I was never going to give up.

Maybe he hadn’t read the letter. But so what? I had plenty of aces up my sleeve and I wasn’t about to give up just because my first try hadn’t gone well.

I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, fluffing up my dark brown hair and applying another layer of pink lipstick that brought out the whiteness of my teeth. I tugged my shirt down and pulled my skirt just a little bit higher, making sure it was absolutely inappropriate for walking around in.

Two girls walked into the school bathroom, and when they saw me, they muttered something to each other and giggled, shooting me looks. But I didn’t give a shit. Not then, not ever.

I was very aware girls didn’t like me. Why would they? I was infamous for sleeping around and I’d made several guys cheat over the past few school years. I wasn’t trying to make friends, anyway. I was trying to get through my last year of high school with my sanity intact, and I wanted to have as much fun as I possibly could while I was doing it.

I was like Kendall in many ways, but I didn’t do the same things for fun she did.

Her idea of a good time was curling up with a stupid book.

Mine was fucking my enemy’s boyfriend and planting so many hickeys on his neck she couldn’t pretend not to notice.

So when I walked out of that bathroom, I grinned at the girls and blew them a kiss. One of them rolled her eyes and the other one just stared at me. How fun. Maybe she was a curious little bunny. I liked those types a lot.

I walked out into the school parking lot and spotted Levi’s Lexus right away. I waved at him, making sure my shirt rode up when I did, revealing the tanned, toned skin of my navel. I couldn’t see inside the car because the windows were tinted, so I just opened the passenger door and climbed in.

A wave of chilled air-conditioned air hit my skin as I did so, and Levi’s hand brushed my arm briefly.

“Hi, Daddy,” I said playfully, and he laughed out loud.

“You gotta stop calling me that,” he told me sternly. “People are going to think it’s weird as fuck.”

I grinned wide. I loved that he wasn’t afraid of cursing in front of me. He treated me like an adult, that was one of my favorite things about Levi. He never acted like I was a kid, like so many other people did.

“Shut up, you like it,” I teased him, and he just rolled his eyes in response and drove out of the parking lot. “Hey, can we make a quick stop?”

“Sure, princess,” he replied easily. “Where do you want to go?”

“I want to get an ice cream sundae,” I told him. “Pleaaaaase. Like we used to a few years ago. Remember? It was just you and me. And it was always so much fun. I’d just love it if we could do it again.”

“Just us?” he raised his eyebrows at me. “What about your sister?”

“She’s in debate class,” I shrugged. “You know she has a trillion after-school activities. Plus, it’ll be nice to spend some quality time with you. I feel like we never hang out anymore.”

He pondered this for a second before saying, “Well, maybe we should pick up your mom on the way there, unless she’s on another one of those crazy fad diets. You want her to come with us?”

I gave him my best Amanda pout, and he shook his head and chuckled.

“Fine, princess,” he finally surrendered. “Ice cream sundaes, just the two of us. You got it.”

He drove towards the ice cream shop we used to go to. My eyes lit up when I saw it was still exactly the same, even though I hadn’t been back there for years. The last time we went, we took Mom and Kendall with us, and Mom and Levi ended up getting into a huge fight over something moronic like maraschino cherries. Levi took us the fuck out of there after Mom took off. It was a good thing we weren’t banned for life after the scene they’d made.

But thankfully, nobody seemed to recognize us as we made our way into the cafe. Levi picked a private booth at the back of the restaurant, and it gave me tingles as we sat down. It felt like we were on a date. I peered at him over the top of my menu, and he grinned at me and grabbed it out of my hands.

“Don’t you remember how we used to do this?” he asked me. “You don’t get to pick yours out.”

“I know,” I said with a smile. “Daddy’s orders.”

The waitress approached us, and she was totally making googly eyes at Levi which annoyed the hell out of me. I sulked as he ordered for us.

It started when we’d been here a few times and he noticed me ordering the same thing every single time – cookie dough with chocolate fudge syrup.

Levi told me I couldn’t go through life always ordering the same thing. He said I needed some adventure, to try something out of my limits and be a little bit adventurous. And ever since then, he’d been ordering for me. And it was a different flavor of ice cream every time.

Once the waitress left, I watched Levi checking out her ass and sulked even more. It reminded me of all those times I saw him fucking somebody else. All those girls, pretty, young girls who looked so very much like me. I was so jealous of every single one of them. I wanted him to pick me instead.

“What?” he asked me defiantly, and I stuck my bottom lip out. “Oh come on, princess. Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

“You’re here with me, not her,” I said defensively, motioning towards the waitress who kept sneaking looks at us. “Can’t you pay attention to me instead of that girl?”

“You’re my stepdaughter,” he reminded me sternly.

“So?” I purred. “I’m eighteen, in case you haven’t noticed.”

I stuck my tits out and he stared at me, my eyes daring him to look down. I had to give it to the old man, he was stubborn as a bull. He kept his gaze on mine for several excruciatingly long seconds before glancing at my pert nipples, then back at the menu.

“You’re going to get yourself in trouble, Amanda,” he told me softly.

“I hope so,” I giggled. “I’m always looking for trouble.”

He glanced at me, his eyes crinkling with laugh lines. God, he was fucking handsome.

“I think you are trouble, period,” he laughed. “Now come on. Tell me everything. What’s going on with my princess? And talk to me about Kendall too.”

“Why do you want to know about Kendall?” I asked innocently.

“Well, you two are close,” he said thoughtfully, just as the waitress arrived with our orders.

He didn’t even glance at her this time around, instead keeping his eyes firmly fixed on me, his laugh lines showing. He was trying so hard not to stare it made me giggle before I dug in.

“What did you get for me?” I asked him, ignoring the topic from before. “It looks yummy, Daddy.”

He flinched every-fucking-time I called him that.

“Honeycomb,” he said. “I think you’ll like it. Dig in, tell me if it’s good.”

I scooped a big spoon of ice cream into my mouth and rolled my eyes with pleasure when I tasted the caramel and sweet, delicious honey.

“I love it, Daddy,” I said, licking my pouty lips at him.

He looked at me over the cup of his own ice cream.

“Come on, Mandy,” he said placatingly. “Don’t play games with me, princess. Talk to me.”

“What would you like to know?” I asked him innocently. “I thought you and Kendall were close.”

“Well, you know,” he said, shrugging awkwardly. “Not as close as we used to be. Both you girls are growing up now and I really don’t get to spend as much time as I’d like with either of you. I guess I just feel as if we’ve grown apart a little.”

“I see,” I said thoughtfully.

My tongue lapped at the spoon as I stared at him. Levi was having trouble keeping his eyes off my mouth and I fucking loved it. I would never get sick of men falling at my feet just because I knew exactly how to work them.

“I guess it’s hard to see it that way for me,” I said slowly, accentuating every word and licking my lips in between. Levi was mesmerized, his spoon hovering above his own sundae as he stared at me.

“Why is that, princess?” he asked me curiously, and I sucked my spoon clean before putting it back into my cup.

“I guess because you popped her cherry,” I shrugged. I heard him take a sharp intake of breath. “You know, I guess I just thought you guys were closer than ever now that you’ve fucked her pretty little pussy.”

“Amanda,” he barked at me over the table, leaning towards me. His eyes were panicked, his breaths coming so fast. “You don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about. What the fuck do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean,” I smiled prettily at him, licking up another spoon of honeycomb ice cream. “You did fuck her, didn’t you, Daddy? Did you fuck your little girl?”

“Shut the fuck up,” he hissed at me.

He stared at me while I grinned at him before holding his head in his hands. He looked fucking scared, and I loved that I’d made him feel that way all by myself.

“You have no idea,” he repeated again. “No fucking clue what you’re doing here, Mandy. How dare you insinuate that I–”

“Save your breath,” I rolled my eyes. “Kenny told me everything. You know as well as I do I’m her bestest friend. More like the only friend she’s ever had.”

“Amanda,” Levi said roughly. “You have to stop talking about this shit. You can’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t,” I said in a voice as sweet as my honeycomb sundae.

Levi breathed a sigh of relief, looking up at me as I licked the corners of my lips.

“Of course, being a businessman and all,” I sighed. “I assume you know everything comes at a price.”

His mouth set in a thin line as he stared at me.

“What the fuck do you want, Mandy?” he asked me, practically growling at me now. “Another Chanel? The new Louis Vuitton I saw you looking at?”

I didn’t reply, just grinned at him mischievously until he slammed a fist down on the table. Several people glanced at us, but he kept his gaze firmly on me, glaring at me as I giggled and ate up my sundae.

“I don’t want much, Daddy,” I told him innocently.

“Stop fucking acting,” he snapped. “Tell me what the fuck you want to keep that pretty little mouth shut, Mandy.”

“I just want you to treat us equally,” I said childishly. “You say you don’t have a favorite. But you like her. You spend time with her. You kiss her. Fuck her.”

“What are you saying, Amanda?” he asked me, his voice strained, his eyes expectant. “What the fucking hell are you even saying, princess? You’re going to need to be clearer.”

“I’m just saying I want you to like me too, Daddy.” My voice sounded young and sweet. So perfect. So wrong. Exactly what he was craving. I knew he had a hard on.

I leaned over the table, my tits spilling out of my top as I stared into Levi’s eyes.

“I just want you to love us both, Daddy,” I whispered. “And I want you to give me what you gave my sister, but I want you to fuck me harder.”