But I still don’t like him being near her while he’s pissed. She’s had enough bullshit lately to have to deal with my dad’s tantrum too.
“Dad, listen—”
“No! You listen to me, son! This is un—”
“I’m here on my own free will!” Baylee shouts over us. “Land, I’m okay. I promise. And we haven’t had sex, if that’s what you’re worrying about. I’m here to keep War company.”
Dad’s furious body that ripples with rage relaxes. “What about your parents? Do they know you’re here?”
She lifts her chin bravely. “I’ll be eighteen soon and I have been in contact with my dad. He knows I’m with your son. I promise, I’m not War’s prisoner. He’s helping me, too.”
Dad flits his gaze from her to me. “How much did you pay her?”
“Can we talk about this later?” I question through gritted teeth.
He nods and I heave out a breath of relieved air. Turning around to face Baylee, I give her a smile. “Why don’t you go and shower. I’ll make you some breakfast.”
She seems hesitant to leave but finally turns and bounces off toward her room. I stare at her perfect ass until she disappears around the corner.
“Tell me all of it. Now, Warren,” Dad hisses out.
I sigh and motion for him to follow me. “I’m going to cook breakfast. We’ll talk in the kitchen.”
While I start pulling things out of the refrigerator, Dad respects my needs by spending a good ten minutes at the sink washing up past his elbows. It was a battle in the beginning but after passing out on several different occasions as he tested my will on the matter, he’d finally bent to my needs. And I don’t even have to look at him to know he’s left his shoes by the door as well and is donning blue surgical booties.
“Start talking, son.”
I begin chopping vegetables to make vegan omelets and sigh. “I’m lonely, Dad.”
“I know this,” he says softly and begins pulling glasses out to fill with orange juice. “But you’ve been lonely since Lilah. You haven’t had one single female companion since her in fact. I’m not necessarily shocked that you’ve clearly paid a woman to entertain you but what I’m fuming about is her age. So I will ask you once again to tell me all of it.”
My dad and I have always been close but when Mom died, we knew we only had each other after that. He expects the truth from me and I’ve never had a reason to lie. Now included.
“I stumbled across a site online. It seemed professional and legit. And it was fucking expensive,” I say with a grumble. “I’d called ahead and spoke with the coordinator. They changed their event to a silent auction to accommodate my needs and even agreed to keep my participation anonymous. From the car, I watched them all prance across stage. But one stood out.”
I’ve stopped chopping and I fixate on a small square tile on the backsplash. There are seven hundred and forty-six tiles on the backsplash. I’ve counted them. Five hundred and twelve are pure white and two hundred and thirty-two are slightly marred. And two have cracks near the sink. My gaze travels over to the two cracked ones. Perfect aside from the fissure that runs right down the middle. Most days, I crave to get a Dremel tool and grind them out of the backsplash. But other days, I focus on the imperfect ones as a reminder. Maybe I can find another person, like me, and we can exist in a sea of perfection—broken but still beautiful and necessary.
“Son…”
I blink and continue. “She counted her steps across the stage. Seventeen steps, Dad. Her mouth moved as she counted and I became fixated on her. For a brief moment, I’d hoped she’d been like me. Different. When the man delivered her to my car and she spoke, I knew I wasn’t going to let her go.”
“Warren, I don’t think this sounds legal. There’s more to this isn’t there? What did you pay for her?”
I groan and avoid his eye contact. “Five million.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, son!” he hisses. “What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t. I was just tired of being alone.”
“So, you paid a seventeen-year-old five million dollars to be your companion? Why is she still here?”
“Well, it’s more complicated than that, Dad. I didn’t understand what I was doing when I bought her. It was some sort of sex ring. I swear I didn’t know,” I tell him, shame causing my voice