(Untitled)

[sweetsalome]

No joke, Salome changed her mind sixteen times when trying to decided if she wanted to meet her birth mom.  It wasn't that she was scared but there was a real thought and fear that she would just lose it in the middle of the conversation and she didn't want to lose it.  Her father would get upset at Amanda and it wasn't this woman's fault that

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[soursanguine]

Of course he loves it. If he didn't love it he'd tell them all to fuck off and go live in a cabin in the woods by himself. But he adores his women--his Salome, his Delilah, Susan who isn't his and never will be--and all the challenges that come with them, even if it means giving up counter space.

Oh, sure, an open restaurant, but there's a tablecloth. It'll be fine, he's sure. And let the bitch try to make their lives miserable. There's a whole lot of water out there, and it's pretty easy for something immobile to get swept out to sea.

"Susan has been immensely helpful to the both of us." He shows his teeth in a quick smile and strokes along Salome's thigh, fingertips drawing up and then down. Why, who could possibly think this was anything but gentle affection? A bit untoward, perhaps, beneath her skirt, but he's her father. There's nothing dirty about their relationship, not at all. "I think we could both agree that she has her less than desirable qualities, but on the whole, she's been very good to Salome. Although I've done quite a bit of work, myself."

His fingers sink into her skin and he smiles, glancing over at Salome to admire the nuances of her expression. "Not that it's work, really, she's always been a pleasure to raise." Particularly lately. "It was a shock to receive her, naturally, but I've always been glad to have such a good daughter in my life."

[sweetsalome]

Her eyelids flutter slightly and she reaches up to touch her cheek, moving her fingers near her eye as if there was something in her eye and not her reacting to the fact that her father is stroking her thigh under the hem of her skirt. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. She spreads her legs slightly some more, wanting his fingers. He is going to be the death of her. She is thinking about slipping over on to his lap and pulling up her skirt so he can feel what he is doing to her, and feel him as close as possible in this situation.

"You certainly aren't that kid from all them years ago." She glances at Salome and smiles big but doesn't show teeth, she tries not to when she can. "Even back then he wasn't very different from how he is now, maybe a bit more wild, but he had the same smile." Not that she is trying to rub any salt in the wound but she does appear to be interested on how he adapted to the life of being a father.

"It had to have been. I - I didn't know she was planning on telling you about the baby," Amanda looks over at Richard before glancing down at her fingers. "It makes a person grow up really fast."

[soursanguine]

Bitch, you don't even know me. You never knew me. He wants to tell her that but he bites his tongue. "Yes, well," he chuckles and glances politely to the waiter who comes by with a new glass for him, "I needed a kick in the ass, and Susan was only capable of doing so much on her own. Besides, of course I'm not the kid I was back then, I don't have the energy to be so superbly stupid anymore. One has to conserve one's resources for important things."

Important things like toying with his daughter beneath a restaurant table. As she spreads her legs more, he smiles sweetly and slides his hand up, his fingertips curling to just barely brush against the fabric of her panties. While he does this, he barely even looks at her, continuing his conversation with Amanda, so casual, so smooth.

"It was good for me. Salome as always been good for me, even back then when I didn't really know what to do with her. Granted, it took some getting used to, some serious time to adapt to my new situation, and it did have its difficult moments at first. But I find fatherhood suits me." His index finger sweeps against her, just barely teasing her through the fabric.

"Of course Susan was planning on telling me about the baby, did you think she was really just going to raise Salome by herself?" He chuckles and shakes his head. "One can only manage so much. And Salome may have been a relatively good child, she's always been a clever girl. And clever girls can be difficult to manage on one's own."

[sweetsalome]

She tries to keep her lips together, thinking about how she used to touch herself at night and have to be so, so very quiet but this is giving her a run for her money. She finds herself breathing hard through her nose, her hand going to the linen napkin and putting it to her mouth as if that would cover up the fact that she wants to scream out and push her hips and cunt up against his hand.

Lowering her napkin and hands down on to her lap she just smiles as her father talks about raising her and growing up, manning up, becoming a responsible adult. Doesn't that just make what he is doing to her all the more sweeter? Yes, he grew up, matured, and now he wears button down shirts and sport coats. Now he fingers his daughter underneath the tables at restaurants and when they get back to their room he is going to be a mature adult and fuck her until she aches. This is what she thinks about, her eyelids growing heavy, her eyes glazing over, she is sure that she looks like he is stoned out of her fucking head as she works to keep herself under control and grows even more wet against his fingers.

Amanda's shoulders rise and fall in a shrug, she doesn't want to truly admit it but at the time she wasn't thinking much about anything except when she could get high again. "If anyone could do anything on their own it would be Susan," statement of fact. Salome is pretty sure that's true. "It is good that she had a father, you stepped up, you were a better person then I was, Richard. I'm thankful that someone was, and so very sorry I wasn't," she shakes her head slightly.

[soursanguine]

Oh, yes, a completely mature adult. Taking charge as any mature adult should. As Amanda speaks, he takes stock of Salome's reactions from the corner of his eye. That's a beautiful sight, and couple with the hint of wetness he can feel... Christ, he loves being able to do this to her, and in public, no less. She makes his blood scream in his veins.

Richard smirks, nodding. "I suppose that's fairly true. Susan is very competent. She's simply lacking in the patience it requires to raise a child on one's own, I think." Ain't that the truth. Susan may be a shitty mother from time to time now, but if she had to raise Salome on her own it would have been bad.

Fuck yes I was a better person than you, bitch. That shouldn't be a surprise. "Oh, it's for the best. She's been an absolute light of my life for as long as she's been a part of it, I wouldn't have changed the situation for the world." His fingers rub against her harder, starting to grind against her clit through the fabric of her panties. "My own father didn't step up, and I didn't want to perpetuate that sort of thing even then. And I'm truly glad I didn't."

As he takes a sip of his drink, he smiles. "So, you said you've been sober twelve years, I think you said? How lovely. It's quite an achievement, isn't it, Salome?" His fingers press harder.

Amanda must think he's Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde when comparing his behavior yesterday with his behavior today.

[sweetsalome]

Amanda is completely positive that if she had the baby and stuck around Richard sure as shit wouldn't have stepped up. It had to be a lot easier with Susan, who is established and who has money and means. Two addicts raising a child in Columbus, yeah, that would have worked out well, if your life's dream was to end up on an episode of Cops. He can pass judgment, he is on that upper pedestal where he has the child and the life and a way to support himself that only lets his hands get the slightest bit dirty.

Not that she is judging him. Except she is silently judging the fuck out of him. Jesus would be displeased, but fuck him, he's not here sitting across from Richard I-have-a-great-smile-but-am-the-devil Vasko. And what the hell is up with the kid?

She is trying not to come, but she wants to, oh fuck does she want to, because it would be so, so fucking wrong. She should make it obvious as well, just come all over his fingers and scream out in the middle of the fucking restaurant. Her cheeks are pink, eyelids down low as if she had been drinking or smoking something sweet and good and what the fuck are they talking about?

"That's wonderful, you look great too. It must have been so very hard for you." Her hand drops into her lap again and she shifts slightly so her skirt is further up her thighs and her fingers reach for the crotch of her panties so she can pull them aside for him.

[soursanguine]

Hah, yeah, fuck no. Not with the state she was in. He gives her shit because it's easy, because it's fun to sneer and remind himself how fantastic he is, but really, he's glad she was out of the picture from the very start. She would have just gotten in the way and made things that much more difficult. Besides, he was more willing to accept Salome right out of the gate because of her alleged origin. Sometimes lying is necessary.

The bitch can judge him all she wants, he's judging her right back. She's a scummy semi-whore who's worth less than gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe, and if he had half a chance and a fraction of a reason he'd wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze until her windpipe ruptured.

Fuck yeah, he's the devil. She thinks that like it's a bad thing.

When he feels her shift and her fingers brush his as she pushes her panties aside, he inhales sharply into his drink. Hidden beneath the napkin and the tablecloth, Richard slides his fingers between slick folds of flesh and finds himself shifting subtly in his seat to relieve the pressure growing in his trousers. One finger presses into her, then another, crooking at the knuckle to stroke the satin walls of her cunt. It would be so easy for them to be caught, so easy and so terrible, and that's what makes it all so terribly fun.

Especially with this dumb bitch across from them.

"So, Amanda, tell us, what have you been up to since getting clean? Boyfriends at all? Children? How long have you been working here?" And the whole time, his fingers never stop, and his expression never changes, staying the picture of pleasantry.

[sweetsalome]

If Amanda was any smarter she would call him out on this fact. If she had stuck around, had stepped up to the plate she would be hiding little Salome in the back of an RV while she turned tricks out front in order to support both of them. Is that what he would like for his precious little Salome? Of course he can sit there and judge but she could have made his life miserable, for a time. Unfortunately taking his little girl away wouldn't have been a loss in the very beginning. He didn't give a shit in the very beginning. He was forced to give a shit because Susan shoved the baby at him and told him he needed to sac up.

He can quietly judge, she will in turn. Smiling faintly behind her lips and watching him shift in his chair and nurse his drink like he hasn't a care in the world. She'll play this part, because she is the one who left, but she does know him, and she knows that bitch Susan and knows that sooner or later Salome will know. Then the bloom might be off the rose for him.

At the moment however, everything is in full bloom in between her legs. Salome's toes curl in her sandals and she turns her head slightly to press her lips against his shoulders and squeeze her eyes shut as she comes around his fingers with a shudder. She is soaking his fingers and there will be a stain on her skirt, she so needs to wash up, except her head is swimming and she feels so fucking high, on cloud nine.

"I've been taking care of my grandparents mostly ever since I've gotten back. They have an old house that I'm trying to renovate, and a couple of cats-" Amanda stops looking over at Salome. "Is she okay?"

[soursanguine]

She can think that she knows him. She can think and tell herself whatever she wants with that bullshit, but the fact of the matter is that she can suck his cock, because it's easy as fuck to talk when she doesn't know a goddamn thing. Bloom off the rose, hah. Just because she lives a pathetic little half-existence wherein she makes everyone around her miserable doesn't mean everybody else does.

Bitch doesn't know shit. And this moment is the perfect example of that.

The feel of her spasming around his fingers brings another grin to his lips that he hides with a drink, and he ignores the nagging in his lap while he slides his fingers free of her. In small, subtle motions, he straightens her panties ad then wipes his fingertips off on his napkin beneath the table. Then, he straightens her skirt and pats her lap, holding her hand beneath the table while Amanda prattles.

Cats. Of course she has cats. He's surprised she doesn't have fifty of them crammed into a trailer. When he pictures her house it's like something out of Hoarders. When she asks about Salome, he glances up, then over, smiling gently and lifting his hand to squeeze her shoulder. "I think she's just having an emotional time. I don't think she got much sleep last night, and she has been thinking about this all day. You're all right, aren't you, princess?"

The devil's such a caring man.

[sweetsalome]

"Yes," perhaps she can finally talk, she feels so drained like she just ran a marathon of epic proportions. It's all the breath holding and the flexing of muscles, the tight control she desperately needed to have so she didn't do something embarrassing or horrible in giving away their little game. She feels fucking tired, like she hasn't slept in days, how the hell is that even possible? Her head rests on his shoulder and she blinks around as if it was the first time she has seen this table and these people. Incredible.

Shifting in her chair she smooths out her skirt and smiles back up at Amanda. Orgasm aside, she rather likes the woman, there is nothing horrible and rotten about her. She doesn't kick orphans or release all the hand breaks on old people in wheel chairs. She was just some messed up woman who now has a quiet little life doing the best she can. It's not exciting or glamorous but there are few lives in this world that are. Some people just spend the whole of their lives grinding it out as best they can.

"Sorry about that, I don't know what came over me. It's been a long week, but I am happy that we got to meet and talk, really, I'm sorry about that before." Under the table she gives her father's thigh a squeeze.

The waiter finally comes back with their meals, setting them down on the table and looking to freshen up Richard's drink.

[soursanguine]

It's funny, Richard usually has the utmost respect for people who grind it out--after all, he's one of them, selling drugs for Susan to make money and occasionally working the odd job here or there to break things up when blackmailing Julius isn't enough to keep him away from boredom. Whatever it takes to support his daughter and his art. But he detests Amanda with a kind of deep, easy, utterly instinctual loathing that comes like breathing whenever she's around. Everything she does is garbage. She could tell him her favorite color was red and all he'd be able to think about is how her favorite shade of red looks like shit in comparison to his.

His is a pathological hatred, sourceless and ancient as the evil that drives Susan.They're both very elemental people, which is perhaps why they work so well together, and so terribly.

It is, at least, justified in his mind by the fact that this creature was nothing more than a surrogate womb and a few lines of genetic code. As far as he's concerned she has no business even speaking to Salome. Salome, who squeezes his thigh beneath the table. Salome, whose hand is captured by his while it lingers upon his leg.

"I don't think there's any need to apologize, sweetheart. You can't help it, it really has been quite a time, hasn't it." He smiles in that fond, paternal way and leans to kiss the temple of her forehead before turning to his food and nodding to the waiter who offers to get him another drink. He's already feeling a little footloose and fancy free, but he could use one more. Three is a good number, he finds. Good for drinks, good for women. Good for lots of things.

"So, how big is this house you're restoring, then? You were there about the time Susan was restoring hers, weren't you? That's a big job, it's impressive you're taking care of it."

[sweetsalome]

It's not like she has ever done anything to him. He fucked her out of spite and knocked her up. It's not like she set his junk on fire and then spread rumors about him in high school. Unless he is projecting. Because his father isn't here and she is the closest person who has abandoned a child that he can think of.

If anyone should be upset, it should be Salome, she is the abandoned child. As it stands she is doing pretty well all things considering, the orgasm that he just gave her was a HUGE help. Seriously. It's like a drug, one orgasm and all of a sudden the world is a happy fun place full of joy and sunshine. It's like prozac except she can take it any time she wants really, even if the side effects are severe.

The salad looks fucking delicious by the way, and Salome is going to eat it all. But not before she leans over and gives her father a kiss on the cheek and a slight nuzzle with the tip of her nose. So cute. Because she loves him so much. Her hand sliding further up his thigh and giving him another squeeze is so cute. Because she is going to fuck him till he is unable or unwilling to get out of bed.

"It's a two story, three bedroom. It is a big job, but it's rewarding, something to do, it's good to be productive." Amanda starts in on her own meal and nods in response to his question about Susan's place. "I bet it's lovely after she put so much work and money into it. Do you live very far from Salome?"

[soursanguine]

It's probably projection. Projection, and the simple fact that, as much as he loves Salome, adores her, practically worships her--he still wonders what his life might have been like if he'd gotten a chance to be wild as he wanted for as long as he wanted. It's too late to change it now, but he's still bitter; to think, though, all this time he was furious at Susan, when really it was somebody else who deserved his ire for taking the fun of his youth from him.

So, really, he's probably just making up for lost time. Maybe he'll buy Susan some flowers or something when he gets home to make up for being unjustly furious at her for all these years. He at least owes her some kind of thank-you, even if he can't tell her just why he's thankful.

Still, there's no changing the past, and nothing worth worrying about, because Salome gives him nothing but supreme joy even when she's at her worst. Now is certainly not her worst, now is her best, with that adorable little smooch and her little Eskimo kiss. He could just pinch her cheeks right off her face, she's so cute. He can't stand it, just like he can't stand the squeeze upon his thigh that sends a little jolt through him even as he works at his food.

"Oh, indeed, it's good to pour one's efforts into a constructive activity like that. Susan's place is lovely these days, I don't live too far away. Thirty minutes, maybe forty on a day with weather or traffic. Generally not bad. Conveniently located when it comes to her school."

[sweetsalome]

It is probably a good idea that he doesn't spill that little fact, about him being bitter about losing his wild youth. It's completely understandable but Salome would feel so immensely guilty about it, that he had lost out on something because of her. Because she loves him, because she never wants him to hurt or to go without anything that he would want, even if it is something that he can't ever get back or may cause harm or pain to someone else. He is her universe, her sun and everything good to her. He has never left her, never lost any love for her, and she is slowly beginning to see that it is very easy for a person to lose love, to leave, so painfully easy.

It makes her realize how good she has it with him, how hard it was for him to stick around, and how thankful she should be that he did. As much as she respects Susan she couldn't imagine living with just her, in her immense shadow where no sun seems to reach. Her life with Amanda would be simply hell, she can't even imagine. Without him, well, she shudders to think.

"It's very rewarding, pouring effort and sweat into something and watching it take shape," she glances at Salome. Clearly he has poured effort into that young lady, and she turned out very well. All bright and bubbly. It is a bittersweet moment, but it is a moment in which she is sure that she did the right thing for the girl. No matter how much Richard hates her.

"Do you drive, honey?"

Salome nods a little bit and waits till she finishes chewing. "I do, I still only have my learners permit though."

[soursanguine]

That's why he would never let Salome know; because guilt is a silly waste of emotion, but he'd still like to avoid making her feel it. It would be silly to feel bad at all, let alone about such a thing she had no part in causing. It isn't her fault, and even he can see that. The blame rests squarely on the shoulders of everyone around Salome, but certainly not Salome, herself.

Really, it's for the best. At the rate he was going he always kind of suspected he'd end up in jail, or dead. He's almost sure she saved his life, that little girl. It's always good to have someone to be the universe to.

Richard nods in agreement to her statement. At least he can agree on something with her. That's his own experience with his artwork; how satisfying it is to pour it out of him, then to see it when he's finally ready to stop working on it. And, with Salome, how amazing it is to see her grow. Blossom like a flower reaching for the sun.

"Yes, that reminds me, we'd ought to get you down to the DMV sometime soon so that you can take that test." The waiter comes back with his third vodka tonic and he resumes nursing it, the tart taste like an old friend as it rolls over his tongue. "She's not too bad a driver, she drove a couple of times on the way here."

[sweetsalome]

"Yayyyyy!" Because getting your drivers license is the best thing in the whole world. Then she is going to get a car and then drive all over everywhere and it will be the best day in the whole world. Seriously, it will be just so cool that her mom - Susan - won't have to drive her to school any more. Because that was just so lame. Even the kids on the bus have more dignity.

Except everyone knows buses suck and there is just no way she would ever get on a bus let alone a yellow bus that would take her to school. She would totally die.

Yup, life is rough when you ride the bus.

"Were you nervous at that? That's freeway driving, not easy streets." A smile at Richard before shaking her head slightly, "my dad refused to take me out on the highway when I was learning."

"He didn't freak out too bad, but he didn't sleep or anything," she tells Amanda and then: "Oh man now I am going to worry about taking that test. They say everyone fails it the first time? Is that true?"