The Dare

“I like being naughty,” I declare, as if I’m justifying myself to Tracey for my actions. “It’s fun. And why shouldn’t I do what I want? No one is getting hurt. No one has to see this video anyway…”

I stop in my tracks as I hear the door banging open, someone coming back in to the office. My pulse starts pounding once more, only this time it’s with fear not excitement. It could be Zack coming back to work which means I definitely can’t get caught in his office. In the heat of panic, I switch his computer off and rush over to my desk to act like I’m just finishing up what I told him I was doing.

“Oh, hi, Latesha.” Thank goodness, it’s Emma, the cleaning lady. I should have known that it would be her coming. “I’m just about to hover. Do you need me to wait if you haven’t quite finished up yet?”

All I can think about is my need to get out of here before I end up doing something wild once more, only this time I will end up getting caught I’m sure of it. “No, thank you, Emma. I’m done now. On my way home.”

“Okay,” she smiles, none the wiser. “Well, have a nice evening. I will see you tomorrow.”

I blow out a breath of relief as I finally escape that building and the sexual thrill I feel Zack inside of there. That was one hell of a day and it’s probably better that it’s over.

Chapter 2 – Zack

“Daddy!” My four-year-old daughter, Amelia, races over to me with her sun shine smile spread across her face. As she jumps in to my arms, all the issues of the day simply melt away. My child’s love really has that effect on me. She’s the reason that I get out of bed every single morning. “You’re home.”

“I am. Home at last.” I snuggle against her and find myself grinning to myself because I’m so glad to be back in my house. “And how are you, Amelia? Have you had a good day with Granny?”

“We had a wonderful day,” my mother replies with a gorgeous smelling plate of food in her hands. “We did a lot of painting and craft activities which was… well, messy but a lot of fun as well.”

“I can imagine,” I chuckle happily. I don’t mind mess in the house as long as my baby girl is happy. I would absolutely love to be the one at home doing craft activities with her, but unfortunately, I need to work. “Well, I will get everything clean once Amelia is in bed. Dinner smells delicious and I am starving.”

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” Mom insists. “Me and Amelia already tidied up.”

“Mom, you are way too good to me. I really don’t know what I would do without you.”

That statement is far too true. I really wouldn’t be able to survive without my mother here. She helped me to pick up the pieces of my life when everything fell apart just over three years ago, and she has stuck around ever since. Without her getting us back on track, I don’t know what we would have done when Karen walked out on us. Not only me and our relationship, which I thought was mostly okay to be honest, and our daughter as well. Even the beautiful little Amelia wasn’t enough to get Karen to stick around.

No, partying was more important than parenting. She wanted to be out on the town and hooking up with whatever guy crossed her path than being at home with me and Amelia. I have to say that the revelation destroyed me. It killed me and left me with a young baby to raise alone whilst also managing my own business.

Without my mother stepping in to help me with Amelia and the house, I don’t know where I would be now… and as for her home cooking… well, what guy doesn’t love his mother’s home cooking?

“I don’t like carrots,” Amelia declares in a haughty tone as we all take our seats at the dining table. “So, Granny said that I don’t have to eat them. She hasn’t put any on my plate. Look, Daddy.”

I see the thin slithers of carrot that my mom has snuck on to Amelia’s plate which I know that she’ll get away with because she did the same trick on me to get me to eat healthy food and I laugh. “You’re lucky.”

“I know.” She beams at me. “Granny said that you have to eat yours because you’re a grown up.”

“Oh, well that doesn’t seem fair to me. If I’m a grown up, then I should be allowed to do what I want…”

Mom smiles at me proudly as me as me and Amelia tease one another over dinner. The one good thing to come from this whole mess is that I have a much closer relationship with my daughter than I would if Karen were still here. I might have assumed that me and her were good at the time, which is why her leaving was so hard for me but looking back with hind sight I can see that I had to give so much of myself to the relationship. It was such a challenge to keep her happy that everything else melted away. Amelia might have been lost in that.