Page 38 of Sacred Vow

CAESAR

T illy’s name flashes across my screen at a little after two in the morning, and I stare down at my phone, wondering what the fuck could have her calling me like this. As far as I was aware, she had plans with her friend, not that I’m positive I believed her.

To be honest, I think our conversation in my kitchen rattled her, and she took off so she didn’t have to deal with it.

I just haven’t been able to work out why.

It was a lot to take in, and while we redefined the terms of our little arrangement, confirming exactly where the boundaries lie, I don’t think that’s what had her running out of here, but what else could it have been?

The phone continues ringing into the silence of my bedroom, and I accept the call, not wanting to leave her hanging in case she might be in trouble. “Tilly,” I rumble, propping my hand behind my head.

“Ugh,” she groans. “Even on the phone, you’re grouchy.”

My brow arches as my hand twitches, eager to smack it across that fine ass of hers and teach her a lesson about how she should be speaking to me. “What do you want, hellcat?”

“For starters, you can quit calling me hellcat. It’s dangerous, and every time you say it, it makes me want to fuck you even harder, which is stupid because I don’t want to fuck you anymore. I can’t. You’re officially on my do not fuck list.”

“Fucking hell,” I hear Zephyr in the background. “Knock it off with the fucking my dad comments. If I have to picture that shit one more time, I’m going to hurl.”

Both Tilly and I ignore my son. “Is that what you want?” I ask her, my heart lurching and starting to race, the oddest fear in my chest that she’s going to call this whole thing off.

There’s a soft, broken sigh that tears at something deep in my chest. “No,” she finally admits. “I’m going to break our vow.”

Fuck. She’s falling in love with me.

“Where are you?”

“I don’t know,” she says, her earlier departure from my place starting to make a little more sense and proving once and for all that Tilly is still a fucking mystery to me.

Just when I think I’m able to get a read on her, she flips the script, sending me into the wild unknown.

“Zephyr brought me and Chloe to this stupid frat party, and now I’m sitting in the gutter next to a pile of vomit watching Zeph and Chloe go from making out to wanting to bite each other’s heads off.

It’s quite interesting, you know. He thinks he’s in love with her. ”

The fuck? My son in love? No. It’s not possible.

My head spins, trying to unpack everything she just said, but at least it’s good to know Zephyr ended up somewhat safe after his infamous storm out today.

As for him thinking he’s in love with Chloe?

That’s more than caught me off guard. Zeph doesn’t fall in love.

He fucks around and moves on. It’s a sick cycle, and I’m sure that whatever is going on with this chick, there’s more to the story, but right now, I couldn’t care less.

There’s only one thing that has my attention.

“Are you drunk, hellcat? Why are you sitting in a gutter?”

“Hellcat. Hellcat. Hellcat,” she slurs. “There’s that word again. You know, it makes these funny little butterfly thingies swarm around in the pit of my stomach. It’s like a weird little tickle, but I kinda like it.”

So, to answer my question, yes. She is indeed drunk, and I’d dare say she’s not just reaching the tipsy stage, she’s well and truly fucked up.

Because if she wasn’t, she never would have said anything that she’s saying now.

She wouldn’t have told me about Zeph having feelings for her friend, or that she was breaking our vow.

She would have kept her mouth shut for as long as she could.

“Baby, where are you?” I say, getting up from my bed and taking my keys off the bedside table. “I’m coming to get you.”

Tilly laughs. “I don’t need you swooping in to rescue me.

I can handle myself, you know? Though to be fair, when Jordan tried to shove his hand down my pants, I was nervous for a bit, but Zeph was there, and now Jordan is much more aware of my boundaries.

But I sure hope he wasn’t planning on having kids anytime soon.

It’ll probably take years for his balls to re-drop out of his stomach.

I reckon I squished them up there pretty good. ”

“Damn straight you did,” a feminine voice sounds a little in the distance, possibly the elusive Chloe.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demand. “Jordan put his hands on you?”

“Yep. Though it was my fault. I shouldn’t have gone with him,” she says. “He laid out the trap, and I walked straight into it.”

“Fucking hell, Tilly. That’s not your fault,” I say, already halfway to my car. “I’m glad Zephyr was there to have your back, but just know that Jordan and I will be having a conversation.”

Tilly scoffs. “You don’t need to do that,” she tells me.

“We’re just fucking, remember? Just two people doing the deed like bunnies.

There’s nothing else to it. Just fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

All night long. You purchased the down and dirty package, but unfortunately, stepping in to be the hero who saves the girl from the handsy perv falls under the full-service boyfriend package.

You’ll need to upgrade your subscription to unlock those features. ”

“Tilly,” I growl, frustration burning through me. “Where the fuck are you?”

“I don’t know,” she murmurs, clearly realizing she’s lost this battle. “Hold on. I’m turning my location on.”

She shares a pin with me a moment later, and within seconds, I’m backing out of my garage as Tilly’s voice switches from my phone speakers to the car’s Bluetooth system. “I’m on my way. I’ll be ten minutes.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” she purrs, making my cock flinch in my pants.

Fuck me. This woman is going to kill me.

“Jesus Christ. Tell me I didn’t just hear you call him daddy?” Zeph questions, sounding sick.

The other girl laughs before her soft tone fills the silence again. “Hypothetically,” she starts. “If your dad and Tilly were to fall madly in love and get married, making all the hardcore raunchy sex they can, night after night after night—”

“Get to your point,” Zeph mutters.

“She’d be your step-mom, right? So, technically, would that make you a mother fucker?”

Tilly snickers, and as Zeph immediately launches into a verbal smackdown, I tune them out and focus on driving, knowing that Tilly will be safe with Zeph, even if he’s been drinking.

He wouldn’t let anything happen to those girls.

Though I have to question how Tilly ended up in a position where Jordan could get that close in the first place.

Ten minutes later, I find Tilly sitting in the gutter among a swarm of drunk college kids while my son and another girl practically stand in the street, launching insults at one another like some kind of twisted foreplay.

My car rolls to a stop, and as Tilly gets to her feet and immediately wobbles, I realize just how drunk she is.

“Fucking hell,” I mutter to myself.

“Hey. I heard that,” she says, her voice still coming through the Bluetooth speakers as she steps right up to my car, taking the front while Zeph and his new girlfriend take the back.

They’re settled in the car a moment later, and when Tilly starts struggling with her seatbelt, I lean over and take it out of her hands, safely buckling her in.

“Thank you,” she whispers, her gaze lingering on mine for a second too long.

Her eyes are filled with the same heaviness I saw in my kitchen earlier tonight, and for whatever reason, it tears me to shreds.

I hit the gas, and just as I pull out of the street and head toward the girls’ apartment complex, I hear Tilly’s friend in the back—the same one who came running through Vixen on that first night and stole Tilly away. “Wow,” she murmurs to Zephyr. “Your dad really is a dom-daddy.”

My lips quirk into a grin, knowing exactly how Zeph is going to feel about that, and just as expected, he starts arguing with the girl who easily holds her own against my son.

The two of them go back and forth at each other, bickering like children, only there’s nothing child-like about the insults flying across the backseat.

As they go on, it becomes abundantly clear that there’s something in the air between them that has the potential to turn into something real.

Tilly remains silent the whole drive back to her apartment, and the moment I pull up outside her complex, she reaches for the handle. I put my hand out, bringing her to a stop as Zeph and Chloe eagerly get out and clamber toward the main entrance of the building.

The moment we’re alone, a strange tension begins to fill the car, and as Tilly watches me, the truth about her broken vow becomes evident between us. “I’m sorry,” she finally murmurs, her gaze dropping. “I’m ruining everything.”

“Yeah, hellcat,” I murmur with a smile, not wanting to break her heart. “You are.”

Her brows crease, and as her gaze lifts back to mine, there’s a profound sadness that kills me.

“Fuck. Come here.”

I reach across the center console, unbuckling her, and the moment she’s free of the confines of her seatbelt, I drag her across the car, pulling her straight into my lap so that she straddles me. Her arms immediately wrap around the back of my neck as she buries her face into the side of mine.

“I’m ruining everything,” she repeats, though I’m not sure she even realizes it at this point.

My hands roam up and down her back, and while this is the exact shit that I didn’t sign up for, it’s not the reason why I need to pull away. Despite the fact that I’m old enough to be her father, she shouldn’t be getting caught up with a man like me.

“That’s why you left tonight?”