one that got played. I was the one that made the mistake and I will be the one to deal with it,” she announces. She might look like her mother, but fuck if she doesn’t sound like me. I take pride in that.
“Come here, Butterfly,” I tell her, holding out my arms. Lyla looks at me, and then all at once that mask she tries to wear, cloaking her emotions, slips. On her face, I can read sadness, despair, and more than a little fear. Just like that, she’s my little girl again. As she walks to me and slides into my lap, I hug her tightly, squeezing her to me. My eyes close at the sweetness, the love I feel at having my daughter come to me.
“It’s going to be okay, Lyla,” I murmur, cradling her once I’ve pulled her into my lap. She settles in and I kiss the top of her head.
“I know,” she whispers. “You won’t let it go any other way,” she says, sadly, but showing that she has all the confidence in the world in me.
“Damn straight,” I respond gruffly.
“I don’t want you to go crazy, Daddy,” she says, squeezing me tighter.
“Butterfly, he hurt you. He lied to you and then when you needed him most, he left you alone. He needs to learn not to fuck with a woman’s heart. More than that, he needs to learn not to fuck with my daughter’s heart.”
“How do you know he lied to me?” she sniffles and my heart squeezes in my chest, because I know she’s crying and that’s the last thing I want. When I find this bastard, he’ll be lucky if I don’t tear his head off and feed it to my damn dogs. I’m going to do that to his dick anyway.
“Because I know you. You never would have been with him if he hadn’t.”
I don’t know shit about raising kids. Everything I learned was just from being there for Lyla. Because of that, the two of us talk about everything openly. There aren’t secrets. I was there when she started her period and I was the one to make sure she had tampons or whatever she needed. Sure, I sent a prospect to go get that shit, but still it was me that gave them to her, me that made sure she had ice cream. She’s never hidden anything from me….
Except this bastard.
“He didn’t exactly lie to me, Dad,” she mumbles. “I was just stupid and naïve.”
“Give me his name.”
“No. This is the way it has to be. I don’t want you or the club getting involved. You won’t believe me, but he’s a decent guy, and if I told him about the baby, he’d come back.”
“Then, why in the fuck won’t you tell him,” I ask, pulling away to look at her. I hold her face in each of my hands, not letting her turn away from me. “I thought you told him about the baby and then he ran.”
“No, I was going to tell him about the baby, but before I got the chance, he decided to tell me how he was in love with Gabby and was using me to get over her. He said he realized that was a shit thing to do and that it was over. He wanted to end things before anyone got hurt.”
“Lyla,” I sigh, not sure what I want to do now, but I’d like to take my frustration out on this asshole.
“He was actually very nice about it and maybe if I hadn’t asked him…”
“Asked him what, Butterfly?”
“I asked him how he could sleep with me and make love to me all this time if he was truly in love with another woman…” she murmurs, her voice cracking and so quiet that I have to strain to hear it.
“Butterfly…” I murmur, my heart torn. As her father, it’s up to me to protect her and keep her from hurt. That’s always been my job…
“I look like her, Daddy. All this time, I was in love with him and he was with me because…” she breaks off, taking a shuddering breath, her body trembling against me as she lets herself cry. “I looked like her.”
I hold Lyla closer, letting her cry it out. I’m going to kill this asshole.
Kill.
Him.
15
Grunt
“When you said we were going on a ride, I don’t know what I expected…”
“Yeah?” I laugh, knowing what is coming next.
“Miniature golf, Luke? Really!?!”
“You don’t like golf, Red?” I laugh as she puts