Please Me Daddy (Gracie) novel Chapter 2

Garcia

He hit me…..he hit me to protect this guy.

I held my cheek, stunned in place. The sting felt hot across my skin, but that was not even the real pain. My heart felt like it was about to explode.

I looked up, and our eyes met. His eyes widened, like he had just realized what he had done.

“G-Gracie…” he choked out. “I…”

Tears blurred my vision again, I didn’t even try to stop them. I didn’t know if I was crying because of the slap, or because the man I loved more than anything in the world had just hit me.

The man who used to open car doors for me. Who rubbed my back when I had cramps. Who once cried when I got food poisoning because he couldn’t stand seeing me in pain.

That Charles just hit me to protect his lover.

I backed away slowly, breath coming fast, it felt like I couldn’t get enough air. My hands trembled at my sides.

“Gracie, please,” he said, stepping toward me again. “I didn’t mean it. I just—”

“Don’t you dare touch me, Charles!” I screamed.

He flinched and froze, his hand still halfway toward me. He took a step back, his face twisting with guilt.

Mark or whatever the hell his name was moved behind him and placed a hand gently on Charles’s back.

“It’s okay, Charles, I know you didn’t mean to. You’re too soft for that kind of thing.”

My chest tightened until it felt like something was crushing it. I looked at the both of them, standing there like they were the wronged ones, like I had stormed in and ruined their peace.

God, it hurt. It hurt so fucking much.

I closed my eyes for a second, trying to catch my breath, to keep myself from collapsing into the floor.

I opened my eyes to see Charles was staring at me with pity. Mark still had that smug little curl on his lips. I swallowed the lump in my throat. My voice came out quiet, barely audible. “I just have one question for you, Charles.”

“W-what is it?”

“Are you attracted to women?” My voice cracked. “To me?”

Charles opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Mark scoffed. “Does it really matter?”

I ignored him, keeping my eyes locked on Charles. His gaze dropped as he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

It was just one word, and I understood immediately, he was gay. The guy I was about to marry in a few days was fucking gay.

I wiped my tears roughly with the back of my hand. “Keep it. I don’t need it.”

My fingers trembled as they touched the ring on my hand. It was our engagement ring. I remembered the night he gave it to me. The way I cried, the way I kissed him over and over again, promising I’d never take it off. And now, I was about to do the very thing I never imagined.

I pulled it off slowly, like the metal burned my skin, and I threw it at his feet.

“It’s over between us, Charles,” I said, my voice flat. “I want nothing to do with a scumbag like you or your trashy family again.”

Charles shook his head in disbelief. “You can’t do that, Gracie. I know you’re angry, but this… this is a business deal. You know that. Our families—”

I let out a dry laugh. “A business deal.”

So that’s all this had been for him. I was just a business deal.

“Fine, then I’m walking away from your precious business deal. Find someone else willing to sell themselves for your lie. I’m done playing this role.”

I looked him in the eye, and for the first time, I saw fear.

“Seeing you disgusts me,” I whispered. “I regret ever falling for you.”

“Gracia—” He was about to say something, but I didn’t wait for the next lie. I turned and walked away, leaving behind the ring, the wedding, the life I thought we were building, and the man who never loved me at all.