Just One Kiss, Please Daddy

Chapter 13

Livia’s POV

A hand shoots out from behind me and bunches around my hair. A whimper filters out of my mouth as my scalp stings.

I try to scratch Tyler’s hand and make him release me.

But it’s too late.

“You think you can hide from me, huh?” he growls under his breath and yanks my phone out of my hand. His eyes flash with glee when he sees the name. “Ah, is this your little b***h friend? She’s calling you?”

“Give that back!” I spit at him, but he kicks me in the stomach and I just collapse, gasping for air.

“Oh, I won’t give this back,” he says happily, taking the phone out of my reach and pressing answer.

Nadine’s panicked voice immediately comes through. “Livia, where the hell are you? I’m in front of the building. I’m waiting for you.”

“Nadine!” I try to scream, crawling towards the phone.

But Tyler steps on my arm, making me scream as he brings the phone close to his ear. “Nadine, huh? Hello, there.”

“f**k you!” Nadine yells after a beat. “What did you do to her? I’m going to have you arrested!”

“Good luck with that, because I’m her brother and I will take her home.” Tyler teasingly holds the phone in front of me. “Any last words to your friend?”

I open my mouth to scream for help. To tell her to come get me. But I stop.

Do I really want her to get involved in this?

I saw the expression on Tyler’s eyes when Nadine kicked him. Pure anger. Bordering on murder. If he sees her again, he will unleash the same kind of vitriol that he always shares to me. But unlike me, Nadine won’t be able to take it. And she shouldn’t take things like that.

I purse my lips together. Tears leak out of my eyes.

Tyler tosses the phone to the ground and stomps on it, reducing it into a useless brick with a blank, broken screen.

“Well, that was fun.” He picks me up by my hair effortlessly. I can feel some hairs ripping out of my scalp. “Ready to come home with me now?”

I say nothing.

That’s usually the trick with Tyler. You say nothing and eventually he will get bored and leave you alone.

But it seems that that’s not the case today, because he squeezes my jaw and forces me to look at him. “Since I can’t punish your friend for what she did to me… I’ll punish you instead.”

Still no words. Still relying on what I already know about him.

Wrong once again.

Shifting his grip to the back of my neck instead, he drags me to his car and drives us both home.

***

Ford’s POV

“Someone’s here to see you, doc,” my assistant Ella informs me, pushing away a lock of her graying hair away from her glasses as she enters my office. “Madeline Bridger, med rep.”

“Yeah, she scheduled that a couple days ago, I remember,” I say.

But my mind isn’t really into the conversation.

I keep looking at the jar of Hershey’s Kisses on my desk, remembering yesterday.

Remembering Livia.

I spent a great deal of the day thinking about her. Worrying about her. Wondering when I can have her with me and Nadine again.

Hoping there would be a time when I can finally get her to open up enough to tell me about those bruises and scars.

Last night was great. Steak nights are always a treat with Nadine, but having Livia there and actually seeing her eat and enjoy herself is a joy that I didn’t know I needed. That’s why I wanted to do it again.

I was thinking that maybe tonight might be another good time. I can invite her to our house and cook the dinner myself. Which means I need to cancel this appointment with the med rep.

“Tell her that I can’t see her today,” I tell Ella. “Reschedule an appointment with her first thing in the morning tomorrow. I hope she understands.”

“Of course,” Ella says kindly, heading back to the reception area.

Once I hear the receding footsteps of whom I assume is the med rep leaving, I get out of my office to clock out too.

But the front doors swing open as soon as I’m out, almost smashing against the walls. Ready to reprimand whoever did that, I get close, only to see Nadine’s anguished face.

“Nadine!” My chest hardens as I run up to catch her, seeing her stumbling to get inside. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did someone do something to you?”

She shakes her head. She’s covered in sweat. In her hand is her phone, and I see the caller ID on it.

Livia.

It’s on loudspeaker, but no voice is coming out.

My stomach drops. “What’s going on? Calm down and tell me.”

I sit her down on the bench in the waiting room, turning to Ella and motioning her to get a glass of water. She rushes with it, helping me coax Nadine to drink.

Once replenished, Nadine starts to speak. But only broken words come out of her mouth. Tears soon appear in her eyes, flowing down to her chin.

“Dad,” she keeps saying. “Dad….”

“What’s wrong?” I cup her face and wipe her tears. “Tell me. I’m right here.”

“It’s Livia.” Her voice breaks with anxiety and pain. “She… We were walking to your clinic. She had an allergic reaction to the overgrown grass in PE, so I volunteered to take her here instead of the school clinic.”

“And?” I look behind her. “Where is she?”

Nadine’s eyes well up. Her words come out gargled and full of distress. “We saw a guy who was drinking, and she started to pick on me. Livia stood up to him, and he pushed her down, so I kicked him. Then he started to chase us. Livia got tired so I told her to hide and I will call for help. When I called her, it’s the guy who answered….”

My entire world stops.

Nadine breaks down in my arms. I hold her tight, comforting her. Assuring her.

But only one thought is in my mind.

“Get in the car. Let’s find Livia.”