“All that’s needed, and all that’s left,” he says, adding, “They can’t deny any of it now.”
“The feds?” I ask, wondering just how far this has gone, but he only shrugs. “That’s up to you, Sir. I’m just reporting the facts, everything’s on that flash drive and it’s the only copy.”
I notice him looking over at Chrissy, focusing on her dress, how beautiful she looks.
His eyes turn and meet mine head-on, he’s done his job and now he’s entitled to say his piece… as Chrissy’s Father.
It is Father-Daughter week after all.
“Mr. Parker? Chrissy,” he starts to say, but she interrupts us both.
“Daddy? Logan? Let me say this, let me the one to…”
I watch her dad’s face fall and he cringes, knowing what’s coming. He holds his hand up.
“I want you home, Chrissy. Thank Mr. Parker for today but it’s time to come home now,” he says, a hard tone in his voice at the last word, which I have to say. Gets my back up.
“She is home, Charles. And will be wherever she is, with me,” I tell him, shrugging a little in Chrissy’s direction and standing up.
I don’t need her to explain things. I won’t hide behind her and I certainly have no fear of her father.
He’s shaking his head, which he grips in both his hands before he stands up too, looking over at Chrissy with a tear in his eye.
“Tell me this isn’t true… tell me you didn’t…?” he asks her, breathing in sharply when she nods, moving over towards me as I hold out my hand for her to take into mine as she comes over to me.
“I love Logan, dad. It’s happened quickly but we just both know we’re supposed to be together,” she says, looking up to me and squeezing my hand.
I hear myself starting to growl as her dad moves closer, letting himself behind my desk and stepping towards us both.
“Promotion or not. I’m sorry about your internship, Chrissy… but…” he starts to say, his voice cracking with emotion as he raises a fist.
I hear Chrissy gasping, trying to move forward to stop him, but I hold her back, letting him have his one shot.
He’s got a pretty good right hook, which connects well to my jaw.
I’ll admit, it’s harder than I expect, even hurts some as I hope he hasn’t broken any teeth.
I did lean in a little though.
But I don’t budge. I stand my ground and look down at him, flexing my neck only a little and opening my jaw a couple of times to make sure nothing broke.
“That’s your one shot, Charles. Now, take a seat,” I tell him, letting go of Chrissy only long enough to put my shadow over her dad as he takes my advice.
I pull up a seat next to him, sitting down and getting to his eye level, rubbing my jaw for his benefit.
“Are all those rumors true then?” he asks, sounding shocked, his hand trembling now, scuffed from where his knuckles met my jaw.
Chrissy rushes over to him, finding a handkerchief from her dad’s shirt pocket and wrapping it around his hand, glancing at me with a little bitterness.
“What rumors?” I ask, raising my eyes to the ceiling, half-wishing today could be over already if it weren’t for my desire to spend the rest of it balls deep in the man’s only daughter.
I take a deep breath and observing the affection Chrissy has for her dad, I figure I’ll level with both of them.
“Truth is, Mr. Foster. I did make love to your daughter today.”
Chrissy’s eyes widen and her dad growls gain, wanting to leap at me but I hold my hand up as Chrissy uses both hers to hold his shoulders.
“But,” I continue, looking Chrissy in the eye now, “She really is the only woman I’ve ever been with… and I the only man she’s been with. I think that should answer any questions, dispel any and all rumors, once and for all between us three at least. Until I lay with your daughter, Charles… I was a virgin, just like Chrissy was.”
A long silence follows and I feel like a great weight’s been lifted, that I really don’t care what happens next, as long as Chrissy stays with me, as long as I know she’s mine.
“I can give Chrissy a life like nobody else, Charles, even with all this board nonsense. I’m still the major shareholder, this is my company. I can provide for Chrissy for a hundred lifetimes.”
My voice seems to echo in my office, the words sinking into her father’s mind and if nothing else, reminding Chrissy too of what I can give her outside of the bedroom.
“A life like no other,” I repeat.
“And… you… really love him?” he asks his only daughter. “After knowing the man less than twenty-four hours?”
He doesn’t ask with anything but genuine curiosity, as shocked and stunned as I guess I still feel that things have panned out in my absolute favor by having Chrissy give herself to me, being my woman now.
I’m happy to see the man’s hand eventually reach out for mine in peace once Chrissy tells him it’s true. Her eyes are so clear, so pure that there’s no doubt she does love me.
I know my own heart, and so does she when it comes to how I feel about her.
“I do daddy. I love Logan like I love the missing part of my soul,” she says clearly.
“There’s still a place for you too, Charles,” I remind him, gripping his hand still bloody from my lip, my mouth he just clocked.
“I need good people now, people I can trust. Your future is as assured as Chrissy’s, but only if I have your blessing,” I tell him.
Not as a threat, but as one man to another, a man asking
