Tagged Steel (Men of Steel #6) - MJ Fields Page 0,1
me. “Got a minute, Bella?”
“She’s already promised to help me get dinner on the table.” Carly smirks as she pushes up on her tiptoes and gives him a loud peck on the cheek.
“Carly,” he grumbles as Kiki leaps at him.
“Catch me, Daddy!”
Momma Joe and Carly keep Dad busy the entire night; Kiki even seems to be in on it.
By the time he has read to Max, and Kiki has made him listen to her newest song, in which she has also choreographed—on the fly, I’m sure—I have showered and shut myself in my room.
Lying in bed, unable to sleep, looking at the time on my phone as I switch between scrolling through Instagram and watching Snapchat stories, I hear a light knock on my door before it is opened.
Dad.
He walks in. “Scooch.” He sits on the edge of my bed and waits for me to move over before lying on top of my duvet.
“Not gonna say I’m always rational.”
I stifle a laugh.
He raises an eyebrow then continues, “Got you back less than ten years ago, Little Bell. So, to me, you’re ten, not sixteen, making this extremely hard.”
I want to point out that is a messed-up way of thinking, a piss poor excuse for treating me like I’m Kiki’s age, but I also don’t want to get grounded.
He looks at me, expecting me to say just that, but I know better.
“I love you, Bella.”
“I love you, Dad.”
“I know you’re smart, but I also know the mind of a teenage boy, because I was one. I have a few things I need you to hear, Bella, really hear about dating.”
I roll to my side and look at him.
He takes a deep breath then exhales slowly. “They earn every fucking thing you give them, starting with a yes to him asking for a date. Did he earn it?”
“I think he did. Before I even asked you, I told him he’d have to pull into my driveway, get out, and meet my family before I’d be allowed to leave the premises.”
He fights to hold back a smile, then it’s gone. “You don’t put yourself in a situation you don’t feel comfortable being in. No means no.”
“He hasn’t even sent me a message that is suggestive at all.”
His eyes widen, and his jaw tenses before he says, “You said he; have others?”
“I’m sixteen. Sexting is—”
“Not dating. Any little fuck sends you sexual messages—”
“They get blocked.”
“They?” His voice is higher than I’ve ever heard.
“I’m going to a movie, Dad. We’re meeting friends—”
“I can drop you off at a movie, where you can—”
“Dad,” I groan exaggeratedly. “You told me when I got my license that I could ride in a car with my friends. I haven’t yet.”
“Never said boyfriends,” he grumbles.
“Never said he was my boyfriend, Dad. It’s a first date.”
He stares at me; I stare back. Then he nods.
“What do you really want to say?” I ask.
“He doesn’t deserve you.”
“He’s a friend, who asked me on a date, not for a freaking—”
“Don’t you dare,” he warns.
“Then trust me, Dad. Trust. Me. He’s not the one you should be afraid of.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“It means he’s the first one to ask, not the ‘first’ one.” I air quote first. “I’m not going to sleep with the first boy I date, get knocked up, and—”
“That’s not cool, Bella.”
“Then tell me what you want to tell me, Dad.”
“He doesn’t deserve you,” he states matter-of-factly, again.
“How will I know if anyone deserves me, Dad? I haven’t even been kissed.”
He doesn’t even fight to hide his smile this time. He beams.
I flop back on my pillow. “Oh my God, can I just go to sleep?”
“When you even think he’s possibly the boy who deserves your first kiss, Bella, you make damn sure he deserves you. Which means you know him. You know he treats his momma right, because that’s the way he’ll treat you. You remember you can do anything he can, and if he makes you feel like that’s not the case, he’s out. You remember to still dress like you and don’t change for him. No over-the-top makeup shit, Little Bell. Never let him think for you. Don’t get your head stuck up your ass, because the right guy for you will love that you’re intelligent and can think for yourself. And remember, you never have to do anything to make someone love you. The right person will cross the fucking desert in tin foil just to open a door for you.”
He pushes his