Indebted To A Daddy: Once Upon A Daddy

by Callahan, Kelli

  Corbin: If you can avoid incurring more debt between now and then.

  Chloe: We’ll see.

  The smile on my face was a little wider once I put my phone down and turned off the light. Corbin was definitely playing a game, but I couldn’t deny that it was fun—and my mind started to spin with possibilities. There were a lot of things he could ask for, and maybe some of the things I thought would cross the line weren’t quite as bad as I previously imagined. Spending time with him did make me happy—but I didn’t know if it was enough to think about other possibilities. The clock was ticking for Corbin. He wasn’t going to stay in Los Angeles forever. I certainly wasn’t going anywhere. I had to finish school and try to do something with the degree I was putting so much effort into earning.

  Who knows what that will actually be—I have to get there first.

  * * *

  The next day

  My ankle was noticeably tight when I woke up the next morning, but after I took a few steps, it felt a little better. My mad dash around my apartment was a little faster. I made it to work, clocked in, and started serving breakfast to all of the customers. I squeezed in a quick break before the lunch rush and then worked nonstop until the end of my shift. My ankle was hurting again when it was over, but it wasn’t that bad. I was looking forward to the weekend and not because I could pick up some extra shifts—I just needed a couple of days that I didn’t have to spend on my feet. On my way to my car, the app lit up, and I saw that I had another notification from the app. I clicked on it once I was seated behind the steering wheel.

  Choose tonight’s movie: +25

  Let Corbin choose: -25

  “I guess he’s choosing…” I hit the button that lowered my balance from 400 to 375 and it flipped over to the chat box.

  Chloe: You’re early. We agreed to wait until six o’clock.

  Corbin: I didn’t put a timer on it. I figured you would look at it when you had the chance.

  Chloe: I just got off work. I need to go back to my apartment and change.

  Corbin: Okay. Any preferences for dinner?

  Chloe: Chinese?

  Corbin: What do you like?

  Chloe: Sesame chicken—and fried rice.

  Corbin: I’ll put in the order.

  Getting a request from Corbin made me smile, even if he did break the rules a little bit. What he said was true—there was no timer on it, so I didn’t have to drop everything to respond in ten seconds. I drove back to my apartment, hopped in the shower, and started getting dressed. I put a little extra effort into my appearance when I got back in front of the mirror. I didn’t usually wear a lot of makeup, and my hair hadn’t seen a salon in months, but I did my best. I still didn’t see a beautiful woman when I stared at my reflection. I just saw a slightly less plain version of myself. I didn’t know what Corbin saw in me, but it was clear that he was interested and deep down, I was interested too.

  Corbin is capturing my attention in a way that no other guy has except for the one I couldn’t have—I have to give it a shot and see where this is going.

  I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be a date when Corbin asked me to come over and watch Idiocracy with him, but it certainly felt like it once I was there. I did feel like his second request was a date. He could have done anything with the debt that I incurred, but he hadn’t tried to cross the line in any way outside of trying to rent me by the hour after we finished our movie. Even that wasn’t malicious, and he apologized immediately when he realized it struck a nerve with me. I might not have agreed to a date with him without the app, but he didn’t need it to get a second one. I was excited to see him again. I never had a thing for older guys, but I didn’t really notice the age difference between us. I was always more mature than my years except for the rebellious streak I went through, but even that was mild compared to most of my friends.

  Okay, I’m as ready as I’m going to be.

  * * *

  “Come on in.” Corbin met me at the door with a smile and took a step back so I could enter. “Our dinner should arrive shortly.”

  “I’m more interested in finding out what kind of movie you’re going to make me watch.” I put down my purse and turned to face him.

  “It’s a classic.” He raised an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m afraid of,” I laughed under my breath. “Classic to you—is probably Ancient history to me.”

  “A crack about my age. Wow—tonight is starting off great.” Corbin shook his head and motioned for me to follow him into the living room.

  “I don’t have much to tease you about.” I was still laughing as I sat down on the couch. “Maybe you’ll give me some more ammunition at some point.”

  “Doubtful.” He narrowed his eyes and sat down next to me.

  “I guess I’ll just have to keep calling you an old man.” I raised my eyebrows and smirked.

  “Maybe I’ll start calling you little girl—see how you like having it turned around on you.” The edge of his lips slowly turned into a grin.

  “I am not a little girl.” I shook my head back and forth.

  “Turning thirty didn’t make me an old man.” He shrugged. “But don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.”

  “Oh, I can take it.” I leaned forward. “And you haven’t even seen me start to dish it out yet.”

  “I can tell you have a temper.” He chuckled. “It’s kind of cute.”

  “Cute?” Both of my eyebrows shot up in surprise.

  “You might find out what I do to little girls that act like brats if you keep it up.” He leaned forward, and I felt my heart race—but then a car door slammed outside. “Dinner’s here.”

  My heart was still racing when he leaned back and stood. He was right—I did have a bit of a temper. It was a result of having to fend for myself before I was old enough for people to take me seriously. Getting angry was the only way to get their attention sometimes—but none of them had ever said it was cute. I settled down a little bit before he returned with the food and put it in front of us. I was willing to ignore his little girl comment since I did start it by calling him an old man—and he was no more an old man than I was a little girl. The years that separated us were enough to make a conventional relationship challenging, but we met under unusual circumstance. I was acting like a stupid kid when he met me, so that perspective was fair—even if I didn’t like it.

  “It smells delicious. This is from Chen’s Wok?” I looked at the container. “I’ve never tried it…”

  “I used to eat there all the time when I was in college.” He shrugged. “It was pretty good for what it cost back then.”

  “I’m not sure you can go wrong with Chinese food.” I picked up my box of sesame chicken and reached for a fork.

  “Hold on.” He narrowed his eyes. “I know you’re not about to eat that with a fork.”

  “What would I eat it with? Chopsticks?” I laughed and shook my head.

  “Yes.” He nodded quickly and grabbed a pair. “It’s easy—and part of the experience.”

  “I tried a couple of times, but I usually just ended up stabbing my food with one of them—if I’m going to do that, I might as well use a fork.” I leaned back on the couch.

  “Here, I’ll teach you.” He grabbed the other pair of chopsticks and handed them to me.

  Corbin demonstrated how to use the chopsticks, ate a piece of General Tso chicken, and then let me try with my sesame. I was able to lift it out of the box, but then it fell out of my chopsticks. I tried a couple more times, but it was a futile effort. I was just about to resort to stabbing the piece of chicken when Corbin slid closer and put his hand on mine. He held my fingers, positioned them on the chopsticks, and guided them into the box. I successfully lifted a piece of sesame chicken to my mouth, but I didn’t take my eyes off Corbin. His touch made my head spin. When he pulled his hand away, I purposefully screwed up my next couple of attempts just so he would have to guide me through the motions again.

&nbs
p; “I think you have it now.” He pulled his hand away and smiled.

  “Yeah.” I nodded and successfully retrieved a piece of sesame chicken on my own. “It’s easier than it looks—or maybe I just had a good teacher.”

  “Don’t celebrate quite yet.” He picked up his chopsticks and chuckled. “You haven’t tried eating fried rice with them yet.”

  “That—seems like it might be more of a challenge.” I raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s not. I’ll show you.” He winked at me and pushed his chopsticks into his box so he could pick up the remote.

  “Okay, maybe after I have a little more chicken—now that I can eat it.” I grabbed another piece of sesame chicken with my chopsticks and guided it towards my mouth. “What movie are we watching anyway?”

  “One of my favorites.” He hit the button. “It’s called Memento.”

  “Never heard of it.” I shrugged.

  Corbin’s taste in movies was a lot more intense than mine. The movie he chose wasn’t a horror or a comedy—it felt like a total mind-fuck, and I wasn’t even sure what genre to place it in. I got pulled into it pretty quickly, and he actually had to pause the movie when he showed me how to eat my fried rice with the chopsticks—that came with a little more touching—which I didn’t mind at all. I eventually became a novice user of chopsticks and managed to eat a little bit of my fried rice while dumping some of it on my shirt in the process. By the end of the movie, I had more questions than answers, and we discussed it for several minutes. It was interesting and made me think, but I would have preferred to laugh rather than contemplate the complex storyline that was delivered—especially after working all day.

  “Memento is one of those movies that you can watch a few times and still pick up new pieces of information.” Corbin leaned back on the couch. “I can tell you didn’t like it.”

  “It wasn’t bad, but our tastes are a little different.” I looked down and gave him a half-hearted smile.

  “Maybe I’ll come up with something more interesting than a movie for our next challenge.” He nodded.

  “When is that going to be?” I raised an eyebrow. “Tomorrow?”

  “You aren’t tired of me yet?” He tilted his head inquisitively.

  Far from it—even if I don’t think our taste in movies are perfectly aligned.

  “I have a debt to pay off.” I narrowed my eyes. “I wouldn’t want to miss a payment…”

  “I’ll see what I can come up with.” He nodded.

  “You’ll have plenty of time to think about it.” I looked towards the table. “Want me to help you clean this up before I go?”

  “Do I have to type it into the app and trade some points, or are you just offering?” he chuckled under his breath.

  “I’m offering.” I stifled a laugh and grabbed my box of sesame chicken. “There’s enough leftovers for you to have lunch tomorrow.”

  Corbin and I grabbed everything from the table and wiped the sides of the boxes before we put them in the fridge. We were standing extremely close to each other when the fridge door was closed, and our eyes met as his hand grazed against mine. I had a sudden surge of excitement—even a casual touch was enough to make my body react to him. I needed to go, but I didn’t want to look away. We were trapped in another moment—one that was even stronger than the first one we shared. Corbin took both of my hands and started to lean forward. I quickly realized he was going for a kiss. My defense mechanisms kicked in, and I pulled away before he could get too close.

  “I should go.” I walked to the living room and grabbed my purse—a second before I could make a break for the door, my phone lit up.

  Stay: -0

  Go: +0

  Damn, he’s not making this easy…

  Chapter Eight

  Corbin

  Under normal circumstances, if a woman pulled away from a kiss, I would have just let her go. I got the feeling that Chloe didn’t really want to go—she was just surprised by what she felt. Her eyes were begging for a kiss, but her emotions betrayed her before I had the chance. It was complicated. I could understand the hesitation. I wasn’t what was going on in her head, but I saw confusion right before she pulled away. The spark was there, but I hadn’t done enough to convince her that it could become more than a flicker. Every dominant and possessive part of me wanted to go after her—turn her around—crush those gorgeous lips until they were absolutely mine, but I held back. That part of me had torn relationships apart in the past. They burned hotter than hell, but then they blew up in my face. Instead, I just sent her another debt challenge—one that had no stakes. She had to make the decision on her own.

  “I want to…” Chloe turned around and exhaled sharply. “I just don’t know what this is—everything is happening so fast.”

  “Yes.” I took a step forward. “I don’t usually see a woman naked before our first date.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” She couldn’t help but smile.

  “I know.” I nodded. “I like you. You’re very interesting—so strong and independent, yet underneath that I see a young woman that is still trying to figure it all out.”

  “Which is why I’m not sure what I want…” She looked down at the app and hit the decline button. “I really do need to go.”

  I watched as she turned and walked towards the door. There was hesitation in each step—hesitation when she reached for the door—but hesitation wasn’t enough to stop her. She felt the connection, but she didn’t know how to process it. I had to give her more time—and turn up the heat. Those hypnotic brown eyes were begging to give in—begging to submit—but the woman that was born with them hadn’t figured out how to process those thoughts. I could be patient and quell the dominant, possessive side of me. I wasn’t going to give up, and I was fairly certain she didn’t want me to stop trying.

  I fixed myself a drink, lit a cigar, and walked back to the living room. Once I was sure that Chloe had enough time to make it home, I loaded up the app and typed in another debt challenge.

  Send me a picture: -25

  Decline: +25

  I watched the timer count down, and she finally accepted before the last second—her total changed from 375 to 350. I got a picture that was similar to the one I got from her the previous night. I saved it and stared at it for a few seconds before I flipped over to the chat box so that I could type a response.

  Corbin: Beautiful.

  Chloe: Thank you.

  Corbin: I want to see you again soon.

  Chloe: I’m in your debt—you know the rules.

  I need to come up with something that’s a lot more interesting than a movie…

  * * *

  The next day

  It was Wednesday, which was the day that most of the workers showed up to take care of the property. There were a couple of them that showed up every day to check up on the place, but their weekly visits usually lasted a lot longer. I worked inside while the sound of lawn mowers and weed trimmers roared outside. I was making a little progress on the house, and I was also learning more about the man who never wanted to be my father. I still didn’t fully understand why he abandoned one family to start another, but he did seem to care about his other children. He made it to all of their school events—which was captured in photographs where he looked like a proud father—I didn’t have a single one of those.

  He never even tried to reach out, and he went as far as completely ignoring my calls when I was going to school in Los Angeles—whatever, fuck him.

  I still didn’t fully understand what compelled me to return to Los Angeles and deal with his estate. Seeing pictures of him being a good father, or pretending to be, certainly wasn’t it. Maybe I hoped I would find out he treated them like shit too—then it wouldn’t have felt like I was the kid he never wanted. Instead, everything I found just seemed to make a stronger case for it. There was no way he was a saint. My half-siblings didn’t seem to be that broken up at his funeral. I wondered if they harbored resentment like I did, but fo
r different reasons. Growing up with our father in their lives didn’t seem to make them care about him any more than I did.

  It’s time to take a break and figure out what kind of date I’m going to take Chloe on tonight.

  I really wanted to find some sort of common interest with Chloe, and our taste in movies definitely wasn’t it. I made reservations at a nice restaurant. That seemed like a good way to start the evening, but after that—I kind of drew a blank. I just didn’t know enough about her, and I had never planned a date with someone her age—not since I was in my twenties—before I got absorbed with work and didn’t have time for dating. I decided to try history, and there were a few options for that in Los Angeles. I always wanted to visit The Villa of History when I was in college, but never made time for it—that seemed like a good option. It had a museum, gardens, and architecture inspired by Ancient Rome and Greece. They were also open late for the summer, which would allow us to eat first and walk off some of the calories once we were done.

  If she isn’t into this, then maybe I’ll just let her pick the location of the next date…

  I spent the rest of the day on an extended break from work. I just wasn’t in the mood. I took a shower and watched a few things on television as the clock ticked away the hours until I could reach out to Chloe. I waited until it was almost six and then sent the debt challenge without a timer so that she could answer it when she had a chance.

  Date Night: -25

  Decline: +25

  It only took Chloe a few seconds to accept, which dropped her total from 350 to 325. We exchanged a few messages and agreed that I could pick her up at seven o’clock—which meant I didn’t have long to get ready. Luckily, I was already showered, so I just needed to get dressed. I arranged for a car, headed upstairs, and by six-thirty, I was on my way to pick up the girl with hypnotic brown eyes. I felt a swirl of excitement in my stomach as the car pulled up to the front of her apartment building—and that excitement grew when she stepped outside in a blue dress that hugged every one of her gorgeous curves.