Page 97 of Daddy's Bodyguard
“Wheelchair?” He rolls his eyes, and I hug him. “I want this to be easy, but if he insults you, I can’t promise my mouth won’t run away with me.”
Jasper kisses the top of my head. “This is one battle I’ll fight on my own, Sofia. I just need your support.”
“You have it,” I promise.
We leave our apartment and head to the outskirts of town, soon pulling up to a little house. It’s small and looks neglected. The blue paint job is faded and cracked, the gutters full, the screen door torn. Jasper keeps a grip on my hand as he knocks on the door. A guy with a limp soon answers. He snarls at Jasper, then looks at me.
“Who’s this?” he asks, his expression getting more curious by the second.
“This is my girlfriend, Sofia.” Jasper pulls me closer to him. “You and I have some things to talk about.”
“I don’t talk to failures,” he snaps.
I feel the reply on my tongue, but Jasper rubs my hand with his thumb. He meets his father’s eye. “I’m not a failure. I’m alive. I’m your son.”
His father shifts his gaze to the floor, his chest bouncing with a hefty sigh. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here to fix things between us. I don’t want this rift between us anymore.”
His father looks him over again and grunts, “Fine, but make it quick,” then lets us into his dirty house. Daisy might be messy, but this is grime. The only thing that doesn’t have dust on it is the bottles of alcohol. Jasper’s father lights a cigarette as we sit on the old couch, and I start counting down the minutes until we leave.
Jasper rubs my knee and whispers in my ear. “I’ll make you come for putting up with the dirt.”
I pull out my phone, scrolling through my email while half listening as they talk, back and forth until Jasper’s father hits the table, his hand shaking, his eyes threatening. He snarls. “You left the war. They needed you,; and you-”
“Daisy needed me too.” Jasper glares. “She lost her husband. She lost the father of her child. She lost everything in one moment. You could have lost everything too. You rarely see Daisy. You never see me. If you want to be old and alone with your bottles, fine. But I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
His father sits back and shakes his head, but his expression softens a little.
“I’m a good man. Iwasa soldier, but I’m alive and here. I’m leaving the private sector. I’m going to work on behalf of other soldiers to help them when they get home. If you see that as failure, that’s on you – not me.”
His father scratches his neck and looks us over. “And this?”
“Sofia saved my life,” Jasper says, his arm circling around me.
I blink at him and meet his eyes. What the hell is he talking about?
“I was dead inside before I met her. And now, I feel more alive than I’ve ever been.”
“Oh, Jasper…” I lean against him with a delighted smile.
“It’s true. You keep saying I saved your life, but it goes both ways, especially how you’ve been there after I got shot.”
“Oh, so she’s the one Daisy told me about. You got injured while protecting her.” Jasper’s father beams a little. “Good job with keeping her alive.”
I hear Jasper’s intake breath, then he sighs out loud. “Thanks. It means a lot coming from you.”
His father fans him off, but he’s still wearing a soft smile. “It’s good to know you’re still having a positive effect in the real world. I expect nothing less from my kids.”
Jasper still appears in shock when we settle in the car half an hour later, after he spent the time reminiscing with his dad. He seems lighter, like a burden has been taken off his shoulders.
I lean over and give him a hard kiss on his lips. He sighs and kisses me back. “You did so well.”
“I like your reward system.”
“I love you.” I say softly, clinging to him. “Not just words.”
He grins and smiles. “So how are we going to tell people we met? That you stole my heart by being my sexy nurse? That you nearly destroyed me by swooping in and-”