Page 57 of My Big Fat Daddy Issues

The waitress nods, smiling and scratching away on her notepad. Then she turns and leaves.

“I wish you’d stop babying her,” Karen scowls as soon as the waitress leaves. “Honestly, Max, I’ve said it before and—”

“How’s Jason, Mom?” Mina interrupts with a smile, the soft acoustical music overhead doing nothing to make this tense moment any easier. I know what Mina’s doing. Any delaying tactic to put off telling her mother what’s going on between us she’s gonna try.

I squeeze her thigh under the table, letting her know I’ve got her back. Daddy’s here.

“Jason is out,” Karen says with a wave of her hand, snatching the glass of Chardonnay from the waitress’s tray before she can set it down and taking a long gulp. “Once he got what he wanted, he wasn’t interested anymore. Well, the joke’s on him because his bedroom skills could use a little work. I could have taught him—”

“Mom,” Mina groans, “TMI.”

Karen rolls her eyes. “We’re all grown-ups, darling. Sex is a fact of life. Anyway, what did you so desperately need to talk to me about? Please don’t tell me you’ve decided to become a trucker like Max, because that’s not for you, Mina. You need your sleep, always have. I remember so many days when getting you out of bed was a full-time job of its own. Homeschooling just gave you an excuse to sleep in.”

“We’re together,” I blurt out, no more bullshit wasting time. Mina is sitting there with bucket of my cum pumped inside her pussy and her flavor lingers on my lips. There’s no delaying this.

“What on earth are you talking about now? You’re on the same side? Is this about the divorce?” She frowns at Mina. “You’re taking his side over mine?”

Mina rubs her forehead. “No, Mom, you don’t understand.” Mina looks at me, cheeks red, swallowing. I look at Karen. Karen looks at Mina.

Even in the tension, my dick throbs for my baby girl.

I’m tempted to say,we’re fucking, but I promised Mina that we’d do this as painlessly as possible.

“We’reto-gether,” I try again, putting the emphasis on the word.

“Together? I don’t understand…” Karen’s eyes widen as I lick my lips, draping my arm around Mina’s shoulders and pulling her into my side. “Oh, you mean… Oh, God.”

She glances at her daughter, then back at me, then back to Mina. The waitress chooses that moment to arrive with the first of the food.

The three of us sit in absolute silence while she unloads a tray, and when she’s gone, I open my mouth to speak. But before I can, Mina is already jumping in.

“Before you get all crazy, Mom, this wasmychoice. I mean, like you said, we’re all grown-ups, and sex is a fact of life, and—”

Karen’s glare could cut through steel. “I know what Isaid. What Isaidhad nothing to do with myhusbandfucking mydaughter. That’s what this means, right? You are fucking her?”

Mina nods as I bite back a chuckle. “That’s one thing we’re doing.”

Mina smacks my chest. “Daddy.”

“Oh, God.” Karen holds her face in her hands. “What am I going to tell people? Did you think about that? No, you didn’t.” Karen shakes her head, then glares at me, pointing her fork. “Did you do this to punish me?”

“Karen, our marriage was over before we left Vegas.” I keep my voice low. “You don’t give two shits what I do, you just care that it might make you look bad. That says it all.”

“How long have you been taking advantage of her?” Her question hints at concern, but her eyes are filled with defeat as she digs in her purse, coming up with her phone. “I’m calling the police.”

Mina smacks her hand on the table sloshing water over the rim of my glass. “He’s not taking advantage of me. And I’m eighteen and there’s nothing illegal about it.”

Karen stares, then sighs, lowering her phone to the table then picking up her fork.

She stabs into a limp lettuce leaf, staring at it as if it’s done her wrong before putting it back on the plate. Then she huffs, crosses her arms, and chews her lip. “I’m not going to pretend I’m happy about this. God knows what I’m going to say when people find out.”

“Who do you care about finding out?” I snap. “You’ve got your freedom, you can have a new toy every day of the week, Mina will be taken care of and if you keep your shit straight, I’ll keep your checking account topped off like the agreement we made. But, if you want to start shit, I’ll leave you with nothing. We clear,Karen?”

I take that moment to reach into my back pocket, pull out the folded stack of papers and slide them across the table.

“Sign that right now or our deal is off. I delivered enough videos of you and your litany of extracurricular boys parading around the house to my lawyer to make any judge side with me.”

Karen glares. I’m threatening to take away the thing that made me important in her life.