Daddy's Stepstalker (Daddy's Little Deviants)

Ari

“Becauseyouinterfered.You caused all this.”

Shaw’s voice echoed in my head as I ran. Ran away from the scene. From our house burning. But more than anything else, I was running away from the contempt on Shaw’s face. For years, Shaw had been my safe place. When everyone else hurt me, destroyed me with their words, he’d been my champion, but all that had changed.

Because of Judd.

He had to pay.

Tears pricked my eyes, but I blinked them away as I rushed in the opposite direction of the people moving toward the devastation behind me. Our street was a safe street. Nothing ever happened here, and everyone seemed excited, with their phones out, taking pictures that would never let us forget about this horrible day.

The day Shaw didn’t look at me with love and tenderness in his eyes. The day he blamed me for our demise. Not Judd. Me.

I skidded to a halt, my body jerking forward, and I fell. My right knee banged into the sidewalk, and my palms scraped on the rough concrete. The pain felt good. Distracted me from how much it hurt on the inside. I slowly picked myself up from the ground and stared at my knee. It felt worse than it looked. My jeans were torn, but the skin had only a few scratches. It didn’t even bleed.

I bent my knee back and forth, wriggling it, then took a tentative step. Each step hurt, but I would live. Unlike Judd. I had to take him out. All bets I’d made with Shaw were off the table. He said if Judd made a play for either of us, then I could kill the son of a bitch. Judd made a bold move when he decided burning down our house was a good idea. That bastard was the culprit. He could have an alibi from here until Sunday, but I’d make him confess to what he did. And then I would end him the way I wanted to do all along, but which Shaw wouldn’t allow.

I stared at the plume of smoke and the flames in the distance. It reminded me of when my mother had given me the ultimatum of leaving or having Shaw learn the truth about me. I’d been ecstatic that day because I made dinner with Shaw, and in the blink of an eye, everything changed. A one-way ticket out of town had been placed on my bed with the threat to get the hell out or else.

It was funny I’d gone ahead with my mother’s plan to avoid the contempt I expected to see if Shaw found out half the shit I’d done during those years. Of all the fantasies I harbored in my head. Of the headless pictures of my mom replaced by my own in photos with him. Yet here I was in that same position.

“You’re always sorry after the fact, Ari. Always. But that’s not going to put a roof over our heads.”

Shaw had never been that angry with me before. Not even when I’d been a huge brat and he made me pee my pants. Or the time I drugged him.

I turned my back to the fire and limped on. I lost track of how long I’d walked. Without looking, only the thought that Judd had to die reverberating, I crossed the road. Tires screeched, a horn honked, and my heart leaped in my throat as I swiveled my head around. For a moment, I wanted the car to hit me. To take me out of Shaw’s life so I couldn’t hurt him anymore. I didn’t deserve him. I didn’t protect him when I should have, and now he was hurting because of me.

The car jerked to a stop a few inches away from me. I cringed at the squeal of the wheels and the acrid odor of burnt rubber on asphalt. For a few seconds, everything went still, and then the door at the driver’s side jerked open, and a man stepped out, slamming the door closed behind him.

“Are you fucking crazy?” he shouted at me. “I could have killed you.”

I shrugged. “You probably should have.”

His mouth bobbed open and shut. “I know you! You’re that guy from the school.”

“You don’t…” Shit, it was the cab driver. The one who’d taken me to the school the first time I made out with Shaw.

He scowled at me. “I almost ran you over. Last time I saw you, you were in a much better mood than this.”

I gave him a lazy grin. “The man who I was cheating with dumped me.”

“Somehow I don’t think that’s it. I never believed you that night.” He gestured to his car. “Can I take you somewhere?”

“I’m not supposed to ride with strangers.”

He gave me a blank stare. “You’ve driven with me before.”

“When I paid you for your service, it was different.”

He shook his head. “You’re weird, you know that?”

“And that’s going to make me get into the car with you faster?”

“Seriously, I can’t drive away knowing you would have been happy for me to run you over. Get in the car.”

I inhaled deeply. “Are you going to kidnap me, then?”

“If you want me to.”