You ride. I ride.

44. Daughter

<Dom's POV> 

"So, this is your childhood bed?" Elena seductively murmured, slowly undressing in front of me. But I couldn't concentrate. It was the first time being here in five years. And it looked so empty. 

Everything was basically the same, the light grey walls with a few posters of cars. The window with the black curtains, one of which was still broken. The manual clock on my nightstand that made the annoying clicking sound when you listened carefully. 

And yet, all the life and color had drained from the room. The vanilla scent of Letty wasn't caught in the bedsheets, her clothes and books weren't scattered all across the floor and the bed. It was as if someone had erased all the memories from this room. 

Seeing my new girlfriend and top of the bedsheets felt wrong. 

"Dom," Elena whined, but I could only hear Letty. 

<flashback> 

"Dom, stop," Letty whined while I kissed the back of her neck. Letty had gone to bed early while I was still downstairs drinking with the boys. 

"I'm tired," she pushed me away from herself. God, I love her so much, I thought to myself. I hugged from behind, wrapping myself around her tiny body. Sometimes it surprised me how fragile she seemed in moments like these.

<flashback ends>

"Dom, what's wrong?" The blonde asked. 

"It's just a lot," I answered vaguely, not wanting to talk to Elena about my problems. That was one of the challenges I had faced with Elena. With Letty, things had been so different. We grew up together, had been friends for over a decade, so trusting her with my problems had been so easy. But with Elena, I couldn't bring myself to talk about what was bothering me. 

"Is it because of Letty?" She asked. She knew that I had been in a pretty serious relationship before her. 

"I didn't think she'd be here," I admitted.  

----------------------

"She told me to stay away from her kid," I admitted to Mia. Since I couldn't sleep I got up early to prepare breakfast with Mia. The boys wouldn't be up for at least another hour. 

"Can you blame her Dom?" 

"Mia!" Letty's voice yelled from the front entrance. Soon after she followed with a little girl in her arms. "Dom," she almost grunted. 

"I need you to take her for a few hours, can you please do that for me?" 

"I can't I have to go to uni in a few minutes," she answered. 

I could see the stress in Letty's eyes, thinking about what she should do. 

"I can watch her," I suggested, earning a glare from her. 

"You've done enough," she answered while marching upstairs to Vince's room.

A few minutes later when Mia had left, Vince came downstairs, Letty's daughter pulling him by the hand. 

"Uncle Vince, hurry up!" She yelled. 

"She's so bossy. Like her mother," Leon laughed. 

"I can hear you, Leon!" She argued back. Everyone laughed. She was adorable. 

Leon and Jesse kissed her on the forehead before going to work. 

"Why aren't you going?" I asked Vince. 

"Monday is my day off," he laughed. His phone rang: "Hey, Lisa." He pointed upstairs and excused himself, hastily heading to his room, leaving me and Letty's daughter alone. 

I had never spent time with kids so I didn't really know what to say. Especially since this was not just any kid but my exes. 

"I recognize you," she mumbled at me grinning. As much as I resented the fact that Letty had a daughter, I always knew that she'd make gorgeous kids. Even if it was with a twat like Deckard. 

"From where?" I asked. 

"From the pictures." She answered. Letty kept pictures of me? I shouldn't be surprised, Letty had been in love with me for over a decade. To be honest, I still had a picture of her too. In my wallet. I never dared to look at it, but I knew it was there. 

"You're mommy kept pictures of me?" 

The little girl laughed, "No. My mommy doesn't like pictures. She only has one of me and my dad. But Mia has pictures of you they're over there," she pointed towards the fireplace which was framed in pictures of the boys and me. 

So Letty didn't have pictures of me. It hurt that she erased me so drastically out of her life. 

"You look sad," she whispered. 

"I am," I don't know why I was opening up to a child. Not even my girlfriend talked with me about my emotions. 

"Why are you sad?" 

"I just lost a friend that's all. Don't worry about that sweetie, why don't you tell me your name instead?"

"My name is Tony. My mom said she named me after her Mia's dad."

"Yeah, Tony was my dad too," I can't believe Letty did that. I always imagined we would call our child Tony. After all he was my father. 

"So you're Mia's brother?" 

"I'm her older brother Dom." 

"Does that make you my uncle?" She tilted her head as if in thought. I didn't like the thought of being an uncle to Letty's children. 

"Technically. But I don't think your Mom would like that." 

"Why not?" 

"She and I got in a huge fight. So she doesn't really like me." 

"That's sad. But I like you," she hugged me. She was cute, her short arms barely wrapping around my leg. I hugged her back, bending down. I hate to admit it, but a part of me wished that she was my daughter. That I never had to run away and I could have raised her. 

I never thought about having kids after I fled but a little one like that seemed really cute. 

"You're pretty wise for your age." 

"I'm already four years old." 

"That's-," that doesn't add up. I left only five years ago. "How old are you exactly." 

"My birthday was three months ago, why?"

That was my kid. Unless she cheated on me during our relationship the girl in front of me was my daughter.