Shawnie's POV

My dad came into town and I was super excited about it. I haven't seen him in so long. I miss my dad a lot and I was just being stupid when it came to that situation. There was no reason for me not to talk to him but I just didn't wanna start any drama. I had so much going on with Aubrey and our relationship, and being so far away in Toronto, and don't get me started with everything surrounding the kids. I had, and still have, two babies under the age of two. I am stressed to no end.

Lexi and Christina are great and they help me out with everything and I am so grateful for them, and I love them, but I have really been trying to do this on my own. I didn't grow up with nannies. That shit is for rich people. I want to do this on my own and that's exactly what I'm trying to do. I told Christina that when Aubrey has Atlas, she can help him but I'm basically not gonna be needing her anymore. Lexi is a different story because she's been with me for so long. I told her I will call her when I need her but I'm not using her as much either. She was very understanding and of course, she told me whenever I needed help to just call her and she would drop everything for me.

Today is one of the days that I needed her help.

The afternoon my dad arrived, Joe and I went to get my dad from the airport. I decided to leave the kids with Lexi because it just would've been so much easier for her to meet us at the restaurant.

We were waiting on the tarmac for my dad to exit the private jet he flew in on. I had Joe with me, of course. I feel like Aubrey should be here but whatever. That's something we are going to have to handle another day.

My dad got off of the jet and I just smiled. He looked the exact same. I swear it seems like he doesn't age.

He walked over to us and Joe tried to take his bags.

"Who is this?" He looks at me and smiles.

"This is Joe. He's my bodyguard."

"Bodyguard?" He looks Joe up and down and Joe smiles. "It's nice to meet you." They shake hands, then Joe puts my dad's bags in the truck.

He hugs me and kisses me on my forehead. "Where's Mr. President?"

"I don't know, LA?" I say

"You don't know where your husband is?" He asks

"Daddy, it's been a lot going on."

"I got time." He says rubbing his stomach. "Take me to the best steakhouse San Diego has to offer." Joe and I laugh.

"Already on it." I say. "The nanny is already at the restaurant waiting for us with the kids."

"So let's get going. I'm hungry." I laugh and we get into the truck and head to the restaurant.

*******

Joe pulled up at the front of the restaurant and we all got out. He walked us to our table then went back out to park the car. My dad said his hellos, hugged and kissed the kids and we took our seats.

"What's up with Joe?" My dad asks immediately after we sit down.

"Nothing. Why do you ask?"

"You two seem a little close."

I laugh, "We are. We're together all the time, every day. He's not just an employee, he's a friend too, if I'm being honest."

"Okay." He says. He had that look like he didn't believe me. "I like the guy. He seems cool. Doesn't talk much, looks like he'll kill someone with his hands."

"Yeah... he doesn't talk that much. He's all action." I say

"He gives off a don't mess with me vibe."

"Yup! That's Joe!" I say, "I love that about him. People don't mess with him." I say

"And he's the one you met in Vegas?"

"Yes. He really helped me out when I was having a hard time. Aubrey and I got into a fight and I ran out, down to the casino. I don't know what I was doing when I got down there. I didn't know where to go when people started crowding around me, I was having a panic attack and he helped me out. Got me out of there. I don't know what would've happened if he wasn't there."

"Well he's alright with me." He says with a smile.

Joe comes back and sits on the other side of me.

"Sorry that it took so long, my mom called. Had to talk to her for a minute."

"It's okay. How is she doing? You never really talk about her."

"She's good." He says, then smiles at me. I don't think he wants to talk about her so I change the subject.

"Have you ever been here before?" I ask but then realize that was a stupid question. Him and I have been here in San Diego for months and we have never been here.

Why am I nervous?

He smiles, staring at me for a few seconds. "Never. This is my first time."

I start biting my bottom lip.

"Why are you nervous?" Joe asks, smiling big.

"I don't know." I start laughing.

"Funny you picked up on that. She's been doing that since she was a little girl..."

"Yeah...we're around each other so much. I guess I just noticed it." Joe shrugs.

My dad looks around the table. "So we have you, Joe, Lexi and the kids, but there is one more seat?"

"Yeah, Daddy. I have a little surprise for you." I say

"I mean it's obviously Chris."

"No. Chris is tour, he isn't here." I say. "Just wait. They should be here at minute."

"Okay. So, Joe...Where are you from?"

"Originally from Florida, but I've lived in Vegas most of my life. We moved there when I was 3 and that's where I was raised until I became an adult."

"Nice. I love Vegas, but I couldn't live there. I'd be broke." Her dad says

"I'm not one to go out and party like that so it doesn't bother me. It's fun every now and then but it's just not my scene."

"It's a good thing you were there when you met my daughter."

"No it actually was because I never hang out on the strip. I tell her all the time I think we were just supposed to be in each other's lives."

"Uh huh." My dad says. "It's interesting, don't you think?"

"I think it's very interesting. She'll tell you that I've helped her but she's helped me a lot too. I firmly believe that we were put there in the same place to meet." Joe says

My dad smiles at me.

"So how has everything been with Mr. President?" My dad asks. "Truthfully." He adds

I look over at Joe and he seems to be a little confused.

"My dad calls Aubrey Mr. President because he always travels with a huge secure detail.. you know the guys.. They go in and sweep the building before he walks in and it's just a big thing. You've seen it." I explain

"Yeah, it's dramatic." Joe says, then he and my dad laughed.

"Before we get into this conversation, I just want to say this, Aubrey is an amazing father to our son, and stepfather to Genesis. He does everything he can for those kids and I never wanna take away all that he does for them. I try to make sure our issues don't not affect them, but I have been living in San Diego because I felt like I needed to distance myself from him. There's been a lot of stuff going on."

"Anything I need to know about?" He dad asks

I was about to answer but Joe spoke up.

"Well...I have seen a lot of bullshit and I have stopped a lot of bullshit." He says. "This is your dad so I'm gonna be brutally honest with him." He says to me.

He doesn't even wait for my approval, he just goes right into whatever he was going to say.

"I don't know if you know anything about the surrounding details of how we met. But, she hired me because she did not feel protected. She told me she needed someone who would look out for her and that is exactly what I've been doing. His security, they're great, really cool guys, but he has a well oiled machine going on over there and whatever he says goes. She didn't feel like she was being heard, she didn't feel safe, and she needed someone on her side. I was thrown into the situation but I quickly noticed a lot of bullshit was going on when it came to her. I don't know if she wants me to share full details so I'm not but I just want you to know that she is my priority in this situation. I have gotten into physical altercations with multiple people. Some she knows about, some she doesn't."

"Wait, what?" I say. Only thing I know about is him and Aubrey. What is he talking about?

"She doesn't need to know everything that I do but the incident that she knows about is the incident that I'm going to share with you because I think you should know about it. But I had to physically restrain Drake because he grabbed her and would not let her go. That's the nicest way I can put it. I made sure she was out of the house and secured and I went back in and I did what I had to do. She has not been back at that house ever since that incident but as I stated, there's been a lot of things going on."

"I don't see or hear anything about any of this." My dad says disappointed.

"That's on purpose." Joe says

"Aubrey makes sure a lot of stories stay out of the media so he gets Amanda, his publicist on the phone and she kills whatever story he doesn't want anyone to know about. I know I should've told you a lot of this stuff is going on but I just didn't wanna create any more issues than what was already there." I say

"I just want to be completely transparent with you because I know she wasn't talking, and I know he's definitely not gonna say anything. I know you guys haven't really talked a lot lately, so I understand why she didn't want to say anything, but I had to." Joe says

"I really appreciate that Joe. You seem like a very genuine guy and it does seem like you are looking out for my daughter and that is greatly appreciated. I'm not here so there's only so much that I can do from afar and I feel better knowing that she's in your hands now."

Joe smiles at me and I roll my eyes. He's seeking my dad's approval, for what? I'm not upset about it or anything but I didn't know that Joe was going to do this.

Just then I see Christian walking in. He walks up behind my dad and puts his hand on his shoulder.

"It's been a long time since I've seen this bald head shine!" Christian says

My dad turns around and sees him. He looks at him for a second like he didn't know who he was, but he quickly realizes who it is and stands up and hugs him.

"What are you doing here?" He asks Christian.

"I came to see you." Christian answers back. laughing.

"You look the exact same." My dad says in amazement. "You grew a little facial hair, got a couple of muscles." He jokes.

"Yeah, I try to get in the gym every now and then." Christian says

They take a seat next to each other and I glance over at Joe. He was too busy smiling and playing with Genesis from across the table.

"These are the kids?" Christian says smiling. "They're beautiful, Shawnie."

"Thank you." I smile.

"No kids?" My dad asks

"No, not yet. I wanted to wait until after marriage."

"You'll be married soon. So get ready." Dad says

"Yeah, I don't know if I'm ready though. I like kids, I just don't know if I'm ready to be someone's father." Christian says.

"It's a maturity thing, you'll get there." Joe chimes in.

Christian and my dad just looked at him and I almost burst out laughing. Joe just couldn't help himself. It's no secret that Joe doesn't like Christian. I just like the fact that he's never tried to start any drama with him because of it.

Joe looks at me and smiles.

"What have you been up to?" My dad asks

"Working. That's pretty much it." Christian answers

"Not too hard I hope."

"Nah, I'm working hard. I want to be one of the top Neurologists in California and then in the US."

"That's a great goal!" My dad says, "I know you're making bank."

Christian laughs. "I'm doing very, very well." They both laugh.

"So how did this happen?" My day asks, referring to us getting in contact.

"Crazy enough, she was at a restaurant at the beach, and my friends were telling me that Drake and his wife were there. As far as they're concerned, they know I had a big crush on her. They don't know anything about our history or anything like that. So I went over to the restaurant and tried to talk to her and this big motherfucker stopped me..." he points to Joe. "I couldn't even get to her. So I had to wait until they left. I didn't see Drake but I saw her. I kind of ran to catch up with them and I called her name and we started talking." Christian explains.

"It's so good to see you guys together again. Halle would've loved to see this." He smiles

"Yes, mom would've loved to see it, but don't say that daddy. We're not together." I say

"You know what I mean. Your mom would be so happy if she was still here with us."

"She would but I married someone else soo..."

"You should've made this happen." He says referring to Christian. "You two would be great together. And you shouldn't have stopped practicing. You guys would be... What do the kids say? A power couple. A lawyer and a doctor."

Christian laughs. "I tried to tell her we should get back together but she won't listen."

I kind of just sat there in disbelief for a couple of seconds. They were sitting there acting like I'm not married to someone. I guess Joe saw that I was a little irritated, and he spoke up.

"She's married, and you're engaged." He says to Christian. He's over it and I can tell.

"Yeah...I'm just joking." He waves Joe off.

"You're engaged?" He dad asks

"Yeah. I asked her a couple of months ago."

"What's her name? Let me see her." My dad says and I roll my eyes.

"Her name is Shelby." Christian pulls out his phone and shows my dad a picture of his fiancé.

"She's smoking hot! You did good."

"Thanks. She's super chill. She lets me do what I want to do...she doesn't nag—."

"Can we order?" I say loudly, cutting into their conversation.

Christian and my dad look at me.

"Oh, yeah." Christian smiles. "My bad."

The table goes quiet and we all start looking at our menus.

After a couple of minutes the waitress comes over and takes our orders. When we were done, I felt Joe touch my arm. When I looked over, he was leaning towards me to say something in my ear.

"I wanna pull Christian aside and talk to him. Is that okay?" He asks

"Of course." I say. Two seconds later Joe asked him.

"Christian can I talk to you for a minute?"

He looks at me then at Joe. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Let's step outside." Joe stands up.

Christian slowly stands up and puts his phone in his pocket. You can tell he doesn't want to talk. He looked uneasy. Joe had already walked off. Christian looks at me again and I shrug. I don't know why I didn't ask him why he wanted to talk to him.

Joe's POV

I walked outside, and I stood next to the door and waited for Christian to come out. I don't like him. I think he has ulterior motives. It's weird that he just popped up after so long. This shit doesn't make sense to me. It's weird.

A few seconds later he comes strolling out of the restaurant.

"What's up?" He says looking like he's concerned and innocent.

"Listen, I'm not coming out here to do all that small talk, lollygagging bullshit. I'm just pulling you outside to tell you you need to chill out."

"Chill out? Why?" He asks

"You know exactly what you're doing. Don't try to bullshit me. You know I don't have an issue with snapping your neck. You know I don't fuck around. She's not gonna say anything, but I am. You need to chill out. Catch up with her dad and go on your little way." I say

"Is she upset because I was talking about my fiancé because she seemed cool with her." He asks, confused.

"I don't know about all that and I don't care. My concern is you are talking about getting back together with her when you know she's married. She looked very uncomfortable as you were talking, and you were too wrapped up in a conversation to see that."

"My bad I didn't know she was affected."

"You don't know half of the shit she's going through right now and you making all them dumbass comments ain't making shit easy. All it's doing is pissing me off. She ain't gonna say nothing, but I am. So, I'm letting you know, chill the fuck out."

"What is with you? I've been nothing but nice to you and you're just an asshole." He says

"Yeah, I am an asshole. Do you think I care how you feel?"

"Okay. I get it." He says and walks back in.

I think he was trying to get away from me as quickly as possible.

I laughed.

When I got back, the food was being placed on the table.

"So then why let the story run if it's false?" Her dad asks

"He would rather kill the story or not speak on it until it goes away. It goes away eventually."

"But the shit that is there is complete bullshit." Mr. Roberts says.

"Exactly." She says smiling, watching me sit down. "You okay?" she asks

I nod my head yeah. "Everything is perfect!" I say, with a smile on my face.

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