Page 24 of York

He watched as she thought about what he was saying. He’d never lie to her, not that he could, but he would tell her the truth too. No matter how much it hurt him to do so. When she seemed satisfied with what he was saying, he stood up and pulled her from the chair.

“I want you to know that when I leave you to go to work, I will return. I want you to understand that when I leave you, I’m going to do something dangerous and I will kill. I might be hurt at times, but nothing that won’t heal.” She asked if that was why he needed her so much when he returned. “Yes. You sustain me. You make me feel alive. Killing for a living isn’t something that I would wish on anyone, but I’ve got you in my life now, and I feel like each one that I’m killing is saving you from being hurt. You’re my life and having you near me is everything that I could hope for in my life.”

“I love you.” He told her that he loved her as well. “I will never leave you, York. Nor will I ever talk to you about what you do again. It’s too much.”

“I understand that more than you can know.” She hugged him, and he smiled. “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me, love. And I can’t wait until we have children of our own. I hope they all look just like you.”

“That’s just crazy. The boys will have to look like you. They’d be too pretty if they were all to look like me.” They both laughed, and he felt better. Now all she had to do was talk to her father, and things would be finished. It was going to be epic seeing her talk to her father, and he was going to enjoy every minute of it.

Chapter 10

Daniel waited for his daughter to come to him. He’d been mourning the death of his son for the last few days, and he hurt in his heart for it. Phillip had been a good kid, and he was going to miss him. All because his daughter had decided she was too good to be knocked around for some cash. He was going to make sure she understood that he was going to—

“What is it you want?” He turned quickly, nearly falling over when he heard a voice behind him. The beautiful creature stood there in nothing more than jeans and a sweatshirt. Not even any shoes on her feet. He asked her who she thought she was talking to. “My father. You’re Daniel MacIntrye, aren’t you?”

“You can’t be my daughter. She’s an ugly scrawny thing that looks just like her mother.” He stared a bit harder and could see that she might well be who she said she was. “What happened to you? Did you have surgery or something? That money could have been better spent if you had given it to me. Or your brother. But he’s dead now because of you.”

“He’s dead because he was killed by a vampire.” He hadn’t known that and said as much to her. “Not that it matters. He was trying to knock the shit out of me for more money. He’d had to spend a few nights in jail because he thought that knocking me around was a good idea.”

“By God, you should have let him. What’s a few bruises on your body if he were still alive? You did this to him.” She said again that he’d been killed by a vampire. “And you should know this how? You hanging out with them creatures?”

“I’m married to one of them.” He didn’t believe her and told her as much. “I don’t care what you believe or not. I know what happened because I was there. He hooked up with the wrong kind of person and got himself killed for it. What do you want? You never answered me?”

“You don’t talk to me that way.” She laughed, and he thought that she needed a few good licks because she was his daughter. “You’ll come here right now and give me what I want.”

“Since I’ve asked you twice now and you’ve never said what it is you want, then I can’t help you. Do you even think about what you’re saying before it leaves your mouth? You’re making no sense at all right now.”

He would get mixed up with his words at times, but there was no point in her pointing them out to him. He took a step toward her to scare her a bit. He didn’t know what to do when she took a step in the same direction toward him. It was the smile that had him wanting to back off from her. She looked entirely too sure in what she was saying, too.

“I want what Phillip wanted and a good deal more. You’re going to give me hundreds of dollars right now, or I’m going to pop you in the mouth some.” She laughed. Just threw back her head and laughed at him. Seeing red, he moved the last two steps toward her and felt his head snap back. Pain hit him in the face, and he couldn’t believe it. “You hit me.”

“I’ll hit you again if you think I’m going to allow you to hit me.” He said that she wasn’t to do that again. “So you think I should just stand there and allow you to hit me and do nothing about it?”

“Why yeah.” He didn’t understand her. She’d never hit him back before, and he found he didn’t like it. “You come on over here and let me show you a lesson in respect for your father.”

“I have no respect for you, so that won’t work.” He didn’t understand what she was saying, and it made him mad. Daniel asked Rosie where she got off talking to him that way. “I’m not going to allow you to knock me around. Not anymore. I will give to you what you’ve given to me over the years and not feel the least bit bad about it.”

“You’re not making any sense right now either. You’re saying that you’re going to be hitting on me and I say you’re not.” His head snapped back again, and he’d not even seen her move. “What’s going on here? Why can you hit me and I’m not allowed to hit you?”

“Because I’ve gotten stronger. And smarter than you. I like being able to give you back what you’ve given me over my lifetime.” He said he didn’t like it one bit. “Then you know how I felt all those years ago when you thought it was just fine for you to hit on me.”

“You’re my daughter and what I say goes.” Again his mouth was punched, and he had to spit the blood out or choke on it. “Stop that right now. Before I have to get mad at you and hit you back.”

“Try.” He found he didn’t like this version of his daughter. Rosie would never have hit him back some months ago. Hell, she would just take it, hand over her money, and he’d move on to spend it. This girl wasn’t his daughter. “I am too your daughter. You know it too. You just don’t like that I’m fighting back.”

“Hell no, I don’t like that. It hurts.” She told him that she was enjoying herself. “Well, you stop that right now. You’re not to have fun at my expense. I’ll tell you when you can have fun.”

“See right there. You’re not making any sense. I don’t understand why you can have fun with hitting on me, but when I hit on you, it’s suddenly not right. How fair is that?” He was confused, and he didn’t know how to answer her. He told her again it wasn’t right. “Right for who? You or me? I don’t like being hit on either. That might surprise you, but it’s painful when you knock me around.”

“It hurts me too when you hit me.” He spit again and wasn’t surprised that a tooth came out. All his teeth were rotten in his head, and he’d been losing them for months. “See what you did right there. Now I’m going to have to go and get me some soup to eat, and it’s going to be something you pay for. Now. Like I should have said in the beginning, you give me the money you have on you, and I’ll come back later for more. You either do it my way or I’m going to have to get mean with you. You don’t want to see me mean with you.”

“I’d like to see that. Yes. I do believe that I would.” Rosie put her hands up like she was going to fight him. “Come on, Father, show me your mean side. I bet you I can take you out in no time and then I’m going to walk away with my money. You don’t deserve it anyway. I worked hard for it.”

“Now you listen here. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I’m not going to be putting up with it. I won’t hit you this time, but you’re going to hand over that money, or I’m going to have to take action against you.” She told him to come on and do it. “What the hell is wrong with you? Don’t you see that I’m getting upset with you? Damn it all to hell and back, this ain’t the way things are supposed to be going. You hand it over, and I’ll forget this whole thing.”

“No. I’m not handing over any of my money, nor am I going to allow you to come to me later and knock me around. I want you to get that into your thick head right now. I’m not going to be your bank nor your punching bag. I’m a grown woman who knows her own mind, and I’m going to not allow you or anyone else to hit me again.” He lunged at her, and all that got him was a slap to the face. It hurt too. “Come on. You can do better than that. I thought that you said you were getting mad. I’m having fun, and all you’re doing is playing around.”

“Do you want me to hit you?” She said she wanted him to try. “By God, I’m going to snap your neck. Then what will you get from that?”