used. It reminded me too much of Levi and the whole mess we’d gotten ourselves into, and I couldn’t even bring myself to think about it. I just wanted to get away, even if it was just for an afternoon. I needed a break.

  “Turn the music up,” Ryan suggested over the roar of the engine.

  The wind blew my long dark hair all around me as we took off. My long locks slapped me in the face and I put my mirrored sunglasses on, loving the breeze and the freedom only a car like this could bring. I rummaged in the glovebox and found a stack of old CDs we used to play when we went out together.

  “You still got these?” I asked him over the roar of the engine, and he nodded with a grin.

  “Put them on,” he told me, and I hesitated. “Come on, babe. For old times’ sake.”

  “What the hell,” I shrugged, and slipped one of the discs into the slot.

  A familiar sound filled the car as a song we used to listen to all the time blasted from the speakers. I laughed out loud when Ryan honked in greeting, raising my arms above my head. I felt freer than I had in ages, and it felt good.

  I loved that Ryan let me have my moment. It was hard to talk in the convertible with the roof down anyway, and I really just needed that music and distraction away from my regular life, which was threatening to creep back in through the cracks.

  I belted out the lyrics to
the song and Ryan sang with me as we drove down to the beach. I realized where we were going after he took a different exit on the highway, and I grinned at him with pleasure.

  “Ryan,” I said happily. “You aren’t taking me to…”

  “The cove,” he smiled at me. “Of course I am. You didn’t think I’d forget, did you?”

  I stared at him for a long time, affection choking me up. He really was a good friend and I never should have blown him off just because he had a little crush on me. That was bound to blow over, anyway. Surely he was over it by now.

  “Thank you,” I mouthed, and he gave me a thumbs-up, his other hand steering the wheel.

  I felt so free, so relaxed. I hadn’t felt that good in a very long time and it sure as hell felt good, and so relaxing I just wanted to laugh the whole ride to the beach. I really needed to get away, and I only realized it now that we were on our way.

  I quickly checked my phone only to find my battery was almost dead. I didn’t have anyone to text anyway, so I stashed my phone back in my purse and decided not to stress about it.

  The drive to the beach only took an hour or so, and then Ryan parked in a lot just next to the beach. Our cove was a little walk away. It was a place we used to go to with our parents, back when Mom still gave a shit about both of her daughters. Ryan’s parents hadn’t had those crazy busy jobs back then, and we spent a lot of time on the beach here. It had been so nice, but now, walking on the sand felt like a different place.

  “Do you ever wonder…” I asked Ryan as we walked along the beach, my words trailing off to nothing.

  “What if?” he asked, and I looked at him.

  His face was blotchy and red, and I knew he was getting choked up.

  “Sometimes,” he muttered, and that was all we said on the subject.

  There was nothing left to say, anyway. Both our family lives were a total mess. For the past few months, I felt farther away than ever from my mother. She so obviously favored Mandy, and I didn’t want to be a jealous little brat, but it still hurt sometimes.