Filthy Daddy (Baby Daddies Book 2)

by Ted Evans

  They have walked to the park where she watched Liam chase Frank around the duck pond. They’ve gone for ice cream and stopped by the library. They’ve moved between both apartments like there wasn’t a wall separating them. Liam has leaned on the end of her sofa and talked to her through the open door while she bathed Frank. Willow has dusted Liam’s window sills with a smirk and a joke about single guys. Frank has been ecstatic when Liam fired up the TV and showed him what Netflix was. Frank has squealed like a puppy and plopped in front of Liam’s widescreen television to watch new episode after new episode of Paw Patrol. Liam has pulled Willow around the corner into the kitchen and kissed her until she can’t breathe. And every night, Willow has cooked, pulling favorite childhood recipes from her memory and recreating them for Liam and Frank.

  Then, the electric bill falls out of the mailbox and into her hands, the red envelope a glaring reminder that she needs to get back to work or wind up sitting around in the dark. She glances guiltily at the small pile of envelopes shoved behind her TV. She can’t keep ignoring them. If she doesn’t pay soon she’ll be out of water, electricity, and possibly even a place to live. Willow chews at her lip, tilting her head back and blinking rapidly to keep the tears filling up her eyes from falling.

  She doesn’t know what to do about a sitter, especially when all her wages were spent on them. She had limited options, because she knows that the moment she enrolls Frank into daycare Frank will find them.

  It is as if she is sweeping all her problems under the carpet and not thinking about her reality. Willow is down to her last dollar and she had to figure out what to sell in order to pay a bill. She sits trying to figure out how to survive. Part of her is fed up of this type of life and Liam has been a welcome distraction. She is interrupted from her thoughts when she hears someone knocking on her door. She stands up, ready to open the door when, Liam pushes it open and walks in with a pie from the nearby diner. Willow wipes away her tears and smiles brightly, hoping that he won’t notice that she’s been crying.

  “Hi. Ooh, what’s that? Smells amazing.”

  Liam drops the pie onto table and draws closer to her. His fingertips are light as they trace a trail of tears down her cheeks. “What’s wrong?”

  “Just, life: bills, babysitter, job, having to move. It’s always the same thing. Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck in that movie where the guy has the same day over and over.”

  Liam nods but his eyes drift away from hers, his thoughts are concealed behind his careful expression, because he doesn’t have a clue how to comfort her. That’s not his specialty.

  “Well, how about some pie? Cherry. Your favorite.”

  He changes the subject, hoping that it’ll put her in a better mood and maybe then they can talk about how to get around the financial issues. Right now, he can’t deal with her being emotional. He needs her to be in a better frame of mind so that they can work on the problem together.

  “Um, yeah, sure. I’ll make some coffee.”

  Willow heads into the kitchen and starts pulling plates from the cabinets. She keeps her back to Liam so he won’t see the anger that’s building across her face.

  She’s scared and worried about the future and annoyed at the same time that Liam just wants to eat. She slams the plates onto to the counter a little harder than she means to. A large, warm hand wraps gently around her neck and turns her around.

  Her back is pressed into the edge of the counter. Liam lifts her hair and presses a soft, sucking kiss into the side of her neck.

  “Don’t be mad at me. I just don’t always know what to say,” he murmurs against her throat.

  Willow sighs and lets her body slump against his. “I know. I’m not mad at you, really. I’m just feeling overwhelmed again.”

  His lips move up her jaw and across her cheek, lingering on the corner of her mouth before slipping across hers. His tongue parts her lips easily and slipping inside like silk, leaving her sighing against him.

  A long “Eww” breaks through Willow’s trance. Liam pulls back and she sees Frank standing in the doorway, his tongue hanging comically out of his mouth.

  “Gross, Liam. Mommy’s a girl,” Frank giggles a little.

  “I know. I’m just trying to get some pie,” Liam says to him with a wink.

  Frank bounces over to the table and climbs into his chair, clearly waiting on his own pie. Liam settles into another chair and Willow sets out their plates.

  “I’ll tell you what though, if your momma keeps feeding me like she does, I’m gonna get really fat.” Liam pulls up his t-shirt and pats the hardened muscles rippling down his tanned midriff.

  Willow’s face is heating up as she thinks about tracing the edges with her tongue. Liam drops his shirt and grins at her knowingly before thumping his fist on the table and barking out in a playful voice, “Pie, woman!”

  She’s just cut into the crispy brown crust when her phone rings. Willow fishes it from her pocket with one hand and sees her work number display on the screen. She shoves the cherry-covered knife at Liam and heads into the living room to answer. When she comes back, Liam has served everyone generous pieces of gooey, sweet pie and is waiting on her, his face questioning.

  “It was work.” Willow drops into her chair and digs a fork into the confection in front of her.

  “And?” Liam shovels a mound of red cherries into his mouth.

  “I need to go. I’ve too many bills piling up…”

  Liam swallows and loads up another forkful of pie. “So go.”

  “I don’t have anyone to watch Frank…”

  Liam steadily shovels more pie into his mouth.

  Willow sighs and drops her fork, suddenly not hungry. “I need to work. We need the money. If I don’t get back to work I’ll have to move again soon. I don’t want to. We’ve moved three times in past couple of years. I hate dragging Frank around from place to place.” She feels tears pricking the corners of her eyes again and wills them not to fall.

  Liam shrugs his broad shoulders and mumbles around a full mouth, “I’ll watch him.”

  “I…what?”

  “He can hang with me. No big deal. That all right with you, buddy?” Liam points his fork at Frank.

  “Can we watch Paw Troll?” Frank lisps.

  “All night,” Liam answers.

  “Okay.” Frank says, his little mouth cherry red around the edges.

  Willow knows her mouth is hanging open. She can’t believe Liam’s willing to watch Frank for her. She so used to doing this all on her own that it feels strange to have a partner of sorts. Almost. A friend. She likes the feeling, she realizes. But she’s also nervous. Nothing ever works in her favor and she’s sure this is one more than thing that’s going to go up in flames. She hopes she can survive the aftermath.

  “See?” Liam grins at her. “It’s settled.” He reaches for the pie plate and dishes himself up another piece.

  A few hours later, Willow has showered and changed, her hair piled up onto the top of her head, make-up artfully applied. She’s slipping on her shoes when Liam eases up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist. She feels him pressing into her ass and can’t help but push back. She wishes momentarily that she wasn’t going to work. Sighing, she turns around and throws her arms around his neck.

  “Thanks for watching Frank,” she says.

  “Not a problem.”

  “I probably won’t be home until well after three in the morning. Maybe even later.”

  Liam’s hands are slipping underneath her shirt, his thumbs tracing over her ribs causing her flesh to rise. “He’ll be okay.”

  “I know.” Willow’s getting a little breathless, being pressed against Liam, feeling his hands moving against her skin. “You’ve got my number in case…um…”

  “Mmhmm.” Liam drops his mouth to hers and she loses her thoughts. His kiss is deep and slow, his tongue molten in her mouth. She can still taste cherries when she closes the door behind her.

  Chapter Eleven

>   Willow

  Glancing at the clock, Willow gives a deep, tired sigh. It’s almost four in the morning. Her feet are throbbing and her back is aching but it was busy tonight and she made excellent money. She’s happy she’ll be able to catch up on a few bills. It’s almost worth wearing this ridiculous outfit. She looks down at the too-small plaid skirt and low-cut blouse her manager makes all the female bartenders and waitresses wear. He’s really such a creepy sleaze.

  Shouts of “Later, Willow” echo across the club. She waves goodbye to the other girls walking out the staff door and turns back to cleaning the pile of glassware stacked behind the bar. She looks around, taking stock of everything that has to be done and realizes she won’t get be able to leave for at least another hour. She’s the only person left in the bar now and the quiet settles uneasily around her. Then, she realizes she’s not the only person left and the unease caused by the man standing in the office doorway, staring at her from across the club.

  “Hey, Willow. Come on over, we need to talk.” Luke, her sleazy manager, waves her over.

  Willow gets a greasy, slick feeling of dread in her stomach. She’s been working at the same place for three months and has been pretty happy with the work but she knows about Luke from listening to the other girls talk. He has a reputation for trying to sleep with all the girls and sacking the ones who refused. He is short, fat, and sexually frustrated and takes it out on all the girls who worked for him. Willow knows she’s been lucky so far. She’s never had to close the bar down before; she’s normally worked an earlier shift and left before she got stuck in building alone with Luke. It looks like her luck may have run out on her tonight.

  Willow’s not sure what she should do. She’s knows she’s going to get fired if she refuses whatever it is Luke wants but she knows she won’t be able to bring herself to doing anything sexual with him. Thoughts of Liam flit quickly across her mind. Not that they’re a couple or anything but she’d never sleep with one guy when she was sleeping with another. Especially not a creep like Luke.

  Slapping the towel in hervhand onto the bar, she tugs at her skirt, trying to pull it down to cover more of her exposed thighs. She purses her lips in aggravation as she studies her cleavage. There’s not even enough material in the blouse to pull together across her chest.

  “Now, Willow.”

  “Okay, I’m coming,” Willow says, her voice high and fake with cheer.

  She rounds the bar and picks her away through the tables, heels clicking on the shiny dance floor in the center as she makes her way across the club to the office on the far side.

  Luke doesn’t step aside when she reaches him, just waves her inside, forcing her squeeze past him in the doorway. She sucks in her breath in, trying to make herself small enough that none of her body touches any of his when she passes him. He leans forward and her breasts brush across his elbow. She shudders, revulsion pooling in her gut.

  Willow turns to face Luke, her arms clasped tightly in front of her, legs stiff, her smile tight. “What can I help you with, Luke? I’m trying to finish closing up so if we could make this quick…”

  “Willow, Willow, Pussy Willow. Slow down. Have a seat.” Luke walks around her and grabs her by the shoulders, steering her toward a red velvet club chair in front of his desk. Willow doesn’t want to know what the stains on the seat are.

  She shudders when he pushes her into the chair and lays his thick fingers on her shoulders. She can hear his breath whistling over the top of her head. It’s a thick sound that turns her stomach.

  “So, Willow,” Luke starts, “you’ve been here a few months, how do you like it?”

  “It’s fine,” she says, shrugging as she tries to dislodge his fingers from her shoulders.

  He digs his fingers in and starts giving her shoulders a clumsy massage that verges on painful. “Relax, Pussy Willow. We’re just talking about work.”

  “It’s fine, I mean, I like it fine. The other girls are nice. And thanks for being understanding that I had to take some time off to find a sitter.”

  “Good, good, that’s good. I did want to talk about that…your time off.”

  “Okay.” Willow shrugs again as his fingers dig deeper into her shoulders.

  “See, I know you need the money, because you’ve got a kid. I don’t get it, because you can’t really afford to take off more time. But, I can help you. I can schedule you for the best shifts, the ones that make the most money. You made good money tonight, right? I can let you have all the late shifts, that’s when people drink the most and when their wallets get looser.”

  “I don’t know…” Willow starts.

  Luke runs his fingers down Willow’s arms. “And it would mean you and I would be working, ah, more closely together.”

  Willow jumps up, the chair pushing back into Luke, sending him stumbling away from her. She edges around the room, stepping toward the door.

  “That’s okay, Luke. I really can’t work this late often, it’s hard to find a sitter to stay all night. Thanks so much for offering though. It was really nice of you.” She’s hoping if she’s polite with her refusal that he’ll just let her go, that she won’t get fired. She really needs to keep her job but she’s not going to sleep with her greasy boss just do it.

  Luke sidesteps and plants himself in front of the door, blocking her exit. “I don’t think we’ve come to an understanding just yet.”

  “C’mon, Luke, let me get back to work. Please?” Willow begs.

  “You want to keep working here, Willow?” He snarls at her.

  “Please, let me get back to work.”

  “Be a good kitty, Willow.” He grins at her, his smile oily and yellow.

  “I can’t work the late shift, Luke. Let Maria have it.”

  “Only person I’m going to let have it is you, Willow.” Luke lunges for her and grabs at her arm, his nails leaving angry red welts scratched into her skin.

  Willow screams, terrified by what might happen to her if she doesn’t get out of the office and the building. Without thinking, she brings her knee up, driving it hard into Luke’s nuts. He grunts and she swings her knee again, bringing him to the floor. He’s doubled over and groaning, his face red and his breathing hard, hands clutching at his crotch, when Willow runs out of the office and across the club to the staff door. When she grabs her bag, she turns to see Luke hanging onto the doorframe, still bent over and huffing.

  “Don’t come back, bitch,” he wheezes at her, “you don’t fucking work here anymore.”

  Running across the empty back parking lot, Willow clutches her bag to her chest and glances over her shoulder to make sure Luke isn’t following. She heads to the nearest bus stop, too nervous to sit on the bench. Her heart is thudding triple time in her chest and she can hear the blood rushing in her ears.

  “Come on, come on, come on”, she wills the bus. She glances down the block at the club and wonders if she should just walk home. Finally, she sees the city bus rumbling down the street. She’s just dropped into the seat when a tiny red sports car blasts out of the club parking lot and fishtails toward the bus. She holds her breath as the car shoots past the bus, Luke hunched behind the wheel, one finger waving at her, his face purple with rage. She slides down into the seat and hugs her bag to her chest.

  When Willow finally trudges up the stairs to her apartment, the sky is already beginning to lighten to an orange glow. Opening her door, she realizes she can’t face Frank or Liam just yet. She’s still shaken from her encounter with Luke and the crushing knowledge that’s she out of a job. They’ll have to move. Again.

  Throwing herself onto her bed, Willow stifles a sob into her pillow. She feels like such a failure. She can’t provide for her son properly and she doesn’t know how long she can protect him from his father. Her world is crushing down on her and she doesn’t know what to do anymore. Maybe she should let Frank’s dad take him At least then he would have the kind of financial stability she couldn’t provide for him. But the thought of her
sweet little baby growing up in a world of drugs, hookers, illegal gambling, and murder is too much for Willow. Her sobs come harder until her pillow is soaked through with her tears and she finally drops off into a deep sleep haunted with dreams of men like Luke and Carlo.

  Chapter Twelve

  Willow

  She wakes up in the middle of the night. When she steps into the living room she sees Liam asleep and she doesn’t want to wake him.

  So many missed calls on her phone. It’s bugging her as she heads to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

  “Pathetic!” she whispers to herself as she notices that there are no drinks. The only thing that she can afford to drink is water, even after the owner had warned her about drinking from the tap. She doesn’t care as she pulls down he tap and let’s it run for a little while and then glances over to make sure that Liam is still sleeping.

  She can’t afford credit for her phone. She hadn’t realized it was her grandma calling her because she hadn’t heard her phone at work. It was in her pocket and after the long day that she had the only phone calls she was going to be expecting were to do with bills. Yet, she looked at her phone and worries that the only reason her grandma’s calling is because something’s wrong. She holds the glass in one hand and her phone in the other.

  It’s early, but she knows that her grandma always wakes up at five-thirty. It’s a habit formed when she was a teacher. Willow hesitates before calling her, not because of the time, but because she’s worried about the little credit that she has left on her phone. Curiosity gets the better of her as she calls her grandma back.

  “Nan, it’s me, Willow.”

  “Hello dear, let me call you back. I’m just heading to the bathroom.”

  “Okay.”

  Willow hangs up the phone, relieved that her grandma is planning on calling her back and saving her credit.

  She sips her water and then after the foul taste, she decides that she may need to start buying bottled water after all. She hopes she won’t be sick from just tasting it. Almost as soon as she slips between the covers again to await the call back from her grandma, her phone rings.