Page 10 of The Love Obsession (Bloody Desires #11)

MOOSE

Daddy. What the hell was I thinking? I had enough issues without calling him fucking Daddy . Yet the word slipped out of my mouth so easily that it almost felt natural. And how fucked up was that?

I had bigger problems, though. Some of the guys who lived in the trailer park worked at the lumber mill, and if any of them drove past and saw me with Zayn’s tongue down my throat, there’d be hell.

I couldn’t afford to get kicked out of Lakeview, especially because Mom had lost her job— again —and Ginny needed stability.

I’d done as many shifts as my body allowed, paying off the rent for the trailer that was overdue, and I was sore.

My shoulders ached. I was drowning. Mom had been responsible once.

She’d been a registered nurse. The only reason we’d moved to the park was for her and Dad to save money for a house.

I’d been younger, had just turned eighteen, and I remembered how I’d looked up to her.

My mother. The greatest woman alive. A true superhero who saved lives.

My parents had been in love and my dad worshiped her as much as I had. He’d worked at the lumber mill like me. He was a machine operator. Mom and Dad promised me we’d only be in the park for a year, maximum, and I’d thought of it as an adventure. Until it wasn’t.

My dad’s death at work hit us as hard as a cement wall at a hundred miles per hour. Mom’s mental health deteriorated and she resorted to beer.

Alcohol—manmade poison and a fake Band-Aid for someone’s mental injuries.

So, what started out temporary became permanent. My world fell right off its axis.

Mom started doing things that weren’t typical for her—sleeping around.

She got pregnant and cleaned up. After Ginny was born, I became her father figure because Mom crumbled again and went right back to drinking.

Now, we were in a rut with Mom struggling to get on the sober bandwagon and keep a job while I helped pay for our shitty lifestyle.

I’d never allowed myself the luxury of a man. At least, not until I’d tried with Roger the Dodger, but that had all gone up in smoke. I wasn’t going to hold my breath with Zayn. He was rich, hot as fuck, and charming. He had plenty of options.

I shoved away from him, my mind spinning with all the reasons this was wrong. “Don’t you have some cute little asses to fuck instead?”

I shot him a glare and forced myself to take a step to the side toward my car, but my knees were shaky.

I pressed backward until I was able to lean on the Subaru for support.

Zayn was intoxicating and that made him dangerous.

He was a man I couldn’t risk in my life, which was why I’d been grateful that work kept me busy so I couldn’t think about him.

Now he was here. I hadn’t expected that.

I thought after all the missed calls and ignored texts, he’d let it go and find someone else to mess with.

“I prefer men I can’t break. Like you.” He grinned languidly, no more hurried than a cat who’d just finished a feast and wanted to laze in the sun. There was an ease about him that made me shift uncomfortably. Damn it.

“I’m busy,” I said gruffly, hoping he’d get the message, but after finding me at work, I didn’t think he’d back off. Not unless I pounded a fist into his face and I didn’t want to do that.

“Yes, yes, so am I, but I’m still here, aren’t I?

I made time for you.” His eyes glittered in the afternoon sun, and standing out in the heat made me glad that it’d cooled down some from last week.

I still had a white muscle shirt on because I wore it under my uniform, and I’d already slid off my beige shirt that I wore when lopping down trees. It was just too damned hot.

“Not all of us have good payin’ jobs where we’re sittin’ in offices all day, do we, Fancy Pants?” I rolled my eyes. One could only wish, but no one wanted a guy who didn’t graduate from high school.

“Mm, true, but that means I have the money to spoil you.” He closed the distance between us.

As much as I wanted to back away, I had nowhere to go.

I was already leaning against Mom’s car.

He glued himself to my front, and I glanced around to make sure there weren’t any cars coming. “I can take you out for a nice dinner.”

I snorted. “You say that like I wanna be someone’s sugar baby. I don’t.” I went to shove his shoulder again, but he snatched my wrist before I could, bringing it to his mouth so he could place a line of kisses over my pulse point.

“Perhaps I want to be your sugar daddy. Is that so bad?” He eyed me from below his long lashes as he snaked kisses up the length of my arm.

The sound of a car had me yanking away, and I waited for the Toyota to pass.

It was one of the trailer park boys in the driver’s seat and he stared at us suspiciously as he drove by.

Fuck. Thorley was the nosiest motherfucker who lived in the park.

He was a big-ass golden retriever who didn’t know when to shut his mouth.

It was almost as if he was oblivious to the world we lived in.

I sliced my fingers through my hair and sighed.

“Listen, I can’t do this here, all right, dude?

I got people I’m takin’ care of and if I’m caught with a man, we’ll get kicked out of our home.

” I’d already told him too much. It was none of his fucking business, so why was I sharing this information?

It was easier to tell him to fuck off and that I never wanted to see his face again, but some stupid part of me needed him to fuck me again.

He pursed his lips in thought and smiled. “So, follow me to a hotel.”

“Hotel?” I echoed with a frown. I glanced around again, but whatever answers I was looking for didn’t show their faces. What did I want to do? “I got no money.”

“You said it yourself. I do.” He laid his hand on my hip, the weight of his palm heavy and promising. “Let me treat you right for a night. I’ll take you out to dinner and then fuck you until you’re making those sounds I loved the last time.”

There were so many reasons why this was a bad idea.

The fact that Mom was probably drunk and passed out was one of them.

I’d already made arrangements for Ginny to stay with Mrs. Carmine until I got home, but was it fair to ask the elderly neighbor to watch Ginny all night?

Mrs. Carmine liked Ginny, but she wasn’t young anymore.

I sighed. It wasn’t often that I asked Mrs. Carmine for this kind of favor, but I couldn’t trust Mom to take care of Ginny overnight. As soon as she woke up from whatever stupor she was in, she’d be right back into the booze.

“Fuck.” I scrubbed my face with my palms, then placed one on his chest, shoving him back slightly. “Just...wait. Step back. Give me some room.”

Zayn listened to what I’d asked, moving away from me until there was enough distance that I felt comfortable enough to reach in the car and grab my phone. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye as I found Mrs. Carmine’s number and called her.

“Hello?” That one word wobbled like she couldn’t quite get her mouth to move around it properly.

“Mrs. Carmine, it’s me, Moose.” I turned my back on Zayn and leaned into my phone, lowering my voice. “How’s Ginny?”

She chuckled, and in the background, I heard Ginny sing out, “Hey, Bubba! I miss you.”

I grinned, warmth spreading through my chest. Ginny was my world. I’d kill for her. She was the reason I stayed put in the trailer park with Mom. “Hey, Gin Gin.”

“As you can hear, dear, she’s fine. She’s having SpaghettiOs. My Lizzy loved SpaghettiOs when she was Ginny’s age. It was her favorite. She once told me, she said Mama, these are the best things God ever made. I didn’t have the heart to argue. Bless her heart.”

I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me.

Mrs. Carmine reminisced about her dead daughter a lot and I’d heard so many stories about her already.

Her daughter passed away at twenty-five in a car accident with a drunk driver, and Mrs. Carmine had no one else.

That was why she loved taking care of Ginny and her dog, Bernadette.

I glanced over my shoulder and glared when I realized Zayn had shifted closer again, as though he was trying to hear my conversation. Nosy bastard. I guess that was what I got for taking up an offer from a fancy pants like him. I pointed at him in warning.

He laughed, holding up his palms.

I turned away again. “Mrs. Carmine, can Ginny and Bernadette stay the night? I’ll give you some cash for her dinner and breakfast, anything you need,” I whispered as quietly as I could, which wasn’t as soft as it should’ve been, but Mrs. Carmine was half deaf in her old age.

“Of course, dear. Of course. I’ll take good care of her.

We’re going to watch Shrek . She watched it the last time she was here and it’s one of her favorites.

It was my Lizzy’s favorite, too, you know?

Lizzy loved Donkey. She said he was funny.

” Her voice wavered, and I winced because I knew she was getting teary.

“We saw it in the movie theater. It was the last movie we saw together.”

“Okay, I’ll be back in the morning. Tomorrow’s a school day. Can you remind Ginny? Mom should be able to take her, but call me if she doesn’t come to get Ginny, okay? I’ll get home as fast as I can.”

“Of course, dear. Of course. I’ll take good care of her.”

Once I finished the conversation with Mrs. Carmine and said my goodbyes, I texted Mom.

Moose

be thar soon to leave car. G with Mrs C for night. Rmem to take to school tmrrw.

I wasn’t even sure if she’d see it. If she did start drinking again tonight, she’d have the biggest hangover in the morning, but she needed the car to take Ginny to school, then to go look for jobs. Luckily, I had the day off from work tomorrow.

I rubbed my face after I’d shoved my phone in the back pocket of my dirty jeans. Fuck. Why did everything have to be so hard?