Page 67 of Daddy’s Naughty List (Dirty Daddies 2024 Anthology #4)

Chapter Two

After hooking the bag of bread and peanut butter over the doorknob, Melissa struggled to fit her key into the top lock with her left hand. She’d always been thankful for the additional locks Tami’s Daddy, Archer, had installed for her. Now, each lock was another obstacle to tackle.

Tami and Archer had met her at the urgent care. She hadn’t wanted to go, but Tami had insisted. The dog that bit her had all its shots, thank goodness. Tami always made sure of that. It had been that kid’s fault. If the housekeeper’s five-year-old hadn’t pulled Mister’s tail, the sweet dog would have never chomped down on her upper arm.

Tami had a zero-tolerance policy. They would never clean that yard again because the dog couldn’t be trusted. Melissa had tried to convince her the kid should be banned, but that hadn’t worked. Tami knew the family would slack on keeping the child indoors after a short time.

Melissa looked at the next keyhole and sighed. This was going to take forever. She heard a whistle and swapped the keys over to her right hand. Gritting her teeth, she opened the locks as quickly as possible, ignoring the pain.

Her new next-door neighbor made her uneasy. She’d just opened her door when he reached their level. Melissa waved before snatching the grocery bag off the handle and rushing inside.

She ignored the “Hey! Wait!” and hurriedly closed the door and locked it. Looking down at the mangled bag, Melissa sighed. It looked like she’d eat smashed peanut butter sandwiches for a while.

Her eyes landed on the clock. Six-ten. She’d missed her date. Melissa knew she owed him a phone call.

She put the jar of generic peanut butter and bread into the refrigerator. It was the safest place for anything. There was a slight pest problem, despite Archer’s attempts to keep her apartment free of rodents.

Pulling her phone out of her fanny pack, Melissa called Rocky.

He answered immediately. “Melissa, I thought you’d changed your mind. You haven’t, have you?”

“I’m sorry, Rocky. I got hurt at the next house I serviced. Urgent care took a while, and they had to fill out paperwork for the dog bite.”

“Are you okay?”

“My arm hurts, but I’ll survive. I’m sorry I’ll miss meeting you.”

“I’ll put an order in for a pizza to go and come to you. You have to eat,” Rocky told her. “What do you like on a pizza?”

“Anything but peanut butter,” she tried to joke, but it sounded too true to be funny.

“Got it. We have the same taste. Peanut butter on a pizza sounds almost as bad as broccoli—my least favorite food.”

“At least it would be broccoli and cheese. That’s a good combination,” she said, knowing she was babbling with nervousness and reacting from all that had just happened. “Maybe I’m not good company tonight? We could do this another time.”

“I need to check on you, Little girl. I won’t stay if you don’t want me to.”

The concern in his tone made her blurt, “I can’t wait to meet you.”

“Then I’m on my way as soon as the pizza’s ready. I want you to eat something. I know you missed dinner.”

He was so perceptive and focused on her. “Thank you. I am hungry,” she admitted.

“The app gave me your address. I’ll be there soon.”

“Park under a light,” Melissa suggested.

“We have a lot to talk about.”

She looked at the phone after he disconnected. That last statement had sounded just how she’d imagined the Daddies in those books she devoured over and over again.

Booming bangs on her door made her turn to look out the peephole. It was her neighbor. “Sorry. I can’t have company now.”

“A package was delivered to me by mistake. It has your name on it.”

His voice even sounded slimy. She shivered, completely weirded out. He’d never come to her door before but had cornered her in the hall repeatedly.

“Just leave it by the door. I’ll get it in a few.”

Retreating into her small apartment, Melissa looked at the sparsely decorated room. She had a couple of chairs that would hold him if he wasn’t too large. Melissa had found them on the street and cleaned them up. She picked up a few things in the family room that were out of place before heading for the small bedroom to grab some fresh clothes.

Melissa took off her fanny pack and set it on her bed. She opened it and took out a trash bag they had given her at Urgent Care when she’d admitted she didn’t have one to put over her arm when she showered. After stashing that under the bathroom sink, she stripped and set her uniform shirt to the side. She’d have to soak the blood out of it. Tami had told her she’d replace the shirt, but it might take a while.

She cleaned herself up as best as possible in the sink before pulling jeans and a T-shirt on. It felt good to get into fresh clothes. Melissa struggled to brush her long hair with her left hand. Unable to free it of all the tangles, she wrangled it awkwardly into a low ponytail.

Sighing, she looked in the mirror. Her eyes looked clouded with pain. She hadn’t picked up the prescription they’d called in. Her budget didn’t allow that. Melissa pushed her shoulders back and smiled. Maybe she could pull it off and he’d never know. Yeah. That looked better.

She heard her phone ring in the other room and dashed into the bedroom to answer it. Rocky. Her heart sank. “Hi. I bet you have an emergency and can’t make it.”

“No, little girl. I’m still waiting for the pizza. They tell me a few more minutes. I bet you need something from the pharmacy. Tell me where to stop and I’ll pick it up on the way over.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t take medicine. It’s too expensive,” Melissa told him.

“But they called in something for you?” he persisted.

“Yes. Just some painkillers. I’ve got some aspirin around here somewhere.”

“Where did they call it in, Melissa?”

“The drugstore on Pershing Road.” Now why had she told him that?

“Thank you, little girl. See you in a few.”

He’ll never be able to pick up the prescription without me. Melissa decided not to worry about it. She took the shirt into the kitchen and found a pot to fill with water. Immersing the material inside, she set it on the stove to soak.

As she turned back toward the door, curiosity got the better of her. Had her neighbor really received a package for her? Melissa walked to the door and peeked out the peephole. Blackness filled the small view. It took a second for her to put together that someone had blocked her from seeing out.

That had to be for nefarious reasons. She didn’t want Rocky to run into trouble. Finding her phone, she called him. She spoke quickly. “Look. We should probably reschedule so I can meet you somewhere else. My apartment building is a bit dicey at night.”

“I don’t like the sound of that, little girl.”

“It’s fine when I’m coming or leaving in the early morning or evening. I don’t want you to get hurt. I’ll call in a few days and we can try this again. You know. If you want.”

“I’m three blocks from your apartment. Don’t worry. I can handle myself. I appreciate the warning to be on guard. Thank you. Hungry?” he asked.

“Starving.”

“I’ll see you in a few.”

She stared at the phone for the third time. How did he totally change what she’d called to tell him each time? Her stomach growled. She was starving. A break from peanut butter would be incredible.

Melissa grabbed the golf club she kept by her bed. Someone had thrown out a bag of old clubs for the garbage. She’d stopped and grabbed one that seemed sturdy. Tami kept after her to move but money was tight. Although Tami paid her well, a new place would require first and last month’s rent. She had her eyes on a pretty apartment complex in a better part of town.

Tami had offered her an advance on her salary, but since Tami’s Daddy had already paid for a couple months of her rent when she’d started working cleaning yards, Melissa didn’t feel like she could do that. She didn’t want to take advantage of their friendship, even though she knew Tami would never imagine she was.

A knock on the door jolted her out of her thoughts. Running to the door, she asked, “Rocky?”

“Yes. It’s me.”

His growly voice sounded much different from her neighbor’s icky one. Melissa propped the golf club against the wall and unfastened the locks.

“Hey. Who are you?” she heard her neighbor’s voice demand.

“I’m Melissa’s boyfriend. Are you the jerk that put tape over her peephole?”

“Fuck you. Why would I do that?”

“Because you’re out here lurking in the hallway. Leave her alone.”

“I’ll consider it.”

Finally, she got the last lock flipped open. “Sorry. Come in.”

She froze at the sight of the two men squared off in the hall. Automatically, she took the pizza box with a couple of bags on top from Rocky.

“You’re going to leave her alone,” Rocky repeated.

“I’m just being friendly. You know, a good neighbor,” the next-door resident explained. His voice was noticeably less confident than it usually was now that Rocky’s hands were free.

“Leave her alone,” Rocky repeated.

“Or what?” The jerk regained his bravado.

“I’ll forget what my boxing titles say about my fists being lethal weapons.”

The slimy man scanned Rocky’s bulky, muscular frame. “Got it.” He turned and walked back to his apartment.

“Sorry you’ve had to deal with him, Melissa. Let me know if he causes you any problems,” Rocky said, turning back to her now that the threat was gone.

“Lethal weapons?” she repeated shakily.

“I was a professional boxer for a while. You can probably tell that from my nose,” he joked, pointing to that out-of-line feature.

She had to laugh. It had definitely been broken a few times at least. Melissa scanned his face. The scary look in his eyes had evaporated as soon as that jerk had vanished. She remembered it. No one would want to be on the wrong side of this powerful man.

The pizza suddenly felt like it weighed twenty pounds. Melissa’s arm pounded under the layers of bandages they’d wrapped around her. As the box sagged downward, Rocky reached forward to reclaim it.

By the time their gazes met again, his expression had turned serious. “I won’t hurt you, Melissa.”

“Oh. I didn’t think about that,” she rushed to assure him. “Come in. I’m afraid my apartment isn’t too fancy.”

He followed her into the kitchen and set the box on the counter. “I don’t care where we are. I’m happy to spend time with you. Learning everything about you suddenly seems very important.”

“Hi!” she said, feeling like they’d skipped over a lot.

“Hi, Melissa. I’ve been walking on air since the app notified me we’re a match. I’ve looked for my Little girl for a long time.”

Her stomach growled loudly, and Melissa clapped a hand over her abdomen. Unfortunately, it was her right hand, jarring her injury. A groan burst from her lips.

“Food and meds,” Rocky announced. “Do you have plates?”

“No.” Melissa never stored anything in the cabinets. Who knew what would walk on them?

“Let’s just take the box into the other room. This bag has napkins, a couple bottles of soda, and all those cheese and hot pepper packets. The other is your meds.” Setting the pharmacy bag to the side, he lifted the pizza, balancing the other sacks on top.

“I’ll pay you back,” Melissa rushed to tell him even as she tried to prevent herself from looking dismayed.

“Not happening. The pharmacist recommended some bandages and other things as well. He cautioned for you to be alert to infection even with the antibiotics the urgent care called in.” Rocky looked over the chairs and settled on the floor.

Melissa sank to the cheap laminate fake wood as well. Her mind whirled slowly. Her arm distracted her, making it hard to think. “Antibiotics? I’m sorry. You spent so much on me. What a first date,” she lamented, shaking her head in disbelief.

“The worst part was you wouldn’t have gotten the meds. That could have been dangerous,” Rocky said.

“I just heard them say pain medicine and stopped listening. That’s why Archer overruled me when I told them not to call in the prescription.”

“Who’s Archer?” Rocky asked as he opened the other bag. He pulled out a couple bottles and silently offered her a choice of an orange soda or a cola.

Melissa pointed to the orange one. She’d loved that when she was a kid. Twisting the top off, she took a big taste. It was fuzzy and sweet. So good. Having completely lost track of their conversation, Melissa asked, “I’m sorry. I must be loopy. Can you repeat that?”

“Who’s Archer?” he asked, opening the pizza box.

Freshly baked crust and tangy cheese aromas wafted her way. She looked at the fully loaded pizza and grinned. “Did you have them put everything on top?”

“I did. Archer?” he reminded her, plucking a gigantic piece from the box and handing it to her.

“Archer is my friend's and employer’s Daddy. Tami owns the Canine Poo Service I work for,” she said quickly before taking a bite and rolling her eyes with happiness at the incredible flavor bursting in her mouth.

She watched him lift a piece for himself out of the box and raise it to her in a silent toast before eating a monster bite. Melissa couldn’t keep from eying him. He was huge. Broad shoulders, trim waist, thick thighs. He looked like he had a big lap for her to curl up in.

“I like that thought, whatever it was,” Rocky said.

Melissa felt her cheeks burn and knew she was blushing. He’d caught her.

“It’s okay, Melissa. I’m glad you’re attracted to me. I’m completely enchanted by you as well.”

“I look rough. Sorry.”

“You are perfect just as you are. I’m just sorry you’ve had such a bad day. What happened?”

“A dog snapped when he was hurt by a kid. I was just in the line of fire.”

“You tried to keep the dog safe, didn’t you?” Rocky asked.

“Guilty as charged. Of course, I had to. Tami will go over there tomorrow to talk to the owners. She’ll explain that even though the dog was provoked, it’s too risky for us to continue cleaning the yard. I feel bad. There’s never been a problem with him in the past.”

“Sounds like the kid needs training,” Rocky suggested.

“I think you’re right,” Melissa agreed. “Tell me about filling out the PLAYTIME app. How did you know it existed?”

“I went to get a tattoo worked on and the artist’s phone went off. The word Daddy showed on the screen. Just the look on his face told me it wasn’t his father.”

“I never had a clue that there was a large ageplay community in town. I keep hearing of more Littles,” Melissa shared.

“I didn’t ask Hunter anything personal, of course. I did check to see if he was aware of a kink community offhand. He shared a couple of websites and added the PLAYTIME app as an afterthought. It was exactly what I was looking for. The designer is a genius.”

“Archer recommended I fill out the PLAYTIME information. He and Tami have done so much for me.”

“I hope I get to meet them both. They sound like amazing friends.”

“They are.”

A brief pause in their conversation allowed Melissa to take a few bites of pizza as she wondered what she should say next.

“How about if I tell you about myself?” Rocky suggested.

“You’re a boxer?”

“Not professionally now. I stopped competing a few years ago. Now, I train for fitness only. And fun. I still enjoy going a few rounds in the ring.”

“I couldn’t be a boxer. Doesn’t it hurt to get beaten up like that?” Melissa asked.

“The short answer is yes. Adrenaline, training, and equipment make a difference, but impact is impact. Now I own a chain of gyms, teaching boxing and fitness. We have a special program for at-risk youth. I feel like I’m making a difference for kids.”

“That’s so neat. I just pick up dog poop from people’s yards.”

“I never want to hear you devalue yourself like that again. You provide a valuable service that allows your clients to focus on other things. I would guess there are some people physically unable to complete the job who you help. Not to mention the benefits for the dog in having a clean play space,” Rocky said in a very stern tone that made her listen closely.

“I never thought about it like that. I just talked to a lady at the supermarket tonight. She couldn’t walk in her grass anymore without losing her balance and wanted Tami’s contact information.”

“See? You’re doing a valuable service others couldn’t or wouldn’t do,” Rocky stressed. “Do you like your job?”

“Yes. It’s so much better than flipping burgers or waiting tables,” Melissa told him.

“Do you have any dreams of things you’d like to do in the future?”

“Go back to school. I had to drop out of high school for some family problems. I’d love to get my diploma. First, I need to get out of this apartment complex. I’ve got a new place all picked out. I just need to save up the money.”

“How’s that going?” he asked.

“Great. I’ll get there in a few months if I’m careful. That reminds me, what do I owe you for pizza and medicine?”

“Not a thing. You do need to take your medicine.” Rocky rose to his feet in a smooth display of toned coordination. He returned to sit back down with the bag from the pharmacy.

Opening it up, he pulled out a bag with her prescriptions. “Here’s the antibiotic. You’re supposed to take this four times a day. The pharmacist suggested two tonight. One now and another before bed. It doesn’t matter if they’re closer together than normal.”

“You really did talk to the pharmacist,” Melissa said in wonder.

“Of course. This other one is the pain medicine. Maybe take this before you go to bed? He cautioned against taking this and driving,” Rocky warned.

“I won’t take those. I get too loopy.”

“It’s not a bad idea to have in case you need it. I also got some over-the-counter painkillers. Take those now with your antibiotic. I brought you a treat for taking your medicine.”

Her eyes widened in surprise when he pulled out a bag of chocolate kisses in holiday colors. Instantly, her mouth watered. She hadn’t bought candy in a very long time.

“Pizza first. Then dessert,” Rocky told her.

She watched him open the pill containers and drop the right dose into her hand. Grateful she didn’t need to worry about anything, Melissa popped them into her mouth. Her arm was hurting more and more as the deadening meds wore off.

“How many stitches do you have, little girl? Or did he use glue?”

“The teeth marks were jagged, so he had to stitch them. I didn’t watch. They said I had seven in different places.”

“Ouch. I’m afraid that’s going to hurt. Let’s set your phone to remind you to take your medicine,” Rocky suggested, holding out his hand for her device.

“That’s a good idea.” She would have never thought of programming her phone to signal it was time to take her pills. Poking in the sack he’d gotten at the pharmacy, Melissa noticed he’d gotten several kinds of bandages and even some tape. She could use that for the trash bag showers.

“I can’t thank you enough for all of this. You’re going to think I’m a bunch of trouble and run the other way,” Melissa predicted.

“Not going to happen, little girl. We haven’t known each other long, but I agree with PLAYTIME. We’re a good match.”

“Thank you for helping me,” she whispered.

“It’s my absolute pleasure, Melissa. I’ve been looking for someone special to complete my life. I think I need to write PLAYTIME a thank-you note.”