Love Always, Damian by D. Nichole King Read Free Book Online Page B

seconds later. She doesn’t say anything to me on the short trip to my house, and it’s a relief because I need to think.
    I have a kid—a daughter. I don’t know anything about kids. I mean, other than Brennan, the little boy with cancer who befriended Kate at the hospital, I have no experience with them. And Lia’s like, a toddler. Basically a baby, right?
    What do you do with one of those?
    Ellie didn’t want me to know about her, so does Lia even know about me? What does she think when Ellie takes her to the park where other kids’ daddies are pushing them on the swing? Or…
    Fuck.
    Maybe my little girl does have a father in her life in the form of Ellie’s boyfriend. I can’t help glancing over to Ellie’s fingers in search of a ring. There isn’t one. Even so, the thought of some guy being with Lia when I didn’t even know she existed shoots a fresh stab of anger into my chest. How could Ellie have kept her from me?
    Then again, what would I have done had I known?
    I don’t have an answer for that. In fact, I’m so fucking out of answers that I’m desperate for a drink to clear my mind.
    Talk about messed up.
    In the garage, I park my car, but I don’t make a move to get out. Beside me, I can hear Ellie’s soft breaths, and like me, she’s not reaching for the door. I focus through the windshield at the empty wall in front of me.
    I squeeze the steering wheel, holding my breath until my lungs are on fire. I’m trying so fucking hard to hold it together right now.
    I shake my head and throw the door open. Get out then slam it shut. I don’t give a rat’s ass what Ellie thinks, I’m pouring myself a drink. Or two.
    Hell, this calls for a whole bottle of something strong.
    I grab one of those small juice glasses from the cupboard Dylan pours his OJ into each morning, toss in a couple of ice cubes, and top it off with Captain Morgan. The liquid goes down easy, but I’ll need a hell of a lot more to work through this “I’m a father” thing.
    I lean against the counter, the glass in front of me, when I hear Ellie enter the kitchen. I’m on my second glass of rum now, and I still don’t have a fucking clue what to say to her.
    “Alcohol doesn’t solve all the problems of the world, Damian,” Ellie says from behind me.
    “No, but it helps deal with them.”
    Ellie’s beside me now, giving me one of the too-wise onceovers she learned from my brother. “It only gives you something to hide behind.”
    I chuckle at her little philosophy lesson. She should talk. “Like hiding the fact that I have a kid so you wouldn’t have to deal with it?” I rattle the ice in the glass and shoot her a wink. “Sounds the same to me.”
    I go to take another drink, but Ellie swipes the rum away from me. “What the fuck, Elle?” I say, stunned that she had the gall.
    Her eyes burn into me. I’ve seen her like this before, but I’ve never been on the receiving end of it. “You want to know why I didn’t tell you?” She dumps the alcohol down the drain. “This is why. You’d rather wallow in your self-pity and pain than let anyone in.”
    Oh, I don’t think so.
    I’m pissed as fuck now. “What the hell would you know about letting anyone in? In case you’ve forgotten, I did let someone in and she fucking died, Ellie. But you? You ran away. So, don’t give me any of your bullshit. You didn’t tell me because you— you —wanted a new life, one that didn’t involve any connections to Liam.”
    Her bottom lip trembles as she glares at me, and I know I’ve hit the motherlode. Good. She doesn’t get to come here, lay all this shit on me, then blame me for it. I didn’t ask to be a dad, or for Ellie to return in the first place. I’m beginning to think she should’ve kept her fucking secret to herself and stayed in Florida where she belongs.
    I don’t need this shit.
    I turn away from her and start toward the living room. As I do, I dig the picture of Lia out of my back pocket. Her small, happy