"What's the matter sweetheart? He what?" Suddenly her father turned serious when he saw that his daughter was hurting. Mia tried to hide her pain and she willed herself not to cry. It would only make her father that much more determined to hunt Jayden down. After that she couldn't be sure of what her father would do.
Remembering her prom, she'll never forget how it had gotten all over school that her father had shown up over Richard's house with his six brothers 'investigating' him. The rumors ran the gauntlet from Richard being pistol whipped, a gun being placed against his head while her father and uncles played a cruel game of Russian roulette and then there was the one rumor that they had blind-folded and kidnapped him driving him to an undisclosed location. It was said that while he was blind folded that semi-automatic weapons were being fired off and then he was given a warning: 'If you want to fuck Mia prom night, fuck us first…' is what was reportedly said to him. Mia doesn't know what was true about the rumors, she only knew that her father had paid an introductory visit to Richard's house and she never heard from him again. That was the end of her shortly lived dating life as rumors spread and seemed to follow her onto college.
"Hey sweetheart, how about I call in for some emergency PTO today? We go get breakfast and spend the day together? Maybe I'll buy you something pretty?" Mia couldn't help but smiling. Yes sometimes her father was a pain in the butt, but she knew that above all else he loved and cared about her dearly.
"Okay daddy… Let's do that."
* * * * * * *
Mia and her father sat down in the booth after arriving at the 24-hour breakfast restaurant.
"Jayden is his name…" her father casually mentioned his name while looking over the menu.
"Daddy… I told you it wasn't like that…"
"Ready to order" the waitress interrupted.
"The number six with a feta cheese and spinach omelet…" Mia ordered.
"Would you like anything to drink with that?"
"Orange juice please."
"I'll have the number eight with an extra order of hash browns."
"Drink?"
"Coffee…"
"Okay, it'll be about ten minutes…" The waitress explained as she took up their menus.
"Are you going to tell me this Duke's story, or do I have to call Nita?" Mia looked at her father.