Chief Executive Daddy

by Honey London

Graham wandered back over in time to chime in. “Don’t you want to meet someone more organically?” “Sure. I’ll just swing by Whole Foods on my way home from work.” Will rolled his eyes. “I’ll pick up a submissive and a grass-fed pot roast.”

“Foster, you’ve made this choice. And you continue to choose to be alone every time you forgo your own happiness because you can’t admit that you aren’t indispensable.” Fucking ouch.

“So, what kind of things are you good at, Reid?” I’d been pretty good at being thrown away. Was being disposable a skill someone could build a career on?

If something isn’t going the way you thought it would, or if you have questions, or if you need something… I want you to tell me.” Running to Foster every time I was overwhelmed could be a full-time job itself. I wondered if texting would be okay.

“How does he have a key?” “You better ask him.” More shuffling, then Graham was there. “Hello?” he said in a sunny, high-pitched voice. “How do you have my key?” “Remember that time you asked me to water your plants while you were at that conference?” No, I did not remember that. “Wait. That was like three years ago.” “I think it might have been four.” “And I got that key back from you when I came back.” “Did you?” “Yes, you gave it to me.” “I gave you a key…” I groaned. Fucking Graham.

I refused to believe that anyone with eyes as kind as Foster’s would scream at me when I bought the wrong laundry detergent. Though I’d never thought Daddy would either.

I mentally commanded myself not to develop a crush on my new boss, but I suspected it was probably too late.

“You came back.” He sounded like he hadn’t been sure I would return, which could have been mildly insulting if it hadn’t been so astute. I hadn’t been sure I’d come back either.

“Was he abusive?” Reid looked down at his hands and fiddled with his straw wrapper. “No, he never hit me.” I wondered if Reid understood that there was more to abuse than physical violence.

In typical Chase fashion, he waited until his mouth was full to reply. “Yeah,” he said, chewing a bit more loudly than I thought was necessary.

“Foster is a Daddy,” I blurted, my words coming out before I could stop them. Chase took another bite of his peach. “Doesn’t surprise me.” “It doesn’t?” It sure surprised the hell out of me. “You said he was, like, pretty put together, and older. Makes sense that he’d have kids.” I rubbed my temple with my fingertips. “Not a dad, Chase… a Daddy.” Chase choked slightly, coughing several times, but he waved a hand at me when I made a motion to stand and help. “I’m fine,” he said, voice hoarse.

Chase’s mouth dropped open for a second before he closed it and swallowed. “You told him about ED?” Chase refused to refer to my ex as anything other than Evil Daddy, or ED.

“That’s too bad. Had he experienced some trauma in the past?” Leave it to Nathan to identify a problem based on forty-five seconds of conversation.

But now, I was right back to feeling the way I’d been the past four years. The way I’d been assured that I was. Absolutely insignificant.

Just five more minutes, I told myself. Five more minutes to work up my courage to tell the best man I’d ever known that his kindness was undeserved and unnecessary.

“Oh, they would sit in the car outside our house, or follow me if I left… I think it’s probably one of the reasons why I’m so jumpy sometimes. They had a way of just coming out of nowhere.” Jesus fucking Christ. This was some sociopathic-level controlling behavior. “One time I asked him not to, but he said it was for my own good, so I couldn’t really argue.” I sure as hell would have. But I wasn’t being gaslit by the man who was supposed to love me for four years.

A powerful guy… super controlling… His employees followed me around… “Reid. Is your ex Scott Chambers?” He looked down at his hands folded carefully in his lap and nodded. The motherfucking chief of police.

I’d had the importance of pinching pennies so ingrained in me, it was hard to lose the habit. He ran a hospital, so he probably didn’t care about a five-dollar delivery fee. But Scott had run the police force and he’d had me on a budget tighter than an otter’s pocket.

Foster reached into his shirt pocket, never breaking eye contact, and slowly pulled out… a granola bar. “These have raisins in them,” he said in a tone not entirely befitting a person of his high rank in the hospital. I blinked at him. “Wait… what?” Foster let out a peal of laughter and tossed the snack to me. “These are raisins, not chocolate chips. I bit into one in the middle of a meeting, and I almost choked. I had to pretend I was having a heart attack, because that was less embarrassing than admitting pending death by raisin ambush.”

He was, without a doubt, the smartest, kindest, most driven person I had ever met, and yet he was one lip twitch away from a pout because of some raisins.

“It wasn’t a mistake! You tried to poison me,” he accused. It took everything I had not to roll my eyes. “No one has ever died from eating a raisin, Foster.” That was probably an exaggeration, but I stood by my dramatic statement. He narrowed his eyes. “Raisins…” “Are nature’s candy?” I suggested. “Belong in the trash.” “Okay, duly noted. No more raisins.”

Foster smiled at me before moving slightly and wrapping both his hands around me, settling them on my stomach. His warmth behind me, the hair on his arms rubbing lightly over mine… I tried to make my brain form thoughts, I honest to god tried, but nothing happened. I was supposed to be thinking danger! Attack imminent! But instead, a sense of security wrapped around me, whispering that I was safer than I’d ever been.

I had done a great job. We’d made it even though Chase’s car wouldn’t start, I didn’t have a panic attack, and I didn’t pop a boner when Foster wrapped his arms around me like I was the little spoon. That was what I called a successful evening.

Landon. The man who’d managed to take everything from me, and now had the only thing I’d ever truly wanted.

I had always known that I was going to fuck things up eventually, that I would ruin everything, just like Scott always told me that I did. I was honestly surprised it had taken as long as it had. Almost ten whole weeks before I’d proven I was the worst. And just like every time, I wanted to run.

Foster closed the distance between us quickly, coming right next to me. I thought for a moment he was going to wrap his arms around me, but he shoved his hands in his pockets. Of course I wasn’t going to get a hug. Hugs were for people who deserved them.

“Absolutely. Reid is one of the strongest, most caring people I know. I wouldn’t want to be in your situation with anyone but him.” Except maybe a nurse, physician, or midwife, but that didn’t seem relevant enough to mention.

I had come to terms with the fact that my little crush had somehow morphed into something much more serious when I wasn’t looking, and now my body ached with the tender, throbbing pain of unrequited love.

“Why don’t you let me pick for you?” Reid immediately scoffed at the idea. “No, I couldn’t ask you to do that.” As though ordering him a drink held the same gravity as offering him a kidney.

“But then I met my new boss, who I like, but who has made it very clear that all leaders are not like you.” Reid took a deep breath. “So, I asked you to meet me for two reasons.” He paused, counting under his breath. “No… maybe three.” I didn’t dare appreciate the absolute adorableness that was Reid Phillips in that moment,

“I have no idea if you’re even single.” I could tell by the look on his face that he was thinking of seeing me with Landon. “And it’s totally fine if you’re not into it. Super, super fine. I just knew I… I probably couldn’t really move on without telling you how I felt, and I hope that’s okay.”

I didn’t mind the age gap at all, but I wondered if it bothered him, if he’d get tired of having me around eventually. No problem. I’d just practice saying really mature things like “decaf for me” and “in this economy?”

“And sex stuff?” Maybe I couldn’t drive a car and maybe I still didn’t know what a fax was, but sex stuff, I could do. I could make Foster happy… to make him keep me.

“So you joined the mentor program?” “Yeah. Scott wound up being my mentor.” I didn’t have the heart to tell Reid I’d seen that particular plot twist coming a mile away.

“So I spent time with him at the station after school. He took me out to places and helped me with my homework. He didn’t, like, come on to me until after I graduated.” How thoughtful of him.

I considered the duality, the fact that Reid was so slow to trust in himself, his own abilities, but willing to put all his faith in the goodness of everyone around him. It was the most frustrating thing I’d ever encountered. How do you teach someone to be less naive? Was that even something you could do?

I could already tell my boy was going to thrive with structure, but I needed him to understand there was a line between agreed-upon expectations and someone controlling his every move against his own wishes.

Reid looked up at me, leaning closer, and blinked his lashes at me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the little flirt was asking for something. My lips twitched, and I reached into the back seat. His face morphed into something dangerously close to a pout and my gut twisted, working to convince my brain to give this boy anything he desired. Reid must never know the potential power that pout held over me.

I tried to figure out if I needed to shave again. I ran a hand over my jaw and sighed. Who was I kidding? I could go for three days without shaving and still have the beard growth of a fifteen-year-old.

He was wearing a pair of snug but not too tight dark-washed jeans that hugged him in all the right places. Where do I submit my request to be reincarnated as those jeans?

“Should we get going?” “I’d follow you anywhere.” Foster winked at me, and I died right there on the living room carpet, next to the heart-shaped stain Chase said was from a leaky burrito but looked suspiciously lube-like to me.

One tear slipped from Reid’s eyes, then another, and even as I gently wiped them away, my heart was breaking. “Reid, we don’t have to do this.” Reid’s eyes widened. “I want to! I do. I just… didn’t know how you wanted me to service you.” Jesus fucking Christ.

“And, Nathan, this is Reid Phillips…” He gave me a little squeeze. “The light of my life.” I looked up at Foster—he had to be joking, right? I wasn’t even the light of my own life—but

“Baby, you didn’t.” I grinned and chewed my lip. “I did.” Daddy swept me into a hug, kissing me sweetly. “I’m so proud of you,” he said, looking over the license he held in his hands. “I would have taken you.” “I know, but I wanted to do it on my own.” I neglected to mention that I’d tried four times before I’d actually passed the road test.

My jaw dropped. “He really did all of this himself?” “Absolutely.” She lowered her voice. “Because I would have never let him order balloon arches.” I laughed but had to agree. It was so sweet of him, but it felt more like a wedding in the eighties than a party for a twenty-three-year-old.