I pad softly down the hall and find the closet. When I locate it, I make quick work of cleaning myself off before I go back to take care of Monroe.
She’s sleepy and sated, lids heavy. I wipe in gentle, even strokes, taking my time, and she shivers at my touch, smiling softly when I toss the towel in the corner of the room. “What a gentleman,” she says. I tuck myself behind her on the couch and pull her to my chest, placing a kiss on her head.
* * **
The buzz of a phone slices through the early morning quiet like a knife, and I swear to everything holy I am going to throw it out of the window if it doesn’t shut up in the next three seconds.
I reach my arm gently across a sleeping Monroe, trying not to wake her with the jostling, but desperately trying to locate the buzzing so I can turn it off.
She shifts in front of me, snuggling into my chest, my arm slung heavily around her waist, while I reach around for the phone with the other. I feel the steady rise and fall of her chest and she shifts, woken up by the incessant noise.
I’m suddenly furious at a hunk of metal thatwon’t stop buzzing.
Flashes of the night before run through my head.‘You’re such a good girl, Monroe. So pretty with my cock in your mouth.’
Words I want to say to her over and over and over again. Tonight, tomorrow. Every day for the rest of my life, if I’m lucky. Monroe groans, her voice thick with sleep. My arm tightens around her stomach. “Rhodes,” she mutters into the arm she’s currently using as a pillow. “Turn it off.”
Right. The phone.
“I can’t find it. Yours or mine?”
“It’s gotta be yours,” she whispers. “Mine’s always on silent.”
With entirely too much effort, I finally shift just enough to grab the vibrating phone from under the couch and tap the side button to stop the buzzing.
“Yep, mine,” I confirm, stifling a yawn and scoff. “Also, that’s not safe. What if there’s an emergency?”
With the sound silenced, we relax into each other again. “There’s nobody that needs to get a hold of me that badly,” she says, matter-of-fact.
That thought pisses me off, and for the second time this morning, I’m irritated. “Okay, well. You just found yourself one.” I grab her phone from the coffee table and use her face to open it, finding my contact.
“What are you doing?” She makes a grab for the phone but I hold it out of reach.
“Rhodes McKnight,” I say, reading my contact name. “Boring.” I change my name to McKnight In Shining Armor and tap the ‘make emergency contact’ button, adding all my relevant information. Phone number, address, clicking yes on ‘call after severe crash’. Once I’m satisfied that a first responder could get ahold of me in an emergency, I give her phone back.
Monroe rolls her eyes at my contact name. “I can make my dad my emergency contact, you know.”
“Make him one too, that’ll make me feel even better. Add Elsie while you’re at it.”
“I am not making Elsie an emergency contact,” she snorts.
“The more, the merrier,” I reply, with a kiss to her forehead.
My phone begins vibrating again, insistent. “I can ignore it,” I say, tugging the blankets up higher around us. There’s only one person who would be this insistent on getting ahold of me, and I don’t feel like explaining our complicated relationship.
“You literally just said,what if there’s an emergency?What if thereisan emergency?” I see the irony here, and sigh, tapping the screen. I’m quiet for a moment while I read the latest of verbal assaults from the man who fathered me.
Monroe’s face is gently illuminated by the light, concern etched across her beautiful features. “Rhodes, is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I say, slowly. “My dad.” I pause, trying to decide how much to tell her when this isn’t her problem. I don’t need to be dumping all my shit on her.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she replies softly. “I get it. I’m not trying to pry.”
“No, that’s not it.” I heave a heavy sigh, and it settles, weighted, around us. I feel older than my twenty-four years would suggest. I’m so tired of dealing with him. “He’s an addict and a mean one. When he’s not hounding me for money, it’s only because he’s found someone else to bankroll his addiction for a while. Every couple years, he figures out my new number and harasses me. He’s been on a bender lately, and it looks like he’s out of people near him to suck dry. “
“Jesus, Rhodes. How long has he been bothering you?”
“Since Christmas.”