Unfortunately for us, this week Brent is in town, so we have to be well-behaved. It fucking sucks. I wish we could just be out in the open about everything, especially since Harlow leaves for school soon, but we both know better than that.
My eyes glaze over while I scroll through another PowerPoint presentation of data no one actually cares about. My fingers drum by themselves. I don’t even realize it until I hear that I’m tapping to the beat to a song Harlow sang in her sleep three nights ago. She was so cute with her mangled lyrics. “Relax, said the nightmare. We are programmed to be seen …” I had to stop myself from laughing, just so I could hear her butcher Hotel California.
Come to think of it, I should take Harlow to California one day. I bet she’d love the art scene there, not to mention the beauty of Napa. We could do a wine country tour, and then I’ll take her to a boutique hotel where we’ll …
Suddenly, my office door bursts open and it’s Brent, shouting and red.
“What the fuck is this?!”
He shoves his phone into my face and forces me to watch a camera feed of the basement bathroom from two weeks ago. Harlow is on the countertop, her legs spread. I’m on my knees, using her thighs as earmuffs as she tosses her head back in a silent moan. Oh shit. We didn’t think anyone would find the footage, but obviously, her father has. I hold my hands up in a placating manner, even as my heart pounds. Shit!
“Brent, calm down-
“The fuck did you just say to me? Calm down?”
“Just listen.”
“I am three seconds from kicking your ass, Gray.”
“Let me explain.”
But my friend is too enraged to hear and cuts me off again.
“I will knock you into next week if you don’t say this was all some sort of prank! But what kind of fucking prank is this?”
I buzz my secretary quickly. “Can you ask Miss Marshall to come up?”
“Right away,” Priscilla says grimly before clicking off. Meanwhile, Brent looks like he’s about to explode, his face is so red.
“Tell me,” my friend hisses before pulling a chair up to my desk. “You’ve known my daughter since she was born. So what the fuck is going on?”
I try to stay calm.
“Listen, buddy, I know this is a surprise, but Harlow is on her way up, and we can talk about this like adults once she’s here. But if you’re going to be a hothead and scream the whole time, nothing is going to get done.”
Brent merely grips the arms of the chair, his knuckles white.
“I will murder you for taking advantage of my little girl, Gray. I will pound you into hell and beat you into a pulp.” I’m about to reply when the door opens and closes again.
“No one took advantage of me, Dad,” Harlow says in an enviably calm voice.
He doesn’t even hesitate. Brent is on his feet in a second, raging at his daughter.
“How could you do this? Both of you! What the fuck? I told you to watch out for her, not fuck her!”
That makes me angry.
“Shut up. I’m in love with your daughter, so watch your mouth, asshole.”
Harlow gasps behind me. Meanwhile, her father’s face turns even more purple.
“What? Are you fucking kidding me? You’re a fucking dog, Jamison. You’ve fucked how many women in this town? All of them? There’s no way I’m letting some diseased STD-ridden asshole like you touch my daughter.”
Harlow’s got tears in her eyes, but now I’m seeing red.
“Shut the fuck up,” I growl. “You know nothing about my dating life.”
A vein pulses in Brent’s forehead as he rages.
“I know everything about your dating life, cocksucker! I’ve known everything about it for more than twenty years! You’re not sticking your dick in my daughter if I have anything to do with it, you fucking asswipe.”
Harlow’s sobbing now, and she collapses on a couch. It kills me to see her like this, but I can’t take it anymore. I begin advancing on Brent.
“Shut the fuck up. Take that back,” I growl.
“Take what back?” he screams in my face. “The fact that you’ve been fucking women right and left since we were eighteen? The fact that you’re twice Harlow’s age? The fact that this is my daughter we’re talking about? You’ve fucking infested her with all your STDs!”
That does it. I clock Brent hard, and he falls to the floor.
“Daddy!” Harlow screams before rushing to kneel at his side.
Brent rolls into fetal position, cradling his face while groaning.
“Unnnh,” he manages as blood trickles from his nose. “Fuuuuuck.”
I glare icily at him.
“You deserve it,” I say in a cold voice. “I love Harlow, and I don’t give a fuck what you think. She’s twenty-one, and I want to be with her. Come here, Harlow. Leave that loser alone.”
The beautiful girl looks up at me from her place by her dad. Then she looks at Brent again, then at me. I can feel how she’s being pulled in different directions, but my woman is smart. Slowly, she gets up and walks to me, as I embrace her in my arms.
Brent’s still curled in fetal position on the floor, but he lifts his head when she does that, and then lets it drop with a thunk.
“It’s true, Daddy,” Harlow says in a tearful voice. “I love Gray, and we’ve fallen in love with each other.
