Page 22 of Ugly Duckling (Content Advisory #6)

Sixteen

Drinking a large amount of water every day helps you avoid other people’s drama because you’ll be too busy peeing.

—Gunner to Sutton

GUNNER

I woke up after a mostly sleepless night tossing and turning, telling myself not to go downstairs and walk into the room of the woman that had the power to fillet me with her words.

Last night, it’d taken every last ounce of strength I had to keep my ass in my bed where I belonged.

She’d been very open with how she felt about continuing what we’d shared for those two days.

She didn’t want it. It’d be very awkward, and she couldn’t live here if we continued experimenting.

I’d given her that.

Hell, I’d agreed.

I’d understood the logic in the words that she’d shared that she wasn’t still where she needed to be at after her marriage had ended.

I understood, yes, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t want it—her.

But that morning, when I blinked open my eyes, it wasn’t the woman downstairs that I’d wanted to make the trek upstairs that greeted me.

No, it was a certain crazy-haired blonde who forgot to do her curl treatment the night before.

At least she’d gotten a bath…

“Well, lookie who’s here.” I reached for my girl and pulled her into my arms. “I missed you, Beanie Weenie.”

She squeaked when I buried my face into her neck, kissing and blowing raspberries against her skin.

“Daddy! Daddy op!” She giggled ridiculously loud. “No, Daddy!”

Her little hands landed on my cheeks and she pushed for all she was worth.

No more, no more! Daddy, no more!

The memory of my son’s similar screams of happiness felt like an arrow straight to the heart.

But dammit, was it nice remembering those kinds of memories.

I stopped and inhaled deeply. “You smell like donuts, Beanie Weenie. Why is that?”

“Donuts!”

I hummed and held her there for just a little bit longer, my eyes closed, as I soaked up the memories.

Wake up, Daddy!

Jett was always so impatient when he woke me up in the morning, never once letting me lie there once he knew I was awake. But my girl? She’d lie here with me for as long as I wanted as long as she wasn’t hungry.

I blinked open my eyes to see her baby blues locked on my face.

“You want to take a nap with me?”

She shook her head, a stray curl falling into her face.

“You want to do your hair?”

She shrugged.

“Let’s get it done, so Aunt Creole doesn’t get mad at us,” I teased. “I can’t believe she let you get away with not doing it last night.”

I got up with Lottie firmly clamped around my neck and walked into the bathroom.

Once there, I got her hair stuff ready to go and said, “Be right back, Beanie. Gotta use the potty.”

“Me, too!”

My brows rose. “You want to use the big girl potty?”

With her needing to use the potty, then needing to get her hair done, then get dressed, it was a solid thirty minutes before I was downstairs, unsurprised to find a semi-full kitchen.

“We brought donuts,” Creole said. “And don’t let that girl say anything about her hair to you. I tried to do it last night, but she was very adamant that Daddy did it, and Daddy only did it. So we had to go natural.”

That had me smiling, which was when I caught Sutton’s “I told you so” smirk.

I winked at her and headed to the box of donuts, then grabbed one for the road. “I can’t stay today. I skipped out on work yesterday, but we’re on a deadline on both jobs, and I’ve already had two people call in sick today, so my time is split between jobs.”

“Need any help?” Sutton asked. “I’m off today for the most part. I just have to get some sprints in today at the track.”

“Nah,” I said. “Me and Lottie are just going to be bouncing around a lot today.”

“What about watching her?” Sutton asked. “I don’t mind bringing her with me. She can play at the track. It’s an indoor facility, and it’ll only be me in there today.”

I don’t know why it was so easy for me to say yes, but I agreed without any hesitation.

“Would that be okay with you, Beanie Weenie?” I asked my girl who was downing another donut while simultaneously dropping glaze all over my shirt.

I was fairly sure that some of it had slipped down the collar of my shirt and was now pasted against my chest.

“Yes!” She pumped her hands. “Run!”

An hour later, Audric was heading to one job site to see what he could offer help-wise, and I was headed to the other, which had the closer deadline.

I found Trig Rochester, my newest hire, torso deep in the ceiling as I came through the door.

“Hey, Trig,” I said to the former Navy SEAL. “How’s everything going?”

“Shit.” Trig looked down at me from his perch on the ladder.

“Yates didn’t show up today or yesterday.

Left early after you and your girl took off.

And I am having to sort through this utter bullshit that was this school’s wiring.

Luckily, I’m almost done, though. Unluckily, none of the shit that I was supposed to get done, got done. ”

Story of my life.

“That’s why I’m here. And I have a full day all for y’all.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s do it.”

I was angry right along with the crew by the end of the day.

The wiring was finally finished. All of the cameras and the security gates were up, and the only thing that was really left to do at this point was put in steel bars for all of the classrooms.

We could knock that out tomorrow and be done before the deadline.

That, however, would mean that I needed to spend another full day on the site with the crew, and I wouldn’t have Audric to help with the other crew tomorrow, meaning I needed more fucking help.

And I needed Yates to show up and do his fucking job.

I was all for giving him some days if he really needed it, but Yates had been doing this to me a lot lately. It was getting fucking old.

I seriously needed to hire more people.

“Got any more where you come from?” I grumbled to Trig as I wiped sweat from my forehead.

Trig nodded. “Actually, I do. His name is Duke Miller. He was on the team with me, and he’s looking for a change of scenery.”

“Invite him out to meet. Also, tell him to send me his resume.”

“Done.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket. “I was going to ask you about that anyway. Duke’s a great guy, but he’s been handed a really shit hand in life, and he needs a break from Tennessee.”

“It be like that sometimes.” I jerked up my chin. “I’m headed to bring my girls some dinner.”

Trig’s eyebrows lifted to his hairline. “Girls? As in girl, plural?”

I smiled. “Yep. Girls.”