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I smile. “Think she more-than-likes me.”
Lo glares, but coming back from seeing my dad, his glare is a welcomed sight. There is no bullshit beneath, and I’m not wondering if he’s lying to me. “We’re not friends,” he reminds me.
“I was just stating a fact, Xander’s dad.”
“Does Luna know?” His eyes ping to me, then back to the road. He’s still glaring.
“I’m pretty positive she knows she loves me.”
His eyes lacerate me.
I try not to laugh and piss him off more. “It was a joke.”
“Your jokes aren’t funny.”
I shrug. “Still plan on making them.” I’m not gushing about the details of my past, so if he wants answers, he’s going to have to ask me outright.
I’m hoping he just drops it.
His jaw clenches, his fists readjusting around the wheel. “The ‘shooting the load for money’ thing that your dad said—does Luna know about that?”
My ribs contract around my lungs. I scratch the back of my head. “I haven’t told her outright, no. But it was a long time ago. I don’t do that anymore.”
“What exactly have you done? Were you alone or with someone who paid you?”
“With someone who paid.” I’m baking in this car seat. Put in the oven to roast. I’m not ashamed as much as I am nervous. “I don’t like thinking about it,” I say.
He contemplates this, and I’m surprised when he doesn’t pry harder. He flicks his blinker and turns down another street.
I run a hand across my head. “I’ve been tested, by the way.” My heart rate spikes. “No STDs. I’m negative.”
If looks could kill, Lo is definitely trying to murder me. “Is this your way of telling me you’re thinking of having sex with my daughter? Because A. Did not want to know that because now I want to throw you out of my car, and B. She should be the most chaste person in your fucking head. You’re supposed to be waiting. And if it were up to me, you’d be waiting for eternity.”
I already fucked your daughter.
This fact, or secret, I’m sheltering is the least of my worries, and I’m not sinking into another worry today. I made it out of the lunch. I’m on the road to seeing Xander.
“Noted,” I say lightly.
Maybe too lightly. He shakes his head a few times. “You’re something else.”
“Something hot.” I put it out there.
He touches his chest. “Do I look like your girlfriend?”
“Nah, ‘cause I don’t have one.”
“Music to my ears.”
“Knew we didn’t have the same music taste.”
Lo begins to smile, and so do I.
It’s fleeting. His phone rings, and he puts the call through the car’s speakers. Connor immediately opens with a gut-punch.
“Donnelly might’ve been caught getting in your car.”
“By who?” Lo asks.
“My dad?” I question.
“No, by Colin. He was in the area. Akara saw him.”
“Great,” Lo says with a heavy exhale. “Go ahead and say it, Connor. I told you so.”
“I have a solution, or a way to mitigate the repercussions. We’re going to feed out a headline to the media.”
I stiffen.
“What kind of headline?” Lo asks.
“Rumors about you hating Donnelly. It’s a feud the press will want to see, and it’ll drive Donnelly towards Sean and away from you.”
“That’s fine,” Lo says tightly. “As long as there’s no mention of Luna.”
“Of course not. I’ll send you the draft before it goes live today.”
Again, my head is rotating. I didn’t imagine my strained relationship with Lo would become media fodder—especially not on purpose.
“Is this really a good idea?” I ask him.
“I don’t know,” Lo says honestly. “But if we do nothing, it might be harder for Sean to trust you.”
I take out my phone. “Is it okay if I call Luna and tell her? I don’t want her thinking it’s real.”
Lo nods to me. “Make it quick.”
“Alright.” I dial Luna and cup the phone against my ear.
She answers on the first ring. “Hi…is everything okay?”
Luna was still asleep when I left the penthouse, but I shot her a text on my way to the Cobalt Estate.
Meeting with my dad for lunch. Catch up later, space babe ??
I didn’t want Maximoff, Jane, or Sulli looping Luna in before me, not when today was about me and my family. Didn’t want her thinking I’m distancing myself from her emotionally…even if Lo probably hopes I would.
“Sorta. I’m in the car with your dad.”
She pauses. “He didn’t throw you out of the car?”
“Still a passenger. He actually picked me up.”
Lo is listening to my side of the conversation, his serious face like serrated metal edges.
“Whoa…” Her voice trails off, and I take the opportunity to dish out the shit sandwich.
“So I’ve got some bad news, Luna.” In so few words, I explain the headline that’ll hit the internet soon and the need to publicly distance myself from her dad.
“But it’s fake? You’re still in the car with him?”
