Red Ribbons (Forgotten Series #1)

Chapter Fifteen

I stared hard at the phone on the desk.

Bennett had grabbed my hand at the breakfast table and had hastily written something on my palm before he was off with the others to do his tests. It was a phone number and I bit my lip slightly as I looked at the machine. Bailey was currently napping in my chair in the living room and I had snuck off to phone who ever it was that Bennett wanted me to call. I hesitantly picked up the handset and dialed the numbers with a shaky hand.

It rang twice before I heard someone pick up the other end. "Hello?" It was a deep voice that tugged on my memory slightly but I pushed it away quickly out of habit.

"Hi?" It came out in a rather startled squeak that I wanted to groan at. My face flared red with slight embarrassment as a silence fell from the other end of the line.

"Who is this?" There was a faint hint of suspension to the tone and I swallowed hard. "This line is a private line-"

"Emerson! Ge the fuck out of my office and stop answering my phone!" The booming voice in the background was more than familiar and I felt a large smile spread across my face. I could hear the phone being exchanged and I couldn't help but feel happiness radiating out of my chest at the gift Bennett had given me. "This is Alpha Lawrence." His voice was gruff in my ear and I pressed the phone closer to me as if it would bring me closer to him.

"Hi, daddy." I knew I was too old to call him that but I couldn't help it, I had missed so much with him that I felt like I was reverting back to my childhood when i heard him speak.

I could almost hear his shock through the phone but it didn't last long. "Maricella?" There was a sudden softness to his voice and happiness threaded through the words.

"It's me. How are you?" I swallowed quickly before sitting down in Uncle Jace's chair. I settled myself into the well worn chair as i clutched the phone in my hand tightly.

"Hey, little one. I'm hanging in there." His voice immediately softened to the tone I remembered as a child and I felt tears prick at my eyes. We had so many years stolen from us. "All of my favourite people are gone, so I'm not having too much fun." He sounded sad and I winced, thinking of Amber and him. She didn't reject him but she had walked away and that must have hurt just as badly. "I don't want to sound like I don't want to talk to you but how did you get my number?" He sounded genuinely curious and I smiled brightly

"Bennett gave it to me." Pleasure spread through my chest and limbs at the gift he had given me. A way to reach out to my father, a way to talk to him. His gift couldn't be repaid and I swallowed against the sudden lump in my throat. I honestly didn't deserve him or his warmth. He was a male without equal in my eyes.

"Is he treating you alright?" His voice went back to being gruff for a moment, letting his stern, fatherly side show that he still cared about my wellbeing.

Even in those moments when I had been an Omega I could still remember that tone, still remember the faint pleading as he secretly begged me to tell him the truth, to tell him something, anything, he could use to save me. The voice in my head had always drowned him out. He had made some poor decisions but he had been so young and he had trusted the wrong people.

"Yes, he's a gentleman." Nothing but that, he was perfect in every way when it came to his treatment of me. I could sense that it eased his mind and he paused slightly.

"And the Omega, Bailey I think her name was. How is she?" He asked it softly and I could tell he was genuinely curious to know about her and how she was doing and I truly appreciated that he cared enough to ask.

"She's going to get better. She's actually Davin's mate so there is that." A silence fell and I waited for him to speak. I could sense he needed too.