I spun around and snapped at her. “It’s not my job to be her friend. It’s my job to set rules for her and make sure that she follows them.”
“Okay.” She held her hands up in defeat and sagged back into the couch. I knew I was being too hard on her, but my kid was out there and it fucking terrified me that she wasn’t home yet.
“Come on.” I snatched her hand and pulled her off the couch, dragging her over to the door and down the hall.
“Where are we going?”
“IT room. I have a tracker on her.”
“On her?”
I shrugged. “On her car. I figured it would come in handy someday.”
“Are you serious?”
I heard the incredulity in her voice and I knew she didn’t agree, but if she was going to be with me, she was going to have to get used to this.
“As a heart attack.”
She ran to keep up with me as I stormed into the main building. Rob gave her a sympathetic nod, most likely figuring what was going on.
“Let me guess, you want to know where Kayla is.”
He started tapping the keys before I even answered.
“She was supposed to be home forty minutes ago.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re overprotective and want to know where she is. I’m working on it.” He leaned back and closed his eyes, rubbing them before turning to me. “You sure you want to know?”
“Of course I do,” I growled, glaring at Rob.
“She’s at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Patterson. They have one son, who was just released from juvie a month ago. He-”
I didn’t wait to hear anything else as I stormed out of the room. I heard Becky running behind me and I felt my phone ping, but I didn’t pull it out since I knew that it was Rob sending me the address.
“Coop, just think about this.”
“There’s nothing to think about,” I said over my shoulder as I stepped onto the elevator. Becky rushed on behind me and glared up at me.
“If you bust in there, you’re going to push her away. You only have so much time with her before she becomes an adult and then you won’t be able to control her. You have to stop this and trust her.”
“Did you not hear juvie?”
“Yes, but-”
“Then you should know that there’s no fucking way that I would ever let her see that boy.”
“But she may not know that. You have to trust that she’ll find out on her own and make the right decision.”
I pulled my gun as I stepped off the elevator. “There’s not a chance in hell that’s gonna happen.”
Sinner and Cazzo were walking my way and their eyes widened when they saw my gun and me storming toward me truck.
“What’s going on?” Cazzo asked, stepping in front of me.
“He’s going to take out a kid because he was in juvie and he’s with Kayla.”
“Whoa, you can’t go around shooting kids.”
I glared hard at him and he stepped back. “Okay, maybe you can. How about we go with you?”
“I don’t need a fucking babysitter,” I snarled.
“We’ll just go to make sure there’s no evidence left behind,” he said placatingly. I shrugged, not giving a fuck as we all piled into my truck. Becky was up front, still trying to talk some sense into me, but all I saw was red, and it was going to be the red that I spilled from that boy’s body.
“Coop, please-”
“No,” I snarled. “I fucking told her. She had one chance to do this right and she broke the rules. This is on her now.”
I squealed around the corner and parked at the address that Rob texted me and stormed up to the house, not trying to be quiet this time. The door opened easily and I walked into total darkness. Kayla’s car was outside, so I knew she was here, but where the fuck was she? I heard moaning and Becky’s eyes went wide. She raced for the stairs, but I was faster. I ran past her, but was tackled to the ground by Sinner. I kicked and punched, but he put me in a headlock, trying to stop me from getting to my kid. Becky raced past me and shoved the door open, flipping on the light. She immediately closed her eyes and spun around from the room, telling me exactly what I needed to know.
I flung Sinner off me and slammed the door open. The kid had his pants down and Kayla was covered in a sheet, pale as a ghost as she looked around for her clothes.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Dad-”
“Did he force himself on you?”
“Of course not!”
“So, you’re here breaking your curfew for a quick screw?”
“How else am I supposed to live my life? God, I just want to be able to make my own decisions!”
“And you thought giving your virginity to this punk was the way to show that you’re grown up? He’s nothing! Do you even know his name?”
“It’s Roger!”
“Uh, it’s actually Ron,” the kid corrected. Kayla closed her eyes and her body sagged. Becky pushed past me and started gathering up Kayla’s clothes. I saw a lacy bra on the floor and groaned.
“From now on, you only wear normal, cotton underwear. And no fucking pushup bras,” I shouted. “And you’re grounded. The only place you’re going is to school and training.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Yeah? Well, it’s not fair for me to walk in on you about to fuck the paperboy! I can never get his white ass out of my mind.”
“Dad-”
“Don’t. You don’t fucking speak. You’re fucking lucky right now that I don’t pull out my gun and shoot him.”
“Gun?” The punk kid swallowed hard and yanked on his pants. “You didn’t tell me your dad was a cop.”
“He’s not,” Kayla sneered. “He’s just an overprotective asshole.”
I stalked over to her and snatched her off the bed, sheets and all, and threw her over my shoulder.
“Hey, those are my sheets!” the kid called after me. I pulled my gun and in two steps was right in his face, pointing my gun directly at his chest. “Still give a shit about the sheets?”
He swallowed hard and shook his head no.
“That’s what I thought.”
I turned and stormed from the room and down the stairs, all the while Kayla was kicking and punching me. I didn’t give a shit. What the fuck was she thinking?
“I thought you guys were supposed to help?” Becky snapped at Cazzo and Sinner.
“He’s not dead, is he?” Cazzo asked.
“That’s not the point. You were supposed to keep Coop in check.”
“Hey, I’m not getting in the middle of that,” Sinner said. “I was here to make sure he didn’t murder the kid, and as you can see, he’s still alive and well, ready to fuck the next girl that believes his shit.”
“Are you trying to get me to shoot you?” I asked Sinner. “Because reminding me of what almost just happened is not calming me down.”
I tossed Kayla in the backseat of the truck as Cazzo and Sinner piled in on either side. Becky stewed up front with me, obviously pissed at me and thinking that I overreacted, but I knew exactly what I was doing. I headed further into town and Becky glanced over at me, clearly confused.
“Where are we going?” Kayla asked.
“Hospital.”
“What?”
I glared at her in the rearview mirror. “You were naked in his bed. You’re a minor, so naturally, I’m taking you to the hospital to make sure that you’re still a virgin.”
“Dad!”
“Coop, you can’t do that,” Becky said in exasperation.
“Nice,” Sinner grinned from the backseat. “I have to say, I like your style.”
“I wouldn’t have taken her to the hospital. I would have killed the kid and buried the body,” Cazzo chimed in. “Face it, you’re getting off easy, Kayla.”
“Is Becky the only one on my side?”
Becky spun around in her seat and pointed her finger at Kayla. “Hey, I’m not on your side. What yo
u did was wrong, but I also don’t think you need to go to the hospital and go through something invasive just to ease your father’s conscience.”
“This is so unfair. Other kids my age are having sex. I’m going to be the last virgin in the world!”
“You’re not helping yourself,” Cazzo muttered.
“And why should I be? Does he really think that I’m that naive that I don’t know about sex? I have a vibrator and I masturbate every night,” she said defiantly. I jerked the wheel and pulled over on the side of the road. Sinner was up and out of his seat, pushing me back as I struggled to get back to Kayla. I wanted to wring her neck right now.
“I say we make her sit through a few demonstrations of the sex talk by the good doc,” Cazzo grinned. “Maybe even have her go through one of those baby courses where she gets woken up every hour by a screaming baby.”
“Don’t bother,” Sinner grinned. “Maggie’s gonna shoot out three kids in a couple of months. Just send her to take care of them.”
I knew they were just trying to calm me down, but I didn’t want to be calm right now. I wanted to rip someone to shreds. I wanted Kayla to understand what she was giving up. But most of all, I wanted Becky to be on my side in all of this.
We pulled into the hospital a few minutes later and I explained to the doctor what happened. Kayla was taken back to an exam room and Cazzo stood outside the door to make sure that she didn’t try to escape. I paced the floor, angry and needing to get out some of my pent-up energy. Becky’s hand on my arm almost had me swinging.
“You need to calm down. She’s almost an adult. You can’t rule her life forever.”
“Why can’t you be on my side?” I said angrily. “You’re my girlfriend. I need you on my side. I need you trying to fight this with me, not against me.”
“I am on your side, but Kayla’s fighting back and you need to learn that she’s going to push harder the more you try and keep her locked up in a cage. I know that you want her to wait and make smart decisions, but this is not the way to do it.”
“This is exactly the way to do it. If she won’t think for herself, then I’ll do it. I will not let her end up like her mother, tossing away her virginity to anyone that comes along. She didn’t even know the fucker’s name!”
She sighed and rubbed her hand up and down my chest. “I know. I know this isn’t what you want for her, but she’s not her mother. She’s not doing drugs or whoring herself out. Chances are that when she had sex with that kid, she would have realized what she threw away. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be angry, but it’s not like she’s going to bring guys home and ask for approval from you.”
Frustrated and feeling defeated, I sat down in a chair and hung my head. “I just feel like I’m losing control. Her whole life has been fucked up and I just want her to be safe. I need some fucking control.”
She gripped my hand and squeezed. “What do you need from me?”
“Just…be on my side.”
She didn’t look happy about it, but she nodded and stood there with me while I waited for Kayla to finish up with the doctor. When we walked out of there and I was sure that my daughter was safe, I finally took a minute to think things through, and I knew that my relationship with Kayla would never be the same. I had crossed the line with her, and there was no going back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Becky
“Becky, you have no idea what this is like for me. He hasn’t let me leave the panic room in a week. He has me locked in my room, and he only lets me out for school and to train.”
I paced my house and tried to figure out what I was supposed to do. How was I supposed to help her? She had done this to herself. She knew that pushing her dad like this would only cause problems, but at the same time, Coop had more restrictions than any parent I knew. And I could sympathize with Kayla. It sucked to be told that you couldn’t do anything when you were so close to freedom. At this rate, Kayla would turn eighteen and she would walk away and never see her father again. I couldn’t let that happen.
“Kayla, you just have to give it time. Let him cool down.”
“I’m trying. I apologized and I’ve been doing my best to behave the way he wants me to, but I’m tired of this shit.”
“Then you should have followed his rules to begin with.”
She scoffed into the phone. “I knew you would take his side.”
“I’m not taking his side. I know this is hard, but I also know that you screwed up. I’m trying to stay out of this.”
“You know, I don’t know why I called you. I thought you would understand, but you’re just saying all the stuff he wants you to say.”
“Kayla, that’s not-”
The line went dead and I was left fuming in my living room. I was beyond frustrated and I didn’t know if I could take any more of this. I needed to talk some sense into Coop, but he wasn’t the only problem. His tight reign on Kayla was only half the problem. The other half was Kayla and her inability to do what her father said. She had grown up in the most unusual way, and now she was trying to break free and be her own person. There was no way this would end well.
Grabbing my purse, I headed over to Reed Security and stormed into the training center. Cap caught me at the door and tried to slow me down, based on the anger on my face. But I wasn’t having it. I was tired of being put in the middle, but not really having any kind of say in what happened with Kayla. It wasn’t fair to me.
“Coop!” I shouted across the training center.
“Now, Becky, just hold on a minute.”
I spun around on Cap and advanced. “Don’t you dare tell me what to do. I’ve had enough of being told what to do and what to say.”
“Who’s telling you what to do?” he asked in confusion.
“Why don’t you ask that jackass?” I pointed to Coop. He walked over to me with a worried expression on his face. His body was tight and sweaty, but there were more important things to think about right now. I had to focus.
“Becky, what’s going on?”
“What’s going on is your daughter keeps calling me, complaining about how you have her locked up in her room.”
He sighed and wiped the sweat from his face. “I’m sorry. I’ll have a talk with her.”
“No, you’re not understanding me. I’m pissed because you both have put me in the middle of this. You’ve made it clear that I’m not her mother and I have no say in her life, and she’s made it clear that I’m not her mother and can’t tell her what to do. Now, I respect that, but I’m tired of you both complaining to me and wanting me to take sides. You need to get your shit together and learn to talk to each other, and stop putting me in the middle of your shit.”
“I’m not putting you in the middle. I trust you with her. That’s why I talk to you about her. I want your opinion. I want your advice.”
“But you don’t take it,” I sneered.
“Look, I’m doing the best I can.”
“Well, it’s not good enough. You need to figure this shit out and do it fast before you lose your daughter. She resents you right now, but you can still turn things around.”
“What do you want me to do? I’m doing the best I can here. She doesn’t have a mother to turn to!”
“You have me! You just said that you trust me, so let me help.”
“Look, I get that you can help me, but it’s only from a woman’s perspective. You’ve never had kids. You don’t understand what’s on the line here.”
I stepped back in shock. For Coop raising a daughter, he really didn’t know shit about women, especially when to stop talking.
“That’s not exactly what I meant,” he said, trying to fix what he said. “I just…you’re great at helping me understand what’s going on in a teenager’s head, but the rules and all that shit…you just don’t know what it’s like to be a parent.”
“Coop, let me ask you something.” He swallowed hard and nodded. “Is this going anywhere between us?”
; He looked confused, obviously not seeing the correlation. “What…what does that have to do with Kayla?”
“Do you want me in your life permanently?” He didn’t answer. “I know that I can’t replace her mom, but if we got married, I would be her stepmom. I would be the woman that she would hopefully turn to for advice. Is that what you want? Because either you trust me to guide your daughter or you don’t. But if you want me in your life permanently, you can’t tell me not to get involved.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, too stunned to say anything. It was disappointing for sure, but even Cap didn’t try and interfere, which meant that he didn’t have the answers either. And the thing was, I didn’t need all the answers. I just needed him to know that he couldn’t push me out of these decisions forever if he wanted a future with me. But I had a feeling that as far as Coop and I had come, he wasn’t ready to look that deep into our relationship, and he might never be ready to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Kayla
“Come out with us,” Jamie begged me over the phone.
“I’m being watched like a hawk,” I said in irritation.
“Just open the window and slip out. I’ll be waiting for you at the end of the block and your dad won’t know you’re gone until you don’t show up for dinner. Come on,” she whined. “I swear, it’ll be so much fun.”
Jamie didn’t know about where I lived or how hard it was to “slip out the window”. As far as she was concerned, my mother died tragically when I was little and that’s why he was so overbearing. There was no way she would understand why my father was the way he was, or why I put up with it. Well, I sort of put up with it. If I was going to do this, I was going to have to call in help, but once I was caught, I wouldn’t be getting help again. Unless, I wasn’t caught by some miracle. I just had to decide if this was something that I wanted to take that risk over.
“Liam is going to be there.”
I perked up at that and answered without thinking. “Give me thirty minutes.”
I heard her laughter in the phone, but I was already hanging up and leaping off my bed. I called in my favor, begging and pleading for help one last time, and then got to work getting ready. I really only had five more minutes because I had to sneak out still and then make my way into town. After getting in a short skirt and a halter top that was a shimmery silver, I put on my high heels that I was shit at walking in, and slipped into the hallway. I was almost to the tunnel when I saw Storm and my dad talking, blocking my exit. They weren’t making any attempts to leave and I couldn’t stick around.
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