Losing to Daddy tonight had elevated that relief to new heights. An uncertainty was gone, but the memory of my dad wasn’t. Losing didn’t mean anything. It’d been a strange mental block of mine I still didn’t fully understand.
I thought, in a way, that mentality of refusing to lose had made me feel untouchable and detached. The opposite of how I felt, and wanted to feel, with Daddy and River.
“Do you know, um, any sweet songs?” I asked Daddy.
He looked up from the strings, and his tinkering slowed down some. “A sweet song, huh?”
Yes. A lovey-dovey one.
“You know what I mean.” I sat up and reached for my Coke.
River took the opportunity to sit up too, and he lit up a smoke.
Daddy smiled a little. “Where I come from, they’re called love songs.”
I smiled back and shrugged. “If you insist.”
He chuckled.
Then his skilled fingers fell down the strings, and he eased into a new melody. When it came to playing music, Reese Tenley was a country boy through and through. For some weird reason, since I wasn’t a huge fan of the genre, I found it hella charming and sexy.
And fuck me, his voice…
I leaned over to River and puckered my lips at his cigarette, to which he let me take a drag from it. When he asked if I wanted my own, I shook my head and crawled over him to reach the bowl of chips instead. I was kind of hungry. Tonight had been draining in so many ways, no matter how amazing. Part of me couldn’t believe there was a party going on just on the other side of those patio doors. Well, I guess if you didn’t participate in the Game, a party afterward was a given. Still.
Daddy’s low, warm singing voice drew me back in, and I sighed contentedly and threw a couple chips into my mouth. Thunder roared not too far away as he sang of all the things a man had gone through, with the chorus always ending with “On my way to you.”
Someone pinch me.
How had this happened? I was only supposed to play with them a single time. They were going to punish me.
Now…? Now they owned me.
Without having ever been here before, I knew I was falling in love with the fuckers.
I set the bowl aside and sucked the salt off my fingers, realizing something else too. It wasn’t just about River and Daddy. It was about me. I hadn’t felt this carefree and thirsty for life in over two years. I was waking up and finally recognizing myself in the mirror.
“That’s gonna bruise,” River murmured and pressed his finger over a spot on my thigh.
I hissed and hugged my knees to my body. “So, maybe you don’t push it?”
He smiled. “Why not?”
I pressed my lips together to hide my grin.
Freaking Sadist.
* * *
“Ouch.” I winced as I sat down in the booth and hit a weird angle.
Daddy slid in across from me, not looking too relaxed himself. He’d complained about his bruised ribcage all the way to the waffle place in Mclean where we were having breakfast this cloudy morning.
We placed our orders and were served coffee, which River seemed the most interested in. He sat next to me and had been extra affectionate since the minute we’d woken up, even now with a hand on my leg, but he still wasn’t a talker before he’d had at least one cup of coffee.
I yawned and glanced out the window. We were near the waterfront in town, and we were far from the only ones who wanted to have breakfast out. Several restaurants had outdoor seating areas across the road, and they were packed.
I took a sip of my coffee, then grimaced and stirred in some creamer. It was too strong. “By the way, don’t forget y’all have to take me out on a date soon. That was the deal.”
Daddy smiled into his cup and took a slow sip. “I’ve been pretending to be patient since last night. Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart.”
I grinned sleepily. “So, we can lock this down? Like, we’re in a proper relationship now?”
River chuckled and hugged me to him.
“Definitely locked down—and throw away the key,” Daddy confirmed. “You’re stuck with us now.”
I could think of worse things.
I turned to River and kissed his cheek. “I haven’t thanked you guys for everything you’ve done. I feel like…” I swallowed hard, the tension changing to something much heavier. Maybe this was a bad place for that, but I had to get it out. “Just…thank you. You’ve kind of brought me back to life.”
River hugged me a little harder and kissed my neck.
“You’ve given us more than you might believe, sweetheart.” Daddy locked his feet with mine under the table. “I’d like to think we saved one another in a way.”
I mustered a wobbly smile, out of words. I couldn’t even describe to myself what I was feeling. It was all a rush of emotions and overwhelming relief. Happiness—it was happiness.
“My aunt wants to meet you,” I admitted.
And I wanted them to meet my brothers.
River cocked his head and peered down at me with a curious expression. “You’ve told your family about us?”
I nodded. “Was that not okay?”
“Of course it is,” Daddy was quick to say. “It actually means a lot, considering…”
Considering they didn’t lead a very normal lifestyle. Whatever. It went without saying that there’d be no details shared, and I knew Daddy and River wouldn’t want that either. Hell, they didn’t even tell their dearest friends how close they were. But the fact that we were in a relationship? I wanted to tell everyone.
“I don’t care about what strangers say, and my family is accepting,” I said.
“Then we’ll take your aunt and brothers out to dinner sometime soon,” River replied with a nod. “I hear that’s what you do in vanilla relationships.”
I snickered.
“It’ll be our first one,” Daddy mused. “This should be interesting.”
I shook my head
