Chapter Four: In the Form of Rain
1157 Words
Jordan POV
Rose didn’t seem to think my parenting skills were anything to write home about, but she was stuck with me. She sat at the other end of the table, her drink untouched, fuming at me.
I was great at acting like she wasn’t there, finishing my drink, and responding to my personal assistant from work. It was an odd hour to text me about a client, but I obliged her, knowing how important the client was to the second quarter.
“Let’s get you home,” I said as I downed the last bit in my glass. I needed another, but I also didn’t want to get my ass drunk in front of Emma’s teenage daughter. “Where do you live?”
She huffed, rolling her eyes.
“I get you, Rose,” I breathed. “And believe me when I say the last thing I want is to babysit you. Hell, I refrained from having another child because I didn’t want this. But your mother would do the same thing I am doing right now.”
“You are not her!” She barked.
“Don’t you think I know that?”
She opened her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it.
“Tell me where you live so I can drop you off. You can do whatever you want after that. I won’t bother you.”
Her eyes lit up at that, and hell, I realized how stunning she was. Emma was beautiful, with long golden hair and eyes that shone like the moon. I had a crush on her for as long as I could remember, even when she was with my brother.
But her daughter looked like she was from the Elizabethan era, with thick dark hair that reached her waist, bold, coquettish eyes that were bound to make any man wonder if she was flirting or was just being kind.
Right now, I was certain it was neither.
"I'll direct you," she murmured before getting on her feet and stalking out of the bar, ahead of me. I was in for a hell of a ride. Shaking my head, I bid
Gary goodnight and walked out too.
I found her idling by the entrance, staring at her foot.
“Rose.”
“Where did you park your car?”
“Wait here. I’ll get it.”
I’d left it back at the hospital across the road, so I
moved in that direction, turning left to the parking lot. When I got out after a few minutes, I half expected Rose to have bailed. But she was still standing there, this time staring at something on her phone with a little frown on her face.
When she got in, she turned off the phone and pushed it into her pocket.
“Want to talk about it?”
She gave me a look that told me to mind my business, and it made my lips quirk up in a smirk. Rose must have been one hell of a kid to have raised when she was younger. Emma had her hands full.
Rose directed me to the school’s hostel. I knew that they had a strict rule against part-time jobs for scholarship students, but I said nothing as she jumped out of the car and all but ran away.
I groaned when the shrill of my phone echoed around the room, rousing me from my sleep. I must have slept only a few minutes ago because I still felt f*****g tired. But I got up either way. It wasn’t new for the hospital to call at odd hours.
But when I glanced at the caller ID and saw a strange number, I did a double-take. It was a few minutes past 2 am.
The phone stopped ringing, only for it to start again a second later. Sighing, I hit the answer button and pressed the phone against my ear.
“Castel.”
There was a lot of noise on the other end of the call, so loud that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. It sounded like music. And giggles. Someone yelled something about doing pot.
What the hell was going on?
“Hello?”
“Mr. Castel?”
“Gary?”
“I’m so sorry for calling you this late, but you’d want to know this.”
I sat up at once. “What happened?”
“It’s Emma’s daughter. She’s here and…”
“She’s where?”
“At the bar.”
Of course, I knew that was what he was referring to, but how on earth was she at the bar?
“She’s with her friends,” Gary continued. “Or at least, a bunch of girls who are drunk dancing with their arms in the air and…” He paused mid-sentence, like he was scared to say the rest of his words.
“And what, Gary?”
“They… they have been making dares on who would seduce what customer and who would take off a piece of clothing.”
“Bloody hell!”
I was out of bed in the twinkle of an eye, donning a t-shirt over my slacks.
“Andrew!” I called as I moved. “Get the Ferrari ready. The rest of the guys should ride in the SUV.”
It didn’t matter that it was an ungodly hour.
The car was waiting out front. Getting behind the wheel, I hit the gas and pressed forward, damning the consequences of driving beyond the speed limit. It was the use of a f*****g sports car, after all.
I arrived at the bar in a few minutes, and I was out the second I parked the car. But nothing could have prepared me for the sight when I stepped into the bar.
Rose was on top of a table, her hands over her head, swaying with all the passion in the world. She’d lost her top, her black bra on display.
And the whole f*****g bar watched, with bloody grins on their faces. I could see the thoughts on their minds. The filthy, annoying thoughts.
My hands folded in fists by my side, and the only thing I saw was red. Fury bobbed in my veins. Raw and unmatched. I strode to the centre of the bar and, without warning, wrapped a hand around her waist, pulling her away from the table and hoisting her over my shoulders.
“Let me go!” Rose slurred, her tiny fists hitting my shoulders. “Who the hell are you? Ohhhh! Are you the one who caught my shirt? Are you taking me home for the night?”
“Shut the f**k up, Rose.”
“You like kinky?”
“Urghhhhh! I don’t want to hear one more word from you, Rose!”
She whimpered and then whispered, “Yes, Daddy.”
This girl is going to be the end of me.
- Writer
