Chapter 10: GIDEON

I spent the time between leaving her and the end of the school day pondering my next move. If I'd thought for one second that she was ignorant to her father's true feelings towards her, I would be able to leave her there, but the knowledge in her eyes was my deciding factor.

It felt as if I was walking a minefield. I knew without a doubt that my Blossom would be the kind of girl who wanted the love of her father. She wouldn't want to just walk away from him and everything she'd known, so how do I come between the two of them without losing her in the process? How do I get her to see the danger without becoming the enemy in her eyes?

I'd started out wanting her body, yes; it was her beauty after all that had first captivated me. But there was something else there. That softness of hers was drawing me in. That sweet air of vulnerability had me wanting to wrap her up and keep her safe for always.

This was more than lust; this was so much more than anything I'd ever done before. I'd never once wanted to protect, to own, to consume. Everything about her just made me want to be everything she could ever want. Fuck I'm in trouble here.

She wasn't something you possessed for a time; she was a treasure you cherished for a lifetime. That much I knew, and I was determined to be the one to do it. No one else will ever tap into all that sweetness. I'd kill the motherfucker who tried.

Her youth gave me pause but only for a moment. It's my intention that should bear scrutiny. If I meant to go forward with this, it must be more than a momentary fling; it must be...forever.

Could I do forever? Forever is a long fucking time. I've never wanted forever before. Somehow with my Blossom, I think I could do two lifetimes and still not have enough. So yes, the answer is yes, I most certainly can do forever.

I could feel the lock click into place as I got ready to say goodbye to my freedom. Somehow I always thought there would be panic and fear associated with that thought but, nothing. I felt nothing but excitement at what was to come.

That was one burden lifted, now to the other.

By the time I was waiting outside the school for her, I had a course of action in mind.

I had already called her dad to say that I will be keeping her after school before returning her to him after dinner. To say he was displeased would be putting it mildly, but I could care less. He was lucky he was seeing her again at all; the dumb fuck.

I'd hung up on him when he started his bullshit; there was nothing he could do or say to stop this. If he knew what was going through my mind, he'd shut the fuck up or find a hole to hide in.

I'd made up my mind how I wanted to do this now. All that was left was for me to work on getting her use to the idea of living with me permanently. How would she react to such a thing? The interest was there, yes, but having lived such a sheltered life, having only known me for a handful of days, how would she react?

Fuck Gideon, since when do you think like this? She's the most important thing in your fucking life. You've gone after lesser things with more fire; don't punk the fuck out. Just do what you always do, take shit.

I had no doubt I could possibly force the issue in a roundabout way, but I needed her to want it, to want me, to want us. She's not a business acquisition. I can't approach this situation the way I did everything else. And that was my fucking problem, and what about her?

This was still so new to her. I've had weeks to deal with my obsession. She's had days. But something inside me screamed that I had to move and move fast. There was something way the fuck off about Clifton Sanders, and waiting for the report to be completed was gonna drive me nuts.

The thought of him hurting her in any way destroyed me. How could anyone seek to crush a Blossom? How could her beauty, both inner and outer, not sway him? Was the man fucking blind, or was his hatred of his own daughter so deep he couldn't see reason?

I was afraid the latter would prove true, and it was that fear that had knots in the pit of my stomach. By coming on the scene the way I had, I had escalated something. How would he react? How would he handle my existence in her life? And if he couldn't, will she pay the price?

I saw her as I waited in the back of the car. Rolling the window down, I beckoned to her as she drew nearer.

That smile, only for me, always for me, I will make it so.

The driver got out and let her in as some curious onlookers tried to get a glimpse of me. She was in and in my arms in seconds. I couldn't resist; all day, she had plagued me. I had hardly looked at the spreadsheets still covering my desk. My only thoughts were of her, and us, and our life together.

"Gideon, you came."

"I said I would." I smiled at her exuberance as I kissed her forehead. As she pulled her head back to look at me, I noticed her lips were a bit chapped. "Where's your lip balm, sweetheart?" I ran my thumb gently over her lower lip. She hung her head and blushed. Why would such an innocent question cause such a reaction unless, shit...

"Blossom, I'm not insulting you, sweetheart. I just wondered..."

"No, no, no, it's not that, it's just that...my dad doesn't like it." She wrung her hands together while looking down at her lap so she didn't see the frown that crossed my face.

"What do you mean? Doesn't like what?"

"He doesn't like me to wear lip balm or things like that?"

"Why ever not?" This wasn't making any sense to me at all; it was such a little thing after all. I thought all teenaged girls were into that silly stuff.

And then I remembered my reports; she didn't have any friends, so she didn't do the teenage girl thing. For some reason, that made me sad. Cliff Sanders was a total fuck; he meant to rob her of everything that was good in life, meant to put out any light or joy she could find in the already mundane world he had made her life into. We'll just see about that, cock-sucking bastard.