Chapter Three: The coincidence.

DAMON POV

I waited in the car as my girlfriend, Susan, walked into the crowd in search of her daughter.

I was tensed.

When Susan first told me she had a daughter, I didn't see it as such a big deal until this morning, when Susan requested that I should drive her to the airport. I closed my eyes, leaning back against the car seat, as I kneaded my fingers over my forehead.

I was so not ready to be a step father but I needed to brace myself up for it. I loved Susan, so I had to accept her child too.

Moments later, Susan got into the car, talking excitedly at the top of her voice.

"Babe! She's here." She giggled, pointing at the backseat.

I yanked my head backwards, just in time to see a young lady make her way into the backseat. Her long, blonde hair swayed as she settled into seat, dropped her bags besides her and struggled to strap on her seat belt.

"Hello...?" I started to say.

She looked up at me with a smile, stretching out her palm towards me, "I'm Rosette."

Her smile slipped from her face and recognition flashed in her eyes.

I knew who she was, and I was sure she knew me as well.

The sexy stripper from the club back in Canada, the same woman I had f*cked before returning to Los Angeles.

"Rosette?" I repeated her name, shocked.

My heart stated pounding in my chest. This had to be a dream. It could not be. My shitty streak of luck was not this terrible, or was it? Of all women out there, why was this beautiful face ending up as my step daughter?

She wore a low cut tank top, and a light jacket which slipped off her shoulder, exposing the smooth white skin that I had seen bare before now.

"Cool. I'm... Damon" I stuttered.

"I'm sure you two would get along, just alright, Sweetie" My girlfriend said, throwing her head backwards as she let out a soft chuckle.

I don't know how she didn't notice the obvious tension between her daughter and I.

My heart raced, and my hands became sweaty despite the cold in the car.

Fuck!

How the hell would I ever bring myself to explain to Susan that I had cheated on her three nights ago, with her own daughter?

Shit. I cursed under my breath as I switched on the engine and pulled the car out of the parking lot of the airport.

There was no way I could cut through the tension with a blunt knife. It was thick. The blurred memories of that night were all that filled my mind, and the repercussions of it. I desperately wished I could go back in time and change everything. If only I had that kind of power, because I needed it badly now.

"Your mother said you turned 18 two days ago." I said, chirping into the uncomfortable silence as I drove.

I spared Rosette a glance through the overhead mirror, holding her gaze for a while.

She looked away.

"Yes...Damon." She replied.

"Yeah. I can't believe that my baby girl is an adult already. I've always been super proud of her, because she isn't like other reckless and wild teenagers out there!" Susan quipped, as she looked over her shoulder to flash a smile at her daughter.

I couldn't help but think about how wrong Susan was. For one thing, I knew that Rosette was definitely wild.

Signing up as a stripper in a night club was wild, but giving away her virginity to a me, a stranger, was a completely different kind of recklessness.

The drive back home continued in silence, and soon we arrived at the house.

My body was practically shaking as I went upstairs to my shared room with Susan. My heart drummed in my chest as I prayed that what was happening was not real. How could it be? This was a terrible nightmare of some sort. How was I going to face the woman that I had railed just a few days ago, and she just happened to be my new family member? My stepdaughter?

How bad could this get? What if Rosette decided to tell her mother what happened? I knew Susan too well that she would never forgive me for cheating on her; worse still, doing it with her own daughter. I didn't need to think twice about what would happen next, because I knew that Susan would end our relationship.

I shuddered at the idea of losing the only woman I ever truly loved.

Maybe.

Susan.

I walked into the bathroom and washed my face before looking at my reflection in the large mirror.

I shouldn't have offered to save Rosette at the club. I shouldn't have taken her to my hotel room. I shouldn't have f*cked her.

This was bad. So bad. I wanted to stay, locked in the room for the rest of the day, but then it did not matter because I was eventually going to meet Rosette.

No matter how long I hid, we are going to face each other one way or the other.

It was just better if I went downstairs now. I left the bathroom, had a change of clothes before I strolled downstairs to the dining room.

I did a few breathing exercises to calm myself down before I walked in. Rosette was sitting near her mother, and her eyes were on me as I approached the table. There was a huge cake before her on the table. It had a lit candle stuck in the middle.

"I was just about coming upstairs to call you. Remember? We have to celebrate her birthday."

I nodded, settling into the chair across Rosette.

I did not want to appear too fazed. There was not even a slight look of surprise was in her eyes when she saw me, except for the first time we exchanged greetings.

Had she forgotten the night of passion between us already? Perhaps, she had been too drunk to remember me. That felt like a blow to my ego.

"Hey, Stepfather." She muttered.

I don't know she did it, but she was smiling at me as though everything was alright.

I bit down on my lower lip. Step father?

She sure knew what she was doing.

"Damon. Just call me Damon." I said.

Half an hour passed, and we were still at the dining table, munching on Rosette's birthday cake, while Susan entertained us with the same, old news of how she had gotten another promotion at work.

Just then, her phone rang, and she left the table to pick up the call. When she got back, her expression was dull.

"I'm so sorry, Sweetie." She said, walking over to me, "I need to get to work. There's an emergency."

She kissed me on the lips while her daughter stared at us, before she walked around the table and hugged Rosette.

Soon, she was making her way out of the house, leaving Rosette and I behind.

I pinned my eyes on Rosette, pissed off by how easy it was for her to ignore my presence.

"Are you just going to sit there and act like everything's okay?" I shot at her, breaking the silence at the table.

She dropped her fork, slowly looked up from the half cleared plate of food before her, and arched an eyebrow.

"Everything is obviously alright, except the fact that my mother has no idea who her boyfriend truly is."

A lump formed in my throat and a chill ran down my spine.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"My mother is yet to find out how her boyfriend went to a club in Canada, took a drunk stripper home and f*cked her!"

"Oh, Shit." I muttered, "No matter what happens, this remains between us, okay?" My voice was raspy.

She let out a dry chuckle, pushed her chair backward as she rose from her seat.

"Oh, Stepfather, I had an amazing night with you after the club, let's try it again some other time, or not?" She winked at me before walking into the kitchen.

I watched as she swayed her hips in the pink shorts she had on.

My mouth ran dry. I was in deep shit, and I had no idea how long I'd last before it all explodes.