"What evil eye? Girl you just like making stuff up, don't you?" He mocked as they got out and started making their way to Jayden's shop.
"From here on out, you're my friend Skip… Got it?"
"God forbid the Duke find out that I'm your daddy…" He couldn't help teasing her one last time before entering the store.
"Hi and wel--come…" Jayden's words trailed off as he watched Mia entering the store behind some old geezer and then he saw his father holding her hand. He didn't know how to react to this. Why was his father with her and who was this old dude, her date? What the hell just happened here? Did he just get dumped?
"I saw him wandering the street in traffic after breakfast this morning…" She explained. However Jayden heard, 'I spent the night with my boyfriend and we went out for breakfast and saw your daddy hanging out…'
"And you brought him here, why?" He asked her, but his eyes never left Skip. There was a slight smoldering in his eyes to think that Mia had turned him down yet she had the audacity to bring her fuck-date to his shop. Was she throwing it in his face that two could play at that game?
"I'm Skip…" Her father offered his hand to Jayden when he saw that he had all of his attention. He knew that look. That was the look of a jealous man. Skip hid his smile behind a straight face. Jayden looked at his proffered hand and ignored it. In its place he gave him a quick nod and then turned his attention to Mia.
"Got any diamond earrings? Dinah's eighteenth birthday is coming up." Jacob inquired as he walked around looking at the jewelry in the glass display cases. Jayden resisted the urge to respond to him. Instead he refocused his attention back on Mia.
"What do you want me to do with him? You found him, you handle it." He said swaggering off and going back to his counter. He pulled out a tray of earrings for Jacob to examine.
"Jayden, he's your father." She insisted following behind him. Skip began looking around the shop as he quietly listened in the background to the exchange between his daughter and the Duke.
"I told you in order for a man to be considered a father he would have to meet the minimum requirement of give-a-fuck." His words caught Skip's attention and he looked up. Not to his surprise Jayden had begun eyeing him again as he walked about the shop.