All Grown Up (Book 6)

Authority

|Tucker's POV|

Having a 14 year old daughter has proven to be difficult. I thought it would get easier once I got married. You know, she'd have a mother figure to look up to. I met Melissa about 8 years ago through work. With both of us being engineers, we crossed paths quite often on a variety of projects. She was in a relationship at the time and I was dating around. Five years ago, we decided to give a relationship a try and we've been inseparable ever since. I mean, she's now my wife. That says something.

After things went down with Sasha's mother, I focused all my attention on her which is coming back to bite me in the ass. I love my daughter, but I've created a monster overcompensating for the lack of her mother's presence. Her being an only child,  I've been able to give her whatever she wants. She's always been well mannered and well behaved, but once she turned 12, things took a turn.

I was hesitant to bring Melly around Sasha as my girlfriend. She seemed fine that we were dating and Melly spent a lot of time with her. Now that they have this stepmom/stepdaughter relationship, they're both having a hard time adjusting. Melly doesn't want to cause a rift between them by disciplining her. Sasha uses that to her advantage. Melly wants to be more of a parent these days. Sasha on the other hand would prefer for me to just give the punishments.

I mean, I get both sides, but we're a family. Sasha is in Melissa's care just as much as she is in mine. If Sasha gets in trouble with Melly, it shouldn't be up to me to handle it. Melissa needs to handle it on her own and deal with it how she sees fit. Sasha needs to take whatever consequence it is.

Between Sasha playing on Melly's kindness, she's starting to push my buttons. Her attitude, yelling, slamming doors. I've been letting it slide. Melissa has been telling me to let it go, she's just a hormonal teenager. Yeah, no more. I'm not going to have an overgrown brat on my hands. She is fully capable of expressing how she feels without throwing a damn tantrum.

Pulling into the driveway, I unbuckled my seatbelt and looked over at my daughter.

"Go inside and wait for me in the living room."

"Okay."

As she went inside, I called Melissa to let her know that Sasha was good and back home.

Hello.

I saw your text. Thank God you found her.

Aside from her location being on, Ty called me.

She went over to Izzy and Ty's? Can't say I'm surprised. I know she goes to Izzy for a lot. How are you handling this?

She's grounded. I'm not about to waste my breath telling her how stupid her actions were. She knows right from wrong. When you get home, we're sitting down as a family to discuss some changes moving forward.

Changes?

Yes, changes. I've been letting how Sasha acts towards you slide for far too long. You're my wife and she's my daughter. We're a family.

I'm not trying to replace her mother, Tucker.

Her mother was barely in the picture for you to be a replacement. When we lived in Georgia, I had her majority of the time. I threatened to leave and that's what made her sign over her rights. I was doing it all by myself from day one. Stop thinking you're stepping on toes. I'm creating a monster here and I'm stopping that bullshit in its tracks. She's not going to walk around with that attitude and yelling at me like she did earlier.

Babe, teenage girls are different. She's moody. Her hormones are all over the place.

And? That doesn't give her the right to speak to me how she does.