Once Upon a Daddy: A Romance Anthology

by Kelli Callahan

  Chrissy cleaned my wound and washed away the blood. She was right—I probably did need stitches. I just didn’t give a fuck. It would definitely leave a scar if I didn’t get it fixed, but I had a few of those already. Chrissy used some liquid adhesive to get the wound closed and then bandaged it up so that I wouldn’t be able to squeeze my hand and tear open the seal she made. If I managed to keep it straight for a few days, it might actually heal without a trip to the hospital—provided I didn’t get an infection.

  “I’m really sorry, Chrissy.” I exhaled sharply. “I never expected something like this to happen. I always checked my cameras regularly—obviously I shouldn’t have installed those fucking things to begin with.”

  “It’s not your fault.” She lifted my arm and forced me to embrace her. “We’ll figure it out together. Lauren said there might be a way to stop them from getting released, right?”

  “Yeah…” I sighed. “I just hope she’s right. I don’t want this to screw up everything you’ve worked for.”

  “I have you…” She took my good hand and squeezed it. “That’s all I really need right now.”

  I wish it was that simple…

  Fifteen

  Chrissy

  Greyson was in rough shape. I had never seen him look so defeated. It wasn’t because he was concerned about himself—he was concerned about me. Seeing that look on his face made my stomach twist into a knot—but it wasn’t because I was afraid of the video getting leaked. That certainly terrified me, but what made my stomach knot up was a harsher realization. I made a mistake—and it might have been my fault that his security cameras were hacked. It wasn’t something I did intentionally, but if what I feared was true—I knew who did it. I just didn’t know how to fix it before our world came crashing down around us.

  Three days ago

  “Chrissy!” I heard someone calling my name and turned to see Meghan walking towards me.

  “Hey Meghan.” I smiled and turned in her direction. “Ready for another week of hiding in the back of the room?”

  “Maybe…” She pulled her pack of cigarettes out of her purse. “I gotta burn one down before I go in there though—I’m barely awake this morning.”

  “Did you go out last night?” I tilted my head inquisitively.

  “Yeah, I might have.” She nodded and lit a cigarette. “You’re definitely going out with me next weekend!”

  “Meghan…” I shook my head back and forth. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but that’s just not my thing.”

  “Having fun isn’t your thing?” She raised an eyebrow and exhaled a stream of smoke.

  “I—do like to have fun, but I’m just not interested in going to parties or getting wasted—that’s not my idea of fun.” I shrugged slightly.

  It might have been at one time—but not anymore.

  “Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “Well I’m not spending another weekend window shopping—I’m not in high school anymore.”

  “I get it.” I sighed. “I’m going to head to class. I’ll see you in there.”

  “You probably won’t.” She took another drag from her cigarette. “You’ll be too busy paying attention.”

  It felt good to stand up for myself and tell Meghan that I wasn’t going to succumb to her version of peer pressure. I was tempted—but what ultimately shifted my perspective was the emotional release I had over Greyson’s knee. It was a hard spanking. It really hurt. But, despite that—it was exactly what I needed to navigate towards the future I wanted. I found the line between what my body craved and my breaking point. I doubted I would ever be free of my kinky desires or the need to call him Daddy, but I had found the balance. Being taken past my limit was enough to show me the way—and the path in front of me was beautiful.

  So beautiful that I don’t need to embrace my bad girl side anymore—except when I’m with Greyson, because he knows how to handle her.

  Several hours later

  “You didn’t wait for me…” Meghan came running up after we finished our last class and I was almost to the parking lot.

  “I figured you were upset.” I stopped and looked over at her. “You didn’t seem happy earlier.”

  “Whatever…” She rolled her eyes. “If you don’t want to have fun, then I guess you can just be my lame friend.”

  “I’m okay being lame…” I shrugged and pulled my keys out of my purse. “I’m focused on other things. I’m not judging you or anything. If you want to go out and party—do it. It just doesn’t interest me…”

  “Yeah, I just wanted to hang out with you—I thought we could have fun. I’ll let you make it up to me.” She grinned.

  “How?” I raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

  “Let me drive your Porsche.” She grabbed the keys out of my hand before I realized what she was doing.

  “Meghan, no!” I reached out for her, but she was already running towards the car.

  “I’m not going to wreck it!” She clicked the button to unlock the door and was inside the car before I caught up.

  “Seriously!” I pounded on the window. “This isn’t my car! I can’t let anyone drive it!”

  “I’m driving it…” She pushed the key into the ignition and rolled down the window. “You can either get in or pray I bring it back.”

  “Ugh!” I ran around to the passenger side and climbed inside. “Meghan, please—this is a really bad idea. If something happens to this car…”

  “Relax, I know how to drive.” She hit the radio. “We need some music—why isn’t this synced to your phone?”

  “I never set that up. It has Satellite Radio.” I waved her off. “Okay, drive it around the parking lot—that’s it.”

  “Fuck that.” She shook her head back and forth. “I’m hitting the highway in this baby—I want to see what it can do.”

  “Please don’t do that…” I actually considered jumping out and trying to flag down a security guard for help, but I didn’t want to get Meghan in trouble.

  “It’ll be fine.” Meghan backed up and made the tires squeal when she hit the accelerator.

  This is a fucking nightmare. Greyson is going to kill me!

  My nails dug into the leather seat as Meghan drove out of the parking lot. I was beyond terrified, but I realized that I was just going to have to ride it out. I hoped Greyson would believe my story if he found out Meghan drove his Porsche. I kept looking in the rear-view mirror—afraid we were going to get pulled over—afraid Meghan was going to go too fast. Thankfully, she settled down once she hit the highway—and in a moment that brought me an incredible amount of relief—she turned off at the first exit. My knuckles were white when she pulled the car back into the parking lot. I wanted to scream at her, but I wanted her out of the driver’s seat first.

  “This thing is awesome…” She picked up her phone. “I bet my music would sound great in it too.”

  “You’ve driven it. That’s enough.” I reached over to take the keys from the ignition.

  “I’ll get out in a minute. I just want to hear one of my favorite songs—see how it bumps with this sound system.” She hit a couple of buttons and synced her phone to the car.

  “Fine…” I sat back in my seat and glared at her.

  “Wait, why does this car say it’s registered to Ricky Bonds? Like—the football player?” She stared at the screen.

  “It was a gift from him.” I nodded.

  “Holy shit. You didn’t tell me you were living with Ricky Bonds!” She looked at me in shock.

  “I’m not. I live with his agent—Greyson Foster. He’s a family friend.” I sighed.

  I really didn’t want to tell her all that—it was bad enough that she thought I was just some spoiled rich girl…

  “You have to be fucking kidding me.” Meghan’s mouth fell open. “So—you must have celebrities around all the time? No wonder you got into Sports Management! You’ve already got a connection!”

  “I don’t even know if I’m doing that anymore.” I shrugged. “
Seriously, Meghan. Please—I need to go home now.”

  “Fine…” She hit the button to play her song. “Just let me hear my song.”

  I sat there while Meghan nodded her head to the beat of a rap song I didn’t recognize. After she was done, she turned off the car and handed the keys back to me. I was so angry that I was seething, but I kept my temper in check. There didn’t seem to be any damage. If Greyson looked at the tracker, he would probably wonder why I just made a random loop before returning to school, but at least everything was okay. I finally let out a sigh of relief once I was behind the wheel of the car and on the way home.

  I don’t think Meghan and I are going to be friends anymore…

  Two days ago

  I didn’t talk to Meghan much at school the day after she decided to hijack Greyson’s Porsche for a joyride. I was civil—but that was about the end of it. I made sure she was nowhere to be seen when I pulled the keys out of my purse after school. I had just made it home, changed into some relaxing clothes, and started working on my assignments when there was a—knock—followed by the sound of someone rapidly pressing the doorbell. I was instantly on high alert because I definitely wasn’t expecting anyone, and Greyson didn’t mention visitors. I walked down the stairs and peeked outside to see Meghan—standing on the front porch.

  “What the hell?” I pulled the door open. “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to see the house.” She ducked under my arm before I had a chance to react.

  “Meghan—this isn’t my house. Greyson doesn’t like to have visitors.” I pulled the door wide open. “You need to leave. Wait, how did you find out where he lived—and how did you get through the front gate?”

  “Oh, when I synced my phone to your car, it downloaded a bunch of information.” She smiled and looked around the house. “Is he home?”

  “No, and you need to leave before he gets here!” I motioned to the door.

  “I want the grand tour first.” She started skipping down the hallway.

  Great, another nightmare—and another reason for Greyson to kill me.

  For the second day in a row, I had to cave in and let Meghan satisfy her curiosity. I gave her a brief tour and followed as she looked around on her own. I just wanted her out of the freaking house as fast as possible—although I did contemplate drowning her in the pool as an alternative. I wasn’t just done with the friendship; I was done with her as a person. She no longer reminded me of the girl I used to be—she was much worse. I contemplated calling the police—or possibly calling John to see if he would come forcibly remove her, but I decided against it. I didn’t want to alarm Greyson if I could get her out of the house before he showed up.

  “Nice place. I wish I had this kind of cash…” Meghan walked back into the main part of the house.

  “You’ve seen enough, right? You need to go before Greyson gets home.” I pointed at the door.

  “Fine, but I expect an invitation at some point. You have a heated pool—a jacuzzi—hell, you have a regular swimming pool too!” She shook her head back and forth. “I bet there’s a liquor cabinet around here somewhere…”

  “I’m done with this.” I walked up and grabbed her arm. “You have to leave.”

  “Hey, don’t be a bitch about it.” She pulled her arm out of my grasp. “Not all of us live in the mouth of fucking luxury with a—family friend or whatever he is.”

  “Just fucking go.” I pointed at the door.

  “I thought you were friend…” She rolled her eyes and started walking towards the door. “Whatever.”

  “If you want me to be a friend, try acting like a friend.” I followed her to the door and slammed it.

  I looked out the window once Meghan got to her car. She didn’t leave immediately. She played on her phone and I even saw her open her laptop. I had no idea what she was doing, but I wasn’t going to open the damn door again. After about ten minutes, she finally drove off. I was angry, but glad she left before Greyson got home. It would be hard to explain—and I would probably get a trip over his knee for being careless. At least she was gone—that was what mattered. I just hoped that she would stay gone.

  I tried to be civil—well that’s over. I’m not even going to speak to her after this freaking stunt…

  Present day

  All I needed was Greyson. Nothing else mattered. When I walked into the living room and heard what he had to say, I quickly started to put the pieces together. If his security cameras were hacked right after Meghan came by the house—then I felt confident that she had something to do with it. She got his address and the code for the front gate when she synced her phone with the Porsche. What else would it have given her access to? I needed to investigate, but before I could do that, I needed to take care of Greyson. He was in a dark place, and if that was my fault, then I had to find a way to pull him back from it.

  “Do you need anything? Can I call the chef—or order something?” I squeezed the hand that wasn’t hurt.

  “No, I’m fine.” He shook his head back and forth. “I just need time to pass—and for Lauren to figure out if we can stop this asshole from leaking the footage once we pay them off.”

  “You’re—going to pay?” I blinked in surprise. “Don’t do that…”

  Don’t give that bitch a dime—I’d rather the world see me with a red ass than for her to profit off this.

  “I don’t really have a choice.” He exhaled sharply. “If this is the same group that hacked all of those celebrity photo cloud accounts a while back—then there’s no way for the cops to track them down. And honestly? I don’t even want to involve the cops at this point because of what is on that footage…”

  “Why do you think it’s the same group?” I tilted my head inquisitively.

  “That’s who claimed responsibility when we got the call.” He shrugged. “I think I just need to go to bed…”

  “I’ll join you.” I stood and reached for his hand. “Maybe I can do something to take your mind off this…”

  “Right now?” He sighed and looked down at the floor. “I just want to be alone for a little bit.”

  I waited until Greyson was upstairs to grab my phone and head to the garage. I synced my phone to the Porsche, deleted the profile Meghan set up and looked over everything that was transmitted. It seemed that once the phone was synced, several apps downloaded. I checked each of them and found one that was tied to some of the devices in the house—including the security footage. The app was password protected and my pulse raced as I punched in the code for the front gate. The app unlocked and I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. I was staring at a screen with all of the security cameras in the house—and a folder with archives of recorded footage.

  It was her…

  The next day

  Greyson decided to stay home from work. He didn’t even get ready to go in. I wanted to stay home with him, but slightly relieved when he insisted that I go to school. I wasn’t going to school though—classes hadn’t started, and I was early. I was going to Meghan’s apartment, and I wasn’t leaving until I was sure that the footage was gone. After that, I would tell Greyson everything—but not until I was certain that it was fixed. Her car was parked outside, so I went to her door. I kept pounding until she finally responded, and the door opened.

  “You fucking bitch!” I hit the door with my shoulder and knocked her back.

  “Chrissy, what the hell is wrong with you?” She stared at me in confusion.

  “Don’t even try to deny it.” I slammed the door. “I know it was you!”

  “What are you talking about?” She blinked and shrugged. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “You know exactly what you did!” I glared at her and tried to control the urge to start swinging. “You hacked Greyson’s security cameras! You tried to blackmail him!”

  “Oh…” Her expression faded. “Yeah, you’ll never be able to prove that.”

  Well, now I’m not going to be able to resist the urge to
start swinging.

  I wasn’t a violent person and I wasn’t a fighter—I had never even been in a fight. That didn’t stop the rage from boiling over until I lunged at Meghan and pulled her down to the floor by her hair. My open hand left a mark across her face and she started screaming, but I put my hand over her mouth to silence her. If one of the neighbors called the cops, I was definitely going to jail, so I had to work fast.

  “Where’s the footage? On your laptop?” I looked around her apartment and slowly slid my hand away from her mouth. “If you scream again, my nails are leaving a scar.”

  “What the fuck, Chrissy…” Meghan started trembling when I pulled my hand away from her mouth. “You—you can afford to pay! You’re rich! I have nothing!”

  “You have a family that loves you. You have an apartment that they’re paying for—how can you say you have nothing?” I snarled at her and balled my fist. “I grew up without a father. I wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Greyson’s generosity—I’m sure as hell not going to let you destroy him so you can make a buck!”

  “I wasn’t going to show anyone the footage!” Tears formed in the corner of her eyes. “I was just—I needed some money. I knew it was nothing to him after I saw that house…”

  “Where’s the footage?” I pushed a fingernail against the bottom of her eye. “Tell me!”

  “It’s—on my laptop. The password is Meghan.” Her face twisted into a grimace and tears started to pour out of her eyes. “My laptop is on the table by the couch…”

  “Don’t you fucking move.” I stood to my feet and kept an eye on Meghan as I grabbed her laptop.

  “Chrissy—I’m so sorry. I wanted to be your friend, but…” A sob stifled her words.

  “I don’t want to hear your fucking sob story.” I knelt down on the floor and put the laptop on her chest.

  I opened the laptop and found what I was looking for. The footage was in a folder on her desktop. I deleted it and checked to see if she had a cloud account—it wasn’t even set up. I left the laptop on her chest and found her cell phone. She didn’t fight when I grabbed her hand and used her fingerprint to unlock it. I deleted everything from it as well. I still didn’t trust her, and I knew enough about computers to know that the stuff could still be recovered in the right hands—unfortunately, it was too valuable to risk giving her an opportunity to do that.