"Don't leave," Alexander called out. "Don't you dare fucking leave, whore. You don't know the whole damn story yet."
"What is he talking about?" I asked Maddox through tears.
He stepped in front of me, as if he was trying to shield me from Alexander.
"Don't listen to a fucking word he says," Maddox warned me.
I looked between the two of them, thoroughly confused. I had no idea who to trust anymore. Alexander had been my stepfather for years, and Maddox... I loved Maddox.
"Are you gonna tell her the whole story or should I, pretty boy?" Alexander asked Maddox with a wicked grin. "I'm sure she'll enjoy my version so much more."
"Cora," Maddox said sternly. "Go wait in the fucking car."
"Don't," Alexander said with a vile grin. "Listen to this first, Cora. Maddox's known about you for a long time now. He didn’t just come to the house for a poker game and ‘accidentally’ discover you."
"W-what?" I asked, looking from one of them to the other. "What is he talking about, Daddy?"
"Maddox agreed to fuck you," Alexander went on, obviously enjoying every second of it. "He fucking agreed to take that little virgin pussy and claim it, because he was getting paid for it."
"Is that true?" I asked Maddox, my whole body shaking with fear, pulling away from him. "Did you really agree to do that?"
He looked away, his posture tense and his lips pressed tightly together, and my world spun on its axis.
It couldn't be true. He wouldn't betray me like that. He wouldn't sleep with me just to get paid. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt me, or anything that would let Alexander hurt me.
Or would he?
"It's true," Alexander told me. "Come here now, Cora. Let me take care of you, just like I have been for all these years. Come to daddy, baby."
I bit my bottom lip, unable to decide what to do. I didn't want to leave Maddox, but if what Alexander said was true, I couldn't trust him, either. I couldn’t trust anyone, and I was beginning to feel like I couldn’t trust myself either.
I took a step away from Maddox and Alexander grabbed me, his fingers wrapping around my forearm and pulling me to him forcibly. I yelped, trying to pull away from him.
"Good fucking girl," he told me, while Maddox teemed with anger. "You've always loved following orders, haven't you, Cora?"
"Cora, come back here," Maddox ordered me.
It felt like I was delirious, like all of it was a dream. I looked between the two men and suddenly I wanted to be as far away from both of them as possible. I just needed to get away.
I tried to struggle free from Alexander but his grip on my forearm was tight, too tight for comfort.
"Let go of me," I begged, but he only held onto me tighter. "Please, just let me go, I want to leave. I don’t want to be with you!"
"Let the fuck go of her," Maddox roared, throwing himself at Alexander.
My stepfather let go of me in the commotion and I fell to my knees, bruising them on the floor. The two men brawled while I picked myself up and took a shaky step back.
"He fucking bragged about it, Cora!" Alexander screamed in my direction. "He bragged about fucking you to all of us. Me, Randy, everyone!"
"That's a lie," Maddox yelled. "You bastard!"
I couldn't take it anymore. I tried to make out the world beyond my tears and I ran off the porch.
I felt grass under my feet.
All I wanted was to get away.
"He's a fucking liar, Cora," Alexander yelled. "The only thing he cares about is that pussy between your legs."
I didn't know who to believe anymore.
Twenty-Seven
Maddox
I was fucking livid.
Not only had Alexander made it sound like I had been going around town, bragging about fucking Cora, but he’d tried to molest her, to fucking rape her. His own fucking daughter. If this piece of scum made it out of this day alive, I was doing something very wrong.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I roared.
We were getting a viewership now, people coming out of their houses and leaving their Saturday morning routines to come and gape at the freakshow going on out on the lawn. Cora, half-naked, crying hysterically, and me and Alex sizing each other up like we expected the ground to open up and swallow the other any moment now.
There weren’t a lot of people I thought I was better than, but Alexander Lockhart definitely ranked among them.
“Cora, don’t fucking listen to him. I never told anyone what we… what we had together,” I said, glancing at her.
My words failed me, but I had to find them. It was that, or lose her forever. I had never been as certain of something as I was that if I failed her now, I was playing with both our lives.
“Please. You only fucked her because I paid you to,” Alex mocked, grinning like a fucking jack-o-lantern.
Cora’s eyes were full of horror, glancing from me to her father, then back again, like she couldn’t make up her mind who was the worse monster. Honestly, I couldn’t at that point, either.
“Fuck,” I muttered, my hand flexing in and out of a tight fist.
I wanted to pound Alex into the fucking dirt, but I had to explain everything to Cora first. I gave him a withering look, before moving toward Cora. I wanted to pull her in my arms, but she sprang backwards like a scared little deer.
“Little thing, listen to me,” I started.
“Don’t touch me,” she whimpered, her arms covering her chest, her body language tense and frightened as hell.
“Okay,” I said, holding up my hands. “Just listen to me. Your… Alex and I did have a deal. He would get me out of my lawsuits and clear my name if I ruined you. If I fucked you, made you fail your classes and then dumped you, leaving him to pick up the pieces. I swear I didn’t know he was going to… what he wanted to do to you,” I said, my insides twisting at the mere thought.
She was his daughter, even if she wasn’t biologically his. And he’d go so far as to try and have sex with her? I’d never met such a vile piece of shit as Alexander Lockhart. And it made me just as bad for having made the deal with him in the first place.
“He’s full of shit, babygirl,” Alex scoffed, leaning casually against the doorframe now, as if this was all a big joke.
Cora looked at me with those big green eyes of her, every fiber of her seeming to plead with me to make this horrible nightmare end, begging to give her a reason to trust me again, even a little.
“A former student of mine accused me of raping her. I never touched her, in fact I rejected her advances and that’s what made her go for me. I was ostracized, couldn’t get a job. Alex found me, we used to know each other when we were younger. I should have never taken him up on his offer.”
I wetted my lips, shame and anger mingling together within me. Everything that had been chewing me up from the inside out over the last month was coming to a head now and there was nothing left but the truth.
“This might sound like bullshit to you, Cora, but I couldn’t do what he wanted me to do to you. That’s why… that’s why it took us time before we slept together. I wanted to make it right for you, to make it perfect… and I wanted you as mine. I know I should have never done what I did, Cora, but I love you.
“I swear, I’ve been thinking of nothing other than how I could get you out of this fucking mess. I’ll never let this shitstain of a human being lay a finger on you again. No matter what it takes. I’ll go to the cops, to the fucking Feds if I have to.”
Cora’s expression was unreadable. She seemed to be frozen in place and I couldn’t blame her. What I was telling her was inexcusable. Her father had tried to molest her, and now she found that the man she’d been seeking refuge with from his insanity was in on it.
Her heart must have been breaking.
“You’ll never fucking touch her again,” I said, turning to Alexander now.
His casual grin had turned into a sneer now, and he straightened up. He looked at Cora and a cocky smir
k crossed over his expression.
“No one’s going to fucking believe me. You’re a rapist under trial. I’m a criminal attorney, loved by my community. And my dear daughter will stand right by my side, telling everyone who will listen how you molested her and raped her. You know exactly how this will play out, Maddox. And you won’t be the one who wins.”
“Not if I show the authorities all of your texts, all the messages you left on my voicemail. They can put me in jail for collusion, but I don’t fucking care if it means that you’ll be behind solid steel bars and Cora’s safe,” I spat, rage roaring within me.
There were at least a dozen people watching us, a couple even filming, but they were too far away to catch more than snippets of the conversation.
Alexander’s face puffed red. For all his attempts at remaining cool and collected under pressure, I saw him crumbling from the inside out.
“Is that… is that true, Daddy?” Cora asked, and the fact that she called me that made my heart soar.
I whipped around, going up to her.
“Every word, sweetheart,” I promised, looking her in the eyes. “I can’t promise you much, but I can promise you that I will never lie to you again.”
I didn’t add that this might just be the last time I could even talk to her. I was half-expecting to get dragged out of here by the authorities any second now. Odds were, Alexander had already called his buddies at the police department while I was trying to explain the indefensible to Cora.
“Did he hurt you?” I asked her again, repeating my question from before.
She was biting her lower lip, obviously trying to figure out what to tell me, when I got checked from the side. We went flying to the ground with Alexander, his snarls spewing saliva in my face.
“You motherfucker,” he growled. “Stop poisoning my little girl with your vile fucking lies!”
He punched me once before I could bring my arms up, pinning me to the ground by straddling my stomach. I held one elbow up to protect my face and slammed the other on the ground, twisting my body so it was easier to throw Alexander off. I grabbed hold of him and we flipped, giving me an opening to lay a few punches on him before he caught his bearings.
“She’s not yours!” I roared between punches. “She’s neither of ours, can’t you fucking see that!?”
Neither one of us deserved her. Not even a little bit of her.
“Speak for yourself, fucking rapist,” he bellowed, swiveling his head around to see if anyone heard him yell the last word.
The murmuring around us was louder now and a couple people were moving in closer, either with the intention to break up the fight or hear more of the juicy drama. I didn’t care either way.
Socking Alex in the jaw, the grass was splattered with crimson as he spit out blood, and a tooth. He pushed me off and we both scrambled to our feet. My nose hurt from the hit he’d gotten in, it might have been broken, but I was high on adrenaline and couldn’t care less.
Few things mattered, really. Keeping Cora away from him was one. And… well, that was it, really.
I saw red, like the moment I’d realized what Alex had tried to do to Cora, and I charged him. He caught me and we were locked in a jumble of arms and legs, trying to get in punches where we could. I’d be lying if I’d said that I didn’t want to kill him. Alexander Lockhart, in a nice oak box – I thought it would be a blessing on mankind if I took a freak like him out of circulation.
I was under no illusions of being a good guy in this. Just a different kind of fucked up.
“You fucked my daughter and thought you’d get away with it,” Alexander hissed, blood dribbling freely from his mouth now, and his right eye swelling up. “I’ve got another thing coming for you.”
“You’re the one who tried to rape your own daughter,” I snarked, just as he came for me again.
He managed to hook his leg behind mine and we ended up on the grass again, rolling around and trying to beat each other to a pulp.
“Stop!” Cora screamed, but I couldn’t stop.
“You see what you’re doing to my little girl?” Alex asked, jabbing me in the ribs and kicking the wind out of me. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that she’ll be all better when we’re done here and you’ll be behind bars. I’ll be sure that I keep her warm every night, Maddox, and she’ll know what a real man feels like.”
That was the last thing I heard. After that, there was just echo in my ears, like ocean waves crashing, mixed in with a high-pitched whine. I had tunnel vision and all I could think about was making sure that Alexander Lockhart never got close to Cora again.
We were both back on our feet and Alex was sneering at me, a bloody, wide smile plastered on his face. He motioned for me to come at him and I did. I caught him with a left hook, out of the blue as he was expecting a punch from the right, sending him stumbling backwards.
One step, two, three… His arms windmilled backwards but he couldn’t find his balance as he stumbled into the street.
Right in front of a truck.
I didn’t hear the crash, just saw Alex’s body being flung a dozen feet forward and crashing into the pavement in a heap of broken bones and blood. I stood there, stunned, as people crowded around him, motioning wildly and clinging to their phones.
The Ford truck had come to a stop and the driver stepped out. It was Randy, looking as stunned as I did. He looked from me to Alex’s body, and then he just stared.
“I wasn’t supposed to hit him…” he muttered, kicking me out of my mute shock.
I spun around, finding Cora standing in the middle of the lawn, all alone, her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide as she looked at the broken body of her stepfather. I rushed to her, grabbing her in my arms and pushing her face to my chest so she wouldn’t see the commotion.
“It’ll be okay, Cora,” I told her, whispering the words in her ear. “I swear, it’ll all be alright. You’re safe now.”
She shook with silent sobs.
“Is he… is he dead?” she asked.
I had no immediate answer for her. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw what looked like a limb, broken at an unnatural angle.
“I’m not sure, little thing.”
“I hope he is.”
I hoped he was, too. And I didn’t feel a shred of guilt about it.
We stood there in silence for a few minutes, until the sound of sirens in the distance brought us back into the moment. Cora looked up at me, but I wasn’t ready to let go of her yet.
“Daddy,” she whispered, her eyes glistening with tears.
“Yes, sweetheart?” I asked, deaf to the commotion around us.
“I love you too.”
My heart must have stopped in my chest for a moment, because I didn’t kiss her immediately. When it beat again, I leaned into her and tasted her lips gently. She was sweeter now than she’d ever been.
“I love you, Cora. And I promise that you won’t be in danger ever again.”
It was a promise I was going to keep.
Twenty-Eight
Maddox
One month later
It was like I was stuck in a bubble. On one side, I was the happiest man on earth – Cora was safe, and Alexander could no longer do anything to her – and on the other hand my life had been thrown another curveball I wasn’t sure it could recover from.
There was another investigation, another possible lawsuit coming my way. Though I hadn’t instigated it, I had been a part of a fight that led to another man’s death, even if, again, it was not strictly through my hand. Despite plenty of evidence confirming the contrary, Randy was insisting that I had not only started the fight, but that I had deliberately shoved Alexander in front of his truck.
He was just trying to save his own ass, I knew that, but with a police officer campaigning against me, I had no certainty that this would go away with anything less than me behind bars, living the life that I’d half-expected.
My heart constricted in my chest at the thought of it. The las
t month had been torture in more ways than one. I wasn’t supposed to have contact with Cora during the investigation, an investigation hampered by the department obviously working against me, and it was killing me.
The only time we saw one another was at the school. The principal had refused to fire me, though Randy had personally gone and spoken to her, ‘on behalf of Cora and Alexander Lockhart’. Cora had thrown a fit the moment she heard about Randy doing that shit, but thankfully the principal hadn’t had any of it.
‘Innocent until proven guilty.’
I was guilty alright, but not of outright murdering Alexander. Though had the situation played out just a little differently, I’m not saying I wouldn’t have been the one beating his head into a pulp on the sidewalk. A part of me regretted not being able to do it, in fact.
It was late when I parked my car a block from Cora’s house and made it over on foot. She was living alone in the same damn house now, luckily having access to her father’s credit cards before they were shut down. She was legally an adult and as such didn’t get a guardian or anything of the like. The state just left her to deal with the aftermath of losing her caregiver all on her own.
I rapped my knuckles on the back door once, twice. I heard footsteps running downstairs and I couldn’t hide my smile – she was running to meet me. The door was flung open in front of me a moment later and Cora flew into my arms, clinging to my neck.
“Daddy!” she whispered excitedly.
My grip locked around her waist and I picked her up, carrying her inside mid-hug and pulling the door closed behind me.
“Shh, sweetheart. We don’t want the neighbors to see us,” I told her, kissing her on the forehead as I set her down.
“I think it’s bullshit,” she snorted as I put her down, a frown crossing her delicate features. “You saved me, and they want to keep you away from me.”
“Language,” I told her sternly, shrugging off my black leather jacket.
Teach Me Daddy Page 19
