Hey, Daddy (Semyonov Bratva Book 2)

Hey, Daddy: Chapter 12



You had me at trigger warning.

—Nastya’s secret thoughts

NASTYA

I was in Haze’s ex-wife’s house, and we were stealing a dog.

In my wildest dreams, I would’ve never seen today coming.

Years and years ago, Shasha had decided that I needed to learn how to defend myself.

Not only had he taught me all of the basics on how to take care of myself, but he’d also insisted that I take classes that would help me fight off someone that wanted me to do something I didn’t want to do.

In doing so, he’d given me the tools to not only not let that man come inside my apartment today but also protect Haze’s daughter.

“Why couldn’t we have done this the normal way?” I asked curiously.

“Because my ex-wife is a psycho,” he said. “She finds out I was in her house, she’ll flip a fuckin’ switch and turn into the rabid bitch that she is and try to find a way to make my life hell.”

“She sounds like a pleasant woman,” I said as I followed him in through the garage door at the back of the house.

“She is something,” he grumbled.

“How do you know that she doesn’t have any cameras inside?” I wondered.

“Because she’s not technologically savvy. And she’d have to hire someone to put them in, and that’s something she’ll never do,” he explained. “The only reason she has that doorbell is because the alarm company installed it for her. And set it up in the app.”

“It’s not really all that hard,” I pointed out.

“And my ex-wife isn’t all that smart,” he grumbled.

He used some tools from his pocket to unlock the back door of the house, then pushed it open.

He walked directly to where he knew the cage to be and hunkered down to open it.

The dog, a massive Saint Bernard, was incredibly happy to see him. Despite having a cast on his front leg, he all but launched himself at Haze, giving him a bunch of happy kisses.

“This was the first dog I’d ever gotten from anywhere but a shelter,” he mused. “Julia insisted we have a pure-bred dog, and I was so damn pissed when she came home with him for my birthday. But the first thing I saw was his one blue eye, and one brown eye. Julia got pissy because the dog she wanted wasn’t there, and she had to settle for him. And I just felt an instant connection to him. The vet dubbed him Big Finny, and Julia hated it. She wouldn’t call him anything but Finneus. From the moment she got him, she hated him. He sheds a lot, and slobbers. And she just had no clue what she was getting when she got him.”

“He’s a beauty,” I admitted. “We should probably go.”

He smiled and patiently walked with Finn at his side, not bothering to shut the door as he left.

“Maybe a group of squirrels will invade her house, and she’ll have to leave,” he grumbled. “Fuckin’ hate this house.”

He helped first Finn, and then me, into the Jeep. Then he drove to his brother’s house.

He didn’t introduce us, and I didn’t get upset that he didn’t.

Desi came out to greet Finn, wrapping her arms around his big head and giving him a kiss, which he fervently returned.

They spoke for a few long moments, then Haze gave his daughter and the dog one last pat on the head before heading back toward me.

I didn’t fight him on driving.

Instead, I sat back in the passenger seat and said, “How far away is it?”

“Two hours or so,” he said. “Depending on traffic.”

I smiled and sat back in my seat, happy to be there despite the circumstances.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I’d missed him.

And today had been hard.

I wanted to forget that Butters was no longer here with me to brighten my day, and he seemed like a perfect distraction.

We’d been on the road for five minutes when the inevitable happened.

My phone, of course, chose that time to alert me of a high or low blood sugar.

When I didn’t make the move to check it, Haze pulled over and reached for my phone.

“What’s the code?” I asked.

I scrunched up my nose at him and said, “There’s not one.”

He paused as he flipped my phone open with nary a lock in sight.

“That’s downright wrong,” he said. “Put a lock on your phone. Anyone can get into it.”

“I don’t keep anything incriminating in my phone,” I pointed out.

“You may not think it’s incriminating, but anything can and will be used against you,” he said. “Please put one on.”

I shrugged. “You have it.”

He started flipping through the screens and said, “Where’s the app that shows you your blood sugar?”

“It’s on the last page. In a folder, I think.” I shrugged.

“You think?” he asked. “Why isn’t this front and center on your phone screen so you can easily access it?”

“Because I can’t ignore it that way.” I rolled my eyes.

“You shouldn’t ignore it at all,” he said as he paused. “This one?”

He flipped my phone around for me to see and I said, “Yep.”

“It says it’s really low. You feel bad?”

I shrugged. “I feel like I always feel.”

He pulled over at the first gas station he saw, got out, and headed into the building.

I watched him move around the gas station.

He went to the freezer, pulled out something, then went to a middle aisle.

He then went to the checkout and came out moments later with a bag.

When he got into the Jeep, he handed it to me and said, “Get going on that food.”

I opened the bag and saw a Dr Pepper in there, as well as a Coke.

“Which one is mine?” I wondered.

“Whichever you don’t want will be mine. I like both,” he said as he backed out of the spot.

I watched as the muscles in his forearm flexed as he spun the wheel around.

Shit, even backing out of a parking lot, he was dead sexy.

I shivered and looked back toward the bag.

“I like both, too. Equally. Which one do you like better?” I questioned.

“Coke,” he answered.

I handed him the Coke and took the Dr Pepper. Taking a big swig of it, I placed it in the cup holder next to his drink and went looking through the bag again.

“How did you know that I liked Reese’s?” I wondered.

“I’ve been following you around for a month, and I can tell exactly what you do and don’t like,” he replied. “I know that when you go to the grocery store, your favorite thing to get is sushi and microwave Devour meals. I know when you go into the gas station you always come out with a Reese’s, even if you’re only running in there to pee.”

I flushed. “I like Reese’s a lot.”

His mouth quirked up. “I surmised.”

I ate the Reese’s first, then opened the bag of Muddy Buddies.

When I handed him the bag, he took a handful and shoved the entire handful into his mouth.

I watched him chew and smiled when little dots of powdered sugar stained his otherwise immaculate shirt.

“What’s with only blue jeans and black t-shirts?” I wondered. “You don’t have a dress code?”

“They try to enforce it on me, but I just don’t give a shit anymore. If anyone says anything, they know I’m two seconds away from quitting,” he grumbled.

“Why?” I asked as I took another much smaller handful of my favorite dessert and ate it.

“Because I don’t like being a cop anymore.” He shrugged. “I’m so fuckin’ tired of the criminal justice system. I don’t like the way it runs. I don’t like the way that politics play such a huge role. I don’t like seeing innocent children dying, and elderly getting taken advantage of. I don’t like the way we let the worst of the worst get out, meanwhile some guy that has a small-time marijuana charge gets the book thrown at him.”noveldrama

He sounded so much like Shasha it hurt.

I wouldn’t point that out to him, though.

“Why do you ignore your sugars?” he asked again.

Damn, I’d been hoping he would forget that question.

“It’s a pain in my ass.” I shrugged. “I just want to be a normal person.”

“Mama, there’s no way you’ll ever be normal.” He shot me a look that made my knees quiver.

My blood sugar evened out, and the rest of the drive was spent with him asking me questions, and me answering.

Every time I tried to steer the conversation his way, he’d answer my question, and then volley one right back at me, which would have him adding more questions to the list to substantiate my explanation.

All too soon, we arrived at his daughter’s car, and I was left feeling bereft.

“I don’t know what I expected, but this definitely wasn’t it,” he said as he took everything in.

“A fancy pants hotel in the middle of nowhere?” I asked. “With what looks like a nudist infinity pool back there?”

“Exactly.” He pulled out a set of keys and said, “I would offer to let you drive her car, but I don’t want my ex to pull something and report it stolen, then you get arrested. That won’t look good to the brass.”

“It’s okay,” I said as I got into the driver’s side of the Jeep and started back home, my mind going back and forth about my day for hours.

At some point when we hit the Texas state line, I lost him, having gotten caught up by construction.

I never saw him again, and I wondered if that was how this was always going to be.

Me seeing him at random times, and always wondering what if.


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