chapter twenty three

"out?" lydia questioned.

"yes little," he hummed in response.

"where?" she questioned further.

"don't worry about it. go change." he softly demanded. and when she didn't listen and stayed in the same place in front of him, he grew agitated.

"go, little. now." he demanded again, roughly.

"i- i don't know where these go," she began to scramble, holding the plates and utensils in her small hands.

tatum immediately switched his demeanor, regretting yelling at her as he didn't know that she was only trying to do the right thing for him.

"i'm sorry baby, i'll take them." he sweetly told her, gently grabbing the dishes from her hands.

she nodded, scurrying off to the bedroom. tatum shook his head at himself, scolding his actions in his head. he enjoyed when he could tell that lydia was comfortable with him, and sometimes he wondered if things would stay that way if he simply stopped talking to her. would she like him more if he just stared at her? watched her? examined her? he had too many questions, and like lydia, he didn't want to ask them.

"tate?" a small voice from behind him spoke gently, shaking him out of his thoughts.

"yes, baby?" he answered shortly.

"what should i wear?" she questioned, eyeing him.

"something casual, like something you would wear to a friends house, almost." he replied.

she nodded her head, turning back on her heel toward the bedroom once more. before she entered the doorway, though, she had a question for the boy that she had decided she was going to ask.

"why do you call me that?"

tatum looked up at her, and she had a hard time reading his expression.

"call you what?" he asked.

"b- baby" she whispered, avoiding eye contact with him. before she could register what was happening in front of her, she felt tatums hand grab her jaw in which forced her to look up at him.

"say it again." he demanded in a monotone pitch.

"b- baby?" she softly replied.

tatum felt his insides twirl at the sound of the word coming from her mouth. nobody has ever called him a sweet name before, let alone a girl. but lydia was much more than a girl, she was his girl. this made it much more personal for tatum, and he tried his absolute best to control himself in that very moment. the word sounded so pretty coming from her mouth, he could almost fantasize about her calling him the word and being genuine.

"baby, i call you baby because you're my baby. it's what couples do, baby." he softly answered, loosening his grip on her jaw.

"c- couples?" she questioned further, flashing her innocent eyes at him.

"yes." he duly answered offering her no further explanation.

"but you're not my boyfr-"

"yes i am." he demanded with authority, causing her to back down.

she gave him a quick nod as an apology for questioning his worth to her, backing away from him slowly as she did so. he kept his watchful eyes on her as she turned into the doorway and walked into the bedroom. he appreciated her backing down, and it made him want her, badly. however, he waited for a moment as to make sure he did not startle her before he walked into the room after her.

she jumped at his presence as he gently moved her out of his way by grabbing her hips softly. she complied, and he headed off into the shower as she continued looking for something to wear. tatum wasn't very goood at picking out her wardrobe for her, but she would never complain about that. she wondered about how he got ahold of her clothes in the first place of course, but she knew that with tatum sometimes things were better left off unanswered.

as she finished picking out an outfit with the clothes she had, she got dressed rather quickly so that she was prepared for when tatum would come out. she heard tatum turn the shower off, so she placed herself down on the bed as she waited. she was rather bored as she waited for the following minutes of him coming out, which caused her to start thinking.

why had tatum called himself her boyfriend? she was definitely not his girlfriend. she didn't know much about relationships, but what she did know is that it takes awhile to build up to being together as a couple. maybe throw some date nights in there beforehand, which tatum had not. in fact, she realized that he had done nothing to insinuate that they were a couple. for christ's sake, he was quite literally forcing himself to be apart of her. she didn't know that yet, though.

"look at you waiting for me, you're being so good for me little" tatum slightly chuckled as he walked out of the bathroom.

however, lydias eyes traveled down his body, and then to his waist. she immediately looked away and covered her eyes, as he was wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waistline. she secretly thought he looked pretty like that, yes, but she had never seen a boy in such little clothing before. raya had taught her about modesty since she was a small pre-teen, and lydia quickly realized that tatum lacked it.

she felt her hands get roughly pulled away from her face as she was met with tatum, who was leaning down to her level on the bed. her eyes stayed fixated on his as she refused to look at him below the neck. tatum was absolutely gorgeous, and she had no trouble admitting that to herself. on the other hand, tatums heart was pounding as he tried to collect his thoughts while looking at his little girl. her cheeks held a beautiful light pink shade to them as she blushed, which made his heart race even quicker.

he had never tried so desperately to not destroy something, especially something so gentle and delicate like his little lydia. everything she did seemed to set him off, mostly in a lustful manner. he adored when her bright eyes stared into his, and when she held the adorable signature lydia blush on her face.

"don't look away from me, lydia." he growled, cursing her to become startled.

she quickly nodded her head up at him, and he pulled himself away from her as he put a shirt on. when it came to his pants, though, she immediately covered her eyes once again. tatum was surprisingly okay with this though, as he knew that she wasn't ready to see the rest of him just quite yet. he wouldn't force her that far, and he hoped that she knew that.

after he had finished getting dressed he looked back to his little, pleased to see that she was still sat in the same position. he moved himself over to her and gently took her hands from her face.

"time to go, little" he softly hummed. she looked at him and nodded in confirmation, but not before taking his hair into her hands and ruffling it. her dad always did this to her when she had gotten out of the shower, so she thought it was normal. beamer, on the other hand, felt as though he was in love with her after she did so. she had made so many cute little gestures towards him, and every single one of them took him by surprise.

he sent a smile her way as he lifted himself back up to his full height. she stood up as well, and started to head to the door before beamer had stopped her. he gently grabbed her hand, causing her to turn around to be facing towards him once again.

"i'll meet you at the front door, but don't open it. wait for me please, little." he said, releasing her hand in the process.

she nodded once more, making her way out of the bedroom. beamer was pleased to see that she did not question him on the matter. after he knew that she was out of the room completely, he walked into the closet where the phones were placed. after opening up the safe, he grabbed his own phone and left lydias. he didn't bother to check hers as he didn't want to keep her waiting by the door for him. however, immediately after unlocking his phone, he got a notification from the security alarm that the front door was opened.

he quickly shut the safe and angrily made his way out of the room with a fast pace following him. and when he set sight of his little peeking her head out of the front door and into the driveway, he couldn't control the anger that came from him.

"goddamn it lydia i told you to fucking wait!"

he barked, angrily and quickly walking towards her small frame.

"w- why is my car here?"