You Know Me Through The Years

Boys

Dante cursed the day he bought Mara a cell phone. That was all she asked for on her fifteenth birthday, so he got her one, even though he knew he was probably going to regret it. Her birthday was in July, and now that school started, so did the selfie taking.

Every moment he saw her, which was usually when she was coming home from school or at the dinner table, she was texting or talking on the phone. This was the exact reason he still preferred landlines. Sure, he had a cell phone, but most of the time it was dead because he never cared to charge it.

Now that Mara was a full-blown teenage girl, Dante also had the pleasure of watching her attitude change over the course of a year. If he was rebellious in his teens, Mara was an absolute rebel to the cause of defying him at every turn. She was a twerp in every since of the word.

"Dad, I'm going to Jesse's!" She had come down the stairs dressed in a mid rise white tank top with what looked like black shorts that were entirely too short for his tastes. "Kay, bye!"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" He stood up from where he was sitting on the couch looking at some magazine that came in the mail earlier. "What are you wearing?"

"Uh... clothes." Her hand was on the doorknob, and she was texting one handed to one of her devious friends.

"Hey, look at me, not your phone." Seriously, there were times where he wished he could just pick her up like a kitten, drag her up the stairs, and lock her in her room. Then proceed to put bars over the windows, door, and not let her out until she was thirty.

"Seriously, Dad, I've got to go... Jesse is picking me up." She looked up at him with an annoyed glare. There was no glaring at Dante, that was only reserved for his wife and his brother.

"First, who is Jesse?" He crossed his arms and put a serious look on his face. "And second, go change your clothes."

"First, Jesse is my friend." He would know in a few minutes whether she was telling the truth or not. "And second, Aunt Lady wears stuff like this all the time and you don't say anything to her."

"Well, that's because Lady is an adult, and I'm not her father." She tried to open the door, but Dante put a hand on it to stop her. "I'm your father, and I'm telling you to go change your clothes." He put the scary dad voice on, hoping it would intimidate her into doing what he said. There was a reason he did these things, and she was a dumb teenager who was naive to the world. That was probably his fault for keeping a lot of family secrets from her. "Now."

"Fine." She huffed as she let go of the doorknob and began to text again.

"You know what, give me the phone." He snatched it out of her hand before grabbing her shoulder and turning her to face the stairs. "Go change and then maybe I'll give your phone back to you."

"Are you serious right now?" Mara stomped her foot and turned to face him with an angry look on her face. "You can't just take my phone, it's mine!"

"Correction, it's mine since I paid for it." Dante put the slim white cell phone in his back pocket. "Yell one more time and I'm not giving it back." He was pretty sure he saw a slight red glow in her eyes there. Something to keep an eye on.

"This is so unfair!" And cue the waterworks. Mara's eyes started to water, but he knew his daughter. She was very good at crying when she wanted to get her way. "You're a bad Dad." He knew she did not mean that, she was only trying to bend him to her teenage will. Fat chance of that happening. He may be a little dense sometimes, but he was not that dense.

"I'm an amazing Dad." He told her with a smirk to counteract her manipulative ways. She was trying really hard to make him feel guilty, but Dante just was not having it. "Dry the tears, go up to your room, and stay there until I go get you." In the back of his mind the demon in him was furious that his child even thought she could manipulate him.

"How am I going to tell Jesse I can't go?" She sniffed as she started to climb up the stairs.

"I don't know... use pigeons or something." His snarky remark only made her give out a frustrated growl before she ran up the stairs. Seconds later he heard her door slam shut. "It will do her some good. Right?" This had been the cycle lately. Ever since school started. Thankfully it was a Friday and Roe was still at work. Evie was at her friend's house for the night, so it was just him and Mara.

He was absolutely sure that Mara was going to attempt to sneak out of the house. She only had to figure out how to get down from the second story without him hearing it. However, he knew when to play dumb. And play dumb is what he was going to do.

He could probably do Roe a favor and water the plants in her garden. It was right below Mara's bedroom window and it was a perfect opportunity to show her that he was serious. But first, he wanted to see just who this Jesse person was.

He took Mara's phone from his back pocket and unlocked it. He knew her password as it was her birthday and of course, right away someone answered the text she had sent only minutes ago.

So, should I wait at the stop sign like I did last time?

Last time? There was a last time? Dante quickly opened the entire conversation between Mara and this Jesse. If he could have triggered, he would have.

Jesse was a boy.

Jesse was also seventeen years old.

Jesse had been texting her since school started a month ago.

Jesse was going to be demon bait if he did not stop texting Mara.

Dante did not mind going back to the Underworld to avoid the law. He said it once, and he will say it again, he ment every word. Jesse was on Dante's most wanted list right now and he was not going to let Mara off lightly. He was also pretty sure he could rope Vergil into making Jesse disappear.

But that was just Dante's demonic anger talking. He really did not think he could hurt a teenage boy for wanting a relationship with his daughter. He could, however, scare the living daylights out of the poor boy. That was a sound plan. Dante was not a devious person, but when it came to his daughter, he was prepared to be absolutely demonic.

A smirk formed on Dante's face as he texted Jesse back pretending to be Mara. He was probably crossing a line, but it was worth it to him. Actually, it was most definitely crossing a line. He decided to stick with the original plan of playing dumb because he did not want to have a terrible relationship with his daughter.

Thank goodness he only told the boy to wait where he was for a few minutes. Otherwise, he was pretty sure Mara would hate him for the rest of her life. There were just some things that Dante was not willing to sacrifice.

Twenty minutes later he was standing outside in the late afternoon sun watering Roe's garden when Mara opened her bedroom window.

He knew she was sneaky.

"Hey, Princess!" He smiled up at her and waved knowing she was rolling her eyes. She stood back from her window and slammed it shut.

Hopefully she learned not to try and outsmart him.