Daddy Daughter
1720 Words
So... my first day in this clan was quite an adventure. A strange adventure.
After my panic attack and apologizing four times to Jake, we return to the table and surprisingly, everyone acts as if nothing happened.
I finish my salad and refuse all offers of meat from Lion, who keeps insisting that I need to eat meat and it's a sin that I don't. Then I have to endure a lecture about why eating meat is so damn important for the development of a wolf's body, muscles and even mental health. And I assure him that I will eat meat eventually, just not so soon.
Once we arrived back at the building, we said goodbye to the Baylor brothers and walk into the apartment. For the first time as a family.
"I'm going to bed," Lionel announces, looking weird and unsure in front of me. Angie gives me a smile before she starts walking down the hall, "You can, you know, grab whatever you want from the fridge and stuff... make yourself at home."
"Thanks."
"Tomorrow I'll wake you up at six in the morning, is that okay with you? I have to open the gym where and take care of several things. I'll give you a job there so you don’t get bored and meet people, it'll be fun."
"That's fine," I take a breath and dare to walk up to him and hug him around the waist. Lionel's body stiffens, but he slowly wraps his arms around me, "I'm glad I met you, I always wanted a dad. You're not the best in the world, I'm sure child services would forbid you to raise a baby, but you're not as bad as anyone would think. Thanks for letting me be here with you for a while."
Lionel laughs and his body relaxes a little. He starts to smell like... contentment. My wolf feels good breathing in his scent, it's like she knows him and feels calmed by him.
"I never wanted kids. I don't find it a fun thing to raise someone, take care of them, feed them and all that. It's a lot of responsibility for someone like me," he says, sighing, "But now you're here and I find myself needing to do it."
Okay?
"That's it?"
"And I'm happy to meet you too, I guess. You're adorable, although I must teach you to have a filter and not say exactly what you're thinking all the time."
"Sure, I'll do whatever you deem necessary to be better," I assure, because I want him to know I'm a good daughter. Lionel lets go of me and gives me a smile.
"Very good, I like your attitude. Good night, Mid."
He gives me another rough caress on the head before he leaves and I make my way to my new room. Angie slips in a minute after me, wearing her pajamas and no makeup.
For a werewolf house, everything is way too normal.
Angie accompanies me as I get ready for bed and then we chat for a few moments before she falls unconscious in my new bed. I try to close my eyes and go to sleep as well, but I can't. I find it too difficult.
Maybe it's because this bed is too soft and the mattress in my old house was hard and uncomfortable and I got used to that. Or maybe it's that I can't stop thinking about everything that happened to me today and the fantastic things I discovered about the world.
Whatever the cause, I can't sleep and before I know it, Lion is knocking on the door, yelling that it's time to wake up and there's a smoothie waiting for me in the kitchen.
"Shut up, Lion! It's too early," Angie growls next to me, burying her face in the pillow, but I get up very quickly, excited to start the day once and for all, "Good morning, Mid."
"Good morning, Angie," I reply and open my suitcase, "Can I go to your bathroom?"
"Of course you can," she answers with a husky voice, "You can also grab whatever you want from my closet. If you're going to the gym you're going to want to look good. Work hard on your appearance and you'll thank me for it."
"Perfect, thank you so much!" I exclaim, grabbing my towel and underwear to go straight to Angie's closet to pull out the cutest thing. I decide on some little black shorts to show off my smooth legs and a long sleeved blouse because it's kinda cold outside.
My plan was to take a super quick shower so I wouldn't keep Lionel waiting, but I can't make it quick because Angie has a thousand products that smell beautiful and I have to try them all because I'm used to bath products that are made with herbs and grass, which smell exactly like herbs and grass.
Being in this place is just fascinating.
"You have five minutes to come out completely ready or I'm going to leave without you," Lion says from outside, scaring me, "And you're going to have to stay cooped up in here alone all day."
"I'm coming!" I yell, and immediately turn off the shower. When I get out, my hair is dripping and my clothes are wet because I accidentally threw them on the floor. Angie's shorts are extremely short on me, so short that a little bit of my butt peeks out to say hello if I bend over just a little bit. And unlike my regular shirts, this one fits tight and I don't look like an asexual figure. Lionel is waiting for me outside and offers me a large glass with a yellow liquid in it, "Not to be rude, but what's in this? It looks disgusting."
"Just banana and mango, with protein. Almond milk. When we're at the gym we can eat something else, but it's late and we need to go so drink that and get moving."
I drink it in big gulps even though I hate mango and then walk out of the apartment following Lion like I'm his dog.
Maybe that's literal? I'm not sure.
"I was thinking about what job I could give you, and the truth is, there's nothing for you, I've already got it all under control," he starts talking as we walk down the stairs, interrupting my mental count even though I already know it's 49 steps, "But then I thought, what does a forgetful man like me needs? Obviously, someone with a photographic memory who never forgets his duties. So you'll be my personal assistant. All you'll have to do is answer my calls and tell me where to go, at what time. And remind me several times."
"Oh, that sounds good," I nod. And I wave to the ginger guy in the lobby as we walk by, but he doesn't pay any attention to me. We leave the building and start walking toward the gym, I guess, "Will I be able to use the facilities? I mean, the machines and all."
"Ah, of course," he replies, without turning to look at me, "You can do whatever you want, it's your gym too, considering that's the only thing in my name. I mean, the only thing I could leave you as an inheritance, besides money... assuming I haven't spent it all by the time I die."
Wow. We’re talking inheritance already? This is going so much better than I thought it would. Maybe he'll even want me to start calling him Dad. I hope so, because I really want to.
We come to a plaza where there are a bunch of establishments. The biggest one is a gym called "Beast Maker" and it spans the entire first floor. Not the most creative name in the world, but I guess it's not too bad.
"Angie works in that salon," Lionel informs me, before we enter the gym, pointing to an upstairs location that is also closed. That's pretty convenient, and it looks like a good place too.
Lionel's gym is much bigger and nicer than it looks on the outside, but it's not like a normal gym. Come to think of it, they told me that wolves have a lot more strength than humans so it makes sense.
The machines are gigantic and different from what I've seen on TV. As Lion opens the back doors I can see that in the backyard there’s a large field before we get to the woods and there are several paths marked in the dirt as if that's where it's normal for them to run.
"Theresa is an instructor, so you're going to see her constantly," he murmurs casually, turning on all the lights inside, "Maybe I don’t need to tell you this, but for some reason I feel I should make sure you know.... Theresa must not know about my other relationships okay? Don't say anything that will put me in danger."
"Sure, I won't say anything," I assure, and follow Lion around the place as he goes about hooking up machines and arranging things, "But I want to know something: How do you keep your other girlfriends from knowing they're being cheated on? It seems kind of risky."
"It's easy, to be honest. I don't go out publicly with them often, Gracie works at some human place in London, she's too busy with her career to want to be with me all the time and want to know what I'm doing. Theresa is not the brightest woman in the world and Elena, well, she is just happy with me and doesn't care about anything else. I know I'm not giving you the best parental example in the universe, but I seriously love those three women. I'm not saying you should love multiple men, that wouldn't be right, I'm not trying to s..."
"I can love multiple men too just like you do because it doesn't make any difference that I'm a woman. Or an 'omega'," I interrupt him, "And it would be hypocritical for you to want to say it's not right. Hypocritical and sexist."
"Ah... that's... yes. It is hypocritical," he nods with a frown as he thinks about what I said, "You can do whatever you want, sorry."
- Writer
