Chapter 17

David

My morning had been full of emotions and memories, thinking about Allison and me and our long history together. Just when I’d given up on ever seeing her again, fate had brought us back together, and I’d wasted no time taking things back to a sexual level. Still, I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about it. The past two times we’d had sex ended with distance growing between us, and now with her working for me, I hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

Being Saturday, with the weather being so cooperative and my Jeep still taken apart, I decided I’d take the opportunity to go golfing. I called Greyson for some company.

“Golfing?” he asked. “You know I suck. Why do you always insist I go?”

“I need some company, and for some reason, you’re my best friend.”

“Don’t guilt trip me. I’ll go, but I won’t like it, and I don’t want to hear a fucking remark about my swing. Let me do my thing, and keep your pie hole shut.”

“Fine, I won’t try and make you a better golfer. Meet me there in half an hour.” I hung up and headed for the course.

I was in the clubhouse when he showed up, wearing his pink plaid pants and a white sweater. “Let’s do this,” he said.

“Pink? Seriously? You want me not to give you a hard time, and you show up wearing pink plaid?”

“I knew it would eat at you.”

“Whatever. What eats at me is that my best friend owns pink plaid. Why?”

“You remember Cinnamon, right?”

“The pole dancer you were banging? Yeah, I fucking remember her.”

“Well, she was into this weird color analysis shit, and she said that pink is my color. She bought me these pants to go golfing with her father.”

“You met the stripper’s father?”

The guy was always in one strange situation or another. He followed me to our cart, and we put our clubs in the back. “Yeah, he hated the fucking pants. I’m hoping I don’t run into him today. This is his club, too.”

I climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the key. “If we do, I’m going to tell him you defiled his little girl and watch him beat your ass.”

“It wouldn’t be a lie. I fucked her hard in every orifice. She was insatiable and a real freak in the sheets. She had this thing for being rough and loved my hands on her throat. It was so hot. Got old pretty fast though, and she was too fucking clingy. As for the old man, I think I can take him.” He brushed off his shoulder.

I thought of Allison panting beneath me as I shot my load deep inside of her. I hoped she was on the pill, and I wondered if I should have asked. Fuck it, it felt amazing, and I’d never gone raw with anyone but her before.

“You look like you’ve got a lot on your mind, friend. Is that why you called me down here and forced me to play?”

I stopped at the first hole and grabbed my club. “It’s Allison.”

“Aww. Are you still pining away for some of that pussy? Poor guy. The great white buffalo strikes again, huh?” He gave a syrupy chuckle, and I wanted to punch him in the teeth.

Instead, I thought I’d put him in his place. “For your information, I had her moaning on my desk yesterday.”

His eyes lit with surprise. “No shit? You bagged buffalo girl?”

“You act like it’s the first time.” I teed my ball and took a swing.

“I’m happy for you. I just thought you’d keep it purely professional since you’re her boss.”

“Fuck, I am, aren’t I?” I’d never given much thought to office romances. Or any romance for that matter. Only with her.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Let the awkward begin. You get to face her every day. Work with her. I hope it’s going to work out.”

“Why wouldn’t it? We have a past, and we’re friends. We’ll always be friends. Besides, I’m head over heels for Sierra, too. I could be a father to that kid. She makes me want it, you know. The whole family thing.”

We continued through the course and kept talking between plays. “Have you ever thought you might be?”

“Might be what? Her father?” I shook my head. “It’s not possible. She’s six, and the last time we fucked was…” I counted off the years, and my heart started to pound. “There’s no way. Allison would have told me.”

Greyson didn’t look like he was convinced, but I knew Allison, and she wasn’t that kind of a woman. “Does she look like you? Have your eyes, your smile, or something?”

I imagined Sierra’s little face, so much like her mother’s, but a bit rounder, almost like my mother’s, though it could have been her age. But those eyes, the dark blue, was a rare shade, and even though Allison had said she had blue eyes like her father’s, they were a perfect match to my eye color. Her posture was mine. The set of her little jaw and the question in her brow were all mine.

“You have thought about it,” Greyson said.

“No, not until now. But damn, I guess it’s possible. Allison and I lost our virginity together when we were younger. I was a senior, her a junior, but we’d used protection. The condom had broken, popped off my cock like a fucking rubber band, and hit her in the face. Talk about your fucking amateurs; but I took it slow, pulled out, popped our cherries. But it never happened again. Not until that night after prom. We both wanted it so badly then, and neither of us had protection. But since we’d gotten lucky before, we didn’t use anything. We were stupid, horny kids.”

“Did you pull out?”

“Fuck no.” I never wanted to leave that tight, warm hole, and it all happened so fast that I just let it happen. Allison hadn’t even cared.

“Dude, you’re so that kid’s father.” He gave me a teasing grin.

But I wasn’t laughing. My heart raced, pounding in my chest at the thought that I could have had a daughter all this time and never known. Had Allison hid it from me? Considering what an asshole Doug had been and the way she put up with him, I doubted it. She had to think he was Sierra’s father to put up with him.

“Maybe. I left to go back to the Air Force after that, thinking I’d go back for her one day, but months down the road, I heard she was pregnant and getting married. I assumed she was happy. Who was I to fuck with that, you know? I wanted it for her. I wanted her happiness more than my own. Over the years, we just lost touch.”

God what a fool I’d been. I should have never lost touch. I should have asked her to wait for me that night.

“Do you think Allison knows?” he asked. “Maybe that’s why she let you take her to the Career thing?”

“No, Sierra asked me that herself and Allison wasn’t sure about it. With that deadbeat asshole in the picture, I’m sure she would have told me already.”

Greyson stopped lining up his swing and put his hand on my shoulder. “Fuck. You could have a daughter, man. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, but I’d have to ask Allison more about the timeframe. With me leaving, I didn’t know when she found out she was pregnant, or if they’d had tests done before their marriage or when it came time to go to court for the divorce. Was there proof?

While Allison had been in my mind all night and morning, it was Sierra’s little face that haunted me now. She’d tugged at my heartstrings from the first moment she’d walked up and taken my hand.

“She hates oatmeal cookies,” I said, after taking another swing.

“Who the fuck doesn’t?” He shrugged. “Have you ever bitten into one of those thinking it was chocolate chip? That’ll fuck you right up, man. Instant disappointment. I swear it’s the cause of trust issues in children, like when your mother tells you she didn’t put onions in the meatloaf, but you can see the larger pieces, so you know she’s lying.”

I didn’t want to get into his mother issues, especially while he was wearing his pink plaid that the stripper had bought him.

“Yeah, but my point is, I used to hate them,” I said. “My sister loves them and so did Allison. Missy told Allison that they were my favorite to fuck with me, but then Allison made them like once a week for me. I ate so many of those fucking cookies that I actually like them now. But Sierra said she hates them.”

“Maybe it means something; maybe it doesn’t. But you know what’s foolproof? DNA, baby. DNA. Have a test done, man. Steal her straw or something.”

I laughed at the absurdity. “I can’t do that. I have to talk to Allison first. See if it’s even possible. I don’t know when Sierra’s birthday is. The math might be way off.”

“What are you going to do if she is? That guy thinks he’s the daddy, and I assume he’s paying his fair share of child support. He might sue Allison.”

“I’d assume responsibility, of course, and I’d just throw some money at him and tell him to fuck off. From the sound of it, the guy doesn’t want to be a father anyway and come to think of it, I’d likely beat his ass for the way he’s treated my girls.” The thought of the other man having more authority than me in their lives made me sick, and my game was suffering.

When we were done, I walked him to his car.

“I can’t believe I actually skunked your ass,” Greyson said.

“You had me so worked up with the whole daughter thing, I couldn’t fucking concentrate, so I don’t want to hear it.”

“Hey, I don’t care how it happened. It happened, and I’m going to rub it in until it hurts.”

“I’ll fire you.”

His laughter called my bluff. “You will not. You wouldn’t know what to do without me, and don’t think I don’t know it.”

“Yeah, true. And don’t you think I don’t either, buddy.” There were days I wanted to go against my father’s wishes and leave the company to Greyson. Maybe one day I would.

“Hey, I know those girls mean a lot to you, man. Don’t miss out on her again. You’ve got to get that DNA test if the dates are close, and if it turns out that she’s not biologically yours, you can still be in her life, and you’d be a hell of a lot better than that asshole she has now. Don’t give up.”

Seeing their faces in my mind, I knew there was no way I’d give up on either of them again. But first, I had to talk to Allison and figure out my path.

Another thought came to mind. What if Allison did know? What if putting up with Doug was her way of giving me room to explore my dreams? She’d wanted me to pursue them so badly, and had even told me she didn’t want to be what stood in the way. I thought it was her way of letting me down easy and letting me off the hook, but what if it was true? What if being with Doug was another of her selfless sacrifices? She didn’t have a malicious bone in her, but what if it wasn’t maliciousness at all? My mind reeled through the possibilities, but in the end, the outcome was the same: Sierra was my girl.

I hoped it was true.